Found this while cleaning up my desktop!

YOU KNOW YOU ARE AN ADOPTIVE (or pre-adoptive) PARENT WHEN...

1.The fact that there are 143 million children without a parent to kiss them goodnight has made you lose sleep.
2. You realize DNA has nothing to do with love and family.
3. You can't watch Adoption Stories on TLC without sobbing.
4. The fact that, if 7% of the population adopted 1 child there would be no orphans in the world, is convincing to you.
5. You spend free time surfing blogs about families who have experienced the blessing of adoption.
6. It drives you crazy when people ask you about your adopted child's "real" parents.
7. You had no idea how you would afford to adopt but stepped out in faith anyway, knowing where God calls you He will provide.
8. You have never taken an airplane ride half-way around the world with a child you just met.
9. You believe God's heart is for adoption.
10. You realize that welcoming a child into your heart and family is one of the most important legacies you could ever leave on this earth.
11. You know what the word "Dossier" means, and you can actually pronounce it!
12. You have welcomed a social worker into the most private parts of your life.
13. You shudder when people say your child is so lucky that you adopted them, knowing full well you are the blessed one to have him or her in your life.
-Author Unknown

posting spree

When your husband is a preaching pastor Christmas week allows plenty of time to post!
Brandon's schedule includes... (sing along)
5 church services in
4 days with
3 different messages and
2 days with double services
and a very busy and very prayed for husband!
I sure do love him!
PS Oh how I wish I could do a whole 12 days of Christmas for the little song above, but I am VERY thankful that there is nothing going on bigger than 5!!!!!

Five years ago...

Five years ago I married my best friend! We began this journey hand in hand! This photo was taken right after we were announced for the first time. You can really see our personalities in this shot!

Today, five years later, we are still on this journey hand in hand, excited for the plan the LORD has us on, acknowledging that, like this corn maze, we don't know exactly where the road will lead!

Prayer + Photo+Post Office = Sending in our Dossier!!!!

We did it!!!!!!!! Thanks be to God... because really... HE DID IT!!!!!!!!! In one day less than 7 weeks God orchestrated every event to allow us to: apply to International and Home Study agencies, get accepted, fill out forms, forms, and more forms, make endless copies, get many things notarized and certified, have our home study visits, attend a day training, complete a 10 hour DVD training module and take four tests, many phone calls, MANY (way too many) email with (crazy and sometime pathetic) questions... the list goes on and on. He also has provided just what we have needed financially for each step of the journey! AMAZING!
All of this led up to TODAY!!!! We prayed over our packages (one to the Intl agency and one to USCIS), took a happy momma photo, and marched them to the Post Office where I proudly shared our adoption story with the post worker said good-bye to our weeks of work!
So now we move on to the next phase of the game... and that is... waiting for our dossier to be sent to Ethiopia!! We think this usually takes about a month. I am planning to send out an adoption update letter to those who have requested it on the blue sheets once our Dossier gets to Ethiopia, as we will know more about the process at that time!
Getting things prepared before Christmas was a great gift to us!!! We are getting closer to our wonderful child, and we are so excited for the waiting to begin!!
PS Sorry the happy momma photo is not included... I don't know how to blur addresses so you will just have to imagine me really happy and hold a piece of mail!

Less snow than yesterday???

My first words this morning were "Is it a winter wonderland Brandon?" His reply... "We had more snow yesterday!" So much for the big blizzard. It did snow a lot, but it is just too warm and it turned to water before hitting the ground. The water and warm temps are melting the snow we had causing our yard/sidewalks etc to look like a slushie! Well, shoveling slush this morning was not special, romantic, magical etc. I think I am decided to pretend it is a snow day and do all the fun things I had planned anyway :)

Snowstorm Eve!

We COULD be on the eve of a big snowstorm and I must admit, I become a little girl as I think about the possible snowfall amounts. When our Christmas tree is up I am a HUGE snow fan but ... once February comes around I am pretty ready for spring! So, this house is (over) prepared for a big storm! I went to the store surrounded by women more than twice my age also preparing for the storm! The sweet girl at the check-out most likely engaged in "weather chat" her entire shift, but continued to smile and laugh!
I could work on adoption stuff all storm long... but that is doubtful. Our guest bedroom has transformed into the adoption headquarters for a while. Being the (crazy) organized woman that I am, tables have been set up with place cards on them for each of the 22 document types. I told Brandon I "CSIed" the guestroom. He was unaware that CSIed was a verb. I guess he learned something new :) This way I will not lose anything and can update sticky notes on each stack to track the progress of the dossier. I know, I know, just call me Monk! A bit of info for those of you not in the adoption world - dossier is pronounced dos-ee-ay. It is a huge packet of all our paperwork that is sent to our agency and then to Ethiopia. It contains almost everything about us and our life written on paper, authenticated, and notarized. Once our Dossier is sent to Ethiopia (DTE) we will officially have graduated from "paperchasing" and become "paper pregnant". I think the paper work we generate weighs about then same as a pregnancy, and if I strapped it to myself, I would look quite pregnant. Luckily I don't have to carry it but can send it! We have our Dr. visits on Friday and our final home study visit on Saturday so we are hoping to get this lovely collection of documents in the mail before Christmas!
So, if I am not working on adoption stuff as I weather the storm... what will I be doing? I plan to take many adoption breaks to bake something tasty, (or maybe two somethings) cook Grandma's amazing beef stew, call Grandma to get her recipe for amazing beef stew, wrap Christmas presents, listen to festive music, shovel (or not), watch a Christmas movie, read (adoption) books... and most likely work on the dossier (just a tiny bit).
Thank you all for your prayers for our little family during this time! We have seen God's hand at work throughout this process. His protection and provision are so evident. We can't wait to bring home our baby sour patch kid. ( funny... right?)
This is such a blessed time of year as we anticipate the celebration of Christ's birth! This year I was thinking about ways to remember that it is His Birthday! He is the greatest gift! Our gifts to others should also be gifts to Him! Our gifts to others should be nothing compared to our gifts to Him... really our gifts to others should be the party favors...
OK, thanks for letting me take a (procrastination) break to update you on our possible HUGE snowstorm, our excitingly HUGE adoption journey, and our certainly HUGE Savior!

Watch, enjoy, and cry

Last year this song was given to us on a Third Day CD. We listened to it in the car on the way home from our travels and I cried and cried. This year my tears are bigger as my love for our little one has grown. I have a feeling this song will bring tears to my eyes each Christmas as we wait for children to come home and as we cling to the children the Lord has placed in our family! Grab a tissue and enjoy!