She has hair!!!!

We got an update first thing this morning. She's 30.75 inches tall and weighs 20.06 lbs! We also got updated pictures!!!! She got our birthday presents we sent her. The shirt she is wearing in the picture is one that we sent and is size 3-6 mo.! Still no TA.

Financial Update

Applied for 8 grants and 1 loan. Have got 2 grants and 1 loan, with 4 grants still left to hear from. If you feel God leading to help us adopt Elizabeth, see the Lifesong information on the right of the page. Last I checked Lifesong had received $1614.39 of the possible $4000 that they will match on our behalf ($1036.25 of that is from our garage sale).

We got an interest free loan!

No news on TA, but we got an email and call today saying that we got an interest free loan from ABBA Fund! We won't have access to our Lifesong money until after September 3rd or get our State of Texas grant until we return and since we have to pay for travel arrangements before we leave this loan will be a true blessing and meet the immediate necessary expenses. Yeah, God! Still planning on leaving town Aug. 19.

It's not official, but....

We still do not have our TA, but after an extensive conversation with our agency she told us to prepare for Aug. 21st departure. Which in reality would mean leaving our home on the 19th. Nothing is set in stone, but I feel some better. She said that even if we get TA on the 13th we could still do departure on the 21st. Please be in prayer that we will get travel approval, it is overdue. In the meantime I've been collecting items needed for our travel and trying to keep my mind off of our MIA TA. I hope to have an update on Elizabeth in the next couple of days and will post any new details that we find out. Thanks for your prayers.

Nothing

Our wait continues. Families from our same agency with our same timing got their TA last week. Families that haven't been waiting as long as us got their TA's last week and today. I would love to be peppy about this, but I just can't. China, who is always reliable, concerning adoptions, has let us down big time and right now I feel like our adoption agency has too. I know we aren't the only client, but part of me wonders if this extra long wait is some mistake on their part. I really want to call or email CCAA in China and find out what is going on since our agency isn't! GGGRRRR!

Livin' Like We're Leaving August 13th!

Still no word and now it is the weekend in China. I decided yesterday to simply start living like we are leaving August 13th. That gives us a day to get to my dear parents, a day to get the boys settled and then off to the airport for a very early morning check-in. A watched pot never boils and apparently a watched phone never rings- unless it is an untimely solicitor, ugh. Pray for us, but please not for patience, simply to be wise stewards of our time and HIS money.
Praising God for low eighties this morning, VBS, playground removal, Zumba and friends,
:) J

LSC in China 4 weeks + 2 days = what feels like forever

Still have heard nothing about our travel approval. It is hard to not get angry or depressed. Especially when you have other stressers in your life- puking kid, dog that won't go outside, schooling decisions to make, Incredible Husband that travels an incredible amount as well, construction (basically in my backyard) going on at 5am, ADHD kid,...the list could go on. Compared to a friends teenager's arm being broken and needing surgery, it's all small stuff, but face it the small stuff does add up! My mom refers to them as nibblers, right now I feel like I am swimming with piranha's. Please pray for our travel approval to come, for peace and wellness to reign in our house for financial wisdom regarding the adoption and that I would have strength- because all I want to do is sit down and cry then curl up and lose myself in a book and forget about all the responsibilities and "areas of growth" I face everyday.
11am- no more puking child, yeah!

.....the wait continues

I was all excited for Monday to come- we should get our travel approval (TA) for our trip!!! Well should doesn't mean will and as of yet no TA. Others from our agency got their TA's (glad for them!), but wondering if WE will ever be there. I encouraged someone just the other day, that there is a season for everything- a season to sow, a season to reap... and right now a season to wait. God has a reason and time for everything. And though I do believe what I said, right now it sure is a horse sized pill and I am tired of trying to swallow it. If you see me staring at the sky, I am looking for the silver lining.

Test Post

Remote posting operational!

WE GOT IN!!!!!!

