My Little Batman

Tonight we went to a dinner/silent auction to support the Officer's Christian Fellowship and had a great time!! The kids were treated to face painting (by the fabulous Christina). How cute is G?

What a nice way to end the evening and a great beginning to the weekend. Tomorrow is going to be crazy for a Sunday! I am singing both services at church, going to a friend's baptism (yeah! Melissa) out at Lover's Point, a birthday party for our neighbor's little boy and finally a baby shower for a friend! Whew! I think I may be breaking the rule of work on the Sabbath.....

I must say that in spite of all of the busie-ness I am thankful for being blessed with these friendships and opportunities to worship Him in all that I do tomorrow.

Happy weekend!

Oh, PS...Doesn't Prim look just like G??!!!

Please Pass the Tissues

Today has come and gone with no word from Holt. I think I can safely assume that we weren't presented at Wednesday's board meeting. I saw on the Yahoo board that another family from Holt got their TA today. Needless to say I'm incredibly disappointed although I shouldn't be surprised. Marissa did say she thought is was unlikely that we would be presented and thought it more likely that we would get TA in May. I guess June's out of the question for travel so now we're looking at July. Another two weeks of waiting....

Looking forward to hump day

How cute is this????


Thanks girls!!!

Wednesday is tomorrow and my stomach is in knots. After being bumped because we needed a doctor's note, there is little chance that we will be presented before the board tomorrow. Marissa said that it would be "highly unlikely" and all I heard was "so you're saying there's a chance?". The poor woman probably thinks I'm daft. I know that the next one is in two weeks but that feels like forever so I am praying that if it is His will that there will be a miracle. And if not I pray that I have tissues with lotion in them at home.....

Needless to say I think I have officially begun the "nesting" process. I didn't really feel this way as much with G just because H was deployed and my mom was around to keep me company and watch me like I was a ticking bomb.

On Sunday, however, my dear friends had a baby shower for me and it was like heaven! Everything was in pink and chocolate and there was china and tea cups and it all felt so....GIRLY!! Prim received just incredible outfits and toys and an adorable baby carriage and I just felt extremely humbled and flattered. We have received so much love and prayers through this process. I came home with arm loads of gifts and then realized that I had to make room for it all. Thus the nesting began. Of course I had to move the kids' room around and transform the alcove upstairs that had G's train table and then everything else looked so nice and the office was completely trashed so today that took a hit. Now I feel the urge to tackle the closet and pantry downstairs and if that darned island didn't weigh so much I'd move that too! This absolutely drives my husband nuts to come home and see the house completely rearranged. It damages his Type A sensibilities. Teee Heeeeeeeee.....

In closing, I just want to say to everyone waiting for tomorrow (there are many of us out there)-good luck and many blessings. Especially for Hannah out there in cyberspace: you've waited for this for a long time and I hope that you have your day tomorrow. Our prayers are with you.

Drive Thru 4 Smiles

Hi all!!! As we are preparing to travel I also remind myself that I have committed to bringing toys for the children who are in foster care and at the baby homes. For those of you who do not know, I am running a ministry out of our home called Drive Thru 4 Smiles. I collect used/new drive thru toys from fast food chains and distribute them. You may ask why drive thru toys?? Well, these toys, as you know, are small and light weight...i.e. cheap to mail and easy to store. Currently I am working with our community outreach director from our church and have donated almost 200 toys to date. I am happy to say that I have been able to support the emergent women's shelter here in Monterey and also a food bank that supports mostly immigrant families. These toys are such a gift to these children who have very little. Many of the children have left abusive situations with their mothers and do not have a home. These toys are portable, well made and in keeping with current trends and movies-so important to all kids!!
My goal is to bring as many as I can stuff into a large suitcase and give them to our social workers to distribute when they do home visits. If you are interested please leave me a comment on this post with your email address and I will PM within a day or two. Ask your friends and family, look under the bed and in the corners of your kids rooms! I bet you'll find a ton! Also, do something healthy for yourself; the next time you go to McDonald's, order a happy meal instead of a large number whatever.

Another Update

First of all..HAPPY NEW YEAR THAILAND!!!

Holt called yesterday and they received our updated Dr's note that DSDW had requested. Unfortunately b/c of that request we seemed to have gotten "bumped" and now are looking at early July for travel. We are still hopeful on the end of June but Marissa was more inclined to believe that we would be heading to the July 11th meeting. Can you hear my long, dramatic sigh from here?? I swear this process is like banging your head against a wall over and over again only to find that you enjoy the pain in some creepy, masochistic way. I mean, you go into the process knowing that it will take preparation, there will be TONS of paperwork and unending time lines. You look forward to being accepted, and then "paper pregnant" (I still prefer the belly) and then REFERRAL!!! You keep thinking to yourself "ok...self....if I can make it to this part I'll feel better.....once we have our referral we'll be more patient...once our dossier is in Thailand we're almost done..." Not so much...

