Gettin' closer!

This photo was taken in late April, so no doubt he's changed, but here's another pic of our cutie!
We bought our tickets!

Ellie is FIVE

After a quick trip to Illinois Saturday to pick up Els, returning Sunday, life is ramping up another notch.

During the car ride home Nathan and I planned out the next 8 days or so in great detail. We're working towards the goal of leaving for Albania on June 28 or 29 so the remaining days of June seem to be rapidly vanishing. If Monday is any indication of the days' velocity, then we're in trouble!

Yesterday was Ellie's fifth birthday. She's got the 'birthday' thing figured out. We didn't tell her, but decided to sprinkle her gifts out during the day. She got a wonderful cash register with mic, cash drawer, credit card scanner, and bar code reader from Nonna and PaPa. She's also received a wonderful collection of puzzle books, small games, and other activities to take overseas. At one point in the day after hearing the 'birthday song' sung for her again, she repeated something she said in Illinois, "I LOVE birthdays!"

We're so proud of our growing girl and marvel at her expanding mind. Her verbal abilities continue to grow more sophisticated. She never forgets a thing. She's showing an interest in learning geography (which thrills us), and for the hundredth time, I remind myself that we need to get her a globe. (Do they make them in girly colors that would match her bedroom?). In the past month she's begun going to sleep by herself in her room (without us lying on the floor until she fell asleep, though she still asks us to on occasion). She's also begun expanding her pallate too, which is a great relief to us. I keep telling her they do not have peanut butter and granola bars in Albania!

Last night she told me she wanted her brother to stay in Albania and not come home with us. I think this whole idea of a fantasy brother who lives in Albania has become a permanent part of her reality (for now). Or maybe she just senses that we're getting close to leaving?

Before going to sleep she stood up on her bed and said, "I'm growing taller, Mommy! I'm going to be as big as you!" Thankfully not for a while yet, but our leggy girl is growing and we couldn't be more grateful to be her parents. Her birthdays have a way of bringing that home.

At the end of the day we finally discovered our mail had arrived (it wasn't delivered as of 4:45 so we gave up checking for several hours). It was worth the wait as the day's mail included our I-800A approval. Thank you, Jesus! You continue to watch over us! A concern of mine was that getting our fingerprints taken ahead of schedule would make it difficult for them to connect the background check with our renewal request (which might have a unique application number from our original). Anyway, it came and now we await our I-800 to be approved which will allow Bethany to schedule our court date.

I-800s take about 2-3 weeks to be approved, and ours was received on June 7, so we hope to hear something around the end of next week. In the mean time, we would like to proceed with purchasing tickets in the next 24-48 hours. Unfortunately ticket prices are insanely expensive this summer. It's not just us, but everyone is telling us they're seeing the same thing. My family buys tickets to travel to Albania at all times of the year and we've never seen prices this high before (typically around the $1200 range, they're now $1800-$2200 with horribly long layovers). It makes buying tickets an even heavier task as we try to select dates and routes and itineraries that won't waste any time and will be good stewards of the adoption funds with which we've been entrusted.

Thank you for your continued prayers and interest in our journey! We see them being answered and hope that you can sense our appreciation for them and share in our joy as we see answers like today's I-800A approval. How grateful we are for the body of Christ!

A bit of immigration news

Go ahead and yawn and skip to the bold print to get the gist of this post. However I know that some of you wonderful readers have walked this path before and are familiar with this jargon and know the state of bated breath anytime you open the mailbox to find that white envelope with a blue eagle seal in the return address.

We got our fingerprint appointment today. It was set for July 6. Thankfully, we had a conversation last month with our friend Amy Kinnell (also an adoption social worker) who told us that we could request an appointment online with the Louisville USCIS office. So we did. For May 24. We showed up and begrudgingly (after a couple of phone calls by both them and us with the National Benefits Center in MO), with five minutes to spare, they fingerprinted us in spite of not having an 'official appointment'. It really came down to the fact that they didn't know what to do with us since a lot of rules changed in April removing responsibility and authority from the local state offices and centralizing it somewhere else.

We saved 5 weeks.

Now, you can join us in praying that our May 24 fingerprints (aka FBI background check) get connected with our I-800 that should hopefully be processed sometime soon! This waiting and state of 'unknown' is getting painful!

The Road to Elbasan

We had hoped to be in the air today on our way to Albania, but we are currently waiting on some paperwork to go through here in the US (see previous blog on waiting J). God knew we needed this extra time though. We have been so busy in May, that had we left today, we would have spent much of our time in Albania worried about what we didn’t get done in Wilmore before we left. The road to Elbasan is longer than we anticipated, but God is teaching us along the way.

David’s orphanage is located in Elbasan, Albania, so “The Road to Elbasan” is partly the description of our journey of this second adoption. Also, it is a reference to the story in Luke 24 about the disciples on the road to Emmaus. Our pastor preached on this particular story recently, and again, God spoke to me personally about our adoption. Actually, He began to work on me during the praise and worship at the beginning of the service. With all of the uncertainty of timeline and paperwork, I have been scrambling to work though every possible scenario in my mind. Should we book tickets and just go as soon as we can, so we can meet David in person and hope that the paperwork will move through smoothly. But if the paperwork doesn’t come through, it could force three extra round-trip tickets for us to go back later. Every day we wait to book the tickets however the prices go up. I have been awake in the night thinking through all of this and even rehearsing our time in front of the judge. I have scoured the USCIS website and chat boards of other adoptive parents to try to get an idea of the new processes and timelines. 

