In Our Arms

It's been almost 16 months since I first saw her face and prayed over her picture....never believing that she would actually be here.  And yet, God, is all His wisdom knew.  She was to be our daughter.  After  13 months of paperwork and preparation, the day finally came when we got to hold our daughter for the first time.

It has been four weeks since that day when we met A for the first time.  We flew into her province 2 days before we were to meet her. We spent time with some wonderful new friends who took time out of their day to bless us by sharing lunch and a tour of the city.  Times we will cherish and be able to share with our daughter as she grows what it was like where she is from.  

Monday morning came and we were up early and on our way to the orphanage where we were led to a room which had a bunch of big comfy chairs lining the walls.  We said our "hellos" and immediately got to work signing papers, taking pictures and then it got quiet.  They could hear that A was on her way to our room.  We waited just a couple minutes, and then she was there.  We had no idea how she would react.  We were prepared for tears and much more.  But instead we got silence and no eye contact.  It was actually quite funny how far away she could turn her head....which you can kind of see in the picture above.  We finished signing papers, went back downstairs for the customary pictures and then ushered out the door to go get more pictures done and sign more papers.  It was in that car ride, though, when we were finally able to start making a connection....and when we learned that A loves to tickle.  When we were waiting for more paperwork, that's when we learned that A also loves to do hair...when she started twisting sections of my hair.  And does she ever have a strong grip!  And watch out!  If you move when you are not supposed to, you may get whacked in the head.   Our guides were amazed at how quickly she warmed up to us.  That evening, we just stayed in...getting to know each other....which is a bit of a challenge when neither of you knows each other's language.

I cannot wait to share more, but every moment right now is a little crazy and time to myself is scarce...so until then, here are a few more pictures from the first few days of our trip.

A walk around Yinchuan and lunch with some wonderful new friends....

 Neon colored baby chicks for sale...reminded me of buying a goldfish here in the states.

Our first experience with Hot Pot...

First moments together...

We are so blessed!  Thank you for your continued prayers as we adjust to all things new.

Trust in the Lord

Trust in the Lord with ALL your heart...wow!  That's big!  And yet that is what we are learning through this adoption.  We are not perfect and there are days when I still say, how God?  Where can we come up with this money?  We were done growing our family 16 years ago....and then after 2 adoptions we were done again. God had a different plan, and we are saying "yes" to His plan, even though it may not make sense.  We have a daughter in China and we are doing everything in our power to get her home.   Friends and family...You have helped raise almost $10,000 of the $16,000 remaining fees we have.  That is huge!!!   Thank you all so much for all of your support and donations.  If you would still like to be a part of our adoption story and help bring our little girl home, we have one week left in our Lifesong for Orphans Matching Grant fundraiser.  I have outlined here how you can help us with a donation.  Thank you!

Please keep checking back as hopefully, I will be posting pictures of us HOLDING our little girl soon!

Our Miracle

Miracles in our lives are so amazing, and I always want to write them down so that I remember.    God is good all the time, but moments are not always good. And in those hard moments I find that I really need to focus of the miracles and the good in my life from God.

Our miracle today....we are going to China!!!!!  We have a confirmed consulate appointment.  Despite the delays and the approaching holiday where all government offices in China close for a week, we are on our way.  We will be able to hold our daughter in 3 weeks!!  I cannot believe it.

Would you please continue to pray for us as we make travel arrangements, as we continue to prepare our children at home for the changes that are coming, for our daughter's heart as she also will be facing so many changes, and lastly, the financial aspect of it as we still owe quite a bit more?

Thank you for your prayers and for donating to our adoption.  We are blown away by your support!

Here are a couple more pictures of our little girl...can't wait to share some new ones!!!

Travel and Matching Grant Update

As some of you know, our Article 5 documents were not picked up last Tuesday 2/3 as they were scheduled to be.  When I didn't wake up to an email that morning saying that it was picked up, I knew.... and then we got the call that evening.  Delays.   This is one of the hardest things in the adoption process, but something we are very familiar with as we faced some big delays in our first adoption.  The consulate needed more information.  This is not a usual occurrence, but we were not the first family this has happened to.  So we needed to wait until the necessary information was acquired before our Article 5 could be picked up...which could be an additional 2 -10 days.  It has been 9 days AND we have article 5 pick-up...TODAY!!  The next step in our process is Travel Approval (TA) and then schedule a consulate appointment (CA).  

