A year ago today....

One year ago today, January 21, 2006, Tony and I pulled into St. Luke's church in Indianapolis with nervous hearts and minds. We were taking a leap of faith and following what we though was God's nudge to investigate international adoption. It turns out, it WAS God's nudge. We were going to an informational meeting offered by Families Thru International Adoption (FTIA) to find out if we would add to our family through adoption. Just a week before this, I had conversations with my family about the possibility of adoption and read a front page spread about it. (God's messages are SO clear at times). We finished reading the article in the paper, looked up the informational seminar schedule, and committed to at least researching it.

Back to the parking lot...as we pulled in, I saw several other nervous-looking couples walk toward the entrance. At this point, I was getting excited and Tony just looked sick. The ever-practical side of him was saying, "We don't have the money to do this." When I drug that comment out of him, I broke down in tears. I couldn't go to this meeting without hope of where it might take us. After a brief conversation about reality vs. God's plan for us, we ventured in and navigated the maze of halls in the church we would soon come to know well.

The meeting held all the answers Tony was seeking, and the children I was longing to see. We had the opportunity to speak with a family that had recently come home and received some encouragement. Did I mention the children were from a variety of countries and simply beautiful?

Following the meeting, we met Robby and Allyson for lunch and lightly discussed what we had learned. I was brimming with anticipation to see Tony's real reaction, and he was using every ounce of reservation he could muster. Not two minutes into lunch, a family walked in with a child of Asian decent. Nudges and glances were being secretly passed. Others streamed in and remarkably, more adoptive families. Was it a sign?

Fast forward to the end of lunch...although Tony was still using his head, I was all heart. We were moving forward. We'd take it step-by-step and start with the application to FTIA and see what happened.

Alas, it is January 21, 2007 and we are (not so) patiently waiting on our Abby-girl. God was obviously moving in our lives a year ago. He has opened doors, fulfilled promises, blessed us with new friends, and challenged us beyond our wildest imaginations. I cannot wait to experience that same nervousness we had in the church parking lot when we see her picture for the first time and when we wait in that chaotic room for her to be placed in our arms. We'll look back and say, "God is good, all the time...and all the time, God is good."

Happy 7 Month Waiting Anniversary to Us!

A frame sits empty.
No face behind the glass.
The longing hits hard,
but this too, shall pass

I search for your face
on the street and in my dreams.
The closer it gets,
the further it seems.

I can't begin to imagine
all your face will hold.
The fears and the hopes,
the scars from the cold.

You won't look like me
Nor will I look like you.
My mind's eye does know this
fact to be true.

But one thing we'll share
in common with one another,
is the love from above
from our Heavenly Father.

I can rest tonight knowing
that GOD knows your face.
He'll keep you safe in His arms
till you fill the frame space.

So sleep tight little one
in God's sweet embrace
until that wonderful day
We get to see your face.

Love,
Mommy

Trane XL 80 Repaired (at least for tonight)

Ok, another post from Tony. I know folks probably prefer Rett's ramblings but I thought I would share how the furnace was fixed tonight (are you excited???).

Tonight we noticed it was a frigid 60 degrees in the house. Everyone knows I am cheap and try not to use the furnace to save money. In fact, we had such a large credit on our gas bill from last year (we were on the budget plan, same amount every month) that we have yet to pay a gas bill this year and still have a small credit for next month too.

Well tonight it was stinkin' cold in the house. I bumped up the furnace during lunch today and Rett bumped it up again when she got home from work. The furnace was blowing cold air. Not a good thing when it is 25 degrees outside. After a thorough analysis of the situation (staring at the furnace not having a clue), Rett handed me the phone. Her dad was on the line. I told him the situation and he suggested that I check the manual, it was likely a thermocoupler.

Luckily, the previous homeowner left us with a folder full of manuals for everything from faucets to the furnace. There was no mention of a thermocoupler in the manual, bummer... The next step was ask.com. There were only a few posts on the highly efficient Trane XL 80 furnace/heat pump system. There were solutions to our problem covering all scenarios (circuit boards, sensors, shorted wires and etc...). I had about resorted to getting out some additional thermal socks when I found a post on a HVAC help site. A lady had written in and wanted to impress her husband with her knowledge about their furnace's problem. Her furnace had the same symptoms.

Some nice person posted a reply to her question. He said it was possibly the flame sensor (I assume the same thing as a thermocoupler with a different name). He said to take some sandpaper or steelwool and lightly sand the sensor.

I grabbed some sandpaper (from my dad's Black and Decker Mouse sander, what a cool little sander) and made about three swipes across the ceramic flame sensor. I put the cover back on the furnace and went back upstairs. I bumped up the temp on the thermostat and ran back downstairs...IT WAS WORKING!!!!!!!

As I type this, the furnace is still working. Even if it quits, at least I know what part needs to be replaced. So for those of you that check the blog and are tired of seeing the cool autoshow pictures, you now know how heat was restored to the household.

So, as you can tell, there has not been much going on if all I have to blog about is the glorious warm air from the furnace. Well, the exhaust did break on my Jeep Grand Cherokee...my dad was nice enough to come pick it up and repair it Saturday (I had the stomach flu and felt like I was dying). I would have blogged about that repair but I did not participate in the repair since most of my day was spent in the bathroom...but thank you to Dad for fixing the Jeep.

Well, I am sure you are thoroughly bored by now so I will sign off...Have a good (warm) day...