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We are on the CAS website!!! Definitely check out our profile!!! We are on the bottom of the first page!! We were placed on the website this past Wednesday (April 7th). We are super excited and cannot wait for whatever happens next!!
We had the Wake County Teacher of the Year Semi-Finals Reception on Wednesday night. We went with Cathy's principal and her IRT (Instructional Resource Teacher) and had a nice time. They called each semi-finalist up and gave them a keychain that says "2010 Teacher of the Year" and then announced the finalists.
Cathy was not one of the 12 finalists that they named, and while there was a bit of disappointment, she was proud nonetheless. She would have had to do an interview with the committee of 20 people- which was a bit overwhelming to her. She was just honored that her fellow teachers had chosen her as the Oak Grove TOY.
There are more than 9,000 teachers in the county and of them, there were 190 named as Teachers of the Year for their individual schools. Of those 190, Cathy was in the top 24 which is something to be very proud of. The group of 12 is made up of a lot of middle school and high school teachers (only five elementary teachers) and several men and minorities.
We received another package for Tadpole Walker this week. Cathy's friend Andrea (from Phi Sigma Pi) sent us some goodies and we were pleasantly surprised with her gift. We have quite a lot of things for Tadpole and our collection keeps growing. We don't have any bottles or safety things, and very few clothes, but hopefully those will come when we get matched.
Anyway- it's been a beautiful weekend here in NC and we're both doing well. Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers as we wait for Tadpole. As they say, the waiting is the hardest part.
With love,
The Walkers
We are on the waiting list!!! YAY!! We went to Charlotte yesterday to meet with Doris and spent about two and a half hours talking with her and sharing more about ourselves. It was a great visit and the best part was leaving the three Adoptive Family Albums and Expectant Mother letters with her! We should be on the CAS website in about a week or two.
Things are going well for both of us at work. Cathy has the Semi-Finals Reception on Wednesday for Wake County Teacher of the Year. She'll find out if she has been selected for the Finals (top 12 teachers in the county) on Wednesday night and she's already nervous about it. She had her observation at the beginning of March and didn't really get any feedback (positive or negative) about her observation. She wrote about it in her blog, so if you're interested in getting more information, definitely read her blog.
Steve is getting excited for the 3rd Annual Planet Earth Celebration with Burt's on the 17th of April. We'll be going downtown and volunteering, though we don't know what we'll be doing this year.
Steve is especially proud of recent accomplishments at work. His hard work and determination has helped lead Burt's to being a 100% Zero-Landfill company! That means that everything that they use each day is diverted to other places, and NOTHING goes to the landfill!! This is quite a feat and Steve is very proud of his effort, but also proud to work for a company that is able to do what many are not!
This weekend (tomorrow) we have our first Bulls game of the season. It's not the regular season yet, but we're going to the DBAP for the first ever game of the Bulls versus the Rays! A Minor League team versus their Major League Affiliate team!! We are going to cheer loudly for the Bulls and are excited for the forecasted 80 degree day tomorrow!! What a great way to spend the weekend!!
Last night we celebrated as we watched UD (University of Dayton) beat UNC (University of North Carolina Chapel Hill) in the NIT College Men's Basketball Championship!! It was a great game and UD won 79 to 68!! It was a HUGE victory and Steve was especially excited. When on Earth would UD ever have the chance to play a power-house like UNC??? And then to win... it was amazing!! Steve wore his UD Basketball t-shirt to work today and proudly took his UD Flag that Cathy's parents bought him last year for Christmas. He is definitely soaking up the win!!
That's about all the news for us for now. We'll keep everyone updated on things with the adoption for sure. We were told that it could be very soon that we're matched, or a while. It's all a matter of what God has in store for us and we're asking for plenty of patience... and all the prayers that we can get!!
We've had several people ask about our registry (we're not having a baby shower), so we thought we'd put it out there again. We posted it a few months ago, but if anyone is curious about it here's the link again: http://www.amazon.com/gp/registry/baby/2JQYX39EHGS21.
We'll write again soon...
:)
The Walkers
Posted by
Cat's Litterbox
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Adoption
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2:28 PM
We had our last home study meeting on Thursday!! Walt came to our house at 6:30 and unlike the other two visits, he actually stayed for the full two hours. He took a tour of the house, and was taking notes the whole time.