Sooooo.....When will we Travel?

Here are the details we know, for those of you who would like to try and figure this all out with us...basically, an educated guess as to when we travel. LOL.  The US Consulate (who issues our CA) is closed Monday for President's day and then also closed for Chinese New Year from Feb. 18 to Feb 25.  And the cccwa (who issues our TA) is also closed for CNY Feb. 18 to Feb. 25.  Because of all the holidays and closures, without a miracle, it does not look like we will be able to travel at the beginning of March.  There are positives in all this in that we will get to spend time with our bigs when they are home for their Spring Breaks in March, and I do miss them all so much!  Even though I am disappointed that we will not travel at what I thought would be the perfect time, and I don't understand, I'm choosing to trust God...He knows and understands and His ways are perfect.  

"For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways," declares the Lord.

~Isaiah 55:8

"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." ~Jeremiah 29:11

Just a little more info to help you...because of work, we need to be home 3/22 thru 3/28.  So what are your guesses?  When will we travel?

Update on our Matching Grant

We feel so blessed that so many have come along side us to help bring our little girl home.  With our matching grant through Lifesong for Orphans, we have raised $2500 of our needed $16,000.  WOW!  Thank you so much!!!

16 more days to help us get closer to our goal!!!  

Here is the information about our matching grant if you missed it.  We were blessed with a matching grant through Lifesong for Orphans and our church, Eastview Christian Church.  If you would like to make a donation towards helping bring our little girl home, there are two ways:

1. Donate online

    Located on the right side of our blog is a "donate" button that links directly to Lifesong for Orphans.

         This is a PayPal link and PayPal does charge an administrative fee (2.9% + $.30 USD per transaction)  So your 

            donation will be decreased by the amount of this fee.

2. Give by check

    Please make checks payable to "Lifesong for Orphans".

     In the memo please note your gift preference with "Marcordes #4985"

     Please mail checks to:

     Lifesong for Orphans

     PO Box 40

     Gridley, IL 61744

Lifesong has been blessed with a partner that underwrites all US administrative and fund-raising

costs (TMG Foundation and other partners). That means 100% of your donation will go directly to

the need…helping orphans.

Individual donations $50 or more and yearly donations totaling $250 or more will receive a taxdeductible

receipt. Receipts for donations under $50 will gladly be sent upon request.

Lifesong is a 501(c)3 tax exempt organization.

Thank you also for all your prayers.  Would you please continue to pray for God's timing and for our hearts as we all will have big changes in the near future?

I

New Pictures!!

We have been looking forward to our "final update" for a while now.  It has been 5 months since we got a picture of our little girl and 7 months since we have gotten an update on her size.  Seven months ago we were told she only weighed 26 pounds....tiny!!!  We got our email last night with new pictures and measurements!!  According to the report, our little girl now weighs 35lbs!  She is almost exactly the same size as Sunshine.  Now I can do a little shopping!!!  Fortunately, I will be able to take some of Sunshine's clothes too (which right now she is so excited about sharing her clothes just like her big sisters do...really hoping that excitement continues. LOL).  But travel is getting closer and we are so excited, nervous, excited...did I say nervous?!?!

Even though our "journey" began over a year ago when A's picture appeared in my inbox, our real journey begins when A is home.  We are so excited to finally get her home, to hold her and love her, to protect her and take care of her....JOY!  But there is another side of adoption that is hard.  We are taking our little girl away from all that she has ever known...for 6 years...sights, sounds, smells, people, food, etc.  Nothing will be the same for her and for her, that will be so hard.  As hard as I try to imagine how that must feel, there is no way I can know.  I don't know how she will react, but I do know she will grieve and I do know that there will be some time needed for her to learn that we are her mommy and daddy and we love her.  It will take awhile for her to trust us and this is why we must be the only ones who meet her needs for several months....the only ones who hug her, hold her, rock her, feed her, put her to bed, and so much more.  I will explain all that another time.  Right now, I want to rejoice in the fact that we are another week closer to bringing her home!  Our Article 5 should have been picked up today, and we hope to hear something about travel in the next 2 weeks.

Thank you all for your prayers and donations.  Your support is such a blessing to us!  Will you please continue to pray for us and our little girl?

