Newest news!!

I finally spoke to someone today. They feel that we will be able to finish our adoption and we were quoted a price. It is a relief, but I am not as excited as I thought I would be. Someone from our Board of Directors is going down next week, so hopefully she will see our little man and get pictures. We found out that we haven't gotten a truthful update since July. I pray that he is healthy and really being looked after. Maybe after we get word that he is OK and things really will progress like we are being told, I will be able to let my guard down a bit.

Waiting, Waiting, Waiting.....

Seems to be our middle name these days, Oh wait, maybe that is DRAMA.:0) Anyway, we are waiting for some sort of update this week on where our case stands. Our board of directors is going down the second week of January so we are praying for good news. The worst case scenario is that we won't be able to bring him home. The second worst is that we will have to pay the second half of our fees all over again. Both, I think will result in us not bringing him home. What a long process this has been and I just pray that everyone involved remembers that this is a child we are talking about, not a car!!! I am hoping that we aren't getting any updates because everything shuts down in guatemala this week and next. Please pray that we will hear something positive soon. You would think after all this time, the wait would get easier, but lately, it has def. been harder!!

In the meantime, I am at home having fun with the kids. It is nice to have Alex off of school this week although she says that she misses her friends already:0) Callum doesn't know what to do with her home all day other than drive her crazy. it is too cute!!

Merry Christmas!!!

What a wonderful day it has been!!!

Christmas Eve started great!! Gareth had the day off for the first time in 15 years. He has worked every Christmas Eve since we've been together and it was great to have a relaxing day at home as a family. Last night, we went to our Candle Light Christmas Eve Service. I think this is my favorite service of the year.(I may say the same at Easter too) The kids behaved great and Alex really enjoyed the service. Unfort. Callum fell asleep halfway through so getting him to bed last night wasn't fun. We have been ready for Christmas for about 2 months so I wasn't stressed about getting everything under the tree. Around 11:00, Callum finally went to sleep and we started to play Santa. As I was starting, Gareth came to me to tell me that the shed door lock was jammed. So much for preparing early. He has had their new bikes together for weeks and stored them in the shed. It took him almost an hour and then he had to take the door off of the shed to get them out. I almost got the video camera out and I hate to admit that I laughed, but I did. It seems to be the typical Jenkins motto these days, "If there is no drama, then the Jenkins' family is not involved!"

This morning was great!! The kids were VERY good and really appreciated every gift that they got. We went to my parents for brunch and to give them their gifts. We then came home and relaxed before starting dinner. My parents came over for dinner this year, and my dad stayed for about an hour and a half. That is a huge blessing!! In the past couple of years, by dinner he is just to tired to come out, but this year, he did it and although he looked completely worn out by the end, we are grateful that he was able to spend the evening with us. Alex said the blessing for dinner and thanked God for the celebration of Jesus' birthday. How amazing it is to see her love the Lord and really embrace the real reason for Christmas!!

Friday Night!

I took the kids out tonight to go and see "The Chipmunks" . It was cute. Callum is doing so well and he actually sat and watched the movie. This is only the second time he has done this. He did it last month too when my mother-n-law and i took the kids to see "Enchanted". What a difference from the little boy 4 months ago that wouldn't ever sit still and would never watch t.v.for more than 5 minutes at a time. (not that I want him watching it all the time) Alex really enjoyed the movie. Her laugh is so great and infectious, I think my mom and I enjoyed that as much as the movie.

On the adoption front, we waited all day to hear something positive, but didn't. I am hoping that we will hear something prior to Christmas, but we may just have to hang in there a little longer and try to be patient. Thank you for continuing to pray!!!

Friday

It seems that every time we get a glimpse of hope, it gets shattered. Please pray that we get some resolution of some kind today. I don't want to go in to the next 2 weeks without knowing anything. I want our little boy home, but every day that goes by becomes more of a nightmare. Please continue to pray!!!

Thursday!

Still no new news. It really is getting harder every day. The wait of not knowing is what is getting to me!!

Wednesday!

Please continue to pray. We have had contact with our agency this morning and we were given a glimpse of hope. We won't really allow ourselves more than that right now, but we will continue to fight for what is right!!

Please just lift the whole situation up in prayer!! Mostly Nicholas!

Tuesday!

All I can say at this point is PRAY! Pray for wisdom for us and that God will reveal what His plan is. Pray for peace for the decisions that we make. God is the only one that can make the changes we need at this point!!

Another Monday....

Another Monday has gone by with no new news. Each day with out any news makes it harder to stay positive. Some days I wonder if God did allow us to get this far and we won't be bring him home, because He has another purpose. I have been praying asking God to take the desire in my heart for this beautiful boy away if that is the case. Other days, i just feel that God is allowing this to happen and we will bring him home, but we may never know why we have had so many challenges. The hardest thing is to just keep moving with out knowing the outcome.

