Welcome home, Michael!

It seems that living near BWI Airport has its perks. Many of the military go through BWI when going to/from their deployments, and we've gotten to see a couple friends on their way to the middle east during layovers there. Today we had the privilege of visiting my brother Michael, who is just returning from Iraq! We spent a couple hours with him, having lunch and seeing his pictures, and hearing a couple stories. Now he's continuing his very long voyage, with several more hours of flying until he reaches Alaska where he's stationed. It was really nice to see him, and we're praising the Lord for his safe return and the chance to visit with him. Thank you Michael (and any other military people reading this) for the work you do. You are appreciated!

Travel Preparations

On Saturday we got some fun stuff in the mail from Living Hope! It's some forms to fill out about travelling to China!!! We have to send in our passports and visa applications, and a list of who's travelling with us. We're bringing the boys, and Heath's mom is coming too. We also have to choose which kind of seats we want on the airplane. (In case you're wondering, first class seats to China run between $3,000 and $6,000. . . . I don't think that will be happening.)

A lady I met online who has been through the process is convinced that we'll be travelling by July. I'm trying not to get my hopes up, but of course if it does work out that way, that'd be great! Carrie's wedding is on the 3rd, so anytime after that we'll make sure we're packed and ready to go. But we'll try to keep September in our minds, and stay patient.

We have received so many emails and congratulations from so many people. Friends, family, and even several people we've never even met! Thank you all so much for your support and encouragement during this exciting time!

LID

We just found out our "log in date!" Our dossier was officially entered into China's system on March 10th. Yesterday, the 18th, our application for our specifc child was submitted. In my humble opinion I think China should be able to process everything quickly so we could go get her next week, or at least next month! But my humble opinion doesn't count for all that much in the grand scheme of things. :)

I am so thankful for God's blessings on our family. He's given us two wonderful little boys, and now we'll soon have a little girl as well. Sometimes I feel so incapable of being a good parent, I wonder why He'd even allow us to have children, let alone adopt! We're so undeserving of all His blessings, yet He blesses anyway. I think we all need to take a little more time to realize how blessed we are and to thank Him.

"Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father . . . "
James 1:17

Dear Sweet Daughter

I found this poem on someone else's blog the other day, and I thought it was too precious not to share...

Dear Sweet Daughter

As a girl I had a common dream, to be a mom someday.
My baby would have eyes of blue and hair the hue of hay.
But now my dreams have been transformed. New visions fill my head.
Now the tresses that I long to stroke are raven black instead.
And in my dreams those eye are not so big or blue or round.
Now in my dreams they're almond shaped and colored cocoa brown.

And in my dreams my arms can stretch across enormous seas.
They reach half-way around the world and hold you close to me.
As you grow in your mother's womb, carefully knit together,
you're also growing in my heart, where you will stay forever.
And in my dreams the moment that your mother says good-bye,
I'll be right there to comfort you and hold you as you cry.

Our features may not look alike; we're different as can be.
But still I know the Father has created you for me.
And though I've not yet seen your face, or held your tiny hands,
and though we're half a world apart in very different lands,
I'll be right there to get you just as soon as God allows.
But 'til He says the time is right I give to you this vow.
I'll pray for your protection every night on bended knee.
For God will hold you in His arms, until you're here with me.

by Gayle Leubecker

Amazing News!!!!

We are thrilled to announce that we have been matched with a child! We weren't expecting to hear anything until the next list comes out at the end of the month, but yesterday we got a call from our agency, asking if we'd like to review the file of a little girl! While I was on the phone listening to some information about her, I almost wanted to say yes right then! But I restrained myself and waited to get the email of her pictures and medical info. Heath was home, so we got to see everything together.

With the other little girl we were pursuing, we didn't have a lightning-bolt experience, but did have peace about it. This time there was at least a rumbling thunder, if not lightning! Both Heath and I were ready to say yes as soon as we saw her picture! Not only is she adorable, but the medical conditions seem very manageable, and we are not at all worried about this! We wanted to call our agency back right then, but first we forwarded the medical info to our friend Joel who's a doctor, to get his opinion. He and his wife are in Sri Lanka right now, so we figured we'd go ahead and request this child, and just hear Joel's opinion after the fact. But Jen and Joel actually called us (from Asia!) about an hour after we sent the email! After talking with him, we still felt very sure and excited about our decicion. So, we went ahead and called our agency. The lady we needed to talk to was at lunch! So I went out and ran some errands, and we called when we got back.

She immediately "locked" the file for us. That gives us 48 hours to get our info submitted. Yesterday we emailed to our agency our "letter of intent", a letter to China that requests this specific child. That's done and now being translated in preparation for being sent over. We now have to wait for the "letter of approval", stating that China has accepted us to adopt this girl. But our agency has never had them turn down someone's letter of intent. They gave us their congratulations and said to have fun celebrating, so we're pretty certain that this is for sure!!

A little about this girl . . . we plan to name her Tabitha (haven't decided on a middle name yet). She will be two in May (the day after my birthday actually)! Her medical conditions are imperforate anus and a 6th finger on her right hand. These things are surgically correctable, and she should have a fully normal life. There are still many unknowns of course, but we know God will provide strength and guidance for whatever comes up.

