This is my life...a series of dreams come true on a daily basis. Join me as I run down my dream - maybe you will find your dream in the process.

Sunday, January 31, 2010

This is snow much fun!

We had our first true snowfall of 2010 this past Friday.  We had a little snow earlier in the month, but it was so scanty, we really didn't think it counted.

Miss Scarlett enjoyed every moment she could.  Her favorite past-time was to try and pelt her poor Mama with as many snowballs as she could scrape together. Not to be outdone, I must say I landed a fair number of hits myself.

Take that (splat)!  Not sure who won the battle, but a fun time was had by all.  We had fun making some memories, that's for sure!

Tuesday, January 26, 2010

Fingerprints... Check.

We can soon mark off one more "To Do" item from our adoption list - fingerprints.  We got our letter "inviting" us to come get our fingerprints renewed.  Once that little item is done next week, we can just sit back and wait for things to move.  It will all be out of our hands and in God's.

That being said, we'd appreciate your prayers for a speedy revised I-171H (the document from the U.S. approving our request to adopt a foreign child, the Letter of Intent (which states that the U.S. has sent our request to China to adopt Jackson), the Letter of Acceptance (China's letter basically saying they have received our Letter of Intent) , and Travel Approval.  Once we have the Travel Approval, things will move quickly.

Please join us in praying that everything moves smoothly.  God Bless!

Tuesday, January 12, 2010

Another Hurdle Crossed!

Last night our social worker came by to update our home study for Jackson's adoption. Leah got us up to date on everything that we needed to do, which is thankfully very little. We will need to update our I-171H and fingerprints. Then just wait on our Letter of Acceptance (LOA). Leah said that she was overnighting our documents to Grand Rapids so that they could send them on to China. Yay!

Today, I mailed off the letter requesting a biometric appointment (basically redoing our fingerprints) so that they'd still be good when we travel. Leah thinks a good timeline could be April or May! Of course, I am pulling for either one, but late May would mean Miss Scarlett wouldn't have to miss much school.

Tonight I worked on the letter to Immigration requesting that our I-171H be updated to include a special needs child between the ages of 0-3 years. And I did all this while helping Miss Scarlett with a scrapbook project of her own. I am becoming a pro at multi-tasking!

So, once this last letter gets mailed off, we just wait for a fingerprint appointment - then wait some more. But that is ok. I know it is all in God's hands. It's all good.

Monday, January 4, 2010

Thanks, Boo Boo!

So you may remember a few weeks ago that I was highly embarrassed by the mess in our spare bedroom.  If you don't then allow me the luxury of explaining:

It was a disaster.  A total mess.  Floor could not be seen.  There was a bed in there; however, you would not easily notice it.  It had become the catch-all room that we put our suitcases in, scrap booking stuff, toys that were no longer played with,  hand-me-down clothes too large yet for Miss Scarlett to wear.  You get the idea.

My beloved sister-in-law , Boo Boo, was in for the holidays.  She has a way of cutting right to the heart of things, and before you know it, you are cheerfully tossing things in the garbage that you had sworn the day before that you could never part with.  Maybe you have a person Boo Boo in your life.  Maybe you are a Boo Boo person.  All I can say is, Thank God for people like Boo Boo.  With her help and encouragement, we managed to slough through multiple layers of junk (yes, junk) in about an hour.  We found the floor!  We even found (gasp!) the bed!  Oh my heart!

Boo Boo set up a little staging area in the bottom of the closet for Jackson's things that we were slowly collecting.  She left me with strict orders that I needed to find homes for all the scrapping stuff before she comes back in February.  So now I have a goal and a deadline.  Which I apparently needed.

So thanks, Boo Boo!  I love you.  And you know who you are :>)


Sunday, January 3, 2010

Tale of Two Scarletts

My daughter and my great-niece - both named Scarlett.  They are the sweetest things sitting together.  We were able to get the girls together for a day at my mom's.  Little Scarlett instantly took to my girl and vice-versa.  Enjoy!