The Most Amazing Post....Ever!

I am overwhelmed with joy and thanksgiving as I write this.

This morning I received a call from the director of the orphanage. It seems that the family who was adopting Sophia read my blog, and after much prayer feel that she is really our child! They contacted the director and we now have the opportunity to adopt her!

This is the single most Christ like thing anyone has ever done for me. My gratitude is inexplicable. They have given up a child who would be theirs, a child who they have spent time with and prepared to welcome into their family because they really believe that is was God's plan for her to belong to us. What an incredible gift they have given us.

It is my understanding that this family did not have peace about adopting Sophia, and wondered why it was difficult to bond with her. I am blown away by the way God has worked in this situation, it is completely beyond anything I have personally experienced.

So, it is with great excitement that we announce:

We have a daughter in Haiti,

and her name is Sophia Luc!

My plan, Sean's plan, God's plan...

Where do they intersect?

I spent the past week visiting family out of town. My cousin Chris graduated high school. He is also my Godson and a really awesome guy. He is headed off to college to play football. I am so proud of him, in a sea of selfish, self-absorbed teens he really stands out.

During the trip we visited downtown Chicago and Navy Pier, Brookfield Zoo, and even saw a dolphin show. My kids had a great time and are probably going to need some re-training after all the spoiling they received from family!

Last winter we took guardianship of a little girl. We had her for quite a long time and I got used to looking after 5 children. We even divided household chores into 5 zones and it just has not worked as well since she went home. We knew this child was not our daughter, and unlike other foster chilren that have lived in our home she never really felt like part of our family. However it was her leaving that made me realize that I had room in my heart and home for a 5th child. When I looked around, it always seemed like someone was missing!

I now feel that I know that my missing child is in Haiti. My heart is so lonely for her! Even as I enjoyed all the fun with my children (and I really did) a part of me was sad. One of my kids is not here! In fact... I do not even know this childs name, I have not seen a picture, and only God could tell me who it is.

Over the weekend Sean and I had a really intense heart-to-heart talk about our adoption. He has so much going on with trying to balance full time school, full time work, and planning to take his youth group on a terribly under-funded missions trip to Mexico next month. He is concerned about moving in our own time and strength rather than waiting on God. I have to admit, I am not a terribly patient person! I will push and make things happen, and for the most part I believe that I can do that and still work within God's plan. Sean does not push. He waits on the Lord. He is extremely patient and long-suffering. He also will not be pushed... by me or anyone else! So while I just want to know who my child is, I am ready and willing to accept a referral, he is not. He says we must wait and in God's perfect time he will fully reveal to us if and when we should adopt a child, and who that child is. He has admitted, it could happen quickly. It also could take the rest of the year.

This is so hard for me! Yes, I know I said ME, and I am being selfish, though really trying not to. It is hard for Sean too. The monthly picture updates from our Orphanage in Haiti came out a few days ago. I scanned through them, praying for the children to go home quickly to their families. I was unprepared for the wave of emotion that occured when I saw Sophia's picture. I didn't even know I would recognize her for sure, but I did. My heart skipped and tears welled up. I know Sean had committed his whole heart to her, and I think that is a bigger thing than I can realize. He simply does not open himself up like that. He told me he is worried about bonding. Never with Sophia, he felt that if he so knew something was from God, that he could face any obstacle. But when he looks at the other pictures, he just sees children. Someone else's children.

I wonder about lots of things, like if this is part of the reason the Hauge convention and many people and even countries oppose photo listings. Had we not chosen a child or knew anything about her, but simply recieved an envelope in the mail assigning us a child, would he then have been able to trust that it was God's choice?

I knew there would a lot of waiting and missing my child. I felt reasonably prepared. I did not know I would have to wait to know who the child was, and therefore the wait to bring them home has not even begun. It has to be God's plan before it can be ours. It has to be revealed to Sean even before I get to know! It is a tough lesson for me. I trust in God, his divine plan, and in my husband's lead. Maybe I need to repeat that 10 times....

Peace in the Storm.

Sean's school work has taken up nearly all his "spare" time. He comes home, eats dinner, reads the bible to the kids, blesses them, and then disappears into his study den until 11:30 or so. He has been making an effort to take one weekend day off, but we have not had a lot of time to just be together.

