WHOOOHOOO!

This is an email that I received on Thursday from Tina, my friend and adoption coordinator at our agency. I meant to post this earlier but I have been a little busy house training. ;)

CCAA has provided information on the dossier reviewing process, LIDS through December 31, 2006 have been reviewed

What does this mean for us? Well, since we have a LID of November 8, 2006, it means that someone in China has gone over our dossier/file with a fine tooth comb, they liked what they saw and they approved us to adopt one of their precious girls! And it also means that our dossier is no longer in the review room but has moved on up to the matching room! Yes, the matching room is where they will actually match our family with Ruthie! It is still going to take a while because of the backlog but it is so comforting to know that we were not asked any additional questions, there were no problems and we can now just wait on our referral!

Below are two pictures that I found of the matching room. Look at all those dossiers! We know that ours is wayyyyy in the back, underneath a mountain of others BUT it's still in there!!!! YIPPPEEEE!!!

INTRODUCING.......

DUKE!!!

My boys are on Spring Break this week and have been at their grandparents house while I worked Monday-Wednesday. Today we surprised them with our new minature Dachshund puppy that we have affectionately named Duke. The boys love him and he really seems to like them as long as they are holding him. :) Now, Tiger, our cat, is another story. Hopefully Tiger will come around and they can become buddies. If anyone has any advice on that, we would love to hear it! We are excited to have a puppy in our home once again......remind me of that when the housebreaking has me at my wits end!

So, there is our exciting news for the day! Even though we would love to be introducing you to Ruthie, we will have fun playing with and getting to know Duke in the meantime!

STAY TUNED........

......for some exciting news from our family coming later today!!!!

The Wait

"For the vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak, and not lie: though it tarry, wait for it; because it will surely come." Habakkuk 2:3

Since we started the process to adopt Ruthie in January 2006, we have waited over 2 years...27 months, 16 days to be exact but who is counting? Well, I am! This wait has been one of the hardest and one of the best things I have ever been through. Some days are so much better than others where I really feel like I could wait 10 more years for her and be alright. Others are not so good and I feel like if I have to wait one more day, I will no longer be able to take in air. The wait is all consuming and starts to define who you are which is not a good thing. People ask us about "the wait" all the time. Seriously, it is like "the wait" is another member of the family....like it has taken on life and needs its own bedroom! We are asked questions like this:

~How is "the wait"?

~How are you handling "the wait"?

~When will "the wait" speed up?

~Why is "the wait" so long?

~My cousins half sister-in-law twice removed...adopted from China about 10 years ago and "the wait" was so much better for her than "the wait" is for you...why?

See what I mean? It starts to feel like a person who is now controlling your life and your conversations! A year ago I loved talking about China, Ruthie and the whole process but now it is physically painful, literally, to talk about it. I was at a ballgame about a week ago with a friend who is battling cancer and another lady joined us who also has cancer. The other lady wouldn't be quiet about her treatments, surgeries hair loss etc. After she walked off, my friend said, "I get so tired of talking about cancer, I live it, I don't want to talk about it too!". Not trying to compare it to cancer at all, but afterwards I thought about "the wait" and how I used to light up when someone asked me about it and how I couldn't wait to explain the process to them, now, I hope that no one asks me anything because I have nothing left to say. It is like my friend said....I live it, day in and day out, I don't want to talk about it too.

Lately, I have started questioning God(never a good thing) and wondering if we were really called to adopt. I keep thinking that maybe all of the setbacks that we have encountered are God's way of telling us that this is not His Will for our lives even though we genuinely feel like it is. Then one of my blogging friends, who is not adopting, sent me a daily devotional from Beth Moore. Michelle (Thanks!)told me that this certain days words reminded her of me and my faithfulness during "the wait". UGHHHH....I didn't want to read it, I was angry at God and felt very hypocritical that someone who doesn't know me outside of my computer thought that I was being faithful when really I have a bad attitude about the whole thing a lot of days. Anyway, I read the devotion and was blown away by it's words. I have saved it so that I can go back and read it when "the wait" throws me for a loop....again. Click here to read the whole devotion but I also wanted to share a couple of parts where I felt like God was speaking directly to me.

Like here:

Are we just snoozing our way through (purposeful) life and day dreaming about how we're going to chase down what Christ chased us down for - or are we going to wake up and actively pursue what God has created us for - even when the path gets rough? I ask the question because I've faced the dilemma. See if you can go here with me a minute: We get some vision from God and get pretty jazzed about it then, as God leads, we start taking steps that direction and suddenly the path gets hard. Or LONG. We wanted to leap there. Not crawl there. Somehow we weren't expecting it to be like this. We were thinking it was going to be fun. Always fulfilling. And, for crying out loud, not so dad-blasted hard and irritating. We didn't want to have to learn it or live it. We just wanted to do it. NOW.

So we retreat and decide we dreamed it all up - just like Satan was hoping we would. We don't understand that the pressures we face getting to our places of full-throttle effectiveness in Christ are crucial for developing the muscle to sustain ministry there. He's developing the character the calling requires.

