count your blessings, count them 1 by 1

Oh the unspeakable joy of opening up emails to new pictures of our daughter.

Rosalyn, we just love your smile, your sunny outlook, your servant's heart.

How we thank God you will be coming home to us soon.

We are still awaiting our Letter of Acceptance.

STILL

We were supposed to get a faxed copy from Ch#na last week, still not here today!!

OK, I know, all in His timing, and it will all work out the way it is supposed to, when it is supposed to.

It is reassuring to hear it was being faxed-

we are preparing the remainder of our paperwork, so when we have our LOA, it is

off to the races with the final count-down to TA-travel approval.

We are one of 4 families whose paperwork is being "pushed" at our agency, due to 14th birthdays coming up-I feel confident, we are in good hands. We have time.

It's just SOOOO hard to sit back and watch the days tick off, and the ceaseless wondering, checking the computer for any emails, watching the caller ID for our agency's number.

But, oh, how sweet it will be, when finally we get on that plane, headed West.

All in His timing!!!

Blessings and Love

Chris

ps-

the picture is from Lori B, Rosalyn's foster mom-giving us a glimpse into our daughter's daily routine, before it becomes OUR daily routine!

Singing as she hangs out the laundry

and or course, all smiles

PPS

we got updated info on Lili-that post will be coming soon-with new pictures of

our little princess

It's the Little Things in Adoption Life

Oh the simple joys of life.

oh, the simple joys of this adoption journey.

Oh, the blessed joys of hearing our daughter say

"Hi Mommy" and "Hi Daddy"

Be still my heart!!!

Our sweet Rosalyn, what a precious gem God is giving us in you.

We were able to skype with Rosalyn at her foster home tonight. What a thrill we had when her big "sis" emailed asking if we wanted to do that, and what a panic set in when we chose a time only a few hours away, on top of an action-packed day in which we had NO time to sit down and come up with some questions or really gather our thoughts on what we wanted to say-

but, the sweet joy of seeing our daughter's face, and hearing her lovely voice-I wish I had a good video of it, but we will work harder on that end of it next time.

Tonight, we sufficed to bring all the kiddos into the camera, and Nick even showed her one of our kitties.

Rosalyn apparently likes cats and dogs, so next time, we will introduce her to our boxer pal, Sadie. Daddy thought maybe we should show her a chicken, but I think she may see enough of those where she is at!! LOL

Kendell talked with her for a few minutes and asked a few questions so I could get some pictures.

W

We found out she likes the color blue-so does Kendell.

The only problem is, their room is Purple!!!

I think we may be doing some painting next spring!!

She likes to eat potatoes!

Good thing, we grow a lot of potatoes in the garden, and eat them in many different way, shapes and forms.

She likes her camera we sent her, and is using it a lot.

She is learning the names of her little brothers, but doesn't always remember Nick and Kendell.

We also got to visit with our dear friend, Lynnea's daughter. They were matched with Josie last week, and now await the official word from China that she is theirs. Shouldn't be long now.  Visit her blog above for some of the great pictures she received, and the awesome video they took the day they informed Josie that she was going to be a Hameloth.

We loved her smile, her joy, and her interest in all of us. These are for you Lynnea.

Love you!!

Josie was studying the screen so hard, and Hannah B and a couple of her little charges also made it into the picture. 2 precious little ones that she and her parent's joyfully and selflessly care for through their foster care program.

we need to do this skyping again-hopefully with a little better plan next time.

We loved our 1/2 hour chat, and  hope to do it again next week.

If that doesn't get you hungry for LOA, and TA, I don't know what does.

How bittersweet-yet how awesome we are able to do this.

Smiling ear to ear tonight-and praising a mighty God who orchestrated every little detail of this for us.

Praising Him!!!

Love

Chris

"In Process"

Don't you just love all the lingo with China adoptions?

Goodness, I don't think I will ever have it all figured out-

BUT, I do know our paperwork has been moved to a new status-that of

IN PROCESS-meaning we are in examination mode now, waiting for some very kind, smart, wonderful reviewer of adoption papers in Ch!na to APPROVE us for our 2 girls!!

