Immigration Approval and more

So the most exciting thing happened today- we received Immigration approval to adopt Maria!  This was the last paper we need to get notarized and apostilled and then we can send our paperwork to her country! I can't believe it has gone so quickly and smoothly! There must be some awesome prayer warriors out there lifting us and our baby up and sending the angels to battle for her rescue.

Our agency has been pretty busy right now as there are several families traveling right now, so I'm praying there won't be any delays and they can get our paperwork processed quickly. We could be traveling very quickly after it gets sent. I'm thinking definitely mid-April.

Which would be great timing because we are hoping to move into our new house by April 1st!   We are so blessed that God provided the perfect place within our budget!  We have a lot of work to do before we can move, so we'll be very busy this next month. Good thing we had an awesome vacation, because now it's going to be non-stop-no-rest-for-the-weary.

Here's a cute photo of my kids, dressed up in their Hawaiian outfits that we got them on our trip. We got a matching one for Maria too, just like Gigi's, but green with blue and white.  Diego is wearing my new sun hat.

On another note, I wanted to mention  the "paper pregnancy" phenomenon. Everyone in the adoption world talks about it. You gain weight (don't get me started), you nest, you have mood swings. It's a lot like when you're actually pregnant. I'm sure there have been some studies on it, and there might even be some proof that our bodies start producing hormones because of this exciting period of anticipation.

But this?

My nails have never grown like this except when I've been pregnant. They usually break or split or I anxiously pick at them until they break or split (just ask my mom). But they are super strong and long right now. Anyway, I just thought that was funny and I also wanted to send my husband a picture of my hands because he's always saying how much he likes them.  Before we start working on the house and they all break!