Fun Times with the Family!!!

Daddy and Anna Grace rub noses at Loopie's Pizzeria a few weekends ago when we made it a special day outing at the Chatanooga Aquarium. Just now posting these pics from a few weeks ago!!
Lovely family photo op. Isn't it lovely with the beautiful blooming dogwood, the rustic rock wall and the metal double doors in the background!! Haha!
Anna Grace doing a little fountain jumping. It's funny, they have 3 rows of these fountains shooting out of the sidewalk and AG had a great time running and jumping them all.
My sweet girl never turns down a chance to have a little Ben and Jerry's ice cream!














Ice cream was the closing treat for a grand day at the Chatanooga Aquarium!! What a fun day!! Maybe next time we come back, we'll have Anna Grace's little sister with us!!



Now, it's been an interesting week! The excitement began on Tuesday when I met with the owner of a long-established recording studio in town, and he talked with me about producing an album for me! There is much to be decided and worked out before we can proceed, but it surely is an exciting possibility! That's actually an understatement. . . it is a lifelong dream of mine. I hope it all works out!

Additionally, we received a call from Karla, our social worker with the adoption, yesterday. She said that our homestudy rough draft had been sent to Journeys of the Heart for review!! Wohooo!! Hopefully, it will pass review the first time and we will, VERY SOON, be on the waiting list for our daughter. This is a HUGE step---Great news!!! :-)

This weekend has been fun and filled with activity. My little niece came to spend the night with us (Anna Grace and she had such a great time!)--and we did paintings, movies, bubbles, games, etc.! Whew! I need a nap :-)




What is most pressing, right now, is getting the concert ready for the 27th. It's all coming together very nicely, and hopefully I will soon have more concert dates on the calendar.

Nutshell of "How we chose Taiwan"

Our adoption journey began last September when God clearly called us to complete our family by adopting a child who needs a forever family. Through a series of encounters, conversations, answered prayers, and life events--His call became crystal clear---and we could not be more excited to be taking this journey.

We first set our eyes on China after praying, one night at bedtime, that God would show us "what country"? He answered that prayer in less than 12 hours by introducing us to Lily and her sister on the playground--two sisters brought together through adoption just two months before (and she came to their family from China). Later that same day, we checked our mail to find a notice about a "passport fair" that very weekend. Just another little sign that we would need a passport to where we were going.

We found an agency in town to start our adoption process and homestudy---and through our homestudy process we focused in on Taiwan (which is less than 100 miles off the SE coast of China). We learned of a foster care program with healthy boys and girls needing families---and the wait time is anywhere from 3-18 months (depending on whether you adopt a boy or girl). China's wait for a child is 3-4 years.

So now, months later, after many meetings, interviews, classes, seminars and essays--- Geoff, Anna Grace and I await our homestudy being submitted to our adoption agency for review and then to be added to the waitlist. We can't wait to bring Anna Grace's sister home!

At the end of April, I am launching an adoption concert, "Unabandoned Love . . . the Orphan's Road Home" to help raise our family's funds and at the same time raise awareness of the orphan's plight. Eventually, my hope is to take this concert to many churches and use it as a ministry to help raise funds for other families to be able to afford adoption. It is such a shame, because there are over 200 million orphans worldwide--each one needs a loving family. But, the cost of adoption is prohibitive (as it is for our family, in fact), and many people who would make loving parents to these children cannot proceed because of the financial requirement. I hope that my concert may eventually help these families.

In the meantime, over the next weeks, I will pull together the loose ends of the concert and be ready to take it to First United Methodist Church on April 27th!

Our journey to Taiwan to heed God's call and complete our family