A little insight...

To pass the time, I thought I'd share a little excerpt from the journal that I write to Abby.....

"Good friends of ours, Sarah Latello and Shannon Smith, did something so special for us a few months ago. When I was feeling ultra frustrated with the efforts to become a parent, Sarah began praying and God gave her an image. Well, she shared that image with Shannon, who is an artist, and she drew it for us. It is a picture of God's hands holding a precious baby. Needless to say, I cried very hard when I received it. It was so special.

Well, Abby girl, that picture has changed meanings for me over the past few months. At first, when we hung it outside your nursery, we knew it signified how God had a plan for us and our baby. Now that God has been revealing His plan, the meaning has changed slightly for me. Now I see it as God holding you safely in his arms and hands until we can bring you home."

The Kiros at the top of the picture signifies God's timing. We normally work in Chronos...or things in order, in our timing. Kiros isn't quantity of time like Chronos. It's actually quality of time. It's a reminder that all things come in the quality of God's timing. I definitely need this reminder as our wait time to referral increases.

We're PAPER PREGNANT!

Well, the test came out positive! Our coordinator emailed us to say that our documents were actually delivered in China on June 13 and our LOG IN DATE is June 15. That means, we officially on the waiting list for our baby girl!!!! A Log in Date is the date that the China Center of Adoption Affairs (CCAA) officially logs us in to their system of waiting families. For those who don't understand all this adoption mumbo jumbo, this is THE BIG DAY (next to our referral day--but we'll discuss that later), So please celebrate with us. Thank God for the ease we have experienced since we started this process. It's amazing what happens when you just LISTEN to God and act FAITHFULLY.

Just to head off any questions, our wait time is still 11-12 months until we receive our referral (picture and medical information). We'll let you know if that changes.

Thanks to everyone who's helped us build our excitement and who has offered valuable advice. The next chapter in our lives entitled "Waiting" has just started. Please continue to follow along in our journey, because actually, it has just officially started. Also, we need your prayers now more than ever. We're praying for: God's perfect timing, protection of our Abrielle, complete review of our paperwork in China, safety and peace for Abby's birth mother, and quality couple time for Tony and I while we wait.

I just want to thank God for being God. Scripture says, "With God, ALL things are possible." I say, "WITHOUT God, possibilites simply don't exist."

Parent workbook....CHECK!

Just got word via email that our parent adoption workbook completion record was reviewed and given the stamp of approval. They said we had done a good job researching adoption topics and it showed in our answers. We'll just see how much research we've done when we have Abby the toddler wanting to shove peas up her nose! We have SO much more reading to do! Or, can you ever truly prepare for that? HAHAHAH!

By the way, I just want to give a shout out to my cuz, TIFFANY HILL. She is just FAB-U-LOS! She cares so much about her family and will be Abby's favorite cousin T! Tiffany is the most compassionate person I know. And she'd give you the shirt off her back if you needed it. Well, that is, unless she was wearing her TOTALLY 80's Da-sheki (How the heck do you spell that?). She looks too cute in that one to give it up! Anyway, love your family and get some insurance from the best agent around, Tiffany Hill at Harrington Hoch in Richmond.

One foot in the grave!

It's official...I'm old...and I couldn't be happier! We are just patiently awaiting our LID for Abby's paperwork. This is the day we are officially on the books and WAITING. (not like we haven't been waiting already!) Anyway, pray for a FAST LID! I just want to take a second and thank everyone for blessing me with a fantastic birthday. It was chock full of emotions and I loved it. I loved everything from the thoughtful ladybug gifts, to the gift cards, the the willow trees, bath products, to the e-cards, and the phone calls. The list was endless of those who called or got me a gift. I cannot tell you how special you made this day for me. God has blessed me with a loving family and supportive friends and for this, I am thankful, truly thankful. I laughed, I cried, and my heart swelled with love for you all. You'll just never know how much you all mean to me. I love you. Ok, well, I've been emotional enough for one posting. I'll save some for another time when I write a letter to my Abrielle. I just wanted you to know how much I appreciate your thoughtfulness. THANK YOU!

OUR PAPERWORK IS ON ITS WAY TO CHINA!

Whoo Hoo! Charlene, our coordinator at FTIA said that our paperwork was in perfect order and that it would be mailed out TODAY! She said it would be delivered to the China officials ON June 12!! What a BIRTHDAY present for me and Dad! Now, let's hope we get a log in date (LID) by Mom's birthday!!! WHAT A WONDERFUL JUNE CELEBRATION!!!! Abby will be a Junebug! Ok, ok, I need to calm down now. hehehe, Can I get a whooooooooo hooooooooo?

Wow.

I hope you can watch this video.

Enough said.

http://www.dailymotion.com/relevance/search/adoption/video/16379

THANK YOU and the Fed Ex Guy

We had a fantastic Friday and Saturday. Have I mentioned we have the best family EVER? We had a garage sale at Robin's on Saturday to raise moolah for Abby's adoption fund, and WOW. We raised $186.00!!!!! It was fantastic! A special thanks goes to Mom and Dad Sadler, Mom Foster, Robin, Renee, Ronnie, Duane, Missy (yummy sloppy joes!), and Allyson (yummy pie!) for all of your help setting up or donating your profits to Abby. And thanks Jarrett for the great play room additions! We SINCERELY appreciate it! As a thank you, Tony has generously offered to wash and wax your cars (except Robin's...it's huge! Just kidding. hehehe) I guess if he's going to wash and wax them, I can at least do the windows! Also, thanks to anyone who purchased items at the sale. You all were definitely contributing to bringing a little girl home to her mommy and daddy! I also want to thank my mom for purchasing our first BIG item for Abby. It was so fun to go and buy the crib! We'll be getting it set up in her room in the next couple of weeks and that will make things seem so REAL! Although we have a year to wait, that crib will remind us that she'll be sleeping soundly in it one day soon! THANK YOU SO MUCH MOM! WE LOVE YOU! Also, we thought everyone would like to know that we sent everything to FTIA on Friday and it will arrive on Monday. From there, they'll review it and send it to the Beijing staff. The exciting thing is that the Beijing staff will then DELIVER IT TO THE CHINA OFFICIALS (China Center of Adoption Affairs-CCAA) ON MY BIRTHDAY! What a GIFT! So, PLEASE pray that FTIA doesn't need any additional documents and/or changes to the current ones. And also pray that we get a super speedy Log In Date (LID). This is the date where China acknowledges our paperwork and logs us in to be officially waiting! The sooner the LID, the sooner we get ABBY HOME! Consider the LID the date of conception! ahahahahah We attached some pictures of the collection of documents, the package we put them in, and the Fed Ex office we took our documents to. The Fed Ex guy was happy to have his picture taken. I called him the "Pre Stork". It was very emotional for us to take this package and send it off. It has been 4 + months in the making and now, it's becoming more and more official. GOD IS GOOD!