My Sister

Hi! This is Lily, and I wanted to write about my sister, Yana. We celebrated Yana's adoption day yesterday. She has been in our family for six years. Yana loves animals, as you can probably see in the picture. She is holding our sweet dog Rosemary. (Notice that Maple is looking up longingly for a hug too!) She especially loves horses, and so last night we watched the movie "Secretariat". It is about a racehorse. She got a white chocolate bar from me, Adam, and Grace. Jadon gave her four chocolate bars. She also got a bible case from mom and dad. She is a very good sister, I like to play horses with her. She is very artistic as well! She is thirteen, and she was seven when she came into our family. I was so happy to have a big sister! She has taught me how to be a servant. I really look up to her, and I hope that when I am her age and Grace is my age, I will do the same things to her that Yana did to me!         

50 years!

50 years!

My parents celebrated 50 years together earlier this month.

We were so grateful to be a part of the celebration.

And we are so incredibly grateful that they have loved each other for all of this time.

Honestly,

my dad adores my mom.

And she is completely devoted to him.

What a gift.

They wanted a family celebration.

So my sister, Angela, cooked a beautiful meal.

Here's a photo of my mom with all the grandchildren (minus oldest grandson, Cole, who is doing an internship in CO). 

And here's one with both of my parents.

Mom, Dad and kids.

And spouses.

It was such a wonderful time to celebrate such a wonderful couple

Happy 50 years Mom and Dad!

We love you!

little happenings...

There's always some little excitement occuring in the process of adopting a child.  Last night my friend, Meredith, told me about the possible MN shutdown (so sorry to all of you Minnesotans out there).  Since I used to live in MN and since David and I got married in MN it concerned me a bit in regards to our adoption paperwok.  So, I got on the phone this morning and found out that there should be no problem getting our marriage license (it's a county agency), and that I had until 12:00 tomorrow to get my child abuse clearance form to the agency in MN in order to guarantee it getting back to us before the shutdown.  So, I hurriedly filled out the form, and sent it off priority fedex.  I was so grateful that we found this out in time!  God is so very, very faithful!

In related news, we had our first homestudy visit yesterday.  The social worker was very kind and seems incredibly efficient.  We should be able to finish up the visits within a couple of weeks.

Also, there is a new person working in the office of the state where our daughter resides.  That is probably why we haven't heard anything yet.  Please, please, please pray that we would get good news soon!  We're so ready to be with our precious girl!

the first few days...

whirlwind

That's one word that I would use to describe the past two weeks.

We drove 3300 miles,

visited Minnesota,

and Texas,

stopped for the night in Nebraska

and Kansas,

and ate meals in more states than I can remember.

well-worth-the-effort

That's another word (technically four words) that I would use to describe the past two weeks.

We were able to visit my entire immediate family (minus one greatly-missed nephew),

celebrate a very special anniversary,

have some great family time,

and attend an incredible time of training.

wonderful

That's the final word that I would use to describe the past two weeks.

And for that word,

I'll let the photos from our first few days in MN do most of the talkin'.

We played games...

cooked...

ate...

(a lot!)

read...

smiled...

watched the bunnies...

and enjoyed my mom's incredible garden...

I think that sweet niece Selah's smile says it all...

 it was a wonderful time!

coming up next...

photos from the 50 year celebration

and our time in TX!

whew!

The new A1C was approved!  Thank you so much for all of your prayers...God is so very faithful!  I can't wait for an opportunity to write down all of the miracles that He has done for this little sweetheart, so far!

Anyone in Fort Worth?

We haven't gotten the "official" approval of David's A1C yet today, but we know that God is in control and that He is completely for us (and for little R.)!  He is good!

I wanted to check in and see if any of you live in the Dallas/Fort Worth area.  We're going to be there from late on June 19th until June 24th.  I'll be at TBRI training with Karyn Purvis during the day, but would love to meet up with anyone who lives around there during an evening.  I'll only have internet access until this Saturday morning, so I just wanted to throw this out there in case anyone happens to be available.

please, please, please pray (updated--twice)

Update #2:  David finally got a hold of someone at the agency and she said that she had to talk to the social worker one more time, but she was pretty sure that they would accept the new A1C.  Hooray!  Thanks so much for praying!  We'll know for sure in the morning.

Update:  David's A1C from today was 6.9.  Woohoo!  Thank you Jesus (we actually thought that the last one was wrong).  Please pray that the agency will accept this one!

We've run into a problem with the adoption process.  David has type 1 diabetes and his last A1C test was .2 above what the agency requires (it was 7.2, and they like it to be under 7.1--the two tests that he had prior to that were below 7.1).  They want us to wait 4 months and have the test done again (during which time we could not move forward at all in the process).  We are confident that the Lord would not want little R. to wait 4 extra months for a family!  David is going to have the test re-done today and then we'll talk to the agency.  Please, please, please pray.  Our God cares for this precious girl...our trust is completely in Him.

packing with boys...