Wednesday night we had quite a few big thunderstorms roll through our area. The "surge protectors" we have on our computer and electronics are of questionable age and quality so we always unplug everything when storms are forecast. (Or at least after hearing the big "National Weather Service advisory alarm on the radio!)

Once kids were tucked into bed we walked outside to watch the storm approach. The clouds were moving really fast and the sky was that odd yellow that precedes a big thunderstorm. We sat out front and looked up at the sky. Just ahead of the dark mass of clouds were long streaks of bright silver, it was really beautiful and unlike anything I had seen before. It didn't occur to be to get a camera, of course. The storm moved over us but the rain did not come right away. We could see lighting jumping from cloud to could above us. The thunder remained distant and we just sat. Joe was outside playing in the front yard with a ball, quite content to have it all to himself. I leaned against Sean's shoulder and we did not talk. The wind came and began to blow the trees hard, and eventually with the first giant rain drops we went inside.

Eventually, sitting in our darkened living room after Joe was asleep we began to talk quietly. Rain pounded on out roof and we still watched lightning all around. We talked about the feelings of hurt and loss that seem almost misplaced considering we never knew this child outside of our hearts and a picture. We talked about the selfishness of wanting her for ourselves, after all, she is not lost, but has a family that loves her! We talked about what comes next; and about the frustration of not knowing the eternal purpose for things that do not make sense to us.

There are still a lot of questions, many that I suspect will never be answered. There are also still thousands of orphans in Haiti, and they still need families and homes. I have always been sort of a "get right back on the horse" type person. So... we will continue on. Referrals from Haiti can come very quickly, there are so many children waiting. So, hopefully... in the spirit of my very bi-polar blog... I will soon be announcing that there is a child (Boy or girl between the ages of 0-6 :-) and that we are delighted to call that child ours. Thank you for all your prayers, we feel very blessed by the outpouring of sympathy and support!

Wondering...

Sean's reaction to the news about Sophia was not suprising. He simply said "Then we are done". He does not believe we should continue to persue an adoption from Haiti. I am giving him time. I know that while he may not exhibit the obvious signs of hurt and shock that I do, he is hurting just as much. It will be hard for either of us to transfer those emotions to the adoption of another child. Just Sunday night he told his family. My Mom talked to my Dad. Somehow telling the people in our family who we expected to disapprove made the adoption that much more real. Of course they were all told about Sophia, about the name, birth date, etc. These are not people with faith in God. It actually worried me that they might think we did not hear from God, or worse that we did and he let us down. It is hard for us to understand. Last night I noticed those obvious signs of shock. My food did not taste, I failed to notice anything about the temperature of the house, and my blood pressure was so high at bedtime that I could hear the thuds in my pillow. I do not know the reason for this journey. I would much rather we did not have to take it! I want to open the mailbox and take out the referral contract and pictures we expected to receive this week, to hear that once again it was all a big mistake, that our daughter is waiting for us.

There are a lot of orphans in Haiti, and they all need homes. I expect that we will heal and accept a referral, and that whatever her story, it will not be long before we cannot imagine life without that child in it.

No one said it would be easy...

When I began writing this blog I made a commitment to myself to keep it honest and straight forward, not to sugar coat things or leave out important moments just because they were difficult or unpleasant. Today has turned into one of those days. It seems very surreal. I got a simple message today. It said:

"It turns out the both Sophias are the same girl. I'm so sorry. I know this will be difficult news. I believe that God has a special child/ren just for you and in His time, He will reveal them to you. "

What this means is simple. For whatever reason I do not have a daughter named Sophia in Haiti. My Mom was with me when I got the simple version... she was "not available". I have to admit, I refused to believe it! What about all the rest? The name, the birth date? I felt...FEEL like she is my daughter. How could I go from looking at middle names for her yesterday to not having a child today? We thought that this week we would have a new picture, we planned to send out announcements as soon as we had the official picture and paper in hand. Like most parents who are expecting we could not wait to share the news and find out everything about her!

It feels a lot like a miscarriage. Oddly enough I am taking comfort in that. A few months before becoming pregnant with our son Joe I miscarried. We had been so excited about the pregnancy because we had very clearly heard God promise us a son. The same day that I heard that promise I went home and took a pregnancy test. It was positive! Sean began calling the baby Captain. He said he had always thought "Captain O'Carroll" had a nice ring to it. When I lost that baby it was physically, mentally and spiritually one of the most difficult things that has happened to me. Why had God promised a son and then taken him away before he was born?

