LOA!!! And Other News...

CAN I GET A WHAT! It has been an INSANE last couple of weeks! Most of it having to do with planning our big Ice Cream social. (Which I'll get more to later.) BUT First-in the mist of all the craziness we got LOA!!!! LOA or letter of approval is a BIG step for those who are adopting internationally. It is the LOOOONGEST step to wait for. No one knows just why or how, but this wait has been anywhere from 12 to 100+ days! We were somewhere in the middle but more towards the short side of average. They say usually you travel about 8 to 10 weeks after LOA but there are so many variables coming up in China that there's just no knowing. There's a Dragon holiday coming up this month and also they are re-doing their computer files so that may take a week or more. :( Soooo we wait and see when the next move happens!
In other news Our Ice cream social was this last Friday! And let me just tell you-I have AMAZING friends and family that came out. I don't know if you all honestly know what it meant to see your faces! It wasn't just  to give money, but to stand behind us, and pray for us, and show us that we are not alone in this journey! I just can't say thank you enough to ALL of you!!! I hope to be posting some pictures soon! :)
In more news, my hubby and I had our 9 year anniversary this year!!! WOOO HOOO!!!! To which he spoiled me rotten! A Dunkin run for breakfast before I got out of bed (which I found out after the fact he was working in town so he didn't even HAVE to get up that early) and Sweet Frogs date later that night! I tell you all, if you hate mushy stuff turn away now! Because this man is amazing! He really is sweet and kind and involved and just...amazing. I'd go on and on but he really gets red in the face when I do! HA!!! I LOVE YOU!
Also this last Friday was my little man's 2nd birthday! AHHH someone please tell me when that happened?!?!?! I love this kid. He knows how to make me want to scream and laugh, cuddle and fight, sing and throw balls!!! He is 100% rough and tumble and 100% charm! I LOVE HIM!
ANNNND this coming week is my sweet girl Emma's birthday! 7 years olds...sigh...She is my competitive,  hard working, SUPER helpful, little mommy who wants a cell phone car keys and lip stick YESTERDAY! I have a feeling I will be telling this one to slooow down most of her life! HA!
Well, I've caught you up for now...stay tuned as I try to catch up as the week goes on! :)

Love you all!!!!

Thank you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sorry all for being late in posting this. My brain is really everywhere these days. But I wanted to give a BIG BIG THANK YOU to all who came out to show their support and love for us at Chick Fil A!!!! We raised $230!!!! Seeing your faces and your excitement was SUCH a huge hug on our hearts! If I didn't get a chance to thank you in person, sorry it was CRAZY!!! The lady who was hosting our Spirit night said it was so busy she had to jump behind the counter to help out with the EXTRA customers  So really and truly THANK YOU!!!

If you haven't heard yet, our ice cream social will be a SWEET FROGS Ice Cream social!!!!! Sweet Frogs, for all you who don't know is a local frozen yogurt joint where you can fill yoru cup to the BRIM with TOPPINGS!!!! AHHHH!!!! My hubby laughs because I really am like a little kid when it comes to toppings on ice cream...there will be NO fruit on my ice cream you can be sure of that!!!! Any-hoo. Sweet Frogs is an AWESOME fit for us too because it just so happens that FROGS stand for Fully Rely On Christ!!!! My sister and I got to meet the manager and he was WONDERFUL! Turns out his sister in law has adopted and hosts orphans in the summer time and hopes to adopt again. And he himself plans on adopting in the future!!! How awesome is that!!!! He was MORE than willing to help us out with WHATEVER we need!!!! We will be having so yummy Sweet Frog toppings at this girls Ice Cream Social,. Can I get a WHAT WHAT!!!!!

                                                                         
Another one of our AWESOME AWESOME Gold sponsors for our Ice Cream Social is Family Chiropractic Center for Wellness! Dr. Brian Dahmer and his family are very close family friends of ours and we THANK THEM from the very bottom of our hearts for their love and support of our adoption. 

Another sponsor for us is Stitch to My Lue Promotions! Thank you SOOO much!!!

We are also starting to get in some AWESOME baskets and gift cards for our Chinese auction and I can't wait to share them with all of you!!!! 

