Last Wednesday we received a phone call from USCIS that our Preliminary Immigration Application had been approved. It was a little more detailed than that but you get the idea. Actually, three pieces of paperwork were missing. Both of our birth certificates and our marriage license were not there. I emailed her the necessary paperwork and we were approved within the hour! This was huge. This above pictured piece of paper was holding up the whole works. This document is being authenticated this week then our paperwork heads overseas!
Selah is never far from our thoughts. Here is where her photo remains.
We did the same for Mariah during the wait for her. She is right on our GPS screen. Seems fitting, right? After all she is our next destination.
We made our way to an appointment at the post office this afternoon.
More paperwork! But so worth it.
Becca was so excited to get her passport application along with her photo taken. They had to ask her not to smile so big.
We are getting things taken care of here at the house too. We purchased this home 4 1/2 years ago. It was built in 1978 and the previous owners loved this house and took such great care of it. We have made a few improvements but it has not needed much. We did have to replace some boards on the bannister of our deck. As Jeremy pried off the boards at the corner he discovered that he destroyed the home of this lovely critter.
This bat was not happy to move. The deck boards have been replaced and only need a couple of coats of paint.
Jeremy moved the project inside. He had help painting the entry doorway.
She insisted! Notice the safari hat? So cute! She kept putting the hat back on Jeremy's head as he painted. I guess in order to paint a safari hat was necessary.
We took our sweet Ben to the ENT yesterday. He has been having a tough time with a stubborn sinus infection for the past three months. We really hate that he cannot kick this. He has been on antibiotics for five weeks.
I do not think you can see but he has the cutest freckles. He really is as full of life as you see in this photo. He certainly keeps us on our toes too!
His ENT wanted a new x-ray and that proved that his sinuses are pretty bad. Our poor Ben is on another antibiotic, prednisone, and a few other new meds. They have to be aggressive or we are looking at even more aggressive treatment. My poor little guy. His asthma is not controlled now either. We would appreciate any prayers for him. Currently he is taking 11 medications. And I am a mom who does not like to medicate.
On our way home from his appointment we saw the beautiful sunset. I am not sure this photo does it justice but the sky was spectacular. Not to mention this great photo taken on my cell phone.
One of the biggest blessings in my life is my family. Last weekend we had an impromptu birthday celebration for my niece who turned 13. Tammy (pictured in the middle) hosted the party and my other sister, Tina (far left), and her 3 kids also came. There were 16 of us there yet we were missing 13 family members but it was fun!
Yes, I agree.....we do look alike!
Here are a few of the photos. Keep in mind, our camera was just an extra. So my pics are not that great!
The camera on my phone is not the best. Here are a few of the cousins!
More cousins.
One of the biggest blessings to me is the love of my life. He is the perfect mate for me and I fall short of deserving him. I snapped a photo of Jeremy, unknown to him, while he was finishing his morning devotions one day last week. Again, my phone camera.....not so great a photo.
This is why our marriage works. God is always first. I love this about Jeremy.
Our kids love to play outside. It might be because for years I have shoved them outside encouraged them to enjoy the outdoors.
In all honesty, I have a few kids that would live outdoors if allowed. Some kind of a meeting was taking place in the pile of leaves with Micah and Becca.
I am working on finding blessings in things which I would normally struggle.
Becca's school desk.......BEAUTIFUL! Right?
Ben's desk......SIGH!!!!! Notice how his mess has migrated over to Selah's desk (on the left)? I will rejoice thinking of what he is learning in spite of that mess.
I will choose to rejoice in the fact that we live in a country with terrific healthcare. Kyle is having a few issues with what we believe will turn out to be asthma. We are not strangers to that.
And our first blessing from China.
Please pray for us as we complete these last few weeks of our adoption. It is difficult to complete an international adoption in a normal time frame. You can multiply that stress by a bazillion when you are dealing with a child who is aging out and the potential difficulties of a government shut down. So far we are unaffected by this shut down. It is not easy.
Today is day 59 as we wait for the US to approve our preliminary immigration application. We requested an expedite but the answer is no. We even contacted our congressman's office. We are in a normal time frame for now but should be assigned an officer by this Wednesday. Please pray for our approval to happen that day. Then that one last piece of paper gets sent to be authenticated. Then finally we can send our dossier to Chin@ and they can begin to prepare Selah's official paperwork.
Of course, please pray for Selah and her upcoming transition. Our family covets your prayers as we plunge into this new adoption.
We have applied for 18 grants. We have not heard back from any of them yet. We know God will provide.
As Mariah got sick this weekend my heart ached for our Selah. For almost 14 years she has had no one to cuddle her and love on her when she had a fever or cold. I cannot imagine the hurt she has in her heart. She needs to be home. Just imagine, she surely does not understand the magnitude of that word. We also know it will take time (probably years) for her to accept and understand our love.
Selah, when you read this one day I hope you know how loved and desperately wanted you are to so many. Especially to me and Baba/Daddy.
"A
father to the fatherless, a defender of widows, is God in his holy
dwelling. God sets the lonely in families..." Psalm
68:5-6
We have had quite the crazy week here. I am beginning to think this is the common theme in our lives! That's okay. We would be bored out of our minds otherwise.
The week started with church on Sunday morning. Then I had the privilege of being invited to a JJ Heller concert at a local church on Sunday afternoon. It was such a sweet time. Becca and I went and had a terrific time. My sweet friend, Heather, and her daughter met us there and we spent the afternoon listening to some of the sweetest music.
Another sweet friend opened the concert with her group The Janes. Here is s short sample of one of their songs.
This particular song is a lullaby that JJ and her husband, Dave, wrote. It was absolutely beautiful!!!
Monday was speech therapy with Mariah.
