34 Weeks

***** I'm so sorry that the Referral Guessing Game link has been deleted.  I changed my blog background and totally didn't even think to write this down before it got deleted.  OOPS! (And now I'm not even sure I like this background, but I'm too tired to try and fix it.)  

Whew.  What a weekend!  Friday night I got to go to a surprise birthday party for my good friend, Taryn, at Emily's house.  So fun!  There's nothing like a girls' night out, you know?  Good times!

 Then, Saturday Nate and I headed to New Albany to see the fam!  Mom and Dad were in town, so we all got to go to lunch together.  I totally meant to take more pictures, but here's a picture of the Wert girls! :)

Could we all look any more alike . . . really?

Then, Saturday night I got to go to a baby shower!!!!  But, before I tell you about that, speaking of babies . . . 

Introducing  . . . Riley Jennings!!!!

Pictures of Sophie will follow soon.  She has still been in the NICU, but she is doing GREAT and will hopefully be home in the next few days!!!  Nakada and KJ are doing wonderful . . . it's as if they know exactly what this parenting this is all about!  They are such naturals!  Congrats, you two!!!!

This is the night that Riley and Sophie were born!  Look how small!  So precious!!!

Em is practicing for her new bundle that is coming soon!!!  Can't wait to meet you, Camden Stout!

But, back to the baby shower . . . CONGRATS TO THE BOWMANS ON RECEIVING THEIR REFERRAL AND COURT DATE!!!!  They will hopefully be traveling in April to pick up their sweet little girl, Natalie!  What a fun baby shower!  I'm so happy for you all!!!!

Meanwhile, while I was at the baby shower, Nate was hosting a surprise birthday party at our house for our good friend, Dan.  PARTIES ALL AROUND!  I got home in time to have a piece of cake, so that was good! :)  

And guess what I got to do today???  I got to hang out with little Riley for a couple of hours while his mom and dad went to visit Sophie!  It was SO FUN!!!!  I tried to teach him to stay "Stef," so we'll see how that turns out.  :)  He is so stinkin' cute!!!!  

So, like I said, a very fun-filled, party-hoppin' weekend!  Now, I'm chillin' in my recliner praying for a snow day this week.  :)  

I also want to give a shout out to my good friend, Angie, who also received her referral and court date for little baby Silas!!!  We are so excited for you all and can't wait to meet him!!!!

**** Adoption Update****

On Monday of this week we received an email from our agency confirming that our cable had been sent to Ethiopia (cable = CIS approval, I think).  GOOD NEWS!  We are so thankful for this!  I have to admit, I got kind of excited when I got this email, because I was thinking that maybe this meant our paperwork was being looked at b/c a referral was soon to come!!!  Hopefully, this is the case, but I think other families have received similar emails SEVERAL weeks before receiving a referral, so maybe I should put those hopes back in that box for now.  :)  If you have any insight on this (a.k.a. if you've received a similar email and would like to talk about it) I would love to hear about it! :)    Not that I'm trying to predict when that call might come or anything . . .   :)

Hope you all have a lovely last week of January!