We may not be able to save every child, but we can respond one at a time. Do not be discouraged by numbers, but instead be encouraged that when we feed, visit, love and clothe an orphan- we did it for Christ. I tell you the truth- whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me. Matthew 25:40

Friday, February 26, 2010

It was than that I carried you...


Most of you don't know but about a month ago I started looking ahead to this day and for a moment it overwhelmed me or maybe a better word would be scared me but than I prayed as I knew I had to trust that the Lord would give me everything I needed to get through this day. Today was our sweet little girls 1st birthday. This morning was kinda hard so I spent some time before work in prayer and God provided. I was so busy at work I didn't get out of there until 3pm, just in time to pick up the boys from school get Herbalife delivered to my clients to make it home before 5, pack and head to my sisters. As I was talking to Jamie today about my busy day I realized it was God's way of carrying me through. So today I thank the Lord for allowing me to have the kind of peace that can only come from Him, for giving us such a precious little face that we long to hold and love forever and also to wish our beautiful angel a Happy Birthday! I love you more than you could ever imagine.

When I came home from work this is what I found on the counter...flowers to Amara from my mother. Brought tears to my eyes!!

Monday, February 22, 2010

Bittersweet

Tristan ended his 1st hockey season on Sat. I am so so proud of him, he started in Nov after never being on the ice, he struggled and his coaches said that he wouldn't play in games this year because of his abilities. He didn't accept that, he started watching you tube videos on how to stop, how to skate backwards and techniques,and went to every open skate he could. He sat the bench his 1st game and that was also the last one. He gave it all he had and played in every game there after. I have enjoyed the season and will like my free time back yet hate to see it end. He will move up next year to the Bantams so we have decided to put him in a week long camp this summer to sharping up his skills. I'm such a proud mom and even though he wasn't the best player I'm super proud of him for never giving up even when the odds we against him.

This week we complete week 7 of 10 in our MS MAPP class, as long as weather doesn't delay any classes we should have our licenses mid March, take a little break and hopefully head to Russia mid April. I will be calling our agency this week to see what they're thinking for travel dates :)

We have friends in Florida waiting for their little boy to come across from Haiti and are running into some unexpected snags. Please pray for these families and also the children. They have already been through so much!

Our day countdown on the fridge says...

Wednesday, February 17, 2010

How is the J-O-B?

Hard to believe I'm almost 4 days into my new job. I love the job and I love the hours but its been alittle hard to juggle everything. I found myself up early this morning placing my Herbalife order because I don't have time during the day like I used to. I'm suppose to work from 9 -1pm however I haven't been out of there at 1 yet :) its more like 2:30 and than its time to pick up the kids, do supper, homework, catch up on every ones day and than I'm tired. All in all I like the job so far just anxious to see how God's going to handle the...I want to be a stay at home home prayer. My bosses know this is only temporary until Miss A comes home and at that time we'll sit down and talk to see if it's going to work to continue.

We finished out 6th week of MS MAPP class and have 4 more weeks left. This is been the greatest class Ive taken, its packed full of information. I just told another adoptive mom that all people considering adoption just take this class, its a wealth of information.

Nothing has changed on the adoption front. We're waiting for apostles and than everything goes to Russia. We've almost got another week behind us. God is so good to us, when we feel or think we should be falling apart His peace and understanding has held us together. Its been a journey, a journey I wouldn't recommend traveling without a Savior!

Love Jill

Saturday, February 13, 2010

I seriously can't believe this

Life is busy. God is so good to us and I'll be honest we can hardly believe that we are down to...

weeks. We are more than ready to go however the thought of 10 weeks gives us mixed feeling. Excited, scared, nervous, anxious. It has been 24 weeks since we saw this precious girls face and claimed her as ours, we feel we're coming into a time that we thought would never come but God gave us peace the whole way. We serve such an amazing God. This last week we have been in close contact with our agency on paperwork as they want everything in line when Russia calls for us to come. Oh dear that gives me a butterfly feeling in my stomach. I cant wait to pull the suitcases out, book tickets and take the 1st jet outta here. Please keep our family in your prayers as we round these last few curves and make our way (God willing) to Russia to see the little girl that stole out hearts 24 weeks ago.

