No news

We were hoping to have updated info on our home study, hoping they would say, its done!  No such news came this week.  Oh well, hopefully next week.  We are trying to get ahead on paperwork and everything so that the process can go as smoothly as possible.  If anyone has any tips, that would be wonderful! 

Jason and I have been fighting of a nasty cold since Tuesday now and it does not seem to be getting any better.  Praying for some healing :)  Neither Jason nor myself usually get sick, so it is hard for us to be down and out, we are usually very active people.  Maybe it is just God's way of saying SLOW DOWN!  At least tomorrow we can relax, no work, just some wonderful time with our 6th graders and friends and a great Church service. 

I hope everyone has an excellent weekend!

Good things are happening!

We had an incredible weekend!  On Saturday night, we were getting together with a group of our friends from Church.  Little did we know what schemers they could be!  Emerge, a group of young adults all got together to throw us a surprise party to show us how much they support our adoption.  It is awesome to know what great friends we have and to see the support given to us by them.  Some people from Emerge don't even attend our Church, they are awesome young adults who share our vision of the future of the Church as a whole.  We are so blessed!  At the party the made posters and wrote on balloons and even gave us a prayer book that several people wrote prayers in for us and for Claudia.  As Jason and I continue with our journey, we too will write in the prayer journal, prayers for our daughter.

Speaking of our daughter... Jason and I work with a group of awesome 6th graders on Sunday mornings.  We have "adopted" these children as our "Sunday family" (and any other day of the week that we see them according to Abby).  One of these kiddo's is Abby, she is a wonderful young woman with a heart for God.  We hope that we can raise our children as well as her parents have raised her!  Abby, her sister and little brother are exceptional children and their parents are awesome role models. 

Here is a pic of Jason and Abby, taken yesterday.  Can't you tell he is ready to be a daddy? 

I want to thank everyone from Emerge for their support.  I also want to thank our blog followers for their prayers and financial support.  This adoption will not be possible without you. Thank you God for giving us this calling and for giving us the strength to follow your will for us.  Thank you for surrounding us with amazing friends, family and supporters.

Blown Away by a GENEROUS Donation

Yet again I am humbled by the generosity of complete strangers.  I recently received in the mail a donation of 14 T-Shirts from a wonderful gentleman named Jeff.  Jeff designs edgy Christian T-shirts and has an online store at www.1kingww.com and an Etsy shop 1KingWorshipWear.  He has several designs available and has sent me 4 designs to offer to you.  I have 2 Men's and 2 women's designs.  These shirts are lightweight and would be perfect for the summer.  They would also make a wonderful gift!  Spread the word of God through your clothing, these shirts would be great conversation starters.  The shirts are available for sale in my Apparel For Sale page to the right.  If you don't see one in your size or want a different style, visit one of Jeff's stores.  Here are the designs:

Thank you all for your support as we get closer and closer to the day when we can see our daughter.  We love her so much already, it is so hard to comprehend.  I know that some people will not be able to understand this love that we feel for a child that we have never met but this love is real!  We are worried about her health in her country.  It appears that she is getting some care over there and she is in a foster home but we have no idea how many children are in the foster home or how much attention she gets.  It is unclear if she is getting any therapy.  Once she gets home she will require visits to the cardiologist, OT, speech therapy and more.  We are blessed to have many friends in some of these fields who are willing to help us out.  Thank you for your continued prayers and support.

So much going on!

This past week has felt like a whirlwind.  We have had so many things going on and it has been absolutely crazy!  I feel like I have so much to write about and I don't know where to start, I think I may have to separate it into different posts just to get my thoughts organized!  Please be patient.

Ok, so first... the one thing that Jason and I have been waiting for came!  Claudia's updated information with new pics!  I will share those shortly for your viewing pleasure.  These pictures and info came at just the right time!  God knew that we needed some inspiration for a difficult week!  These pictures helped us get through it.  I now have her beautiful face as the screen on my phone and I smile every time I open up my phone.  As for the medical information we were not surprised by any of the information we received but we know now more than ever that she needs to come home soon to see a cardiologist in the US.  This beautiful girls has several delays but we are primarily concerned for her little heart.  Please help us spread the word and help us get her home soon.

And now for what you really came here to see:

Isn't she just precious?  Sadly, these will probably be the last pictures we will get before we see her.  I hope we can travel soon.  I would really love to be travelling this summer but I do not know how feasible that is.  I am praying for a July travel date but our HS is only now being completed.  It would make life so much easier on us to travel during the summer since I could do the bulk of the travelling and Jason could be home working and paying our bills.  If we cannot travel until the fall, I will need to stay home :(.  I know that God can do anything and I am trusting in His timing.  Praying for paperwork to travel quickly, get into the right hands and be approved.  Our little girl needs us.

Excited for more info!

Patience... something I am learning.  We are anxious to receive new info on our little girl.  Our agency said that we should have it this week after they get it translated.  I have no idea what to expect but any bit of information will be helpful. 

I hope everyone had a wonderful Easter weekend.  I had yesterday off from everything so I was able to relax, spend time with my parents, and hang out with some awesome people from Church.  It was a nice and relaxing day.  I am back into the full swing of things today though.  I have a lot to get done this week, your prayers are greatly appreciated. 

We have had some amazing people donate more items for our fundraising.  Look for them to be posted soon.  I have truly been blessed by so many people in the last several weeks.  Thank you to all who have donated time, money, items and prayers for us.  Each and every one of you brings us one step closer to bringing Claudia home. 

We look forward to sharing more information about her with you all soon!

Needed to bump her picture up!

I had to put her beautiful face back at the top!  I cannot wait to get more pictures.  A request was sent in quite a while ago for updated medical info and pics.  She is going to be three in July and she looks so tiny here, I have no idea how old she was in it.

She looks so happy!  I hope she is being loved on every day and that her caretakers love her and are taking wonderful care of her until we can come get her.

Our home study is almost complete, we are just waiting on background checks and two reference letters to come in.  Please pray that they will come in quickly so that we can move on to the next phase of the adoption process.

What were you doing when your child was born?

What an odd question!

Have you ever thought back about what you were doing at a particular time in your life?  The other day I just began thinking about what life would have been like for the last few years if Jason and I had already had a child.  It would be a lot different, that is for sure!  It is crazy to think that we could have a two and a half year old running around the house right now!

Then I started thinking about what we were doing in July of 2009, when Claudia was born.  It was our one year wedding anniversary.  Jason and I were on a mini vacation in the Pocono Mountains at Cove Haven.  We were having an amazing time.  Cove Haven is a couples only resort with everything you can imagine.  They have hot tubs, pools and saunas in the rooms (some rooms)!  The food is amazing and best of all it is all inclusive!  You can go ice skating, bike riding, water skiing, hiking, swimming, play pool, do archery… and sooo much more.  Or, you can just RELAX!  That was actually our second time going there as we spent our honey moon there as well.  If only we knew then that our daughter was being born around that same time.  It is so crazy to think about!

Here we are, being our crazy selves on our anniversary!

Speed boat ride!

For two!

Playing pool

Yes, I did get a bullseye.  AMAZING!
 (I will leave out the part where most of the rest of my arrows completely missed the target...)

Our bedroom (a small part of it) including the hot tub.

We had so much fun but little did we know the miracle that was taking place south of the border, that somewhere there was a little baby girl being born that would be given up for adoption due to a disability that her parents would be unable to handle.  Did they want to give her up?  Were they ashamed of her?  Did they love her?  I have so many questions that may never be answered.  All I know for sure is that she IS loved now and I cannot wait until she knows it!