We have received some goodies from:

Gator Nutrition
Origami Owl Consultant
Erin Brandenburg Ghiradelli Chocolate
Joe Brown
Cheryl Daniels 

I know there a few more my sister hasn't given me all the information on yet, those will be added as SOON as I hear!!! Thank you all SO SO much!!!!!

Love you all!!!!! Please keep our Fundraiser in your prayers as two very not so much planners try to pull this together!!! Thanking the LORD for my sister and sweet friend Marie for your HELP!!! With out you...welll you don't want to know! XOXOXOXOX

Head Held High-Putting It All Out There

         I have said before that in these last few years I have come to LOVE running. I never thought that I would, but I really do love it. Pushing myself, believing in myself, being...eh um...ALONE for a few minutes! But these last few months finding time or energy to run has been few and far between. This morning I made myself get out there. While I was running, about a 1/2 mile in, I noticed I was running with my head down. Now if you know a few things about running, you know running with your head down is not good for you and doesn't really help you go very fast or far. So I tried picking my head up. But my mind did not like the change for some reason, I had to fight to keep my head up. WHY do I write all these things in an adoption blog you may ask....stick with me, I will explain.
              I'm laying it all out now-I am a pretty insecure person. Some have been surprised to hear me say that, so I must be a good actress, but it is true. The reason running with my head down comes so naturally for me is because of my insecurity, (yes I'm laying it all out there, figured it's better to do now instead of when I write my autobiography when I'm a rock star) It has been a while since I ran outside, it has been awhile since I ran at all, what if people were watching me and thinking, wow she's running ridiculously sloooow, why does she even bother! Now if I really stopped to think about it, do I really think anyone is sitting at their window at 7am on a Saturday watching me? NO! It's those lies I let into my head, and for some reason believe. So after forcing myself to keep my head up it becomes easier and finally I'm in a spot where keeping my eyes up isn't a problem and automatically my metal state has changes. I'm telling myself I can do this, I'm telling myself you got this, and more importantly, why do I care what anyone else thinks, I'm not doing this for them! And that's when I really start enjoying the run.
                 (Now to my point) After 3 or 4 comments from people of, why would you not adopt from America when we have so many children here, or why are you adopting when you already have children, or why are you raising money to adopt when you don't HAVE to adopt in the first place...I feel beat down. I feel defeated. I too start turning those questions over and over in my head and start thinking, they are right, I already have four, can I really handle more?, I don't have money and I hate asking for money, should I even be doing this? Should I really keep doing this and listen to people bash us for not being "American" enough to adopt "our own"? I feel like maybe this was a bad idea and I should just walk the rest of the way home and quit.
          *Before I go on I must say, I DO think all of these are logical questions, I have NO problem answering them when I feel that someone genuinely wants to know the answers.
               Just like getting a chance to go out for a run alone, being a mom of four kids, cleaning, cooking, laundry, planning, ect. I have a hard time really finding time to get myself into the Word alone. But man when I do, I am pumped. When I get that chance to see God face to face and be refreshed, I feel held, and I remember, I'm not doing this for them, and no offense that means I don't care what you think about us. I'm doing this because GOD called us to adopt, we're adopting from China because GOD called us to China, He's asking us to step out in faith to adopt without money because He called ALL of us to take care of orphans in some way, and us specifically to raise them, and we are adding to our family of 6 because HE thinks we can. And that's when I remember how important it is to ALWAYS keep my head up, because He is where my confidence and strength comes from to keep running.

Philippians 3:14  I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upwardcall of God in Christ Jesus.

1 Corinthians 9:24 Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize.

8 Give thanks to the LORD, call on his name; make known among the nations what he has done.9 Sing to him, sing praise to him; tell of all his wonderful acts. 10 Glory in his holy name; let the hearts of those who seek the LORD rejoice. 11 Look to the LORD and his strength; seek his face always. I Chronicles 16:8-11

LID!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Let the Count Down Begin!