And now to share some of our new pictures.....

Another Step Closer!!!

If you are here, more than likely you received our very late Christmas card in the mail or you saw my FB post...as not many people know this blog exists. I have to admit that I am not very good about blogging, but I am committed to at least share where we are in our adoption process so that those who are praying for us and/or have decided to donate in helping us bring our little girl home, can follow our journey.  Thank you so much for taking the time to look us up.  We are so excited about bringing home another little girl and hope that you will share in that excitement.

So here's our new news...Monday was MLK Day....no school, banks closed, no mail.  I was sad there would be no mail because we were waiting for our cable letter.  We need this to complete the next step towards bringing our little girl home.  Checked our email and...........we got an email from the NVC with a pdf of our cable letter....We could move to the next step!  So as is common routine with adoption...we hurried up and sent the letter to our agency so we could wait some more.  AHHHHH!   

Our next step is the Article 5 process, which allows our daughter to get a visa.  This step should take exactly 2 weeks from the time our documents are dropped off.  Drop-offs usually occur on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays.  I'm really hoping and praying our documents were dropped off yesterday, but our agency only gets notifications on Fridays,  and our social worker is out of the office for the rest of the week...so we will wait a few more days to find out.  

On August 24th our little girl celebrated her 6th birthday.  We were able to arrange to have a birthday cake sent to her and were blessed with some great pictures.  Thought I'd share some with you!

Isn't she the sweetest?!?!  This has been the longest wait and we are so ready to get her home.

We could really use your prayers on this last leg of our wait.  Would you please pray...

1. that we would get to travel at the beginning of March, as this would work the best for the care of our children at home while we are away.

2.  that our finances would all fall into place as we get closer to our last big payment.

3.  for our little girl's heart as she is faced with so many changes in her little life when we enter it. 

 

4. for our young one's at home...that they will be able to share mom and dad and know that this little one is not replacing them (a real fear for one of ours).

Finally, if you would like to help in bringing our little girl home, I have placed a "donate" button on the right side of our blog that links directly to our matching grant from Lifesong for Orphans. 

And last, but not least...today is our oldest daughter's 20th birthday!  How did that happen??   We love this girl to pieces and are so blessed by her!  We love you, Belle! You are beautiful on the inside AND the outside!

Getting Closer!

It's getting more and more real...we are getting closer to bringing our little girl home!  Today was our travel call with our agency.  It was scheduled for 1pm to 4pm.  I thought that surely it would not be that long.  What could they possibly talk about for three hours?!?!  BUT...it was and we received so much valuable information.   Not only did they walk us through the steps of what our trip would look like, but also what it might look like when we return home and the things we need to do when coming home.  I love being prepared and I feel more than prepared.  But I also know, from experience, that adoption can bring along all kinds of things that no one can ever prepare you for.

We received our I800 last Saturday and are now waiting for our cable letter....hoping it will come next week.  We are on the final stretch!  We also got word this week of our matching grant through Lifesong for Orphans.  Our church has partnered with Lifesong to provide an Adoption Matching Grant of $2000 to help bring our little girl home!

Christmas was so fun this year...having the big girls home from school for a month and our oldest home for a few days before he had to head back to prepare for his Bowl game....and then a trip to Miami for the Orange Bowl!   T-mac was playing in the Orange Bowl, and we were not going to miss it!  It took us 23 hours to drive down but was so worth it!  What an incredible experience to end the year on and they won!  So the year ended with fireworks...literally!  And the weather was incredible!  The little girls keep asking when we will get to go back...swimming in the ocean and a pool in the middle of winter will do that to you!

Fun times over the last month...

Saying "YES"

It has been two and a half years since I've written in my blog....too long.  Last I wrote, we had just received our court date for our first trip to Ethiopia to meet LindyLou.  She came home in May and we completed one of the fastest adoptions in history...not really, but it felt like it. Belle graduated from high school two days after we got home and then we worked at settling into a new normal.

We decided to home school L the first year and she caught on to English much more quickly than we had anticipated.  The tricky part is that conversation English has come quickly, but learning the vocabulary and terms used in school and everything else that goes with it is hard and slow.  It's amazing how much vocabulary children pick up as they grow.