These questions and others have been all consuming at times, but God reminded me that he is in control though the simple chorus:

Peace be still. Jehovah God is with you.
Peace be still. Jehovah is Lord.
Peace be still. Jehovah God is with you.
Jehovah is Lord of all.

I have had the confidence that God is working, but I haven’t been acting like it. Cydil and I have done what we can for right now. It is time for me to be still, and rest in the peace that God is working.

I could have gone home renewed then, but there was more for me to learn. The disciples on the road to Emmaus didn’t recognize Jesus when he was walking right next to them and carrying on a conversation. Why? He appeared in a way they weren’t expecting. Since my dad is a doctor, he is often recognized by patients around town, but sometimes he is so far out of context that they doubt it is him. Does a doctor drive a 1948 Ford tractor through town or shop at Odd Lots? It must have been someone who just looked like him! 

It was sort of like that with Jesus during his last days. Nothing had gone as expected. The disciples were sure that after the triumphal entry Jesus was going to set up His kingdom and restore Israel. But then days later he was dead! They had already heard the good news from the women at the tomb saying that Jesus was alive, but they apparently didn’t believe it because their faces were downcast. “…we had hoped..” How sad is that past tense statement! A loss of hope! Could their disappointment be because they were hoping in the wrong thing? We aren’t too different if we are honest. Sometimes we pray for Jesus the Great Physician and instead he shows up as the Great Comforter and we don’t recognize Him. In those situations, we often are discouraged and say, “We had hoped.” But Jesus was there all along walking with us. 

Thankfully we can often look in the rearview mirror to see Him more clearly. The disciples expressed this when they said, "Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?" Cydil and I can already see Jesus in our ‘rearview’ mirror in this adoption. From the day we first learned of David Reni, he has been our provider. On top of our great pediatrician who specializes in internationally adopted kids, He provided colleagues of my dad’s who were willing to look at the information we had and help interpret if for us. One even currently has a patient with the same rare condition! A Shriner’s hospital that specializes in orthopedics is located just up the road from us. Faith Powers, a good friend and previous Asbury student who worked with us at WGM is now a social worker at the Shriner’s hospital. Her Master’s research – a study of the psychological adaptation of children with limb deficiencies! We were already in the process of updating our homestudy were able to include the information about Reni before it was filed, saving us money and time of a second update. We were able to get our fingerprints renewed without an appointment last week which will potentially cut weeks off our timeline.

We don’t just want to see Jesus in our rearview mirror though. We believe he is walking beside us through this process and through the mundane of every day as we prepare to bring David home. Would you pray with us that during these next few weeks as we journey on our road to Elbasan that we recognize Jesus daily. It would be easy to get discouraged while we wait for paperwork to come through. We ‘had hoped’ that we would be on our way to Albania today. While in a real sense I am disappointed, Jesus has already used this time to teach me more about him, and I look forward to more of the walk.

the state of David's room now...

We couldn't leave you long with those horrible in-between paint job images. Tonight we installed the next stage of wall treatment...some pretty word art we bought at the Kinnell's fundraiser (to help them bring home their two boys from Ethiopia)! Tomorrow we're making a trek to IKEA to buy a dresser and bookcase so the room will be filling up and looking not so bare. And I received confirmation that the curtains were shipped today!

The trip to IKEA is part of an overall day away to celebrate Nathan's birthday (#35). His Mom and Dad are going to meet us for lunch before our shopping trip -- and we haven't told Ellie. I think it will be a fun thing to witness her surprise!

Hopefully the next images will feature his room looking a little less stark and bare!

Enjoy your weekend!

Painting David Reni's Room

Several weekends ago I went away to a women's retreat in Ohio and while I was gone little 'elves' came in and painted David Reni's room. This was actually the only room in our apartment that was never painted when we moved in so it has been long overdue for a paint job.

This week we painted all the trim and now the room awaits the finishing touches... Curtains have been ordered and a trip to IKEA is planned for Saturday! More pictures soon!

Shriner's Open House

This Sunday there was an open house at the Shriner’s Hospital that we will be frequenting regularly with David when he gets home. It is an amazing facility and the people we met seemed very compassionate for the kids they help. Every part of the hospital is ‘kid friendly’ with jungle and ocean themed x-ray rooms and little Jeeps so the kids can drive themselves to surgery. They make the prosthetics on-site and are able to test multiple options for each patient in the motion detection lab which uses the same motion tracking technology Hollywood and video game designers use for animation. We left the open house thankful that such a high-quality facility is just 40 minutes from our house! Isn't God good!

Ellie enjoyed visiting the hospital, but she did want to make it clear to us, "For my brother, not for me!"

Ellie named the bear on the operating table, David.

A 'real' broken bone! Ellie was fascinated.

