Merry Christmas!

Wow! I guess I don't do very well at blogging, huh? I never seem to remember to write on my blog page except when I'm laying in bed at midnight or when I'm not even home. So, what is going on at our house. Well, with just 2 days 'til Christmas we are gearing up for some festivities. Faith is super excited and has done her own shopping (on Daddy's dime 8-). With visits to her 2 grandparents planned over the holidays she has informed me she wants to make cookies to take with us. I trust you all have a very Merry Christmas as you remember the REAL reason for the Season.

As for the adoption, we are in the "waiting mode" once again. We have submitted our homestudy and been approved and have been told the remainder of our documents need to be submitted in April. We hope & pray things will continue as planned. However, the foreign gov. has been threatening to halt all adoptions to update their proceedures. So far nothing has happened, but there is talk....we just pray that is all there is - just talk. For now, we wait and hope we can continue on with the plan of submission in April.

Bob is off the next 2 weeks. 8-) When the end of the year came rolling around he had a bunch of time saved up as we had been planning to travel in May or so for our adoption to KZ. When that fell through we didn't know what would be happening so he held on to all his vacation days. As the year drew to a close he had time to burn so took the last 2 wks of the year off. It has been nice having him home and Faith has been thrilled to have Daddy home! In my last post, I believe I mentioned that he had started some classes. The semester was pretty ruff on Faith as her Daddy had to spend alot of time on homework and not much time with her. So, these 2 weeks of Daddy being home is just as grand as can be for her. 8-)

I must run. I have a few last minute Christmas things to get done and as Faith is making a trip to town with Daddy, that gives this Momma a little time to get a few presents finished up and wrapped before a certain snoopy girl gets back home!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!

Sept. 16

Well, if you read my last blog, I had great plans to keep this up alittle better. Okay, you are all free to laugh! 8-) I'll keep trying to do better! Not much news to report. Bob has started his classes for the semester and it's going to be a team effort to get through them...but we're managing.
We spent Labor Day weekend in Oklahoma with Angie (Bob's sister) and her family. We had a great visit and got to see our 8mo. old nephew for the first time. We'd all like to get together alittle more often, but life happens and it's a long drive. While we were down there we took the kids bowling - what a hoot! Bob got beat out by his 8yr old neice (and wife - but that's not saying much!) LOL We also went to a petting zoo and I got to ride a camel. I've always wanted to ride one so Faith and I enjoyed the privilage - pretty cool (and very bumpy! Much bumpier than my mules.) So, alittle history on me for those of you who don't know I had mules before I got married. My Dad & I raised them.) So, of course when we saw a Zedonk at the petting zoo I was intrigued. A Zedonk is a cross between a Zebra and a Donkey. They are very interesting lookin'.

Today, with help from Faith, I canned some applesauce. We had a box of apples sitting in the kitchen that Bob kept threatening to throw out to the chickens. I put a stop to his plans as I was going to make applesauce as soon as I got the chance. I finally decided today better be the day before he did pitch my apples. Faith helped alot and we turned out some very delicious applesauce!! (And Bob was very glad I hadn't let him pitch the apples!)

I think this blog is rather scattered (kind of like my brain right now) so I will close with that. I don't really have any more news Anyway and I need to get to bed. I have been up waiting on the last batch of applesauce to come out of the canner and it just got done. So, until next time...... I'll share a quote I read today

"I'd rather walk in the darkness with GOD than alone in the light."

Yes, I am still on Planet earth

Well, by the looks of the date on my last post you may have wondered if I had been captured by aliens. Nope....I guess alot has happened since my last post, some of it very depressing, and I couldn't bring myself to post about such discouraging news. So, to catch you up to speed, in case you haven't heard by now...

We had some major set backs with the adoption. Although one always hopes the worst case senario won't happen to them, with international adoption it just might. With us, it did. Shortly after our post in April we found out that someone overseas who had worked for our 1st agency decided to cause problems for us. He got our documents shipped back to the US (remember we were just waiting for the call to travel). When the docs got back to the KZ embassy in Wash DC the official at the embassy decided to let his power go to his head - he halted our adoption - completely. The next day the country closed for some "revamping" to their adoption procedures. We were told we could start completely over and resumbit our paperwork when they reopened in ----- who knows. After alot of tears, and prayers we pulled out of the KZ adoption program. We did more praying and have now switched to a different country. We decided we were not going to sit around and wait for them to reopen - so we moved on. We have started the beginning stages of a Ukraine adoption. We don't know how things will come together as we're not very far into the process, but we pray things go much smoother.