Tuesday was a doctor appointment with Kyle to get his allergy shot. I usually do those at home but the first shot from a new prescription has to be done in the doctor's office.
Wednesday morning was the speech testing for Mariah at our Board of Education to see if she qualifies for speech when she turns three. We have no official word on her results but the SLP told me she cannot imagine her not qualifying. Evidently her receptive speech is excellent yet her expressive speech is pretty minimal. Then I went to the grocery store! We had church again on Wednesday evening, so dinner was super rushed.
Thursday was low key. I consider it successful if the kids are fed, medicated, and school completed! Notice no housework was mentioned.
Friday was Jeremy's day off and I babysat a little guy for a friend in the morning. Jeremy took the van for an oil change.
We went furniture shopping during nap time. I have learned something about myself as I age. No salesman is able to talk me into something if I have experience that tells me better. We are looking for a kitchen table that will seat all 8 of us. He desperately tried to sell us a table with all kind of grooves in the wooden top and upholstered chairs. I told him first of all it would be hard to clean mashed potatoes out of those grooves. Secondly, I HATED the fabric used on the chairs and I didn't want fabric at all! He tried to tell me that we could use our vacuum attachments to clean the table top (YUCK!!) and the seats could continually be recovered! HELLO!!!!!! I have six kids! I have no time to re-upholster 8 chairs. He obviously does not do the cleaning at his house. I did not let him even get the words out of his mouth!
This is the set we are leaning towards. Not my absolute favorite but it is okay. This is at a different store.
We are also looking for a new bedroom set for our girls! Again, nothing there struck our fancy. This set is at the same store as the dining set we are leaning towards. I really like this set.
Friday evening we took the kids to the local elementary school to play and for our older kids to run.
She just enjoyed playing.
The kids enjoyed playing with her.
Even on the tire swing.
Especially on the rock wall.
Such a great Daddy!
They all enjoyed themselves.
Evidently Ben disappeared while I took photos. He is the one running!
She even made a new friend, Macie.
This is pretty much how she slept all night! She was tired.
We have arranged for a private Spanish tutor to come and teach the kids Spanish each Saturday morning. Yes, school on Saturday. She was here for 1 1/2 hours and the kids ended up loving it.
I went grocery shopping and spent the majority of my Saturday working on shopping and reorganizing my kitchen. Kroger had Campbell's Soups on sale this past week, I usually buy store brand! Here is my crowded pantry that I joking say most would call a stockpile.
Top shelf is snacks, chips, crackers, and most paper products.
Second shelf is baking supplies on left and pasta/rice on right.
Third shelf is soups on left and tomato products on right.
Fourth shelf is canned beans, drink mixes, and a few canned fruits (pineapple, pears, peaches, mandarin oranges).
The floor holds our bottled water on the right and onions and potatoes on the left. As well as paper towels.
Larger families require large food budgets. Even on vacation at the beach we ate out once. It was lunch and we will never do that again. Our menu at the beach was this.....nothing spectacular!
*Stuffed shells (Becca and I made at home and took to the beach to bake)
*Sloppy Joes, french fries, and veggies
*Baked chicken marinated with rice and veggies
*Rigatoni with garlic bread
*Pizza (frozen pizza we bought at Walmart there)
*French Toast (yes, breakfast for supper)
There is much concern over government processes the past few weeks. If the US government shuts down that certainly affects international adoptions. The US Consulate will likely not issue Visas for our kids to come home from China. Also, the immigration approvals may not take place. From what I have read, it seems like if you paid for a service, they will proceed as normal. It was not entirely clear what would shut down and which program would remain in operation. Please pray that Congress can come to an agreement and approve a budget.
Today is day 44 of our wait for our first immigration approval. We are so close. Then our paperwork goes over to China for their approval (LOA). Then a few more smaller approvals after that. This mama is a wreck but it is not in my control. God knows best and it is all in His timing. I need to tell myself that quite often.
Our hearts are aching to have Selah here. She needs a family to love her as she has never felt before. She needs to know and be introduced to the Savior! How sweet will it be for us to watch our two China girls accept Christ as their personal Savior!!!!
It is entirely possible to love someone you have never met. We have now done this twice. It really is a beautiful thing.
Habakkuk 2:3 (NKJV)
For the vision is yet for an appointed time; But at the end it will speak, and it will not lie.Though it tarries, wait for it; Because it will surely come,
It will not tarry.
This past week was so much fun for our family. After much debate, Jeremy and I decided that we needed to keep our promise to our kids and take them to the beach. It was not a decision we took lightly by any means. Our decision was made back in March. At that time we had no idea that God would be expanding our family again.
We rented a condo and left on Saturday morning to North Myrtle Beach. Mariah struggled for a good part of the trip. She is not cut out for life on the road! We pulled into our condo and introduced Mariah to a beautiful creation by our God.....the beach. We giggled as we watched her attempt to walk onto the sandy shore. She was very unsure of how to walk. It was really cute.
We spent a lot of time on the beach. We made sure we put lots of sunscreen on the kids but Jeremy and I got a little bit of sunburn.
The kids had so much fun making sand creations.
Here is their alligator.
Then we helped them a little with a sea turtle.
Lots of sandcastles. It seemed that The Lord of the Rings was the theme of many castles.
And another.....
And another....
And another.......
Then we had night walks on the beach.........
Playing together (one can dream)!
Exhaustion....
More exhaustion.....
Finally......
Sea Creatures......
Love notes....
Another love note......
Sunrise......
Another......
And another......
How it all started..........
Where we are now......
It was truly a wonderful time together as a family. The day we chose for our family pictures was quite windy but will have to do. Nothing like asking a complete stranger to snap our photo.