They can decorate prosthetics with anything.
(I think something OSU Buckeyes themed might look good.)

Ellie enjoyed the 'Nemo' room which got even cooler to her when she saw some sample x-rays taken in the room.

Ellie thought the statue of Mike from Monster's Inc. was interesting. She begged us to leave the long way just so we could walk by it again and take this picture.

It's Official!

We got an e-mail this morning confirming that the AAC approved David's referral for us! We will post more later this evening about what lies ahead! Thanks for your care and concern!

Ways You Can Pray for Our Adoption

Forgive the bullet points... we've been without internet all week (thanks to the flood wiping out some crucial fiber optic lines along the Kentucky River) so we have a little bit to share quickly:

• We learned that the Albanian Adoption Committee is supposed to be meeting on Friday. Pray that they will indeed meet as scheduled and that they would recognize our letter of intent to adopt David Reni and formally refer him to us so we can proceed with obtaining a court date.
• Pray that the court date will fall sometime in early June. There are two court dates which must take place and we have a delicate timeline to walk to complete his adoption before the August "recess". We would love to have him home and transitioning before the new school year commences. We believe God cares about and is concerned about these details.
• You can pray for Ellie as she is getting quite impatient to go and 'get' her brother. A few days ago a couple walked down our driveway with a baby carrier in arms. Ellie yelled, "It's my brother!!!" and ran to meet them. We're not sure she totally grasps how far away he is from us. On the other hand, we watched "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" on Sunday which featured a 7-year-old girl with a similar condition to David Reni, Ellie left the room and returned with her leg in a paper bag, exclaiming, "I lost my foot! I need a new leg!" (click here to watch the episode online)
• Pray for David Reni that he will continue to grow and thrive under good care from the nuns at his orphanage and that his little heart will be prepared for this big transition when the time comes.
• Most people have nine months to prepare for the arrival of a baby. While our adoption journey has been much longer than nine months, we feel we have nine months of preparation to cram into potentially a few short weeks.

Thanks so much! We love and appreciate you all! Check back for updates on these updates!

Nathan's thoughts on waiting...

What do you do when you are waiting? Adoption is full of waiting and I don’t really enjoy that aspect, but there is some benefit to waiting. This past Sunday, our pastor shared about how the disciples waited after Jesus’ death and Resurrection – they went fishing.

As a brief aside, I am not sure if we have ever talked about our home church in this blog, but we have been blessed to be part of a vibrant body of believers at the First Alliance Church in Lexington for more than 11 years. The worship and teaching from the Word refreshes and challenges weekly. Nearly every week on our way home from church, Cydil and I find ourselves discussing something from Pastor Elliot’s message. He often mentions the sermon the Holy Spirit preaches around the sermon, and God has often preached directly to us through our pastor’s messages. Recently we have seemed to hear everything through the lens of adoption.

Ok back to the waiting disciples. Jesus had told them several times when warning them about his death and resurrection that they were to go to Galilee and wait for him there. The angels at the tomb told the women to remind the disciples that Jesus was going ahead of them to Galilee. So they went and waited. But where was Jesus? What should they do while they wait? According to John 21, Peter decides to go fishing and six other disciples join him. They fish all night and don’t catch anything, but they were really killing time anyway. The next morning Jesus calls from the shore and asks how many fish they have caught. The disciples have to admit what no fisherman wants to admit – no fish. Then came Jesus’ crazy suggestion that they try the other side of the boat. When they do they have a miraculous catch. They couldn’t even drag the fish into the boat, they had to drag the nets to shore, but the nets didn’t break. That is why they were able to count 153 fish. There are more details, but God’s message to me was encapsulated in this part of the story.

1. God sometimes asks us to go and wait for Him to show up. We have felt that in many ways we have been waiting in Galilee for a while now. We didn’t know that David Reni would be how Jesus would show up, and it did take a little bit to recognize Him on the shore.
2. It’s OK to do something while you wait. It has been even harder to wait these last weeks now that we have some information. The adoption committee will be meeting in the next 10 days. Since our last adoption post, we have painted David’s room (pictures to follow), filled out more paperwork, researched hotels in Elbasan, and talked a lot with Ellie (who is having more trouble waiting than we are)!
3. God’s miraculous provision follows obedience. As crazy as throwing the net on the other side of the boat may have seemed, they would have missed the amazing catch without their obedience. We weren’t expecting David, but have already experienced God’s favor as we have moved forward in obedience.
4. The nets didn’t break. This detail may seem insignificant, but I felt a peace from God with the thought that whatever the challenges of this adoption, God has equipped Cydil and I with what we need and with God’s help, our nets won’t break in the process.
5. When God works, there is value in ‘counting’ and ‘reporting’ what He has done. We hope this blog will be a place where we can report the 153 or so God sightings that are and will continue to happen.

Ellie Has Some News to Share

I know Mommy and Daddy are the ones who usually write these blog posts, but I'm quickly learning how to navigate Mom's phone and Dad's I-Pod Touch. Not to mention that my vocabulary is growing every day and I constantly long to be heard. This may be a fun new avenue to connect with my bloggy friends.

I also feel the need to speak out louder now because my voice may be diminished shortly. Let me explain.

