Precious Hands

These precious little hands run through my mind all day. I am anxious to hold both of our boys very soon. I am anxious to get my arms around my sweet baby boy again, to strap him on my back "Ghana style" and just take off. I am anxious to meet my precious 7 year old son who has only met his daddy. I am nervous about meeting him for the first time. I am anxious to hear his little voice say, "Mommy" in person instead of on the phone. These precious pictures

and my sweet Jesus keep me going every day. He gives me the strength to wait another day to see their little faces and hug them tight. He gives me all I need every day. Now the trick is learning to ALWAYS rely on Him. Still learning...still learning.

Samuel and Helen's adoption timeline

11-30-09 international application approved

1-5-10 submitted agency fees to int'l agency

1-8-10 began homestudy

2-9-10 homestudy finalized

2-10-10 I600A mailed

2-13-10 accepted referral of siblings

3-8-10 received fingerprint appt. for March 22

3-10-10 walked into USCIS office and got fingerprinted (Praise God!)

3-25-10 mailed dossier to int'l agency

4-6-10 dossier arrived in Ghana

4-22-10 received I171H approval letter from USCIS

4-27-10 representative traveled to Volta region to try to schedule court

5-10-10 received new pictures of our sweet children

6-24-10 we were told we MIGHT go to court next week :)

7-21-10 granted a court date of Monday, 7/26

7-26-10 court postponed until 7-27

7-27-10 OFFICIALLY A FAMILY OF 7, We passed court! Thank you, sweet Jesus!

8-28-10 traveled as a family of 5 to meet our two Ghanaian angels

8-30-10 filed our I600 in country

9-8-10 took our sweet babies back to their foster home

9-9-10 arrived back home, but left our hearts in Ghana

10-18-10 I600 approval

10-22-10 granted a visa exit interview for 11-1-10

11-7-10 visas are ready!!!!!

11-9-10 Sydney and I fly to Ghana

11-10-10 Samuel and Helen in my arms FOREVER

11-16-10 reunited as a family of 7

Love Orphans - For Easter

I was so challenged and inspired by a guest writer on this blog tonight. So here's the Easter challenge. Go to FEEDING THE ORPHANS to Love Orphans because He first loved us.

Will it hurt?

Remember the post I did on whether adoption will hurt my kids or not? Click here for the story, but today I am reminded again of how AWESOME and INCREDIBLE adoption can be for our children. They learn to give more of themselves, love one another, be the hands and feet of Jesus. The list goes on and on and on, but this picture sums it up.

Two boys who met one another 6 months ago. Two boys who became brothers on American soil 4 months ago. Two brothers who are inseparable, who are crazy about one another. Two brothers depicting God's love in the love they have for one another. Each day I watch them and realize I can learn so much from these two brothers.

A Dream

On February 26, 2010 one of my best friends had a dream. A dream of an African baby. This came just two weeks after we accepted our referral of Samuel and Helen. She dreamt Righ and I were bathing a baby and she came in to help us. As she awoke, she "knew" that baby was ours. As I listened to her tell me all about it, I "knew" it was her baby. You see, we had just accepted our referral and there wasn't a baby. Helen was 2. In my heart, I could see God writing this perfect story. A story of adoption for my friend. Her husband was all about supporting other families, but wanted no part of adoption for his family. So I just "knew" this dream was an indication that it would all change. God was going to change his heart and give them a baby.

Little did I know, God was writing a story so remarkable, so incredible that I couldn't even begin to imagine it. That precious baby would be ours and He would use my friend to lead me to him!!!

MIA

Ok, so I have been MIA for so long. Truthfully, my life has been busy (aren't we all), but I haven't been able to find the time to blog here. However, we have some very exciting news! WE ARE ADOPTING! Yes, again! Everyone asks that question. :)

We have been home with Helen and Samuel for 4 months now, but God has led us so clearly to two precious boys in Ghana. We have finished our homestudy and are praying our dossier can go next week. I will share the story very soon. Only from the Lord, only from Him. People are accusing us of being crazy. Our answer is YES, WE ARE CRAZY, BUT WE ARE CRAZY FOR JESUS.

Adopted for Life

A few weeks ago, I was placing an order from Amazon. A dear friend and I try to save on shipping so she asked me to add ADOPTED FOR LIFE for her. As I read the summary, I was intrigued so I added one to my cart for me. Oh, I am so glad I did! It has been an incredible read. This is what I read this morning:

Think of the plight of the orphan somewhere right now out there in the world. It's not just that she's lonely. It's that she has no inheritance, no future. With every passing year, she's less "cute", less adoptable. In just a few years, on her eighteenth birthday (or 16th), she'll be expelled from the orphanage or from "the system". What will happen to her then? Maybe she'll join the military or find some job training. Maybe she'll stare at a tile on the ceiling above her as her body is violated by a man who's willing to pay her enough to eat for a day, alone in a back alley or in front of a camera crew of strangers. Maybe she'll place a revolver in her mouth or tie a rope around her neck, knowing no one will have to deal with her except, once again, the bureaucratic "authorities" who can clean up the mess she leaves behind. Can you feel the force of such desperation? Jesus can. She's his little sister.

Then my thoughts went to this could have been my daughter. What if my daughter faced this life? Look what I would have missed out on.

And hearing her say, "I love you, Mommy!" about a hundred times a day. I will never grow tired of those sweet words...

Or we would have missed the love these two have for one another. It is amazing, pure, and full of Jesus!

Everyone is called to recognize Jesus in the face of his little brothers and sisters when he decides to show up in their lives, even if it interrupts everything else.

I want to be interrupted for these little faces, these faces that NEED HIM.