Soooo excited!

This weekend, I get to take some time away and be refreshed! I'm too EXCITED for words. One of my favorite authors is hosting the MomHeart conference. In my opinion, she wrote "the" textbook on homeschooling. There will be great encouragement and great food. I need this. When we take breaks, it makes us better mommies and better wives. I wish I could convince all of my friends of this.
Sally Clarkson is my mentor, even though she doesn't even know me. She has the most encouraging blog and is so faithful to write on it almost every day. When I grow up, I want to be like her. : )

Lonnnng week

How can 7 days seem more like 14? Some weeks are just like that. This has been a rough week for me. I have a good friend who has been hurt in so many ways and God placed me here to help her. It's just so hard to see a friend hurt. I am thankful that I am able to help her, but I have experienced such a range of emotions through this journey.

Something that I've been mulling over a lot this week:
It's not fair that innocent children have to suffer the consequences of their parents' sins.

I know that seems very whiny and immature saying, "it's not fair", but it isn't. I also know that children all over the world are suffering every day, but when they are kids who are close to you and you experience the suffering up close, it hurts in a REAL way. It hurts my heart. I want to take them and hold them and hide them. If only I could.

It's no coincidence that our memory verse for this week focused on God being "over every power and authority". He is on His throne and He is in control and I am resting in that. I have been on an emotional roller coaster this week, but He has continually brought me back to this truth. He is God. I am not. Period. End of story.

In other news: the State of Oklahoma is on my "naughty list" tonight. They sent Robby's birth certificate back saying we didn't send enough money. I went back to their website and double-checked and it CLEARLY says $10 for a certification. 2 more steps back. So, now I will mail it AGAIN on Monday with $20. The other 7 documents are at the Secretary of the State of Texas office. My money's on Texas. They will get back to us long before Oklahoma's. Sigh.

6 Steps Back

Robby and I are very discouraged right now because we've had a major setback in our adoption process. The Haitian consulate has decided that there are more documents that need to be authenticated, notarized, translated and legalized. This is a new law that is affecting everyone going through the adoption process. Needless to say, we are VERY discouraged right now since we thought we were on the last U.S. step (the work we could do). We're not starting over, but we have to take several steps back. Blah.

Robby reminded me that God's timing is perfect and I do believe that with all of my heart, but I feel like I was almost about to give birth and the doctor said, "Oops. We messed up. Your due date isn't for 3 more months." It just stinks. There's nothing we can do about it except comply and do the work.

This morning, as I was thinking about it and just grumbling to the Lord (He can take my grumbles!), I thought about this:
the Haitian government could say, "You need to charter a private rocket ship, fly to the moon, collect moon rocks, and bring them to us to meet your adoption requirements," and you know what? We'd do it! We'd do anything for our baby girl! So, some extra paper work is worth it and we will persevere.....stay tuned!

Chicago-bound!

Today we mailed our 9 documents to the Haitian Consulate in Chicago. This is the LAST STOP in the U.S. before we get to send the whole dossier to Haiti. VERY exciting!!!! We are rounding 3rd base, folks!

I am a member of a Yahoo group with other families adopting from Haiti. Word is that referrals are happening 6-10 weeks after dossiers arrive in Haiti. Incredible! The wait use to be almost a year to be matched with a child. To think that we will see our daughter's face that soon just makes us giddy!

Happy Weekend!

Martin Luther King Jr. Day

This morning, I talked with the boys about Martin Luther King Jr. and his mission. They remembered watching the "I Have a Dream" speech last year. Mostly, they wanted to argue about why "all of their friends" (this is a joke in itself because most of their friends are homeschooled!) didn't have school today, but we did. "So unfair!"

What always surprises me when we discuss race and racial tensions and the way things used to be in America is the fact that they really can't comprehend living in a world like that. We are about to bring a baby girl into our family. We love her already and can't wait to squeeze her and kiss her. She happens to have brown skin. That's the way our boys look at it. They are completely color blind and I am so thankful for that. They truly don't understand why white people owned black people as slaves in the past. Noah has read a lot of American history books this year, so he's learned a lot about slavery and the way slaves were treated.

