home study. check!

last wednesday we had our home study...and it went great!  our social worker was a super nice guy who seemed really interested in international adoption.  he only knew 2 other couples in el paso that had adopted internationally...one of them being our friends, the the pabens, who are in Thailand preparing to bring home their son, oaks!
we are really happy to have this part of the process done and are now waiting for the home study to be written up and approved by our adoption agency.  THEN we can send in our dossier--which is a formal term for a collection of documents prepared in a specific way, AND apply for USCIS approval.  USCIS approval means that we have permission from the u.s. government to bring a child into the united states from another country as an immediate member of our family.  got it? cool.
after all of THAT is done (and we are approved and a few other things happen) we are put on a waiting list (TADA!) for our child.  I don't have any sort of time frame for how long all of this will take, but I'm hoping not too much longer.  remember....adoption = A LOT of waiting = WORTH it.
while pete was having his interview with the social worker the girls and I played outside in our back yard.

and then after mr. social worker left, we had our crock potted dinner of cuban braised beef and peppers. 
I am a crock pot fanatic.  a crock star, if you will.
and then we needed ice cream from sonic to celebrate! one more item off the list.

I'm afraid they both got my extreme sweet tooth. or teeth.

and the WINNER is....

I interrupted eden's saturday morning movie of choice (annie) to have her help pick the give away winner!
thank you to everyone who participated and shared our story!  we were blown away by the amount of comments and the sweet words of encouragement.  It is so wonderful to have you all following our family through this journey.

and SO...

the winner is....

Sallee from it's poppy dip!!!

Sallee already bought 2 shirts and now...she gets another one!!  The funny/cool thing is that I had already known about Sallee and her poppy dip dresses from reading some other adoption blogs.  She and her family have adopted from Ethiopia twice and are on there way to baby #3! Sallee sews ADORABLE girls clothing as a fundraiser for their adoptions...isn't that wonderful?! please go check out her shop...I know we'll be buying matching sister outfits soon...I just need to pick out fabric!

congratulations, sallee!  send me an email with what size shirt you would like this time.  my email address is over on the right with the shirt donation directions.
thank you, thank you everyone for participating in this give away and getting the word out about our shirt fundraiser.  we still have lots of shirts to sell, so I hope you'll think about buying some!

ready, set, GIVE AWAY!

that's right! we're going to give away one of our fundraiser shirts!

If this is your first time ever stopping by "texas petes"...welcome!
we are the dockery family and are in the process of our first adoption. we are a missionary family that lives on the border of el paso, tx and mexico...building homes for the poor in Juarez, Mexico. we have two biological daughters who bring tons of JOY to our lives, and we can hardly wait to bring another child into our family. we are adopting from the country of ethiopia.  we would LOVE for you to consider donating to our adoption fund by following the directions over there on the right side of the blog. 
we have the adult shirt, which is pictured above, as well as a childrens version:

there are a few ways to enter this give away.  first, become a follower of our blog and then leave us a comment telling us that you did.  you can also blog or facebook about this give away and once again, let us know by commenting.  If you do both of these...you'll get in the pot 3 times! 
thanks for stopping by!  we'll post the winner on Saturday!

huevos and waiting

hi friends. well, we were supposed to have our home study today. this is the part in the adoption process where a social worker comes and checks out your home, asks you a bunch of questions, and gives you a lot of information. when the home study is completed a lot of other BIG things can get put into motion on the adoption paper trail...so we were looking forward to it.
BUT. he called and had to cancel because of a training session he didn't know he was required to attend. bummer! we rescheduled for wednesday, and I am trying to look at it as another exercise in waiting. if there is one thing that goes along with adoption...it is waiting. so, we will wait. until wednesday!
speaking of wednesday...you might want to check back here for a special surprise. that's all I'm saying.
but about huevos. I don't think I've ever blogged about our dinner. maybe I have. but tonight, I simply must. it was so pretty and delicious. I made skillet poached huevos rancheros. that's right, I like to pretend I can cook like all the abuelitas around me. I can't...but this dinner was a winner.
check it.

