Upon our return from vacation we got a couple of nice surprises. As we sorted through the piles of mail waiting on our counter, two items jumped out at me. First, the last Pass Port finally arrived!!! It showed up about an hour after we left for the airport last Friday. Fortunately, we didn't have any trouble traveling with our passportless son and his photo ID with a printout from the Pass Port office website showing that it had been applied for months ago. We were just held up a few extra minutes while a supervisor gave the okay.
The other exciting mail was from the office of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (U.S.C.I.S.) It was our invitation to be finger printed. It wasn't the formal "invitation" I had been hearing about. Instead, they called it the "Orphan Petition Fingerprint Referral Notice". No worries! I was very impressed by how quickly it came. We just mailed the application on June 11 and they turned it around by June 19th. As anxious as we are to be fingerprinted (not!), the notice states that our home study must have been completed first, which should be done in a couple more weeks. We still have a few items to check off the list, including medicals for both parents, completing 10 hours of adoption training, and a visit to our home. We have been trying to clean and organize the house, but with four boys running around, sometimes it feels like two steps forward, one step back. Fortunately, our social worker said she wasn't looking for perfection!
Family Updates:
We had a wonderful time in Jamaica. Our resort was very nice and the most kid-friendly place we have ever experienced in our travels! It was nice having a nanny to help out when the kids wanted to go in different directions. The food and all the activities were incredible. All-inclusive is the way to go! There were three water slides to chose from; one for the kiddie pool, a bigger one for the main pool, and the third one spiraled down 100 feet. The scuba diving was free and the snorkeling was great too. From the glass bottom boat we saw a real pirate ship and an airplane that had sunk over 100 years ago. Our room had a huge balcony that was just a few feet from the beach. Martin and I enjoyed the adult only restaurant a couple of nights too. Preston and Garrett met a very nice boy their age and they played together all day and night. There were daily crafts and games for everyone. In case you can't tell, I highly recommend the FDR Runaway Bay resort in Jamaica. We also climbed Duns River Falls. Now, I can say I have hiked up a mountain in Alaska with Liam on my back and climbed a 960 ft. waterfall in Jamaica carrying Liam and Nolan!
This week has been very busy for everyone with VBS at church. Our theme this year is the SONFORCE KIDS Secret Agent and we're having ton's of fun!
Here are a few photos from Jamaica. Click on them to enlarge. For more photos, see the BubbleShare photos on the right.
Kim
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