Troy's First Time Stamping

Troy learns how stress relieving it is to place eyelets in a card!

He takes his time matting the completed card!

Troy proudly displays his completed works of art!

Way to go Troy!

Let the Limbs Be Gone!

Today was a very exciting day for our neighborhood. 55 days after the Nov.30/Dec.1 ice storm, trucks arrived in our area to pick up the tree limbs that scattered our sidewalks! It has been an eyesore and it makes walking the dog a challenge. (Actually, the limbs were a blessing for me. They blocked my car from going into the lake on Sunday as I was forced off the snowy road trying to miss a white truck driving in the middle of the road.) This has been the talk of town as to whom has their storm debris gone! We don't have any major trees in our yard, but our neighbors were not so lucky!

Stylin' Jack!

I found the "I poop, u scoop" t-shirt at Target last week and thought it was PERFECT for Jack! We also decided to put him in his "Sled Dog in Training" shirt from our trip to Alaska to prepare him for todays snow!

I Should Be at Church....

...but my car is in a ditch. We got 2-3 inches of snow last night and I left home early enough to give me time to safely drive to church. Well, a truck decided to drive in the middle of the road heading towards me as I was going downhill. I drifted slowly to the right to get out of his way only to land in a ditch and into a pile of sticks from last months ice storm. Luckily, I was not far from home and was able to walk home and call Troy at church. We are going to see what we can do when he comes home. I am upset this happened, but I am glad I was not hurt. My biggest fear was drifting off into the lake a few yards away! We will see what state my car is in once we get it out!

One Little Ladybug...

...Since today is the one month anniversary of our LID. This means we are one month closer to our kid(s)! We remain optimistic that China will speed up their referrals despite what everyone else thinks. God is in control and miracles can happen!

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas to all our family and friends who we are not able to be with on this day! Lots of love and Jackson kisses...Troy, Amy and Jack

The Surprise Gift in the Mail

We got formula in the mail today! Not just one can, but two!!! What does this mean? Is this a sign we are getting 2 babies? I am going to hang on to them just in case, especially since they don't expire until 5/08. Hopefully we will have our kid(s) by then.

We Have Our LID!

YES! This is the day we have been waiting for since we began the process back in March. Our official LID (Log-In Day), our "place in line" is 12/11/06! Time to celebrate and shop! We thought we might decorate the "kids bathroom" in a rubber ducky theme. The walls are already bright yellow and Troy has always wanted this. It is also gender neutral since we do not know if we will be getting a boy or girl since we are open to either, AND TWINS!

6 Years Ago Today...

Troy and I got engaged at the Bethany Senior High Christmas Party! The host presented Troy and I each with a gift and I was to open mine first. Follow below to see it all unfold!

I am opening my gift only to find...

That it is an angel Christmas ornament with the ring tied to the dress!

Troy is trying to untie the ring from the dress.

And he gets down to ask the question...

With tears and all in front of 30+ youth...

I said YES!

Adoption Advice for Waiting Parents

Praise God for Eric and Mitzie Tibbets! Troy and I received the first copy of Shaohannah's Hope Today. This is a newsletter put out by Shaohannah's Hope, an adoption ministry founded by Steven Curtis Chapman to "mobilize the body of Christ to care for orphans". The following article by Eric and Mitzie was just what we needed to be reminded of during our wait for our child(ren).

Eric and Mitzie Tibbets- Parents to Bethany, Judson and Aleena (adopted from Russia 2005); waiting on Josiah from Guatemala

During your adoption journey you are likely to become child-focused instead of God-focused. You might even think more about the creation instead of the Creator. Let me challenge you that if you are longing more for the child instead of the Savior, you may want to pause and take inventory of your relationship with God. After many years of infertility and empty arms, it is easy to be impatient for the blessings of a child. I’d like to share a few truths we learned as we journeyed with God:
* You aren’t waiting on man, you are waiting on God.
* God isn’t going to send you where He is absent.
* God is not bound by geography, timelines, politics or finances.
* God hasn’t asked you to walk this path alone. Not only will He remain with you each step of the way, He has prepared many warriors to go into battle with you. You’ll be amazed at who He uses to meet your needs.
* Don’t put serving the King on hold. Waiting doesn’t equate to idleness. Invest in the wait, don’t waste it.
* God’s gifts to us are never late; they are always on time and far beyond what we could ever imagine.

Adoption is about stewardship. Your child and everything you possess belongs to God. During the wait, surrender it all to God, for His glory.

Storm Update Pt. 2

In this mornings paper, 18,000 residents are still WITHOUT power! Troy and I feel so blessed to have had power and only minor issues! So many of our friends have lost trees, have structural damage to their house, etc. It looks like a tornado ripped through the city, but only in winter. It was 38 yesterday and the ice melted from trees and power lines which has been good. We got another inch on snow last night and the high today is to be 20 degrees! It is to be in the 40's this weekend which is perfect weather to help clean up all this mess! We take so much for granted (power, heat, technology) etc. that this storm has made us reevaluate how we live and our priorities.