 you just mix salsa and black beans together and let them simmer.  make little wells for 4 huevos and crack them in. cover and let the eggs simmer/cook for 5 minutes or so.  we served them on tortillas over spanish rice topped with cilantro and scallion. mmmmm.
and just because I have to show this picture...here is my mother surrounded by ethiopian children.  my parents were in ethiopia on a mission trip with my home church for about 10 days.  they returned home this afternoon and I can't wait to hear all of their stories.  I was certain my mother couldn't be any more beautiful.  but I was wrong.

red. yellow. black. white. love.

they are here!  the shirts arrived late this afternoon and all four of us immediately put them on.  we love them so very much and hope that they serve as a great way to help us finance our adoption, have people remember to pray for us, and share with people about adoption...and Jesus!

here are some photos of the goods. first, the adult version...

and then the kids version...

aren't they great?!  just FYI they are 60 % polyester and 40 % cotton.  and super, super soft.
thank you SO much to our friends and family that have already donated and become a part of bringing baby home.  if you haven't and would like to...the directions are over there on the right side of the blog.

also...you didn't think she really stayed dressed...did you?

the shirts are coming!!

hello blog readers...and friends of blog readers. people who love adoption...people who would love to support bringing a child into a family that will love it forever. hello one and all.
we, the dockery family, would love for you to help us along on this miraculous adoption journey. and we just made it easy to do so...financially speaking.
it is no secret that adoption is pricey. almost every adopting family that I know of has done, or is doing multiple types of fundraisers to help out with the cost. we are not worried at all about God providing for us throughout this beautiful process. but, it never hurts to ask for a little help from the world. and that is just what we are doing.

pete thought up this sweet (as in cool and like a baby) t-shirt to express the way we feel about adoption. the shirt simply has the continent of africa with the words: red, yellow, black, white, and love across it. the verse ephesians 1:4-5 is printed down at the bottom.
the message says it like this...
"long before he laid down earth's foundations, he had us in mind, had settled on us as the focus of his love, to be made whole and holy by his love. long, long ago he decided to adopt us into his family through Jesus Christ."
he decided to adopt us into his family through Jesus Christ. he had US in mind before he made the earth! I am ever thankful to be a part of his family. that the perfect blood of Jesus provided the way.

the shirts will be at our house this friday. ready to be mailed out to you kind people. I will post a better picture of the actual shirt when we get them. the shirt is a brown/heathered color and has an athletic fit. the material is that nice, soft t-shirt kind that all the kids are liking these days...not the hard/sturdy old school cotton kind. the design will be that faded/worn look just like the picture above. we'll ship them as soon as we can!

tell your friends...tell your neighbors! thanks!

enat

we are home visiting family in Georigia, which is dreamy. last night pete and I took advantage of having grandparents around and went on a real, actual date.  I think I can count the times on 1 hand that we have left both girls somewhere...it's a little tough for me.  I like to have them with me always.  however, I do realize that it is good for a marriage for the mom and dad to go off alone and blah blah blah.  spare me the marriage health alerts.
anyhoo.  the evening included:  my very FIRST ever trip to ikea.  that's right people.  and it was everything I had ever imagined...right down to the $1 cinnamon roll.  I could have stayed in the children's department for 3 hours and dreamed up fun ideas for organizing and new bunk beds.  wow. I loved it.
then we stopped at lenox mall to visit the only 2 stores I care about: anthropologie and urban outfitters.  I only ever want to smell anthropologie...that is really all I can afford to do in there. 
THEN...another first...we went and tried ethiopian food!
the name of the restaurant that we chose was enat ethiopian restaurant.  "enat" means mother in amharic...which is the official language of ethiopia.
the location of this place was a little questionable.  sort of sandwiched in between adult video stores and run down buildings.  but...it had rave reviews and we decided to go for it.  and boy, am I glad the XXX nudey girl movie signs didn't scare us away.  it was delicious and incredible dining experience. 

the waitress was this beautiful ethiopian woman.  the restaurant smelled like yummy spices and was decorated with ethiopian art and baskets and paintings.  I sort of knew a little bit about the food from my best friend natalie.  she lived in ethiopia for a summer.  I knew that we would eat with our hands...and I'd seen pictures of her doing so.  I was sort of excited about that part.

