Tonight I finished our scrapbook. This is a compilation of photos that will be seen by the courts in Taiwan during our adoption proceedings. I used our scrapbook that we made months ago for FFC, and added a few updated photos. One new photo of the children and some of Matthew's and Andrew's bedroom. So glad to have this completed! We are planning to mail it to Deana within the next few days. Yea!!
Our day was great today, and ended with an incredible surprise. I was on my way to bed an a little birdie rang my phone telling me that I had a video of Andrew in my email inbox. THANKS LITTLE BIRDIE!! LOL!
The funny thing is that I was just looking at pictures of him from his delivery and wondering how much he has changed. Jarrod and I want to thank our incredible foster family for the wonderful updates, and for taking such good care of our baby boy! You are amazing!
It is so much fun to see Andrew smile and to see him get sooooo excited about dinner time. Enjoy!
Today was wonderful! I awakened and got the children ready to go to their grandmother's. After dropping them off I headed off to Bible Study Fellowship. On the way there I was listening to the lyrics of this awesome song! Someone recently asked which song really speaks to you about adoption. This song REALLY speaks to me, about adoption and so many other things in life! It's one of my favorites that we sing at church, so I thought I'd share it with you....
This year in BSF we are studying the life of Moses, Exodus through Deuteronomy. The lecture today was amazing! Our teaching leader spoke about something that has been on my heart for quite some time: "Do you want your life to count for something?" She then answered that in order to live this kind of life, one that is lived to the fullest, we must make knowing God our top priority. Not just knowing ABOUT God, but really knowing Him intimately, like you know your spouse, you best friends, or your children.
At one point she quoted some verses that made me think our our precious Andrew:
Psalm 139
14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful,
I know that full well.
15 My frame was not hidden from you
when I was made in the secret place.
When I was woven together in the depths of the earth,
16 your eyes saw my unformed body.
All the days ordained for me
were written in your book
before one of them came to be.
God has always planned for Andrew to be a part of our family. And He has always planned for all of us to be alive, right here, right now. He has a plan for my life, and for yours. Which inspires me to continue asking, am I living this life to the best of my ability? I want to KNOW Him well enough to hear perfectly when He calls, so that I can move in His will and in His perfect timing. And as God has recently re-confirmed to our family, as we listen and respond in faith, even when it's not the easy thing to follow Him, it is so worth it!
I love that BSF continues to inspire me to move into an even deeper relationship with the Jesus. If you are looking for a great Bible Study, BSF is in many different areas and many different countries. There is also an incredible children's program too! There are even classes in Taipei! (We should check that one out, Becky!!) For more information you may visit the website at: http://www.bsfinternational.org/
Andrew is doing well. He seems to be tolerating his formula very well, and from what we hear he is a very good sleeper. (Thank you Lord!) We are so happy that our foster family is not protecting him from noise during nap times, since it's not always quiet around here! LOL!
Please pray as we await an important piece of paper from our social worker, that it arrives very quickly. It is holding us up a bit. Once that paperwork arrives, it will be translated and added to our home study, which can then be sent to us for some final notarizations. We are praying that we will receive the final paperwork soon, so that we can return it to Deana and hopefully around that time be entering court......
Please remember to keep Luke and Deana in your prayers as he travels to China on an important missions trip and she is caring for a house FULL in Taiwan.
Today was one of those days that we just had to get out of the house. I know all of you moms know what I mean. LOL!
So it was off to run an errand, and then I was going to stop by mother's for a visit. After heading off to my errand I discovered that mother was not going to be home today. WHAT TO DO!!?? There was no way that I was going home before nap time today. LOL!!! So then it "hit" me! THE MALL! There is a great indoor playground where the children could have fun and get some exercise. They had a blast! Wish I have taken the video camera to share some footage with you. It was hilarious watching them. After playing for a while they hopped into their stroller, happy as clams, and we were off for some lunch. We had fun talking and eating together. After lunch, we stopped by Smoothie King for a little treat. YUM! I think it was the hit of the day with the little ones. Next we went to Build A Bear to check out the possibility of sending a bear with an audio message from the family to our Andrew. (Thanks to Sarah for that great idea). Matilyn was in stitches over some of the bear outfits. Then we went to Kohl's to window shop, and then home for a late nap. It was a fun day for all!
