Thursday, April 29, 2010

Tentative Travel Dates

Ok so we have some tentative travel dates, but nothing confirmed.  We are requesting a CA (US Consulate appt) of May 18th or 19th or 25th.  Our caseworker said that we usually get the first or second requested dates and either one of those would mean the following itenerary.

Fly out probably Sunday, May 9th (Mother's Day!)
Arrive in Zhengshou Tuesday, May 11th
Get Abbey Wednesday, May 12th
Fly to Guangzhou Friday, May 14th
Medicals Saturday, May 13th
TB test read Monday, May 17th
CA Tuesday, May 18th
Oath Wednesday, May 19th
Visa, Thursday May 20th
Can leave after 8pm on Thursday, May 20th

We should get confirmed dates either today or tomorrow.

That puts us leaving a week from Sunday!  That is quick!  It is a bit surreal right now.  I feel like I should be freaking out or something, but I really am not.  I do have a ton of stuff to do before I can say I am ready to go.  But I am not as overwhelmed as last time.  The big girls are excited, but sad to miss some of their end of the year activities. 

But since I have lived the last few weeks hanging by the phone, today I must go get some groceries!

Wednesday, April 28, 2010


Do not be afraid, for I am with you;  I will bring your children from the east and gather you from the west.
Isaiah 43:5

Workin' at the Carwash

Oh yeah, with help like this, who would ever need to pay good money at a car wash?!?!?







I'm just saying!

Monday, April 26, 2010

Prom

This weekend was Ashlyn's prom. 

We spent the day Saturday primping, polishing, curling, and laughing.  I have fixed her hair for all of her big events and I wondered if she would want me to do it again.  She did and I had a blast doing it. 

It was raining all day that day and only cleared up as we were driving to meet up with her friends for pictures.  But as only God can do, a bright rainbow appeared followed by brilliant sunshine, perfect for pictures!

First we had to stop by my grandma's and show her Ashlyn's dress.  Grandma told Ashlyn she looked beautiful.


Nana bought Sydney a "prom dress" too.  She thougth she was hot stuff!


Ash and her friend forever, RayVen.


When did they grow up?
I must have blinked.


Does she love her big sister or what?


So stinkin cute!


Ashlyn and Me


Ashlyn and her date, Evan.  He is a sweet buddy to Ashlyn and a real good kid!


I was happy they went togother.  They are alot alike.


Brooke, Cody, Ashlyn, Evan, RayVen, and Shawn.
Good friends!

She had a good time and it kept me very busy during the latter part of the week.  Busyness is a good thing as we still wait patiently (~ahem~) for TA. 

Four weeks today of the 3-5 week estimated wait. 

But who's counting?

Our update did contain new measurements.  It stated that she was 5'1" and weighed 110 lbs.  If anyone has a daughter about that size and can give me a guess as to what size clothing she will wear, I would really appreciate it.  Of course, you always should take this kind of info with a grain of salt, as proven by her updated foot length.  Apparently our new daughter has sprouted feet that are 38 cm long, which is about 15 inches.

Shouldn't be too long now until we can go get ole Bigfoot!

Wednesday, April 21, 2010

No TA yet. 

But we did get an update.

Without new pictures.

~sigh~

I will let you know what the update does contain when she emails it to me.......

4 Minutes!

So yesterday Ashlyn needed to go try on her prom dress after alterations.  I got a very uncooperative Sydney ready and finally got out the door at 2:38.  I know this because I looked at the van clock as I was pulling out of the driveway and thought about how late I was.  We had a lovely afternoon picking up her dress, finding shoes, and getting her & Sarah's nails done.  We returned home just in time to watch American Idol (MamaSox you rock!) on DVR and head to bed. 

This morning I realized that I had not checked the caller ID from yesterday, you know, just in case. 

Yup.

Heidi, our case worker, called at 2:42. 

I missed it by 4 minutes.

And in our rural area we do not get cell service until we get  about 15 miles away.

Hmmmmmmm.

She didn't leave a message......what did she want.........was it our TA...........was it our update...........my mind is whirling!  And to top it off, she is going to be out of the office from today until Monday.  And I know that it was her because the number that showed was her desk number.........

Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.

