Counting Down...

Well, it's officially 12 days till Christmas! I think that this is when it's hard as a kid to wait. Christmas is soooo close, yet so far away. :) We have several Christmas traditions that we do for the 12 days till Christmas that help us count down the days. I thought that I would share them here with you... My husband gets me a candle each of the 12 days leading up to Christmas. He has done this ever since we were married 13 years ago and now he lets our kids play a part in bringing them to me. :) Last year, we bought the "Adornaments" set from Focus on the family. It is a devotional book and set of 12 ornaments that can be hung on the tree, each representing a name of Jesus Christ. Each night we will read a devotional about that particular name and then one of our kids gets to hang the ornament on the tree! We save all of our Christmas letters, photos, cards, etc. from the year before and place them in a basket under the tree. Each night, after the devotional and hanging of the ornament, we will pull out a couple of cards or photos and pray together for that person or family. I am a pretty calm and patient person I think. A lot of the mom's on the forum say that their husbands are the calm, patient ones, but I guess in our family it is reversed. I think, however, I have just begun to feel the anxious excitement that you feel as you count down to Christmas. Micah is soooo close, yet still so far away. We really only have 4 major steps left, but it could all happen in January, or it could still be months away. With adoption, there is no way to tell. So, I thought I would share with you what we are counting down on the adoption and ask you to pray for us this Christmas as we are waiting for Micah. First the attorneys must scrutinize our documents to make sure that everything is there and in order. We are hoping that this part might be finished by the end of December. After this, we are given a court date for the judge to sign our "guardianship" papers making us Micah's legal guardians. We have seen this take a couple of weeks for one family and months for another family, so only God knows. Once we have guardianship, then Micah's visa and passport are applied for. This process has been averaging about 15 days. When Micah's visa and passports arrive in the US at our adoption agency, and when we get our interstate ICPC approval, then we can book our plane tickets to travel! I love this time of year...the Christmas music and lights, the decorations, the worship focused on Christ's birth, giving gifts to others, the food, the Starbucks gift cards...! :) I hope that you are having a wonderful Christmas season with your families.

9 Months Old!

Yeah! Today Micah is 9 months old! It was kind of neat that yesterday I got an update on his size. He is currently (according to the orphanage in India) a whopping 15 1/2 pounds. He is the exact size of Laurel, the little girl that I babysit, and she is 6 months old. :) I gave her an extra hug today just to imagine that I was hugging Micah. It's going to be a long December I'm afraid with nothing much happening in the courts. I hope that when the courts reopen and the judge gets back to work in January, that he starts the ball rolling quickly. I want to hug little Micah for real. :) Nathan, my 4-year old son who is very much a momma's boy, is still going back and forth. I'm wondering if he will be ready for Micah. Some nights while I am sitting by his bed waiting for him to fall asleep, he will say, "Mommy, when are you going to get Micah? I want him to be here." Then there are days like the week of Thanksgiving. I didn't have to watch Laurel that week and on Monday he asked, "Mommy, where's Laurel?" I told him that she was going to be staying with her mommy that week and then he said, "Good." I asked him why he didn't want her to be with us and he answered, "Because she cries and wants you. I want to be the only one who loves you." :) That almost made me cry. It's made me a little nervous too. I don't want him to resent Micah joining our family. Maybe once January comes and we start trying to get his room ready to share with Micah, he'll be more on board. I guess it's good that I have been babysitting too...maybe Micah's homecoming won't be such a rude awakening.

Finally Shopping!

Well, I have officially joined the ranks of the mom's who have been shopping for their children who are not home yet! This week I made my first two purchases. I ordered this Usborne Book called "Baby Dinosaur." It is a soft, touchy-feely book, with little footprints they follow through the book and crinkly flaps that they can lift and look under. I thought it would be something fun for the hotel and plane ride, but good for the senses as well. I didn't realize until it came and I got to look inside, but the story is about helping baby dinosaur find his family! Can you believe it? And, on the last page, under a little leaf, are the baby dinosaurs 3 little siblings just waiting for him! It perfectly fits our family. I thought that was so cool.

I wanted to get a blanket for Micah...not that he'll need it to keep warm or anything since it's so hot in India. I did, however, like the idea of him having something to snuggle with, and since Nathan has always carried around a little blanket, I thought I would get Micah one. I found this one at Target and loved it. Again the dinosaur...don't know why I'm getting dinosaur stuff since his room won't be that...oh well. The blanket was just sooooo soft and I loved the blue and brown.

