FINGERPRINTS!!!!!!!

SOOO excited! We got the letter today! And the best part is NO APPOINTMENT NEEDED!!! We can go anytime during buisness hours!!!! So guess where we will be Monday?!?! I am shaking!!! I know its only fingerprints but...my adoption friends understand!! Thank you Lord!!!

So for those of you who don't understand my excitement...7 months of paperwork all for one last form....which will come after we get fingerprinted! Then we mail all our paperwork to our adoption agency who then forwards it to Ethiopia! Then we officially get on the waiting list!!!

So the next prayer is that our fingerprints pass and our 171H form comes quickly!! DTE in January? Hey I can pray for miracles right?!

Yes...still waiting...

It has been 4 WEEKS since the USCIS recieved our application! Everyday I go to the mailbox praying for our appointment letter...everyday Christmas cards and no appointment! The longer the wait the more discouraged I get. So many families have waited so long but I was praying that we would sail through! First the long delay with our Home Study, mix ups with paperwork and much outside disapprovel about our choice to adopt. It has been a trying 7 months and we haven't even really begun. I am a very...lets say it...controlling person( you have to be to raise a family..to some degree)..and I have NOOOO control over anything! I had all of our paperwork done it record time and now I look to the future and I fear it will expire before it is needed. Each document needed to be notarized with an expiration that was no less than a year. Well now I know why. State and county certifications, physicals, fingerprints, police background checks etc. They all can expire.
All I can help feeling lately is..I want my children and I feel like someone is keeping them from me. I know its weird to say when I don't even know who they are yet. Is my son born yet? Is my daughter alone and afraid? Is someone holding her and telling her they love her? Does she have food? Who will comfort them if they cry? I hug my kids everyday, give them kisses and tell them I love them. It is heartbreaking to know of all of the children out there that don't get that!
 So many families are traveling right now to pick up their children...what a Christmas gift!I wish them all safe travels and a blessed Christmas with their children.
Continue to pray for us during our journey..

Snow Day!!

Today we got our first winter blast of snow...so I tried to be productive..we took our Christmas picture!

Kisses from Katie

Everyday we have moments where we feel overwhelmed....Parenting is a daily challenge. Katie is a testimony to Gods grace, through him all things are possible. Katie is a 21yr old who lives in Uganda with her 14 adopted children. She is so inspiring, read her blog http://www.kissesfromkatie.blogspot.com/ Do you know any 21yr olds who are as amazing as her?!

Blessings

Matteo and Marianna modeling thier face paintings

Francesca and Matteo modeling our shirts

                                              

My sister came to the Buffalo for Africa event..we met a lot of great people!

Today I am Thankful for all of my blessings. This whole process has made us open our eyes to the world in a whole new way. I am so thankful for the wonderful man that is my husband and my 3 beautiful kids. We all go on with life day to day often without much thought but how often do you count your blessings? We have the constant stresses of life, work, kids, errands, bills, etc. In the grand scheme all of the worrying and stressing what are we accomplishing? We have the love of the Lord and the love of our families....the rest will all work out! I am the first to stress about everything possible but when I have time to slow down and look at my life...I take a breath and realized I am blessed! My kids are growing so quickly if only we could slow life down and appreciate everything even the crazy days!

This adoption process has many ups and downs...it tests your faith with every step but in the end I know we will have 2 more beautiful..blessed children