Winter Storm Update

Blogger is now working...so here are some pictures I was wanting to post earlier.

We are grateful to still have power, but 40% of Decatur still is without! After driving around town, it looks like a Siberian war zone. Trees and limbs are down everywhere...streets are blocked...power lines remain down in some places. It is sad, yet beautiful in its own way. We only have about a 1/4 inch of ice on our plants/trees, put the north side of Decatur has 1/2 to one inch of ice. It is crazy!

Happy Birthday Jack!

Jack celebrated his 3rd Birthday today and woke up to snow!!! He absolutely LOVES playing in the snow and demanded to be outside three times in the first hour he was up! I took him on a walk to access the trees and limbs down in the neighborhood and he had a great time bouncing in the snow! Troy still wishes Jack was 2, but says Jack is now 2+1! Next year Jack will be 2+2! Troy has a thing for the number 2! I will post pictures once I figure out this new blogger!

Operation Kirby, Whirlpool and Fans!

Just when I thought all was well with surving the ice/snow storm that has hit the midwest, I go to our basement. There I find a 6x6 soaking wet area of carpet near my crafting area! I call Troy downstairs and he ran to the sump pump only to find it not working!!! Last night we lost power for an hour and a half. No worry since we have a battery back up to our sump pump. Well...we were hit by lightning about 2 months ago and it damaged the surge protector and we never reset the back-up battery. Big lesson learned! Luckily the sump pump is now back in business. Since then, we have been busy doing some grape stomping using ALL the towels in the house and drying towels in between using the Kirby vacume cleaner which can suction up water. We also have a fan going at the same time.

Winter IS Here!

I am using a new version of blogger, so bear with me. I want to add pictures, but it is acting up.

It rained and sleeted on Thursday and we had a thick cover of ice over everything! Then came the snow early Friday morning! Here in Decatur we go 4" and it is beautiful! Troy and I are fortunate to have only lost power for an hour and a half. 50% of Decatur is still without power going on 24 hours now, due to the ice and falling tree limbs. Jack and I took a walk around the neighborhood and accessed the damage! Trees and limbs are down everywhere! School was canceled today and most businesses were closed. People were advised to stay in. All we heard were chain saws and snow blowers busy at work.

Remembering...Joey

Yesterday was the 2nd anniversary of Jolee, better known as Joey, crossing over the Rainbow Bridge. She was such a special dog who passed away too soon at the age of 5 due to a back injury. Joey was such an incredibly smart dog, a cross between a toy and minature poodle. She amazed us with her intelligence, her love of people, especially children. She got to go to school with me for 2 years while I taught in Wimberley and became the school mascot in a way. She played soccer in the elementary P.E. classes with the kids, was a "drug" dog in the high school (she stiffed out marijuana and cigarettes in two of my students packbacks), and loved to sit and look out windows. Joey made friends wherever we went or lived. She was known as the "little dog in the window" in our neighborhood of Dogtown in St. Louis. We miss you Joey and can't wait to see you on the other side!

Happy Thanksgiving!

We wish all our family and friends safe travels and a day to reflect on God's gifts to us this past year! We are so grateful and thankful for all of you in our lives, our health, our Dossier being complete and in the hands of Chinese government, and most importantly, our relationship with our Savior, Jesus! Without him, nothing is possible!

Our Dossier Arrived!

We got word last week that our Dossier was delivered to the CCAA on the 15th of November! This is great news! Now we are waiting for a speeding LID. This is our place in line! We are so grateful the paperwork is done and our wait begins!

We Are DTC!!!

Our dossier is on its way to China! Check out the email we got:

CONGRATULATIONS, Troy & Amy,

Here’s the news you’ve long been waiting for—your dossier was sent to China late Friday afternoon (11/10/2006)!

Here’s what to expect for the next month:

The CCAA will receive your dossier in approximately 3-5 days. Our China Department will contact you by email once your dossier has been received by our representatives in China and hand-delivered to the CCAA.

The CCAA usually logs in dossiers within 4 weeks of their receipt. This Log-In Date is called your LID, the date that you may “count down” to your referral. As the CCAA is the ultimate authority in logging in your dossier, we are unable to estimate your LID. The CCAA should notify us of your LID within the next 8 weeks. We will e-mail you as soon as we have confirmation of your LID and will then give you instructions on how to download your LID Packet. Your LID will also be posted on your personal online Parent Access Network (PAN) page of the CCAI website, www.chinesechildren.org, the instant we are notified of it.

Again, congratulations! If you have any questions about this e-mail, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Congrats on hitting this milestone!

And It Is In...

I got a call today at work from CCAI! Our Dossier is in translation! This means it has passed critical review and should take 2-7 days to be translated! WHHOOO HOOOO! For some odd reason, I have this feeling the CCAA will be speeding up its matching process. I don't have any research to back my "feeling" up, it is just one of those intuition things, maybe.

By the way, did you vote? I did! Our polling place was at "The Zoo" which is perfect for our elections in Illinois!