Joint meeting with our case worker

Yesterday we went to Athen to meet with Donna, our home study case worker. We met with her for about two hours, where she asked us tons of question all about us, our families, our jobs, our religion, our church family, how we fight (HA!), how we plan to discipline, etc... Donna is such a nice person. She has a way of making you feel totally comfortable. I think/hope the interview went well. As usual, I talked excessively (mostly from nerves), hope she didn't think I was a nut case. As usual, Benji was more laid back and relaxed. He really does better with these things than I do.

A heart of gold...

God presents himself in many different ways. This past week, God has presented himself in a man willing to shave his head to help us raise extra funds to help bring our child home. Kyle Shell, an man with a heart the size of Texas, volunteered to shave his head once he raised $500 to put towards our adoption. Well he did just that last night. As I sat there and watched him loose his hair bit by bit, I felt so blessed. Anyone that know me knows that I am not one for tears at all, but as I watched Kyle get his new "do" I was fighting tears. I am blown away by this act of genuine kindness. For someone to do this just amazes me. I thank God for people like Kyle who are willing to sacrifice to help someone else out. Kyle, you are a true man of God and you will be in our hearts forever. Thank you for your sacrifice, and thank you for following your heart to help us in bringing our child home. You are an amazing person, and we pray that God pours out his many blessing on you. Here are a few pictures of Kyle's sacrifice:

Kyle Before

Getting ready for the new "do"

Halfway throught the haircut.

The Aftermath

Yard Sale # 2

This past weekend, some amazing people did a yardsale for us at Fleming Baptist Church. The amount of stuff donated to this yard sale was mind boggling. I hate calling names because I'm so scared of forgetting someone, however, these people certainly deserve to have the names called out. Heck, they need their names on a plaque. To Erin, Shasha & Jimmy, Denise & Tracy, Staci & Dwayne, Mama & Daddy, Mema & Papa , Don & Ann B., Gena K., Tammy J., and the Fleming youth group: Words just don't seem like enough to tell you how much we appreciate all of your hard work. There is a special place in heaven for people like you. We are so lucky to have all of you as family and friends. So thank-you, thank-you, thank-you, for this yardsale put us so much closer to bringing our child/children home. This yard sale was just another prime example of how God is working in our adoption, and how he is using others to help get us there.

Ashley: Thanks again for your "text-support". Every event that we have had, you have always been there texting me throughout the day with your support. I know that if you weren't a gazillion miles away in the frozen tundra of Illinois, you would've been there!

Here are a few pictures of the day:

The sign in front of the church (thanks Mr. Don and Denise!)

The youth girls.

Dwayne, Benji and Daddy...the money men (of hagglers, which ever you prefer)

Dallas and his lovely pink jump suit...compliments of the yard sale donations.

Erin and Denise at the food counter.

All the stuff!!! (except for the furniture which is behind the camera).

Hard workers!

First Call...homestudy has begun!

We got a call from our case worker for our home study. She was so nice and just gave me a great sense of peace over the process. Having someone "inspect" every aspect of your life can be quite intimidating. She let us know that she was here as our partner to help us achieve our goal, not to try to prevent it. She is coming for the home visit in two weeks. Yikes! I have got to get on the ball and get my house "home visit" ready. Plus we have a ton of other things that have to be done before she gets there (TB tests, recommendation letters, drug tests, financial records, pet vaccinations, letters from our employers, criminal background checks, and tons more). I am so excited to finally be doing something. Even if it is super hectic, I'd much rather be doing something rather than just sitting around waiting. I thank God that the proces has truly begun and that he sent us Donna, our case worker, whom I love already!

Another yard sale coming up!

I'm posting this as my thank you more so than an announcement. I really don't even know where to start to be honest. I just want to thank everyone who is putting this together in advance. Shasha, Erin, and Denise (and any others that I'm not aware of), I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart for the time and effort that you guys are putting into this yardsale. I pray that one day I will be able to bless you guys, as you are blessing us way more then you will ever know. When we started this process, I always knew that God was going to provide. However, I never thought that he'd provide by so much effort from others. I just thought that the real estate market would pick up, a few good real estate sales and poof, the money would just be there. Never did it occur to me how many people that God had placed in our lives that were going to help make this happen for us. So for those of you who are coordinating this yard sale, words do not even begin to descibe the gratitude that we are feeling right now. You will always have a special place in our hearts, and we will be eternally grateful for your part in helping bring our child/children home!

The process has begun....

Today is marks the official beginning. We are mailing our initial paperwork off today! Coincidentally, it is our 7 year anniversary. Can you detect the excitment in my writing?
Below is a picture of the evelopes of our paperwork that will be in the mail momentarily. I hate pictures of myself but Renee and Ruthie forced me to do this one. HA! I fought them hard but they made me post this picture instead of a picture of just the paperwork (and the flowers hubby sent me for our anniversary...thanks babe...I love you!) It has been a good day! Just please keep us in your prayers that this adoption will move forward quickly and that the finances will be in place when the time is right. What we sent today is a drop in the bucket compared to what we need (but we know that God is going to provide). We still have a long road to travel, and we are praying for God's guidence, and thanking him for getting us to this point, as well as putting people in our lives to help get us to where we are today.

Another "Thank You" to add...

Our town had their Christmas Parade this past weekend. During the parade two ladies from our church were selling blankets. At their booth they raffled off a blanket and the money from the raffle was given to us for our adoption fund. Benji and I can't thank Carol J. and Deborah P. enough. It really meant a lot to us for them to do this and we are so thankful to have them in our lives. I always say that I have no idea how this adoption is going to happen but it is people like this and our wonderful family that is going to help make this adoption happen.