Just a short time later a good friend was expecting. I heard her children refer to the baby as "Captain!" We had not even mentioned Sean calling his son Captain and I didn't say anything then. When her baby was born they asked us to be his God-parents. It was one of the few times I have seen my husband cry. While, as Christians we do not believe that it is the same baby or spirit, I do believe that some how it was significant. I pray for Captain a lot... and he means something really special to me because he is "Captain".

We did have a son about a year later, and he is amazing. We no longer mourn the child that we lost because we can now see the beauty of God's plan. This gives me encouragement that the absolute sadness I feel today (boy, this blog really is bi-polar) will somehow be a part of God's revealing himself to me in a way that is greater than I can imagine.

Fathers Day 2007

Today was Father's Day in the United States. We celebrated in the traditional ways, Our children gave Sean hand drawn or colored Fathers Day cards in envelopes they made themselves and Anna presented him with an "Awesome Dad" shirt that she really believed to be the best gift ever given to anyone in all of history. Of course he, like other Fathers all over the USA, declared its wonder, put it on right away and wore it all over town :) We finished the day by forgoing our families normal healthy diet in favor of eating big hunks of meat off the BBQ with cheesy potato chips and baked beans. It was a really fun happy day. . . for us.

In much of the world children are living without their fathers. Many of these children have not ever met the men who provided half their DNA. They have difficulty understanding the great and amazing love of a Father God, when they have not experienced love from an earthly father. God has assured us of his love, given us purpose! Today I am encouraged by Romans 15 - 25


Romans 8:15-25

So you have not received a spirit that makes you fearful slaves. Instead, you received God’s Spirit when he adopted you as his own children. Now we call him, “Abba, Father.” For his Spirit joins with our spirit to affirm that we are God’s children. And since we are his children, we are his heirs. In fact, together with Christ we are heirs of God’s glory. But if we are to share his glory, we must also share his suffering. Yet what we suffer now is nothing compared to the glory he will reveal to us later. For all creation is waiting eagerly for that future day when God will reveal who his children really are. Against its will, all creation was subjected to God’s curse. But with eager hope, the creation looks forward to the day when it will join God’s children in glorious freedom from death and decay. For we know that all creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. And we believers also groan, even though we have the Holy Spirit within us as a foretaste of future glory, for we long for our bodies to be released from sin and suffering. We, too, wait with eager hope for the day when God will give us our full rights as his adopted children, including the new bodies he has promised us. We were given this hope when we were saved. (If we already have something, we don’t need to hope for it. But if we look forward to something we don’t yet have, we must wait patiently and confidently.) New Living Translation

We love you too!

At risk of sounding bi-polar... I am feeling so positive about everything adoption today! After my last post we got emails from all over the US and three other countries telling us that people support us and are praying for us! What an amazing feeling!

I also got quite a few wonderful ideas from other adoptive families about fundraising. Some of my favorites are:

1. A community event rummage sale - We will put up fliers all over De Pere and Allouez advertising the sale and asking for stuff to be donated. On the actual day of the sale (a Thursday night?) we will also serve hot dogs and drinks for free and play music etc. It might actually work!

2. Ebay Fundraiser - I have already sold most everything ebay worthy in my house. However, I am pretty good at ebay selling and previously funded a missions trip to Mongolia almost entirely by selling random junk from around my house. So, now I am looking for random junk from your house! If you have stuff that is possibly ebay sale-able and would consider donating it to our adoption efforts we will sell it for you! (We would be willing to do it for a listing fee and give you the profit as well) If you do not live in my local area you would have to get me the item or be responsible for shipping it to the buyer. If you live close I may be able to pick things up.

3. We will hand out change jars (baby bottles??? I have issues with baby bottles :) to any local business that will put them out for us.

4. Haiti items - My girls can help me make crosses, bookmarks with their new sister's picture, beaded bracelets, etc in the flag colors of Haiti and give them away for donations at various places.

It is beginning to sound like a lot of work :) But honestly, I don't mind work when it has such wonderful rewards!

We love you... thanks for keeping up and reading my blog! I hope our next post will bring good news....

"Paper Pregnant"

On adoption boards people often use the term "paper pregnant" for the time after a referral is received until the child comes home. In some ways it is true, you get to announce to the world that you are going to have another child in the family. Certainly the trials and stresses are equal to or greater than a physical pregnancy, and there is definitely labor involved!

