Anniversary's

Over the last 5 days, Brian and I have celebrated our 10 year wedding anniversary and today is our 8 month anniversary of being DTE. One anniversary was pleasant to celebrate and the other not so much. I'll let you guess which one is which. It amazes me that every time I go through a rough patch with the adoption, God never leaves me hanging. I was very bummed out when the wait times were extended again, but that rut only lasted a couple of days. Today I am feeling much better. There are so many people who God has brought into my path who have been through the process and are so kind and encouraging. I hope to one day be used by God in a similar way to encourage others. It would be so much easier if my faith would always stay strong, but I have my moments when I am weak. I love that through these trying times, as difficult as they seem, my faith grows stronger through each trial I face. Praise God for that. James 1:2-4 "Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything."

Our wedding anniversary was wonderful. The Baker's watched the kids so we could have a couple of nights to ourselves in Siesta Key. Thank you Lowell! Here are a few of the pictures we took.

Wait Times

AAARRRGGG!!!!! (roll of eyes)

Brian & Anna,

As your family is in the waiting stage of the adoption process, we are writing to inform you of a change to our predicted timeframes between dossier submission and referral.

The wait for a male referral is now predicted to be between 10 and 16 months. The wait for a female referral is now predicted to be between11 and 18 months. Wait times currently show a trend of increasing.

There are many factors that contribute to wait times. Each child’s case can vary in the amount of time it takes to be ready to be referred to a family. America World thoroughly investigates each case and it can take weeks, and at times months, to clear referrals with medical or documentation issues, or to obtain necessary governmental documents/clearances/etc. that are needed before he or she can be referred.

While we know this news is disappointing, we are encouraged to share that MOWCYA has increased the number of recommendation letters they write to 15 per day. We will continue to apprise your family of any other changes that occur, and we are praying for your family and all families in the various stages of the adoption process. Please feel free to let me know if you have any follow up-questions.

Blessings,

God Moments

I absolutely love God moments. Some might call them coincidences, but I know better. Lately, I have been having a hard time following Christ and keeping our communication open. I have been lacking on my daily devotions and quiet time with God, filling my day with much less important things. I don't understand why I do this, but there are times when I put up a wall. Of course, I should know better because every time I do this I end up with a rotten attitude, an anxious heart, and without God's peace (that's the biggest one). Of course I know God eagerly awaits for me to come back and welcomes me with open arms, but I am just so stubborn. Well, over the past week, I have really been trying to get my priorities straight and stop being so stubborn. I had a great girls night with one of my friends from our Bible study, enjoying a pedicure, makeup shopping and dinner at Chili's. We just began doing a summer study on Lisa Whelchel's book "Friendships for Grownups." I find it slightly ironic that this book touches on breaking down walls we create to protect ourselves. It was very nice making time for a friendship for me. I often brush "me time" under the rug, but truly enjoyed making me a priority for the night. By the way, thank you Brian for encouraging me to go out. Anyways, I am getting a bit side tracked. The two God moments are as follows: One- A week ago at church I spotted a couple I had not seen before, so I made my way over to them, introduced myself and invited them to our Adult Bible Fellowship Sunday morning (Brian was not there that Sunday). Last Sunday, I came into ABF and saw Brian talking with them. Well, it was really neat when I found out that they were adopting twins from Romania. I didn't learn this the previous week during the brief introduction. I felt like God set them there to have another couple we could relate to with our adoption journey. I felt like that was a huge encouragement in the midst of my emotionally draining journey (for the moment). And to think, if I ignored the Holy Spirit's nudge to introduce myself, I would have probably not met them. God moment number 2.... Since both of the kids are going to summer camp for a few hours each day this week, I decided to get a massage. While I was in the waiting room, I began reading the Power of a Praying Wife book. At the start of the massage, I started praying for Brian and later in the massage, Unchained Melody (our song) began playing as the background music. Like I said, some might call these coincidences, but I feel like both of these are God reminding me of His great presence. I just love my God and how patient and loving He is with me. I guess my great big stone walls I put up are no match for my Almighty God.... and I am glad about that :)

Happy Father's Day!