Chesswava graduated from high school this year, and now, we have three kiddos in college...crazy!  Way back when we had 4 kids under 5, I dreamed of all the fun we would have.  And we did!  Being so close in age, they were so close and always had someone to play with and got along amazingly well.   I never knew how easy I had it when it came to siblings getting along until now...which is another story.  Anyway, the problem with having our first 4 so close together (and I didn't think of this back then), is that they all "leave the nest" close together.  One day they were all here and the next thing I know, I'm wondering when we'll all be together again.  I know that's just part of growing up and I'm so proud of them all, but I sure do miss those evenings of dancing around the family room together to "Jock Jams".

Fall is a crazy season for our family.  T-mac is still playing football for his school and we'll watch him on TV tomorrow.  It's been a hard year of injuries this year but we love seeing him play and thankful he has not had any injuries that have completely kept him out of the game.  Belle continues to play the flute in marching band.  With a new band director have come several changes and she looks forward to possibly being able to travel to London next year.  Chesswava started her first year in college, is playing soccer and loving it.  She is at the same school as Belle, and they both are having a wonderful time there.  Nice to have both of them not too far away and at the same school.  B-man is playing football for his high school again this year.  So needless to say, there are many games to attend between the four of them.  We decided to home school LindyLou again this year to move more at her pace and make sure she is grasping what she needs to grasp.

And that brings us to our new news of saying "YES".  I was on a mailing list through Lifeline Children's Services called Wonderful Waiting Kids.  I would get emails every so often and sometimes I would open them and pray over the kiddos that are waiting for a mommy and daddy and sometimes I wouldn't (I was blown away and very saddened with the number of children that are in need of a family and are just waiting...and waiting).  In December, I happened to open one of those emails and there in front of me was this sweet, sweet face staring back at me.  Our youngest was with me and asked about her.  She prayed for this little girl and I just had to inquire.  B and I had not even discussed another adoption, but I just had to know more.  I received an email back that same day saying that another family had her file on hold.  Prayed a prayer of thanksgiving that this sweet child already had a family pursuing her.  So we continued on with life as usual and on February 11, received an email which would turn our world upside down.  An email asking if we were still interested in looking at A's file.  I hadn't even said anything to B about it because I figured I had gotten God's answer with that email in December.  B and I started doing a lot of praying and lots of research.  This was a different country, different needs, and our plate was already full and overflowing.  We still are looking for that "new normal" and maybe ours hasn't come because we are still experiencing so many changes with kiddos going to college.  It didn't make sense.  Why another adoption?  Why another child?  We already have six.  And that's just it...it doesn't matter the number.  B and I love children.  Every child is precious and deserves a family.  Deserves to know the God who created them and loves them.  God called us to this and we are answering that call.  We said, "YES!!"

Court Date

Oh, how I wish I had time to write more on my blog.....sigh....  On March 1st we got our court date.  It will be on April 10th.  We are so excited that things are moving along smoothly so far.  So needless to say, I have been trying to get ready for our trip.

We have booked our flights and B-man is going with us this first trip.  I am so excited for him to see the beautiful country where his two little sisters are from.  He is beyond excited.  So now it's on to getting his shots done.  B and I are still good from our last trip, so all we needed to get were malaria meds.  Right now I am trying to shop for donations...which it seems that the older kiddos at our agency's TH need clothes and shoes.  I've also been gathering things to send to our daughter until we can bring her home.  We have had 2 families send us pictures of her already and it is such a blessing.  I love her beautiful smile and can't wait to be able to hold her!

The other part of traveling is getting everything ready to run smoothly here at home while we are gone.  That is the part that overwhelms me.  I know our big girls will do fine, but this will be the first time B and I will both be gone at the same time and I worry about our youngest.  I know the grandparents are excited about this time with their grandkids though.

Our newest exciting news is that we have a positive recommendation letter already!!!  Although it's not a guarantee that we will pass court, it's a necessary piece that was missing when we went to court for our first adoption.  We waited 7 LONG weeks for that letter to arrive so we could pass court.

I stand in awe with how smoothly everything has gone so far.  We still have a long ways to go and we still could hit some major bumps in our journey but God is doing great things and hopefully we will be able to bring our daughter home soon!

REFERRAL!!!!