However there is one big difference, at least for us. Each time Sean and I have become pregnant, our news was met with joy and congratulations. Our culture mandates this response! Sure, there are probably people who walked away and changed "It will be so nice to have your kids so close together" to "Can you believe she is pregnant again, and so soon?"

So why in adoption is everyone allowed their honest opinion? Some have said it is because adoption is a choice that we are willingly making, or could have easily waited on. Others have suggested they do not disagree with "adoption" but feel that with all we have going on, it just does not seem like the right time. One person even suggested they felt it was unfair to the children we already have, another that families should not have more than 3 children.(we already have 4!)

Last night I felt despair. I believe in listening to what my brothers and sisters in Christ are saying. I trust their advice. I would likely tell someone that if many of their Christian friends had expressed to them that they felt a mistake was being made... that they should as least consider the possibility.

For me the worst has not even been the outward spoken comments. It has been prayer time with those we trust. People who have not said anything negative, but when praying over us say things like "Lord, let Sean and Jenee see that their life is full of wonderful blessings and that this is a time for concentrating on those things without adding to them".

I want of heed the wise counsel of the Christians around me, but I want to trust God more. I am very aware that God uses people to influence, to warn, and to speak from him. So, when we speak of our adoption and see the faces of those we trust cloud over, look uncomfortable, and then change the subject... Well, Lord, you are going to have to speak to me more clearly than that... because I still think you are telling me that this is my daughter!

Sophia, Sophia?

If everything in life went just as expected would it make life less interesting, perhaps it would simply fail to challenge us in such a way that we would be forced to see God moving in our lives.

When we began to pray about adopting from Haiti, I wanted a baby boy. Sean felt that IF we were going to do it, it should be an older child. In fact, he said that choosing a child would not be difficult... we should just tell them we want the child who has been waiting the longest! I still wanted a baby.

God began to work on my heart through a series of dreams about a little girl in Haiti. I thought she was about 4 and looked at a photo listing of girls at the orphanage we hoped to work with. I was drawn to a little girl, and when I read her name "Sophia" I began to cry. It was the name we had already chosen should be have another girl. In fact, during my last pregnancy I prayed daily for "Sophia" and was reasonably suprised when we found out it was really "Joe".

The night the papers were sent we were talking about all the things we didn't know about her. I wanted to know her birthday! Sean told me that it was the same day as our son Joe. I laughed. We already have 2 daughters that share a birthday. He was not laughing, he said "Just wait, you will see".

I finally got the email I was waiting for. We were approved! It should have been so exciting, but there was a note attached. It said Sophia was not available for adoption. I was heartbroken and confused. Did I misunderstand? How could I be wrong? It didn't make sense. I was determined to not let it sway me, but I have to admit that it did.

I was matched with an "adoption coordinator" who said I would know, that God would make it "ubundantly clear" who our child was. I was doubtful... I said I would pray and wait. She also suggested our child may not even have come into the orphanage yet... we have many months of paperwork to do before we can have a legal referral. She also told me about a mix up of papers between two girls named Sophia. The one we wanted to adopt, age 4, and another who was just 2.

I didn't even bother looking at the 2 year old girl. I have girls who are 2 and 3 already! But when I explained it to Sean he opened the file with 2 year old Sophia's information. Right away he noticed... she shares Joe's birthday! I laughed and felt that heart flutter, but just as quickly I said "no, she is too little" I began to pray quietly, telling God...I'll do this if it is your plan, but why would I have three girls all born within the same year?

Sean quietly spoke: "she's 4". I corrected him, it did say she was 2. He pointed to the year, 2003. I guessed that they had not changed it since her birthday in March. Melissa was born in 2003, and she is three years old. But wait... March has passed... He was right, she IS 4! It was a lot to consider. She is the age we thought, and she had the birth date Sean predicted. I sent an email to the director and asked for clarification.

She sent a return response. It included an apology for all the mix ups and an assurance that the birth date, etc was correct. It also had a picture... The girl I had chosen right from the beginning.

Approved!

HOORAY! We have been approved by the orphanage/facilitator to adopt a child from Haiti! We still have a lot to do. We have to complete our homestudy, send our dossier, and then wait, wait, wait. Still, it is very exciting to know that this is really happening! Possibly more news later ;-)

Respect!

