Our Court Date Has Come And Gone

HORRAY! Our court hearing was last night. It seemed to go fairly well, although the judge does not seem to be familiar with international adoption cases. Please keep her in your prayers, that she will give us a favorable decision for bringing Andrew home in the Lord's perfect timing.

Thank you all for your prayers and support! We feel them often and KNOW that they are making a huge difference. We hear that Andrew's formula should be on it's way to him, after we were asked to pay taxes on it in Taipei. We are so thankful that this issue seems to be resolved. Here are some great new Christmas photos that we received from Deana last night. Our little boy is growing and we are thrilled that he is in such wonderful hands! Pauline, Luke, and Deana are such blessings to so many! Please pray that they will be blessed beyond measure.....

Andrew With Pauline

Shocked by the camera flash! LOL

Andrew and his friend Jo

Retooning The Nativity

Merry Christmas Everyone

Wanted to share one of my favorite "new" Christmas songs with you. Wishing you all a very blessed Christmas!

God Provides One Step At A Time

You know, in the midst of seemingly impossible circumstances, it still amazes me to stand and watch the Lord work. He always proves Himself faithful in His perfect timing. It's wonderful to watch Him work in the lives of others and marvel as He moves mountains. And then there are many times when He works in our own lives and we almost can't believe that He has chosen to show His grace and favor to us. And we are still surprised and awed each and every time that He moves! And then time goes by, and we wonder if He is still at work in our lives. As we follow Him, we must always remember that even when the Lord seems silent, His plan is unfolding perfectly. He IS at work, all His will is coming to pass, in His time.

Our adoption of Andrew has been quite the journey of watching the Lord in His faithfulness and perfect ways pave the path to bring Andrew home to us. We started the journey wondering how in the world we could ever afford to adopt him. We took the first step of faith and decided that we were not going to worry. If the Lord has called us to adopt Andrew, as we are walking in Him and He will provide. And provide He has! Over and over again! Not all at once in a HUGE monetary donation from one individual, but through His people little by little over time. And sometimes He has even provided through those who don't know Him at all. We have never had an abundance of finances in this journey, but have always had just what we need, walking in faith and watching Him provide step by step. And, He's done it AGAIN!!

We were recently looking at airplane fares and wondering HOW in the world we are going to pay for the entire flight. The Lord has blessed my work with H&GP and we have saved quite a bit to go towards our trip, but not the entire amount. And as of today, we have found out that a family friend is donating round trip tickets for both Jarrod and myself from TN to California! Paid in full! We are so thankful that now our domestic portion of airfare has been covered. Praise the Lord!! We can't wait to see how the rest of this journey will unfold!

Please pray for us, the judge in our case, and the Pans who will be representing us in court on December 29th. We also ask that you pray for our friends Becky and Rodney who are adopting Carson. Their court date is Feb. 5th.

Wishing you all a wonderful Christmas celebration, as you celebrate the most wonderful gift ever given. Oh, and we hope you enjoy the new pics! I went a LITTLE photo HAPPY! LOL!! :)

I love playing with my Pauline

This is Deana doing what we call "tickle bug"!

Me and my buddy Carson. He's coming home soon too!

I'm getting a LITTLE tired....

James 1:27 "Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world."

Could you be a family that God desires to bless through the miracle of adoption?

Calling ALL Prayer Warriors!

We are asking for prayer from everyone. Our niece Gabrielle (only two days younger than Andrew) is sick. Please pray for little Gabrielle to be healed!

Also....Andrew has run out of his formula, and we have sent more via USPS. (Yes, he is eating, just a different kind of formula). HOWEVER the shipment was STOPPED in Taipei, and the Taipei post office is requesting that Luke and Deana come to TAIPEI to pick it up! That is not a small trip! They are holding our baby's formula hostage!! Please pray that when Luke speaks with them that they will immediately ship Andrew's formula on to Luke and Deana, if not sooner.......

Andrew's First Hair Cut

Well, since Andrew was born with a very FULL head of hair, at only 3 months old he is ready for his first hair cut! Sooooooo off the the barber he went with his sweet foster mommy Pauline. He wasn't too thrilled about the powder (LOL), but all in all I think it went pretty well. We are so happy that Deana was able to snap some photos of the event and would like to share them with you. :)

Mommy says I look like my brother Matthew here (above)....

AND in this one too....

A Few More POST Hair Cut Shots

So you may be wondering just what I think of the whole hair cutting experience. As you can see above, it was a little bit SHOCKING for me!
"No, REALLY, it's GO TIME!!"

"So put up your DUKES!" (LOL!!!!!!!!!!!)

Uh, oh, he's winding up again....

Looks like he can even STILL shock Deana with his delivery!

" OH, Pauline is back. I'm better now....."

"Here I am with my friend Anna. Isn't she cute!!"

Hallelujah! A Court Date Has Been Given!

We a thrilled to announce that we have our court date!!! We are praising the Lord for this much anticipated news. While we were anxious to hear a date, we have been praying that all will happen on His timeline, not ours, so we are excited about the date.

We will be entering court on December 29th, 2008!!! We are hoping to travel no later than March 2009 to get Andrew, although it is possible that we will be traveling sooner. For those of you who are following along to get some idea of a timeline for your own adoption, here is how things have gone since referral:

Referral Received: Prior to Andrew's delivery
Birthday: Andrew was born September 5, 2008
(We had all of the possible paperwork done on our end at this point). As quickly as possible after Andrew's delivery we completed the POA and Adoption Contracts and returned them to Taiwan. This could not be done prior to his delivery.
Applied to/registered for court in Taiwan: November 6, 2008
Court Date Received: December 1, 2008
Court Date Will Be: December 29, 2008

Please keep Andrew, our family, and of course Pauline and the Pans in your prayers. Praying that you all have a wonderful time celebrating Jesus' birthday! :)