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!

Fingerprints!

WOW! God is making up for that lost time I was talking about! The USCIS was supposed to take 3-4 weeks to give us our fingerprinting appointment and we got the appointments yesterday! It's only been about 10 days since we sent our application in. We go to Dallas on Tuesday, Nov. 22.
"How do you eat an elephant? One bite at at time!"

Wordless Wednesday

Give Them Grace

This book is ROCKING my world:
http://givethemgrace.com/

I have read LOTS of parenting books. I have tried for years to parent the "right" way that I thought God wanted me to do for our boys. Man, He is really working on me right now. God pours out His infinite grace upon me every day, yet I am teaching my kids to follow the "law" and not showering them with the same grace He gives me.

I have a lot of growing up to do! I'm only on Chapter 3. I'm sure He's got much more to show me.

Babies, babies, babies

I was on GLA's website and read this update on their Adoption blog. There are so many precious ones that need forever families. It breaks my heart that they are waiting on papers from families like us that love them already. How long will they have to wait? Is my baby girl already there just waiting on our paperwork to get there???

From the GLA website:
Oct. 13 2011
Adoptions are going very well. We had three dossiers signed in IBESR in the last few days and several are in passports! We have had a few dossiers arrive in Haiti and I hope to give a few proposals before I leave for Canada on the 23rd of October. We have a lot of sibling groups still waiting for "forever" families. Please be praying that we will receive more dossiers soon.

EARTHQUACK!!

So, last night, the house was absolutely quiet (and still!). Robby and Noah were in Oklahoma at their boy scout campout. Luke and Jonah were sleeping soundly and I was checking email. Suddenly, the desk where our computer sits starting swaying. Now, this desk is very rickety and the boys bump it all of the time. So, I thought I had just bumped it with my leg. I backed up and realized that the ground under my feet was moving! I looked around and the strings on the blinds were swaying. A friend gave me some wind chimes last week and I flippantly hung them on a cabinet knob. I started looking around the room and those wind chimes were moving, too. I just froze. I really had no idea what was happening. I quickly dismissed the idea of an earthquake because we're in Texas! There are no earthquakes in Texas, right? I thought maybe there was an explosion somewhere and the ground was vibrating from that. It only lasted about 15-20 seconds. By the end, I started thinking maybe it was a tremor. Since I was at the computer, I Googled "tremors in East Texas" and found nothing. I clicked on Facebook and a friend in Arkansas had posted that she was just in her first earthquake! Very quickly, there were others posting about it. It was nice to confirm my suspicions. Good ol' Facebook! When none of the news sites could help me out, Facebook was my friend! I really thought I was going crazy or something. Then, for the rest of the night, I kept feeling like it was happening again.

At 5:30 this morning, I woke up and felt the bed swaying. Sadie (our dog) woke up, too. At first, I thought maybe it was just a dream, but I checked when I got up and there was another aftershock at that time.

I have enjoyed reading all about it and reporting what I felt on the U.S. Geological Survey's website. I just never in my wildest dreams would've imagined that we could feel them here. I guess I did know they had them in Oklahoma. The epicenter of this one was in Oklahoma City and they're saying it registered at a 5.6.

So, here's the Grandpa coincidence (if you know my Grandpa, you know he's kept a record of coincidences for years). When I was putting the boys to bed last night, we were looking at a book they had gotten from the library. It has a duck on the cover and the title is "Earthquack!" Luke was laughing about that and Jonah asked what was funny. So, I explained the play on words to him. Just an hour later, Mama felt a real earthquack!

Good Day!

Today was a GOOD day! Got to go to my happy place (Super Target), eat a yummy lunch, shop some more, and all of that with my MOM! Even though she only lives 45 minutes away, we are both so busy and don't get to hang out---just the 2 of us---very often. It was a very happy : ) day!
P.S. This pic was from our trip to New Orleans. Wish I had one of those yummy beignets right now!

Progress!

I mailed our I-600 immigration form today. This is the government's form that goes to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. They check us out and make sure we're "good folk". Then, they'll send us an appointment for fingerprinting by the FBI. This will happen in Longview or Dallas. Not sure which yet.

I am just happy we're doing SOMETHING now after sitting (well, not really sitting, but the papers were!) for a month.

Once we find a psychologist or psychiatrist to do our psych evaluations (so many people have to prove we're "good folk"!), this will be the last item for our dossier. Yea, yea, yea!!!

RED LETTER DAY!

"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!"
2 Corinthians 5:17

Our family is celebrating and rejoicing today and so are the angels in Heaven. Luke burst into the living room at 7:00 this morning and said, "I have some exciting news! I asked Jesus into my heart last night!" I was so surprised and overjoyed at the same time. Of course, I was skeptical that he really knew what he was doing, so I asked him lots of questions and he answered them all perfectly. I have no doubt in my mind that our little boy was changed last night. He said, "I even faced toward the window when I prayed, like Daniel!" (We have been studying the book of Daniel and when Daniel prayed, he faced his window, which looked toward Jerusalem, his hometown. This was customary for those in captivity.) That's my Luke. Never missing a detail about anything. Oh, I left something out. When he told me he prayed, he used the words "that very night", which is also from the book of Daniel. King Belshazzar saw the hand writing on the wall and died "that very night". Details like that always seem to stick in Luke's mind.
For breakfast, we put a candle in a blueberry muffin and sang Happy Birthday to him. I told him October 26, 2011 is his "Jesus birthday" because he has been born again.

