The Name!!!

Well, we have spent the last few weeks searching through baby name books and websites trying to decide on a name for our son :) We had it narrowed down to three or four names, and I think we have finally decided on at least a first name.........drum roll, please......................

Caleb!! That is it! His first name will be Caleb. We aren't for sure on the middle name yet, as we are thinking about waiting until we get our referral and seeing if we can incorporate part of that name into his full name, but we do have a few middle names in mind.

Why Caleb?? Well, we wanted to incorporate a Biblical name, and Caleb Caldwell just has a ring to it, don't you think :) On a more serious note, Caleb was a man of faith, even when those around him weren't. We want this for our son, for him to be a man of faith. Also, the adoption journey has been one of faith for us, and we think this name is reflective of our experience.

So, you can officially call him Caleb!

New Pics of the Nursery!!

The nursery is coming together! Mom made this cute little shelf and added some baskets for storage. It looks great! Now we just need a crib!

Where we're at......

Just to let you know where we are in the adoption process.....
Our homestudy has technically been complete for about three weeks now, but we are waiting on a couple of letters from our doctor so that it can be released. This has been frustrating, as we thought we had all the documents we needed from the doctor until last week. Until the homestudy is released, we are really "on hold", because our next step is to submit our homestudy to USCIS. They need our homestudy to process the document that actually gives us permission to bring our child home! It could take anywhere from 1-3 months for them to process this (we are praying it will take only 1 month!!). After they process the form and send us our approval, and after we have everything authenticated by the local, state, and national governments, we then will be ready to send it all to Ethiopia!! That is when our official wait for a referral (i.e. our child) will begin! Since we have requested a boy, we are expecting our wait will be around 2-4 months, but it is really hard to estimate for sure. Our original goal was to have all the paperwork done before Christmas, and it still could happen :) Just keep praying! We should be getting the letters this week. I have been a little frustrated with the whole process this week, and I found myself starting to have a negative, impatient attitude :(. Thankfully, my wonderful husband helped me to remember it is all in God's hands. His timing is perfect.

An Exciting Weekend for our Agency!!!

This weekend five more families received referrals for their children! This is so amazing! One wonderful lady in our group had felt led to pray specifically for referrals this week....so we all joined in....and God did amazing things! We look forward to hearing more great news from these families!

It's Official...We've requested a boy!!

Today at work I received a call from our social worker. During our conversation she explained to me that referrals are coming a bit quicker for boys than girls, and that if we kept our original request as either sex we would most likely receive a boy. So, we have decided to go ahead and request a boy.... we are going to have a son!!! It is kind of a relief to know the sex. Now we can go ahead and do more planning, shopping, you know, all that fun stuff....and, we have to come up with a name now!!! We had only settled firmly on a girl's name, not a boy's.

Thanks for all your prayers, and keep them coming for our son :)

Be a Light of Hope....Partner with us to bring our baby home!

I am so excited to present an opportunity to partner with us to bring home our baby! A dear friend from high school volunteered to help us do a candle fundraiser through Home and Garden Party. The candles smell great (she sent me all the samples), and they would make great Christmas gifts! They burn for 50 hours, and are very affordable at only 9.00 per candle.

There is a link on the top of our blog where you can purchase them online through paypal or by using a credit card. You do not have to have a paypal account to purchase them online. You may also mail checks to our home address: 120 Ridgeline Dr. London, Ky. 40741. Checks can be made out to Zack or Rebecca Caldwell. Make sure to include the quantity and scent you want! We will stop taking orders November 30, so the candles will be here in plenty of time before Christmas! If you are local, candles will be available for pickup at a local venue. If you aren't local, just a few dollars will be added for shipping.

Here are a list of scents:

Warm Maple Sugar*
Spiced Apple*
Creme Brulee
Hot Cinnamon Rolls*
Butter Crunch*
White Rain
Holiday Home*
Warm Cinnamon Pumpkin*
Cookies for Santa*
Cinnamon Cider*
Winter Candy Apple*
Butter Crunch*
Fig Tea
Angel Wings
Vanilla Spice*
Mom's Apple Pie

Only the scents with an asteric are available through online purchase.

Everytime you light your candle, you can remember to pray for our child, and remember that you had a part in bringing hope to an orphan!

The first work on the nursery has begun!

This weekend Zack went on a much anticipated and much deserved motorcycle trip with his dad. While he was gone, we worked on the nursery....it was a lot of work, but so much fun. We know it will still be several months before the baby gets here, but I wanted to get a head start....a really early head start :) We don't know if we are getting a boy or girl, so we painted the room a soft yellow...one of my favorite colors! We also painted the furniture white. It is just a start, but I think it is looking good. A big thanks to mom and dad for their help! Here we are putting the furniture back together!