With the time zone difference, their office doesn't open until 11:00 our time.

At 11:01, I will be on the phone.........................

Tuesday, April 20, 2010

No news yet on TA.

It is getting increasingly difficult to focus on anything else.

But it is so cool to watch God weave this story together.

Humbling.

We are just hanging on while God moves.

You will see the chip in total amount lower as we receive donations that we receive through other means. 

For example:

I stopped yesterday to just run a normal errand.  When the owner of the business saw me, she gasped and said, "Oh, you're here!  God has had you on my mind!  I have been praying for you!  I have to give you something!"  She then gave me a $500 donation towards our adoption. 

I have heard similar stories from other families who have stepped out in faith to complete an adoption.  But I guess I just didn't believe that it would happen for me. 

Oh how I praise Him!

 

Sunday, April 18, 2010

Let's Go Cardinals!

Oh yes what a game! 

Yesterday my parents treated us to a Cardinal baseball game!! 

The girls were sooooo excited.  We love the Cardinals and watch them regularly.  We discussed which game to get tickets to and decided on yesterday because it was a 3:00 game.  We didn't want to have to get up early and take off for a noon game and we didn't want to be out too late for a 7:00 game, so this was perfect. 

Well so much for plans. 
The game went 20, yes 20, innings. 

It lasted 6 hours and 53 minutes. 

And we lost 2-1.

And we froze! 

Oh well. 

We had a blast!

And the cool part was that after the game, all kids could come out on the field and run the bases! 
Oh how I wanted to be a kid!

Sydney's first Cardinals Game!

Sydney trying to sneak away from Daddy.

My parents

Me and my mommy!

Sarah texting, of course!

You know it's cold when I will readily put sock on with my flipflops!

Here we go!

And they're off!  Ashlyn and Sydney running the bases of Busch Stadium.  So stinkin' cool!
My dad has some more pics on his camera that I will post when I get them.

Saturday, April 17, 2010

Guess where I am?

Tuesday, April 13, 2010

Update

What a weekend. 

To say we were encouraged is a massive understatement.  We had such a good turnout for our fundraiser!  We sold so much stuff and also served a ton of bar-b-que.  I loved seeing everyone and getting to talk with them about our adoption.  I know that there were a few seeds planted and I pray that God will use my efforts to encourage another family to bring a child home. 

Ten minutes before the service, my friend, Greg, who was leading the service, asked me to say a few words.  I am the communicator in the family, not Wayne.  He just gets all tongue tied.  So I got to speak a little, unplanned.

  ~gulp~ 

At the end of the day, we had raised over $2200!!!!!!! 
Thank you Jesus!!!!!!!!!!!! 

For a little community like this one, that is staggering!  We also have received some donations in the last couple of days.  I will try to figure out how to add those figures into the chip-in total.  I may just have to make a whole new one, I'm not sure.  If you know anything about it, let me know. 

Also, our agency buddy, Kerry got her TA yesterday.  We have the same dates up to this point.  I never thought I would say this, but we need a few more weeks! 
It's only been 2 weeks since Article 5!
  We need a little more time!

  ~breathe~

Friday, April 9, 2010

Tomorrow

Tomorrow is our big....

 ADOPTION FUNDRAISER!!!

At Black River Baptist Church
Yard Sale 1:00-6:00pm
Silent Basket Auction 1:00-5:45pm
Bar-B-Que 1:00-6:00pm
Gospel Singing 6:00pm


If you live near me, please come out and support us!
If not, then please please please
cover us with your prayers. 
We covet your prayers more than anything else!

We are 11 days into our wait for TA (expected in 3-5 weeks)!
It won't be long now......



Thursday, April 8, 2010

Another season...

Sarah is finishing up her Jr. High Volleyball season today with our conference tourney.  I wish I could say it has been a wonderful season, but in reality, it hasn't.  She is a good player with a soft heart.  This season has been hard on her sweet heart.  Alot of drama and just plain meanness went on this season.  And that's all I am gonna say about it.



You are a good little setter, #8.  Don't let anyone convince you otherwise.  I am very proud of you and the way you conducted yourself throughout this season. 
I love you!

Wednesday, April 7, 2010

Easter Pics!