For a long time, Mommy and Daddy have been asking me if I wanted a brother or a sister. I couldn't decide. I still get confused when I am supposed to use the proper gender pronoun! The one thing I was sure about is I am excited about a plane trip to Albania. And it looks like it might be happening soon!

Last week my mom and dad started talking about stuff in whispers when I would come into the room. They were also on the phone a LOT! It didn't take me long to put two and two together (that equals four, by the way) to realize something was going on. The question changed from, 'do you want a brother or sister?' to 'do you want a brother?' Apparently the sister option is currently off the table.


They showed me a picture of a little baby in Albania. He looks pretty cool. Really cute, actually. I think he needs a big sister. Mommy and Daddy say he will need to go to the doctor a lot when we bring him home, but that's okay because I like to go to the doctor's office. He looks really smart for a baby, and I can already tell that he'll want to get into all my stuff. I'm getting to move to a big girl bed so he can have my old crib (which I prefer to call a 'cage'). Her Albanian name is Reni (Or is it his name? Those pesky pronouns!). He has good caregivers. I had to ask mom and dad what that word meant and they told me it was the people who are watching Reni until we can go and get him. They are nones. The Mother Teresa type! They gave him a new name when he moved into their home - David. Mom and dad thought that was great since they were thinking of that name already for a boy. I was never consulted. They let me name the turtle, and I think Ziggy would be a good name for a brother too!

David Reni, as mom and dad call him, is a good eater. Maybe I will get to feed him some! He already crawls and pulls himself up, but it might be a while before he walks. He doesn't have any feet! This is the first thing I noticed! I have been checking out lots of other babies, and they all have feet. I think his feet are just curled up and the doctor can unfold them and give him toes. Mommy and daddy say that his feet will have to be made out of plastic. That is why we will be at the doctor's a lot. Since he has legs to below his knees, he should be able to be able to run and play with me with his new legs when he gets them! He is 8 months old, so his birthday will be this summer after I turn five. We hope we can have him home before his first birthday, but we need a lot of people to pray for us!

Until more things are "finalized" (I have to remember to ask mommy what that means) we can't post more pictures or video of David. Mommy thinks there will be other things to blog about though - room designs, packing lists, answered prayers, and of course more pictures of me!

Hi! This is Nathan. I caught Elisona writing this post and decided to fill in a few gaps! David's referral was given to our agency and not specifically to us. Cydil and I had requested a 'healthy' child under 36 months of age, but Bethany Christian Services sent us an e-mail with David's picture (not the one in this post) and a few lines of information just in case we were interested. Since that e-mail a week ago today, there have been lots of prayer, tears, phone calls, prayer, research, laughter and did I say prayers? We are aware that there will be challenges ahead that we can't even imagine, but have a peace that only can come from a living and active God! We have been encouraged over and over again through scripture and the assurance of the prayers of our family and friends. Reni's "Christian" name of David itself brought tears when we discovered it. Cydil and my dads both carry that name. As I pondered King David's story I was reminded of the often qoted Biblical truth that came at his introduction to Samuel:

"The LORD does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart." 1 Samuel 16:7b

Our prayer for David is that he will also be known as "A man after God's own heart."

We appreciate so much your interest in our family! We have been dying to share about this from day one because we covet your prayers! Feel free to ask any questions. Feel free to leave a comment to let us know your thoughts. The aventure is beginning again. It may be time to update our blog header!

We have sent our letter of intent to adopt. The Albanian Adoption Committee will be meeting sometime in early May to review our letter and hopefully formally refer him to us.

It's October!!???!!

I'm sensing it's time to post an update on adoption #2. Before anyone gets their hopes up, we don't have any news. I suppose I'm bringing it up because it's been so long since I've mentioned it on here, I thought such an 'update' might serve as humble plea for your prayers. We do covet your prayers in this. We have felt a strong sense of God's timing in so many areas relating to this second adoption journey, that we want to trust Him and be patient for His timing in this next phase, yet have a sense of anticipation so we're ready and prepared for the big transition it will be.

I suppose I'm mentally 'visiting' these adoption thoughts because the anniversary of our phone call about Ellie is approaching in a few days. I wonder how long we'll continue to associate fall and the approach of Thanksgiving with our excitement and preparation for meeting and bringing her home? If the 'wait' for our second child follows the same general timeline as the process/wait for our referral of Ellie, we would hear something this soon. Yet my mind reminds me that this is wildly unrealistic. After all, we're still waiting with our friends, the Gezons, for their older child referral that's going on 30+ months. Praise the Lord, a sweet adolescent girl has been identified for them and she was to be eligible for international placement this month. Now we wait to hear if the AAC had their September meeting and if the referral became offcial.

Yes, it is possible that they might also refer us a child at this meeting, but again, we're trying to be patient and wait. In the mean time, Ellie brought home 'homework' this week. It's a large sheet of white paper that we're supposed to fill with words and pictures about a place where Ellie wants to travel and how she's going to get there (this week's unit is on transportation). Of course, we're planning to draw the biggest airplane on it and surround it with photos of Alb*nia. We've talked about it with her in the theoretical sense and it's impossible to know what she's grasping and what she's not, but we believe she's at a place now with her confidence and attachment to us where bringing in a child won't be detrimental to her continued development but should enhance it. I think she will be extremely excited when the time comes and we can't wait to share this experience with her. Though we not so naive to think that excitement won't wear off...

