Progress - keep the cards and letters coming

It has been ten days since our last post.  We are not the most prolific of bloggers eh?  Truth be told we have been very busy with medical physicals, document authentication,...  We greatly appreciate those of you who have commented on our story or connected with us.  It is very encouraging during this long and sometimes challenging journey.

Two important things have happened in this last week.  We are about at the point where we have completed all the paperwork for the dossier and homestudy that we can.  We're pretty close to being in waiting mode, dependent on a number of public agencies to respond (USCIS, Homeland Security,...).  We had a couple notarized documents that needed to be authenticated in far away towns and states that we sent out this week and need to wait for them to come back.  All documents that have been notarized to date in our own county have been authenticated and are ready for our big trip to the capital in Albany to get the whole package certified there.

The other thing is, we had our first contributor to our adoption fund.  Her name will be withheld to protect the innocent, but you know who you are, and we thank you.  Only $23K and change left to go.  ;-)

With so much paperwork behind us we took some family time Saturday to enjoy one of the great new sites of the Hudson Valley, the "Walk Over the Hudson".  For those that are not familiar with it, this is a state park built from an old abandoned railway bridge that crosses the Hudson River near the Mid Hudson Bridge at Poughkeepsie.  These few pictures will give you a sense how beautiful the Hudson Valley is. The walkway is a unique landmark due to it's high and unrestricted views in all directions. It feels like you really are walking through the clouds.

From Walk Over the Hudson

It was a really enjoyable afternoon and our little guy slept through most of it in his stroller, and then woke up and sprinted the last quarter of the walk.

And to connect this all, the last picture above shows the county office building where we spent all our time Friday doing adoption paperwork (if you know where to look).

Hope you are all enjoying your summer's too! Bye for now.