Christmas, New Years, and Paperwork!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Years! We are home from va and back in the blog world:) and back to the paperwork grind:) Today we received an email from our home study case worker, along with another long list of stuff to fill out! Will it ever end?! On the bright side, physicals are being done this week, and with the boys off of school we have been running errands trying to drop off/pick up the necessary forms that are left. I have such sweet children - they are actually excited about errands that they usually hate - they keep reminding me that the errands are for their sister, and we should do as many as we can. I love it! On a different note - I have a prayer request and a praise. First the request - there is a blog that I follow (www.riggsfamilyblog.com). Their adopted daughter Abby is battling cancer, and their 17 year old son was in a car accident last night - they are going through alot and could really use your prayers! On to the praise - Drawn from Water is a nonprofit group that is rescuing children from tribes in africa that drown their unwanted children - and they were asble to rescue two little ones over Christmas! if you are interested in their website - it is www.drawnfromwater.org. Praise God for His constant care and love!

patience

Patience is not in my list of virtues. Ever. When I decide to do something, I have already thought it through and it is time. Now. Period. Like when I decide to cut my hair. It has to be cut that day. So, this week God is refiningme, to give me a new virtue - patience. I am trying! Our dossier, full of the rest of the paperwork and workbooks that we need to complete before we can get on the list for a referral, was sent from Oregon last Thursday, two day mail. I had them send it to my parent's house, because we are going to be here for ten days. Of course - I had it all planned out in my head. We could do the workbook, sort through the paperwork, write our autobiographies, etc. All here in Richmond, with willing babysitters and eric off of work. Is that happening? Nope. No dossier. Almost a week late. I am trying to be patient - but I check the front porch and the mailbox almost hourly. My life verse has always been Isaiah 40:31 - and more and more these days God is showing me why He placed that verse upon my heart. "They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength. They shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint". I am waiting upon the Lord, for His timing.

So, one of my dearest friends sent me a Christmas package today, loaded with goodies for the kids, Eric, and ME!!!! And.....she had a wonderful surprise in there, actually two surprises! She had bought our new daughter her first outfit, from gymboree of course:) and she had made, yes made me the shirt in the picture!(of course, hannah had to try to the shirt on right away!) She knows my heart, even though we live so far away from each other! Love you girl!

more stuff!

so, after a very eventful drive to virginia (during the "blizzard of 2009:), we arrived safely and for the next week we have constant "babysitters"! Which means that we are quickly checking things off our list. Today, we have completed 5 of the 6 online courses that we required, and we are praying that our dossier comes tomorrow! and we filled out the passport applications for the kids and I (eric already has his), and tomorrow we are going to apply for the passports and then we are going to get fingerprinted for the FBI (without kids!:).
At the same time - spending time with my family is so precious! And having two siblings that are adopted adds to the excited of our adoption! Eric only comes here once a year (because of work), so we all love having him here. We were the first to arrive, and over the next few days the rest of my immediate family will get here - I love Christmas!

more stuff to check off the list!

So, after a fun-filled morning with awesome friends, we spent 1 hour at the bank getting all the paperwork notarized. And then the post office. The two places that I am terrified of! But - I did it! I can now say that after living in NY for 3.5 years, I have finally stepped into a bank!:) The contacts, agreements, checks, etc are all being over-nighted and once AGCI receives them they will send us more paperwork! Yeah! One more step towards our girl.......
(the picture is of a sunset from our deck this summer!)

Our contracts came in the mail today, and we had our orientation phone call with our contact from AGCI! So, tomorrow we are going to get everything notarized, and then overnighted to Oregon so that we can receive the rest of the paperwork:). I spent the afternoon today setting up appointments for physicals, fingerprinting, CPR classes for Eric, passport stuff for me (thank you so much Mom for all your help!). Good grief! It is incredible the way my emotions can swing from being so incredibly overwhelming and panicky about getting everything done, to absolute joy and peace when I think about holding my daughter and seeing her play with her siblings. And I just need to say thanks so much to Gini for being my sounding board and constant source of info and encouragement (and today I do mean constant:) - our journey would be so different and lonely without you!

Our Journey to 6

Our journey to six - six what? Six people in our family = four children! And no, in answer to your first question - I am not pregnant! We have started on the journey of adoption - a journey that started over ten years ago. We have been praying about this since before we were married, praying for God's timing and His heart for one that He created for us. For those of you who know me - this is a daunting task. The two things that I abhor most in life are the post office and the bank - I can count on one hand the number of times that I have stepped into both:). And yet, here we are, embarking on a journey that takes me weekly, if not daily!, into both of these establishments. As if that were not enough, the paperwork makes me want to crawl into a dark hole. Yet, I am pressing on, with the knowledge that a piece of my heart, a member of our family, is out there waiting for me, for us. I am not a "blogger", so this site will be simple. We simply wanted a way for those we love to join us daily as we follow God's heart towards our daughter. God placed Ethiopia on my heart awhile ago, and we have found an agency (All God's Children, AGCI) that has an orphanage in Ethiopia named Hannah's Hope (such a God thing - the orphanage was named after the first baby that started AGCI and her name was Hannah Elizabeth - which is our Hannah's name!). We are so excited to "be six", as Noah puts it!