Step 1- check

Today was a big day.

I turned in the first huge amount of paperwork to start our home study.
My amazing organizational skills and slight OCD is paying off in this process, as I had every piece of paper required, first try. :-)

Also I want to mention that I believe my two boys have named their sister already. I was really looking forward to sitting down with a picture and thinking of a great girl name!
However, these two only refer to her as "Catie".
It was decided by them one night around the dinner table that she should have a "Ca" name because Caden and Caleb are both "Ca". There were some really interesting suggestions that I feel I should mention, "Candy cane" "Car" "Cara" "Castle" "Canola" and "Carmel". After listening to several more, Caleb shouted out "Catie" and then we decided it would be "ie" instead of "y".
So, from now on she will be Catie. Maybe I will get to pick the middle name...if I am lucky.

As I went to turn in our paper work, one thing stuck out, the hardest part of this process for me (to this point) has been choosing the agency. For me this was a huge step because I kept thinking with the cost, we have only one shot at this. So, in my mind if I handed over my money to an agency who "wait listed" us or just decided to close...that was it.
As soon as I walked into our agency today "Ms. K" greeted me with a huge hug. We prayed over the cashiers check and went through the records one by one. That prayer and hug was exactly what I needed. We talked for another 20-30min about Orphan care and adoption in the bible.
It is now so clear to me that God sent me to them a few months ago, He knew what kind of relationship I would need with the agency and it's employees. He is so good that way.

Today we are also getting ready to go on our "annual" Disney vacation ;)
The boys are super excited of course, and Caden pointed out that we are going to Disney to celebrate completing the 1st step toward bringing Catie home. Caleb mentioned, rather excitedly, that next year we will be able to go see the princesses at Disney since Catie will want to (he seemed to be really excited about that).

So, I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving full of turkey and pumpkin pie.
I know we had more than our share ;)

Thank you all for your continued support and prayers.
They mean so much!
Jenn

"Feast Day"

This week I have been working from home which has allowed some really interesting conversations with the boys. These two little guys teach me so much, here are some examples of what I have heard the past two days:

- "Mom you can't get mad at that lady because God says to love everyone"-Caden

- During a conversation about why we have to wait on God's timing to get our "sister" from China "I'm sorry mom it's just I already love her so much, I can't wait to hug her"- Caden

- After serving food at a local apt complex: "Mom that made those people smile, it was hard but they were happy and so I am happy in my heart."- Caden

- We were having a discussion about being responsible for our actions and how there are consequences when we do things we should not do and Caleb says "Fine, my 'constaquent' to you is no more kisses for making me not have Wii. But mom I still love you."

- I walked into Caleb's room when he was supposed to be resting and found him in the middle of a pile of toys, when I asked him what he was doing he said, "making room in here for my sister, she is going to sleep with me. Mom don't be mad, I am being nice."

- This morning I was talking about storing up riches in heaven and not here on earth, so the boys decided they would write a list of ways to store up riches in heaven: give some toys to other kids, saving our money to buy our sister a toy, help pick up stuff at church, invite our friends over to play and have a snack, love people who make us mad even when they make me really mad (and my fav:) glue mom's lamp back together that we broke ;)

Sometimes, the things they come up with don't just make me smile and laugh but they also make me stop and think about how easy it is for them to give things away and how easily they forgive a friend who was mean. I want to make sure they stay that way, that they do not harden to forgiveness or start to hang on to things with emotional attachment...trouble is first I have to learn to stop doing those things.

I Hope everyone has a Wonderful Thanksgiving or as the boys say "Feast Day" filled with family and friends.
Remember to stop and give Thanks for all of the wonderful blessings we have.
Many blessings!

Jenn

From 4 to 5

Some of you may know that we will soon be a party of 5.
For those of you who do not, keep reading :)

No, I am not pregnant and no we are not getting another dog.
We are going to adopt a child from China.

How did this come about?
Well, we have been discussing it for about a year now and it was actually Caden that put some momentum to our thinking. Caden has been praying for us to adopt a little girl, a sister for the boys, for at least a year if not two. Caleb happily joined in and well, then it was two of them adding it to bedtime prayers and talking to us about their "sister" like she was already here! We always thought we would be a party of 5 but after a difficult pregnancy with Caleb, we sort of gave up the dream. It was our little Caden who kept praying and now I am so thankful for his sweet heart. Had anyone asked me two years ago if I was going to have another child I would have replied a definite "no", but God had other plans and now I can see how he was already preparing our hearts for this journey. One thing I have learned is that God loves to show me I cannot perfectly plan out my life, just when I think I have it all under control He comes in and sweeps me off my feet. I am so glad His plans are better than ours :)

So now what?
We have started the process, chosen an agency and are about to start our Home study.
We have about 10months ahead of us and tons of paper work before we get to travel to China for 14 days to bring home our 3rd blessing. I am starting this blog to keep you all posted, we want you to experience our journey too. On the right hand side of the blog you will see an area for "Great websites" check out Show Hope, they are an amazing organization providing hope to orphans. They started Marias Big House of Hope in China, a place where orphans can receive the medical care they need and God's love. We are also using their cool shirts to help raise money toward our adoption, I will eventually figure out how to add paypal info and stuff to the blog site. In the meantime, if you are interested in purchasing one of their shirts to help raise awareness for orphan care as well as help us out, let me know.
So, that is our big news.

We appreciate all of your support and prayers!
Blessings!
Jenn, Alan, Caden and Caleb