Still Here!

(cross-posted)
I've been so busy! And I am not a person who likes to be really busy; I'd rather be at home with my family. So I cannot WAIT for October, when I have (slightly) more free time!

We've had our second homestudy appointment, but unfortunately, we're still waiting on Ken's background clearance so we can finish. We had to send another form of to Indiana, where Ken went to school. I am not a fan of Indiana. Hopefully his clearance will come back quickly, and we can finally finish our homestudy! Our worker is doing what she can to help us, so that's nice. By the way, it is NOT an easy task to get documents notarized when you and you husband work opposite hours. But we did it! At times like this it is very tempting to just quit my job. But, it isn't time for that yet, so I keep chugging!
We're not moving as quickly as I would like, but we have time. We're aiming for the spring, when LittleKid's country will reopen for dossier submission. But I still want to move as quickly as possible, so we're READY. In the meantime, I've been collecting clothing donations for LittleKid's orphanage, and having garage sale fundraisers. This past weekend we had a sale at my aunt's house. On Saturday, I left for work about twenty minutes before the end of the sale. After I left, a woman came and chatted with my aunt about LittleKid. She handed my aunt a check for our donation bucket and left. My aunt looked at it and it was for FIVE HUNDRED dollars!! It's nearly a week later and I am still in shock! How amazing is that? How blessed we are!

This Sunday is my baby's first birthday! We're having a monkey-themed party, and we're having trifle instead of cake. Apparently, this is an AWFUL thing to do. :)
Brennan keeps getting better at walking! He can go halfway across the room without falling now! He's pretty cautious, but he's been getting more brave and even walking away from furniture that he's holding on to. He walked from one of his toys to the other, and was pretty proud of himself! He also has a second word - "woof!" I didn't even teach it to him. We were sitting on our deck and the neighbors dog was barking. All of a sudden Brennan busts out with a "woof, woof" right back! It was way too cute. Now whenever he hears a dog barking, no matter how far away, he starts woof-ing! I think he says "more" too, ("mo, mo") but I am not sure yet! I can't believe a year has passed since my little guy was born!