Waiting Wednesday

I love Homeschooling. I love being home. I know many families can't stay home with their children and I understand that. Homeschooling is SO perfect for our family and here are 10 reasons why I am so thankful for it:

1. Being able to monitor what exactly my precious children are learning. Notice I said monitor instead of control. Big difference, no? (not really)

2. Being able to pray over each lesson and start each day with prayer.

3. Being able to find the right curriculum that fits each child. Although both boys are using the same curriculum, IF the need be I could research and change it, if I wanted to.

4. Having the freedom of adjusting school to our schedule. Like this year we allotted an entire month (we actually thought baby sister was going to be home before we got done with school, what were we thinking) to adjust to having a little one. Now we'll be done April 16th.

5. Doing school in our Jammies.

6. Sometimes we start at 8:00 sharp and sometimes we start at a little after 9:00. No biggie, it all gets done, eventually.

7. Building a strong foundation. This scripture that is painted on the wall of our homeschooling room helps me to realize what this is all for. "For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ." 1 Corinthians 3:11. Building a foundation strongly rooted in Christ.

8. Being able to do lessons in the morning and then having the rest of the day to play, meet with friends and go places.

9. I am re-learning right along with them. I just recently found out how interesting History is and now enjoy re-buffing my math skills. Who knew you could do this at thirty-years-old?

10. Watching them learn and seeing their progress from year to year.

Again, I DO NOT judge those who Public School. I know each does his/her own and what is best for their family. This is what is best for ours. I am very thankful for the opportunity to be their teacher.

Fashion Friday

In light of all the clothes that I have accumulated and the fact that they aren't doing anything - yet. Kara and I have decided to pull out some of our favorites and put them to good use. They have to earn their keep, right?

Because I have seen the adoption wait string out in front of me, I have relented to buying 18-24 month clothes. I am just not sure how big she will be when she comes home. SOME of the stuff I have is 12 months, but very little. She was a little peanut, well littler than my boys, when she was born and so I wonder if she will be petite. I have only received one update and she was below the 'normal' weight and length for her age. Anyway, I can get by on the few outfits I have and then always get more later.

Here are some too-cute jammies that I got for her. Can't WAIT to snuggle with her in these. :)

Every Fourth of July, we go to a local celebration called Cherry Days. It's called that because the cherry trees are usually weighed down with ripe cherries. Chad and I have gone every year since we first started dating. So that would be . . . thirteen years, this year. Every year we say, "by this time next year. . . " Last year we said "we should have baby sister by then." If I don't have her home by the Fourth of July Celebration I am going to cry. A good meltdown/breakdown cry.

See the little cherries on this adorable dress? What-the-heck am I going to do with THIS if she's not home? Huh? Tell me! (Sigh) Anyways, this was the first 'dress' that I broke down and finally purchased. And it's a 12 month. So she has to be home. Has. to. be. Can't use it for next year.
(She will - gotta think positive, gotta think positive!)



(Above) is the little bloomer-type pants that go with it. And (below) is the dress in it's entirety, cute huh? I though so.

I got this cute-little-thing on sale. Brown . . . pink, had to get it.

Well, that's it for this week. Those are my favorite's. I can't wait to see my girl IN all of them . . . soon.

(late) Waiting Wednesday

(almost missed it - again)

Anyway, here are 10 things that I have been doing lately to keep my mind off of EP! :)

1. Spring Cleaning.

2. Organizing Joye's closet. There is LOTS of pink, by the way.

3. Tax stuff. Nothin' like some good 'ol fashioned tax stuff to keep the mind busy. Ick.

4. Listening to TobyMac. He has a new album out, you know. It's awesome. I can drift away and forget about the wait. Only for a moment, though.

5. Homeschooling. Six weeks to go. My intention was to get done early, that way we would be ready for our Travel Call. Yeah, now what am I going to do?

6. Thinking about setting up Joye's crib. I was going to do it once we got I600 approval, but I think we'll wait until we get EP. :)

7. Memorizing this Scripture:
"Humanly speaking it is impossible. But with God everything is possible." Matthew 19:26

8. Praying, with #7 in mind.

9. Stalking the Holt BB, to see if any other Eastern families have any news. Sad, I know.

10. Realizing that nothing can take my mind off this wait, indefinitely. I just have to keep my eyes on Jesus and pray for patience as we make our way through to the end of His perfect plan.
I know this will all be worth it when our sweet girl is home, safe in our arms.

Waiting Wednesday

These Waiting Wednesday's really sneak up on me. :)

I missed last weeks'. :(

So here are ten things that I am very thankful for:

1. A Savior that lovingly died for my sins. And no matter the sin, if I ask, it is immediately forgiven.

2. A loving Husband and best friend.

3. The two beautiful boys that I wake up to every morning.

4. Homeschooling, and being able to be home with those two beautiful boys everyday.

5. I am so-very-thankful that it's getting closer to spring. I love that it's getting warmer, even though March can be one of the snowiest months for Colorado.