February 8, 2012 at 2pm I got a phone call from our family coordinator from AWAA.  I had just talked to her the day before so I thought that maybe she had another question for me.  I was so wrong about that!  She was calling to talk to me about a beautiful 7 year old little girl.  I was in total shock.  After praying about possibly changing agencies or doing a concurrent adoption and having those doors closed, I had prepared myself for the long wait of over a year for a referral.  I had just prayed the day before, asking God to please help me with this wait because I am NOT good with waiting.  God had it under control the whole time!  Why was I surprised???  12 days!!!  When I thought that it would be so easy the second time around to get all the paperwork finished, it took 5 months!   I was so discouraged during that time when we had to wait for each review of our home study and then dossier.  It was taking forever in my mind and yet, it was all in God's plan.   He knew our "LindyLou" and He was creating the way for our paths to cross at the perfect time.  God has taught me so much through both of our adoption journeys and I am still learning to put my trust in Him.    When we got the call, B was out of town in meetings and I didn't get to talk to him for 4 hours!  So I had this awesome news and didn't have anyone to share it with.  How sweet it was when we finally connected and got to celebrate together.  We decided not to tell our other children until the next night when he would be home.

The next evening when everyone was home, we gathered them around the computer.  We opened up the document with LindyLou's picture and they were beyond excited and kept saying, "really??  for real???  are you serious???"  They were definitely surprised.

And now the wait continues, but at a different level.  Now we have seen the beautiful face of our little girl.  We have heard her story, and we pray for her little heart.  Oh, how my heart aches for the losses this little one has had to go through.  No child should have to go through so much pain.  In the months that we wait to bring her home, we ask God to prepare our hearts to meet hers right where she needs us.  We pray that God will prepare her little heart to meet her forever family.

We expect it to take at least 6 months to bring her home.  At this point we are waiting for a court date.  Our agency estimates that we will get a court date 12 - 16 weeks from referral.   So we could be traveling for our first trip to meet our little girl and go to court sometime in May or June.  Did I mention that I'd like it to be sooner??? :)  We also have to hope and pray that all the documents needed for our case arrive in the courts on time so we can pass court the first time.  Otherwise, we could get rescheduled another court date 1 -4 weeks later.  After we pass court, our agency will then gather all the necessary paperwork to submit our case to the embassy.  Unfortunately, this is where things have really slowed down in ET adoptions.  If there is a living relative, the embassy will request an interview with them.  This could be 3 - 6 weeks after all our paperwork was submitted.  If they are satisfied with all the paperwork and the interview, we will travel for our second trip, to bring LindyLou home.  If they are not satisfied, our case will be sent to Nairobi which is another 2 - 4 weeks before we would get clearance.  I am praying that the time between our first and second trip is not long.  Our little girl is old enough to understand when we come and go but how can she trust that we will come back...and the longer she waits, I can't imagine how her heart would feel.

We feel so blessed that God would choose us to be LindyLou's forever family.  To Him be all glory.

DTE

Dossier mailed to Ethiopia (DTE)!!!!  Having to do our second adoption with a different agency means learning new adoption lingo.  DTE was one of the first I've had to learn.  In our first adoption, when our dossier was approved, we were put on the wait list.  With our new agency, we are put on the "wait list" when our dossier is mailed to Ethiopia.  It's been approved since last Friday so having to wait another week to be put on the "wait list" is a little frustrating.  There have been so many more unexpected waits this time through...sick leaves, vacations, holidays, etc.  Even in the end when we held on to our finished dossier and big payment for a few weeks, prayerfully seeking God's guidance on what direction we should go.  Should we look at other agency WCL or change countries?  In the end we have decided that God called us back to Ethiopia a year ago on our first trip to Ethiopia to meet our daughter.  He already knows the children He has for our family and we are choosing to trust Him.  It's so hard to see the faces of children who are waiting for a family.  I just want to bring them all  home.  And My husband is no help because he just says OK.  UGH!

So now we wait.  Our parameters are much different this time.  We are requesting a child either gender 0 - 7 years or siblings 0 - 7 years.   We have no idea how long we will wait.  There are just no guesses at time frames when your parameters are so broad.  There are many families ahead of us.  Our fingerprints expire March of 2013 so my guess is we will need to get that done before our child comes home.

