Here we GOOOOOO!

I have waited a couple of days to post this because I have been answering so many questions on Facebook and such. It has given me more direction for posting  in the blog and has given me time to come up with the best way to express my feelings!! Everyone now knows, WE. HAVE. TRAVEL. DATES. The plane tickets are purchased, the hotel room is reserved, some gifts for the orphanage are bought. This is happening! OMG, it is so real now. There really is a little girl, and she really does need us to come save her and we really are going to do just that! And our lives really are going to totally change. For the better. We have a great God and He has not led us here to forsake us. This is for real! 

On a more somber note. I have talked about Uncle Bobby when I first started this blog. He has shown me I can do this. I can handle this. Grandma did it for 64 years and I can do it to! Grandma will still be here to help me get started. However, the possibility of Bobby being here is looking dimmer all the time. Because of Bobby I know there is a light in Down Syndrome kids that no other human being possesses. I know there is a faith in Down Syndrome kids that never questions our great God and His great plan to bring us to His side. I am not negligent of the temper or the potential for hard times. But I am hopeful to find a strength I didn't know we had. I am hopeful that, even if Bobby doesn't ever meet Natalie, he will surely be just as much her angel as he will be ours. He promised and he said Jeaus verified this to him. Who am I to doubt? 

We have most of the things we need. And we have resources that we are very grateful for. The total cost for this adoption is going to be around $35,000.00. We got about $1000 from our garage sale and Amy Mansur did a fundraiser for us and we got about $300! Jenny Voigt did a fundraiser for us and I was able to get some Christmas presents so that we could save some money! We have gotten a couple of random donations that we have been so thankful for. And we still have a ton of shoes to get rid of and collect money for!

I want you to know that we also have a link. It is https://www.youcaring.com/adoption-fundraiser/help-us-go-get-natalie/118494

This is for traveling and supplies! There are several things we will need for Natalie. Medical costs, a bed, a stroller, clothes, etc. the list is long! I am excited to provide more for her than she could have dreamed of in an orphanage. And if you are moved to help in any way I just want to give you that opportunity. For Amy, Jenny, Heather, Susan, and anyone else that has provided support or will provide support I am going to make a blanket that has everyone's name sewn into it. Pictures to come:) But I want Natalie to know that bringing her home isn't something that just Matt and I did, but rather something we did as God's family, together. To make one less orphan!!

Any day now

I am so excited. As more families on the Facebook page for CHI are traveling I know that we are so close!!! We will be one of the next to get our referrel and travel to visit our N!!! It is starting to seem so real and so exciting! I have the normal (I think) anxieties about if she will hate us, or something unexpected happens, but really I just want to see for myself who God has led us to! And of course see how many pictures I can take in 1 week!! Speaking of which, I think they also send new pictures when they send the referral!!!! She is prob so much bigger now than a year ago! It is hard to believe we have been waiting almost a year now and at the same time I am glad that we have the time to get prepared and get really excited! It stinks and makes it so bittersweet at the same time. The longer it goes on the more I hate to think of her living an orphanage life, when she should be living an amazing life with us! She is so loved already and we haven't even met fave to face. Perhaps we have met heart to heart?

The Lord will accomplish what concerns me; Your lovingkindness, O Lord, is everlasting; Do not forsake the works of Your hands. (Psalms 138:8 NASB)

New Year, New Family

I am so excited for 2014 to be here, because I know it means the best changes EVER! We are getting so close to having everything B needs for us to issue a travel date! Tomorrow I will send out the last paper they need to be apostilled by the Sec of State before our first trip! Then once I get that paper back and then sent to the country we will get a travel date!!!!! It may be slightly more complicated than that, but you get the idea. None of it is easy! We did buy Natalie a couple of Christams presents, maybe out of excitement, or maybe as preparation! I still would like a couple of really soft throw blankets for her and a taggie! I have splurged and attacked the Matilda Jane clearance sale and bought a few outfits! Hey, a girl will have to have some style.... Maybe she should be their model?!!!!!

Some may ask if knowing that a travel date just means our first trip makes us sad. Yes and No. Yes because it will be heart breaking to see her, hold her, and then leave her there. No, because it will be real. She will no longer be a picture from a year ago. We will be able to take pictures of us with her. We will be able to take presents and we will be able to show her that she has a family. I don't know how much she will understand. And I don't know if she will understand that we are coming back. That is in Gods hands. To comfort us in the space between visitation and pick up. We have come this far. For almost a year we have been staring at a picture of a girl who doesn't know how lucky she is about to get!!! That is worth it all!