He is VERY excited about being baptized and ready to go talk to our pastor. He was telling everyone at Bible study about his new birth day and our teaching director even talked about it during her lecture.
Not that this is at all about me, but....
God just really used this to humble me. See, we are in the prophecies of Daniel right now and they are STRANGE, to say the least. Beasts with horns and 10 heads and wings. It can all be so overwhelming and so confusing. I have just been asking God all week what the point of studying all of this was. I just want to move past it and that's not right because it IS God's word. After Luke's salvation experience, God gently reminded me that He can use ANY part of His word to bring His children to Himself.
Good is good. The angels in Heaven are rejoicing....and so are we!
P.S. Sorry the pictures are out of order. Not sure why they uploaded like that.

Endings

The girls went home today. They were here almost exactly a month. I am really going to miss those little munchkins. I am so thankful that they are just 5 minutes down the road. If they lived far away, it would've been much more sad. Their Mom is doing great and I am excited about their future. I pray that we'll always have a relationship with them.

The boys were WAY too celebratory. They are glad to have things back to "normal". I know it was hard on them, but they were troopers for the most part. I think they will be getting a lot more sleep now that they won't be having their bedtime party together every night.

When we were eating supper tonight a sweet conversation happened.
Luke: "So, where are they?"
Me: "Where are what?"
Luke: "The blessings. You said God was going to bless us for taking care of the girls."
Me: "He will. You have to be watching at all times. Be on the lookout because He is going to send blessings our way because we obeyed Him."
Luke: "You know what I think the blessing is going to be? Gracie. I think she's going to get here really soon!"
Me: (no longer talking because there's a lump in my throat)


During the last month, there have been times that I have gotten frustrated because of the "lost" time with our adoption paperwork. The immigration papers have been just sitting here for 2 weeks waiting to be mailed with a check. But, God has reminded me during those times that He can very easily make up for "lost" time. We have no idea what blessings He has in store for us. All I know is that every time we have followed Him in the past, He has blessed our socks off! I have no doubt that taking in those 3 little angels this past month was just simple obedience. We are watching....

ZOO!

The girls said they had NEVER been to the zoo (haven't confirmed that with their parents) and the weather has been so gorgeous, so we loaded up today and had a field trip to Caldwell Zoo in Tyler. We bought the "Family Membership", so we can go back for free for a year (totally worth it with 6 kids!). I really want to make a point to do that more. It's such a neat zoo and very kid-friendly.

The girls were totally mesmerized by all of the animals. It was a GREAT day! Everyone stayed together and no one got fussy til the end. Aunt Amy was my co-pilot. I couldn't have done it without her!

October 13, 1992

NINETEEN years ago today, my precious hubby took me on our first date. We went to Cinema IV in Mt. Pleasant to see "Last of the Mohicans" and then to Braum's for ice cream afterwards. I got a single dip of Mint Chocolate Chip (of course!) in a cup. I still remember exactly what I was wearing (polka dots!) and the millions of butterflies in my stomach. I knew when I left his house that night he was the man I was going to marry. I know people say that and it sounds so cliche', but I really did know in my heart.

My sweet sister-in-law always calls and says Happy Anniversary every October 13. If it hadn't been for her, our first date might have been a different day. : ) She knew I had my eye on him and encouraged him to ask me out.

To look back at God's faithfulness and provision for us since that day 19 years ago, just gives me butterflies of a different kind. When he created Robby in his mother's womb, He created him to be my soul mate. When he created me a few months after that, He knew in His perfect plan that I would be the perfect help meet for Robby. It's all so amazing. We didn't even live in the same town, but he orchestrated all of that to come together so that we would spend our lives serving Him and raising a family to love and honor Him.
O how marvelous!
P.S. Some day I'll have a scanner again and scan all of our "dating" pictures. There are some real winners! This picture is a year old, but makes me giggle every time at my silly man.

Wordless Wednesday

"Did You Ever Really Miss New Orleans?"

...or something like that. Can't really remember the exact title of the song. We spent last weekend with my mom's side of the family (almost all of them!) in New Orleans. It was our first time in the Big Easy. We had a GREAT time, but didn't really get any rest. I thought I'd be able to sleep late on Saturday and was really looking forward to that, but my dear sweet Grandpa was at our door at 8:00 AM. I left Robby in bed and went for benets (no clue of the correct spelling here) at Cafe Du Monde. Yes, it was worth it. Not a Krispy Kreme hot off the presses, but still yummy. We toured the Garden District, did some shopping, and enjoyed lots of yummy, yummy food. The live jazz at Preservation Hall was worth the whole trip! Amazing music! Bourbon Street scared me, honestly. Total insanity.