So many changes.  We took Belle for a college visit today.  She visited the school that Bill and I both graduated from...just a few miles away from where we live.  She has cut her choices in schools down from 5 to only 3; so we are getting there.  We are praying that God leads her to where He wants her to go.  I can't believe she is graduating from high school this year!!  Time has flown....  Turning 17 this month really hit me.  I think it's going to be hard for her to go away to school because she loves her family and she is especially fond of her little sister.  Love to see them together...they have so much fun!

Six Months Home

Sunshine has been home for six months now, and she is 18 months old.  And, boy, is she growing!  We just went to the doctor for her 18 month check up and she is in the 50th percentile for height and weight.  Last night we were looking at the pictures from our first trip to ET.  She was so tiny and just army crawling her way around.  Now we can't get her to stop running and climbing!  She climbs EVERYTHING!  This little one has visible biceps.  Is that crazy or what?

My big kids and I have started a list of all her words.  AMAZING!  But my 15 year old informed me that I'm probably the only one who can understand half of them.  I guess she's probably right.  How many people know that "o-min-ya" is hamburger and "mon-ya" is water.  She has been saying "mon-ya" for water since she has been home.  I'm not quite sure where that one came from, but I love it and don't want it to go away, although it is...with each time we say the correct word, she'll switch.  We've already lost one of the things she came home with and it makes me so sad.  In Ethiopia, one of the main languages is Amharic.  Remilita learned that "NAY" sp? meant "come" so if someone said that to her she would hold up her arms to be picked up.  After we got home, when we would look at pictures of horses and tell her that a horse says "Neigh", she would hold up her arms.  Now she knows that a horse says "neigh" and says "uppy, uppy" when she wants someone to hold her.  Gone is the only Amharic she knew.  :(

Everyday she puts a smile on all of our faces.  God has blessed us with a ray of sunshine in our home every day!  She loves to make us laugh and has even started to try to make us laugh.  This year was her very first Halloween and she had so much fun dressing up.  She loved playing the part of a kitty...sounds and all.  I think her favorite part, though, was knocking on people's doors.  She loves to do that now and if anyone is in the bathroom, you can be sure she will knock on the door until they come out!!!

Our next adoption journey is moving along VERY SLOWLY.  Kind of crazy, really, because I thought all the paper work would go so much more quickly this time.  And it has on our end.  It's just that we still have to wait for others to do their part.  But that's okay.  I am learning to enjoy each day.  With T-mac being away at school for the last 4 months, only being home for one weekend, and knowing he only might be able to come home at Christmas for a couple days, makes me realize how short my time is with our oldest daughter.  She has applied to 5 schools, so now we just wait for acceptance letters and do lots of visits and PRAY, PRAY, PRAY, for God's guidance.  Some days I wonder if you could homeschool the college level.  Not really, but it would be nice, right?  Letting go is so hard, but a necessary part of growing up. I am so proud of them!

One Year Ago Today

One year ago today, we received the best phone call ever.  We got to see the beautiful face and hear the name of the little one we had been praying for.  We now knew who the daughter was that God had planned for our family.  We heard the story of how she came to be our daughter.  It was a day of both joy and sadness. We were so excited and ready for this little one to join our family, but also knew that someone else on the other side of the world had to go through so much sadness.  Laughter and tears... Oh, how I pray that she will come to know Jesus and that He will provide her comfort in times of sadness.

We love you so much Sunshine.  We went through so many changes in Ethiopian adoptions which made our wait longer than expected.  We went through some hard delays from the time we knew your name until we finally were able to get a plane to bring you home.  But God was with us the entire time as He was also with you. Some days he carried me through the day because I was not able to make it on my own.  God was and is in control.  That wait brought us to you.  It's hard to believe that on Saturday, you will have been home for 6 months!  You have grown and changed so much, but the one thing that has remained the same is your spirit.  Your joy is contagious and your laughter spreads throughout our home.  Our mornings have never been the same.  You greet each one of us by name and with a smile.  You make US feel special and make me aware of how I need to treat others.  You are truly and blessing, Sunshine.

Fall

Fall is my favorite time of year...all the colors...playing in the freshly raked leaves...pumpkins...parades...hot cider...soups and chili...warm soft sweatshirts...football...marching band....  It has been so fun to "introduce" Sunshine to all the fun things our family enjoys this time of year.  I am so thankful she is here.  I love her so much and can't imagine our family without her.  God has blessed us beyond measure.

 The girls and I raked leaves last week and Sunshine had so much fun playing in them.

