And another Hooray in the finance dept!!!

See, I told ya(I'm preaching to my self here!). God will provide! I just opened the mail. No, our immigration approval wasn't here!! But, something great was. This is so nuts, but apparently we overpaid on Mike's ankle surgery back in February. They sent us a rebate check for 387.oo!!! WHOOHOOO! To the plane ticket fund it goes :)
By the way, can school please start for Dillon, like now??? He is driving me nuts!! As I type this, he just opened a package of lightbulbs and is trying to change out the bulb in his nightlight with a large bulb!

More amazing generosity

I don't want to embarrass them so I'm not going to say names, but 2 wonderful people in the last 3 days have really blown us away with gifts to help with Hudson's adoption. One gave us the most lavish donation, I'm so grateful! One is organizing a huge garage sale with her friends to raise money! HE's gonna provide!! Honestly, I'm not too worried. I mean, it is hard not to stress out about expenses. I got canceled at work this past Sunday due to low census, that makes 2 shifts I've lost in June. We still owe some on Carter's hospital bill and haven't even gotten the bill from the first ER that transfered him to the Children's hospital. When I think about buying 3 round-trip tickets to Korea, my human mind can't begin to see how we will pay for that 5000.00 trip. BUT, we don't serve a human God who makes sense to us!! AND, I don't want this blog to be about money! It is about the amazing adventure our family has and is and will be on. So many people use expense as the excuse to not be involved in whatever it is God is calling them too: adoption, mission trips, giving to ministries, etc. I never ever ever want to blame my lack of stepping out in obedience and faith on lack of money. In "The Blessed Life" by Robert Morris( truly a life changing book!!!), he says Money that is submitted to God and His purposes has the Spirit of God on it-which is why it multiplies and cannot be consumed by the devourer.
I'm praying that the 2 people mentioned above will see Luke 6:38 come true because of their generous hearts.
Give and it will be given to you: good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be put into your bosom. For with the same measure that you use, it will be measured back to you. Luke 6:38

Wal-Mart Conversations

I'm sure it has nothing to do with Wal-Mart, but we get the dumbest questions waiting to check out at Wal-Mart! Last night the whole fam was checking out our groceries. Checker: "Are they just friends of yours or are they adopted?" Mike gives me a look like "reign it in mamma bear." I smile quickly and answer "Yes,they are our kids." Then, I act busy with Dillon hoping she will get the point and not ask any more, I mean, for heaven's sakes, our kids are big and know what she's asking!! Nope, she didn't get the cue. She asks "Are they brother and sister?" I sweetly announce "They are now!!" Thankfully, she didn't pursue our converstation and continued checking our groceries at her snails pace! ;)
By the way, we totally blew the weekly grocery budget! But, what do you expect? We needed several household staples, Abby needed a clothing item, and CArter leaves for camp so he "needed" snacks and a flashlight!!
Which reminds me, please pray for Carter's safety. He is traveling a state away to youth camp. After his injury May 1, while on a youth trip(totally an accident, I'm not at all saying anything about youth events), I'm a bit nervous. I mean, when he hit his head, we drove there in 45 minutes. If he gets hurt at this place, it will take at least 10hours for me to drive there! YIKES, so hard for momma!

I miss you angel baby

Hudson is 19months today!! Yesterday I missed him so badly. Some may be saying to themselves "how do you miss a person you've never met?" A momma's heart knows when its missing her baby! I held my friends sweet 2yr old yesterday and the feel of that toddler boy made me want my Hudson so badly.
Lord, we are asking that you touch everyone involved in Hudson's paperwork. We ask that you'd speed it along and grant us travel clearance super quickly. Hudson is right at the most difficult age for separation trauma. Please Lord, go ahead of us, prepare our son for his family. Place a love for us in his little heart. Whisper peace to him when we show up in Korea. I pray for his foster family, who have selflessly been loving and caring for him these last 17months. Oh Lord, give me patience and grace to weather these last few weeks of waiting. May you receive glory from our adoption journey and may you spark many people to want to adopt waiting children from watching our journey. AMEN.

