Finger Prints

On February 9 Marc and I woke up super early and hopped in the car to drive down to York, PA to get fingerprinted for the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS).

We got there a few minutes before our appointment at 9:00am and are signing in, etc. It's important to note that we were the only people there besides the two ladies working there. It's also important to note that this room was one big rectangle - you could see everything from anywhere in the room. Lady #1 gives us our paperwork back and a number and tells us to go take a seat in the waiting area. The waiting area was about five feet to the left. Then Lady #2 who had been there the whole time walks over to the finger printing station and yells out, "Four? Four!". I looked down at my number. Four. That was me. Then I swiveled my head around to ensure I wasn't on some Candid Camera show before getting up. I wanted to bust up laughing so badly and the only reason why I didn't is because I couldn't figure out why it was necessary to call out our numbers! She did the same thing to Marc. Good thing. I may have tried to go twice.

 This is us in the car after we had been finger printed...showing our finger prints. 

We're taking pictures of the adoption journey to show our little boy/girl what went on before they joined our family physically!

I just like this picture because Marc makes me laugh so much all. of. the. time. 

I don't even remember what he did or said, but I like the pure, naturalness of it. This, friends, is the Pensyls!

This was the last set of finger prints we needed. After they took our finger prints they sent them off and we waited to hear back from USCIS for approval. That was the last puzzle piece to our dossier, once we received this we were all set!

On Thursday, February 16 we received a letter in the mail saying we were approved! Wahoo!

Now to put the finishing touches on the dossier and put it in the mail...more to come on that tomorrow!

A Few Pictures

 Tucker just leaning on Marc like he's a piece of furniture

 David came to visit me at work! I thought he looked so cute in his Lee jeans and flannel!

 Miss Ab knew we were going to send this picture to Uncle Marc so she was acting like a goofball

Marc and I made grilled cheese and tomato soup for dinner a few weeks ago. He was cutting the grilled cheese and says "How would you like me to cut it?" As in, in rectangles or triangles. I say, "Oh it doesn't matter - just cut." This is how my sandwich was presented to me. This guy makes me laugh! :)

Pillow Resolutions

Huge announcement in the Pensyl household. We have found a way to resolve the pillow issues we seem to frequently have during the darkest hours of the night.

When we were in Disney World the hotel had a king size bed with...you guessed it...king size pillows! Marc was rolling around as he woke up on our last morning there and said, "These pillows are great! We should get them for our bed." I realized he was absolutely right! We have a queen size bed and two king size pillows fit perfectly across it so now no matter where Marc rolls his head there is pillow there!

First world problems though - we almost have too many pillows now. We have our new king size pillows, our original pillows, and the pillow shams. So when the bed is made and they're all on there it's like pillow central.

We may have a new issue developing though. Marc likes to "hug" his original standard size pillow, but every morning it's on the floor. That isn't the problem. The problem is that when he's getting up he picks it up and tosses it onto the bed and it frequently lands directly on my head. Eh. You win some and you lose some, right?

First Day of Work

I started the new-part-of-my-existing-job at Calvary a week ago and am LOVING it! I've spent this week learning, doing, cleaning, organizing and creating a rhythm for myself.

Things I've noticed with the job change:
1. I move around during the day a lot more and I really like that
2. I get to talk to and interact with PEOPLE, not just their voices through the headset in my ear!
3. People talk about God a lot more. No one ever talked about God before. I like this change!
4. People say "God bless you" when getting off the phone with me and it throws me off every time. I'm always like "I didn't sneeze, what the heck?...Oh.." and by then it's too late and I've said some string of words and then the phone call has ended.

I'm getting to do what I love doing, what God has designed for me to do and it makes me so happy!

 This is my going to work on the first day photo - Marc wanted a "natural" looking shot

This is MY going to work on the first day photo - I wanted a smiling/facing the camera one

For the record, I still got to work on time even after all of this photo taking hubabaloo...

The Pillow Caper Strikes Again

Well, well, well guess what happened AGAIN in the Pensyl household?

The alarm went off Thursday morning and as I rolled over I noticed that underneath my head was very...flat. I felt around with my hand and felt...nothing. I peeked over the side of the bed to see if my pillow had fallen off the bed...no pillow. I got up on one elbow and:

Sara: Marc. Did you take my pillow?

Marc: What? No. 

*pause*

Marc: Oh wait. Hahahaha yes. Ahhh that's funny, I was holding mine and my head was on yours.

Sara: Suuuuuuper funny.

I realized that since he apparently took my pillow while I was sleeping and it didn't wake me up and I had been sleeping for who knows how long without a pillow I couldn't be too upset.

I think I'm going to have to buy more pillows for the bed so we can have a pillow reserve for Marc to use and I can keep mine. Marc's birthday is next week, pillows will be accepted!

An Actual Conversation That Happened In the Pensyl Household

After an intriguing conversation regarding nose hair trimming this morning while we ate breakfast, I was lucky enough to witness this conversation later in the day:

Scene: standing around the counter in the kitchen

Sara: Marc plank, it'll be funny
Bart: What is the deal with planking? It's so dumb.
Marc: I know right?! *high fives Bart*
Bart: Girls think it's funny and they do it all the time.
Marc: Girls are stupid.
Bart: Yeah. Girls have cooties.

Then Bart leaps onto the counter in a near perfect plank.

End scene.

What the Pensyls are Looking Forward to in 2012

The Pensyls have some exciting things they're looking forward to in 2012:

1. A trip to Disney World in January to celebrate Marc's birthday (the big 3-0!)
2. A trip in June to the Dominican Republic with the HSM seniors to work and see the boys and girls at the orphanage
3. A trip to Maine with friends in early August - fresh air, God's creation, and time with friends!
4. Approval by the Philippines government to be parents
5. Possibly a referral for our little boy or girl who is ALIVE AND OUT THERE! (Isn't that just so fun to think about? It blows my mind!)
6. New jobs that will lead us to new relationships and new, yet unknown, things!