"Baby"

We went to see her yesterday and took her home. Tristan and I feel in love with her, she's such a great bird. Jamie was shocked by her size and wanted her in the cage but by the end of the night as you can see they had bonded well. She actually likes him alot. The gal that gave us the bird gave us everything we needed, including food, the cage we had but we could use a play stand as she's out of the cage ALOT when we're home.

She was in a home with kids which I'm thankful for. Besides that there's nothing to report. Hockey again this weekend and taxes tomorrow grrrr.

Home Study #2

We finished another MS MAPPS class tonight for our foster program and we start our home study visits next Monday. It seems odd to us that Iowa cant use our current HS but I guess everyone has their own set of rules. There are so many good things coming from these meetings, if you're adopting and not even considering fostering I'd encourage you to take the classes. There are so many like situations and they go through alot of tips to dealing with children that come with a broken past. Its been so good.

Jamie and I have a little bet going on when we think we'll get 1st trip call. He's saying April 15 and I'm saying April 21st. Can't wait to see who's closest!

Please pray for Amara and her caretakers as we make this last stretch to bring her home. I can't wait to share her story with her when she's old enough to understand. Its been a long journey but I'm so thankful for what I've learned.

13 weeks

Are we that busy or is timing flying by? Wait....that's God's peace. Ahhhh I love that feelings, it's just unexplainable. All I can say is it's a I got your back -God feeling. We have things planed all the way into March so before we know it the call will come for us to go meet our precious little girl who God is talking care of and became the love of our lives.

It feels like a Sat in the Verduin home because we're having ANOTHER snow day and the way the wind is blowing I cant imagine they'll have school tomorrow either. I just hope the weather straightens out by Wed so we can go see Baby.

We are now down to week number...



It's officially paperwork time. R emailed me a list of all the documents that expire soon so I guess that means its time to get to work. Let the paperwork chance begin!!

I can't wait until you peeps get to see Amara's face. She is so stinkin cute hehe :)

Oh summer, I miss you!

Due to the rain which was predicted to turn to ice Tristan's hockey game was canceled today which means the Verduin family spend another wintry weekend day at home. I'm hoping this game will be rescheduled just not at the end of the season which would be the last weekend in Feb because my sisters children are having their birthday party than.

So what did we do on yet another day locked up, well Jamie spent time in the garage with my uncle Steve cutting up deer and chatting, the boys played games and computer, while I cleaned, did laundry and finished up all our documents for the foster meeting on Tues.

Tomorrow is going to be a big day, we're going to try to hit early service as I have been mentoring a lady and her children and tomorrow we're talking all 4 of the girls swimming! Its amazing how fast our Denali fills up when you add 4 more girls! Tomorrow night we have Kids Klub at church and than home to rest a few hours before back at it on Monday.

Some of you know it but I didnt mention it publicly because it sucked and it hurt to talk about it but we lost our parrot 2 weeks ago very unexpectly. She was fine when we put her light off for bed and the next day she was gone. Tristan and I had a very hard time with it and we weren't even sure we wanted another one. She had a huge cage, I mean huge, like 4 foot wide by 6 foot high and my wonderful hubby cut out the wall in the basement so her cage would slide in there and not be in the middle of the room. We have a large house but the cage was always in the way. We'll after looking into other types of birds and talking to our vet we've decided to get another one so he and I will be going Wed to meet her. We are proud to introduce to you the newest memeber of our family....Baby.



Praise the Lord, Donna and Jason got their court date and will be in Russia Feb 18th to get their daughter!! God is so good!

Financial Obstacle

Can you imagine the panic I feel when my cell rings and its our agency...They told me I wouldn't hear from them unless it was bad news. So after holding my breath for what seemed to be minutes and deciding if I was even going to answer I did to get a voice on the other end saying...Jill its T and everything is OK with Anna, I just have some information. Whew...breath.

Our region has changed, we are now like most other regions where there's a 10 day wait after court. Up until Monday in our region we only made 2 trips, the visit one to visit the orphanage, ask questions, and legally sign to adopt her and the 2nd trip to do court and go home. Since the 10 days is no longer being waved it might be 3 trips which of course means more $$ for airfare and more time off work. We won't be deciding any of this until our 1st trip. There are a few options, we could both make all 3 trips, we could both make the 1st 2, come home and only I return to bring her home or we both go for the 1st 2 and I stay in region to wait out the 10 days. I have mixed feelings about both ways. I'm not worried about being in Russia alone however Jamie feels differently. Id miss the boys a ton yet if I was able to visit her daily during the 10 days it would be good bonding. We're going to pray about that to see how God leads us.