Yes I am a little late in posting these, but you should be used to that by now.  :) 

Wayne really wasn't mad, but the sun was brutal!


This is little Faith who came home from Korea about the same time as Sydney came home from China.

Good friends.

One more try for a family pic.


And of course we had to hunt eggs!




Thank you for dying for me, Jesus.  I don't deserve your love, but I will forever be grateful for it.


Thursday, April 1, 2010

What's In a Name? Everything!

Since Sydney is at my mom's house "helping" her in her flower garden, I thought I would take advantage of this blessed silence and share with you one of the ways that God confirmed our adoption of Abbey.

We began this journey to Abbey/YeHong on March 18th, 2008.  It was the second day we had Sydney and we were back at the Civil Affairs office for our interview.  The hot and stuffy room was full of other new families.  I noticed Wayne watching the other families closely.  This was not odd because he loves just setting and watching people.  I don't get it, but he does.  Anyway, I noticed him watching a certain family. The parents were probably in their late 40's or early 50's and they had a new daughter of about 10 years old.  They had obviously just gotten her, because they were waiting to be interviewed as well.  They had given this sweet girl a simple digital camera.  She was taking pictures of everything in sight including herself and her new parents.  Then she would show the pictures to them and just smile the biggest and sweetest smile imaginable.  Wayne leaned over to me and said, "Look over there.  One of these days, we are gonna come back and adopt one of the older children like that."  He said it so matter of factly that I remember getting chills.  And I lovingly looked him straight in the eye and said, "Absolutely not!" 

Oh can you just hear God giggle......

Fast forward to summer of 09.  We definately had the adoption bug again.  I could not stop looking at photo listings and just yearning to bring another child home.  However I was not looking at the older children.  I was just too afraid, for whatever reason, to think about adopting an older child.  But as time moved on and God worked, I kept meeting these incredible families that adopted 13 year olds.  I just loved thier stories and how I could just see God all over them.  It wasn't long until we were matched with a beautiful 13 year old girl from Luoyang named YeHong.  When we saw her video, my heart just melted.  It is very difficult to explain, but she was just mine. 

We begin the paperwork, and about two months into it, I begin to get very afraid.  I began to question everything we were doing.  I was afraid it would be too hard.  We had told several people, and the reactions were not all that possitive.  You know the look, raised eyebrows, high pitched voices saying "Oh really.  That's nice."  I was doing a bit of a downward spiral and feeling like I had jumped in way over my head. 

At the same time, we were also struggling to come up with a name.  It is very diffucult to name a 13 year old.  Alot of names seemed too baby-ish.  Some of the other Luoyang families had gotten an English name in thier referral file.  But Yehong's file did not have an English name in it anywhere.  So we began tossing around names for her.  We have a Sarah and Sydney and so we thought another "A" name to go with Ashlyn would be cute.   We thought of Alex, which the whole family pretty much liked. I liked the name, but for some reason, it just did not settle well with me.  I brought up Abbey.  But everyone was pretty set on Alex.  We considered Allie for awhile.  Then back to Alex.  All the while I just kept saying, "I just think she should be Abbey.  I don't know why, it just seems right."  

In the mean time, I email Michael.  He is a man who served in Louyang orphanage for a long time and he had posted some pics of YeHong on his web page.  I just wanted to thank him for that and for loving the LouYang kids like he did.  As a final thought, at the end of the email I asked him if he knew whether or not Yehong Had an English name.  When he emailed me back, of course, the first thing he told me was, "Yes, she had an Englesh name, it is Abbey."  Let me tell you, the Holy Spirit rained on me at that moment and just confirmed from the top of my head to the bottom of my feet that this was my daughter.  I ran to Wayne jumping up and down and yelling "Her name is Abbey!  Her name is Abbey!"   We were just in awe.

You see, when God calls you to do something, it is personal.  He will give you what you need, when you need it.  It may not be on your time table.  He may not give you the 10 step plan, outlined and numbered.  But he will give you what you need, when you need it, and in a way that is personal to you.
That's who he is.

And my God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus.
Philippians 4:19 

The Lord will guide you always:  he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land and will strengthen you frame.  You will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail.
Isaiah 58:11