In the mean time, we're treasuring our time with her and this current stage of life. It seems that the prince and princess thing has not worn off. This morning it took 4 tries to find a shirt that was 'pretty' enough for her (this makes 3 days in a row of struggling to find clothes that are pretty enough -- we suspect she gets special attention at school when she wears dresses). She finally told Nathan, "No, [not a regular shirt from the dresser but], up there!" Pointing to the closet. Of course! ALL pretty clothes are stored on hangers and would never be folded up and stuffed in a dresser drawer! Fortunately Nathan found a shirt that wasn't too fancy for school yet I had for some reason hung it up with her church clothes instead of storing it with her school clothes in the dresser.

Last week Nathan picked her up from school a few days in a row without me. I was tickled to hear her come in the door each time and holler, "Princess Mommy! Where ARE you? Princess? Princess?" Today I picked her up solo while Nathan was at home working in the yard. As I buckled her in she asked, "Daddy? Where's the prince?" So funny. This coming from a girl who still prefers cars and trucks and baseballs over dolls and toy kitchens.

Sorry no pictures this time. I'll try to do better next time. ;-)

A little update...

There's some adoption news below but first I felt the photo above needed an explanation. Many of you may know that little brings Ellie more joy than playing with a balloon. They make wonderful rewards/incentives for good behavior, not to mention easy, portable entertainment! A while ago I made the 'mistake' (?) of drawing her face on a balloon and now nearly every one she gets will be followed by the words, "Face? Draw face?" In fact, a few weeks ago she thought she would help by finding a Sharpie, removing the cap and bringing it to me!

I can't remember what precipitated the photo above, except that it might have been the first time I was challenged by Nathan to draw myself. I think I will stick to Nathan and Ellie. This is as close as we've gotten to a 'family photo' in several weeks or maybe even months and I needed a photo to accompany this post.

We returned from our three-state tour on Monday afternoon and have been transitioning into summer mode. We've got our project list made up and given ourselves deadlines. We'll see how it goes!

Funny story from our trip: on the way to Marion from Grand Rapids Nathan made a hasty decision to whip off the interstate to grab a St*rbucks. I had been chatting on the cell phone and had no idea what state we were in, much less what city. I wrapped up my call and walk into the store to see Nathan chatting with someone. Maybe they were asking about the enormous kayak on the roof of our van? As I came into the store I took a double take! It was a student (from Alaska, so you can understand by double surprise) who went to Argentina with Nathan in March. Not only that, but he was sitting at a table with two friends who were also equally surprised...because a photo of Nathan was open on Steve's laptop! Steve had been visiting friends (in Ft. Wayne, by the way) and showing them photos of the trip to Argentina. Crazy, eh?

Okay, now to the adoption update:
On Monday we got the news that our dossier has completed the translation stage and been submitted into the AAC registry. It always feels good to pass another milestone. The next thing we'll wait for is our actual referral! We're prepared for a long wait but of course would like for it to come sooner rather than later. Thank you for your continued interest and prayers for us and the next Waggoner!

Got It!

After hearing many frustrating stories of delays, rejections, and requests for home study re-writes we were prepared to wait five to six months for the wonderful piece of paper that arrived in Friday's mail. So you can imagine our excitement to find our immigration approval in the mail after less than two months of waiting! It appears that the kinks are finally being worked out in the new system for those of us adopting from "Hague" countries.

So what's next? We will wait for the word that our dossier has been translated and submitted to the Albanian Adoption Committee (AAC). From there we wait some more. While we already have plenty to keep us occupied during the next several months, we have been told that the wait could be as long as two to three years. The number of adoptable children in Albania has dropped dramatically since Ellie's adoption two years ago (something we just became aware of in the last month or so). My bloggy friend, Melissa, visited Ellie's orphanage last month and reported that only about ten or so children currently occupy the facility in Vlore (there were close to thirty there in 2006).

In our conversations with others about this second adoption, certain questions are pretty common. Since you may be wondering the same things, I'll share the answers to those frequently asked questions...

1.) We have requested a child 36 months of age or younger, so Ellie will retain her 'birth order.'

2.) We have not specified a desire for a boy or a girl -- one can't request that when having biological children so we will happily accept what God gives us. It will also add to the fun and surprise when our referral comes!

3.) We have no idea which orphanage our child will come from. There are a number of different orphanages throughout the country -- it just depends on what child becomes available and where he or she is living.

4.) We plan to take Ellie with us. We feel strongly about this being a family experience. In addition to taking Ellie back to visit the ladies who cared for her in Vlore, there are also a number of friends in Albania that we want to re-introduce Ellie to so as she grows up, she will be able to count many Albanian 'aunts' and 'uncles' amongst her extended "family."

In other news, we were pleased to bump into the Kinnells at Fiesta Mexico Friday night and meet Chloe and Essie in person! Ellie has enjoyed looking at their pictures on their blog and we hope to have a play date some time this week. It's Ellie's spring break and we're going to try to plan some fun activities to keep her from getting too bored. ;-)

Thanks for checking in!

