Merry Christmas

Mung Chua Giang Sinh or Merry Christmas Abby. Wherever you are, you are being thought of,loved and prayed for. I thank God for the progress that has been made this past year and I ask that he continue to guide us on this very long rocky journey. Another year will begin soon, I pray that it be a year of hope and promise toward you and that a year from now I might find myself a little closer to the day when we are "Finally Five"

Third Day

Chuck and I had an Amazing time this Friday. We Went to see the Christian band Third day in concert.It has been a long time since I have felt God has sent me,what I call "a sign of hope". These are little unexpected things that happen in a seemingly normal day -that give me hope that he still wants us on the adoption path. Well, At the concert which had already been an amazing experience, the guitarist begins to share the story of how even though they have 3 girls, they felt called to adopt and began the process to adopt a girl from China. They knew it would be at least a year but then they started to experience bumps along the way and that one year became two and longer. He shared how-The love you feel for someone you've never met is amazing, the waiting is so hard, so his wife asked him to try to put the feelings into words. This is the song they sang. it's called "Merry Christmas"

There's a little girl trembling on a December morn
Crying for mama's arms
At an orphanage just outside a little China town
There the forgotten are

But half a world away I hang the stockings by the fire
And dream about the day when I can finally call you mine

It's Christmas time again but you're not home
Your family is here and yet you're somewhere else alone
And so tonight I pray that God will come and hold you in his arms
And tell you from my heart I wish you Merry Christmas

As I hang the tinsel on the tree and watch the twinkling lights
I'm warmed by the fire's glow
Outside the children tumble in a wonderland of white,
Make angels in the snow

But half a world away you try your best to fight the tears
And hope that heaven's angels come to carry you here

It's Christmas time again but you're not home
Your family is here and yet you're somewhere else alone
And so tonight I pray that God will come and hold you in his arms
And tell you from my heart I wish you Merry Christmas

Christmas is a time to celebrate the holy child
and we celebrate his perfect gift of love
He came to earth to give his life
and prepare a place for us
so we could have a home with him above

It's Christmas time again and now you're home
Your family is here so you will never be alone
So tonight before you go to sleep, I'll hold you in my arms
And I'll tell you from my heart, and I'll tell you from my heart
I wish you Merry Christmas

Needless to say I was a blubbering mess at the end, as pictures of his family and orphanage children were flashed on the screen but you'll notice the last verse, she is home. They finally brought her home four months ago. That would have been enough of a moment for me but it gets better. Chuck got us backstage passes and we met the band. I shared with him our journey- he gave me so much hope. I just feel like it is going to happen. We too will someday bring home our little girl. It was an amazing night and one I won't soon forget. Thanks God, for the moment!

More Girl Referrals:)

We received another update today, two more girls!! What's really extra good is they waited 16 months(not 2 years) and the girls are infants(both under 2 months old). They are working with 2 more orphanages. I get so excited when we get news like this. Everyday is a day closer to Abby. "Dreams are extemely important. You can't do it unless you imagine it"- George Lucas

Today's quote

'Whether you think you can or think you can't, you're probably right"-Henry Ford

Quote of the Day

"If you can DREAM it,you can DO it"- Walt Disney

Encouraging words

I have a book full of encourgaing quotes said by famous people. I look at it from time to time or when It feels like our dream is far away and may never come true. I thought I would post them ( I'll try for atleast once a week). Everyone can use a little encouragment.
Todays is: The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step-Lao Tzu

To answer your question

We were told to plan on a 2 year wait but only God knows. We are on the list for a healthy girl up to 3 years old so it depends on what the people in front of us are looking for. Many couples who have no children are looking for only infants and will take either sex, which means if a 3 yr old becomes available, we would ge the referral however some people will take an older child so it really is unknown how long it will be. After we get our referral, it is about 5 months until you travel, 10 days in Vietnam and then we are a forever family.

Praise The Lord!!

We just got another update from CHI and they received 2 more girl referrals this week. They have placed 67 children so far this year, 33 more have been matched and they are hoping to have 80 adoptions completed by the end of the year!!! Good News two weeks in a row-thank you God for the blessings I already have and those yet to come! Keep those baby girl referrals coming :)

Some Good News

We got some good news today in our CHI Vietnam update today,they got five referrals today and 3 were girls. That many girls at one time is rare. Maybe it will not end up being the two year wait we were told. I just have to hold on the what Brandon says, "God's time is perfect time". I actually had a really great dream last night about Abby. We were with her in Vietnam playing in a park, it was wonderful,very real. Then I was awoken by Brandon, asking me to put ear drops in his ear, GOOD MORNING!!. Anyway, that email made my day and gave me hope:)

It's about time

Finally, some changes in the adoption world that will actually make things a little easier for prospective adoptive parents. I just received word from Children's Hope(our adoption agency) that the USCIS is now allowing one extension on your Orphan petition and fingerprinting free of charge. Your I-600A -the form that grants you permission to bring an orphan from another country back to the U.S., is only good for 18 months, wait time in just about every country is greater than that, which means the parents had to hand over another $700 to extend the petition. It may seem like a small thing but it's just nice to see a change being made that makes things easier instead of harder. All these children in orphanages(and foster care) and they keep raising the bar and the cost.Doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me, so this was definitely good news!

Our New Family Project

Well, call us crazy but we have taken on a family project of building a doll house for Abby. (See picture below the blogs.) I have always wanted one since I was a little girl and my friend Pam(who was adopted from Korea)had one. It will take a LONG time to build and since we are on a long waiting list we have a lot of time!! Hopefully,someday she will be able to play with it and then I will pass it on to my grandchildren. From the looks of all the stuff you can do and buy for it on ebay, we will have a family hobby for a lifetime. Cameron is most excited to start, he is my little builder but let's be real here, we are going to need Chuck to get this thing done. I'll keep you posted with pictures from time to time to show(the slow) progress. I have a whole new respect for that Extreme Home Make-over show and what they do in a week!!HA.

The Amazing Cameron

Well, I have been utterly amazed at what Cameron has done to help me with the blog. The cool clock and ticker that have been added, Yes done by a twelve year old. I now feel officially old. Now that I have a blogger assistant, You can look for pictures and other cool stuff to show up.:)

New at this

I often go an other's adoption blogs and wanted to create one to record the journey as we adopt our daughter from Vietnam. I figure the best way to learn something, is to just do it... so here goes nothing!