As all this is going on, we are enjoying our family. Today we spent the day at the zoo. Faith loved it! She was so excited with every anmial she saw - animal - not reptiles...she is her mother's daughter!! LOL The poor thing had to take a trip to the medical clinic the first 10mins we were there. She stumbled over the toe of her sandles and skinned both knees. Me in my "Less is better approach" to zoo visiting did not have a band-aide. The nurse fixed her right up though, and we were on our way. I had arguments with my camera the entire day. I don't know if I've used it so much it's starting to "show it's age" or if it was me. One thing's for sure, it was not taking pictures like it was suppose to. We were in full sunlight and it had the f-stop at 5.6 and shutter speed at 1/30 sec (on auto exposure). For those of you who know cameras - that's weird - in bright sunlight. When I set it manually where I thought it should be the LCD screen showed an almost black picture had been taken. I don't know what the deal is. One thing I do know - it's taking a trip to the camera store and it might not come back if it doesn't straighten up. As you all know, me and cameras, it's like chocolate and peanut butter. 8-) Can't have a not working camera.

April 22

Wow! I didn't realize it had been a month since my last post! I am sorry if you have checked back and found nothing. I just read my last blog so I could start my update from that. My jury duty - I was excused. It appears that my term was postponed. I got a letter stating that they would be sending me a new notice the first of next year. Grrr....that would make 3 jury summons. My thoughts - summons someone that ones to be on jury duty!
I had mentioned in March that we might have to get an extention for our INS approval. We are working on getting that extention now. We basically just have to send in a request along with an updated homestudy and they will put the extention on so it doesn't expire in June. We have been waiting on our social worker to send us our updated homestudy. We hadn't heard from him so I started getting stressed about not getting it in time. I should have just trusted that the Lord had everything under control! Yesterday we received an email with a rough draft of our HS attached. The social worker said as soon as he got our "okay" on it he'd mail us the report. We okayed it and are hopeful we will get it in the mail tomorrow.

In all of this, we could still get the phone call to travel. It is possible though that since we are so close to getting an extention on our INS, if we did get that call we might wait until we get the extention before we actually left. It's hard to say when the phone call will come. We may get our extention first and then we would leave immediatly!

I will post if we have any new developments - and hopefully I won't wait a month before my next post! Now I must get my work started before my morning is gone!

Until next time..............

March 15th

Can you believe we are 1/2 way through the month of March? How time files, and then again some days it seems to drag on and on - like if you are waiting for a specific phone call! Nope folks we have not had any word since our last update a week ago. So, actually I was just posting to tell you we had no news, cause if you are anything like me you might be wondering. Our case worker was going to call Friday, and we didn't hear from her. So, I have decided that this stewing I've been doing isn't going to do me any good nor is it going to get any news here any faster. Therefore, I am trying to be calm about waiting and stop being in such a fret about things. Besides, I need to turn my stewing into some productive labor around here. I need to get things done so when we do get that call to leave I will not have a million things to do because I was just sitting around twiddling my thumbs while I had time to work.
Please continue to pray for our INS paperwork though. There is talk that it might have to be redone. The small bit of possible good news though, it does not sound like it will be as big of a problem as we had thought. A problem, yes, but not quite the catastrophie we were afraid it could become. I sent in my jury paperwork asking to be excused. I am to hear something back in a week or so. Hopefully they have excused me from that although I could not give them anything specific about plans as I don't have any.

Guess that's all - now I must head to bed. Until next time...................