We came home feeling very refreshed and rejuvenated. Reality hit hard when we got off the plane and drove directly to Wal-Mart to grocery shop. Shopping with my hubby is a DATE because it's soooo much easier than shopping with six kids! We filled two buggies, but I won't have to go back for a while!

All 6 were back home on Sunday night. We pulled into the garage and Dalila yelled, "We hoooommmeee!!!" So precious. They all mobbed me when I went to pick them up. I'm so thankful that God has made them so comfortable here and that they feel our love. It makes it all worthwhile.

The boys have started watching old "Dennis the Menace" episodes. In one episode the mom is putting Dennis to bed. Dennis asks his mom, "Mom, why do you say, 'Thank goodness' when you tuck me in instead of 'Good night'?"
I do feel that way by 8:30 every night. God is good and He is renewing our strength day by day.

Blessed

One look at these sweet faces and you will understand how absolutely blessed we are right now. We have angels at our house! (and yes, after bathing 5 kids---Noah's on his own at this point---for a few nights in a row, the bucket of water outside for water play counted as a bath! My standards have been lowered. : ))

One Year

"There is no wisdom, no insight, no plan that can succeed against the Lord." Proverbs 21:30

We closed on our business one year ago today. What a year it has been! God has continually poured out His blessings on us. I have been studying the book of Daniel with the boys and teaching them about how God honored his obedience. Yesterday, I gave them the example of our family. We obeyed God---even when it didn't make sense---and moved our family to Mt. Vernon to buy a stove/fireplace business. We are both teachers. We were "city folk". It didn't make sense, but we obeyed.

God has honored our obedience in AMAZING ways. We had the busiest fall that the previous owners could remember. We had no slow season. We were prepared for things to slow down in spring/summer, but God had other plans. There is no way to explain people driving--sometimes long distances---here on 107 degree days to buy a fireplace or stove. God is good and we are thankful.

No, this isn't a current picture, but I love the beauty of it.

Radical

Last Sunday, Robby and I started a study at church on the book Radical by David Platt. I have heard a lot about the book and a friend had even given me a copy for my birthday, but I hadn't started it. We decided this would be great for us to study a book together and grow together. The book is all about living your faith out in a radical way. Who knew that in just one week God would be calling us to do something really radical for Him?

This Sunday, three little girls will move into our home. We love these girls. They are members of our church and we have gotten to know them quite well over the past year. Their Dad works out of town and their mom is sick and needs time alone to get better. This is radical! They are 4, 3, and 9 months.

When Robby and I first heard of this situation, I think we both immediately wanted to jump in and offer to take them in. But, we went slowly and prayed about the Lord's will. They have no family here and the only other option they were looking at was hiring a nanny service. Like I told their Dad, a stranger-nanny would care for them, but wouldn't give them the love that I will! This is a sacrifice that our whole family is making for the Lord. I keep asking God to strip away any ounce of pride that my ugly ol' flesh tries to sneak in. Everyone who knows about this keeps saying, "Wow! Y'all are brave!" or "You are a really nice person." NO! None of that is true. Yes, I do love children and would build a mansion and bring all the orphans home if I could, but this is all for the Lord. It is a privilege to bless this family by loving on their girls during this crisis time. But, I also know going into it that there's no way I can do it without Him and His supernatural strength flowing through me.

We are scaling school WAAAAY down. We'll still do the 3 R's, but that's probably about it. I can't be teaching the boys at the kitchen table while the baby crawls all over the house eating Legos! The boys are excited about this part, of course.

After all of my excitement of starting my new Bible study, I have to quit that. I can't put these girls through the stress of another new situation when their little lives are dealing with so much change already. But, you know what? As much as I LOVE this study and this group of women, God has just completely given me a peace about it and shown me that this is just temporary. It's only for a season. Still not sure about co-op. I haven't told the boys that. If we have to quit co-op, they'll be so sad. Just for a season, though.

So, if my blog is quiet for a while, you know why! : ) Prayers for strength and peace in our home are very much appreciated!

GLA

This is a beautiful video of the orphanage where our baby girl will come from. Just watching these sweet faces on the screen gives me the biggest smile. I wish I knew this girl so I could tell her what a great job she's done. Amazing!

Wordless Wednesday

Tomorrow is a new day!

Today I am thankful that God's mercies are new every morning (Lamentations 3:23). I am thankful to finally see the end of this day. The end has been good. The middle....not so much.
It was our first "bad day" of school. This is our 6th week, so I do praise God that today was our first rough one. I'm pretty sure by this time last year, we had tallied up more. Even Jonah, the eager kindergartener, went to his room and pouted because his handwriting was "too hard".

The LORD is gracious, though, because tonight was my first Mom's Meeting. Other homeschool moms got together to eat chocolate and chat. It was so encouraging to be in their company. I left feeling refreshed and reminded that I CAN do this. I have known from the beginning that God did not call me down the easy path. One (of the many!) reasons He called me to homeschool is for my own sanctification. He draws me to Him daily---no, hourly---through my children. My relationship with my Father would not be as deep and meaningful if my kids were in public school. I can honestly say that. I also know that their relationships with Him would not be what they are either.

I am humbled every day to be in this place. His mercies are new every morning. Great is His faithfulness.