No more purchases though till after Christmas. :) In January is when we are going to try to find bunkbeds for the girls room so that we can move their little low beds into the boys room. Then I can start shopping for matching bedding, etc. I think that is going to be fun, and something the girls can help me with. I think it will also help to make everything seem a little more real for Nathan! I think starting to get the rooms ready will actually help all of us fill in the time left these last long couple of months of waiting.

Mumbai

This Thanksgiving weekend, as terrorists attacked hotels and restaurants frequented by American and British tourists, I felt in some small way, connected to what was happening there in Mumbai, India. That was kind of strange for me...feeling a connection to a place where I have never been and to a people I have never seen. Now, anything I read on India in the magazines, newspapers, or see on the news, I stop and pay attention. Before it was easy to ignore...someplace far away with no connection to me. It is funny how a little child can change your heart and your life even when you have never met. In our case now, it is two little children. MICAH, of course, is the first child...our little boy in Kolkata. Thankfully he is nowhere near what happened this weekend. Mumbai is on the southwestern coast and Kolkata is near the northeastern coast. However, it is his home country and one that I will be visiting soon and that makes it so much more personal for me. I am all the more anxious now to get to him and bring him home so that at least we are all together and I can try my best to keep him safe. GANTHIMATHY, is the second child. She is our little Compassion sponsored child and she actually lives south of Mumbai. We were hoping to be able to visit her when we go to pick up Micah, but now we are uncertain if travel will be safe for us in that area. All weekend I could not help but think of her and her family and pray that they would remain safe. I am also praying that they will come to know the Lord in a personal way, so that in the face of the danger and poverty they face on a daily basis, they will know that God is holding them in His hands. My heart is full. I have so much to be thankful for. Today, I am thanking God for 2 small Indian children I have not met...yet!

NOC Approval!

Thank you, Lord! Today I received notice that we have been granted our NOC approval! This is the document we need from CARA, the main adoption agency in Delhi, stating that we have been approved to adopt a child from India. Now, our paperwork will head back to Kolkata and Anju, the orphanage director at ISRC, will compile all of our documents and then the attorneys will scrutinize our documents. Once this is completed, the scrutinized documents and our file go back to ISRC and a court date is set for our legals. The judge will prayerfully move quickly to sign the guardianship papers making us Micah's legal guardians (hence the name legals). That is the last major step before we start planning our travel! After we are granted guardianship, the "legals" are taken to the US Embassy so that Micah's Visa and Passport can be applied for. Then we can travel! Yeah! If you would like to know what you can pray for right now...pray for the attorneys and the judge to keep signing and pushing things right along. The courts close down for the month of December for all the Indian holidays, so the quicker our paperwork gets scrutinized and on the judge's desk the better. :)

My precious 8 month old boy!

Wow! Look at my beautiful baby boy! He turns 8 months old tomorrow. We got these new pictures today from my friend Kristi who is in India right now picking up her baby girl, Shaili! What a killer smile! :) Words cannot express how much I would love to pick him up right now and give him a big hug! Kristi said that she picked him up and gave him a few snuggles for me. I want to cry from happiness to know he is mine, from longing to hold him in my arms, from sadness to know the grieving process he will go through when we first pick him up and from joy to know that God loves him more than I ever could and will be faithful as He brings our little boy home.

Holiday Season!

I love Fall! This is my favorite time of year. I just love the feeling in the air as the holiday season approaches! It all seems to start with Halloween. Although we do not "celebrate" Halloween or dress up as scary characters, I do let my kids dress up and walk around our neighborhood to get candy. This year I had a little farm girl, a cheerleader, and a clown (with no face make-up because of his allergies). :( My little niece was Dorothy. We had all the family over...my sister and her family, aunts and uncles, grandparents and a great-grandma. We all ate chili and soup to our hearts content and watched the kiddos pass out candy. We had so much fun together. I can't believe that next year, I will have another little one in the mix. :)

In India, they just celebrated a holiday called "Diwali." It is called the Festival of Lights and for 5 days they celebrate the victory of good over evil. They enjoy fireworks, eat all kinds of special foods, light candles all over their houses, and share gifts with each other. I think this would be a great holiday to somehow incorporate into the way we celebrate Halloween here. Maybe next year for our family gathering, I can include some Diwali treats in with our chili supper! :)