We ended our discussion by reminding each other that God created every person and we are all equal in His sight. I am so thankful for my boys and their love for all people.

Good mail day!

Just yesterday I blogged about running to the mailbox every day. Today was a great mail day! We got Robby's certified birth certificate (man, the state of OK is REALLY slow!). We also got a letter from the government that I don't really understand, but I'm pretty sure it's important. It's regarding our visas for orphan adoption and says something about our I-600 form being sent to Port au Prince. I'll have to ask our agency exactly what it is, but it's good. : )

So, as soon as our dossier gets back from the translator (hopefully, tomorrow), we'll get it in the mail to the Haitian consulate in Chicago. LAST STOP before Haiti!!!! Wow!!! Everything seems to be moving quickly now!

Yesterday was the 2 year anniversary of the Haiti earthquake. I stayed up WAY too late last night watching slide shows and videos posted by our orphanage. If you have time and enough Kleenex, check them out:
http://godslittlestangelsinhaiti.org/parentslookback/

Through tears, laughs, and smiles, here is what I realized: God has called us to adopt from Haiti NOW because He knew I couldn't handle the process that was in place just 2 years ago. Many of these parents had waited 2 years after being matched with their child. One mom said she had received 20 monthly updates on her child (the orphanage sends pictures/updates to adoptive parents every month while they're waiting). After the earthquake hit, Dixie, the orphanage director, worked tirelessly with the US and Haitian government to get the babies at GLA humanitarian parole. These videos say it all. Incredible! Here is very clear evidence of God bringing good out of an otherwise horrible situation.

Mail!

I feel like a little kid running to the mailbox every day...just hoping for something good in there. Still waiting on the state of Oklahoma to send Robby's certified birth certificate.
Heard from our translator today that she is finished and mailed the dossier back to us. Looks like we can get it to Chicago as soon as that birth cert. gets here. My goal was to get it to Haiti by March, but it looks like God's plans might be bigger! : )Woo-hoo!

Sweet story: last night we were waiting to get our picture made for the church directory. A sweet lady in our church was chatting with the boys. Jonah was being very outgoing about being the baby brother. I just sat there and listened, but wondered if he'd mention his sister. Not 10 seconds later, he said, "I won't be the baby much longer! We are adopting a girrrrrl!" It was so sweet. I just love how their hearts are just as excited as ours!

Waiting...

Just a quick update:
Right now, we are waiting on the dossier to be translated. It's in Miami FL with a French lady and she promised to get it done in a week (mailed it last week). So, we should be close. Then, it makes its last stop in the U.S. at the Haitian consulate in Chicago before going to Haiti.
We are getting soooo close!

One more check

One more check on the list---we got our dossier back today from Austin! Woo-hoo! I was actually very surprised. I mailed it on the 21st and just thought that with the holidays, it might not get back til January. We're rounding 2nd base folks!

Next step: translation of 9 documents.
Then, to Chicago to the Haitian Embassy.
God is good (and quick sometimes!).

Merry Christmas!

Robby and his parents

Aunt Amy with ????

The boys with their favorite cousin, LuLu

Luke with his giant Angry Bird--that boy loves his birds!

Santa has come and gone. This year, I got a new camera. I LOVE the quality of the pictures. It will be so great to take to Haiti and to have to document our baby girl's homecoming. We had a wonderful celebration with (almost) all of our family.

Daddy's highlights: iPad, tickets to Opening Day, Rangers hoodie, imported tea : )

Amy's highlights: camera, map of the Carribean, Haitian rocks, backpack that can easily double as a baby girl diaper bag : )

Noah's highlights: remote control car, bike, iPod

Luke's highlights: birds (the angry kind), basketball goal, Legos

Jonah's highlights: Legos, Legos, Legos (he was easy this year!)

Birthday weekend!

