Good News!!

Chris and I got our I-171H in the mail today!!!!!! What's that, you might ask? Well, it is a form from the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) telling us that they have determined that we "are able to furnish proper care to an orphan or orphans...". Bottom line: we are now done with all the paperwork (until we receive our child's referral) and have been approved by everybody in order to adopt our child!!!!!!!!!!

Writing that, I am getting tears in my eyes. This entire process (trying to conceive, all the fertility treatments, the paperwork for the adoption process) has been so long and frustrating, heartbreaking; Chris and I have weathered many tears together, wildly hoping one minute, then getting devastating news the next. These are issues that many couples never have to deal with, thank God, but through it all, we have been there for one another. I love him so much for that! He has held me through my tears, my anger, my frustration. He has held me through our discussions of what our next step will be. He has held me when there wasn't anything else left to say. He is my rock; my husband; the father of my children. Next Father's Day, we hope to be celebrating at home with our child. Chris will be a wonderful father and I cannot wait to experience that with him. As we celebrate our anniversary this week, we are going to dream of the life-changing circumstances that are soon to come our way, and pray and hope that it gets here quickly!!

Happy Father's Day to all the fathers out there, and especially to you, my darling husband!

Prayer Request...Pass It On!

It has been almost six months since my online friend, Kara, and her family "met" their son, Cameron, through his referral. Unfortunately, his paperwork has been held up for a while now and, as they get to the six-month mark, we are asking for prayers for that paperwork to finally come through so that they can go meet him in person and bring him home. I ask that you join us in praying for this long-overdue miracle this Sunday at 5:55pm CST (B., that would be 6:55pm for you :) ). This would be 7:55am Monday morning in Korea, just before the start of the work week. Hopefully, with all the prayers and thoughts that are sure to be sent that way, Kara and her family will hear the good news they have been waiting for for such a long time. Thanks, everyone!

Lots of love, Kara!!

Busy Week

Chris and I have been very busy this past week! We have been wanting to get our driveway extended to the side of the garage in order to put our camper there. That way, we wouldn't have to worry about getting it out over muddy/wet ground and we could get rid of the awful rock "stuff" that was in front of our fence. We got around to calling contractors to see how much money they would want for it and the bids weren't nearly as much as we were fearing, so....



...two weeks ago we decided to go for it and it looks so much nicer (just wait until the grass grows in)!! We did take out the fence ourselves, which took about an hour, and the concrete guys did the rest. They even hauled away all that old rock for us! We still have to put up a new fence and gate behind the camper so that the dogs have free run of the backyard. Yesterday while I was at work, Chris spread out the pile of dirt they left behind and today we planted grass seed. The camper is now sitting in its new spot and we can use our whole garage again for our cars. Yeah!!



Last weekend, we went camping on our land in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan and had a great time. We did nearly freeze a couple of nights when it got down in the high 30's...brrrr!! Good thing we can now hook up to the electric we got put in this spring and were able to run the little electric heater we bought. It was nice weather for the most part while we were there, though. Here is our camper all popped up and Chris relaxing by the awesome fire we had the first night there. We also put together a picnic table that we bought to have up there, but I forgot to take a picture of it assembled. :(



The fire just looks so beautiful at night. Wish we could do that every night!



This is our last day camping. Chris wanted to cut down a tree near our campsite as we were leaving because it was pretty rotten and would probably have fallen soon anyway. This view is from our campsite looking out, so you can see how close it is to us. He didn't want it falling while we were gone and blocking our site, or, God forbid, falling across the campsite while we are there!! He loves using his power tools (especially the chainsaw, which he doesn't really get to use at home!) and is getting very good at placing where he wants a tree to fall. My very own lumberjack!!



So that has been our busy past few weeks. Gearing up for more summer vacations and fun; it's gonna fly past!! Maybe more work on the house as well?!

First Baby Quilt

Just a quick note for the week: my mom and I started and completed the world quilt project that I wrote about recently and it turned out so neat!! These pictures don't really do it justice, but I had to try to give you an idea of what we did. A lot of credit goes to mom; she sewed around each state so they would stand out. (I put her to work on that while I went to work!) The reverse side, we tied, and then put the two sides together...sounds much easier than it actually was!! I'm so glad it's done; it makes the whole adoption seem more real somehow.


Here's mom working on outlining the states. She did most of this while I was at work...thanks, Mom!!


I'm starting to tie the world side of the quilt...so much quicker and easier than sewing it!!


