Paperwork, Physicals & Fees, Oh My!

Monday we all had our Adoption physicals, well, after three of the four of us getting poked (two TB skin tests and two immunizations), all is well and the doctor said we were healthy and great to go in his book! Yeah! This week we have been in the paperwork madness. Thanks to our friends Alicia & Paul for providing witness signatures on our forms and for our Guardians for prayerfully agreeing to the task of loving our kids, just in case! Now to finish our written home studies, application, and get all the supporting documents copied and we should be ready to submit our homestudy packet! Please continue to pray for us as our schedule is crazy busy and it is taking focus to ensure all the i's are dotted and t's crossed properly. Also, pray for us as we are being frugal with our budget to pay as we go. We are hoping to have our homestudy fees...almost $3,000 by mid to late November, so we can schedule our homestudy visits! I have to brag on my husband! This weekend we went to visit family and had set a specific budget...usually I am the budget enforcer, but this weekend my husband took the lead! It was very tempting as we went to a great restaurant, but they wanted $16 an adult for a family style meal and that was the only option on the menu! Not adoption savings friendly that's for sure! Even though it was tempting and we were with family, so a bit embarrassing to pass on the meal and just visit, we knew we wouldn't eat $32 of food to justify the cost. Normally we would have just paid it and ate to save face, but we looked at each other, and my husband said, "we'll get the boys meals and drinks, thanks!" Well, they ate for less than $10 and it opened the door to share more with our family about our adoption, priorities, and why we want to pay as we go and trust God to provide. I left so proud of my husband and much more satisfied then if we had caved in and just ate the meal. It is great how God continues to reveal my spouse to me in a new light! Have a blessed week & weekend everyone, stay safe!

Why wouldn't I?

Friends...this song is beautiful and so perfectly explains why so many families are answering God's call to care for the orphan and widows through adoption. It is a command, a calling...in your life maybe you're not called to adopt, maybe you are called to sponsor a child, to visit a widow or widower, to volunteer in a local nursing home. Our prayer is that whatever God is prodding your heart to do, that you will pause and ask yourself....Why wouldn't I?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BfJIgpPtbBc

(close my blog or mute my music when watching the video)

Thank you to the songwriter & artist for sharing this touching song!

Also, thanks to K. Johnson...I was blessed by seeing this first on your blog!

"I want Annalee"

Tonight we went to Wal-Mart for a few groceries, the lines were long so I grabbed the new People's Magazine that I saw on my last trip, so I could read the brief article on the baby girl Katherine Heigl just adopted from Korea. She is just precious and it was a really great article on adoption and the heritage adoption played in her family! Pics at: http://www.jasonheiglfoundation.org/news.html So, as I am reading the article, Isaiah, my almost three year old said, "I want to see the baby!" I said, "See Isaiah this baby's name is Naleigh, but your little sister Annalee is going to be cute just like her!" Okay, so I guess my mom brain did not kick in fast enough to realize that kids at two/three do not understand that a baby looks like what their baby will look like, so when I went to put the magazine down, he said, "I want Annalee, I want my sister!" By then the little lady behind us was quite amused and looking at us funny, so I had to explain we had just started the process of adopting a baby girl from Korea we will name Annalee. She continued to smile as I took Isaiah out of the cart and headed for the door, while Nate paid for the groceries! All the while Isaiah is chanting, "I want Annalee, I want my sister!" I am so glad the boys are excited about their little sister coming, although we have to keep reminding them it probably will not be until their next birthdays roll around! I think we all will have to learn to practice patience. Of course I also had to come home and find the magazine article on-line so Isaiah could look at the pictures again before bedtime...so sweet!