March 8th

I figured for those of you who read my blog where wondering if there was a current update on anything. Sorry to say -nope. We did get the paperwork mailed off to the "new" adoption agency and they have received it. (It was simply an agency agreement for to agree to work with the new agency & new powers of attorney - check my last post for details if you are in the dark.) Past that we know nothing as to progress on our case. We have a few items of prayer we would like to mention. I guess in the grand scheme of things, it's just 1 prayer request from 2 different angles. 8-) Please pray we receive our invitation to travel very soon & we can get things squared away to travel soon after that. It seems like our adoption journeys are sprinkled with near miss castrophies....The latest, which we knew as coming is the expiration of our INS (immigration) approval. We need to have our adoption finalized & apply at the US embassy overseas on or before June 2 - otherwise our INS approval expires and must be renewed. We are praying that things will be finalized before that date as we do not know what all would have to be redone if our INS expires. Please pray for the Lord's mercy on this!
The other item of intrest - I have been summoned for jury duty beginning April 1st. It is a 3month "tour of duty". If we are able to travel before the expiration of of the INS I will not be able to serve. I must request a deferment, but in order to do that I need to have some idea of when we might be traveling. I am needing to get the paperwork for that sent in. So we have several things resting on us getting a travel date soon. Your prayer is greatly appreciated!

Other then that, things are going well. I'm feeling great - Faith is as busy as every. Bob is taking advantage of some overtime at work.
Hope you have a great day! Until next time................

February 18th - Update

Okay, this update has come alittle sooner than my last one. If you read the last post you are aware that we were waiting to see if we could be umbrella-ed by a 2nd agency for the continuation of our adoption. Two days ago we were given the go-ahead and our case was transfered. We are still in the "paperwork" phase of the transfer, but that should be wrapping up very soon. We hope to have everything in the mail by tomorrow. Our origial adoption documents are still overseas and everyone is hopeful that we will not need to update anything other than a new power of attorney (which will be mailed in our pkg tomorrow). Once they receive the new POA, our docs will be submitted to the appropriate officials and we will once again be waiting for that invitation to travel. Our new case manager said she would have a better idea of a travel time-line once the paperwork has been submitted. So, things are looking better and we are very thankful for all the prayers. We will continue to keep you posted as things progress. Please continue to pray that things will fall into place & we will get that long awaited invitation to travel! Until next time.............

February 10th

Well, if you read my last blog one of the last things I said was to check back in a week. Yesterday I was informed that I had not updated the blog and was causing suspense. So, today I will give you an update -sort of. My update has no conclusion so that was the reason for my hesitation to post. But here it goes.....

In the previous posting you will read that we were given the exiciting news (on Jan. 22) that coordinators had traveled to KZ with the purpose of expiditing our paperwork. We were to hear back around the first of Feb. as the the success of their trip. We were hopeful that if an invitation to travel had not been obtained with their trip it would be coming shortly. Six days later, Jan, 28 our case manager called. She did not beat around the bush and told us directly that the trip was NOT successful, but that was not the worst of the news. Due to mounting difficulties and government policies they could not work with CWA (our agency) had made the difficult decission to stop the KZ adoption program - effective immediatly! So, instead of hearing we'd gotten an invitation, we were told the program had been stopped! That weekend was a very difficult weekend to say the least. It was very discouraging and we had alot to process. CWA gave us 3 different options, 1 we could continue, understanding we would probably be dealing with some unethical bureaucracy, and might not even be given an invitation to travel before our paperwork expired 2 - we could pull out immediatly or 3 - we could switch to a different country. That weekend we sought council from a few close friends & parents, but mostly kept the news to ourselves for the time being.

By Monday we had decided that we would switch to a different country. We requested a phone conferance with our case manager. That evening she gave us a call. Before we could tell her our decission she asked us to wait for the time being, giving her and the agency a few days to work. There had been new developments over the weekend. Apperantly CWA has been in contact with a 2nd adoption agency who also works in KZ. This 2nd agency has been able to escape the bureaucracy that CWA was thrown into. No one can figure out how they've managed to stay away from it, but they have. But because of that, this 2nd agency has agreed to take over our case and see if they can get us to KZ to finalize the adoption on their good standings. As I said at the beginning of this post, there is no conclusion - and that is the truth. The last time we heard anything things were being worked out in KZ with the attorney's for this 2nd agency. They were suppose to have a meeting this past Monday, but as of this post we have not heard anything. We know they are trying to get us umbrella-ed with this 2nd agency, but at present we do not know of the progress or if it is even possible. We are very much in a "wait and see" mood. The unknow and suspense can be very wearing!

