Family time and China Update!

Well, we just got back from having Christmas in Laverne. What a wonderful time making special memories! We are so blessed and rich in family through both my mom's side, and my dad's side. Thank you God!! I get a little emotional every time I leave Laverne. I have a whole lifetime of memories at that special little town. When I think of who I have lost, it still hurts, but I just focus on all those powerful memories, and know that we are still making them, and will always continue to.

Our adoption is going by painfully slow. It will probably be 2009, and hopefully not 2010, but it is a possibility. I can't do anything about it, so there is no use stewing about it. I have to just enjoy the present, and I do! God will work in His time! Sometimes people ask me why we don't change directions, and go somewhere else, but it isn't that easy for us on many different levels. First and foremost, that is where we feel God has led us! Too many doors closed when we were in the research stage, and China was wide open! God gave us many signs that led to China. We have to be faithful in that!

Below are some Christmas pictures. The following poems and verse were in my devotion:

Count Your Blessings
In counting our blessings,
we find when we're through
we've no reason at all
to complain or be blue.

A faithful man will be richly blessed.
Proverbs 28:20

Today count your loved ones as your top priority and blessing. It is also important to be remembered by your loved ones. For which reason, characteristic, personality trait, or act of kindness do you wish to be remembered? Think about it. Work on it.

CHRISTMAS WITH GRANDMA MARGIE!

Isn't Elf Annalee a cutie!!!!

THE WAIT

As Christmas draws near, I have received a lot of questions from family and friends lately about when we will get our Maggie. We are certainly inching closer, but still so far away. I pray for a miracle speed up everyday and wish on every star that next year at this time we will be holding Maggie or a picture of her and getting ready to travel. Some days I feel very optimistic and other days, not so positive. In my heart I know that there is a reason for everything and that when I do hold Maggie, I will know just why we had to wait so long. She will be the reason. God has chosen this little angel for us already..........she is just not here yet. I visit a China adoption forum everyday and another waiting mother shared an excerpt of a letter that her mother had written her. I thought it was beautiful and wanted to share it:

My mom wrote me a letter many months ago, after I had cried to her tears of frustration about the wait. The letter was so important to me, I’ve kept it - and maybe it will provide some encouragement here to someone. Some excerpt of what she wrote:“I’m thinking of you tonight, wishing I could run over and make your heart lighter. It does seem forever till you hold your daughter - but the certainty is that you *will* hold her. You will know her all your life on - she will always be your daughter. There is another woman across the world who will not know this child. This child will never know her as mother….“That, too is a certainty. When you feel so discouraged, try to pray for that mother’s grief and healing. Her sacrifice is your blessing and your daughter’s. What I am trying to say is *not* to feel guilty about this Chinese mother, or feel guilty about your discouragement. That is what it is. But, to find a way out of it. The wait is prolonged, but it will not be forever. The gift of your daughter will be forever….”
What Mom tried to gently remind me is that ultimately, time is on our side — we will be forever families.

Thanksgiving with the turkeys (Browns)!

Aren't we blessed! Thanks Aunt Jo and Uncle Gary for opening your home and hosting Thanksgiving every year! What memories!