Update Already!

I am so excited to share that our USCIS officer called this morning!!!

I put off the last post for so long, not sure how much to say.
Not wanting to show my anxious heart.
I wanted to wait till it was all good news.

God has much different plans than I.
Last night when editing the last post it published.
This has happened before, but it seems He had bigger plans.

He knew you all would be praying and He wants us to share our burdens with each other.
As my good friend reminded me this morning, this way you can all be part of this journey with us.

After waiting for over a month to get an answer about paper work we got exactly what we needed/wanted.

We do need to fill out an I-600a and mail in our home study, but our officer said we do not need to send in any more paperwork. What we have is sufficient!


I know God is good all the time, but man it sure feels good to see Him working things out in this process and giving us hope that this really is His plan.

THANK YOU ALL FOR PRAYING!

Over the last year God has begun to break my heart for older children waiting for families.
~~~~~~
Just before we left for Africa I had my heart broken by a 15 year old in Haiti.
Instead of laughing on her 15th birthday she cried.
She cried because she knows she is one year away from never having a family.
~~~~~~~~~~
While in Africa God showed me how even 35 year old women with children
still long for a mother.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

When I got home from Africa we pursued a few adoption avenues.
Nothing came through and we didn't feel led to pursue it any more.

~~~~~~~~~~

Then we got a call about a child in foster care.
I didn't even give it a thought I just said "No".
Anyone that knows me probably just fell off their chair, but it is true,
I didn't even give the social worker a chance to finish.
I called Jeromy and he was like "what".
Honestly he was a little bummed that I had said no.
I just thought we weren't ready, but then I cried the rest of the day.

This brought us to a place where we really had the talk and came to the
conclusion that we were both ready to do whatever God had for us.

~~~~~~~~~~

On July 4th, after a busy couple of days we had a day to just stay home.
I checked Google Reader and watched a video posted on a blog I follow.

The video was about institutions in Serbia.
It was horrible and again I cried all day.
That evening Kaly said, Mom why do you keep crying?
I told her a little about the video, but told her she couldn't watch it.
She said what do we do?
I said we pray, we pray that God will show us how we can help
so people do not have to go into institutions like that.

~~~~~~~~

July 5th
I checked Google Reader again. (darn blogging :)
This time there was a post from an arthrogryposis blog I follow.
It was about a girl turning 16.
She has arthrogryposis and needs a family in like a week,
otherwise her future is most likely going to be spent in an institution.
I followed the link to the post on the other blog.

I saw:
A beautiful, smiling teenage girl that just wants a family.
She wants a life outside of an institution.

I called Jeromy and he was instantly on the same page.
He came home and read the blog.
We emailed the family that was advocating for her.
They emailed us back and have been by our sides the whole journey.

~~~~~~~~~

Every step of the way we have seen God prepare the way.
We have seen Him put the right person in the right place to help us out.

We got our I-600 turned in.
It took one week from the first moment we started to the moment it landed at USCIS.
It arrived the day before her birthday.

USCIS told me U was closing adoption the next week.
I said "I know".
U hasn't closed yet.
They decided to wait until it could be a quicker transition.


~~~~~~~~~

We did all of our home study paper work and home visit.
We should have the final copy in our hands this week.
If you haven't done a home study I just have to say,
it is a lot of paperwork and training to get done in less than 2 months.
It was a bit stressful but God made a way
even with us being gone for almost 2 weeks of that time.


We have been putting together the paperwork for the U side of things.
Getting paper work notarized, Jeromy's passport, dr. appointments,
new copies of our marriage license and on and on.


I have to be honest, at times it gets very overwhelming.
I look at the list of to do's and I wait for USCIS to call back concerning some paperwork they want that doesn't exist.
Usually I am at peace knowing that if this is God's will it will be fine.

Sometimes I get sick to my stomach, see we have fallen in love with a girl,
she is no longer just an orphan. She is our daughter.
I get sick thinking that paperwork could stand in the way of us bringing her home.


I know God has brought us here.
I know God can do all things.
I just do not know what His plan is.
Is His plan to bring her to our home or does he have a plan I cannot see?

I trust he has a plan for our girl.
I know he is working in her life and he is working in ours.
Our desire is that she is here with us, but
We pray for God's will.

~~~~~~~~~

We have been so blessed by the family that was advocating for her.

1st they hosted her and gave her a chance to see what being in a family was like.
She wants that, she wants a family like theirs. She wants to come to America.
They showed her a loving family and made her feel so comfortable that she didn't want to leave.

Then they prayed and advocated for her.