Well we are officially LID! (Sorry I'm a little late in posting about this :)) Lock in Date means we are locked into China's system-they now know we mean business! We are now in the LOOOONG wait period. LOA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! LOA mean Letter of Approval-I believe it's the final approval from our Pre-approval that we got that Nina is ours :)!!! It has been reported to being from 13 days to 100+ days so there really is NO way of knowing when it will come! But once you have crossed the LOA hurtle, most people are super excited because most waits after that point are weeks or even days instead of months! So now we wait-and REALLY start some major fundraising!!!
Speaking of.......................this Wednesday the 17th of April, Chick-fil-A is hosting a Spirit night from 5-8p to help us raise money! 10% or more, based on the turn out, of everyone's order goes to our adoption. You have to present the flier for it to count. There will also be a wheel there to spin and with every spin you WILL get a prize! 100% of the money for every spin goes to US!!! So come on out to a great company eat GREAT food and help a GREAT cause!!!

Here's the link to the flyer:

(*yes I know it's upside down...that's how I roll...)

AND May 17th is our BIG Ice Cream Social!! We will be having a raffle, Chinese Auction, LIVE music and  of course ICE CREAM!!!!! There will be Vanilla ICE CREAM with toppings, toppings and MORE toppings!!! Also a sweet friend offered to make some home made ice cream as another choice...mmmmmmm.
Many companies and friends have already given us some pretty nice things to raffle off and for that we say THANK YOU!!!! We are blown away by the hearts of friends and strangers who have been willing to give to us!!! But there is still plenty of time if you want to give to the auction!!! WE would LOVE if you could all have a part of bringing home our sweet sweet baby girl!

Ice Cream will start being served at 6:30p
20255 Denny Dr Brooksville, Fl 34601

Here' the invite for the Ice Cream social on Facebook-if you would RSVP that would
 be great so we know how much ICE CREAM to have! DO NOT WANT TO RUN OUT OF THAT!!!!

https://www.facebook.com/events/630069237009319/

Have a great night EVERYONE!!! AND THANKS AGAIN FOR YOUR LOVE AND PRAYERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The Sad Reality of Truth

Hello ALL!!! If you haven't seen our update on our FB invite-we are moving the ice cream social back a month to give us a little more time to plan. My sister is stepping up in a BIG way to help us do what she does best, PLAN!!! Which is such a HUGE help because, while I can plan for my family, I am not an event planner at all! So thank you Carrie!!! Things are going to be BIG! So pray we can get everything planned and together and that we can get donations for our Chinese auction.
 In other news, I thought I would write today on orphanages. While some of us think we have an idea of what you think you would see, the reality of it breaks my heart! I read the other day of a woman who went to get her little baby and was checking in on a friends baby and was heart broken over the realities of what she saw. The realities of cribs upon cribs of 2 sometimes 3 babies in a crib, starring off in the distance, with no one to comfort or share a smile with. Some rocking back and forth, a sad sign of not having any stimulation in institution life. Some of them being wet or soiled for hours because the lack of help of nannies. Toys being untouched sitting in a corner because no one is available to show them how to use them. Older children just BEGGING for attention from anyone who would give it to them. I will admit, at one time I felt anger towards the nannies that cared for these children. Where were they? Why did these kids have to lay there so long in wet clothes, in freezing temperatures, in some places of China. But the reality is, there are SO many children in one room! Imagine having just one child with special needs. Can you imagine, or do you know the demand that just one child can take? Imagine 100's, all ages of children, and being one of the few nannies to be there. I had a friend say the other day, in her son's orphanage there was 4 nannies that worked there. Two were out sick for a week, leaving 2 to manage the place on their own! Thankfully this particular place doesn't have hundreds of children under their care, but I think you get the picture.

 * You can read the blog here: http://www.chantelleg.blogspot.com/2013/03/orphanage-visit.html?m=1

  I can not wait to hold my sweet girl and let her know how special she is. How LOVED she is! And to be there when she has a cold, or is cold and to fight away the world for her. We are coming sweet girl! With all that we are, and with all that we got, WE ARE FIGHTING FOR YOU!!! In church this morning I prayed that I would be filled. This long process can definitely take the fight out of you if you let it. And we sang a song called All Things Possible by Marc Schultz. I know I've talked about this song before, but I LOVE IT! And I love how God brought it before me this morning, reminding me that "even when I feel like my light is fading, and I have lost my way, still I'm holding on to the one who is making all things possible."

