Onward and Upward!

Just because I have to share this adorable photo...........

Can you believe that Mariah has a tough time getting along with Ben on most days yet she will copy him almost every single time? I do not understand these children! Typical sibling rivalry. This was at church waiting for the service to begin this past Sunday. Sort of makes me scratch my head.

Last Sunday Mariah's "Puggles" teacher and daughter, Miss April and Gracie, gave Mariah this adorable Cabbage Patch doll. Mariah loves it!

Okay, I got side-tracked! We have had a lot of movement this past week. I am thrilled to see how quickly we are moving now with adoption paperwork.

November 13th we found out we had our LID. That is the acronym means Log In Date. Basically this just means that Chin@ has taken our paperwork and has it in their system. Finally!!!

The very next day my social worker emailed me to let me know that our dosseir is already translated! That has to be some record or something.

Then on November 18th my social worker emailed again to let us know our paperwork is through the review stage. We only have the final stage to go.....Matching! Several more approvals are still needed but we are still on target to leave near the end of December.

My nesting has kicked in full-force! We only had a six top kitchen table. It works now since Mariah is still in a highchair. We definitely needed a new one. We found one online and it was delivered last Friday! 

Here is the before....

And the after....

We love it and it fits everyone!

We finally picked out furniture for the girls' room. But it has been a disaster! Every piece was damaged or missing pieces! Unfortunately, the store was not willing to make it right. Jeremy told them to come and take it back!

At least the girls had fun shopping at this store, right?

Once again, this is what their room looks like....

I think we have successfully confused Mariah. One day it was her brothers' room, then it was empty, then it was filled with new furniture, then it was empty again. One can only laugh!

My sweet Rebecca will one day make the best wife for a very special man. And a very sweet mom one day too. This child always thinks of others above herself. 

I took Rebecca and Benji to the eye doctor's this week. Ben has been put back in glasses. He has a mild prescription but it seemed logical to do so. Doesn't he look like Jeremy?

Then we have Rebecca. She told me she would not mind glasses but if they cost us money, she didn't want them. Really? My sweet girl, we would do anything to give you what you need. But, the doctor says you do not need glasses yet! Be thankful for healthy eyes with great vision!

And I wanted to share with you what Mariah learned to do this week....POUT!

DTC!!!!!

We have reached a huge milestone.......DTC!!!!! This three letter acronym means Dossier to Chin@. All of our paperwork that we have worked tirelessly on has been sent to the other side of the world! Now we wait to find out our LID (Log In Date)-the date which our dossier is recorded in the "system". Then we wait for our big approval -- LOA (Letter of Acceptance)!

We will still be traveling in December. We just don't know all the details yet. It gets complicated from here. The US Consulate will be closing for a week in early December. Then at the end of the month there are more closures for the holidays. It will be tricky trying to figure this all out. I am certain that we HAVE to finalize our adoption before January 4th.

Much like a pregnancy, I have begun nesting. Last weekend we had our carpets cleaned. We sold a set of furniture from our family room. Our idea is to move our theater room up from the basement since the room is already wired for surround sound. Jeremy's office is moving into the old theater room and our older two boys are getting Jeremy's office for their new bedroom. We have a bit of work to do down there first.

Our kids would rather not move any furniture up there. They love the empty room! But the sectional must be moved!

Who needs furniture?

I caught Jeremy playing Princesses with Mariah. 

Even Mariah is taking advantage of the empty room.

I got up with Mariah on Sunday morning to get ready for church. Poor thing had a fever. It was a long day as her fever rose.

Yes, that thermometer reads 105.0 degrees. She was one very sick little girl.

She seems much better now. Her throat is still yucky but the fever is gone!

Along with our DTC news, we also got something special in the mail.

Her passport came!!!!! Now she is waiting with us for all of the remaining approvals to come. And we will send our passports off for the necessary visas.

Here are a few photos that I took with my phone (not the best quality) but I thought they were sweet photos.

And this one too.

I came out to the kitchen the other day and found Jeremy standing at the window above my sink using Ben's spyglass. Evidently whatever was happening at the cul-de-sac was pretty interesting.

Once again we have been blessed to see how God continues to provide for our Selah to come home. We received a grant from a fund that was such a blessing to our family. We had an interview with them on the phone two weeks ago and we were so blessed by their prayers for our family.  

Here is part of the email we received from them:

"We love your heart and the ways He is creating new ways for you to grow in Him. He loves the way you are listening for Him, not others, that you are living in new ways to grow with Him...so exciting! We are honored to be part of your journey as well and hope it provides even more affirmation that His heart is for adoption and His heart is for you! We will continue praying for your family. Please keep us updated. We look forward to walking with you for years to come."

What a journey we are on. One thing that we have learned through this process is that our faith is continually being refined. We did not expect this to happen. I am glad that I am not in control of this whole thing. I am a miserable failure.

Please continue to pray for our Selah as she waits for us to join her in Chin@. A piece of my heart is in Chin@ this holiday season. It is heartbreaking to think that our daughter has never heard the true meaning of Christmas. We will make sure that changes. We cannot wait to create some memories with her.