Referral – Girls Girls Girls!!!!

Our time has come – we survived the great wait !!!  We have received our referral!!! The call came in December 4^th, Kay, our coordinator, gave us the wonderful news – the only information at first was - we had a referral.  In the following weeks, details of our referral trickled in – TWIN GIRLS!!!!! Once we laid eyes on them December 14^th -  Yes, they are our girls and we are blessed – they are who we prayed for all these years.  We have our travel dates – can’t wait to meet them– so excited!!!               

We can’t stop thinkin’ about Girls! Girls!

Summertime!

We had a wonderful summer vacation.  Our family vacation just gets better each year! 

The Beach Club

It’s a smile, it’s a kiss - It’s a sip of wine, It’s summertime -Sweet summertime!

 

Double Red Flag Cautions were flying high most of the week!!!

 

Vince and Zach just hangin’ out

Loving their Aunt Pam!!!!!   

I’ll work on catching up on what’s been going on. Hope you enjoy a few pictures. This is a start!

Whole Lotta Celebrating Goin' On

We have been busy this month with so many celebrations.  Vince celebrated his birthday with a day of relaxation and dinner at Carrabba’s Italian Grill – Vince ordered spaghetti with Italian sausage and my favorite was the signature dish of Pasta Weesie.

Nurse’s Week

We celebrated all the magnificent Nurses at Baptist!

We also had lots of fun in the HotShots Photo Booth!!!

Lauren and Chris Winchell’s Wedding

My Best Friend Melinda

My Sweetheart

Hub City Fitness Quest

Dustin took 1^st place in his division as well as Overall Winner for Men’s Physique !  We're so proud of him!!

As you can see, we’ve been super busy and having blast.  I would like to say there was lots going on with our adoption but I can’t.  As the old adage says: no news is good news – NOT – hopefully soon!!

On a Jet Plane

YEAH!!!! We have received our USCIS extension last Thursday.  We immediately got busy getting our documents notarized, certified and apostilled.  USCIS was notarized Friday – then all notaries were certified – off to our capital in Nashville for the official seal of approval.  Tuesday we received all apostilled documents – Thanks FedEx for a speedy delivery!!!!  Made my copies of all the documents then – off they went – back to FedEx – On a Jet Plane – to Bulgaria!!!!  I wish I could say we were on that jet plane ---- VESTA should have them in their hands Friday!!! YEAH!!!

Praying for our Referrals!!!  As we continue to wait…

Putting on a Happy Face

This week we received our USCIS letter for our fingerprinting appointments– scheduled for April 24^th – YIKES!!!  Our USCIS approval will expire April 7^th – we hoped we could have gotten our extension completed prior to the expiration.  Our agency continues to tell us our referral in coming soon.  They have also informed us that we can’t receive a referral without a valid USCIS approval!!! OMG!!!  No happy faces here!!!

The only way to help speed this up is for us to get our fingerprints ASAP!!! So, Thursday we went to our immigration office to see if this was possible to actually get our fingerprinting taken early. This seemed like a small endeavor although presenting with many adversities, we had a spring storm producing hail – we still headed out to test our luck.  We pleaded our case for early fingerprints which they were so nice and accommodating of our request – I quickly completed my fingerprints -then it was Vince’s turn- he started and right in the middle of his fingerprints there was a power outage…….................. Thank goodness for battery backup!!! Even with the power outage we were in and out of there in a flash – needless to say – We’re smiling. 

Today we received the dread pink letter from the USCIS requesting additional information as well as clarity of the children we are approved to adopt.  I'm happy that their request seems like it should be handled with a quick amendment to our home study- I’m hoping Carla is available Monday to pull this request together.  I really want to have it back to the USCIS office no later than Wednesday.   All goes well we will have our extension approval in approximately a week.  Finger crossed. 

Putting on a Happy Face!

Looking forward to our Easter Celebration!

Rockin' to Simulation

Last week was tough and very busy at the hospital although very exciting to show off all of our work and dedication to patient safety.  Baptist Memphis and Laerdal Medical hosted a Simulation User Network (SUN) conference showcasing how simulation integrates quality, safety, and patient satisfaction.  We opened the conference with a video that lead into a simulation on the main floor.  I am so proud of our team and especially proud of my ER Nurses and the Memphis Fire Department Paramedics as they played key roles in the simulation. 

It was perfect!!!



Our boss, Judy, may call us her Rock Stars as she pushes us to be our best however we think she is the BOOM – our Bon Jovi - the best boss ever – as we are ROCKIN the house with outcomes!!!!   

Improving Patient Care