Has It Really Been a Month?

I can't believe that is has been over a month since my last post. I've gotten so many emails from readers asking if everything is okay. The answer is yes. We are great; just busy with fall activities and trying to keep up with the boys. The boys had fall break the first two weeks of October and we had such a good time. We didn't do anything exciting but had a lot of fun just lounging around the house, going to the library and the park, etc. The Chipmunk missed his friends, though, and by the end of the two weeks was definitely ready to go back to school. Monkey, on the other hand, thought that school was finished forever and was heartbroken when we realized that he had to return. Luckily, they've had lots of fun events since they've been back so that has helped a bit.
Now the boys are super-excited about Halloween! We went trick-or-treating at our zoo a couple of weeks ago (they do trick-or-treating several weekends leading up to Halloween) and they've wanted to wear their costumes everyday since then. The Chipmunk is going as a cowboy this year (since his first choice as a princess was nixed by his mom and dad!) and the Monkey is a dragonfly. I've never been a big fan of Halloween, even when I was a child. However, I'm having a blast with Halloween now that I have kids. It is so much fun to watch the boys' eyes come alive with the magic of the holiday. I'll include a picture of the boys with our niece. She decided she wanted to be a stick of butter for Halloween and her dad made the cutest costume I've ever seen!
*Photo removed*
As for the adoption, there is absolutely no news at all. We've almost finished putting the new dossier together so I'm happy about that. We need to get a new FBI background check and a new state police clearance. Never in a million years would I have thought that it would be the end of October and we still wouldn't have heard about dates for our first trip. It's been almost a year (in two weeks) since we turned in our original dossier. Surprisingly, we seem to be doing okay with the constant delays. We know that our HotDog will find us when she is ready. There is not a doubt in my mind about that. In the meantime, we have our hands full just trying to keep up with the Monkey and Chipmunk.
I've seen a lot of other families switch to different agencies recently. I can't blame them. If we weren't at the top of the list in our region and still had a big wait ahead of us, I probably would consider switching too. However, very few agencies work in our small region and we are absolutely committed to going back to Astrakhan. We love our region and feel such a connection to it and the people. We've developed such special relationships there and are looking forward to seeing our friends when we travel back. I think the only thing that would make us change regions is for Astrakhan to completely close to adoptions. Also, I know our agency is really doing everything in their power to get us moving forward. Unfortunately, nothing is going to change until we get reaccredited, which I'm praying happens soon.
I hope everyone has a Happy Halloween and I promise that I won't let another month go by without a new post.