Puzzle picture!!

Here's our first picture of our second puzzle! In this photo we have 193 pieces in place. We have had 391 sponsored...as you can see we're not caught up yet! We're chipping away at the difference.

On the homestudy front, we are still waiting for it to be completed. Once it is we can submit our I800A- this is the document that has to be approved for us to adopt a child from another country and bring him to the USA. Step by step...it's all getting done. We cannot submit the I800A until we have our homestudy.

Please pray for Adam as we wait to bring him home.

Here are some of our prayer requests:

Pray for the funds- we need to raise/earn or be approved for grants - the amount is between $27,000-$30,000. There is a bit of variance because our oldest daughter Abby is coming with us and because some of the fees are based on the Chinese Yuan, so those fees can flucuate depending on the exchange rate.

Pray for Adam- that he will be safe, healthy and that God will prepare his heart for us as his family and prepare his heart to be open to His Word.

Pray for Abby, Emily and Brian- that God will prepare them to fully accept Adam as their brother. They say that they are ready but this is something that they can't fully prepare for as they've never experienced anything like this before.

Please pray for Mark and me as we prepare the dossier. There is a lot of paperwork and we're about halfway through but I don't want anything to slip through the cracks as we do this.

Thank you all!!

Our new puzzle is here!

Our new puzzle has arrrived. Mark and I put the outer edge together and now we are going to work on some of the inner pieces. I will post a picture as soon as I have the 242 pieces together.

Beth

Have to make a change...

Well, I have to edit the post that was here. I was a little premature in my former post. Everything is the same but I don't want to say anything before I am allowed to say anything....

Off topic, please praise the Lord with me, a friend told me that her daughter was almost run over by a car today. Thank the Lord that he had her mom yank her out of the way in time.

Also, our church is mourning the loss of a 2 yr old boy who was run over by a car. His relatives formerly attended our church. Please pray for his family.

Have a great evening.

Beth

Puzzle snafu!

Well, I was so excited today to work on the puzzle. We have 242 puzzle pieces sponsered! I planned to work on the puzzle today until we had 242 puzzle pieces put together. Abby and Emily were hanging out watching me put the puzzle together. Things were going great, I was putting sections together, I got the bottom edge done, I got the left side done. I was working my way up on the right side and working on the top edge at the same time. I was practically jumping up and down I was so excited....then it happened. There weren't any more edge pieces, but we weren't finished yet!!! Did I tell you all that I got this puzzle on Ebay? That it was used but "all the pieces are there"? At least that's what the seller said....he was wrong! We frantically dumped out all the pieces in the box, in case we missed it. Nope! Well, my motivation just drained out of me!

I have my motivation back, we've ordered a new puzzle and as soon as it arrives I will post a picture of our new puzzle, with 242 pieces put together! Our puzzle is still 1,000 pieces and the picture is still a panda. Just a small setback.

Also, I wanted to thank all the generous people who have donated to our puzzle. I am constantly in awe of the generosity and love everyone is showing to our family. Thank you to Josh, Jen, Dave, Luke, Bruce, Lorriane, Suzanne and Marc. We received a donation from someone who doesn't even know us...thank you so much!! So far we have raised $1,215...Praise the Lord!

Our homestudy should be completed this week. After that we continue to work on the paperwork for the dossier. Someone we met recently said it best...adoption is "hurry up...then wait....hurry up....then wait"

Our yard sale is scheduled for May 30th. If you have anything you'd like to donate (and you live close to Delaware) let me know. Thank you so much to everyone who has already donated.

Time to go....

Beth

Mother's Day...

I got some wonderful things from my kids. Abby made me a card, paper flowers from school and another set of paper flowers that she made at home. Emily made me a card (the glue is still wet!), Brian made me a bookmark in church! So sweet!

Mark bought me a pink dogwood tree and a lilac bush! (I've been wanting them since we moved in -Oct '08) I love them!!

I just want to publicly say how much I love my kids. Abby, you are so caring about others! You can be one of the "cuddliest" kids I've ever known! Emily, you have such a tender heart, I hope it always stays tender! I love your sweet hugs! Brian, you are my "wild man" but I love your awesome laugh...so infectious!

The kids and I had a photo session on Saturday. I'm posting my favorite photo of each kid.

Even though today has been a great day I've been a bit "teary" throughout the day. I'm hoping this is Adam's last Mother's Day without a mom who can hug him everyday! Dear Lord, I pray that you will hug my sweet little man until I can do it in person. Please enfold him in your love every day. Please help him to know that there are people who love him and are praying for him every day.

I have to do a quick puzzle update: we have 90 puzzle pieces sponsored. Thank you Rachel, Debbie and Susan and Jim. Thank you everyone. I will try to get an updated photo on soon.

Praise: A church member is donating clothes and toys for Adam. Thank you Trish.

Beth

Puzzle update!!

Hello everyone,

Thanks to Katie and Nathan, Jim and Linda. We now have 68 puzzle pieces!! Thank you all so much! Every bit helps.

Mark and I were at an adoption training on friday. Including driving time, we were away from the kids for almost 12 hours. When we got home the kids were so excited they were jumping up and down. I told my mom, "Imagine how Emily and Brian will react when we get home from China...a two week trip!!" They'll be over the moon excited! I am not looking forward to leaving them for so long. Having Adam home will be worth it, though.

Have a great day everyone!

Beth

Wow!! Wow!!

That's what I kept saying after we received two large gifts towards our puzzle fundraiser. Last week we had 30 puzzle pieces sponsored...now we have 56!!! Thank you, thank you, thank you. Two families in our church have donated significantly towards our puzzle. So, I will be working on the puzzle this week sometime, I hope! My goal is to post another puzzle picture this weekend. We'll see if it actually happens.

Mark, Abby, Emily and I shared info with the Kids Klub for both church services today. I was so nervous, I don't do well with crowds...even if they are kids!! The kids were very interested and it went well. We did veer off into tangents a few times, the ones who can use chopsticks all wanted to let me know! There was a boy who came up to us afterwards and told us that he'd like to help us with Adam. I assume he wants to help by being his friend, they are only a few years apart. So wonderful!!

Thank you everyone who prayed, it went very well.

Have a great week!

Beth