God opened the doors at the immigration office. We got in, got fingerprinted and got out within 30minutes!!!! We then drove over to the main USCIS field office to file our updated homestudy. Well we ran into that we needed an appointment (first they wouldn't let us in the building without an appointment, but I pleaded our case of having traveled from afar, they let us in, next guy (at window) wouldn't even listen that we came a long way without an appointment, but using the infopass in their lobby, I got an appointment for 15 min later! Lady at 2nd window couldn't take our "hand delivered" documents, but offered us an envelope and told us which drop box to put it in. We've done all we can now and it is in the hands of the US government and God (but it has always been there). We celebrated Elizabeth's birthday and the completion of our last step by going to PF Chang's- a Chinese restaurant that serves gluten free food. They even blessed us with a GF dessert in commemoration of Elizabeth's birthday today. Thank you so much to all who prayed.

USCIS - Prayer Request

We are off this morning to Dallas to the USCIS Support Center in Dallas to try to get our finger prints updated. Please pray that they will accept us without an appointment.

Ministry Video

Here's the launch video for our church's new orphan care ministry, Legacy. Some of the faces might look familiar. I put it together from people I know, most go to FBC, that submitted photos of adopted kids, adopted children who are now grown and foster children.
Enjoy!

Garage Sale

At last count we were able to raise over $1000 at the sale. We even had a couple of people stop by as we were packing up and sorting. (They even bought!) The leftover nice winter clothes we are putting on consignment with the proceeds going to our church's new adoption fund. The leftover nice summer clothes we have boxed up for foster families at our church. Just want to send out a BIG thank you to the W family for hosting our sale and for all that they did- I am blessed to be your friend. Mrs. H thank you for coming Friday- I was soooooo in need of help, I know your a true friend. (Mrs. T and Friend thank you as well) We ended up with somewhere around 15 families donating to the sale, so BIG thank you's to the A, B, other B, C, F, H, other H, M, N, R, S, T, W and a couple ?'s families. Your generosity has blessed our family and will be a blessing to other families.

Counting my Blessings

Just wanted to let everyone know. It is official. The playground is GONE!!!!! If you don't know what I'm talking about, look at the older posts. Maybe moving is not what we need to do afterall?! God remains faithful!

A Grim Discover/ A Sweet Rememberance

We have had two birds build nests in our hanging ferns. The first nest/eggs did fine even though we had an issue with Mr. M bringing a baby bird into the house and putting it into his shoe- amazing enough the baby bird lived. Anyway, second nest, I discovered that another nest was made in another fern, over the course of several days there were another four eggs laid. Then all of a sudden three eggs were gone and the mama seemed to be gone as well. I figured that the first three must have been stolen by some creature and that the fourth was a dud because no parent was around anymore. Well, it's been a couple weeks since I last looked but today I found a hatched fourth egg and a dead baby bird. I was crushed, my first thought is I should have been more faithful at checking everyday.... Then my second thought was that not a bird falls from the sky that the LORD doesn't know about and HE cares even more for ME! (my paraphrase). God saw that baby bird live and die and He had a plan. God sees our daily challenges with Mr. M and my daily struggles to homeschool and keep house. God sees our paperwork delays with the adoption and in all of these things He has a plan. I don't know how it brought God glory for the baby bird to die and I sometimes don't know how I can bring God glory with all my failings and shortcomings. But He is Faithful and He has a Plan!

Stockpiling for the garage sale

Just want to give the T, C, H, F, M, and B families a big thank you. I have been pricing for the last two days. These two pics is what is priced so far.

These are the boxes of clothes, yet to be priced.
There are LOTS more items in our garage. Our purging continues as well as the pricing...
We have our appointment for refingerprinting in two weeks. Trying to get in sooner. Praying that they won't want us to come next saturday, the day of the garage sale. But we need to get that ball rolling... I keep reminding myself that God provides and never gives us more than we can handle. BTW, if checks are used to pay for items at the garage sale, we can submit them to Lifesong and they can count toward our matching grant. Isn't that cool?!

