Almost ready to send our paperwork to immigration!

Good Morning!

It has been a couple of weeks since our last post, but we have been very busy finishing up the last part of our home study, in preparation to send off our paperwork to immigration. Lord willing our paperwork will be sent out by the end of December and we should have our approval back in 90 days!

Our family has been preparing our hearts and mind for our upcoming addition, and we have been blessed in sharing our story. There is not a day that goes by, that we do not share our experience with someone. Most of these encounters are positive, but we still have our moments when people just do not understand why we are adopting, much less adopting from another country. Many individuals have expressed their concerns and asked how we are going to handle various situations, struggles, etc. Our simple answer is, we are going to have faith in our Lord! When we began this journey we had no clue what we were doing, or how we were even going to do it, but God has provided us those answers in ways we could never imagine. So we will continue to have faith and understand He is God through all and in all. 


Thanksgiving was a bittersweet day. Through all of the celebration of thanks, the wonderful time spent with family, we would be remiss if we did not take the opportunity to wonder if our little lion man was even being fed or tended to as we gorged ourselves in food and shopping without hesitation.

It is challenging not to wonder about these types of things, because they are real truths and issues, that we simply cannot turn our back on. We know that his day is coming and very soon we will be able to say we "Gotcha!"

We are beginning to feel the emotional roller coaster that comes along with the adoption process, but it is so worth it... Words cannot describe the feelings that each person in our house is experiencing.  Each of us has been doing whatever it takes to ensure our little lion man is brought home.  We are called to be selfish in our giving, and we have been blessed that our children also understand this calling.  Maddy celebrated her 11th birthday at the beginning of Thanksgiving week.  We will not even begin to allude to the thoughts of how old we are getting and how quickly our girls are growing up!  Anyway, Maddy was blessed with multiple presents and some spending cash for her birthday.  Most children would run away with their score, however Maddy
chose a different path and made us proud to be her parents.  As she counted her $11, she gave Laurie a crisp $5 bill.  When Laurie asked what it was for, Maddy simply responded, "put it towards our adoption."  Wow!  What a moment that every parent should experience.  The Lord has definitely infiltrated her heart.

As we begin December, we look forward to celebrating the birth of our other two girls, Ally and Gabby, but most importantly the birth of our Christ!  We have been blessed by both! Please continue to be in prayer for our family, but also be in prayer for other families who are going through this process, families who will be celebrating Christmas for the first time with their child, children who are still waiting on a family, children who have a family, but face difficult situations, and everyone is is experiencing hardships this holiday season. Pray that they recognize Christ as their Lord and Savior and place their burdens at His feet.