Spring Update

I thought I would add a little spring update. Nolan and I began Easter weekend at mom and dad's while Nat and Nathaniel went turkey hunting. Sunday we celebrated with Nat's family after church at Olde Stone. The boys had so much fun seeing the Easter bunny and hunting eggs with cousins and friends. Nathaniel has started soccer for his 5th season and loves every minute of it. I still wonder where this athletic blood is coming from. It has to be from Nat's dad.

As for the adoption update not much has happened. We found out our marriage certificate was not civilly registered. What does that mean? I asked Nat what that meant and he asked, "Are we really married?" Well the answer is yes we are. The court house had a copy on file and we had to pay five dollars to get a copy of our own marriage papers. Everything was resubmitted and we officially have our USCIS approval. Our homestudy was approved March third. Now that everything is done I contacted Holt and was given an estimation of 12 months from March third. So possibly 10 more months until we receive a referral!


We are all starting to feel very anxious. Some days I question all this and it doesn't take long to get a confirmation that we are doing the right thing. I have been working two extra days a week to save money to be able to bring our baby girl home. Nat has been doing tile jobs for friends and family at night and on weekends to also save money. I found out today that I might have another job for October through December for another maternity leave for a friend. Everything just seems to keep falling into place. We have saved over 3,500 dollars so far but have a long way to go. Everyone has been telling me if God opens the door He will provide the way.


Nathaniel is so sweet talking about our baby. He keeps asking lots of questions about her age, when we will get her, how far away Korea is, and her name. So we have officially decided that her name will be Kinley Marie. We had this name picked out if Nolan had been a girl. It still just seems to fit. While talking about Kinley Marie he still asks about Cambell. He told Nolan while we were in the car this week he had a big sister. How sweet he is. He never ceases to amaze me. Nolan also told one of his Sunday school teachers a baby was coming. We were surprised to realize that he knows what is going on. Both boys are really excited about the idea.


We will continue to update. We ask that you keep praying for our baby girl!

There has been a lot going on this week. First of all we are so very proud of Nathaniel. He received two awards on Tuesday at school. One was for reading and the other was student of the month from his class. He was so excited! We were too! He said we should do something special since he got two awards. He wanted to go to Chuck-E-Cheese and that is where we celebrated his special day. He also lost his first tooth and finished his very first season of basketball. Wow!

Here is the latest update on the adoption process. We had our fingerprints done this week. I asked the lady if this was what it felt like to be a criminal and she said, "At least it is not black ink and a mug shot." It went well and it was very quick thankfully. We were in and out in 15 minutes. Our homestudy has been sent to Holt and USCIS and Holt has approved it. We should get our confirmation from USCIS in 60 days or less. Our social worker says this is our golden ticket to bring our little one home. If we have to wait longer than 18 months we will have to be fingerprinted again. Hopefully that will not happen.

Also this week we were able to visit with a very special family from our church, Tim and Nikki Buchannon. Isaiah, their five year old son who had Apert's Syndrome, has been in and out of Vanderbilt for surgery and visits more than I can count. They have been a true blessing in our life and such an example of faith and strength. Isaiah is now in Heaven. He will truly be missed. I ask everyone who reads this to please pray for comfort and healing. I know he is in the Lord's arms and I hope Isaiah has already met my Cambell.

This week I am especially thankful for my family and two healthy boys.

I wanted to share with you the necklace my wonderful sister-in-law, Kerry, gave me. It is the Korean symbol for hope. Tomorrow is Valentine's day. By this time next year I hope to have at least a picture of our new little one by then. Until that picture comes I will wear my necklace and continue to pray for her. Visit seoulidentity.com if you know of anyone who would like a necklace. They also have Chinese symbols.

We will be having a golf tournament this spring for Josephs Hope Foundation. Those of you who like to golf will have to plan on coming. The date has not yet been set. I will let you know.

Decals are now available on the website for Josph's Hope Foundation. They are $5.00 and all the money will be donated to the foundation. Check them out!

What a busy and amazing week this has been. Our week started off Sunday at church with sanctity of life Sunday. Our friends Benji and Gina Harmon gave their testimony of their adoption journey and our associate pastor's sermon was also about adoption and their adoption experience of five children. It is just so amazing how all this has unfolded from when we mailed our application December 18th. We went to church two days after our application had been in the mail to hear Pastor Steve preach on adoption . He based his sermon from scripture in Ephesians 1:5-6. It says, "In love he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will-to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves." He also referenced a book, Adopted for Life, by Russell D. Moore. It is a great book! I have never heard our relationship with God put this way. Wow! We are his Children! He loved us so much he adopted us! After we were in the car leaving church I asked Nat do you doubt this now? We were both speechless. Last Sunday the scripture was from the book of James. It says, "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." It is our duty to look after orphans. Sometimes I ask myself, why me and Nat? But mom quickly put me in my place and said,"Why not you."