Shutterfly.com Features Ellie's Adoption Book

A few months ago I wrote a post about some of the unusual ways in which we have seen God provide the finances for Ellie's adoption, and now how we are seeing the same again for the second adoption we are embarking upon. At the time that post was written, we were aware of another possible provision in the works but nothing had been finalized yet to where we could share it with many people.

In December I received an e-mail out of the blue from the creative director of Shutterfly.com, an online photo company which I have used for sharing photos, ordering prints, and creating photobooks of images from our various trips or family get togethers. In his note, Robert told me that Shutterfly was going to launch a new baby microsite and wanted to feature our story. If selected, we would receive compensation for the use of our photographs. A few weeks ago, they contacted us again, this time to use an image from the book in print publicity (it's literally the size of a postage stamp) but they are going to pay us again! Wow!

Anyway, it's been hard not to share this until we knew for sure that it was going to happen. Today I got an e-mail that the site is live!

Click here to visit the site and read our story.

I've shared a link to the book on this blog before, but if you want to view the book, click on the box with link below our article titled "Explore Their PhotoBook". Below the book you can read viewer comments.

Yummy & Yucky

What do you want to hear first? The yummy or the yucky?

I'll start with the Yummy...

Sundays here can be kind of zany... between church in the morning and Global Cafe in the evening (and everything in between) we keep a full plate on a day 'of rest'!


After Global Cafe is over and the crowds have dispersed, we enjoy a more relaxed supper with our guest speakers, and, if what I've planned for the meal is easy and cheap enough to multiply, I'll invite our student cabinet to stick around for more intimate fellowship with our guests. This past Sunday night was such a night and I have to say, having a crowd around our table is a very satisfying feeling. Maybe because it's no frills, buffet style off the kitchen counter and the conversation is more important than perfectly matching tableware and serving pieces.


Sunday I tried a variation on Mom Waggoner's spaghetti pie (which I read several years ago and lost, so this may be a distant cousin of a neighbor of that recipe) and got some recipe requests so here goes: 1/2 pound spaghetti, cooked and drained. Toss with 2 beaten eggs, half a stick of butter, and about 1/4 grated parmesan cheese. Place coated noodles in the bottom of a 9x13 pan. Spoon the contents of a small tub of Ricotta cheese over the noodles. Brown and drain 1 lb of italian sausage. Combine with one jar of spaghetti sauce. Pour over noodles and cheese. Add a layer of mozzarella cheese and cook at 375 for 30-40 minutes (or till contents are bubbling and cheese is beginning to brown).

Okay... now for the yucky.

Yesterday the mail came and contained a pink letter from the United States Department of Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) requesting further evidence of our legal status in America. Apparently our home study agency submitted with our home study to USCIS photocopies of IDs and birth certificates (as they had been doing for previous clients and this is what we did for Ellie's adoption in 2006) but now with the new Hague Requirements going into effect, USCIS's requirements are currently evolving and photocopies will no longer do now!

Thankfully we had some extra certified copies of Nathan's birth certificate (because they are relatively cheap thanks to the State of Indiana), but we had to reapply for another certified marriage record. This time I requested TWO because who knows when we may be asked to produce another! (at $14 each plus processing fees, one doesn't necessarily request more than you need, because the issue dates can also expire so if you don't produce them to someone sooner than 6 months, they can be worthless). For some reason, a photocopy of the bio page of my passport will suffice (I guess since Nathan is the primary requester and I am just 'the spouse').

So we have a slight delay in keeping our paperwork moving. It could be much worse, but delays are always discouraging. We're thankful we can rectify this rather easily and hopefully get them the evidence they are requesting by the end of the week.

In the mail...

Yesterday we got two pieces of mail from the department of Homeland Security... fingerprint appointments next week. Things are moving along.

Paper Chasin'

Dear Waiting Little One,

Our journey to you is one step closer after today. Not every day was like today, but I wanted to share just a few of the lengths we have gone to to bring you home (and our journey is really just beginning)!

The process of adoption can sometimes be a tedious exercise. Many call the phase we have nearly completed the ‘paper chase.’ That’s a pretty apt term, as I reflect upon this afternoon.

It started one August morning in a Panera where your dad and I holed up with our laptops, determined to finish the agency application and get the process of your adoption off the ground. It continued through the next several months with more hours at computer screens typing our personal biographies and parenting plans for you, not to mention writing back and forth with our adoption coordinator seemingly hundreds of questions about how to do this or that. It included meetings with our social worker, Anne, whom you’ll hopefully meet some day and visits to the doctor’s office to verify that we (Dad, Mom and Els) were drug and disease free. Over the last few weeks we knew we were getting close to ‘the end’ and became more and more anxious for the day when we could send everything off to go to Albania for translation and await American immigration approval.