pete ordered kei wott which is a spicy beef stew, and I ordered doro alicha which is curried chicken.  it is served on injera which is a yeast risen flat bread...that is very spongey.  they give you little rolls of injera and that is what you use to shovel the food into your mouth. 

we seriously enjoyed it to the last ethiopian-y bite. and it made us feel even more excited about our child that is to come.  it made us wonder all the more what he/she will be like.  we talked about taking him/her to eat ethiopian food and how we need to learn so much more about ethiopian culture and history. 
I can't even wait to become an "enat" again.

table for 22

growing up everyone thought our family with 5 kids was big.  I just thought it was normal.  harbin party of 7. now the 7 has turned into 22 and growing.  this week we are all in florida getting sandy, burned, and letting the cousins soak up time together.  their are 10 grandchildren so far.  4 of them are 3 years old.  the last 3 are sweet babies that we pass around...well, charlotte sort of does her own thing now.
so here are some of our first days together.  I just can't help how cute everyone is.

more to come...of course!

papier

I've heard the adoption process called by a few names.  the "paper chase" and a "paper pregnancy' are among them.  today I mailed off a list of 21 items that served as an application to our home study agency.  over the last 2 weeks or so I have carefully checked off each requirement as it was completed.  blood work, pediatrician visits, questionnaires, a floor plan of our home, references...you name it, it's in there. once this is approved we will receive an actual home study visit, complete a heck of a bunch more paper work, and then send it off to ethiopia to be approved.  THEN we will be put on a waiting list for our sweet baby.
with every paper signed, item checked off...we are closer and closer.  and more excited.  and it all becomes more real.

here are the big sisters in their new shirts that we bought from another adopting family.  and you can bet your bottom that we'll be selling a cool adoption fundraiser t-shirt in the future.  so save up your dollars to help bring baby home!

28 is great

yesterday I turned the big 2-8.  and I thought it only made sense to exercise my harbin ice cream eating gene to it's full limits.  I slowly and steadily made my way through a "love-it" sized waffle bowl...filled with coffee icecream that had raspberries and brownies mixed in. mmmmm.
oh, and of course I ate the waffle bowl as well. didn't want to let the family name down.
it was a lovely day with my pretty family. I can't help but wonder what year 28 will bring.

where's charlotte?

and yes, she did this all on her own.  big sister brought the stool into her room so she could reach something on the top bookshelf...so little sister decided she needed to do a little work of her own.  and in the end, a little exploring and climbing.

sam-I-am

here in the dockery home we are big dr. seuss fans.  I mean, come on...who isn't?  eden has loved the beloved classic green eggs and ham for a good long while.  before bed she always picks books for us to read.  sometimes she gets stuck on one or two favorites for a few nights in a row.  green eggs and ham was one of those favorites in recent bedtime book reading.  the other night I read it to her and told her that if she remembered to ask me in the morning I would make her green eggs and ham for breakfast in the morning.  her eyes twinkled and she shouted "you're the BEST mom!!!".  sometimes it takes so little.
so, the next morning...she hadn't forgotten.  at 7 a.m.  I put a drip of green food coloring into 2 scrambled eggs. and voila...green eggs.  the only ham we had was the lunch meat packaged kind...so I didn't turn it green.  eden was thrilled with the green eggs but requested green ham as well for next time.  should have known she'd need complete accuracy in recreating the story.

we also had a few other cute picture worthy happenings last week.  it was cow appreciation day at chick-fil-a, so we dressed up the girls and they got free kids meals.  we had black spots pinned on charlotte, but she ripped them off before we even got in the door.  oh well, they still gave her the nuggets.

also...that night we went to the el paso zoo's members only night.  ooooh aren't we fancy?  we were the first to see the new zebras, meerkats, and giraffes (along with a few hundred other members and their families).  the giraffes were apparently too frightened to come over a bridge into their new habitat so we didn't actually see them at all.  eden was really upset about this and even cried.  we never knew she had such an interest in giraffes.  later that night she told us she had an idea.  the next time we went to the zoo, she would bring her flute (pink plastic recorder) and play it for the giraffes so that they would come out.  because "all animals love instruments".  now, why didn't WE think of that.  of course!