Remember...

Remember the Vets and the soldiers fighting for our freedom and protection this Memorial Day! Thank you all for serving!

One Consulate Down...One More to Go!

And they are off! My birth certificate and our Marriage Certificate went to the Chinese Consulate in Houston to get their final stamp in the paperchase process! We are still waiting on our homestudy report to be done so we can send the rest of the paperwork to the Chinese Consulate in Chicago!

Thank you all who have contributed to our adoption fund. Every penny counts. $20 pays for the cost of one piece of paper to be authenticicated by the Chinese Consulate and $30 pays for each round of Express Mail we must use each time paperwork is mailed. Soon, we will give you a break down of the expenses associated with an international adoption since so many of you have asked!

Jacks New Tricks

Jack created this hole in the screen door while we were at Travis and Rebecca's wedding in Alaska. He wasn't used to having both the glass door and screened door to open to go outside. He was a little anxious and busted a hole. We of course had to clean it up a little bit and cut the torn edges.

We caught him in the act! We can't complain...it saves us from opening and shutting the door. We like this type of efficiency and independence!

Isn't that just the cutest face? No wonder he is fat and spoiled!

This is the first rose bloom of the season. We can't wait to see them at their peak.

Worship with Sonic Flood

Troy and I saw Sonic Flood Friday night and had a great time not just at a concert, but a worship experience. Being the busy weekend it was with graduation parties, the concert was not well attended, but it was an awesome, personal experience! In fact, Troy and I saw Sonic Flood as our first date in the Spring of 2000 and now we got to experience them again 6 years later and about to celebrate our 5th wedding anniversary! The concert was another reminder/ validation that God has intended Troy and I to adopt as part of his plan for us. Throughout this adoption journey, we have done a lot of reading on starting an adoption/orphan ministry in Decatur. The Bible verse that is constantly brought up regarding adoption is from James 1:27 "Pure and faultless religion is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress." The first 10 minutes of the Sonic Flood concert, the lead singer put this Bible verse on the screen. Tears came to my eyes. The band was promoting sponsoring a child from Compassion International, an organization Troy and I have been a part of for 6 years now. We came into our marriage each with a child...Jessica from Peru and Benjamin from Mexico. We recently lost Benjamin due to the fact he moved out of the village Compassion worked in. Our money that goes to Compassion each month has been more then worth it. Besides receiving pictures, letters, artwork and report cards, each child is learning about Jesus and his love for them! We know that by adopting a child(ren) from China, we will get to teach them about Jesus, something they may never get to experience living in an orphanage or foster home. Check out the website for Sonic Flood at www.sonicflood.com and watch their new video "Everlasting". You will see they are teaching about Jesus in countries that may never know Him! As the book Fields of the Fatherless by C. Thomas Davis says, " In this world you are an orphan...eagerly anticipating your adoption as God's child. In this world you are a widow...longing for reunion with your bridegroom. In this world you are a stranger...a pilgrim waiting to become a citizen of heaven. This book brings you back to what Christianity is really about: Giving yourself to others. Being Christ to a hurting world and living for the one that comes next." All Christians are adopted!

Troy's 2nd Tri!

Standing in 62 degree water waiting for the start of the swim!
And they are off!
Out of the swim and heading towards his bike!
Coming in from his 13 mile bike ride (in pouring rain) getting ready to run 3 miles!
Comming in to the finish in pouring rain as you can see by the picture!

Way to go Troy! This was Troy's 2nd triathlon and he finished first in the Clydesale division and second in his age group!

On the adoption front, I received the certified copy of our MC and my BC in the mail today! They will be going off to the Chinese Consulate in Houston to be given their final seal of approval, probably later this week! One more step closer in getting this done! We continue to wait on our homestudy report to be completed and given the OK by DCFS.

Yes, This is Illinois!

I spent last Saturday visiting Starved Rock State Park with our fabulous friends David and Glenda! We met some of their old friends from Chicago for lunch at Starved Rock and then we enjoyed some time exploring God's beautiful creations! SRSP has wonderful trails and it is only 2 hours from Decatur! You feel like you are in another state!

It Is In!

Hooray! Troy's new passport arrived in the mail yesterday! He had to get his renewed, so this this one is good for a long time! At least it is one less step we will have to go through with our next adoption!

In the meantime, we are waiting for our documents to come in from the Texas Secretary of State. I made two binders last week to organize all of our paperwork. One has the originals and the other has the copies! I had everything in one binder and it was getting messy and confusing!

Check out the website www.bringmehope.org and watch the video (3, 4.5 or 7 min.- They are all the same)! They will bring tears to your eyes so get some Kleenex ready! The video on their camp is great too! It makes you want to go to China and bring all the kids back home with you!

Homestudy Report

Troy and I had our homestudy done on Monday May 1st and we feel pretty confident we passed. It reminded me of pre-marital counseling along with situational interview questions regarding parenting. We also had to do 2 different exercises with each other. The first had us writing down physical characteristics of each other for about 5 minutes and then we shared. I don't know what they were looking for, in this exercise, but she said we did good. The second one had use sharing 3 people and 3 events in our life that have impacted/influenced us. We had to share these too. Once again, I don't know what the adoption specialist was looking for, but she said we did good once again. I wish we knew more the purpose of the exercises. Part of me thinks she was looking to see how we interacted with each other and reacted to each others comments.

Now we have to wait for it to be written up, summitted to immigration and then to CCAI for approval. After that, we can send all of our documents off to be notarized, certified and authenticicated (I can never spell it or say it!!!) We have Troy's BC certified and I sent our MC and my BC to Texas today to be certified. Slowly but surely we will get our dossier summitted! We will be having a big party to celebrate!