This year, Jonah decided that instead of having a birthday party, he wanted to have a "vacation" to LegoLand to celebrate. In our family, a "vacation" is defined as staying overnight in a hotel (usually found on Hotwire for very cheap). Jonah is a BIG Lego fan and he's read a lot about LegoLand.

If you ask the boys what their favorite part was, they all 3 will say the big trampoline. This wasn't even in LegoLand! Some (very smart) guys set up a bungee trampoline in the mall right outside the LegoLand doors. So, they all 3 begged to do it. Huge bungee rubber bands were tied to their waists and they were hoisted up to jump. Luke was pretty freaked out by it, but Noah and Jonah loved it. During this busy busy stove season, our family really needed the time away together. It was WONDERFUL!

Happy Birthday to Jonah!

My baby is 6 today! So hard to believe. How did this happen? It seems just like yesterday that we were crawling to the birth center in thick ice. Robby had the day off because school was closed. My Mom had spent the night after deciding she wouldn't make it home to Greenville on the icy roads (we spent Dec. 7 walking the mall trying to induce labor!).

It was a very eventful day. Both Nanas were there for Jonah's birth as well as Aunt Penny. My Dad made it right after Jonah hatched out. His birth was definitely the easiest of the three. I felt the urge to push and he was here! I can't imagine how easily Mrs. Duggar's births are!

Jonah is our clown that always keeps us in stitches and our family wouldn't be complete without him! We love you, Jonah!

It's in the mail!

Today was a great day! For several reasons, actually, but mostly because.....drum roll please.......

WE MAILED OUR DOSSIER!!!!!

This just the first of several mailings. It's not on its way to Haiti, yet, but it was still a very big accomplishment. 24 pieces went into that puppy! It took 7 months to get it all together. We mailed it to our adoption agency today and they will look it over. There might be corrections we have to make. Then, it goes to the Secretary of the State of TX. She will put her seal on the notarized documents (proves the notaries are notaries). Her name is Hope. Thought that was cool! From there, it goes to the Haitian consulate in Chicago. They put their seal on it. THEN, we get to send it to GLA! I'm shooting for March. We'll see....never know about the government.

Just the idea that we might possibly could bring our baby girl home in 2012 makes us all giddy!!!!!
My baby turns 6 tomorrow. He's really filling up my lap, although he still cuddles with me every day. I'm ready for a tiny one again! : )

Why

In case you still don't get why we're adopting, this video says it all. Wow....no words to describe this!

Photo Shoot

It's THAT time of year. Every year, we get pictures of the boys made for grandparents. (They seem to enjoy those gifts for some reason! :))
We have a sweet friend who just happens to be a VERY talented photographer. Bless her soul...she is SO patient even with our monkeys' antics. Jonah wouldn't come out of his room because I was making him wear a "church shirt". Noah was in tears because the shirt I wanted him to wear was a "pajama shirt" (note to self: never buy waffle weave for Noah again and expect him to wear it in public). Luke decided it was time to groom Boomer and dog hair was flying everywhere---after he had his "church shirt" on. Needless to say, my blood pressure was up! All of that to say, I highly recommend our photographer. I told her she is a miracle maker! She took mass chaos and made beauty out of it! Here's one little preview. If you have kids that make visits to the portrait studio pure torture, click here and meet our "miracle maker"!

Thought for today

This book is so good and so "meaty"! (Thanks, Beth!) The chapters are very short, but so thought provoking that I'm only reading one a day to really let them soak in. I read this passage this morning:

Those who make decisions based upon external data become thermometers of society: Their lives reflect the natural forces that shape their destiny. But those who make their decisions based upon what they see in God become thermostats of society: They influence their world through the forcefulness of bringing divinely received initiatives to bear upon this earthly sphere.

Are you a thermometer or a thermostat? How are you influencing your world?

Gotta run! Fingerprinting at the Department of Homeland Security in Dallas today. YEAAAA!!!!!

Wonderful Day!

