We have APPOINTMENTS!

Today has been a really great day! My mom kept her job amid massive downsizing, prayers for those who didn't, I reached my first goal in my healthy lifestyle plan, my first adoption tshirt arrived in the mail, can't wait to sport it around town, our truck is ready at the shop, and God provided the funds to pay for all the repairs, and

OUR FINGERPRINT APPOINTMENTS ARRIVED FROM USCIS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Once we complete these appointments, our I-171H should arrive in the mail a few weeks later and then we'll be DTE and move from PAPER CHASING to WAITING FOR REFERRAL!

God Provides, yes He does!

Why do we worry? Why do we even think about taking one step on that path? I'm learning not to. I'm learning not to entertain even the hint of concern over life, finances, my children, the future. Because I serve a God who loves to pour out blessing on me. He loves me to death, literally. He delights in providing for me. He gets a kick out of coming through for me when I need help. He giggles when I tear up with shear joy from seeing Him move on my behalf.

I almost stepped my foot on the path to worry about the rest of the money for this adoption. I was concerned about the flights, physically and financially, and God showed me today that He's got it all under control. So I'm done! I'm laughing with excitement to see how God provides next, cuz it just gets cooler and cooler, the ways He finds to surprise me. Goose pimples, gotta love em!

We're State Certified!

Our State Certification seals came in the mail today! Now we're just waiting on our fingerprint appts and then our I-171H to arrive and we're DTE! Everything else is in and waiting on the Immigration Dept!

We got the receipt for our I-600A!

Tonight when I went to the mailbox I got the receipt for our I-600A from the USCIS office, which means our 1171-H is officially on the way! (But still a good 2-3 months out!) I'm so excited! We're one half step closer to being DTE!!!
(Don't you non-adopting families just love all this lingo which is plain garbled rubbish to you!?!?) Just say a whoo hoo with us! It's great news!

Moving Along!

I haven't had a moment free to post, but I thought I would carve one out just to update the timeline and preserve some thoughts. . .

The last two weeks have been extremely hectic on the homefront and the adoption front simultaneously! (Of course) We recieved our home study from Katherine, which means we are able to move forward with the next steps in the process. We spent most of Friday in line at the Passport office, what a nightmare! It's of course a usually non-eventful activity but never when it involves our family! Today the kids and I spent a few hours in the car and too much time walking from building to building in downtown Fort Worth trying to obtain Criminal Background Checks on Jason and I. I also mailed off our USCIS application, so we are getting so close to finishing up the paper chase and submitting our dossier.

We're also in the middle of deciding whether or not to sell our home and move. It's a financial and emotional decision I'm just not being willing to commit to either way. On one hand, I want to stay in this house because it makes the MOST financial sense, but on the other hand, I don't know how it's physically possible to fit two more children, or even one more child, into this cozy home. Add to that the stress of home repair, getting a new roof, and a new fence, and replacing a ton of electronics that were damaged in the lightning strike, and I'm just money poor and exhausted.

And today while I'm on the verge of tears with the weight of all of these decisions on my shoulders, I'm thinking about those precious souls God has chosen for our family, and it seems nothing is too complicated or potentially financially stressful to undertake in order to bring them home where God has called them.

Spirit of Fear

For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received a spirit of adoption. By which we call, "Abba, Father!" Romans 8:12

So I've been doing amazingly well with the ups and downs of this adoption. I have not allowed myself to be consumed with anxiety or obsession. I have allowed peace and understanding to reign in every area of this adventure, that is until Sunday night.

We had our Home Study and our Social Worker's job is to question the ever living out of us concerning the possible negative issues our children will arrive with and to grill us about our ability to handle those needs. I never once wavered in my belief that God is in control but satan began whispering in my ear all sorts of retarded lies. I won't say I believed them, because I never lost focus on what God has told me, that my children, all 5 of them, will be emotionally and physically healthy and fully attached to me and Jason and to each other, but the weariness of the road it could take to achieve that began to overwhelm me. That coupled with my first sense of their rejection by others, and I opened the door for the spirit of fear.

