Our girls

Our girls are between the ages of 10 to 12yrs old. The oldest is deaf and mute since birth. Will and I were so excited when we got their file, what a blessing! We were so sure that Gracie would be our last child, only God knows what wonderful blessings He has in store for us. Not quite sure what a house with three teenage daughters will be like, I am sure it will be quite the adventure. Fortunately they have two brothers (for now, you never know!) to keep an eye on them.

I mentioned in another post that we were hosting a "Pig Pickin and Oyster Roast" and I wanted to fill you all in on how that went. Even though BJ (Will) and I had no idea what we were doing it turned out to be a huge success and all the credit goes to Mike (Uncle Mike to us,) my sister and her fiance Robert, my Dad and Deb. We raised $2,000 and everyone really enjoyed the evening. Thank you to everyone who helped, thank you Mike and Deb from dreaming that up and thank you to my family for driving up at the crack of dawn to make it all possible. We are truly blessed to receive so much love and support. For those of you who are into the Pig Pickin sort of thing; my sister is planning a fish fry for us on April 23rd in Charleston. So, all of our friends back home please help us get the word and come by so we can catch up (not to name any names; Jenny, Mindy and Jill.) I am currently in the middle of another big fundraising idea, I am waiting and praying, trying to make sure this was the Big Man's idea and not my own. My ideas never fare as well as His, crazy that way. So, please pray that He gives us wisdom and direction and that immigration is crazy fast!

Thank you for your comments, I loved hearing from you guys.

I am back!!

I know everyone (all 3 of you who follow my blog) have been on the edge of your seats waiting for this next blog, so I will not keep you waiting any longer, here it is. Sorry to have been silent lately, we have been dealing with a few things and God has been dealing with me on a few things. I have not written b/c I was not sure what to write but this week the fog seems to be lifting and I have a few things to share. We have had some great news on the adoption front and other news that was a little less then great. I will start with the unfortunate and get that out of the way; Ethiopia announced about a month ago that they would be reducing the number of international adoptions by up to 90%. That came as a huge shock to those of us pursuing Ethiopian adoptions; however, I have to say that God supplied the necessary grace b/c I was not in turmoil when I heard the news. BJ (Will) and I both felt at peace with where we stood in the process and that God was not shocked or worried by what the Ethiopian government was doing. I hunkered down quite a bit, stayed quiet and felt very called to fast and pray for these children who would be effected by this decision. It is heartbreaking to us as families who are waiting but we are just that "families," living in our nice homes, surrounded by people who love us. It is the true orphan, sitting in orphanages who will truly take the brunt of this decision. God gently reminded me that is not about me and any disappoint or worry that I may be feeling but it is about these children. So, we waited, prayed, fasted and tried to chill and then we got a wonderful phone call from our agency. They wanted us to continue on with our process as if this would not effect us, they are believing that Ethiopia will still place a priority on children like our girls who are special needs and difficult to place. The phone call came through to my spirit as clearly as if the words had come directly from God. So, that is exactly what we are doing, we are plugging away at our dossier as if nothing has changed, believing that nothing has for us. Our home study was completed and approved by our agency we got the paperwork for our dossier (the day before my birthday, great bday present!) And we have been working steadily since we got it last Monday and things are moving along very well. I mailed paperwork to immigration yesterday which will probably prove to be our most lengthy part of this stage so we are praying for a quick turn around there. Please pray with us regarding our immigration paperwork, we always pray God's hand would be upon the paperwork and the process and that we would find favor with all that help us in these agencies. We have to get more documents in order and notarized, one of them has to have the seal of the secretary of the state so we are churning out paperwork like it is our job. So, that is where we are at; waiting, praying, and believing that all is well. This is one verse I live by: Psalm 37: 4,5,7 "Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the Lord; trust also in Him and He will bring it to pass... Be still and rest in the Lord; wait for Him and patiently lean yourself upon Him; fret not yourself..." The next post will have some cool info in it so standby and please comment on what you think and feel about all of this. I would love to hear what you the three of you think!