While watching a video from our adoption agency (part 2 of the video mentioned in the last post) there is footage of a Sunday church service in Haiti. The same video shows the house of a family, the house has no roof, no windows, no furniture or plumbing. The floors are dirt, and I had to wonder where the family sleeps in the rainy season. Yet on Sunday morning the people from the village are joyfully running up the road to a mountain top church. Not only do they look excited to be there, but the men are in ties, the ladies in skirts and hats and earings, and the little girls have bows in their hair to match their darling dresses. I sat before my computer screen and cried. Not for the people of Haiti, but for my own family and church. I felt shame!

I do know know when or where or how they made the sacrifice to own Sunday clothing, and I do not believe a person would have been turned away or looked down upon if they did not own such clothing. But there is a respect, a level of honoring God present in that simple action that I do not believe to be present in the American church! When was the last time I joyfully prepared for church, so exuberant that I would run a long distance uphill in hot weather shouting God's Praises? Would I be willing to wear little more than rags tied together 6 days a week just to preserve the only dress I owned for Sunday? I do not know that I have this level of understanding of who God is. If I did... If I really believed that God was the maker of Heaven and Earth, sovereign over all my life, could I walk into his temple so casually? Would it not bother me that when I dressed that morning I had no thought other than to wear clothing suitable for our trip to the beach AFTER service was finished?

In Matthew 19:23-25 Jesus tells his disciples "I tell you the truth, it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God." When the disciples heard this, they were greatly astonished and asked, "Who then can be saved?"

Those of us who live in America think of the rich as Bill Gates, or the faceless people who own the mansion on a hill near by. Perhaps I need to consider that all of America is rich. We have little need for reliance on God, and therefore little need to give him our respect. I have relied on God, but shamefully I tell you that I have never relied on him completely. I have given him my praises, but not without my own selfish thoughts.

I admit, even in this adoption, it is my own selfishness driving the process. Yes, I believe God is leading us to adopt, but I look at the pictures of these beautiful children and I want to save them. I want to see the look on our daughters face as she opens a closet full of clothes, or eats her first birthday cake. I want to see her grow into the awesome lady that she will become and feel like I was the one who made it possible. Does this honor God? I pray that somehow God can work in spite of my selfishness. That He alone creates the desires of my heart. For today, and everyday, let this be my solemn prayer.

Our favorite question... Is there anything I can do to help?

Thank you everyone who has visited. We are so excited!!! If this is the first time you have looked at our blog, please scroll down to read from the beginning...

If you would like to watch a great video about adopting from Haiti, click on http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qcRLD1uit9c Choose a private moment if you do not like others to see you crying :)

Also, we are doing everything we can to raise money! So... if there is anything we could do for you, please let us know. Really... were not picky! Sean has been doing side jobs tiling and painting. I am teaching a new childbirth class and have done some babysitting. Anyone interested in helping can also donate by simply clicking the button on the top left corner of the blog where it says "make a donation" - duh :) If you just have a great idea or want to tell us what worked for you, we like that too! We need to have about $2500 very, very soon and about another $8-10,000 in the next year. We believe this is possible, and we will do whatever it takes. If you can help, THANK YOU, if you can pray for our finances, for our family, for our child in Haiti, it is really, really appreciated.

Please visit often, there should be a lot of exciting updates before the long wait sets in :)

Why Haiti ?!?

It is a valid enough question, and one a lot of people are asking. After all, it will take a long time, a lot of effort, a lot of money and, as so many have pointed out.... there are children right here in WI that need homes.

I wish I could tell you a beautiful and inspiring story as to how God led us to Haiti, but instead I'll have to go with the truth :) I felt strongly that God was leading us to adopt our 5th child. (We adopted our second) My husband Sean fully agreed, although he thought it might be many years off. We had begun talking about our next adoption and where this child would come from. We had previously adopted domestically through our state (then California) but neither of us felt that we wanted to go the foster care route again. As for other domestic adoptions, we are absolutely not interested in fighting over the healthy domestically born infants!

We also knew that as awful as it may be for children in the United states who are waiting in foster homes; those children will get to go to school, they will eat dinner tonight, and if they are sick there is a hospital who will care for them. I am not trying to belittle the circumstances of any child or family. There is no doubt that American children can face abuse or that they may lack the health care available to the wealthy. Orphans in third world countries are not battling for better health care or the opportunity to attend college, they are simply trying to live until tomorrow. Children eat dirt just to make their stomachs feel full. When they fall ill there is no free clinic, no matter how long they wait. There are not foster homes and there is no free school. If these children are not adopted they face terrible odds. Many will die or be sold into slavery before they reach their teen years.

