It's been a few weeks.

The last few weeks have been a whirlwind.  Mark was gone for 9 days on a fishing trip to Alaska, home for a couple days and then off for a quick business trip to Arizona.  School started for Noah and Lincoln (with all the flurry of activity that accompanies that), and Max has kept me on my toes with some new antics of his (including taking off his diaper and smearing you-know-what all over the place when he's in his room or I'm not looking).  And amidst that we are still compiling paperwork for our homestudy and dossier.  With all the hectic-ness that life has been lately, I'm beginning to think that the bigger age gap between Max and baby girl is actually a blessing in disguise.  Of course we're anxious to find out who she is and get her home, but we have faith that God controls the timing of these things perfectly...and that age gap may just be one of many reasons why things are going to take so much longer than we would have chosen.

So!  As for any updates...

• We were able to figure out the problem with Mark's birth certificates and received those in the mail. 
• We were able to get our health insurance company to send a letter of coverage (which one would think I was asking something crazy with how many people I had to go through to get that to happen). 
• Both Mark and I had our physicals and got our medical form notarized.  We just found out about additional information that we have to provide from our physician on each of their company letterhead, so we'll have to get that.  
• I had my "employment" verification notarized (we're waiting on Mark's).  
• We received the requested letter from our boys' pediatrician saying they are healthy and free of any communicable diseases.  
• And...drumroll...we completed the last of the 7 required online education courses and tests, and received the last of our completion certificates today!

So!  For our homestudy to be complete we are basically waiting on Mark's employment verification letter, the letters from our physicians, receipt of 3 more letters of reference, and getting back our FBI background checks!