She makes us laugh all day every day.  So much joy!

High school homecoming has also been apart of Fall for us for the last 3 years.  I have to admit...the shopping stresses me out.  Our oldest is 5'11" and it is close to impossible to find a dress that is long enough.  This year we shopped in 4 different towns before we finally found one.  And then there's the shoes....I did finally figure out that the only store that carries her size is Nordstroms or we have to order them online.   Although all of this was stressful and frustrating, it was all worth it when she finally found the perfect dress and shoes.  My saving grace was the we had found a dress for Chesswava in the summer, so she was all set.  It was fun dressing up and taking pictures.  They are growing up so fast!

Even R got to dress up and join in on the fun!

We are still waiting for our state to approve our home study.  B just asked me last night how long I thought it would be before we got on the wait list.  My prediction...unfortunately... 2-3 more months.  All in God's time though.  We got on the wait list for our first adoption in January of 2010....hoping we will get on the wait list for this next adoption by January 2012...at the latest!  But I remember so well how my predictions went with our last adoption, so holding those time frames loosely.  :)

Happy Birthday, T-mac!

Our oldest turned 19 years old on Sunday, and it was the first time  we were apart.  But we did get to spend a couple hours with him on Saturday.  We went to his football game first.  When we got there, I took Sunshine down as close to the sidelines as we could get to say Belle.  I tried to point T-mac out to her and she looked and looked for him.  I wish I had my video camera when she finally found him.  She was jumping up and down, waving both arms wildly, laughing, squealing, and saying "Hi, T" over and over.  She was so happy to see him and the smile that she brought to his face was priceless.  We had a nice dinner after the game and then it was time to say good-bye.  I miss him so much, but I think he really likes it there.

Our agency approved our home study this week and now it's off to our state to approve.  I forgot about that step...not sure how long it will take...anywhere from 2 weeks to 2 months.  So many unknowns in adoption, but the good thing is I know God is in control.  I have the hope and assurance that God has a perfect plan...to prosper and not harm.  (Jeremiah 29:11)

Much needed Retreat

I am so excited about being able to go to Created for Care , a retreat for adoptive moms in March!  There originally was one in January that filled up in 9 hours!  I missed my chance!  But some incredible ladies knew that there were so many more mamas who needed this and planned an identical retreat in March.  I waited to sign up for this one too.  The problem for me is that it is in Atlanta, which means I would need to fly there all by myself and then drive an hour to the lodge...not very good about traveling alone...actually, I just haven't ever done it.  But connected with a sweet friend whom we traveled with to Ethiopia to meet our daughter and she wanted to go too.  So we have arranged our flights so that we will meet and leave Atlanta at approximately the same time!  I am so excited and also very nervous.  There are not many times that I can say I have been away from my kids overnight.   If you are interested, there is still time to register for the March retreat.

Also, we are still waiting for our agency to get back to us about our home study.  It has been there for a week now.  Honestly, I'm a little disappointed it has taken this long.  Our first agency took less than two days to review and approve our home study.  Makes me wonder what might be wrong.  It seems like we don't get emails from them until evening, when everyone has gone home for the day and even if we do get an email approving our home study, we can't do anything until Monday.  All in God's time.  Even though I know this time the wait involved and try not to get timelines in my head, I still hope.  So when my hopes are dashed, it's a little disappointing.  Well, at least hoping to hear something today either way.

Home Study Finished!!

Our agency received our home study to review yesterday!  I'm so excited to have that behind us.  Just a little bit more to do to complete our dossier.  But we still have quite a bit of time before we will be able to submit our dossier.  Our agency needs to approve our home study, which hopefully will be by the end of this week and then our state needs to approve it.  THEN we can send it to USCIS to approve and assign a fingerprint appointment.  Which means waiting AGAIN....it could be another 2 -3 months before it gets through all those approvals.  BUT after being through this once, I realize that the timeline doesn't move how I want it to move.  We are not the only family going through this process so we will have to wait our turn...wait until they get to us.  I am choosing to keep my eyes on Christ, not on the "process" or the "wait".  We are praying that He opens the doors that need to be opened at just the right time, so we find the child He has for our family.  

A New Adventure

We are just about finished with our new home study.  We are going back to Ethiopia.  I can't wait to share why and all the other fun details, but our little one is calling.  She keeps me very busy these days!