What's up next...

Woohoo!

We got our letter from the National Visa Center today! We were told that it might be worthwhile to send an email to the NVC and request that the letter be emailed to us as soon as it was completed. Well, that's what we did and it worked wonderfully!

So, now our I-800 and NVC letter will be taken to the US consulate in China (the I-800 was mailed to our agency representative in China last week and the emailed copy of the NVC has made it's way, via email, to China today). We will wait approximately two weeks (praying for less!) for our article 5, and then the article 5 will go the CCCWA in China. The CCCWA will issue our travel approval in 2-4 weeks (although I just heard that TA's are being issued in just over a week!). And then approximately two weeks after that, we will finally get to see this sweet face, in person.

Oh my gracious! I can hardly wait!!!

(And for those who are wondering about the dates of our process to adopt from China, I added a timeline to my sidebar.)

Recover the Bible

Recover The Bible

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A Lifetime Leather Cover for Your Most Valuable Book

Available in:

Walnut – dark brown,

Natural – tan to golden bronze

Black

Pricing starts at $30.

For more information visit:

http://www.recoverthebible.com

or email:

brett@wisdomshouse

Our good friend, Brett, has started this tentmaking-sort of business, while lovingly and generously serving in our church and school. Brett can recover your Bible in a way that will help it to last for many, many years. Recovering a beloved and well-worn Bible would make a wonderful Christmas gift for your spouse, pastor, friends, in-laws, etc. Please check out Brett's site for more photos and to give you a better idea of the sort of work that he can do.

a theme...

What's the theme, you ask.

Well, basically that I've been a negligent mother. 

This poor guy (below) has been asking to have his haicut for about a month.

Four weeks!

geesh

He could barely see through his bangs!

So yesterday we took our day off and went to a salon.

Yep.

A really girly salon.

Because this mama needed a haircut just as badly as her sons.

And the boys were rockstars.

Totally patient for the full two hours.

Two hours, 'cuz we had our haircut by the junior coffiere who only charged $15! Woohoo!

I think that they look great!

And I'll give you one guess whose next...

Yep.

It's a theme all right.

i-ncredible, i-ndescribable (joy), i-deal

-800, baby

oh yah!

Dear Officer...

Dear Officer H-

We know that you're super-busy. We really do understand that you have lots to do. But, there is an amazing little boy on the other side of the world who doesn't have a mama or a daddy. This little boy is sweet and gentle and full of love. But, he needs a family to guide him, to protect him and to give him tons of hugs. He also probably needs a surgery or two to address some of his medical needs.

So please, Officer H-, even though you're really busy, would you please, please, pretty please send that I-800A and I-800 with your nice little approved stamp on it? A precious little boy, and his big ol' family would be ever-so-grateful!

Thanks so much!
Love,
us

a true princess

Psalm 72 has always held a special place in my heart. In this psalm, we read about The Righteous King, the One who rules heaven and earth, and we discover that this amazing King:

will deliver the needy who cry out,
    the afflicted who have no one to help.
He will take pity on the weak and the needy
    and save the needy from death.
He will rescue them from oppression and violence,    for precious is their blood in his sight. vv. 12-14

A few years back, the Lord gave me a very clear word, telling me that as His daughter, as a daughter of the King, I must look and act like Him. I must care as He cares and love as He loves...I must carry out works of mercy on His behalf.

Ever since that time, this story (below) has been very precious to me. Father Damien was a man who gave his life to care for the lepers of the Hawaiian islands. At minute 3:35 in this part of the story, the princess of the Hawaiian islands comes to Molokai (where Father Damien and the lepers live) to see what they might need. She is moved by what she sees there, because she loves these people. She does not shrink back, but gives herself to them willingly, with grace and kindness. She touches them and holds them and recognizes that she is a part of them, and they of her.


Here is a true princess. Oh Jesus, when I grow up, I want to be just like her.

He has overcome

My dad had a biopsy this past week. They found out that he has cancer in his lungs, but it is a very slow-growing sort of cancer. We were grateful for this news, as we were expecting something far worse. I am so glad that we will have more time with my dad on this earth.

************************

A precious, precious friend lost her mother today. My heart is breaking for this family. Would you pray for them? Five boys are grieving the death of their beloved grandmother. She was truly a woman of God and is most definitely in the presence of our Mighty King.

But for those she has left behind...

It is hard.

In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.

John 16:33

So grateful that our The Faithful One never leaves us or forsakes us. He truly has overcome this world.