Every step of the way has presented more challenges and frustrations that I thought possible. Not because of our agency AT ALL. Just because of the process itself. The red tape, the bureaucracy. The fingerprinting, the notarizing and even more fingerprinting. Birth certificates, divorce and marriage certificates, Dr's notes and on and on and on!!

We have these pictures of this beautiful little girl who is our daughter and she is so far away. A I can only be thankful that we have so many wonderful family and friends supporting us. Yesterday while we ate dinner we asked G what he wanted to do this weekend with Mommy and Daddy.

He said, "Go get my sister". Amen, little man.

waiting....waiting....

..so we needed a dr's note (again) for the dysautonomia. it was requested by dsdw. we got it and sent it to Holt yesterday by email and fedex'd it today overnight. the thai holiday starts next weeks and now i'm a jumble of nerves. will we make the april 25th board? won't we?? does this cause a glitch or is it just a formality to request supporting documentation? i know Holt says that they are requesting this for everyone who's had a medical condition and that it should be ok but deep down you wonder-is it?? why wasn't the first dr's note ok? is this one specific enough??
all i can think about is that we were hoping to be in this next group to travel. it was what is getting us through the day. it brought tangible excitement to our house with the prospect of traveling soon. i know, i know....in His timing. i wish for once that would stop the butterflies in my stomach. my prayer today is for patience and acceptance.

Christ is Risen Indeed!

I love Easter! Not for the bunnies, egg hunts or chocolate (ok, maybe a little for the chocolate) but for the miracle that is Christ and his death and Resurrection. There is nothing more humbling or sobering for me than to reflect on the time that our Lord and Savior spent on the cross. It's not only the fact that he was crucified, dead and buried. That He rose after three days and was witnessed by over 500 people-disciples and peasants alike. I am in awe of His suffering. Not only was he beaten and tortured, nailed to a cross and pierced in his side, a crown of thorns placed on his head. He was heckled and defiled in name. He was mocked and cursed. There was joy in his death from those whom feared Him and thought Him impotent in the face of His own death. I can not imagine the pain, the fear, the indignation that He suffered. And for what?

For us! For sinful, prideful us! It's a miracle that God loved us so much that He sent His one and only Son. That He died for our sins, that His blood will cover us and carry us into Eternity with Him and the Father.

I can't say enough about this day and what it means to me. I don't think there are words to describe it. All I can say is that He knows my heart. He knows every wish, every burden, every sorrow and happiness. My prayer today is that I will work harder at thinking of every day as Easter. That I will remind myself of the precious gift of eternal life that was given to all of us through Jesus. That I became a new creation in Him, forever.

Some News is Good News

Last week we got a call from Marissa. She wanted to give us a heads as to what they've heard from HSF regarding possible travel. It seems that they think that we could "possibly" be in the next group of families to travel. She said that while they haven't scheduled families for the end of May board meeting, they do not think that any Holt families will be traveling to that meeting which leaves June 13 and June 27 up for grabs. Needless to say we were thrilled beyond belief. We really have been praying for an earlier travel date than eight months from dossier submission. She said that she didn't want to get our hopes up but MY hope is is that they wouldn't have said anything if they didn't feel like it was going to happen for us. They are so extremely conservative in their time tables and we've had to push in the past just to get "maybes" when it came to some questions we had. They are very cautious about giving out specific time frames for referral, travels and paperwork approval times b/c it really is subject to so many variables. We were told that we may have an answer regarding travel by the end of this month! That would give us about five weeks to make plans! Pray for us!

I'm attaching some pictures of last weekend when we went to Lake San Antonio with our bible study group. Very fun! Especially since I slept in the camper and not in a tent with H and G. Tee, heeee....

Criss Cross Applesauce...

If prayers were like crossing fingers I think I would be twisted like a pretzel. These days my mantra seems to be "get her here fast", "give me the energy to have two" and on and on.
We got great albeit cautious news on Friday from Marissa at Holt. She called to say that she thinks we may be in the next batch of families scheduled to travel. She doesn't think it will happen at the end of May but is optimistic for either June 13th or June 27th board meetings. Needless to say we were on cloud nine and continue to pray that this timing specifically is His plan. H will be on his break from school and would not have to worry about classes. While we'll be happy to travel anytime, I can understand how H would feel the stress of being two weeks behind in classes. We can only go on faith, though, and are officially getting ourselves in "travel" mode. What else do we need?? Hmmmm.....last night my Target shopping night was successful and I finally got one bathing suit for Prim. It's very sporty (pink of course) and she'll look like a little surfer girl. I need to get one more and that's done. We have so many cute little dresses (thanks Mom and Aunt T!!) and just need a few more pj's and travel outfits will be done. It's hard to know how big she will be but right now I'm getting all 18 month clothing and for the fall/winter 24 months. M says that I'm a bit compulsive in my thinking about her clothing these days but as I see it, it's really the only thing for me to control on this end. She understands of course but promises to counsel me if I am still clothes crazy (ahem...slightly compulsive) when the baby gets here. Isn't that the fun part of having girls?