OH MY GOODNESS!!! As I wept after reading this, I realized that it isn't God who causes me to question our decision but it is Satan trying to make me miserable and to make me turn from God. It says that we really don't want to learn or live our calling. HELLO!? But that to get us to the place God wants us to be we have to learn and live. Also, my favorite line in the whole devotion was where it says..."He's developing the character the calling requires". He has called me to mother an orphan from China and He is still developing in me all that I will need to do that to the best of my ability!!! How exciting is that?

So, yes, I have a lot of very frustrating days and even get angry because that is my human nature. Thankfully I serve a God that knows me, understands me and forgives my human nature. I am trying to be positive and faithful to Him during "the wait" but sometimes it is very hard. Today has been one of those days. I have actually read the devotion 3 or 4 times today! ;)

We are committed to our adoption and to bringing our sweet Ruthie home. We will endure "the wait" as long as it takes. We will pray, cry, and pray some more. We will learn and live. We will even answer questions when we really don't want to. And until it is time to travel to China.....I guess we will let "the wait" borrow Ruthie's bedroom....as long as it behaves!

Oh My Goatness!

Our friends, Jeff and Delia, raise goats and have had a major baby boom in the last couple of weeks. Actually, in one week they had 30 baby goats born on their farm. Delia and I work together and she was so nice to invite my boys over to see the babies before they got too big and scared of people. They were the cutest things and my boys had a blast holding them, petting them, watching them and then feeding the adult goats.

My sweet Jon Milledge left there in tears and cried all the way home because I wouldn't let him bring one home that was either sick or had just strayed too far from its mother. I tried explaining to both of them that sometimes animal mothers will push their babies away and not take care of them if they are sick. Jon Milledge thought that was awful and wouldn't have any part of trying to understand how it is really probably the best thing for the baby. He promised that if I let him bring the goat home he would bottle feed it and take care of it until it was able to eat on its own. Needless to say we did not bring the goat home and hopefully it is doing better now. It was no surprise when I told Milledge about our outing that he told me Jon Milledge had just mentioned to him the day before that he thinks he would like to be a veternarian when he grows up.

The pictures below are Jon Milledge and the goat that he thought he was going to bring home to save. Notice how in one he is not looking at the camara....already tearing up.



Thank you Jeff and Delia for sharing your babies with us! We had a GREAT time...even with the drama!

PS....click on the collages and the pictures will get bigger and easier to see!

My friend Leslie helped me do a few things on my blog today.She used Split Decisionz to help her do some little fun things to her blog, and then helped me with mine. She says it was very easy to do, so click the button above to see what you can do to spruce some things up for your blog.

All We Need is Ruthie!!!

Well...technically that isn't all true. We still need to paint her room, bring down the crib, buy a high chair and plenty of other baby items that I no longer have. BUT, we are so set on clothes right now thanks to my good friend Caryn. I have mentioned Caryn here before. She is the mother of 5, 2 boys and 3 girls. Her two little girls were adopted from China. Caryn is already spoiling Ruthie when it comes to bows, shoes and clothes. When we first started this process, she gave me a HUGE Rubbermaid tub full of pajamas, dresses and play clothes. Also, with that "gift" came a box full of sandals and squeaky shoes!!

Last week Caryn came to the office with a big bag full of beautiful dresses and bubble suits. I was so excited and couldn't wait to get home, take each one out, touch them and imagine sweet Ruthie wearing them. Almost every item came from either Ragsland or Kelly's Kids, both of which I love. I used to sell Kelly's Kids when my boys were little and you just can't beat the quality. I am absolutely tickled pink with all my new girly things. Seriously, between Caryn and my sister....Ruthie is going to be one well dressed baby!!

I wish I could show you each individual item up close but that would've taken forever. But here they all are layed out on my couch. Isn't it great!

17 Months.....

In honor of our 17 months of waiting for Ruthie and the fact that The Masters is taking place just down the road, here is a picture of the 17th green at Augusta National.

May China have a miraculous speed up and may the best man win the famous Green Jacket!

Thank You, an Update and Prayers for Tricia...

Thank you so much for your prayers and well wishes for my mother. She is still in a good bit of pain but she is up and moving about. I think her biggest fear was the doctor told her that people with broken ribs are very susceptible to pneumonia. She is doing everything to prevent that! She is able to sleep pretty well at night, with the help of some medication, which is the best thing for her and her body right now. I did go see her on Sunday and felt much better after seeing her with my own two eyes. Now if we can get the insurance companies moving a little faster! Yeah right! :)

Also, I would like to ask you to head over to Nate, Tricia and Gwyneth's blog and offer your prayers/support. Not only is today Nate's birthday but they have also received word that there is a possible match for Tricia's double lung transplant. This is the second call they have received since Sunday, the first donor ended up not being a good match. I am praying that this will be the perfect match for Tricia, that the surgery will be without complications and that her recovery will be quick so that she and Gwyneth can be home snuggling very soon! Please join me. If you have no idea what I am talking about, please click on their names above which will link you to Nate's blog then go back to read all about this wonderful family and their amazing journey. You will be blessed. Thank you.

*****UPDATE***** Thursday 7:30am
Tricia has new lungs!!! The surgery was successful and she is in ICU. Please continue to pray for a speedy recovery and also for the donor's family. As we rejoice with Nate and Tricia, there is a family suffering today.