There was no other news on Amara(Anna). Feb is just around the corner and its time to start thinking about updating some documents.

Update on the foster program. We are 3 weeks into it and have 7 3 hour meetings left. Its been very informative and we're learning alot. There are 3 other couples in our group that live within 15 miles of us so we are car polling. We start our home study for this in a few weeks and should have our licenses by mid March. I'm still thinking that we wouldn't place any children in our home until Amara is here but God likes to mess with my plan so we'll see.

Its hockey again this weekend, Tristan has a Sat game and we open skate on Sunday. Hockey is a long season and takes alot of time but I'm loving being a hockey mom. This weekend I'm in the penalty box!!

We need to praise the Lord for the families that are finally getting court dates to bring their children home and also pray for the families of Haiti.

I've waited for this day

A phone call and an invite from Russia would be so much better but I remember the day we wrote all the numbers on notecards to hang on the fridge, taking one down every day. When we started that we were at 192 and I couldn't wait for 100. 100 days still is alot but we're knocking them down and in 4 days we will be 1/2 way into the 6 months.

So it's finally here. Our days to wait are down to...



or maybe the days converted to weeks sounds better, which would be...



I dont care how you view it we're getting closer and I'm super excited about it!!

I have many friends that are waiting for calls on court dates to bring their children home, please pray for them. Waiting is so hard but God will fulfill his promise to each and every on of us we just need to remember that it's on his time!

Love you all
Jill

Tristan's 1st Hockey Game Jan.16,10

Make photo slide shows at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Foster Family

Yes our family has decided to go through the foster program. We are actually getting dual licenses, foster and adoption. We went to the orientation in Nov and after praying about it we decided to move forward. We started our PS MAPPS classes and have 9 weeks left, these classes will end mid March. We will not place a child or children in our home until Amara gets home but we figured this was the prefect time to do it...while we wait!

It simply blows my mind that there are so many children that need stable homes and theres so few that step up to the plate. Are the 3 hour classes that we have to attend once a week for 10 weeks a pain or an inconvenience? Yes. Do we feel like going through a whole new home study because Iowa won't accept our International one and than updating our International one mid Feb? No. Are the children all our ideal children? No. Will most of them need counseling or other professional help? Yes. Will it be easy all the time? No. Are we scared? Heck no, God's leading us. Are we sad for all the kids in foster homes or orphanages? Yes very much and that's why we're doing this. God has promised that he will not harm us so we are trusting him.

Please pray for our family as we head into yet another uncertain journey. We have no idea what the future holds but one thing we know for sure...we're super excited about it. 2010 is going to be AMAZING.

Maybe fostering isn't for you or your family, maybe adoption isn't for you or your family either but take some time and pray. There are many ways you can help besides opening your home. Ask God to lead you. For us, he's asked us to open our home and leave the door open until He closes it.

I better go spend some time with my hubby, he leaves at noon tomorrow to go hunting with my brother and my uncle. Pssst remember some time back I posted about the broken relationship between me and my brother? God is so good and he's knocking down the walls between us...my hubby and my brother are going hunting. Yippee!!!!

For me and the boys...its HOCKEY time. Tristan has 3 games this weekend and the coach has decided to play him. He didn't think he'd play until next year since we just started, the season is already 1/2 over and he never played before but we've been going to every open skate we can and coach says he's come a long ways and is ready to put him on the ice. Game Time. hehe I love being a mom!

Hope all of you are doing wonderful.

Love Jill

Update from Orphanage

Thank you Lord, our agency has had contact with the orphanage where Amara is and she is doing well with no changes, meaning nobody has been there to visit her. We are still hoping that we get called to go see her at the end of April but God willing it could be earlier.

As we near the half way mark I have this great feeling of peace and contentment. I believe and trust with everything that's in me that the Lord has his mighty long arm wrapped around her, protecting her for our family!

A friend shared this with me and we've been doing this for some time, I like the way it feels. We've been praying that God would put our faces in Amara's dreams, so that when she sees us, she knows us and is not afraid. I love it...those are the things our great God can do, things that are impossible to humans.

We started at 192 days and we're down to...




Hang on sweet girl, mom and dad are still coming...there may be a change in passengers on the last trip. More to come on that. We're still praying about it!

