I can't wait to....

*Pick out my little girl's Easter dress

*Fix a basket for her, filling it with lots of her favorite goodies (wonder what they will be?)

*Take her on an Easter egg hunt

*Tell her about Jesus!

Possibly next year, but hopefully by 2013. Until then, I'll enjoy seeing Andy in his seersucker suit (which he didn't wear this year since we kept the nursery - didn't want to get weed on by the wee ones).

Another to-do item bites the dust!

Andy has a potential client meeting at a retreat center in Indiana today so I was able to come along and take advantage of the time away from daily tasks to get some adoption work done! God knew I needed this time and I am so thankful for it

Beautiful retreat home with a gorgeous view of the lake & wildlife

We both finished "Adopted for Life" this week and were blown away. Such a great book and I will once again recommend it! Finishing that means starting our next reading, "The Connected Child" by Karen Purvis. I was able to start that one on the plane yesterday and spent this morning knocking out my auto-biography. Everything from parents, to siblings, to extended family, to mine and Andy's courtship and marriage, to personality, to school years, to employment....whew! It's good to reflect and write about your life. I can easily see how the Lord was in every circumstance and season weaving together the details of it and ordaining what it would become. I wonder what the rest will look like? Excited to find out!

Cousins!

I wanted to think of a fun way to let my nephews know that they would be having a new cousin. Since the rest of my family knows, I didn't want to wait too long for fear of them finding out on their own.

I decided to type out 3 sentences on a piece of paper and cut out all of the words individually. I then tucked them into 27 different Easter eggs, hiding the eggs in my parents' front yard (where the egg hunts always go down). I told Vince and Evan that there were some eggs outside that needed to be found. It was important to find all 27 and NOT to open them! Once all the eggs were found, we came inside, opened them and assembled the 3 sentences. After some time and head-scratching, they got it! Here is what they read:

It was a lot of fun and they had some interesting questions:

"How will we understand her?"
"Will you have to take a boat, helicopter or air plane?"
"What if she tries to bite me!" (I wouldn't blame her if she tried)

And every other question or sentence had to do with her being from "Japan". We've got some work to do but they were genuinely excited!

As for our 5-year old niece Claire (who already knows about our plans) - I asked her for some name suggestions just to see what she would say. She of course suggested "Rachel", which is her new baby sister's name. After explaining to her why that wouldn't work, she suggested "Amelia Bedelia Keeler Lynch". Not bad but we'll keep looking.

She brought us Easter cupcakes tonight and Uncle Andy tried stealing them from her. You can see her hand trying to stop the madness!

A weekend of wondering

I should be working on my home study items but instead I find myself daydreaming. About her. Is she born yet? Probably and most likely she is a few months old. I wonder if we will know her actual birthday. Then I wonder what she's doing and I look at my watch. I bet she's sleeping. China is a good 12 hours ahead of me after all! I wonder what her orphanage caretakers call her. I wonder if she's fussy or happy or quiet or loud. I wonder if she knows something's up. I wonder about her birth mom.

And then I've been wondering more practical things like crib or toddler bed? Which bedroom should be hers? What will we feed her? What will MaeBelle's reaction be to our new house guest (I suspect nothing but love and curiosity shown by lots of sniffs, licks and tail wags)?

There's so much to wonder and think about. It's pretty special and I can't wait to find out the answers. I have a feeling time will both creep and fly by.

If you think about it, please pray for our little girl! Pray for her health and her care while she's entrusted to someone else. And please pray for her heart - that she will know her heavenly Father and learn to walk with Him at an early age. And of course, pray for us! So much of this is uncharted territory - adoption and just parenthood in general. Bring it on!

Required Readings...not so bad!

This book is one of our "required readings" and is to be completed before we submit our home study paperwork. We must both read it along with another book and write a summary of each. It's been awhile since I've been required to read anything - much less write a summary! No complaints here though - it's been a real joy to hear this pastor's story, thoughts and convictions on the issue of adoption.

Andy and I chose to download the audio version onto an ipod as we will simply finish is faster if we can listen to it in the car while driving. I've had many people recommend this book to me over the years and I'm glad we're finally getting around to it. I'd say it's a wonderful read (or listen) for anyone who wants to better understand a relationship with Christ. As believers, we are all adopted. What a special privelege!

If you'd like to read a review on the book, click here.

You're one in 1.3 billion!

When we meet our little girl, we'll be able to tell her that she's not just one in a million - but one in 1.3 billion! That's pretty special if you ask me!

That's right! We're hoping to adopt a Chinese girl! The Lord planted a seed in my heart at least a decade ago. Andy and I had many conversations, even while dating, about the potential of a Chinese adoption in our future. I have had the blessing of going to China twice already. Andy and I went together the second time and wondered if we'd come back one day with a different purpose - to bring home a child! It all seemed so far-fetched then and a long ways off. Crazy to think it could now be becoming our reality.

We have chosen an agency in TN called Small World Adoptions. Googling "christian adoption agency" and "chinese adoption" can be extremely overwhelming. We didn't know where to start and who to go with so we decided to lean on others' personal experience. My best friend, Erin-Ashley connected me with 2 families who have adopted from China. They both recommended Small World. I asked another couple from our church who I knew had adopted recently from there and guess who they used...Small World! That was enough confirmation for us. I'm thankful the Lord made that decision so easy.

Our home study agency has to be located in NC so, again, we leaned on others' who have adopted. After calling a few different agencies, we decided on Amazing Grace Adoptions in Raleigh. They are now helping us through the process of completing our home study and we're curious to see what all that entails. I think Andy and I both have a sense that we will be learning a lot about ourselves through this whole thing. There's definitely an excitement in the anticipation as we wonder what the Lord will do - not just with our family but with us spiritually.

So for now, I am working through our "to do" items from Amazing Grace. It's a lot but we have a good start. And it's certainly not too much to go through for our special little one in 1.3 billion!

My real reason(s) for wanting to blog...

So I have decided to pick up where I left off 2 years ago. But I have a reason. And it's a good one, I think! As of March, Andy and I have officially begun the adoption process!!! And I really want to document all the details for several reasons. One, for the sake of our future child. So that she (yep, I said she - more on that later) will know what we were doing all this time while waiting on her. Two, so the people we love can stay up-to-date (at their convenience) of where we are in the process. Three, to have a written account of how the Lord will work in Andy and me through this time of waiting, hoping, praying and paperwork, paperwork, paperwork! We want to give Him all the glory for what is to come - whatever that may be.

We do realize that nothing is final and that by putting this out there for anyone to view, we risk some things. However, we feel led in this direction and so will trust Him for the outcome :-)

I hope our updates prove to be a blessing and encouragement to those who want to follow along with us during this journey. We could not be more excited and are happy to share our experience with you.

The plan is to update as things progress and I'll be keeping up with our timeline to the right side of the blog. I hope it proves to be an educational experience for anyone wondering what happens during the adoption process. I know it will be for us!

It's been awhile

I am contemplating blogging again. It's only been 2 years! Just wondering if I really do have the time and drive to keep it up-to-date. Playing around with new templates and re-familiarizing myself with it. Took me forever to figure out how to change the background. Not a good sign! Hmmm...to blog or not to blog? But then again, I have so much to say!