When the tour was finished, we sat down in the dining room and talked about what happens next, and he had some additional questions for us. Bascially, he has to complete the home study report (he said he should have it done in less than a week or so), then he'll send us a copy (email) to look over and approve. Once we've approved it, he'll send it to the agency and they'll meet and approve it. He said that within two to four weeks we should hear from Doris to come to the agency and give her our books and pictures for the website.
He also said that the average wait right now is seven to nine months. We hope it doesn't take that long!! Anyway, he said that he doesn't see why there'd be any problem with our approval, so now we just wait.
:)
The Walkers
Hello friends! We hope this finds you all well! We are doing fabulous and are excited to share some recent updates with you all.
First, we had our second home study meeting this past Tuesday. We had to reschedule it from the 28th because Steve was violently ill. He spent his 35th birthday being very sick. Fortunately, he was only sick for a few days, but he was out of work for almost a week and was severely dehydrated and couldn't quite shake it. He's pretty certain that it was food poisioning from eating at Tossed.
Anyway, Cathy made Steve a cake for his birthday and that was good enough for him.
We went to Clayton on Tuesday to meet with Walt. This second visit was when he was going to meet with us both separately. He said it would take roughly two hours, so we went into it expecting to be grilled. Steve went first and was back to get Cathy after about 30 minutes. Then Cathy went in and met with him and was done in 20 minutes. We were on our way home in an hour from the time that we arrived.
He asked us questions about our parents and siblings, he also asked a few questions about our previous marriages. It was really easy and surprised us both that there wasn't more to it than that. Walt told Cathy that he thinks that we're a delightful couple and that he thinks we're very transparent. He likes that what you see is what you get and we're not trying to be something that we're not. He said he bets our home is a lot of fun. :)
We have our final home study this Thursday. Cathy tracks back in and then we have Walt coming over to the house around 6:30. We don't know how long this visit will be, but we're not expecting it to last any more than two hours at the most.
We've been recieving so many wonderful gifts for Tadpole Walker. We received the diaper bag that Cathy really wanted from her hair stylist Shannon. She also gave us four books that we wanted that are children's books on adoption. We also got a froggy johnny jumper from Kim (Cathy works with her) and then we also got a toy bag, froggy towels and another children's book on adoption from Mindy and Jason (Mindy is Cathy's little sister in AGD). Sue Ann sent us a cute frog blanket (pictured in the slide show) and some onesies. We're so lucky to have such great friends and family who are supporting us.
This week we decided to "save our marriage" and hire a cleaning service. Steve is having a hard time with the idea of paying someone to clean our house, but thanks to his coworker Christie, he decided to just give in. Cathy is very excited because we'll have someone coming every other week and they'll do all the dirty work. We'll just have to pick up and maintain, but it'll be so nice to have it vacuumed and clean!!
Cathy goes back to work on Thursday. She is going to go into work Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday and get some work done, so her vacation is pretty much over. She is going to be going to NYC at the end of the month for a wonderful opportunity with Scholastic. She's excited-- you can read more about it on her blog.
Well, we'll be sure to post something next weekend about the final home study visit. Pray for us that we're called by Doris soon and able to get put on the waiting list! Cathy (and her mom) has a good feeling about March. Her psychic said that March would bring a lot of change for us... so maybe that means placement!
Wishing you well,
The Walkers
Posted by
Cat's Litterbox
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Adoption
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3:15 PM
Well... we were contacted by CAS two weeks ago (January 7th) and went on the 14th for our first home study meeting. Cathy was SO nervous!! We met at the Clayton Public Library and our case manager's name is Walt. Walt is the supervisor for all the CAS case workers and he's the one that signs off on their home study reports. Because he's the supervisor, his (our) home study report will be signed off by Jim (co-founder of CAS).
Walt told us that he was pleasantly surprised by the amount of information that we provided in our formal application paperwork. He said that the average couple will submit anywhere from 5-8 pages for their autobiographies, and Steve submitted 22 and Cathy submitted 28. We officially hold the record for the most information provided!! Whoo hoo!!