They answered many of our questions, got the documents translated, connected us with a facilitator, encouraged us and then they came and stayed with us over Labor Day weekend.

They have a beautiful family and a daughter and son from the same orphanage.
The daughter translated for us when we made a video of our family and houses.
She speaks Russian and I know she will be invaluable to help us make a more comfortable transition for our girl.

Oh they even brought KVAS , Eggplant paste and candy for us to try.
They brought videos of the weeks they hosted the kids and a video from the orphanage.
They brought a cd : "Hillsong's Kiev".
Christian music in Russian.

We love all of it and both Jeromy and I cried
as we watch our girl playing games at Chucky Cheese.

Her smile is contagious.

Jeromy looked up Russian churches and stores in Spokane.
There are a couple of good options.
We want to help her stay connected to her culture and
we want to learn more about Ukraine before we go there, but mostly it just helps to feel like we are getting to know her.

Jeromy is such a proud daddy, he took the videos to work to show off to his fellow workers.
He said," I am a proud daddy, hopefully permanently".

Our kids pray for their sister every day.
Gavin talks about her a lot. He is so inspired that she walks on her knees.
We have the girls' room all figured out for 3 girls and just realized a couple of days ago the connection that their window over looks the "Three Sisters" mountain.

It all amazes me.
It is amazing that God led me to Uganda to prepare my heart for a girl in U.

It amazes me that I can still doubt and worry after all He has done.
Not always but it does creep in.

It amazes me that God has prepared the way ahead of us in so many ways.
Our girl even went back to the orphanage with Christian music in Russian.
We pray that if she doesn't know Christ as her Savior that God is working in her heart that she would very soon.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


Please pray that God will make a way when there seems to be no way.

Our Big 6 Year Old!

Giggles
Animated
Verbose
Intriguing

Negotiator

Gavin's Obsessions:

Monster Trucks
Thomas the train and friends
Wii
Cars




Gavin we are so proud of you big boy!
You always amaze us with how you find joy in life despite the challenges you face.
You are intriguing to almost everyone that meets you.
You're new thing is noticing that everyone is looking at you.
You are a star everywhere we go and we are so proud of you for learning to embrace this.

Most importantly this year you have learned to pray and are learning to pray for others.
You sit through family devotions and are part of learning about Jesus.

This year we began a new tradition which I pray will always be a joy for you.
I told you your birth story and you said "say it again",
then "again" and "again" and you wanted me to tell everyone about your story.

We love your story and how God brought you to us
and how God is using you to mold us to be more like Him.

We Love You Gavin
and we pray you continue to grow in faith in Jesus Christ.

Alaska~Part 3~The Grand Finale

I am sure you are sick of Alaska posts, but I just can't leave it unfinished.
So please bear with me for one more.

We just couldn't be in Alaska and not take the kids on a cruise,
so we headed off to Seward.


The day was perfect and the cruise was amazing.
We saw everything there was to see.

Humpback whales, Orca Whales, Sea Lions, a Sea Otter,
Porpoises and much more.

We had a wonderful time with exception of a bit of sea sickness.

On our way to Kenai we saw this cute little bear cub trying to catch a fish, then little brother and big momma came and told little bear it's time to go, so off they went.

The kids had a super fun time at the park.
The girls quickly became life long friends.

Gavin loved the park!
Who wouldn't love holding a sandy spoon in their mouth and playing in the hot sun?
I mean really sounds like tons of fun to me. :)

For a boy it doesn't get any better than this!

4 Wheelin' with daddy and 2 of his new favorite people.
Gavin loves Danny and David.

We took a nice quiet afternoon and went to a beautiful spot on the beach.
This little cemetery was in the woods near by.
~It is so beautiful~

Kaly in search for shells and beach glass.

We came upon a little stream full of rust.
It was so beautiful!

Oh, Ayla, you have a little mud on your pants.
And a spot on your arm and and and and :)

Free beauty treatments.
Man this reminds me of my mud bath when I was a kid.
Why is it kids love mud so much and most parents hate it?

Buddies!

These girls had so much fun!

Jeromy caught the fishing bug.


We have no pics of Jeromy and Danny's fishing trip, but yes stories they do have.
We should let Danny tell it cause he gets laughing so hard you can't help but get the giggles.

To all of our Alaska friends
We miss you and hope to see you all again soon.
Some of you we didn't get to see this time, but know you are always welcome at our home and next time we are in your neck of the woods, watch out cause your on our list. :)

Alaska part 2 ~

FIRST STOP~THE POLAR BEARS

After watching the polar bears sleep for awhile we decided to head on to something else, but moments later we heard the crowd begin to stir with excitement. We figured we should head back and see the action. We thoroughly enjoyed watching one of the bears swim around in the pool and later get out and then the two of them had a little fight/play time. These bears are just so amazing and beautiful. So glad we got to see them in action.