Only A Season

HEEEELLLLLOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!! How have you all been? Pull up a chair and grab a cup of Joe as I fill you in on the ride I have been on, don't worry, I'll wait...Ready? Where do I begin. Well I know I probably set you up for a wild couple of weeks but the only ride that has been going on is the ride I sat myself down on and took off with. I have just really been a roller-coaster of up and down. You would might think I was actually pregnant the way I have been acting...but I PROMISE, I am not. I have been starting my day by getting out of bed and praying, having time with God, and saying, "okay God, we got this! I can make it through the day without checking my email every five minutes (okay so maybe in less time, but that's our little secret), seeing nothing, *deep-breath in, reminding myself it's only 6am, my social worker doesn't even get in her office til 12pm my time, find something to occupy myself (did I tell you i have four kids under 8 all that are home schooled with me all day-yeah finding things to occupy myself aren't that hard),think about our BIG fundraiser and what I need to do to plan it, get over-whelmed and FREAK OUT, calm down, check my email, cry (literally) because it is 6:05a AND STILL NO EMAIL!, will this email ever come?!?!?!, and end the day sad that I got nothing, and dissapointed in my lack of patience and faith that it will happen in God's time. This email that I was waiting for was an update that we were DTC. What does this mean, that our paperwork would finally be going off to China and thus START our process. YES I SAID START!!! Ugh. This step isn't necessarily suppose to take so long, DC offices were closed due to bad weather, holding up my papers from getting back to my agency. OR it could have been God waiting for me to grow up and get a handle of myself. One day I had had enough. I have never ever been the "angry at God type". I mean, (and I think I've said it before), but a lot of the times bad things happen, if we really examine them, we somewhere a long the line, did it to ourselves, not all of the time, but some of the time. And Josh and I 100% jumped into this process feeling like it was God and ONLY GOD asking us to leap forward with HIS plan. SO as I sat in my living room with all my kiddos asleep, folding TONS and I mean TONS of laundry, I cried. Big ugly cry. Why would God call people to this. I have now fallen in love with this little girl all the way around the world, who I could not comfort, feed, clothe or protect! And on top of it all, I'm at the MERCY of all those who are working on our papers, from the mailman, to the lady in the government office to the people in China! How fair is that, on a mom of four other children I need to put my attention on. I cried, I begged, I pleaded and I asked why me, who am I to do this? I do not plan big fundraisers, I don't understand looong grant and adoption applications, I AM NOT patient...yeah you would think I was dying of cancer (I told you I could be dramatic), but honestly my heart was breaking. I felt like Jacob in Genesis 32:24 when he wrestled God and met Him face to face. But through all of the questions, I heard a still small voice again, God telling me, "why not you? Did I not make you to be the one who I would ask to step out? I choose you because I trusted you to step forward. And I choose you because you CAN'T do it on your own, only through and with Me. Something changed in me after I got all of that out. Like a peace staring me in the face, and written on my heart, that I am not alone in this. Somewhere a long the way, I had started making this my idea, and was getting frustrated with the fact that other people controlled my timeline, my answers and my adoption, when really, it was His idea, and HE controls and has always controlled all of those things. From the weather to the lady in charge of my case who is out because of the flu, I DON'T CONTROL ANY OF IT! And you know what, the next day in my email I got an email from my lovely and wonderful social worker asking, "how would you feel being DTC today?!" Ohhhh don't mind at all if I do! :) To end my great, or not so great week, depending on how you look at it, in church this morning the message was on realizing that all of our minutes, all of our hours, allll of our days, both good and bad, are numbered. There is not ONE bad or good situation that we go through in life that will last forever. But we ARE accountable to how we live in those moments. So I will try my very best to remember in those hard times, "There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven:" Ecclesiastes 3:1 Wait! Don't go yet! I want to tell you about our up coming fundraiser on April 13th! I Scream for Nina; Ice Cream Social to Bring Nina home!!! :) Doors open at 6p and we will have the group FourFifths playing! If you missed it last time I posted it, here is a sample of them. They are fantastic! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IB-lKLMAnKk
We will also be doing a Chinese auction!!! If you or anyone you know makes anything that can be made in a little basket, or has gift-card, or connections to something we may be able to auction off, PLEASE let me know! :) Okay-now you can go take that nap :) Have a great week you all!!! LOVE

A Time to Grow...