For many weeks we have been praying that God make our faces known to Amara and we can't wait to see how God is working to calm the fears of meeting us. A friend suggest this to us and she just finished 1st trip...she said God answered her prayer.

Dawn and Rob had a successful court and are heading home to wait out the 10 days before Dawn flies back to bring her home forever. Praise the Lord!

Friday, February 12, 2010

Change is good

After long thoughts, conversations and prayer Jamie and I have decided to close our nutrition club and sell Herbalife from home like I did prior to coming here. The economy played a big part in our decision however the biggest one was the thought of sitting here when I have and know I could do this from home while my sweet daughter is at a daycare. That just didn't settle well with me and as our days get fewer and fewer it was time to make a change. The people I rent from have many business, gas stations, car washes, and car dealer. They do all they're booking keeping in the offices next to me, well when I told them I was going to close as of Mar 1st they offered me a part time position. My 1st thought was no, I'm going home. Than Jamie and I talked more and we talked more with them and decided that I would try this only until we get travel dates and at that time we would need to see if it works for them and works for me to continue. I hope I'm only an employee until April hehe. They also said maybe we could work something out where I could come in later, after Jamie is home but we'll see. They are great people, today they told me that I could keep my product in a back room and continue to weigh/measure my people. God is so good and He's put some real amazing people in our lives. So as of Mar 1st we will close the club and I will be employed by Mulder Oil working Mon - Fri from 9am - 1pm and I start this coming Monday. This will be different for me, I've never had a boss, always been self employed. Please pray that this is a smooth transition.

Adoption Update: Notarized/Appastilled docs for update on Dossier #1 and some for Dossier #2 are in the mail to our agency. Hang on Miss A, mom is so close to coming for you.

When I saw this I just had to smile, it's exactly how I feel some days. haha



Note to self: Change blog layout, it may be causing this long winter...

Tuesday, February 9, 2010

Yea! I got 3 things checked off

Yea I did it, I got 3 items checked off. Employment Letter on Jamie, Employment Letter for myself which had to come from our accountant since I'm self employed. Can you honestly believe it, I called him yesterday and he called they were done this morning, I never imagined it being that fast since he's right in the middle of tax time. Prayer works. That reminds me, there's a really neat website a friend shared with me. You can find it here, you put in a prayer request and people will actually pray for you and some email you to let you know they prayed and you can do the same. Its really neat. Ok back to what I was here for. I was also able to get a certified marriage licenses. That makes 3 check marks. I hope to have the others finished up by Friday. They have the home study and documents on the list but we are waiting on that. The HS needs to be updated May 13 and after talking to our agency today they said we should wait and maybe we'd be home from 1st trip by the 13th and than it would need to be amended before court anyway which would save us a few $$. We are doing some extra paper chasing now for our Dossier #2 that needs to be complete before court. Our agency is awesome, they have us do all this work ahead for time so theres no delay in court dates and we don't have to run around like crazy after we get home form trip 1.

I'm pleased with the day, now its time to follow up on a few of my weight loss clients and get ready for another PS MAPPS class.

Please contuine to pray for all the waiting families and all the children waiting, in orphanages and in foster care. I'm lifting Dawn and Rob up to the Lord, their court date is just around the corner and they get to see their daughter tomorrow!!

Monday, February 8, 2010

Tossed Around

I've been busy running around getting all our new documents for Russia while trying to get home study documents ready for the foster program. I feel Ive been keeping it all straight until today. I went to get our police clearances for the 3rd time and after waiting 20 mins she hands we 2 forms, 1 for Jamie and 1 for me. I requested 2 for each of us so she did another one however after I got them I noticed her notary expires May 23, 2010 which means that I will have to repay her 1 more visit because we can't have a document in our dossier for court with an expired notary. She was very crabby and I was edgy. It was my day off and everything I tried to do back fired. I wanted to mark 3 items off the list for Russia and only 1 got marked off which really needs to be back on because it'll have to be done again. grrr Well now that I was frustrated and a bit confused I called my agency to go over the "to do list" I had from them. I need to rewind alittle, the gal we always worked with got moved and because of the background of adoption the director decided that she wanted to be the one to finish it with us since she already knew everything that was going on. I'll be honest, shes awesome and she knows what shes going but shes the director and shes too busy to paperwork chase with us so today I was back talking to the travel department ( I like this dept anyway) and was informed that not all the documents on the 1st list are needed, those are only needed if it would be a normal annual update and our is different since we already know our region and our daughter. So I spent the night going over the list and retyping documents. Theres the irony, in a later email tonight she says oh by the way I wouldn't of had you get those police clearances yet anyway because you need new ones before court!