I apologize for the tardiness of my update, but maybe now you can understand why I held off. I had bad news, then a crazy twist but no conclusion. Please pray for us when the Lord brings you to mind! I will try to do better about posting any news we hear - even if it is bad......

Until Next time......God is still in control!!!

Snow, Ice, Rain

What a week this has been! We have had several snow storms so far this winter (being snowed in 3 different times. We could not get out of our driveway, much less down the gravel road). This week brought an ice storm! Our trees have suffered something terrible. Our yard is completely littered with tree branches. Faith & I have seen several large branches come crashing to the ground. I must admit, going out under those trees to do the chicken chores was a nerve racking event. I got out from underneath them as soon as possible. Spring is going to bring some major yard work! Wednesday night our electricity went out. It came back on Thursday afternoon for about 2 hours, and it went back off. Friday afternoon it was on again for about an hour. We had made plans to go visit Mom & Dad on Saturday as Faith & I were wanting a break from a chilly, dark house. The Lord was gracious and our power came back on Friday night and has stayed on. We are so thankful for all those out in the elements getting power back on to those of us who've been without for a few days.

Despite the snow, ice, rain (yes that came too) and no electricity this week, we are really excited at our house. Last night we received an email with an update on our adoption. We don't have alot of details yet, and no invitation to travel (thus no travel date). That being said there has been progress. Apperantly a group of coordinators working with our agency is traveling to KZ to see if they can have several families' paperwork expidited. Our paperwork is in that group. From what we understand they are going over to see if the invitations can be issued. We are expecting to hear how their trip went around the 1st of February. Please pray for their safety as well as a very successful trip. They would have left for KZ sooner, but we understand that the weather was not condusive to travels so they had to wait. We have also learned where we will be traveling. There was alittle bit of a hope that we would return to the same city as last time. However that is not going to be the case. We are going further north. I'm thinking long underwear, boots, you get the picture! Brrrr....We looked at the temp earlier today and at the time the current temp was around -9* F. That's cold! We are hopeful that it will not be that cold when we travel.

I guess that is really all our news for now. Check back in about a week as I will post if we get any more news. Please pray for us when you think of it. Thank-you in advance!

Until next time...........

Snow, snow, snow....We have had alot of that white stuff. It's about knee deep all across our yard which makes doing chores a chore! It's so cold that Faith can't even go out and enjoy sledding right now. She has been sledding though.... We live on top of a hill. It's about 1/4 of a mile to the neighbors at the bottom of our hill. Bob got out the runner sled the other day and the 2 of them "flew"down the hill to the neighbors. I guess it was alot of fun going down, but coming back up wasn't enjoyable - atleast for Bob. 8-) I was going to try it out for myself, but it's been to cold. The road's drifted shut so we wouldn't get any traffic...maybe when it gets alittle warmer.

No adoption news. We are just waiting for the call.... Might not be for a month or two, but it could also be tomorrow.

Bob couldn't make it home tonight as our gravel roads where drifted shut. He tried several different roads, but it was no use. So, Faith & I curled up on the couch and had a "girl's movie night". We watched Cinderella. It was enjoyable to get to curl up on the couch with her and enjoy a movie. (Bob doesn't necessarily like "princess" movies)

I just heard on the news our area got about 7inches of snow yesterday. That was on top of the foot of snow we already had. Today it has been blowing around and drifting roads closed.

I guess I don't really have any news. I should be getting to bed. Faith decided since Daddy wasn't going to be home she could sleep with me. She got a flashlight for Christmas and it has become her "must have" to go to sleep with. No, you don't really get much sleep when you are laying in your bed shining the flashlight on the wall. 8-) Thankfully she usually goes to sleep pretty quickly even if she does play around for a few minutes. It's pretty cute to walk by her bedroom and see her sound alseep with the flashlight laying beside her still on.

Hope you have a great day, and stay warm; if it's as cold at your house as it is at ours. (Wind chills around -35 tonight!)

Until next time............