              Well I have no updates. Nothing very new to share about our adoption journey that will excite you...but while we wait I thought I would put our there what God is doing in our lives.
               First off it is AMAZING to see where and how God brings you to a place to do what it is that He had planned for you to do. A year ago my hubby and I felt God calling us to leave our church. Now this is a church that I have gone to since I was 12 and my hubby and I got married in and where we were both very faithfully serving in. Doing things we LOVED!!! I loved knowing everyone there and having such great friendships with the people there that I had known for years. And I LOVED leading the worship band in our youth group and I have to say, as much as I loved singing before, leading it was a whole-nother step of faith I never thought I'd have the guts to take on, and in front of teens none the less!!! So leaving was something we did not see in "our" plans. But we strongly felt God telling us to. We at the time had no idea why, and it was probably one of the saddest things we've had to do in our married life. And we are NOT a couple who likes change. We questioned it a lot. But the longer we were away and the steps we saw God leading us to-reassured us we were right where He wanted us...whatever the reason He was leading us away. After visiting a lot of different places God lead us to the church we are at now. We have become increasingly sure of why He led us there. God wanted us to GROW! To say this is sad, couldn't God have grown us where we were? Sure, He is God after all. But we were taken out of our comfort zone, made to take our eyes off of the people directly surrounding our bubble of friends and familiar faces. And put into a church of people who we hadn't known for years. We had to make this our home. This last month our Pastor was preaching on being Greater! To take everything in our lives a step further to be even greater. Just this last Saturday we went to a day conference at our church called Momentum. We both really were kicked and picked up again, learning to stay focused on the goals God has set up for us. It is great to get up after you fall-but it is so much better to keep that momentum if you don't let yourself get knocked down! And this new series we are learning right now is called Grow. In Jeremiah 29:2-7 God told Israel to fluoresce in captivity. To grow and multiply and stretch themselves right where they were!  One thing he said was "you can be bitter about where you are or you can make where you are better." That really hit me this morning. I really thought 2 Fridays ago that we would have been DTC (paper work goes to China). So I basically have been sitting refreshing my email hourly, and growing continually bitter and frustrated about everything around me. I mean literally I was such a mess last week. But when Pastor Paul said that this morning-I felt like God was tapping me on the shoulder saying, I brought you to this place, you have stepped out this far and have seen what I can do for you and where you can go in this life, why are you doubting it all now? The waiting is hard but what blessing am I missing by being as low as I have made myself. Something else Pastor said this morning was, "sometimes for God to grow us bigger there has to be pain. Just like the growing pains we get when were a child." Yeah....I felt like shaking my head. I know this isn't easy. The process is hard, change is hard, WAITING, is hard-but it is in these moments God wants to give us more. He wants us to be so much more! A child has to feel the pain of growing, it is just part of the growing process.  I can look back on this last year and just feel and SEE how much God has grown Josh and I, and still I let the growing pains get me down. I know I know we are human, we make mistakes-, but I hope and pray I can keep the momentum going this week, this year and through all of my life, so I don't miss the blessing in the process.

                       "He uses the situations we're in to get us to where He wants us to be." Pastor Paul


                     And true to my ever loving addiction to music I leave you with this song that inspired me to get back up and give it a go at trusting in GOD'S perfect timing and not my own...

                                           I'm Ready Now Jared Anderson

                               

Come like You promised You would

I want to surrender for good

Know that I need You

And I don't want to keep living life alone

So take my heart make it new

Make it true, make it like You

Take my hands, I lift them high

They're Yours not mine to do

Do what You will

Do what You will

Do what You will

I feel like a blind man in Your sight

I know that I'm wicked in Your eyes

So wash me and make me shine like Your Son

I want to tell everyone that You're the only one

So take my heart make it new

Make it true, make it like You

Take my hands

(My hands)

I lift them high

(So high)

They're Yours not mine to do

Do what You will

Another note to add: A friend of mine from college is 

selling Mary Kay and all of the profit goes to our 

ADOPTION!!!! Thank you so much Amber for being willing to 

give to our family!!!! Go to this link or copy and paste it and 

BUY BUY BUY!!! :) TIA

https://www.facebook.com/events/506623689375677/?fref=ts