Good Things Come to Those Who Wait!!--in little envelopes in the mail!

Well, well, well. . . . guess what arrived in our mailbox today? Our I797 (Immigration approval for adopting an orphan!!!!!). We have been waiting since MAY for this news, and finally it has arrived. Unfortunately, there was a mistake on it---so that is another issue we will have to deal with as this form must match the homestudy. But, it is a HUGE answer to prayer to know that we are approved. Now we can officially begin our wait for our daughter-----And, we CAN NOT EVEN BEGIN to tell you how excited we are, right now!!!!!

Thank you for reading, everyone!! Have a wonderful week!

A Fun Start to School and Ballet

We have had a great couple of weeks as Anna Grace has started Kindergarten! She is loving school and is doing so well. She was tested on her literacy/reading skills and surpassed the benchmark goals expected for her by May!!!! I am very proud of her. She loves riding the bus, she loves being a "big girl" and getting her lunch in the lunch line (she tells me when she wants mommy to pack her lunch), and she absolutely loves her teacher. I am so very thankful for that! We did take pictures of her on her first day of school, and as soon as I get those downloaded (this weekend), I'll add them.

Anna Grace also started ballet at the Alabama Royal Academy of Ballet this past week. She had a very exciting first class!! Here are some photos.
Anna Grace gets ready for her first ballet class!!

Anna Grace and her new friend

"Girls, how many of you watched the Olympics? Do you remember how the gymnasts walked in nicely? We will walk with our hands on our hips."



Anna Grace getting ready for a fun first class

Now, we did have a family Luau (as Anna Grace called it) when I made Tilapia tacos a few days ago. So, we decided to make it a family celebration! Here are a few pics:




A few days back, Anna Grace drew this drawing on her art easel. She explained that it was the Great Wall of China, Mrs. Tien in front (our Taiwan facilitator), daddy behind her, mommy and then Anna Grace (with the bow in her hair). Mrs. Tien is taking us to bring home our baby sister from Taiwan. And, if you look closely, you can see the row of babies she drew. Pretty amazing understanding for a 5 year old.



Anna Grace is holding her new mandolin she is excited to learn to play. Thank you Cool Mandolin for Kids Co.!! You do wonderful things for children and music!

Have a wonderful Labor Day weekend, everyone! And, again, thanks so much for following along!

No news is. . . . no news

Gosh, I was holding off on posting a while, just hoping that we would have some great news to share with everyone that our USCIS approval had come. But, alas. . . nothing. I finally got in touch with our social worker today who shared that they have about 20 families in the same predicament---waiting on their approval from USCIS. And, they are receiving no communication from Immigration either. . . just crickets chirping. So, we continue our wait and hope that one day soon, we will get confirmation in the mail so that we can go on the waitlist---something we've been striving to do since last October.

On a positive note, I performed my concert, "Unabandoned Love. . . the Orphan's Road Home" at Riverchase United Methodist last week and it went so very well, and was well-received by all who attended. My hope is to schedule more concerts soon. There are so many millions of children who need loving parents out there. I would like to think maybe I could help inspire others to consider adoption and change the world by loving a child.

Thanks for reading, and I'll post as soon as I have news :-) Have a wonderful weekend everyone!

Beauty and the Beast was a hit!

No new adoption news to post, but Beauty and the Beast closed yesterday afternoon, and it was a phenomenal run! I believe every single show sold out (and there were 21 performances in all!). What a cast it was! The talent was impeccable, and just some of the nicest people you could ever hope to meet.

Geoff, Anna Grace and I felt we truly gained some special friends through this run--that would be you, Matt and Sarah! Now I have even more reason to visit New York!! And, we made other wonderful relationships and connections that we will not soon forget. It was a fabulous experience!

Next Wednesday, August 13th, is my concert at Riverchase United Methodist. Please keep it in your prayers, and if you're around on that date--I would love to have you come out!

Have a great week and thanks for reading!

Some Discouraging News

I spoke with our social worker tonight and she shared with me some discouraging news. We have been anxiously awaiting our approval from Immigration in the mail--checking every day. Our homestudy has been at Immigration since May, and it had been taking 2 months to process---so, it is time for ours to be approved. Her news was that Immigration has experienced two big turnovers in staff since March--and they have someone new overseeing things---and she has come in with her own set of rules and expectations. So, there is a HUGE backup of homestudies getting cleared (they are only processing March currently). It could be another 2 months to get clearance. Hahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh (sigh) I keep reminding myself that God has a child specifically chosen for our family. But, it is so tough to keep getting delayed while so many others are pushing on ahead.

I received the sweetest email from another Journeys of the Heart family that is awaiting their referral news any day. Michelle spent the better part of a day creating a chart for me showing me how many people are waitlisted and waiting for referrals. She did that so I could have a good idea of what kind of time frame we are looking at---at this point in the game. The good news is that there are about the same number of families ahead of us right now as there were ahead of Michelle when she was wait-listed back in December. The stressful news is that there are 7 other families (just like us) who are awaiting their Immigration approval and are "waiting" to get waitlisted. So, needless to say, we are eager to get cleared on the list asap.

Please keep our adoption in your prayers, and thank you so much for reading.

July Update

Hi friends! I haven't posted in a while because there has truly been no news to report. But, we are getting very close to the time our Immigration approval should arrive. We check the mail every day hoping for good news. That will be a big milestone for us and will allow us to finally get on the waitlist. Up to this point, we have been waiting to wait. Once we get that clearance, we will actually get in line! That will feel like we've actually accomplished something. I'll certainly post as soon as I hear.

Thanks for continuing to follow our journey! Have a great week :-)

June Update

See bottom of today's post to see a clip from my adoption concert :-)

I haven't posted in a little while because there has really been no new adoption news to post. As it stands we are still awaiting approval from CIS in Atlanta (Immigration). We expect to hear word on that by the end of July--and to get waitlisted about the same time (end of July early August). I am estimating that it will be roughly a year from the time we get added to the waitlist to the time we travel to Taiwan---so maybe we'll be traveling by September 2009.

I did hear today that our service plan is completely approved---our education courses were approved--so we can check that off our list!!! Yahoo!! That is great news.

I am currently in Red Mountain Theatre Company's production of Beauty and the Beast. It is an amazing cast and a phenomenal director, choreographer, music director (they are some of the most inspiring and excellent people I've ever had the pleasure of working with). This (music theatre/performing) is my love and my passion, and to be able to do this and use the income I make to put in our adoption fund is truly a gift from God. Not many people are able to do what they love doing and get paid for it. I'm thankful for this opportunity--and I hope there will be more to come.

Geoff and I have made it a date every morning to set the alarm clock "early" and have our quiet time, Bible study and prayer out on our back porch with fresh brewed coffee. It has been the best thing we have done---great for our attitudes, mindset, our marriage, and our spiritual lives. Although we still don't have all the answers (about this adoption journey, about how we will bring it all to pass), we have a peace and a grounded feeling that we haven't had in a long time. I recommend carving out that time and making it a daily appointment---it's actually become our favorite time of the day.

Some other good news is that I am scheduled to sing the adoption concert "Unabandoned Love. . . the Orphan's Road Home" on August 13th at my church. I can't wait to see what comes from that! I hope it will light a spark that will catch on---and maybe more families will be brought together--more children will come into loving homes as a result! I hope so. Enjoy taking a sneak peek below at one of the pieces I sing in my concert.

I will be updating as soon as I have news to share!