TIME KEEPS ON TICKING, TICKING, TICKING

Time is ticking...

Just so you know...

1. Tomorrow I get the delightful gift of travel shots - FUN!

2. Chad just got back from several days in Haiti - another great immersion experience. Someday I'll get there.
3. "Family", you rock!

And, now, for a diversion while time is ticking by...

New voting poll question:

Chad's latest term of endearment for our future daughter is "little elephant baby". Sounds interesting, yes? And, just to clarify, it is NOT related to her size! But rather more generally related to the length of time we have been invested in this process. So....take a guess, and no surfing the net to find the answer!

poll by twiigs.com

ONWARD!

Love to all!

T MINUS 20 DAYS AND COUNTING...

...To August 5 - Court Date Time! (JESSICA, WE NEEDED THIS FAB NEWS-THANK YOU!)

Prayers for a successful court hearing so we can get on a plane to bring her home maybe end of August or beginning of September - not sure....?

We got another update today as well!

"She is a ‘Beaut’! She is steadily filling in boxes on her developmental chart and only lacks these; ’roll over’,’ reach for an object’,’ say ah-goo or other vowel-consonant combo’ and ’on stomach, raise chest supported by arms’. She almost got her chest up but I could not give it to her! I told her you would love her just the same! She is a quiet child, for now.” --Joanna and Travis

Weight- 12.35 pounds

According to Joanna, she was diagnosed with Conjunctivitis and experienced some fast breathing. She was treated with some antibiotics. We assume the treatments are going well and look forward to another update soon!

Dreaming of days to come...
smj out

A LITTLE LOVIN'

The loving is overwhelming and, well…......wow.

An amazing, wonderful young woman and friend sent this email today:

“I’m praying for you pc [pastor chad], and for you and susan’s continued patience and trust in god. I was reading my bible last nite and I was thinking of you when I was reading 1 peter. It was chapter 5 and verses 7-10 and it was about how he wants us to give up all our worries and anxiety because he loves us so much. And even though we are going to have to have this anxiety- like probably you and susan have for waiting on getting to have koko with you - god says even sometimes tough times in life will happen but the more important thing, and what he tells us to put our faith and trust in, is that no matter what, god loves us and will provide for us thru all things and in his time our anxiety and tough times will pass. I just liked these verses and thought of you when I read it. Since you are a pastor you already know about it but I still wanted to tell you.”

Thank you dear friend, and trust me, we are BOTH honored to hear this encouragement from you, even the pastor half of us.

We got a little something good via snail mail today. Recall a while back that we had to be re-fingerprinted for our CIS approval…we’ve been waiting patiently for our updated I-171H fingerprint renewal to arrive (we have to have this for travel), and IT CAME TODAY! YAY! Just a little more sunshine for the day. Next we need a court date. Someday….

….when it’s time.


Found this online – this is for us all!
Stay Tuned.

Onward-smj

DREAMING ON

Dreaming of becoming parents…

Mmmmm…How to describe the feelings we have, what it will be like to nurture our sweet girl, our beautiful gift, and what it will be like to grow with her, give to her, learning as we go…

She is first in our thoughts, inevitably.

Oh, how we are ready! Oh, how we have yearned to be able to give ourselves to another in a completely new and amazing way! The heart pounds more often now, the anticipation grabs a hold of us firmly at times.

Then there are the peaceful times. The times where we sit and dream and hope and pray. Calm, faithful, assured of the coming together as a family. We know. We are steadfast. We are living in the here and now, as we are called to, growing every day, eyes bright and wondering….

...What will it be like?

Oh, the blessing this heart growing journey is.

To our “family” – we are waiting with you all – as we say, someday we will have that BIG ‘something’ to share…

…someday when it’s time.



Peace be with you all.

CELEBRATE GOOD TIMES!

OK - so, here's a not so great shot taken with Chad's phone at the Rockies game Wednesday night. How about those Rockies tonight, huh?!?!? An 18 - 17 win!?!?! The come back kids! Suh-weet!

And here's another with the fireworks at a friend's house tonight.

Oh, and we wanted to show solid proof of the car seat fitting in the Mustang - it's true. It's really true! Another Suh-weet!

Happy Independence Day family!

"BEAUTIFUL AND INTIMIDATING!"

Jessica called today. She said the relinquishment went through as scheduled and that our files are ready to be submitted to the courts for a court date - finally! We learned about Koko 8 weeks ago. We will not hear about a court date for several days yet, but at least it is forward movement. Come on court date! Delays be gone! Honestly, we have no idea how this is going to turn out but we will continue to be faithful and encouraged.

New update from Joanna:

"She is a beautiful little girl with soft features and an intimidating stare. She seals the deal with an abundance of smiles but can stare a hole completely through you! She combines all of this with an incredibly strong grip that will make you think twice about crossing her!"

So, family:

Be of good cheer! Do not think of today's struggles, but of the success that may come tomorrow. You have set yourselves a difficult task, but you will succeed if you persevere; and you will find joy in overcoming obstacles. Remember, no effort that we make to attain something beautiful is ever lost. -Helen Keller

Love to all - onward.