Last week we were SOOO close we could just taste it, but we ran into a few challenges (one I won’t bother explaining because it got resolved) but the latter involved getting three people together at the same time to sign off on our home study. It wouldn’t be ready until at least today, provided one of the three individuals returned to work after some time off for bereavement. At 1PM this afternoon we drove up to Lexington to pick up the much anticipated notarized Home Study before driving to the Fayette County Clerk’s office for the necessary certification of the notary. Then we could then make a quick trip to the Capitol in Frankfort for the shiny gold “apostille” sticker and send it off to Michigan before the big snow & ice storm was to hit the Bluegrass tonight and possibly delay our precious papers any longer.

We arrived at the clerk’s office and got our first red flag. We had brought another document with us for certification in addition to the home study. It was a letter from our accountant which we were informed was notarized in Fayette County by a notary not *registered* in Fayette county. The nice lady made phone call after phone call and was unable to track down in which county the CPA’s notary was registered! Eventually we reached the CPA on our cell phone to relay our dilemma. She called us back a few minutes later to tell us the notary was registered in Lincoln County, 40 miles south of where we sat in the public library parking garage. She had to look up the county seat in Lincoln County on the internet and gave us an address to put into the GPS. (Note: we had discussed the option of drawing up a replacement letter but she couldn’t have it for us until Wednesday at the earliest. )

We decided we could not wait another day and I would drop off your Dad and Ellie in Wilmore (not too far out of the way, and there was no need for them to travel hither and yonder when I could do it by myself) and race down to the Lincoln County Courthouse and turn around to drive north again to Frankfort for the apostille. I would be cutting it very close as it was already approaching 2 o’clock and the office in Frankfort closed at 4:30! On the way to Wilmore I called the Courthouse in Stanford to verify that the notary was indeed registered (I didn’t want to make an 80 mile trip for nothing). Yes! She was registered! I called your grandparents in Illinois to fill them in on the situation and to pray, pray, pray that we could get this DONE TODAY!

The trip to Lincoln County was pretty uneventful. Their courthouse was charming, as were the two ladies in the clerk’s office who appeared to be the only ones working on the entire floor. They pointed out a property deed dating back to the 1700s, hanging and framed on the wall, handwritten on sheepskin. It felt like a visit to a museum, it was very quiet, clean, everything appearing quite old except for the one computer in the room. I was a little nervous when they seemed a bit confused about the document I was requesting. Apparently not too many people in Lincoln County pursue international adoption. Rather than pulling the certification document up on the computer and filling in the necessary fields, they started culling a stack of file folders for a form to photocopy, then hand write in the blanks. They didn’t seem too concerned about rushing anything, and nearly forgot to give me my papers back after handwriting my receipt.

I finally got back to the van at 3:08 and my heart sank when I plugged in the address for the Capitol in Frankfort. Arrival time: 4:28. WHAT??? I didn’t expect the drive to be quite that long. At this point I really started praying. Did I risk the trip to Frankfort only to arrive a few minutes late, with another 45 minutes of driving to get home? I didn’t consider this too long in light of the severe weather that the radio station kept repeating was heading our way. After making the trek to Lincoln County, I had to give it a try to get to Frankfort yet today, or I may as well have waited til Wednesday for a new CPA letter because it didn’t sound like I would make it to the Capitol tomorrow.

I raced to Frankfort as fast as I dared. Every stoplight was painstakingly long, and there were a lot of them! At one stretch in the trip, I was able to carve 5 minutes off of the arrival time. I called the Records Office on my cell phone to tell them I was coming. They said, “If you’re here by 4:30, we will help you, but not any later.”

I got within 3 miles of the court house and I think I hit every light but one. It was agony as the traffic increased and the minutes crept back up on my projected arrival time. I finally turned onto the avenue leading up to the Capitol. It’s a beautiful little street with a grassy, tree-lined median and the Capitol building sitting up on a hill at the end of the road. I’ve seen it in the spring time with blooming dogwoods and tulips (when we completed our dossier for Ellie), I’ve seen it in the autumn with brilliant orange foliage (when we apostilled our acceptance documents for her referral), and today I saw it covered in snow as I brought these precious papers which completed our Dossier for you. I know each time I’ve wished I had a camera (and we had plans for a blog picture of Ellie standing in front of it today holding up papers with the shiny gold stickers), but it wasn’t going to happen this time either!

I had already stripped off my coat so I wouldn’t have anything delay me at security and I could run straight back to the office. It was 4:28. The closest available parking spot was empty. Yay! I did my fastest parallel parking job ever, grabbed my purse, locked the van and started jogging up the hill and the hundred-some steps leading up to the Capitol. My legs started to feel like jello.

I wobbled to the doors and my heart sank. They were locked. I tried every one and shook them VERY hard just in case someone inside heard me and wanted to help. NOTHING. I called your dad. I was discouraged. I couldn’t believe I had come this far and just missed completing the mission by one lousy minute. I looked at the phone. It said 4:30. I saw a trail of salt on the sidewalk and decided to see where it led. I followed it around a corner into an alcove and an unmarked door that was OPEN! There was a metal detector and a desk for a security officer but no one was there… so I went in and bypassed the metal detector (I guess no one was watching the security cameras because I wasn’t stopped)! Having been to the Records Office before, I knew right where to go. There was a light on in the office and my hope rose some more! I walked past the janitor’s cart parked outside the door and one lady was at her desk back in the corner. I asked, “Would you be willing to apostille some documents?” She said yes! THANK YOU JOHNNA! You get a gold star in my book today! Thank you for working late! (And, thank you to all of the wonderful government employees I encountered today – they were ALL very kind and helpful!)