On a side note HAPPY 35TH BIRTHDAY TO MY SISTER EMILY!!

Thankful Thursday

I've missed Thankful Thursday for several weeks. Something happened today to remind me of how thankful I am. I just opened the mail to find a surprise donation to our adoption. Some dear friends who we've known since I was a teenager totally floored me with the card and check. I was just writing in my prayer journal this morning that I was so excited to see how God was going to provide for our plane tickets. I know He will do it! I talked with my 401K rep today and discovered that I can borrow against my 401K for only 4.25%. The payback will be deducted from my check at work. This way, we won't be paying on a credit card(hate credit cards!). AND, the interest is essentially paid back to me. Win win situation. So here is my thankful list today:

God's faithful provision
My job with benefits
That my husband encouraged me to finish nursing school when I gave birth to Carter on Friday and returned to school on Tuesday--in my last semester of nursing school
Air conditioner is fixed, it was broken last week --it's 98 degrees in good ole Texas today!
I got to play Twister and Hide N Seek with my kids today
That the mail will come tomorrow. PLEASE Lord, let our approval from immigration come tomorrow!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1

What are you thankful for today?

Frugal grocery shopping anyone?

I LOVE frugality. Seriously, my kids think I'm the cheapest woman in the world(Yes, I wash out my plastic baggies and reuse them!). I grew up the oldest of 4 daughters. My mother stayed home with us and dad owned a small sign shop. We lived well on little. Mom sewed our clothes, we rarely ate out(it was a big big treat), and we learned how to shop the sales. Mom's motto was "never pay full price, everything goes on sale eventually." I've taken those lessons to heart. When I buy groceries, I plan a few meals, make my list, and take a 100.00 bill to the store. I add up the items with my calculator. When I get near 100.00, I stop--that's it, no more in the cart(okay, I do cheat sometimes when we need household items). What gets left out? We don't buy sodas, individually packaged snack items, we buy store brands etc. It is a fun challenge and I feel like I'm beating "the system." My sister told me about a popular budgeting tool that her Life Group friends from church are all using. The website is http://www.e-mealz.com/ and it is soooo cool!!! You sign up for $5 a month and tell it which shopping plan you want to be on(I chose the family plan at Wal-Mart). Every week you get a meal plan, recipes, grocery list, and current pricing for the needed items. I'm so pumped to put it into action. I can see it really helping me with meal planning and saving money. Check it out!

Another big step done

We found out today that Hudson has Emmigration Permission. Normally, this is the last thing to be granted before travel clearance. But, our whole process for him has been backwards since he was a waiting child and we weren't at all in the adoption process when we found him, so it only makes sense that this is too! The only 2 steps left are the BIG ones. When the US immigration office clears us, they will send notice to Korea. When Korea gets this notice, they will apply for Hudson's passport. This could all take a few weeks to a few months, you just never can tell. I did go ahead and buy several gifts for workers at Eastern Social Welfare Society in Korea. I need to get busy on some nice gifts for his foster family and for Abby's foster mother(we will be meeting up with her as well).
Could you guys pray hard for a few things? I tried fasting today. I'm such a weenie!! I fasted from when I got up at 5:20 until 2:15. I was at work and began to quiver and had the most horrible headache. Oh, I'm so ashamed of how indulged I am. Anyway, the Lord knows my heart. We need a few miracles. I'll be vague, but could you join us in praying for Mike's ankle to be healed, money for our plane tickets to Korea, and one more decision our family has to make that doesn't really need any details. Thanks everyone! You are wonderful and I wait in anticipation of what/how/when/where our God Almighty reveals himself in and through our prayers!!