Now the bad news . . . it'll probably be September before we can actually go get her! It takes 4-5 months to get the letter of approval from China, and then a few weeks after that we'll receive specific travel dates. This part of the waiting will definitely be harder than the whole past year. I mean, that's OUR little girl over there in an orphanage without us! Please pray for patience, and for things to go fast! (Even faster than expected would be great.) And please also pray that we'll be able to have all the money we need before it's time to go.

There are some people that can help us get more recent information and pictures about her, so we'll be looking into that. We'll also be seeing an international adoption medical specialist to review her file and give us advice.

Thanks for all your prayers and for rejoicing with us! We are so happy to be so close to getting our little girl!!!

Home Sweet Home . . . still

Well, our house has not sold yet, and last week our contract with our realtor expired. We decided not to renew it. We're bummed that it hasn't sold yet, but we figured at this point it might be wise to wait and see how things go with the adoption. We don't want to add hassles and expense to the adoption by moving before we get our daughter. So we thought we'd wait and see how the timing on the adoption goes before deciding what to do next with the house. And that brings me to the next post . . .

Family Fun

We enjoyed some fun family time this weekend. Friday night we were struggling for something interesting to do, and not coming up with much. Finally we thought of Adventure Park, a new games/arcade/golf/amusement park about 15 minutes from our home. It was built a couple years ago, but we'd never gone, thinking it was too expensive. But it actually turned out not to be that bad! We bought credits for the arcade, and the boys had a blast with that. Ethan even hit the "jackpot" on one of the token aiming games and won 100 tickets. Trading in their ticket winnings, the boys came home with lots of little "treasures" . . . which are sure to last at least a day or two. :) There was also a four-story climbing playground, like the kind you see at McDonald's, except way better. It looked so intriguing, I wanted to climb it myself! But it wasn't adult-friendly. I also found out that they have a story time there, where for $4, you can listen to the story, do a special activity, and the kids get a hot dog lunch, including chips and a drink, AND they can play on the climbing playground for a couple hours. Can't beat that for 4 bucks! If we go back in the summer, we'll have to try their mini golf and kiddie rides, and even their real roller coaster! They also have paint ball and laser tag, but our kids are still a little young for that.

(Well, that was quite an advertisement I guess. Maybe they'll pay for my endorsement. :) I didn't mean to to ramble about all that, but we just had a really fun time!)

Today was our one-on-one time with the boys. Heath took Jesse out to breakfast at IHOP, where he got "smiley face pancakes." Then Jesse went to "help" him work, putting on a deck at a friend's house. Ethan and I went to the symphony! The BSO has concerts just for kids, and this one included some Irish and Flamenco dancing, plus a story about Anansi the Spider, acted out along with narration and music. Afterwards we had lunch together, and then drove over to join Heath and Jesse. The boys had a blast playing in the dirt left by the excavating there, and we stayed most of the day. It was a pretty fun day!

I know I complain sometimes about the hassles and struggles of having young children. But I wouldn't trade them (or my husband) for the world, and this weekend was a very enjoyable time with my very precious family. =)

Back to waiting . . .

Well, God has answered our prayer for guidance. Although we were hoping that we'd be able to adopt the little girl whose file we'd been reviewing, it turns out that another agency has already "locked" the file, which means they have a family who wants to adopt her. If we had called on Friday instead of waiting until Monday, maybe we'd have gotten her. But we're really, truly at peace about it, knowing that God has a different little girl for our family. And I'm so happy that this little girl has found hers! Another list should come out by the end of the month, so until then . . . we just rest and wait.

Prayer Needed this Weekend

We've been reviewing files for 2 adoptable little girls over the past couple days. And today we have made a decision to move forward with one of them! She has some medical issues, but they are things that should be correctable. If we are able to get this child, we'll share more details at that point.

Because of China's rules, we can't put a hold on a child until we've decided on that particular child. (The hold is just for time to submit the "Letter of Intent" for that specific child.) We can't do anything until Monday when our agency's open, so we're praying that if this is NOT the child for us, that God would make her unavailable by then.

Please pray with us for a definite answer about this life changing decision. Thank you so much!

Wisdom Needed!

We are very excited to be reviewing the files of two little girls available for adoption! Our agency just got China's new "shared list", and this is the first list when we've been far enough along in the process to choose a child. When we first saw the list, there were four that we thought were possibilities. When we called our agency, two of them were no longer available, so that's narrowed it down to two. It is an overwhelming thought that one of these little girls might be our daughter! The list is also open to other agencies, so someone else could potentially choose one of these girls before us. Please pray that God will direct us to our child--whether it's one of these two girls, or we should wait for the next list. Thank you for your prayers!

Snow Day!

We've hardly had any snow this winter--just a few inches here and there. But today, the second day of March, we woke up to a beautiful covering of powdery, fluffy snow! I'm very ready for spring, but this was so pretty that I can't complain. The boys (all 3 of them) were out first thing this morning shovelling and playing. And Shadow's been having a blast too. A nice way to end winter (at least I HOPE this is the end of winter)! :)