When I left the building a few minutes later, a motion sensor let me out the same way I entered. My guess is that this particular door was on an auto timer and I entered it not a moment too late! Jesus got me there just in time and not a second too late! I got in before the clock advanced to 4:31 and the doors could lock me out.

And that, dear one, is just one of the afternoons we spent chasing papers to bring you home. Thanks for bringing a little excitement to our dreary wintry day. ;-)

Funny How God Provides

Whenever I discuss the topic of adoption with others, finances are the main reason people give for why they are afraid to pursue it. That's an open door for me to share the miraculous ways in which God provided for Ellie's adoption, at specific times, just when we needed it -- amazing provision that allowed us to complete her adoption debt free. Those miracles, and especially the timing of those provisions, were the confirmations we needed to build our faith and showed us just how much God cares for orphans to provide for those who step out in faith to bring them into a family relationship.



Since Nathan and I have a practice of putting any unexpected monetary gifts into our adoption savings fund, the e-mail we received from World Gospel Mission today was a pleasant surprise. Our adoption fund is going to get another deposit soon (this is especially welcome news since we just paid a large chunk last week to our adoption agency and the savings fund took a dip). The e-mail today revealed that for the last two years we have had too much money taken out of our paycheck for health insurance. Since it coincided with the first month we had Ellie with us, we assumed that the bump in the withdrawl was associated with adding her to our insurance. Wrong! Turns out that for two years we've been paying too much into our insurance fund and we're going to get nearly $3,000 back! Yippee! Thank you God for this unexpected blessing! (even if it is "our own" money) (And extra bonus -- my paycheck will go up a bit going forward as this mistake is corrected)!

Happy New Year!

(Thursday)
I'm sorry I don't have any photos to post tonight. Last night we just had too much fun to pull out a camera (or I was too lazy). After keeping Ellie from taking a nap yesterday afternoon, we put her to bed minutes before our company arrived. We had a quiet game night planned with our friends Jonathan and Faith and Kristen and Viktor. We made up individual scorecards and during the hours leading up to 12AM we played a variety of different games from board games to Wii games to wagering our accumulated points on which colored marble would reach the end of Ellie's marble race track first. It was nice to spend some time with friends, even though we'd just returned from family time, the student center (and Wilmore in general) has been SO quiet!


One thing we didn't consider about putting Ellie to bed slightly early was the fact that she might wake up early. She did wake up early, but is still enjoying becoming reacquainted with her toys after being away as well as playing with some of her new Christmas things so we managed to catch a few more light z's while she played in her room.



It's hard to believe we are starting our third year of parenting her. It's really getting to be a lot of fun as her communication improves and her frustration and frequency of tantrums diminish. We're getting to see more of her fun-loving personality emerge and enjoy getting feedback from our interaction with her. I noticed this morning that she is now making sentences using "It's..." For instance, this morning she climbed on a stool and starting pointing to items on Nathan's dresser saying. "It's Daddy's hat! It's Daddy's... [fill in the blank]." She climbed into his chair and proudly announced, "It's Daddy's chair!" She's using all kinds of verbs now which has enabled her to convey even more, though her sentences are still only 3-4 words at a time. Then tonight as we were putting her to bed giving hugs, she said to Nathan, "One more squeeze!" Melt my heart.



As we look forward to this next year, I hope I can add potty trained to her list of accomplishments. Yes, she is three and a half and still doesn't see the point. Even now that she can say "pull ups" and "diapers," she can't seem to remember consistently to tell us when she has to go!



I also hope that this year we might be able to anticipate adding to our family! We mailed our dossier for a second adoption up to our agency in Michigan last week and hope that it will be able to be sent to Albania sometime later this month to begin translation. The wait time for Albanian adoption can be very unpredictable so we don't know how to answer the question you may have in terms of when we 'might hear something'. Before our dossier can be submitted to the Albanian Adoption Committee we first need immigration approval from our government here in the U.S. and lately that has been taking several months now that we (the USA) must comply with the Hague Treaty on International Adoption. In light of the increased wait time, Bethany has permitted the balance of our paperword to go ahead with translation so it's all ready to go when we get the necessary approval from USCIS. We'll keep you posted as to the status of our immigration approval, but really don't expect that Bethany will be able to submit the complete dossier to the committee in Albania until later this spring. Then the real waiting will begin.



It's fun to ask Ellie now if she wants a sister or a brother (we haven't specified a preference). Originally (as in, within the last month) she would answer, "brudder." Now, she says, "sister." Pretty cute, even though I know she doesn't really know what that means yet.



Thank you for your interest in our lives. We will covet your prayers with us as we do this again! We know how incredibly rewarding the adoption experience can be, but we also know how many anxious days and nights are in store; that there may be times when our patience will run thin; when we will doubts and questions. Thankfully we serve a sovereign God who has all of our days in his capable hands, including the days of a child whose life will someday intersect with ours. We can't wait.