Adoption Update

We are speeding right along towards the start of our family.

We had hoped to get a lot done over the break but all the traveling and catching up with family and friends was also a priority. However, on the loooonnng drive home we finished all of our paperwork. Now we just have to make some minor adjustments to our profile concerning my job and our insurance ( both of these changed after our initial meeting with the agency).
Tomorrow night we will attend our second class on Communication. From there on out we will take at least one class a week until we are finished with the course. Next Saturday (the 23rd) we will spend 8 hours at the agency learning about psychotrophic medications and the effects they can have on children and behavior.
We also started to look for another home. The seminary has townhomes that would fit a family better and are also farther back from any busy roads. We will need to get our homestudy done there so we are hoping to transfer in March or April. Bad news though...can't have pets in the townhomes. Therefore Elvis and Priscilla will be going to live with my parents...just until we are able to have them again.
We are also official Texas residents!!! We had to get our tags changed and new license made but we did it. Adam took both of our cars to get inspected and once they passed ( toya needed some work done) we got our new tags. Can I just say that Texas takes thier vehicles, tags, inspections seriously and they are pricey!!! It will be worth it though in the long run.
Another item checked off of our list is where to attend church. I am ashamed to say that we have lived here since August and had yet to find a church home. We went to several, both near and far. Two of the churches we went back to hoping to fall in love the second time. Finally,we realized that the most important thing ( to us) was to find a church with a wonderful childrens ministry and a focus on small groups. ( Brother Reggie, if you read this please know when we left Heritage we knew we would never find another pastor like you ....and we haven't yet :))
We prayed about it, talked to older and wiser friends and finally settled on a church. We have actually been to this church about 4 times now, with friends, or to special events but we really felt comfortable there this past Sunday....things just clicked. We are hoping to take a membership class soon and join the church so that we are growing and stable when little Harvell(s) comes along.

** I was talking with Adam on our drive home from Christmas about how no one really brought up our adoption to discuss with us...it was always he or I that mentioned it first. I thought that maybe people just forgot or maybe had a problem with the trans-racial part of it. However, Adam said that people were probably shy to bring it up b/c they might have thought that I am not physically able to have kids and that's why we have decided to adopt. Well, the truth is I have no clue if I can have a kid....and it doesn't matter to me either way. We just know that right now we are being called to adopt children. God may later give us a heart to have our own and if we can, we will.
I know infertility is a very sensitive subject though and in no way do I think it shouldn't be handled with sensitive words. I just wanted friends and family to know that we dont' have a clue as to what the future holds for the structure and the image of our family so please give us parenting advice, tips, strategies, frugal ideas....anything!!!
Also if you know of any good books to read, we have already looked into "Family driven Faith"and "Adopted for Life". We have also read the "Idiots Guide to Adoption"--very helpful (Jessica, if you haven't read this yet I would advise it...good for International and Domestic Adoption).