DTC!!!

                                    D=Dossier

                                    T=To

                                    C=China

This means all thirteen of the precious papers that we collected such as,  birth and marriage certificates, doctors/health reports, police clearances, immigration approval, our lovely home study along with family photos and reference letters have all been authenticated by the Chinese Consulate and are on there way to CHINA!!

Now we wait for LID (Log in Date) into the waiting line to have our petition approved to adopt two sweet little boys!

Another step closer!

Thankful

This time of year I like to look back over the past year and think on God's blessings for the year.  

Give thanks to the Lord for He is good; His love endures forever.

Psalm 118:1

This year has been a hard year, but it has been an absolute wonderful year!  Through the hard times I have been able to experience a peace from my Savior, Jesus Christ that I would of never experienced had it not been for the hard times.  I had a peace that passes all understanding.  A peace when life does not seem peaceful.  I am so thankful for that unexplainable peace.

Next week it will be a year since we boarded a plane headed for China to adopt Abby.  God had pricked my heart for years to adopt and I had answered, no.  As I have watched the events of the past year, I am amazed to watch God's plan unfold before my eyes.

How sorry I am that I was so slow to listen to God.  God patiently waited for me to answer "yes, Lord".  

We were so excited to bring Abby home last December and were adjusting to our new normal.  Then on February 23 of this year as we traveled to the mountains Abby began to go in and out of consciousness and our new normal stopped abruptly.  We called 911 on the side of the road.  We were taken to a wonderful pediatric ER at a wonderful hospital.  The doctor's began running many tests, by the end of the day God had revealed to the doctors that Abby's brain stem and spinal cord were severely compressed.  This was the beginning of a 6 week hospital/rehab stay which included a very risky surgery and a slow and very difficult recovery process. 

Those are six weeks that I hope I never forget.  Not because of the pain I watched our daughter endure, not because of the sleepless nights, not because of the stress it put on our entire family.  I hope I never forget because of the absolute peace that God provided.  I hope I never forget because of  the love I felt from God and from others.

As I look back at the events of the last year and see God's plan I am humbled.  You see, as I said before, I had answered God with a no each time He nudged me to consider adopting, it took me many years before I said yes.  We have been told from multiple doctors that Abby should have died when she was only a couple of years old, there is no way she should of been able to survive with the extreme compression on her brain stem.  

But God had other plans!!  

He preserved Abby's live!  He waited on me to say yes.  He waited until we were together (I can't imagine how I would of reacted had I been alone with Abby without H.O.) headed to the mountains for her to pass in and out of consciousness.  He placed us by the hospital where one of the country's best surgeons specializing in the surgery Abby needed worked.  People come from all over the country to see this surgeon.  God placed us 20 minutes from this hospital on this exact day!  Amazing!!  Looking back I can see how God orchestrated each step and the days when I couldn't take the step He carried me.  What love!

I remember one day after a team meeting, where I  met with Abby's doctors and therapists and they had told me we would probably spend 4-6 more weeks in in-patient rehab.  I went back to the room and had a major cry and poured my heart out to God and told Him how I couldn't do it.  I kept thinking of all the other things in life, the other three children waiting at home, my husband, our house.  Well, looking back, we did spend 4 more weeks in rehab, and I didn't make it through on my own, I made it because God carried me through with an amazing peace.  In His amazing way He surrounded me in love, He provided two amazing christian nurses for Abby(one of which was Chinese), He provided food for our family at home through the love of my family and church family, He provided folks who provided companionship for my children at home.  HE was amazing!

God has blessed me with an amazing husband and children and He allowed our family to grow closer during this time.  I look back over the past year and am so absolutely humbled at the peace and love God has given to us!  It was a hard year but one of the best in my life, and I wouldn't want it any other way!

Thankful???  Beyond what words can express!  My heart is overflowing!  So... :) when God began to nudge our hearts to adopt again....I quickly, happily, excitedly said oh yes Lord!  I look forward to what God has for us in this coming year!

SOME DAYS....

They. are. best. buddies!

Other days, ummm, not so much.

But today...

 was a giggly, hand holding, full of fun day from start to finish!

And that warms this mommy's heart!

Immigration Approval!

Our immigration approval came in the mail yesterday!!

This states we may bring two boys from China into the U.S.!  This was the last document that we have been waiting on to complete our dossier.  Our agency says we should have our dossier sent to China in about three weeks.  Our dossier now has to go through the authentication process, it will make its way from the county level, to the state level, and onto the Chinese Consulate level!

Thank you Jesus, one more step done and one step closer to our boys!!!

Caleb Joseph

Seth Curtis

Wild Wonderful West Virginia

Our family was able to go on vacation to West Virginia a week ago.   The leaves were beautiful!

We stayed in the New River Gorge Bridge area, we saw the bridge from just about every angle!

The New River Gorge Bridge is the longest arch bridge in the 

Western Hemisphere.

In these pictures you can not see how amazingly high this bridge is, you could put the Washington Monument and two Statue of Liberty's all on top of each other under this bridge and still have 20 feet left.  Pretty tall!!

We took a gondola ride to the bottom and then got on a boat to ride up to the bridge.

We also enjoyed the Summersville Lake area, so beautiful.

I love the picture below, I'm sure H.O. is explaining something really important to the boys!

View of the river below the dam.

We spent a lot of time enjoying the river, climbing on rocks, and skipping rocks.  How great and beautiful is God's creation!!

We also went to see a coal mine exhibition "town".  It was set up as  a coal town would of been in the 1930's.  The buildings had been taken down from there original location, with each board numbered and reconstructed in this exhibition location.  We enjoyed our day here.

I often hear from folks how far our country has gotten away from God.  But, it was so evident at this exhibit.  I was amazed each bed or kitchen table had an open Bible on it.  In the school house "The Ten Commandments" were posted on the wall and a Bible was on the teachers desk.  Those are concepts I can't imagine in my lifetime, I've never seen a school room with the ten commandments or had a teacher that had a Bible on her desk.  How sad!

Carrie Anne playing the piano in the church.

I love the picture below because of Andrew's face in the background, trying to be silly.  Gotta love my Andrew!

We had a nice time enjoying God's creation in the fall.  It is hard to believe we were enjoying temperatures in the upper 70's and just 2 days later Hurricane Sandy came through and dumped a foot of snow in this same spot!