I attended a powerful prayer meeting on Monday night in which God confirmed for me I hear Him, and I can trust what He's said to me, because He always fulfills His promises. Towards the end of the evening, the room is opened up and people begin to simply share what they hear the Holy Spirit telling them about anyone in the room, and I began to ask God to confirm for me through a stranger in the room that I was gifted with what I needed to bring these children home and be the parent they needed so that I could put away my fears. And wouldn't you know it, GOD delivered, answered, and provided! The only African in the room, a man so dark even the whites of his eyes were hard to define, raised his hand and pointed at me. He said, "Are you a Dr? I see Doctor all over you." His accent was so strong, it made his statement even more definitive. In that instant I knew God was confirming that I was the Dr my children would need, I will be able to minister to their needs, and heal their deficiencies. Not by my might, but because the Holy Spirit lives in me, and by His power, and by the blood of the Son we can all be perfectly healed, not just in heaven, but in this life.

I've begun to allow God to show me glimpses of them in my prayer time with Him, an image I've frequently shaken out of my vision before, out of just sheer overwhelmedness! :) But, in the last few days I've just allowed the Spirit to take me there, and it's nothing short of skydiving, the sensation of seeing things unseen. They are beautiful and my heart is filling with them already. I'm beginning to yearn for them in a new way. To have a sudden fear response, similar to the one I have when I jerk around to look in the back seat because I think I've left a child behind at a resteraunt. I've often had dreams that my children have been left alone at home, or somewhere frightening, and no matter how hard I run, it seems I'm unable to get to them, and that sense of angst to get to them is beginning to develop in relation to these two precious ones I've never even met.

It's the healthy side of being ready to go. I will not question God's timing, I know it's perfect, I will not fear when ups and downs arise as they always do in international adoptions, but I will continue to grow in my eagerness to get to them, to bring them, home, to hold them, and to begin the rest of their lives as Crazy Roots.

Our Secret's Out!

It was so wonderful to finally tell all of our family and friends. The kids have been dying to scream it from the rooftops, and it makes it more official now that we've received so many well wishes! It's going to be a crazy journey and we look forward to honoring God with each step of it!

The Sibling Point of View

I learned a couple of years ago that I could trust Brooklyn to keep a good secret! So, when Jason and I decided to obey our Call to Adoption, we first brought Brooklyn into the circle of prayer and confirmation time! The Sunday we prayed with Arnita and cemented our decision to adopt, I was talking with Brooklyn in the bathroom before church. She was jabbering away in her usual adorable chatter, and said, "O.K., so mom, are we adopting or not adopting?" To which I replied, "I don't know, Brooklyn. We just have to know it's God's will. There are a lot of things that have to fall into place right, and if God's not going before us making them happen, it could get really ugly. So, I believe we are being called to this by Him, but right now daddy and I are just praying to KNOW that this is His will for our family, and we would really appreciate you praying too."

So we rushed off to church and afterward when we got home she says, "Guess what our lesson was about this morning?" "Praying the Will of God!"

After school the next day she came into my office and said, "O.K. I've been praying for two days and I don't know if I'm really hearing God or just hearing my own thoughts that I want to hear. So I've given up, and now I'm praying that you and daddy will just hear Him really clearly." So I asked her, well, what do you think you're hearing. And she said, "All I'm hearing is that yes we should, but since that's what I really want, I don't know if that's God too." We then had a lengthy conversation about deciphering the Holy Spirit speaking to you, and then when I told her daddy and I had applied, she just started jumping up and down and going silly crazy!

When we told Nathan he exclaimed, "We're getting an Ethiopian boy!" extremely loud, and Corban ran around whooping and slapping his rear end like an Indian Warrior. (not that I know whether or not they slapped their rear ends in their dancing)


Our First Family Prayer Time after Application Approval

Once we told the boys, I was thrilled to sit down and pray over the situation as a family. Here's a portion of what each prayed.

Lord, Thank you for our awesome family and how much fun we have. Please help it be the same when our new brother or brothers come. And please give us the ability to get the cars and a house and pay for all of the stuff for the adoption. - Brooklyn age 10

Thank you for the little dude coming next year and please keep him safe and healthy and be getting lots of hugs. Thank you for our family. - Nathan age 7

Thank you for dying on the cross and shedding your blood for our sins. Thank you for helping me pour out my heart to you. Lord, help all those who don't believe you, make them believe in you. Thank you for everyone you created, and thank you for all the stuff you created. Please protect my brother in Ethiopia from any accidents and help him get lots of love and all the food he needs to eat. Thanks for loving us God, I love you. - Corban age 5 (and yes, I cry a lot at bedtime prayers, because he prays like this a lot!)

The Crazy Roots

The Crazy Roots July 2010

Our Three Biological Children Feb 2009

Our Family Blog Can Be Found Here