Because we submitted so much information, Walt contacted Jim and asked him what he should be talking with us about since everything he would have asked us was already answered in our paperwork. As a result, our meeting didn't last the typical two hours, it was actually a little more than one hour. He said he doesn't think our process will take very long and he's anticipating a quick placement for us. He said he'd be surprised if we had to wait longer than June for a baby!! YAY!!
So... we ended up scheduling our next meeting for the 28th. We'll be going back to Clayton to meet with Walt and this time he'll meet with Steve for 45 minutes and then with Cathy for 45 minutes. After that, we'll schedule our home visit where he'll come to our house and do our final meeting.
After the final meeting, Walt will write up his home study report and it'll go before a committee and they'll either approve us or deny us as a waiting family. We'll (hopefully) get a call from Doris (Jim's wife and co-founder of CAS) and we'll take our three Adoptive Family Albums, and our pictures for the website, and our Dear Birthmother letter and we'll give it all to her. At that point we'll be on the waiting list and just wait to be matched with a birth mother!
So when Cathy's dad was here he and Steve built shelves in the FROG. Last weekend we moved books from the plastic shelves that we had onto the new book shelves and the FROG practically doubled in size! We'll be adding items from the spare bedroom this weekend (Cathy's C4 desk) and then that room will be the nursery. We are going to put the crib together this weekend and put it in there.
This week Cathy discovered Craig's List and we actually bought just about everything that we need for our little tadpole! We have a frog theme, and we found "Sir Leapsalot" bedding-- it's super cute. It's a frog prince and princess and it's lavender, yellow, celery, and cream (very gender neutral) and then it came with a cute lamp, a diaper holder thingy, a changing pad, a really pretty picture of the two frogs, and then we also got two valances for the windows.
We also got two strollers-- one for easy trips, and then one that is our travel system, we also got a changing table, a high chair, an exersaucer, some toys, and then the car seat. We're super excited!!
We'll keep you posted on everything as it comes about... until the next posting please keep us in your prayers!!
:)
The Walkers
Happy New Year!!
We welcomed 2010 with Cathy's mom and dad and some delicious snacks! Cathy's parents arrived in Holly Springs on Sunday, December 27th and they've been with us for almost a week. They're planning on going back to Michigan Saturday morning. :(
Our Christmas was fabulous! Cathy was well-spoiled with a Kindle, a Nintendo DSi, and a Flip camera. She also got the accessories that go with the Kindle, some DSi games, books for her Kindle, a beautiful bracelet, a beautiful ring, some shoes, 90210 season eight, and some other books. Steve got a personalized Bengals jersey with Walker on the back, a Carson Palmer Bengals jersey, some books, a Bengals grill cover, a Keurg coffee grinder thingy for the K-Cup maker, and then some shirts, a pair of shoes, and everything else that was on his wish list!
We figure it's our last Christmas to go all out on each other (hopefully) and so we went a little over-board, but that's okay.
While Cathy's parents have been here, we asked her dad if he'd be willing to help us by making some shelves for the FROG (front room over the garage). He was more than happy to help, and he and Steve have spent the entire week working on building shelves. We're so excited because with the shelves in there, Cathy can put all her classroom books on the shelves, and then we'll be able to take the plastic shelves out. It makes for more room and makes the FROG so much more useful! We are super excited too because we'll have the room cleaned and looking nice for when we have the home study. That room is the main room that we've been stressed about, and it's so nice to know that it's almost ready to be used!
Cathy is going to move her desk for C4 in there, and then she can also do scrapbooking in there. We're also going to move our love seat from our bedroom into the FROG and we'll have a television in there as well. It'll be a nice "get-away" room.
The last of our four CAS reference letters has been sent out and is being worked on. We had a minor blip because one of the people that we had asked to write a letter for us was not able to commit, and so CAS has had to use another person. Once they get their letter (she said she's going to mail it Monday), then CAS will contact us and we can schedule the home study. We'll post more when we have more details!
We hope that everyone had a nice Christmas and a fantastic New Years!! We're really praying that 2010 is a blessed year for us. We hope that this time next year, we have a family and we can post about what wonderful things our little baby is doing!!
Love to all!
The Walkers
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