Big Update!

Since we sent in our paperwork over 4 weeks ago, we've been waiting for it to make it to our agency. We were able to send our photo book directly to our agency, so that got there quickly and was approved. Our home study had to go though the adoption coordinator in Regina, and he was backlogged with alot of home studies to go through, so we were just waiting on that. Last week I heard that it was finally sent down to our agency and this morning I received an email from our agency saying that they have our home study and are in the process of reviewing it! BIG YAY!!! If everything is a go, we will send our first payment down and then we should be ready to be placed on the waiting list!

A few prayer requests: 
-that all the documents they need will be there and everything will be approved.
                                  
 -we have a good chunk of our money raised, but we aren't quite there yet. Pray that                  God will move mountains and help us raise the rest of our money!
                                 
  -for us to have patience as we wait for a referral, and that the first referral will be "the               one." We have to pay $2000 per referral and we're really hoping we only have to                     pay it once!
                                 
  -for the birth mother. We don't know her yet, but God does and he knows her                             situation. Pray for grace and strength for her.

We really covet your prayers and are so thankful for the body of Christ. Blessings to you all as you prepare to celebrate this Christmas season with your loved ones. We are certainly looking forward to Christmas with our precious Cassidy and are hoping this is our last Christmas as a family of 3!!

Wherever You Are My Love Will Find You

A few months ago Cassidy received a book from her Grandma Boone. This was the grandma who raised Cassidy for her first 9 months of life (I'm very thankful for her!) She obviously misses Cassidy very much, after going from being her mother basically to seeing her once or twice a month. She found this book and the words were exactly what she wanted to say to Cassidy, to remind her that even though she's not around as much, her love is always there.

I read this book to Cassidy often and the words never fail to make me tear up, but as I was reading this to her just this morning, the words struck me in a different way. I thought of our baby, who is not here yet, and the many friends I know right now that are either also waiting to bring their baby home, or are waiting to hear that they are pregnant. These women have been heavy on my mind and in my prayers lately and as I was reading this book to Cassidy I thought it was so fitting for us who right now are waiting. I want to share this book with you on my blog and dedicate it to all of us who are waiting for our babies. You know who you are.

"Wherever You Are My Love Will Find You"

By Nancy Tillman

I wanted you more then you ever will know,

so I sent love to follow wherever you go.

It's high as you wish it, it's quick as an elf.

You'll never outgrow it...it stretches itself!

So climb any mountain...climb up to the sky!

My love will find you. My love can fly!

Make a big splash! Go out on a limb!

My love will find you. My love can swim!

It never gets lost, never fades, never ends...

If you're working...or playing...or sitting with friends.

You can dance 'till you're dizzy...paint 'till you're blue...

There's not place, not one, that my love can't find you.

And if someday you're lonely, or someday you're sad

Or you strike out at baseball, or think you've been bad...

Just lift up your face, feel the wind in your hair.

That's me, my sweet baby, my love is right there.

In the green of the grass, in the smell of the sea...

In the clouds floating by at the top of a tree...

In the sound crickets make at the end of the day...

"You are loved. You are loved. You are loved," they all say.

My love is so high and so wide and so deep, 

it's always right there even when you're asleep.

So hold your head high and don't be afraid

to march to the front of your own parade.

If you're still my small babe or you're all the way grown,

my promise to you is you're never alone.

You are my angel, my darling, my star...

And my love will find you, wherever you are.

Waiting...Will It Ever Get Easier?

I dreamt about my baby last night. This is happening more and more frequently. This time, though, it was a girl. In every other baby dream it's been a boy. I'm thinking it has something to do with the fact that I was at a baby shower for my friend and her baby girl last night.

I am so ready for this baby. The house isn't ready, the money's not all here and we're not even "officially" waiting yet, but I'm ready. Every time I snuggle a tiny baby (which has actually been often lately, apparently everyone else is having babies too), I can't help but wonder when it will be my turn. 

I received some free newborn clothing from a lady a couple weeks ago and the other day I was sorting through it. I couldn't believe how tiny some of the things were, and it almost brought me to tears. I could just see a baby filling out those clothes. I often daydream of different scenarios with our baby, like bringing him to church for the first time, watching Cassidy lay on the floor next to him and chatter away, rocking him back to sleep in the middle of the night. It hurts, I want it so bad. Tears are filling my eyes as I write these words. Why is waiting so hard?

I've never been good at waiting and I don't think I ever will be. And then I think of something someone told me when I was on a missions trip in Paraguay back in 2007. He was engaged and was eagerly anticipating his wedding. Someone said to him "That's great that you're so excited and looking forward to this next step in your life, but what are you doing now?" He said this made him stop and think that in that moment, when he was so focused on looking ahead, he might have been missing something great that was happening in his life right now.