Nat and I are helping support Josephs Hope Foundation. Our friends, Benji and Gina, that I mentioned above have started this all on their own. It is named after their two adopted children from Korea. This foundation will support families with financial assistance to be able to adopt. The cost of adoption has continued to rise unfortunately. Many take out loans to adopt. Giving a child a home becomes a financial burden. I encourage you to go to the website and check it out. Unlike many foundations, 100% of the money brought in will go straight to families who are in the adoption process. Not only can you give but there are raffles to win awesome prizes and it is all tax deductible. There is also a benefit concert scheduled for February 6th on Western's campus and a golf tournament in the works this spring. You all will be hearing more about this in the near future. Nat and I will be helping put all this together. Please take a look! Go to Josephs-hope.org and be sure to click on the information site that is highlighted. The children in the video are all the children we have fell in love with and who have helped lead us to the adoption process.

This week has been filled with medical exams, our first home study meeting, CPR class, and applying for passports. After we left our 2 1/2 hour home study meeting I told Nat everyone should have to go through this before they have a child. Unfortunately it just does not work that way. I know the busyness of all this will soon come to a temporary halt and then the waiting begins. That is going to be the hard part. Those of you who know me well know that I am not a patient person. Although I have gotten better over the last 3 1/2 years. This is all in God's hands and we are willing to wait!

The Roller Coaster Ride Has Begun

Well we knew there were going to be ups and downs. Everything has been so postive up to this point until today. I had a discouraging phone call with our agency. She pretty much told me that it was going to be very unlikely that we would get a healthy girl from Korea after the social worker said it was going to be a great experience and Korea was her favorite country to work with. She placed three healthy Korean children in the Bowling Green area last year two of whom were girls. After making another phone call a family with experience said this happened to them too. So once again we are going with Hope! Dad sent me an email yesterday that was a good reminder that Hope got Nolan here. Mom had given me a necklace with hope on it the the month I found out we were expecting him. I wore that necklace almost everyday. When mom and Dad arrived at the hospital the day Nolan was born this picture is what they pulled up to find outside. Here is a quote dad sent me. When God leads you to it. God gets you through it. So once again our theme is hope!

But as it is written, eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared them that love Him. 1 Cor. 2:9

Blessings

What a blessed life we live! My family is blessed with all that matters most and more. But we all go through trials in our lifetime. Those things make us who we are. We cannot just amputate them and act like they never happened. But we can learn and grow through them by God's grace.
My life has always seemed to go as planned "my plan" until December 2005 when we had a miscarriage. I thought that was pretty tough until August 24th, 2006 when Cambell Grace Love was born at only 24 weeks of pregnancy. It was too early for us to keep her here with us. God had greater plans for her life. That one hour I got to hold her was one of the sweetest yet hardest hours of my life. From that day our lives were forever changed. One day we will see her again. But for now she is in the Lords arms. For now I hope she sings, dances, and plays in all of Heavens beauty. She will forever be our baby girl and hold a special place in our hearts.
We often wonder what good God can bring from such horrible circumstances. God is good to us even when he is up to things we don't understand. I have a greater appreciation for my children. They did not just spring into my life as one of those expected "plans." Because of Cambell, Nolan is here today. I will never forget the words of our pastor as he prayed over Nolan at the hospital. He said, " Cambell paved the way for Nolan to be here." Those words made so much sense to me and gave me a greater peace.
Through those tough circumstances we had faith that God would give us another child. We became pregnant just three months after our horrible loss. The pregnancy went great until 20 weeks came along. My body was already wanting to start the labor process but with a cerclage placed and 17 weeks of bed rest our little miracle , Nolan, arrived at 37 weeks when doctors predicted 30. What a blessing he is to us. I cannot imagine life without him.
When we thought we would not be able to have more children we knew we would adopt. But after having two healthy children we never thought we would entertain the idea again. However, the door keeps knocking. We have wrestled with this for three years. The longing has never went away . Our family doesn't feel complete. How can I miss someone so much that I have never met? For this reason we have begun our journey to Korea!
Much of the paper work has been filled out. There are many other hoops to jump through before we can hold the end result. We know it is going to be one big roller coaster ride but we are ready. We are excited and nervous all at the same time. There are fears of coarse. It is going to be worth it in the end. If this is meant to be we know God will provide the way. We hope this is one more blessing from Cambell Grace's short life.

Let it snow!

Our snow dance worked! Nathaniel had his first official snow day from school on Friday. This is Nolans biggest snow! We played football, rode the four-wheeler and went sledding. Nolan lasted about 2o minutes until he was crying, "mommy warm my hands up."