Mountains of the US

This past week, we were lucky enough to see some mountains and volcanoes of the US. They are absolutely breathtaking.

As I have been praying for the last couple of weeks, for God to move our mountains, I was inspired to see how he has already moved so many. The power behind the volcanoes shows just how much power He has. On Friday, we got the email from our agency that we had been waiting for...

God has moved our mountains and we will be bringing home two little boys. Noah and a little boy with a broken heart.

Han Kang, who will be 6 in August, has a heart issue. It is unknown at this time if it is operable or not, but from all of the information we have received, it is not. Many families had looked at his file, and many families had decided they could not take that chance. They could not face the possibility that he may die from his heart defect.

Leonard and I have prayed, talked, thought, and prayed more about this. We have talked with our older boys about it to get their take on it. We have prayed together as a family as to what we should do.

Then when all of the yes answers kept coming, we soon realized that this was what God wanted us to do.

We have many things still to go on this adoption...finances, paperwork and timing are the three most important; however, so far, everything has worked out ok.

I know people will ask themselves and each other, "What are they doing to their family?" "I can't believe they would do this..."

We also know that we cannot walk away from this child. He needs a family. He needs a chance. And he needs love. Like Nathan said, "Who knows mom, maybe American doctors will know what to do with him when he gets here."

I do ask for your continued prayers for our finances to come together (we were not intending to adopt two at one time...travel should be the same but there are all of the other fees)...and continued prayer for this little boy who is very sick. Pray the transition and the flight will be smooth and will not make him sicker.

God is so good. He will provide...I know He will.

IT CAME!!! IT CAME!!! IT CAME!!!!

YEP - OUR LOA IS HERE (well actually it is not here, it is in the Southeastern part of the United States but it is in the US!!!)

Now, we need to figure out how to get it in our hands as we are leaving on vacation today. Where will I be on Monday? Hhmm.......Good question!!! We will be somewhere in the Northwestern part of the United States.

We had another "yes" yesterday regarding our mountain that we are asking God to move. But the big answer will come on Monday.

Hhhmmm....Monday. It all comes down to Monday. Keep praying for our and our mountain!

The roller coaster of adoption

Did I ever mention that adoption is an up and down battle?

I was doing ok yesterday. I had heard that some families had gotten their LOA's at about 70-80 days. But today, I saw that they had and it hit home.

Why are some families getting theirs at such a short time when ours is taking so long?

My husband and I think we know the answer. But we will know for sure on Monday. I get KLove's encouraging word of the day...

The master said, Well done, my good and faithful servant. You have been faithful in handling this small amount, so now I will give you many more responsibilities. Let's celebrate together! Matthew 25:23

With the situation we have in mind, this verse says it all.

Praying that Monday will come with the answer that will glorify our Lord the most!

Day 118

Yep, we are a decent way into the 3 digit numbers today. I have a calendar on my laptop where I have counted out the days (10 days at a time) up to day 120. When I first did this, at around day 60, I thought, "I will NEVER get to the 120 day point. " HA!

But, there is something that is going on behind the scenes, that cannot be talked about right now. Something that would be nothing short of a HUGE MIRACLE!!!! Hopefully, I will know more about it in the next couple of days. (If you would like to say a prayer for us, I would ask that you would ask God to let His hand be in this situation and that things would work out the way He has already directed it to.)

So, if the LOA comes next week, I am almost ok with that, however, I will be traveling cross country and will not have access to anything adoption related.

I was asked yesterday about the adoption and I said we were just waiting for paperwork from China. They said, when you get this paperwork, then you can go to China, right? I said no, then I get to wait about another 3 months...at least. Middle of September? Beginning of October? Ha Ha. That is the laughter of a lady going insane...:)

118 days...can you believe it? I heard yesterday other families were getting their LOA's who had been logged in for 80-100 days. It really makes no sense at all. In my mind, I see an office with a stack of files, going down and down until they finally get to mine. The only difference is they go in order of receipt. But apparently, that is not the case. Oh well. What can I do here in a little town in Colorado?

Nothing but sit and wait....and count the days.

All's quiet on the western front...

Nothing here...113 days. That's it.

It is sad...some days I don't even think about it. Then there are other days, that it is all I think about.

I told a friend the other day it was like all of those months of trying to get pregnant. You would wait and wait and then find out the test was negative...

This time, though, it is every day...you wait and wait for the agency to call and then nothing. Hoping that tomorrow, instead of next month, would be the time!

Maybe tomorrow. (My husband is a huge Chicago Cubs fan. For any of you who know about them, their motto is always, "There is always next year." I think it is starting to rub off on me.)

The unknowns of adoption

Recently there has been a disruption of an adoption in China. What does that mean? It means the family traveled to China to get their daughter, and had to, sadly, leave her there. I am not judging the family, I pray for healing for all of them.

China adoption is different than some other countries, as you know the child you are adopting before you travel. My sister in law adopted from Ukraine last year and had to choose their child there. Meeting these children face to face, to find their child. I don't think I could have done that....

Anyway, it brings me to our adoptions. I remember the day before I left for Kaycee, I sat down with Leonard. I asked him, "What if there is more to Kaycee than we know? What do you want me to do?"

His answer was firm and honest, "She is our daughter, bring her home."

I cried. We had made a committment to Kaycee and no matter what she brought with her, she would come home.

We are both pro-life and we see adoption in the same light. When we were pregnant we opted to not have any of the tests done because we didn't care. No matter what, we were going to give birth to our children and love them no matter their conditions. It is the same with our adopted children.

Noah is older, what will he bring? I can honestly say that from all of his pictures and the information I have received on him, he does seem very healthy and developmentally on target. But what do pictures tell you? What does a couple of sentences tell you?

You never really know until you are there and then some of the issues won't show up until later.

After investigating, I think Kaycee had a very hard first year. She was moved to a second foster home when she was about 18 months where I think she flourished. Up until then, though, in my mother's heart, I believe some awful things happened.

But fast forward almost two years and she is a beautiful, loving, smart, caring little princess. Time with family, loving her and helping her, she has become the child we dreamed of. Kaycee's transition was VERY easy! From the first moment she was put into my arms, she has done very well.

I pray for the same for Noah. 103 days and counting....Looks like September. (I had to get that in in a post...)

Good News post

I forgot to post a good news post...With this adoption being pushed into the new school year, I will need to be out of school for the travel time and would have liked to have been out for at least a couple of weeks with Noah when we get back. Our school, though, didn't have adoption leave. I would have been paid for 6 days.

Anyway, thanks for our school board and our superintendent, we now have adoption leave. Actually they enhanced the maternity leave policy to include adoption as equal to birth. Praise God! It was kind of intense for a while, as I did not know where they were going to go! But I will have time off with Noah when we return. Now I just have to find a long term sub...That could be another story.