You, Lord, hear the desire of the afflicted; you encourage them, and you listen to their cry, defending the fatherless and the oppressed, so that mere earthly mortals will never again strike terror. (Psalm 10:17, 18 NIV)

Patient Impatience

There is the oxymoron of the year!! I spend so much time praying for patience, sometimes it almost seems trivial. In the end, I just want N here ASAP!! As I watch friends and family having their babies in 9 months it hardly seems fair that we have to wait over a year for a baby we chose in February!!! But, so is the adoption journey. God has perfect timing, right? I must tell myself that 500 times a day. It keeps me at peace for awhile, them I see a small child, or even worse a small Down Syndome child and the excitement gets the better of me again. I usually try to put a verse with my post, but I am on my phone and I keep losing the post of I go out of the app, so I will include a verse next time!!! As Jesus told us to do, "Protect the Fatherless and the Widows."

Adoption is no accident...

But when the right time came, God sent his Son, born of a woman, subject to the law. God sent him to buy freedom for us who were slaves to the law, so that he could adopt us as his very own children. And because we are his children, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, prompting us to call out, “Abba, Father.” Now you are no longer a slave but God’s own child. And since you are his child, God has made you his heir. (Galatians 4:4-7 NLT)

This verse was brought up by Beth Moore in a study I am doing right now and it has been ringing through my ears (along with that stupid fox song), ever since she talked about it. Her comment was basically that God chose us and adopted us into His family by sending Jesus to die on the cross and forgive our sins. God CHOSE us to be his children. He ADOPTED us into His family for His good. To be His heir. Many women say they became pregnant "by accident", but has anyone ever adopted "by accident"? I am pretty confident that the answer is no. This is not a process for the faint of heart. Every aspect of your life is documented and closely examined. You have to open up your feelings, your story in Christ, your home to judgement as to whether you can parent another child. We are so blessed with family, friends, and a church that has vouched for us, that we are capable to love another child (with special needs even!). I praise God for all the signs and for the courage to go through with all this! 

We are getting so close to our first trip. I just found out our Dossier (packet of applications) has been sent to B!!!! All we need is for them to get it, approve it, and give us a travel date to go see her!!! It is surreal to think how close we are! I have relied on God to keep me patient and I will continue, but I am so excited to meet this little girl I have been staring at pictures of for almost 8 months!

Please keep prayers coming for us, especially financially, as this is getting expensive!! She is well worth every dime!

So here we wait

I have been negligent of my blog because it seems to me there has been nothing to write. Here we are three months later and we are pretty much in the same spot. Not our fault. Our social worker was surprised at how difficult the wording is for a B Home Study. So she is going back and forth with our agency and getting it perfect so that there will be no problems when we send the finalized copy to B. It is frustrating, since we have done our part and there is nothing we can do, or turn in, to make this go faster. My best uneducated guess is that we are within two months of going to visit and then will go back to pick her up, as our daughter (officially), in about 6 months. That seems forever.

I know I have said so many times how God has brought people into our lives just for N and I have another story on that premise. We live in a small neighborhood of about thirty houses. And in a huge school district of which I am pretty involved. I was helping at registration when a lady came up with a stroller and a baby boy inside that clearly has DS! Of course I inquired about him!! I thought, how great to know that someone in the school would also have a DS child starting a little behind N!! Well, as it turns out the Mom, Lisa, is also a speech therapist, even better!!! After we exchanged info I got back to my job! A couple minutes later as I was running around my neighbor stopped me and said, "Hey, I want to introduce you to our new neighbors." You get one guess who it was....

God is good, and He will not lead you blindly, He will not forsake you, He will give you everything you need when you follow His call.....

Bless you all friends!!!

Graciousness

For those of you following me I apologize for not posting in so long. As for me, since last post I had another stroke, had 2 angiograms, had a stent put into my right Vertebral Artery. Plus started speech and physical therapy. The outpouring of support for getting me better has been unbelievable. It truly makes me speechless to think of all the time given, meals made, and cards sent wishing me well! God has had His hand in all this and as unbelievable as it sounds I am thankful for it!!!

James 1:4-6 says, " Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without fault, and it will be given to you. But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind."

In saying that, I tell you that I still pray God will help us bring N home! And I have never for a second doubted that with His gracious help she will be here. It is very hard to be patient, and it is very hard to slow our busy lives down. God allowed for mine to come to a sudden halt, not to punish me, but to help me see more clearly what he needs me to do. I also see patience in a different way. I will not heal from my strokes overnight. It will take the same patience as waiting to bring N home. I have to work hard at both things to make them happen! So Let's Go! LOL