6. A loving and supportive family that we are so-very blessed with. Love 'em ALL!!

7. Our beautiful daughter. I am SO blessed to have her and to be able to be her mother for the rest of her life.

8. Adoption. I am so thankful for Adoption. Even though the bureaucratic red tape, increased waiting times, and overall up's and downs are extremely difficult, I am so thankful to be on this journey.

9. A roof over my head. I know it may seem menial, but there are SO many that are without homes in the world and even a place to call their own. Especially in these hard times.

10. Food. Again, I am so thankful that I am able to go to the store and purchase food for all of us.

Do you have time for a story? It's a short one.

Our Pastor was in the process of adopting a little girl (10 y.o.) from Haiti when the earthquake happened. They were VERY shook up, to say the least, when the news broke. Anyway, she was one of the first to come 'home' after the quake. They have sent us updates letting us know how they are adjusting, etc. One thing that stuck with me was that this little girl was so enamored by the fact that groceries were so plentiful and came in bags. I really don't think she has ever seen such a thing - living in Haiti for the past ten years, I highly doubt it. When they come home from the store, she is just amazed at the sight of all the food.

Something I take for granted.

I take all that I have for granted. And that is what makes me so-very thankful.

Happy. . . Sad

Happy 10 months to my little, sweet Joye! I CANNOT believe that she is 10 months already! I had to do the math a couple of times, just to make sure. And the ticker in the sidebar confirmed it as well.

In two months she will be a year old. (Sigh)

THAT makes me sad. Really sad. Will we see her in the next two months? I don't know. I hope so, but honestly it would be a miracle. Could it happen? Absolutely! Is it realistic? Unfortunately, no.

I'm preparing my heart that she will be a over a year old when she comes home. BUT our Heavenly Father is still in the miracle-making business, and so I DO have hope in that.

However, I am thankfully happy that she is a part of our lives, even though she's not physically here yet. And I am happy that we are on this journey, and that she is so stinkin' adorable!

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On the paperwork side, if you haven't already noticed in our timeline, we are NVC in AND NVC out!! YAY! Now, all of our 'stuff' has made it's way to the US Embassy in Korea! When we were logged out of NVC, the very nice lady said that it had been sent to the Embassy that day. So it's official, ALL of our United States (or stateside) stuff is completed! Whew.

Now what?

Well, now that our stuff is at the US Embassy, our P3 (or packet 3) is compiled and then given to the Agency (Eastern Social Welfare Society) in Korea. Once they pick up our P3 from the Embassy, that is known as 'P3 out.' I was going to call and see if we are P3 out, but yesterday was a holiday in Korea, so I will call maybe today or tomorrow.

Beyond the 'P3 out' is where we are currently stalled. And will be for a while, I'm afraid. We have quite a few family and friends following along with us on our journey so I am going to take a moment to explain this part of the process.

Hang on. It's kind of confusing.

When we signed the oodles of paperwork (back in November), stating that we intend to adopt Joye, called acceptance, all of that information was sent to Korea. Usually after that, Eastern (Korean agency) will begin to prepare our EP or Exit Permit. This allows Joye to leave Korea. So normally once you are in the P3 stage, your EP is waiting for you. That's not the case for us.

Currently, there is an EP backlog. Families from last year are still waiting for their childrens' EP. This backlog is what lodged our typical 3 month wait (from referral to travel call), to a 6+ month wait. Eastern (Korean agency) has MANY US agencies it deals with. So it is unclear how exactly they are processing these infamous EP's. One can only guess. 'Word on the street' is that July/August EP's are currently being processed. It differs with each US agency. We are a November Acceptance, so that's where we stand.

SO, now that our P3 is at Eastern (or should be soon) we will wait to hear for the glorious day when we are submitted for EP. Please pray that The Ministry (people that are responsible for approving EP's in Korea) will push through and grant them quickly. There are SO many of us waiting on this step. Many who have been waiting for EIGHT months to bring home their baby. Eight . . . Months! Please join us in praying these sweet children home!

Once we hear something, we will let everyone know. Otherwise, we will be on our knees praying for a miracle!

I600 Approved!

We got our i-171H in the mail yesterday. This means that our I600 has been approved and is on it's way to the National Visa Center in New Hampshire!! YAY! I will call the NVC tomorrow (Monday) and I'm trying not to get my hopes up, but I bet we are already logged in! Hopefully. Our I600 was approved on the 16th, so we 'should' be. I'll find out tomorrow.

What does all that mumbo-jumbo mean? The National Visa Center 'logs' our I600 (immigration approval stating that we are ok to bring Joye into the U.S.) into their system then 'logs' us out, known as NVC in and NVC out. NVC out means that our I600 is on it's way to US Embassy in Seoul. The Embassy will then compile other documents needed along with our I600 to form our P3. Now, like always, I will stop there. This week we 'should' have NVC in and NVC out.

Why are these dates important? It just helps me to know that our paperwork has arrived to it's destination. It's just a checkpoint of sorts. So stay tuned, I will keep you posted. And then we will move on to the next step!

I had to share this . . .