bye bye kentucky

Well, today is my last day in Kentucky. I am so happy to finally be heading home. I did have a fantastic rotation, and i spent nearly every weekend visiting with family. It was really great to get to be driving distance from the fam. I am definately considering requesting to be stationed here next summer when i finish residency.

anyway, i leave this afternoon, and fly to dallas, then LA, and then Honolulu! I land just after midnight Hawaii time (5 a.m. Ohio time!). Saturday i will get unpacked and rest some, and then i start my Night shift rotation.

Cris also has a few busy months ahead, with continuing to collect data for his research project and dissertation. I really think the next 10 weeks will fly by, and before we know it Little Nova will be here! Hopefully Juneau will be arriving either shortly before or after.

As far as the adoption goes, we are still waiting for 1 final document for her paperwork to be complete. I got an email this week that said they anticipate that document will be ready in the next 1-2 weeks. It is a form that the local government officials have to fill out stating that a local newspaper ad was run for 30 days reporting that a child had been found and looking for any relatives to claim her. She has already been through this 30 day waiting period, but we are just waiting for the signature. Once that document is complete we move to the final stage of waiting. This is submitting our I600 to the US Consulate in order to approve her visa. This is supposed to take no more than 60 days, although it has recently become unclear as to whether this is 60 business days or 60calendar days. But regardless of that, once we submit the I600 we should be traveling within 2-3 months. I am anticipating that we should have the I600 submitted by March 15.

I am so sad that i won't be able to travel to Vietnam to pick up Juneau. I have been looking forward to that very moment for over a year, and it is unbelievable that the timing has been so crazy. I will likely be either way to pregnant, or have just delivered our little Nova to travel to Vietnam. Cris is already working on recruiting a companion (or two!) for his trip. Fortunately Coral, as well as Dad and Mom Stickley are getting their passports ready to go in case a little trip to Vietnam is in their future this summer!

And finally, here is a Stickley Family Picture taken at our baby shower 2 weeks ago. I think there is room to squeeze in a couple more little girls on that couch!