LWB Cleft Healing Homes

Watch how special needs orphaned children in China receive wonderful help through Love Without Boundaries

Lakehouse 09

Every year my parents rent a lake house for everyone in our family to converge upon. We are spending a few days floating on dolphins, innertubes, whales, alligators, and the largest float you have ever seen! It is currently being called "the island" and has seats for 6, 2 built in coolers, an anchor, a little loading dock type place, and hole in the middle to jump in. It is ridiculous! Dillon has orange fingernails and 3 play tatooes at the moment. Hey, what happens at the lake, stays at the lake right???!!
Updates? Dillon lost his first 2 teeth last week. He looks adorable of course. Abby is swimming like a fish and fishing like a pro. Carter is being a teenager on vacation-complete with headphones and cell phone. He's gotten up at 5:45 am the last 2 mornings to fish. Our adoption-well, just waiting. No news right now. Praying for the Lord to place a love for our family in sweet Hudson's heart.

Three months ago today....

The social work committe met and gave us the green light to adopt Seong Cheol!! We had actually been looking and praying over his information since Friday February 20th and told Dillon International that yes, we wanted him on March 1. We were jumping into something so much huger(I know,that isn't a word!!) than ourselves. It made no sense at all in human terms for us to pursue the little fella with chubby cheeks and a comb over ;) BUT, we all agree with the words of Isaiah that God's ways are not our ways and God's thoughts are not our thoughts--His ways and thoughts are higher than ours!! Yippee to God for orchestrating this fun, amazing, nonsensical, glorious journey for us. Come home soon dear Hudson!

FAQ's

There are several FAQ's in previous posts if you want to read through them. I try to address the questions/comments we hear over and over on this blog every few weeks.

1. If you've already said you want to adopt him, why is it taking so long to get him?
I wish wish it was as easy as saying "yes" and then you are off to get the child. Adoption is very regulated(contrary to some weird and scary stories you may hear otherwise). We had to do mounds of paperwork for our adoption application, then have local fingerprints and homestudy(really a family study). These things are very important because they screen potential families and provide a lot of opportunities to ask questions and become educated about adoption/attachment/race issues that may or may not develop. Then, after all of that is scrutinized by licensed social workers, the government clearance starts. The US wants to make sure that children who are legally relinquished for adoption are brought in the country. As unbelievable as it may sound, there are a few unethical people out there! We have to apply with the US Citizenship and Immigration Services to bring in an orphaned child. We have to have fingerprints that are cleared nationally through the FBI. On the Korean side, Eastern Social Welfare Society is applying for Hudson's passport, Emmigration Permission and Visa. So, when all of those things come together, we get a blessed phone call granting travel clearance. At that point, we will jump into action and buy plane tickets. When we got Abby's travel clearance, we left the very next morning!! Right now, we are thinking late July is when we will get our munchkin!

2. What do you mean by "Waiting Child"? Most of the time, families fill out all the required paperwork and then wait on a list for a match with a child-called a referral. This takes many months for a child that matches the family to be born, and then at the age when he/she is allowed to be adopted. Waiting children are ones who for some variety of reasons(medical problem, older age-it is hard for a child over the age of 3 to be placed in a family, developmental problem, background issue like history of birthparent with mental illness or substance abuse). These children are ready for adoption, they just need a family to say YES! Many times the issue that caused the child to be waiting is correctable or easily managed here in the US. If you'd like to see some waiting children, go to www.rainbowkids.com. It is a photolisting of over 400 waiting children around the world.

Heart looks great

Good news from Korea. Hudson had a soft heart murmur documented by the pediatrician at the Babies Home. He had a follow up echocardiogram this spring. We got word yesterday that it is normal!! We werent worried about it. Dillon had the same thing and by 14months of age, it was gone. But, still, it is nice to see the words "normal" when it comes to your baby's heart :)

Good things happening

We got our fingerprint appointment letter from USCIS(immigration office in Dallas) today!!!!!! Man, I've been so anxious to get that. Basically, nothing can really happen until our fingerprints are cleared. The appt. is next Friday(June 12th). Now, even though it is computerized, the actual clearance could take many weeks. I'm really really trying to keep my perspective here, but it is hard!

Pray our sweet little man home.