Quick Update

We got a call from Lifesong a few minutes ago and they have approved us for a $4000 matching grant!!!!!!! This means that if we raise $4000 (through friends, family or anyone who wants to help), they will contribute $4000 as well! More details to follow.

When it Rains, It Pours

Ever have one of those weeks, or months.
Our vacuum died (and a vacuum is not a maybe at our house with 4 boys, 2 large dogs and 1 cat and dust allergies), our washing machine is requiring a $200+ repair (I value clean clothes). We had to get new tires on our van, another $200+, but it was a manufacturer's defect and so we saved over $90 for three tires. (Trying to look at bright side here) I finally broke down and ordered our curriculum for next year, more $$$. But we need to go ahead and start schooling because we will be traveling most likely in August, when we typically start. Our land had to be brushhogged, another $1000. The pool repairs we have waited/put off for so long, finally happened, but cost $5000+. I keep asking myself where the money is coming from to pay for all this. Some has been savings, but mostly I think it is God just taking the little we have and blessing it. Our electric and water bills have been really low compared to last year (our yard is a shade of brown and you can break a sweat if you move in the upstairs of our house). I am couponing my brains out, and getting rewarded with lots of groceries and other items for REALLY cheap or free. I am happy to say we haven't even had to start eating just beans and rice. I could live this way, but my husband likes meat. All this to say, I have no idea how God is going to provide for the adoption. Because all my "saving efforts" seem to be in vain, some other major expense keeps coming that's not adoption related. I have come to the conclusion that we might just have to take a loan against hubby's retirement, but then I wonder if God is causing futility to all my efforts to save so that HE can provide for the adoption!? I know that our adoption of M was definitely God and there were road signs that pointed out God's provision. So maybe my washer breaking down, isn't that it is six years old, but it is a road sign that will point to God's provision for Elizabeth's adoption. I can only pray that I am learning the lesson and try to trust that my heavenly daddy has a plan, a time and a purpose for all things. Meanwhile we wait for the fingerprinting paperwork.

Update

We got an update on her measurements and personality today. The gist of it is she is about the size of a 12mo. old, 19lbs and 29.5 inches. She is active and outgoing. Part of me cringes and asks, "How active?!" But she also loves to be held... Hopefully she will like bows in her hair, wearing dresses and playing with 4 brothers.

LSC in China/Fingerprints Expire

I know what your thinking. Your fingerprints don't change, how can they expire?! Well if you are adopting your FBI fingerprints that you need for immigration approval do expire. I discovered last Thursday that ours had. No big whoop, right? WRONG!!!! Our fingerprints and immigration approval BOTH have to be valid in order to get our US Consulate appointment. Our travel is arranged around this appointment. So on Friday- remember the black hole of communication post?- I was scrambling to get the right information. The USCIS office got our paperwork on Monday for our fingerprint renewal.
-PLEASE PRAY that we can get in to Dallas late this week/early next week and get our fingerprints done/approved/renewed. We could get our travel approval from China anytime in the next 2-4 weeks. I know that God knew this would happen. Something has to give with raising four boys, homeschooling, GF diet, hyperactive child, two dogs, a cat, having house on the market, organizing a garage sale... But I don't want my mistake to cost us precious time that we could have with Elizabeth.
-Another prayer matter is that with H1N1 (swine flu) and the "pandemic", China is quarantining anybody with elevated body temperature/flu symptoms/or who was in near proximity to someone with symptoms while on the plane to China. China will separate children from parents (like your children who are traveling with you to China). Because of this along with the fact that M is hyperactive (was not looking forward to 14 hours in a plane with that) and Elizabeth will have quite a large adjustment going from a Chinese orphanage to English speaking parents, we will not be taking M or Z or J or T with us.
-Pray for my dear parents strength as they will have all four boys.
The list of prayer requests could go on, but if you have read this far, you've heard enough from me already.