Abby and I prepared our Turkey the night before with a secret spice rub.
Abby and Troy were the turkey carvers.
L-R: Ray, Sandy, Kristin, Jim, Troy, Abby
The "Losers". We played many rounds of Mad Gab, Catchphrase and Mexican Train Dominoes.
The "Winners". We were too much for the guys to handle!
Delight yourself in the LORD and He will give you the desires of your heart. 
I received an email from a respected adoption agency today promoting the movie Bella. This is what they say:
The award-winning film BELLA has been a box office success in 30 major cities since its limited release on October 26. Because of its success, BELLA will be shown in 19 more major cities on November 9 and in at least 30 more cities on November 16. Winner of the Toronto Film Festival, this movie shows how love goes beyond romance with the lead actor sharing compassion for a woman dealing with an unplanned pregnancy.The message of adoption is portrayed in a positive and authentic manner, and the ending of the movie is one you will never forget. This film has the opportunity to make a major impact on our culture’s view of abortion and adoption.
This movie truly excites me and I pray it will have a major impact on our culture's view of abortion and adoption. I work with pregnant and parenting teen moms including at-risk families who are expecting. It breaks my heart to see the choices some families continue make and I can only think how thier lives would be positively different had they made an adoption plan!
Today marks the 11th month we have been waiting for our child(ren) from China. Please keep us in your prayers at this time. We are depressed and wonder when and how God is going to build our family. According to statistics, if the CCAA matches 15 days of log-in days each month as they are saying they are going to do, it will be another 2 years before we get a refferal. It is our prayer that each 1 represented in the number 11 equals a child. 
While visiting the mall and walking out of Bergner's, I heard this band playing "God Bless America". This band's uniform and colors reminded me of my band days at Bowie High School when I was a freshman, so I hung around and listened to them finish their song. They had such a grandiose finish that I shed a tear. What did I shed a tear too? This was their song to honor the veterans who have fought for our freedoms, but to also welcome the kickoff of Santa at the mall! Can you say twisted!
Call me a suckerfor infomercials, but I DISLIKE ( I am being very kind) cleaning our kitchen floor, until I saw the Shark Steam Mop on T. V. and here. Our linoleum floors are white and have dimples in it that harbor dirt. The polish has worn off in well worn spots and leaves these grungy brown spots. It takes LOTS of elbow grease to get the floors in tip top company condition and we have people over weekly for house church and other stuff. After doing some research, of course, I ordered my Shark to see how miraculous it really is. The lavender machine arrived yesterday and it has been put to WORK. I don't want to say it is everything I was expecting it to be, but it does its job. I am still not sure if I am going to keep it, but I will continue to test it for the next 60 days until it must be returned if I decide not to keep it. I think that our floor dimples have not be exfoliated in the proper manner in a long time that it will take a couple of cleanings until it is perfection. Update: The steam mop works! The floors look whiter and refreshed! It doesn't move as easy as the video demonstrates, but it beats the mop and chemicals! We have been using GREEN cleaning products for many years using Melaleuca Eco Sense products from our seminary days. They go a long way!
Jack was a manbug for Halloween this year, the male version of a ladybug. He was so incredibly CUTE in his costume and LOVED greeting all the kids at the door! This was a HUGE relief for us since he has not been keen of kids in the past, a concern we have had. Boys are slower to mature and this is also being shown in dogs! All the trick-or-treaters wanted to pet Jack and we even had one girl ask, "Was your dog a lobster last year?" We couldn't believe it...she remembered Jackson! Yes, Jack was a lobster last year...red is his favorite color!
October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month and we have a local campaign going on called "Real Men Wear Pink". I think this is an interesting campaign since it has brought forth more men talking about how they play a role and our affected by the effects of breast cancer! Jack has brought a new twist to this campaign to remind us that real men play with pink! He has helped the women in our family and those who walk through our doors each week!
Today marks 10 months since our dossier was logged into China and our wait officially began. I must say we are pretty bummed out at this time. Rumor Queen had a post on Wednesday regarding the future of the wait time and it was depressing. Of course she is not God and is looking only at previous numbers and other sources, but it downright STUNK! They are saying the wait can get to 34-36 months! The CCAA has "said" they will try to match at least 15 days of LID's each month starting in 2008, but that still puts us at another 2 years if we are lucky! We chose China for a number of reasons, but one of those was their speedier rate of referrals and integrity in the adoption process... PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE (I know we are desperate !!!) pray for this process to speed up, especially for the children in the orphanages! They ARE out there and need to be in their FOREVER FAMILIES NOW! Please pray for Troy and I, especially for patience and understanding during this time!
On a better note, the CCAA is done with referrals through November 2005! I read somewhere that it took 6 months to get through November! CRAZY! I feel for all those families! It did take them only 23 days to review the entire month of August 2006 LID's in the Review Room!
Clue #1 was attached to his golf shirt and it read: I get hot when you turn me on. After checking the stove, shower and water faucets, Troy found clue #2 at... By the way, look at Jack sitting and listening so patiently. He is so dang cute!
...the gas grill! Clue #2 read: Jack's favorite outdoor food.
Troy immediately knew the answer to this one! Jack loves to eat birdseed which is kept in our barn like shed. Clue #3 said: Are you in the zone?
Since Abby brought her T.V., we now have a "Man Zone" in the basement! This was an easy clue, but the next one really stumped him. Clue #4: A mouse poops from this.
... yes, the trunk of my Matrix. (We call the Matrix "Mousey" since it looks like a little white mouse that ZOOM, ZOOM, ZOOMS.) Troy got his 3 in 1 leaf blower that he has been wanting to add to his collection of tools "every man needs to have".
While eating our traditional Friday night Mexican food at one of our favorite spots (praise God for good Mexican food in Central Illinois!), Troy said, "I am going to bawl when we become parents!" This of course brought instant tears dripping into my enchilada verdes! I of course asked him "Why?" His response, "It is such an honor for God to select US to parent HIS children!" This brought more tears.
This chart is from Rumor Queens website and is a good reference to see how the wait has gotten longer over the years and the number of Log-In-Days (LID) matched has slowed down. I am not a huge fan of Rumor Queen considering her information is so disheartening at times, but she is a good resource to see when referrals might be coming available. Many families choose to post a link to her blog during referral time so you can see the children that have been given forever families.
Please keep the rest of us waiting families in your prayers. When Troy and I started the paperwork in March 2006, we were told the wait would be between 10-12 months after we got our LID. This whole journey has been a test of patience and learning to give up control. We were done with all of our paperwork in May 2006, but had to wait on our social worker to finish our homestudy (July) and the USCIS (immigration) to give us our fingerprinting appointment and process our 171-H. Most people are able to complete their dossier in 3-6 months, but it took us 8 due to waiting on other people! In the meantime, we have had a couple of moms consider us to adopt their babies only to decide to parent them instead. We know God's timing is perfect(even though we don't like it at times), but we are ready to parent and wonder how and when He is going to build our family!
... Jack Beckham! Jack is sporting a new haircut and soccer ball! Yes, it is pink and purple, but that is all the store had and we HAD to purchase one right away after his black and white soccer ball saw better days! Jack has a little more energy to play now that he is no longer a ball of fur!
It has been a while since I have posted the gifts we have received from our Winter Blossoms Secret Pal group! My computer has our pictures on it and it is running supper SLOW making it is a pain to post, but I decided to fire her up and play catch up today since I am stuck inside dealing with allergies.
