Another Day, Another Year

Welcome, 2013.
Last night Ryan and I rung in the New Year with good friends, good food, and good conversation. We're looking forward to good things happening this year. We've been so bummed that we haven't gone to Ecuador yet, but last night I got to thinking ... 2012 couldn't possibly have been the worst and the best year for us, right??

So maybe that's why we haven't traveled yet. But now that it's officially 2013, let's get a move on people! WE ARE READY!!!

Looking over past blog posts regarding the New Year, it's interesting to see what I had to say (or lack thereof):

• 2009
• For 2010, I didn't even bother writing a New Year's post. The closest thing was this post in February.
• 2011 was even worse -- I didn't post until April!
• The beginning of 2012 was filled with mixed emotions. We learned that several parents had already lost their children in Kyrgyztan and we were absolutely devastated. We also had a small glimpse of hope that the remaining children would be coming home soon. Such naivete.

But this time it's different. We have nothing but good things to look forward to. This WILL be our year! It has to be ...

Some of you have asked about end of year giving towards our adoption fund. We can definitely still send tax-deductible checks into LifeSong. Just date your check for 12/31/2012, make it payable to LifeSong for Orphans, and write Scheel/#2448 in the memo. You can mail directly to them (PO Box 40, Gridley, IL  61744), or you can mail it to us, and we can send them in for you (1512 Fairlawn Avenue, N. Fond du Lac, WI  54937). Thank you so, so much for your support.

At this point, we've paid all of our fees, except the 2nd in-country fee of $5,000. This fee is required before they allow us to travel and begin our in-country process. A few months ago I added a tab to log all of our Adoption Expenses. Feel free to take a look, and prepare to have your mind blown. It's absolutely ridiculous, and sometimes hurts to look at.

In addition to the Adoption Expenses tab, we also added an Adoption Timeline page so that you can follow along. Soon, hopefully very soon, we will be adding I-800 Approval, Article 5 letter, and Take-Off for Ecuador!!!

Many blessings to you in 2013!