San Diego

Chinabound

My brother and sister-in-law, Tim and Tanya, are finally heading to China to get their girl! They found out today that they will travel on September 11th. We are so excited for them and can't wait to meet our new niece, Kaitlyn. You can check out their story and keep up to date with them while they are in China by going to their blog. The link to their blog is posted to the right under links.

First Day for Connor

Today was Connor's first day of school. The 6th grade!! Wow. He too was excited to get back to school.....mostly to see all his friends! We are so proud of him and know he will have a great year.

Fun Times with Family

Last week we had Papa, Gramma and Cody come for a visit. Although it was HOT, we kept busy and had a fun time. They were so thrilled to finally have met Carly!

Three Months!

First Day of School

Our summer is over! Carter started school today! The 3rd grade. He has an awesome teacher, Mr. Oden, and we are so thankful that Mrs. Russ will be with him again this year. Carter is so excited to be back in school and we can't wait to see what this year will bring.

She Joins Our Family

She's Ours!!

It's official! What a day. Saturday morning we had our court appearance. We were to be there at 9 am and when we arrived and checked in, we discovered that we were taken off the schedule. Due to some misunderstanding our appointment time was cancelled (we could have panicked at this moment point but I knew God would see us through...like He has in every step along the way in this process). Well, the clerk at the desk saw the mistake and went to the office to see what she could do. She was able to gather all the needed papers and send it up to the Commissioner for him to review.....last minute. He was kind enough to review it all, especially since this is done the week before, and we were able to be seen after all the other families. The Lord is good! We were in and out of the court room within 10 minutes! I can not put into words the emotion I felt the moment I walked out of the court room. It's done and she is ours!

We then went to Starbucks for a coffee break then made our way over to Tim and Tanya's for a swim. Later we went to dinner and and came back for dessert.

I have said it many times...I look at Carly and I am truly in awe and so thankful we have her. She is our precious gift from God!

"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." Jeremiah 29:11

Here's Carly

We Have A Girl!

BUT.... not from China! It all started with a phone call on a Sunday evening, April 20th! A phone call we never expected in a million years! When I looked at the caller ID, I saw that it was a mom from Connor's school. I thought this mom was calling to ask me if I could help with a classroom party...perhaps! HA! Well, after a few minutes of small talk, she got right to the reason of her call. She had told me of a family at her church who has daughter that is pregnant, ready to deliver at any day and giving her baby up for adoption. She asked...."are you interested in a baby girl?" Wow!! That was all I could say at the time. Of course every part of me wanted to say yes immediately, but I thought it would probably be a good idea to run this by Erik. Now let me just add by saying that we were not at all thinking about or considering domestic adoption since we are in the process with China. So, after talking and praying about it that night, we decided to move ahead with this. We knew we had to take it one step at a time and not jump ahead because we knew things could change at any moment.

The first step of course was to talk to the birth mom. I finally spoke with her on the phone that Thursday! We made arrangements to meet the next evening at Starbucks. We were all nervous going into this and really had no idea what to expect. We had no idea where we stood in her (birth mom) mind. So, I asked her if she was going to pursue other families as well. Her reply....."No. I really like you guys!" At that moment I wanted to run through the parking lot doing cart-wheels....but I knew it was best I stayed calm (besides, I never was able to do a cart-wheel before in my life). So just like that.....we were it!

Next step.....babies arrival. Her due date...May 5th. The due date came.....and went. Every day I had my cell phone glued to me and at night I slept with it just inches from my face. Then on May 12th, the birth mom was admitted! She was delivering at the hospital where Erik works so since he was already there working, I came and hung out with him. By evening time we sat in the waiting room and watched time go by ever so slowly. Then at 2:00 AM it was time for me to go in her room. Carly was born at 2:21 AM. I was so honored that I was able to be there for her birth! Erik came in just minutes later. I was the first to hold Carly and Erik was the first to feed her! What a special time!

We took her home on Wednesday and have been loving on her ever since!

Every day I look at her and am in awe! I am so thankful for this precious gift from the Lord.

Now what does this mean for China? Well, we continue to wait. China has a policy that requires us to wait 12 months from placement of one child (which would be Carly) to placement of second child (Claire). Since the wait time for China is still at least a year (hard to believe), then nothing will change for us.

God is good!

Finally 2006!

Wow! China has finally reached 2006! What does this mean? They just placed children with families who have a log-in-date (LID) up thru 1/4/06. Our LID is 11/06 so we still have a long wait but it is nice to see that they are done with 2005 and in to our year!