Whoa Nelly!

Remember how I said once our adoption homework and scrapbook are finished, we can schedule a home study? Well, we aren't done yet, but we have a date for a home study! Eek! I know, you 're thinking, WHAT? (Any of you who have heard Brayden say this, insert sound effect here.) That's what we were thinking too when St. Elizabeth called us to set a date. It's complete craziness. Nothing happened all summer and now it is happening all at once! We are incredibly excited because this is the last step of the whole process, we just weren't quite ready yet. So, the homework is done. Good news, right? Right. But the scrapbook isn't even started. Bad news, right? Well... that's why we have Shelby. Anyway, September 22nd is the big day. Pray for us!

Adoption Meeting Info

Just a quick update about our adoption meeting on Wednesday. It was at our agency in Indianapolis. Besides us there were 10 other couples and a single woman there. It lasted all day, but we learned a lot. Mandi took 4 pages of notes and Michael asked several good questions. We now have lots of "homework" to do. Both of us have to do an autobiography in essay format (Michael's thrilled about that!) and fill out a questionnaire. Then we also have to make a scrapbook. It includes pictures of us and our lives. This is how a birth mother chooses us to adopt her baby. So, as soon as our "homework" and scrapbook are complete, we can schedule a home study. Needless to say, we've been working very hard on all of this to get as much done as possible before school starts on Monday!

Summer Update

Good news! We have a date for a meeting with our adoption agency. Next Wednesday, August 6th, we will be going to Indy to spend the day with the director. This is a big step we've been looking forward to all summer. We'll learn more about what we'll be going through in the next several months.

Speaking of baby news... here are a few pictures of the baby's room, before and after we remodeled. Michael did a great job from demolition to drywall and Mandi did some awesome painting.

And we want to thank Eric and Alison for loaning us a whole carload full of baby stuff! It was like Christmas in July looking at everything. Cooper certainly enjoyed it when he and Shelby were here the other day!

We love our nieces and nephews!

We've been lucky to get to spend some time with Dalayna, Brayden, Bryce, and Audrey recently.

Michael thinks he can show Brayden a thing or two about cooking after watching Mandi's favorite tv station, the Food Network.

Apparently Mandi has a very comfy lap. Here she is with Audrey and Brayden...

And again with Bryce and Dalayna.

Bryce's favorite thing is tractors. He had a stow-away on this trip.

This is one of three new posts, so make sure you look at them all!

4th of July

We had another fun weekend at the lake this 4th of July.

Sunset on the lake, how romantic!

As you can see, several universities are well-represented in the Rigney family.

Corn hole is a favorite way to pass the time.

The games occasionally get competetive with a little bit of trash-talking.

Fun Summer!

Michael and Mandi let me in the house on a hot day to cool off, so I thought I would let everyone know what I have been doing. Mandi's friend, Tyson, gave me a new bike tire. Oh, how I have missed having one. Don't I look great wearing it?


Michael was outside today trimming some tree limbs. I thought it would be fun to play hide and seek. Can you find me? I hope everyone's summer is going as well as mine.

Summer is here!

We are all very glad that summer is here, although Mandi and Michael are still working for a few more weeks. We don't really have any big adoption news to report. The most recent happening is that two out of six of our references have received letters to send back to the agency telling them how awesome we are. When something more interesting happens, we will definitely post it. Here are a few random pictures from the past couple of weeks.

This is Mandi learning to drive the short bus from school. She thinks she is a pretty good driver!

While at the lake for Memorial Day weekend, Michael, Sam, and Chuck put in the pier.

Check out Michael's Uncle Bob. He's proud of that black eye. You should see the other guy! He was actually in a car accident on the way to the lake. Everyone is fine, by the way.

Mandi has grown a green thumb. She hasn't killed her flowers...yet.