We had the nicest weekend for Fathers Day. We went to Sebring for J's triathlon and stayed at Brian's parents place. My dad drove up to spend the weekend with us and cheer J on. We celebrated the dad's, had great food, celebrated J placing 2nd in her age group, let daddy do lots of work :(, swam a bunch, played some golf or at least tried to, reached our 7 month anniversary of being DTE, and moved up a spot in line. Did you catch the last one? We moved up to number:

Come on referral!!!!! Although we are number two, the number one is only requesting to 18 months and we are requesting to 30 months. We could be next......

summer vacation

I have been slacking big time on updating my blog. Life has been crazy and there has been no news on the adoption. There have been slow downs, but such is life in the adoption front. The good news is that amidst the slowdowns, more families have been passing court the 1st time around, or so it seems. I have come to be content in all circumstances and have felt God's peace big time. My hope is that my relinquishment of control lasts. While I have been resting in peace, I have had a clearer mind to enjoy all the other wonderful things going on around me. J began summer vacation on May 26th and is now officially a 2nd grader (YIKES) and our little guy will go back for his 3rd and last year of preschool. I decided that since Brian was going camping with a group from the church, I would seize the opportunity to visit my family in Miami with the kids. We arrived on my dad's birthday and celebrated with some yummy bbq and ice cream cake. The rest of the time was filled with lots of pool swimming, a trip to the movie theater, an afternoon at one of those bounce house centers, lots of cuban food, and a trip to the science museum where the kids were asked to help feed these huge tortoises in their habitat (so cool). Other plans for the summer include a couple weeks of day camps, swim team four days a week, Vacation Bible Schools, play dates with friends, working in the garden, some more triathlons for Brian and J, birthday parties, and other fun stuff around town (zoo, beach, bounce house centers, park, free summer movies, etc) . Finally, I will close with great adoption news. Although there have been few referrals, many families have met their children, passed court, and cleared embassy (opening up space in the transition homes for more precious children. Isn't that fantastic? Well, even more fantastic is that one of the families who was just in Ethiopia mentioned that they saw 5 children who are new to the transition home being sent in one of the vans, probably to have their medicals done. This usually happens 3 weeks before they are referred to a family. The person said they believed 2 were infants and 3 were toddlers. Here's to hoping for more referrals in the near future, more families to pass court and more families to be cleared with embassy to bring their children home.

Brian's triathlon

Congratulations Brian on a new PR! You did awesome and looked great too!

Triathlons

Wow, I have been putting this off for so long, but finally got around to uploading my pictures since Christmas last year. Yikes. Some of my favorites were of J's 1st triathlon. She was such a trooper and we are so proud of her. She went into the race with possibly the worst bike, but there were no complaints from her. We explained that we would be happy to get her a new bike, but she would have to prove herself first. The old bike was too small, but nicer bikes can be pricey and we wanted to be sure she would take things seriously first. She was so excited race morning and was sizing up all her competitors. She also was completely wired. My favorite was when she had me feel how fast her heart was beating. I told her that was adrenalin and that was good. Anyways, she did great on her swim, but I wouldn't know that since I completely missed it. uhhhh. I am still wondering how I did that. Brian was with her and somehow her group of followers all got separated. Well they all found each other and saw her awesome performance, but I who went ahead to get an awesome spot in the front row of spectators, completely missed it. I saw her in line one minute and the next minute saw 5 people left in line, none of them J. I almost burst into tears I was so upset. When I realized I missed her in the water, I went to transition to find someone else from the group and there they all were. When she passed by on her bike, the poor girl was moving so slowly. Apparently, her chain had come off twice and both times she had to wait by the side of the road for one of the police officers to help her get it back on. The chain had become loose when we cleaned it and came off anytime she sped up. oops. To be honest I thought she was going to throw a small fit or burst into tears, but she finished it and shrugged it off. Brian and I knew she had most certainly earned that new bike. After all, she handled it way better than her father or I would have. Maybe we have a thing or two to learn from her. Finally, her run was lightning fast since she had lots of time to rest on the bike. Go J!!!!! Enjoy the pics. Thank you uncle Lowell for flying in to see her and to her 1st grade teacher for waking up early on your day off to cheer her on. WOW!