Jason's wedding!

Brian's nephew got married a couple of weeks ago. It's hard to believe! He and his new little wife will be graduating soon with teaching degrees.

9 months

Well, no referral news yet! The investigation in Ethiopia is still ongoing which is probably playing a role in the slowdown. April was such a big month of referrals and successful court dates, but May has been just the opposite. There was a referral yesterday........the day that marked exactly 9 months since we officially began the WAIT. It went to another couple with our same DTE date: 8/29/08. This is pretty exciting! It means that we and another couple are tied for number 1 in line for a little boy! Our agency numbers the dossiers as they come into their office, though we have no idea who exactly is next between us, but I hope we get our referral the same day along with many others! We so want to beat the court closures, but each day that goes on without our referral slims our chances even more. We pray for our referral soon along with successful court dates for all those with court dates scheduled and those of us yet to be! It is all in God's timing.............haven't I said that many times before?? I know it to be true, as hard as it is to accept sometimes and understand. One day we will hold that baby in our arms and oh what a glorious day it will be!

Still waiting.......................!

Yes, we are still waiting!! :( They did say within 1 to 2 months! I am the eternal optimist, so all I heard was the "within the 1" part!!!! Oh well, it will be soon though, I can feel it!

We walk by faith, not by sight!

We have been praying for a situation that has arisen in Ethiopia regarding adoptions. They are suspecting some corruption in abandonment issues and are doing an investigation which in turn is holding some adoptions up. We are so thankful they are protecting their children like this, and we pray for a swift correction to this situation. We pray for all families in the middle of it. We suspect this may be holding some of our referrals up as well. We keep going back to the knowledge that it is all in God's timing. It will happen when it is supposed to!

All else is going well. This is the last week of school for Baylee and I. We are happy for summer, but it's always hard to end a chapter of your life. We have a lot of changes coming up this year! Brian and I are turning 40 (yuk), Baylee is going to middle school (yuk), we are traveling to another country halfway across the world (exciting and scary), and we are becoming parents again (at 40!!)(exciting, scary, wonderful)! Life is like a rollercoaster..........you just got to enjoy the ride! One of my favorite sayings (my mom's too) is "Happiness is journey, not a destination."

Hopefully, the next time I post will be with REFERRAL NEWS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Update!

We got our "on deck" email today from our adoption agency! This email basically states that our referral will be soon! We are now in the top 10 waiting for referrals! There are 4 families, that we know of, ahead of us in line for a baby boy. It is so hard to believe that this is really happening! We have been in the China line so long that it seems unreal that Africa is so fast! Our paperwork was just submitted August 29th. So hopefully within the next 1 to 2 months, we will get our call that we have a baby boy! I'm busy right now contacting our social worker about a homestudy update, getting background checks again, getting travel vaccinations, filing to renew fingerprints, and renewing our I-171H(government approval for a foreign adoption)!! Waiting, waiting, waiting, waiting, and then BAM, it hits you all at once!!! I am glad that I have school to teach because it keeps me too busy to fret over the phone waiting for "THE CALL"! I, normally don't keep my phone with me or even charged up, but lately I have been keeping it charged and close by! Say a prayer that we will get that CALL soon and that we will have a successful court date so that we can beat court closures!

7 months DTE!

Baylee ............all ready for the Spring Band Concert! She did so well! Some days I feel like this monkey while we are waiting for our referral! Ho hum! Is it ever going to happen! We are getting closer though!!!! AWAA (our adoption agency) has had an incredible month with over 20 referrals and lots of successful court days! Yeah! Keep it rolling! There is a big group of us praying a lot and we can definitely feel God's movement! There are currently 7 people ahead of our DTE group (place in line) that are waiting for boys or either. There might be mystery families that we don't know about, but that is sure getting close enough to get excited! We are currently #2 or 3 for a toddler boy though, so if any older babies come into the orphanage...........well wow!

Baylee and I, with some friends and our church group, went to the Wichita Zoo over Spring Break! It was cool and very windy, but we had a great time!

Baylee went to an opposites birthday party. The boys dressed like girls and the girls dressed like boys. It was quite hilarious! Baylee is the one in the blue jersey and OU hat.

We met my parents at a place on Route 66 called Pops. It was pretty cool! We had a great burger and of course a pop!

6 months DTE!

Well, we have officially been in the waiting line for Eli for 6 months now. Things are not quite as fast as they were in the beginning, but still going pretty quickly and smoothly. We have about 26 families ahead of us and they are referring about 10 children a month. This means if they continue to do what they are currently doing, then we will get our referral in May or June. Court is usually scheduled 2 to 3 months after your referral. Court is where the child is declared legally yours. After you have a successful court date, you travel within a couple weeks. If we get a referral in May, we might squeeze in to a court day before court closures which usually occur in August and September. This means we would travel to pick up Eli this summer, but there is a big possibility that we will not make it before the courts close and would have to wait to travel in the fall. Of course I am trying to be optimistic! The court system closes for energy saving reasons. It is hard to believe. Aren't you glad to live in America? Say a prayer that we make it before the courts close! Our China adoption is still moving, just very, very slowly! There is a Christian rock song out that is so my personal anthem on this long adoption journey. Here are some of the words:
Sometimes it's hard to just keep going
But faith is moving without knowing
Can I trust what I can't see to reach my destiny
I want to take control, but I know better

Forget that fear is just a crutch that tries to turn your dreams to dust All you got to do is just TRUST

God I want to dream again, take me where I've never been I want to go there, this time I'm not scared Now I am unbreakable, it's unmistakable

All else is great! The school year is flying by, much too fast! My baby has only a couple more months of her elementary school career. She is doing so well! I am so very proud of that special little girl. What a huge blessing God gave to Brian and I, and all who know her. She spent the night with a friend last night and Brian and I had a date night. We went to church, ran a few errands, and then came home and watched the movie, Fireproof. What a super movie! It was made by the same church that made Facing the Giants. It was quite inspirational!

I am definitely in nesting mode lately. I told Brian that we are a MESS! Our attic and closets are overflowing with stuff we really don't need! We are trying to start cleaning out. I am doing the same thing at school. My file cabinets are falling apart because they are too jammed packed. I can't even find anything. It is ridiculous! :0 Brian and I both try very hard to be organized, but the trouble is we are both pack rats. We are trying to change that!!!! Wish us luck!!

Hope your March is wonderful!

Family Happenings!

Gung Hay Fat Choy! Happy Chinese New Year! We had our annual Chinese New Year Celebration this past Sunday evening at Imperial China! We had a wonderful time. Despite China's drastic slowdown the past couple of years, our group has really grown. It is hard to believe that this was our 3rd year to go and yet we still have no baby. I have to admit it sucks! (sorry, no other word describes it as well) We hope that next CNY we will have our Ethiopian baby and maybe the following year, finally our China baby! The wait is sometimes very hard, but we still trust in God's perfect timing and boy do we have a lot to be thankful for! This group of special people for one thing...........that we would have never met, had we not embarked on this long and tedious journey called adoption. The weekend before last, we had a birthday celebration for Lynn's 25th birthday! Mom and Daddy came and brought enchiladas and cake. Grandma Margie came and brought snicker doodles and pecan pie. Grandma Brown came and brought macaroni salad. We made queso and chips. We had a great time!