Finding Pictures

The dossier is on route to the US State Department and the Thai Embassy.  One of the additional requirements are some family photos depicting our family life.  These photos  did not need to have the certifications from the embassy and state department, but need included with our final package to the adoption agency.

This is what the requirement from our agency stated:

" Photo's for the Thai government’s Department of Social Development & Welfare, please take care to choose nice photos to represent your family and home to the Thai government. Tape or glue a total of 6-10 good quality photos (photo-quality prints) of your family and the interior and exterior of your home on 81⁄2" x 11" paper or cardstock. Label each picture and include your names. Use discretion and good taste when selecting your photos. Remember, pictures play an important role in introducing you to the officials in Thailand. They are interested in seeing what the home and family environment looks like."


With me being a pretty avid scrapbooker, I have 1000's of photos to choose from.
How do I find only 10 photos?  Which ones should I choose?  


I printed out about 50 different pictures and finally Chris and I narrowed down what we thought to be the top 10.  We wanted to include ones of the boys playing together, pictures of both inside and outside of the house and things we do as a family.  I hope we picked the right ones.  


Here are the 10 images of our family that will be sent to the Thai government.

I think these depict our family pretty well.

"Busy"ness in life

To my Thai Princess
First - I have not forgotten about you. Constantly I hear a song on the radio, read an article in a magazine, hear something on the news or just see someone on the street and I think about you.  I wonder will you look like, how will you act, will you be more nature or nurture.  I know my road to have you in my arms is at least a year away (probably much longer), but I am already looking for "girly" or pink stuff on freecycle or garage sales.  I just found a PINK toy box last week on freecycle and it will be waiting for you when you come home.

Now on to my conviction on "busy"ness in my life
The past two months have flown by and I can not believe that we are already half way through March.  Work has been swamped with teaching courses and developing/redeveloping and updating additional ones.  I now know more than I ever thought I would on biometrics, photolithography and radio frequencies.  I have always been an IT person and this alternate technology realm is somewhat new to me.  Family life is always busy with  little boys around and mine has been no different.  Christopher had his 5^th grade play, many boy scout events, homework projects and many Wii/DS nights at home.  My favorite 2-year old (Joshua) is growing so fast and is learning new things daily.  I love to sit down with him to play cars or read a book (he loves to sit in my lap and read books).  Church volunteer life is always hectic, but I enjoy teaching the 4-years olds on Sunday mornings and hanging with the kiddos at the food pantry on Wednesdays.  Teaching children about God’s love has always been a passion for me and I am so blessed that I have the opportunity to do so in various capacities.  Next is the magnificent time I get to spend with friends - Scrapbooking days, Lord of the Rings festivals, meeting for lunches, Game nights, video parties and so many more.

When ever I have a few minutes to spare, I know there is laundry to be done or dishes to wash or a game of Words with Friends I need to get to.  I have no excuses, but I have been putting off the dossier paperwork finalization.  Whenever I looked at it, I would get frustrated or confused about something and then got busy with something else.

Our home study was approved in January, but I found out the end of January that I was still waiting for some type of accreditation document from Lutheran Social Services that needed included with the dossier.  It was some issue with notarizing the Virginia license.  I guess they have a main office in DC that had some of the documents that were needed and they had to be notarized by a DC notary and then others that had to be notarized by a Virginia notary.  It finally came a few weeks ago.

And over the past week, we have finally spent time on the paperwork and it is on track AGAIN.  Last week our dossier traveled to the Commonwealth of Virginia and has now been sealed with Virginia’s seal.  I contacted the courier service recommended by our adoption service and they have received my package today with the completed dossier in it for additional certification.  It is now on transport to the US State Department and the Thailand Embassy in Washington DC for their certifications and seals.

Priorities in my life are: God – Family – Everything Else.  I am usually pretty good about that with my Chris, Christopher and Joshua family.  I just need to keep integrating her in that set of my priorities.

Other families in this process
I would love to stay in contact with other families in the Thailand adoption process and learn about specifics in your process.  If you could send me a private email at lisapadress@yahoo.com with contact information I can stay in contact with you.