We have been frantically quickly packing up all of our stuff for a two week trip to MN and TX.
Woohoo! Fun times.

I asked all of the kids to bring me 7 pairs of socks and 7 pairs of underwear
(I'm planning on washing clothes midway, just in case you were wondering : ) )

hmmm....
here's what one unamed boy brought to me.
You might notice that the sock on the right has a big hole.
But, what.is.that. on the left?!

yep...
it's a pig sock and a hospital sock.
Perfectly logical.
Just the kind of pair you need for a cross-country trip.

Next post...from MN.
Please keep praying for Ind*a to approve our paperwork.
We're hoping to hear something very soon!

a treasure

Friends, I want to tell you about one of the greatest treasures that I have on this earth.

Her name is Meredith,

and she is one of the most incredible persons that you would ever want to meet.

Really.

Not only that, 

she just happens to be

my very best girl friend in all the world.

I'm telling you,

I am so blessed.

Meredith and I have known each other for 19 years.

19 years.

That's longer than either of us have known our husbands.

We met in CA.

We worked together.

We prayed together.

We've laughed together.

And we've cried together.

I was there right after she got her first tatoo (?!)

And after my boyfriend totally jilted me,

she went with me to get a tatoo

(okay, I chickened out on that one, but she was there, none-the-less).

In the year 2000, Meredith came to visit me in CO.

Our little guys had such a fun time together

(could they be any cuter?!)

Then, a couple of years later, she and her husband moved to CO (joy! joy! joy!).

She had another little boy,

and well, you know, we had a few more kiddos.

And our sons are the best of best friends.

And now, Meredith and her husband, Mike, are adopting a little girl from India!!!

I'm telling you, I couldn't be any more excited!!!

I so wish that I could tell you more of the story,

but suffice it to say that I'm totally in love with their little girl and can't wait to get my arms around her.

They are over-the-top excited,

and I know that they'd be grateful for any encouragement that you could offer them on this journey.

So, if you could jump on over to their blog

I'd be so very grateful.

I can hardly wait to tell you more of the story!

You're gonna love it!

His favor

I don't have to prove that I am worthy of love.  I am beloved of God.  His favor rests on me.

Henri Nouwen

Jesus' response (in the desert) teaches us that the only way we can position ourselves to see our promises fulfilled is by refusing to define ourselves according to anything but what God has said about us.

Bill Johnson

Do you know, dear ones, that the favor of God rests upon you, just as it rests upon His Precious Son, Jesus?

Do you know that there is nothing that you can do to earn His favor?

You already have that.

You already have the favor of God!

He loves you, just as you are.

He delights in you.

Rest in Him today.  Rest, in faith, upon His great love.

He is for you.  He is never against you.

He can be trusted.

And He loves you...

yes, you

with a love unimagineable. 

David Crowder - Glory of it all

filling in the blanks...

Our agency has been so incredible.
We are adopting the little girl of our hearts, because they were willing to go out on a limb to make it happen.
And they haven't collected
one
single
penny
for all of the work that they've done so far.

The agency suggested that we wait for approval from India before we started any of our paperwork.
Because
you know,
paperwork
costs
money.

But, we just can't wait.
And honestly, who cares about the money when you're talking about the precious life of a child.

Sooo...
the paperwork has begun...
phone calls
emails
filling
in
blanks...
many
many
many
blanks

I'm a little worn
a little tired.
But honestly,
I'm loving every minute of it!
(okay, okay, most every minute of it)

Little
steps
closer
to our beautiful girl :)

keeping me in line...

Ugh.
Our little Rosie-dog has a fungus on her stomach.
Not nice.

Adam and I were examining Rosemary's stomach when I told Adam that we might need to take Rosie to a groomer to get her stomach shaved.

"Mom, it seems like we're spending a lot of money.  Doesn't it cost a lot of money to go to the groomer?  How are we going to adopt R- if we keep spending money?"

hmmm....
good thing someone's keeping me in line.

I guess that I'll be getting the clippers out.
But don't blame me if this is the outcome...


(disclaimer: this is NOT our dog :) )

Good thing Rosie's so willing to sacrifice her beautiful looks for the sake of another precious kiddo. :)

Paperwork in Ind*a !!

Our agency confirmed that our paperwork is in Ind*a!



The appropriate government agency will review the paperwork and decide if our family can proceed with the adoption of our little treasure.  Please pray for favor and a quick response from the Ind*an government.  Our God is completely able!!

proud of you...

Lily is my question girl.  Last night, she asked the question, "What accomplishment are you the most proud of?" 

Right away, Yana responded, "Learning English," and I was reminded that my daughter has still had more years of hearing/speaking Russian than she has of speaking English.

Remarkable.

It's truly remarkable.

And sometimes I forget how much our children have to go through to become a part of our families.

Yana, I am proud of you, too, sweetheart.

You have learned so very much.

You are amazing.