I am one of those people that is always looking ahead. Looking forward to Christmas, to Cassidy's birthday, to winter being over (amen?) and I often have to remind myself that every day, every moment is precious and to stop and just be. Just be where God has me right now. It's not wrong to look forward to things and to plan, but at the same time I need to be content with where I am now. 

So, in this waiting season of life, I'm trying to seize the here and now. I'll enjoy Cassidy as my baby and invest in her as much as I can because they really do grow up to fast. I'll stop and play with her even when I want to do other things, because one day she won't need or want me to play with her anymore. I'll enjoy sleeping through the night. I'll enjoy spending the quiet evenings with my husband once Cassidy's in bed. And most of all, I'll continue to draw close to God and let Him speak to me and mold me during this waiting season. His timing is perfect, and I know that this baby will come when He decides it's time, and that will be the best time of all. 

"For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. As the heavens are higher then the earth, so are my ways higher then your ways and my thoughts higher then your thoughts."

Isaiah 55:8-9

Bake Sale Re-cap (and Go Riders!)

Well friends, we were blessed with another successful fundraiser this past weekend!

We were part of the Warman Craft and Bake Sale on Saturday. It was a great day! This was the first year they held it at the Legends Centre, which is a new facility in Warman and it was huge! There were over 50 vendors. John's mom walked around and said there were more baking tables then she'd ever seen at a sale, and she goes to lots! This had me a bit worried, but once again, God showed me that He's bigger. We ended up with just over $1000 in profits! We still have a few boxes of baking left over but we got rid of most of it, which is no small feat considering we ended up with LOTS of baking to sell. People were so generous in donating AND buying.

I'm thankful that it went well and that it's over. And if I can be quite honest right now, my thoughts are somewhat dominated with the fact that THE SASKATCHEWAN ROUGHRIDERS ARE IN THE GREY CUP IN THEIR HOMETOWN NEXT WEEKEND!

(Yes, I love football. I'm wearing green all week to show my pride!)

To all who donated, bought, prayed and wished us well....thank you.

Bake Sale

Our bake sale fundraiser is this Saturday!

If you are in the Saskatoon area, come check it out! It runs from 9:00-4:30 at the Legends Centre in Warman. I have been blessed to have a number of people help out with baking! We've got some yummy treats to sell. 
Here's a sampling of what we have at our table (yes, it's all home-made!)
-fudge
-turtle chocolates    
-squares
-a variety of tarts
-cupcakes
-loaves
-almond bark
-a variety of cookies, including Oreo, shortbread and more!

There will be other baking items as well as what's listed above. We will be selling things in small and large quantities, including trays of assorted baking. We will also be putting together a large basket of assorted baking and raffling it off at $5 a ticket. 

Come check it out, and if you can't come, then pray for a successful day!

New Option to Donate

I just added a Donate button to my blog. If you want to donate to us financially, just click the button and choose the amount you want to give and it will go straight to our PayPal account. You don't need to have a PayPal account to donate, anyone can do it. Please prayerfully consider whether you'd like to support our adoption in this way. We'd really appreciate it!

Oh Happy Day!!

Hallelujah!

The paperwork part of this adoption process is DONE! FINISHED! FINITO!
(insert happy dance here)

We received the final piece of documentation we needed for our home study the other day so this morning Cassidy and I walked to the post office to mail off our home study! Now it gets sent to Regina for notarizing and then off it goes to our agency in Nevada. The big guy in charge in Regina just got back from a month of holidays today, so I'm sure he'll have a bunch of paperwork to sift through so I'm not expecting it to get to our agency anytime soon, but at least it's out of our hands!! It's all up to them now!
AND while I was mailing it off I checked our mail and our adoption book I ordered from Shutterfly came today! We rushed home to look at it and...wow...it's perfect! Now we have to send that book down to our agency as well. It may have to go through Regina first, I need to find that out, but again, once we send it off, it's out of our hands!

So now...we wait! I was always not looking forward to the waiting process but now that we're just about at that point, I'm excited about it. Obviously it's one giant step closer to baby, and there's nothing we can do about it on our end. We've done our part, now we just need to trust and pray until the right lady is brought to us. I can do that!!
(We actually won't be officially on the waiting list until all this paperwork gets sent to our agency, so it may not be for another month or so)

Actually...ok I lied...we're not totally done with paperwork yet. Now that all this is done, we have to get a jump start on the immigration process. I downloaded the form online and it doesn't look that hard, but we've been told that they are very slow on their end (government. What else is new?) and so we need to start it now. Part 1 needs to be completed before we can bring our baby back across the border.

Today I'm not bothering with that though. Today I'm praising Jesus for another step completed in the process! Thank you Lord!!