A little family photo in front of the Bald Eagle.
We always get excited to see a Bald Eagle flying near by, so this was fun for the kids to see them close up an be able to get an idea of how large they really are.

Zoo photography is not my specialty (not that any photography is) but through the bars is not easy.
I was glad to somehow figure out how to focus on the bird and blur the bars that were between us. I could not repeat this effect but it was fun to get.

The 1st black bear of the trip!

Another of our favorite animals to visit. This "little" guy was having a great time playing with his feet. Oh my, he is cute. Why is it that when they are behind fences and bars I seem to have this crazy notion that they would be fun to go cuddle up with?

Glaciers & Girdwood

Do you see what we saw?

Not just one but 2 hearts melting in the snow!
Maybe Hallmark should use it for a card and say " you melt my heart".


Then we took the kids to one of our favorite walking spots. Just before hitting Portage Glacier there is a little turn off. I think it is called Blue Ice Trail or something to that affect. The water is very blue and it is just surreal. The picture does not even begin to capture how wonderful it is to be there.

So why is glacier ice often blue? I mean truly blue!

So the night of Jeromy's 37th birthday we took him to Double Musky, an old special favorite place. The girls loved it and we had a very nice late dinner. On the way back to our hotel we were showing the kids our old apartment and telling them all about when we lived in Girdwood. I(Stacy) saw something up on the mountain. Jeromy stopped the van and all 5 of us studied the little black spot on the mountain that we were sure was moving. All of a sudden this little guy walked across the road about 25 feet from our van. The black spot on the mountain never moved but we sure had fun watching Mr. Black Bear run under someone's porch then up the steps to the dumpster.

Before we left The Alyeska Hotel the kids had to take one last swim in the salt water pool.

The Hotel we worked at when we lived in Girdwood.

We walked behind the hotel and I told the kids about my days of leading tours back there on those trails. I have no idea why I lead any tours because I knew nothing about the area.

Our first "wild" moose. Ayla spotted a momma and baby off the side of the highway. We doubled back and came out right next to them. They still amaze me at how large they are. They are such odd looking creatures, but I think my all time favorite creature.

Next stop~Wasilla

We have some friends in Wasilla that share our heart for adoption. We love to see how their family continues to grow with special treasures and we had the opportunity to hang out with them for a very short but sweet evening.


With much anticipation we got to meet "Little Man"!
We had to get a pic of this expression.

The kids played Lava Tag and Gavin got to play too. He wheeled around to the bottom of the slides and the kids would jump on and get wheeled to a new location. This way they didn't have to touch the "lava" and they could still get away from the one that was "IT". He had a blast and his services were in high demand.



Gavin and Gavin having a blast "jumping" the big bump.
This was before big Gavin ended up with the chair on top of him. Oops!
Thank God that he didn't get hurt too badly.

It began to rain!

Then POUR!

We had a very abrupt end to our wonderful visit.
We all loaded into the vans soaking wet and said quick good byes.
Hope to see you guys again soon!

I apologize Google Readers

For some reason my posts keep publishing before I am ready to publish them. I can change it on my blog but it still goes to Google Reader and stays there-before I am ready. So for those of you that use Google Reader please forgive my weird posts and multiple posts.

~ALASKA~ The 1st few days

We finally had the opportunity to take the older 3 kids to Alaska. It was so fun to show them where we lived 15 years ago when we first got married. Yep, 15! Can't believe how fast it has gone by.

We picked the girls up from camp at 11am and boarded the plane at 3pm. Needless to say they were wiped out the first couple of days, but it worked out great because Jeromy was conquering a mountain and we got to sleep in. Yes, Jeromy thought it would be exciting to run over 24 miles through the mountains. (we need a Jeromy post about this run)

Here is the gang waiting for his arrival to the finish line.

The girls ran in the last little part. He is on a path, but 99.9% of the run was over the mountain, through the river and over the rocks. Everyone had scrapes and mud up to their knees.

A little refreshment and some proud kiddos.

One of the days we were there it poured all day. The rest of the days were mostly very nice.
We spent most of the rainy day at the water park. The kids had a blast!

H2Oasis

Then we hit a few more spots around Anchorage.

What kid can resist "the world's largest chocolate fall"?

Oh my!!!!

A few hours at the museum and our favorite part, the Imaginarium.
There were so many cool things to play with and check out. We could call this an edu-va-cation.

The Bubble Room