God loves you and so do we!
Love Mom, Dad, Tristan and Austin

Parmelee pictures and update

I finally got pictures from our mission trip uploaded. There are two places on the Indian Reservation that we went to, Parmelee and Corn Creek SD. They are about 10 mins apart. On this trip we had 34 people aging from 8 to 72. The woman and girls spent time in Parmelee working in the girls and boys home and building relationships while the men delivered wood and gifts to both places. They need the wood to heat their homes. There is a building in Corn Creek that needs to be fixed up in the hopes to be able to worship there so Jamie and a few guys are making plans to head back there within a few weeks to see what supplies/man power will be needed to get it fixed and ready.






I spoke with our agency today and she informed me that nothing has changed and we are still waiting. Again she said that if there is any change the coordinator would inform them asap. No news is good news! I asked her if she would be able to email the coordinator, I just want to hear that she's see Amara (Anna). I guess I needed a little more reassurance today. She said she would gladly do that and would let me know the response as soon as she got one but wanted to remind me that they are on holiday break until next week. So we wait....

Philippians 4:6 (New International Version)
Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.

Interesting

3 months, 3 weeks and 6 days can also be converted to one of these units:
* 116 days, 15 hours, 29 minutes
* 10,078,140 seconds
* 167,969 minutes
* 2799 hours
* 16 weeks

These are calcualting to 12:01am on May 1st, 2010. The day our sweet Amara clears the database. God willing I pray we're in Russia on this day!! 3 months sounds long to me I like 16 weeks :)

Has it really been that long?

I know my updates are slim to none when I start getting emails and phone calls to find out what's going on. It's not like I didn't know I was absent and I'll be honest...I haven't felt like updating, I guess after I got the wind knocked outta me a few months back it's hard to get back into it but I'm going to try. I know there's many of you that are curious to know what's happening in our lives. I'm truly at a great place of peace however every time I thought about updating I was like no that's not important, and even though my news on the adoption is going to be very very little I can let you all know what we're doing and that we're still alive.

We are officially a hockey family. Tristan started hockey mid season and we've been busy running him to 2 practices a week plus open skate every chance he gets. This is the 1st year for him on the ice so he will be sitting the bench for home games as he needs practice on his skills. He was relieved about this decision. The guys on his team have been great sports about having a new player start in the middle of their season. Beginner or not he has a proud mom and one that's been polishing up on her ice skating skills as well. Alot of times he wants to go to open skate without friends so he can work on the skills so if I have to sit there for 2 hours I figure I may as well skate. I'll admit, I'm secretly enjoying this myself :)

Jamie is continuing to work outside but now that the thermometer reads -25 he may be home doing the honey do list. I have a partner in my Nutrition Club which gives me 2 full days off and I'm loving that, it gives me time to get my housework done and all my errands. Besides that 3 days a week will be plenty when Amara comes home, 0 would be even better....if I could only find a stay at home job besides daycare :)

The boys have been enjoying the time off from school and are not excited about going back on Wednesday. Boys will be boys and sometimes things got alittle out of hand but all in all its been fun having them home and I'm going to miss them.

We really don't have any news on the adoption. Our agency said that no news is good news and that they would call once in awhile to check in. I usually talk to them around the 1st so I will be calling them sometime this week. There are a few things that we do know 1) we love her and can't wait for Russia to say, Come! 2) we need to start redoing all our paperwork in Feb. 3) there's only 117 days left until she clears the database and that number makes us happy considering we started at 192!! Yippeee we'll be going before we know it.

The room where my home office used to be is redone besides the carpet because we can't decide on color, it's now the toy/play room . We still put all her toys in that room and its adorable. A friend of mine gave me tons of stuff from her daughter. Little Tikes kitchen, washer, and dryer. I love it now we just need little Amara in there.

We got home late last night from a Native American reservation. Our family went with a group from our church and another church to do mission work. It was an eye opener for us and the boys. Its sad to see how little some people live with when we have so much. This group goes about every other month and we plan to go as much as possible. We know that when Amara comes home it wont work to take her at such a young age so Jamie and I would have to take turns going or have my parents take her. The people of Parmelee have blessed us and for that we're thankful. God has been so good to us and our promise to Him is that as we wait, we will continue to serve Him. Our prayer as a family is that as we are doing things here on earth we as humans will never think we deserve something in return and that all the glory goes to the Lord. For it is because of Him.

After I speak to our agency I will update, I'm sure we wont know anymore than we do right now but at least you won't be wondering.

Please continue to pray for Amara and her caretakers and for all the people that are in the adoption process especially those who are waiting or those who are going through a rough time. A fellow blogger just lost their referral before Christmas and I can't imagine the pain that brings but we need to prayer for those people, that God provides strength as even though that was not the child for them their daughter is still out there and she needs this family to find her no matter the suffering!

Love you all and can't wait to see what 2010 has in store for all of us.