Tomorrow is a new day and I'm going to mark 3 items off the list. Tomorrow night is another meeting for our foster program and than back to work on Wed.

Praying for Dawn and Rob, they are in Russia right now for court.

Friday, February 5, 2010

God brings fulfillment in our wait

Think of all the time you are wasting being miserable in waiting. Why not determine to enjoy the wait and provide yourself a lot more joy in your life?

I share a lot on this blog but not everything and I never thought Id post today on waiting but after a conversation I had this morning with my dear friend I knew there were some things I could say. During our conversation she was asking me about Amara and time frames to which I told her what we are hoping for but know nothing more than that and she says, I'm proud of you Jill. This has been a long road and Ive really seen you change a lot in the last 6 months. You've gained a lot of patience and the way you've waited and obeyed when it was hard really shows glory to God. Wow I almost feel right off my chair. That is the best thing Ive had said to me in a long time and I'm glad God is getting all the glory. There are a lot of people who have waited or are waiting in this adoption world and some people struggle and some don't. Ive even had people say well its easy for you because..... haha waiting is waiting plain and simple. Its not easy and some days are just plain hard, like when your friends that all got referrals the same time you did or after are going for last trips to bring their children home. There's nothing easy about that however I know that my strength comes from God and without Him, Id be frustrated beyond words, venting about my wait every single day but I don't do that because I'm at peace and I know its not about me. The Lord gave us Amara just like He did Tristan and Austin, they're not ours to keep and at any moment He can take them away from us. We have to know that, trust Him and pray for strength and understanding. I love her and we've been ready to go since August but it's not our time and when it is we'll go so until then we will continue to pray and obey!

Lord Jesus, help us learn to enjoy the time we wait. Our life has not stopped just because we wait. You have fulfillment for us in this wait.

We are determined to experience the abundance you brought us and walk in your peace. We are determined to stop longing for what we’ve lost or what we have never had. Instead, we are going to make the most of this moment you have given us. We are going to live life more abundantly just like you promised we could.

We need you to do it for us. We are determined, but helpless. Lord, teach us to wait in your joy. Amen.

If you are reading this and you're truly struggle with a wait of any kind, spend some time in prayer and if you need someone to walk beside you let me know. I don't have answers but I do know the great peace that comes from knowing and trusting the Lord.

Thursday, February 4, 2010

Oh what a feeling...

Monday night was our 1st of 3 home study visits for the fostering program. There weren't any unexpected surprises, it was just like our International one. The only difference was the feeling and thoughts I had going through this one. The 1st home study we did for Russia I was so nervous I don't think I could think but during this one I thought a lot about how easy and how us parents that can birth children if we choose to take for granted that privilege. There are all kinds of us, married, unmarried, widowed, single, divorced that can have children if we choose to yet there's alot of families, single woman going through adoption because they can't but because they have such a deep desire to parent they jump through all the hoops, people coming into your home to see if it's "fit" for a child, digging up your past and dissecting it, checking your criminal background to even diving into the way you were parented as a child. As I sat at our kitchen table and answered question after question and explained everything she wanted explained all for her to find out if we "fit" the parenting mold they have in their minds my heart began to break for those who can't have children. Just think about it...if you have bio children. No one came into your home and looked into your past, you just decided with your partner that you wanted a child, you didn't have to pass the test so ta speck. I know many woman who would love to carry a child but can't and even though Ive said "I understand" when they speck about their loss, I don't. But Monday night it began to hit me and for all those woman and their families I'm praying. I wont say I understand again because I don't and can't but God does and I want him to break my heart for the things that break His. May God be with you all and deliver peace that surpasses all understanding.

We have been paper chasing for our foster licenses and our expired documents for Russia. I keep putting this off but its really time to start, I don't want to get the call to go and not have my homework done!

Time flies when you're having so much fun. Our countdown in days is down to...



Big wooohooo to Dawn and Rob, they received their court date and will be in Russia shortly before their daughters 1st birthday!! God is so amazing.