Today was a wonderful day! Luke has been counting down the days to his baptism. We had 1 1/2 pews of family come to celebrate with us. Just seeing his excitement to "tell the world that Jesus is in my heart and He's my Savior" filled my heart with joy beyond words! He knew exactly what he was doing and why he was doing it. God is SO good!

Chee-toh kisses!

My sweet Bailee girl was here around dinner time tonight. I made her a "kid plate" of PB&J, grapes, and Chee-tohs. All she was interested in was the Chee-tohs, but she named everything on her plate. She's saying my name, too, which just fills my heart with joy.
Between bites of Chee-tohs, she would lean over and give me a kiss. We both had Chee-tohs on our mouths! SOOOOO sweet! I love this little girl SO much! Never knew I could love one so much that I didn't give birth to. : )

Hopeful Morning

I have to write about the precious way God encouraged me this morning. On our way to Bible Study, my iPod was on shuffle. God has always spoken to me in very powerful ways through music, but I just love how he used the "shuffle" feature to bless me today. : ) First, the Steven Curtis Chapman song "When Love Takes You In" played. I can still remember where I was the first time I heard this song (sitting in the Hastings parking lot in Greenville). It's a very heartfelt, sweet song that Steven wrote about adoption. If you've never heard it, grab some Kleenex and listen. As I sang along with it, I was just smiling at God and dreaming of our Gracie. I was dreaming about the day in the near future when she will be in her car seat in the backseat with the boys and going to Bible study with us. I just love thinking about her and dreaming about what she will be like. Of course, in my mind, she is the most beautiful little girl that God has ever made. Her hair is always in cute braids or pigtails because I just love fixing little girl hair. : ) She's always dressed cute because I've had 10 years to buy boy clothes (dinosaurs, transportation, or stripes?) and can't wait to buy purple, frilly girly clothes. Anyway, I was just singing and dreaming as I drove.

After that song, the next song that played is a new song by Casting Crowns called "Already There". It's such a beautiful song about how God is not constrained by time. He sees the total picture of our lives and He's already at the end. It just gave me such hope this morning to think about how God already sees our COMPLETE family (whatever that may look like) and Gracie is already in it. He sees me rocking my grandbabies and loving on them like I know I will. There is just so much JOY and comfort in knowing that even as we wait and as we struggle with waiting, this is such a small amount of time on God's infinite timeline.

He WILL bring Gracie home to us and it will be in His perfect time. He's "Already There".

Yes, the story continues, for those of you still with me. All of that happened just in the drive from MV to MP! Our Bible study teacher's lecture was on HOPE. Yes, that's the way God works. He delights in wowing me with His encouragement through other people. It was a very uplifting lecture about crying out to God when we hope for something and just waiting on Him.

As I left the sanctuary, I ran into a homeschooling/adopting sister. When I met her this summer, she told me their story of fostering to adopt and the number of children who have been through their home, but not been able to stay. They have loved a number of children, but had to send them back for various reasons. Well, when I saw her today, she was holding a newborn baby boy and it literally took my breath away! She explained to me how they had friends at church who knew of a girl having a baby that was up for adoption. Now they have Caleb. It brought me so much JOY to see my friend holding that baby and I just felt like God was (again!) wrapping His arms around me and saying, "Just hold on. Your day is coming!"

Today is one of those days that my heart and my arms ache for my baby girl. I want her here NOW and I want to beg God to hurry up.
I am so thankful for His reminders of hope today.
Please take the time to listen to this song and just know that whatever you are going through or whatever you are waiting on God to do, He's "Already There, standing at the end of your life".

Thankful

Today we celebrate all of the brave men and women who have defended or are currently defending all of the freedoms we enjoy. In writing class, we discussed the parallels between veterans and our Savior. He gave His life for everyone in the world. Every time a veteran steps on the battle field, they are risking their lives for us. Happy to share the three veterans in our family: Uncle Neal, Uncle Mike, and Aunt Maura. Thank you all!