Our Caseworker says things will go fast from here

I am praying so!

Some blog friends have been waiting over 100 days for their LOA's!

Some have received them in 38-40 days:)

Guess which I am hoping for?

We are going to get a care package together for Lilianna, and we have asked for an update from her orphanage. I so can't wait to see a new picture of her, and find out how she is doing-we feel like we don't even really have a clue about her, but trusting God to knit our hearts together before we even get there.

I am sorry for the lack of photos lately-my laptop has been in surgery-now it is awaiting me to retrieve it-so, we will upload a few pictures of Rosalyn

I haven't gotten any new pics of sweet Rose lately, but we will just keep digging through our collection we have gotten over the last few months-I think maybe one of her very early pics? We will see what I find!

Hopefully soon I will be able to do a big post on our end of summer activities, and you can see how much my 2 little boys are growing up and changing, right before our eyes!

Until then, May God Bless You ALL!

In Him

Chris

 

            Oh my sweet girl, we have missed out on so much of your life, 

but we sure hope to enjoy sharing our life with you very soon!

May God keep you safe until we bring you home--sigh!

                 

                                love all the smiles at their little table! Can you say HAPPY?

Some fun during a family singing! I can just hear the giggles and laughs going on, can't you?

Until next time....and I found a f ew more pictues in my "archives" I hadn't seen for awhile, so now I have something else to use if my laptop doesn't come home soon  :)

LID LID LID LID :) :) :) :)

Doin the HAPPY DANCE right now!

Heard from our caseworker, our paperwork was officially Logged Into the Ch*na system on 8/23/11. We are now OFFICIAL, and are waiting for our Letter Of Acceptance, the really official paperwork we need that approves us to adopt our girls!

HOORRAY!!!

Praise the Lord!

Blessings!!

Chris

Some Pictures of our Girl

While we settle in for more waiting, I thought I should put some new pictures on the blog.

It's not that I don't think of blogging all the time, but boy, time has certainly been at a premium for me this summer.

2 little boys in therapy 1 day a week, a new living room floor, gardening/canning/freezing, yard work, house work, school preparations, medical issues, paperwork, and then you add in the regular duties of momma, laundry, cooking, cleaning, walking, Bible and prayer-WHEW!!!

We have been so blessed throughout this adoption with many pictures of Rosalyn-I thought I would share some today-We just love her sweet smile, and just can't wait to have her here with us.

 Rosalyn is part of a foster care system hosted by a wonderful family. She is pictured with some of the other children in the foster home-and her foster mom says she is a delight, and a real helper with the little ones, many of whom have some serious issues requiring lots of care.

 Rosalyn and her foster sister Josie. Josie will hopefully be soon matched with Lynnea and Steve Hamaloth of PA. Lynnea is the one responsible for bringing Rose into our lives, and we love that our 2 girls are so close now, and will be able to maintain a relationship once they are both home in the US. Lynnea's blog is here. She writes frequently, much more than I do, so if you want to really know what is going on in our life, check her blog :)

 I love this picture of the 2 girls, having fun, enjoying each other, and loving life.

 The most recent pictures we got, just last week, of the 2 girls loving on each other.

The most recent picture, sent from Rose's foster mom just this week, of Rosalyn and little baby Ellie.

 An older picture of Rose, from earlier this year, sent by another mom who has met her, and wanted to share in our joy of bringing her into our family!!

I certainly can't wait to see that beautiful smile in person, and to give her lots of hugs, and I am sure the parting with her foster family will be painful-I hurt for that pain she will be feeling.

I also hope I stay really busy throughout the fall, as it has really helped the wait time go by quickly-yes, it is still painful waiting, but is does go by when there is much to do!!!

and there will be a July post with all our family happenings, once my laptop is repaired, and we can get at all our pictures again!!!

so stay tuned, hopefully it won't be long!

Blessings