I sat down at my computer and began to research foreign adoption. I learned that the children with the greatest need and smallest adoption numbers were from Haiti, Philippines, Ethiopia and other African countries. We know a couple who are adopting from the Philippines. In fact, he is a citizen of the PI who is married to an American woman. They have had a terrible experience and have been waiting more than 2 years to bring their "baby" home. African adoptions often require multiple trips by the couple adopting and the stay is 10-15 days per trip. While I would love to visit Africa someday, it hardly seems possible with 4 young children at home. Haiti is very close and it is possible to visit and meet the child(ren) you are adopting during the process. The need is severe and the cost is far less than many other adoptions. While I prayed diligently for God's leadership, it continually seemed to me that Haiti was the only logical choice. Sean was content to let me research, he liked Haiti because while growing up in South Florida he had a lot of Haitian friends. He jokingly added that he was happy because it was easy for him to find on the map. (And, the most famous building in Haiti is also shown in Star Trek as the Klingon headquarters! Citadel de Haiti)

Haiti is a very tiny island country with 8.5 million people. That is a whole lot of people to put in such a small place! I live in Wisconsin, we have about 65,000 square miles of land in this state. Haiti has only 10,000! Despite having won their independence from France in 1804, the government has long been very unstable. More than 80% of adults are unemployed and of the ones who have jobs, more than half are not stable, regular jobs. There are more than 200,000 total orphans and more than 10,000 live on the street with no care or supervision. Many of the children live in the trash dumps because they provide some food and shelter. Haiti is the poorest country in the western hemisphere and the 4th poorest country in the world. The national religion is Voodoo and child sacrifice is still a common religious practice. Despite hundreds of orphanages there are simply more children than can be cared for. Of every 1000 children born, 170 will die before reaching age 5. Dysentery, malnutrition, infection and starvation are leading causes of death. Only 16% of Haiti's population has access to clean drinking water. I could go on with these statistics, but my point is simply that life there is beyond our capacity to understand poverty.

So... why Haiti? Because these kids need homes.

First Agency meeting...

Tonight we met the social worker who will be doing our homestudy and went over the details of what will happen now. To be honest, I went in feeling great and came out a little scared. Some is just the money, and I know that once we get through the homestudy we can apply for grants, etc. I have talked to other families, who, like us simply did not have this huge amount of money available to them! Still , she was so casual about saying things like "It probably will not be this much, but you should put aside $16,000-20,000 just in case" We are still working on putting together the $2000 for the homestudy! For us each step, each time there is $500 for this or $650 for that, we are going to be depending on God to provide it. Can we do this? Some have already expressed to us that they cannot understand why we are adopting again when we already have "more than enough" children. Will the agency see the same thing? If those of you who provided our letters of reference are reading this...oh, I THANK you. I needed to hear someone say they understood and thought we had room in our hearts and homes for another child. This is going to be even more emotional than I thought... My Christian friends, I covet your prayers. We have taken the first step and committed ourselves. I just need to find my footing a bit so I do not drown in this shallow water!

A new adoption journey...

Our home has three beautiful princesses. They are not princesses because of some misguided spoiled treatment or ideal but because their Father in Heaven is the King of all the earth and they are his daughters! We also have a one year old son, our requisite prince :)

Just yesterday we mailed the application to adopt a 4 year old girl from Haiti, our 4th princess! Our children at home are currently 1,2,3, and 5 years old. It was easy to see that someone was missing!

This is a beginning of a long journey, but one we hope will continue to be led and blessed by God. Even before this child was born He knew she would be a part of our family! Yesterday I gathered my children and we layed hands upon the thick envelope of papers that will serve as proof of our worthiness to parent a daughter from a country we have never even visited. I prayed and asked God's blessing on each person who would handle the papers as well as for our financial needs and the health of our newest daughter. Anna prayed that her sister would come home quickly and that she would get something to eat other than rice, Zaia prayed for God to help her and bless us, and Melissa was difficult to understand but prayed quietly for quite a long time. I wonder if there will be a kinship between our adopted daughters, different as their beginnings were.

I will post our updates here, and hopefully they will come quickly!