Sewing the satin border to both sides of the quilt; it's all one piece after this.

FINISHED...

...state-side...


...and the world.

I can't wait to be able to use this when our baby arrives!!

What's Your Sign?

WOW! What an emotional video. A blogger friend of mine, as well as a "waiter" who received her referral for her son recently, posted this song. Her blog from Mother's Day is so eloquent; the title of this blog will take you there. I watched the video for the first time this morning and just sat in front of the computer and cried. Chris and I could have been the ones holding so many of those signs. Others that we'll never get the chance to hold. Right now, we're honored to be holding one that states "Becoming parents through adoption." One day, we will hold one with our child's name on it. I just needed to share this awesome, powerful video with you.

Happy Mother's Day

In my previous blog, I stated how this Mother's Day was going to be bittersweet...well, Chris just made it a whole lot more sweet than bitter! I was getting ready for work on Mother's Day morning and came downstairs where I noticed a card sitting on the table, addressed to me. I opened it up and it was a Mother's Day card that Chris had bought. As if that wasn't sweet enough, he asked his friend's brother (who lives in Korea; I believe he teaches English there) to help him translate Happy Mother's Day into Korean!!! They don't actually celebrate Mother's Day in Korea, so they don't have a direct translation for it, but they do celebrate Parent's Day. The brother sent Chris a link to some Korean Parent's Day cards and he copied that onto the card and then signed it from our child. By the time I actually took this all in, I had tears running down my face and ran back upstairs, where he was waiting with a grin on his face because he knew I'd be back up!!! So, what I thought would be a rough day turned out to be a beautiful one!


picture caption: close up of what roughly says "Happy Parent's Day, Thank you for all your good wishes" and "Love" on the second line, in Korean

We also bought a frame last week that we are saving for the first picture we receive of our child when we get the referral. I was excited to hang it up this morning and start turning one of our spare bedrooms into the nursery. I can't believe I just wrote that...we're going to have a nursery!!! I didn't think this day would ever come! I know a picture frame isn't much, but it's a start and so very exciting!! Chris found the frame after hunting through a bunch at Kohl's. Isn't it precious?



Can't wait to do more!!!

Rainy Day Blog

So, I'm just waiting around for the guy to come give an estimate on how much it will be to extend the driveway out to the side next to our garage to that we can park our pop-up camper there. It will be sooo nice not to have to try to get it through the soft ground in the spring and fall...and it will be great to have the whole garage back for our vehicles!!!

My friends Sue and Blake met their son yesterday in Korea!! She's posted pictures and video of their new family, and their son is so cute...and seems so comfortable with them already. He was just meant to be theirs!! Congratulations, my friends. Can't wait to see you when you get home! I do believe God blessed you with the child that was meant to be yours.

My hubby got a new haircut this week...short! And I love it!! Here he is grilling this week, since it was so nice out. What a handsome guy!



My good friend, Rita, and her family are going to be moving next week. Her husband just graduated from vet school and got a job in Chicago near her family. They are definitely going to be missed. "Miss Maeve" and "Baby G" are going to be so much closer to their grandparents and cousins living there, but we'll miss seeing them grow up. :( Rita, you'll just have to send a lot of pictures and visit often!!!



This is a bittersweet weekend...Mother's Day. I celebrate my mother this weekend and thank her for everything she does for me. She has been the best mother anyone could ask for, and has grown into a good friend as well. She has given me so much support and love my entire life. There are really no words to express how much love I have for her and I hope she knows just how much she means to me.
I look forward to sharing that same kind of love with my child(ren), if so blessed with them. Growing up, I never dreamed that I might not become a mom, yet these last 4 1/2 years have shown me that nothing is guaranteed. Chris and I have struggled with this dream to become parents and, at one point, even decided to live child-free, but I guess that decision never felt completely right to us. After being drawn to become parents through adoption, we have gone through a gamut of emotions: excited ("we're going to be parents!"), scared ("oh my gosh, we're going to be parents!"), impatient ("when are we finally going to be parents?"), among others. I look at moms this weekend and think, "Will I finally get to celebrate this holiday next year from the other side of it, or will I still be waiting?" It just hurts my heart to think that I may still be in this limbo a year from now. I will keep hoping and praying for our paperwork to go through quickly and for a referral as soon as possible after that, so that next year we can have a double celebration on this weekend!! Please, please pray with me.
Happy Mother's Day to all you mom's out there!!