Yesterday we stayed in all day. Believe it or not, I tried not to talk all day:0) Gareth was in heaven. The good news is, my voice is just about fully back and it no longer hurts to talk. We made bouncy balls with the kids last night and then had a contest to see who could make theirs bounce the highest. Of course, it was pretty much a tie between Alex and Gareth. I wonder where she gets her competitiveness? We had a family dinner tonight. I try to make cookies every year for Gareth to take to his assistants at work. Tonight we did that and I think that the kids ate more than we had to box up for Gareth to take to work:0) We had so much fun.

Please continue to pray for resolution with our adoption one way or the other. i know that 2 years to us is nothing in God's eyes, but we are really getting emotionally drained!!

More Friday News!!!

We did get an email that informed that there was a call made. There is still more that they are going to discuss so I can't really elaborate at this point. The positive is that the board has made contact with our facilitator and we are still "in process". Don't know the truth of where yet, but we are still "in".
I went to my Sunday School Christmas party tonight. I had a great time and Gareth was able to come towards the end.
After everyone left, we prayed with 2 other couples. We spent a good half an hour in prayer tonight, just lifting the whole situation up. We prayed for the people invovled, the money situation, and most importantly the children that are waiting.
We do know that God is in control of EVERYTHING thing that happens!! The moon and the stars, the sun and the clouds. He is in control of our lives and our adoption. We will win this battle all while giving Him the glory!!!

Finally Friday!!!

Well, what a week it has been!! I just got off the phone with someone on the Board of Directors and they will be talking to our facilitator in Guatemala within the hour. This conversation can make all of the difference in the outcome of our adoption. Please pray!!! Pray that it goes well. Pray that Amy and the others are able to get answers.(the ones we want)

Part of me wants to sit by the computer the rest of the night. The other part wants to go to my bed and just stay there. I am going to go to our Sunday School Chritmas party and try to have a good time. Alex was invited to a friends house for the night, so she will have a blast. It is so hard to just sit back while your fate and the fate of your family hangs in limbo. I was getting ready just now and as I was praying, all I can think is that God must have amazing plans for Nicholas. The devil has been trying to tear this adoption apart for the last year and he is NOT going to win. Our God is so much bigger than that!!! I have to trust that God knows the outcome and that He wants this to go through. He will be there guiding them through this conversation!!

I was told that we would be updated, but I don't know if that will be tonight or not. I will update here if that is the case!!

Thank you again for your prayers!!!

Goodness I need to go to bed!!

It is almost 11:00pm. I finally feel like after a really long day we may have made a little bit of headway. Unfort. I can't share too much on line due to privacy issues and law suits and such. I will say that soon, we should have some concrete answers on HOW and if we will finish this process. Gareth and I are a little past the upset stage and now moving in to the mad stage. Maybe this is a better place to be as I think it will help us to accomplish more!!

I truly feel that God has put us here for a reason. We are truly blessed with wonderful friends and loved ones that care so much about us and our family. We are so thankful for all of your supports and prayers!!!

I sat and had movie night with the kids tonight. We have tried very hard not to talk too much in front of Alex about everything that is goin gon as she understands and repeats EVERYTHING these days. She looked at me in the middle of the movie and popcorn and said, "Mommy, I know that you found a good guy in Guatemala that is going to help us get Nichoals home. I know that God is going to help him because God likes it when people are helpful and good and Nichoals is God's child too and God wants what is best for him and what is best for him is to be our brother. " The words of a 6 year old. It is amazing. It is not that I had forgotten that my children were God's children, but I needed a quick little kick to remind me that God cares even more than Gareth and I do about what happens here. That kick came from my daughter:0)

Terrible Thursday!

So of course we didn't sleep last night. my voice is gone so I sound great! We have found out information but haven't really made any head way at this point. It is a complete nightmare and only seems to be getting worse. The positive is that the women who has stepped up from the board to help us is a Christian. She is CONVINCED that we will bring him home.
I would like to be as well but the more I learn, the less convinced I am.

Please continue to pray for Nicholas and us. Also add Amy to the mix as she is our new contact person here!!!

Wonderful Wednesday turns in to Wicked Wednesday!!

So, where do I even begin?? For a few months now I have had a gut feeling that something just wasn't right with our agency. I didn't know exactly what was going on, but I just had a feeling. I will try and make this as short as possible, and will keep some info. out as well for privacy purposes. A week ago, our director quit with no notice. On Monday, we started receiving emails from a few people that had brought their children home, saying that they were coming together and seeking legal counsel against our agency due to things that happened during their process. Now bear in mind, this was the agency that helped us to bring Callum home. They were with us through thick and thin back then, and I just couldn't believe what I was reading. A few of us felt that this was very one sided and that the agency had a right to defend themselves. That being said, we let them know.(wasn't that nice of us?) Now move forward to today. Today, our update day, I get an out of office reply from our one and only contact person and old CEO of our agency. It states that she no longer works there. We have no contact information and her phone has been shut off. I have had contact with the board of directors from the agency and they are very nice, but dont' really have much information at this point.
I started calling and emailing everyone I could think of for help. I talked to Senators, Adoption advocates, you name it, I emailed or called. Eventually we were able to contact the translator that we used while in Guatemala for Callum's adoption. My friend Robin was able to supply his information and we knew that he knew our facilitator in Guatemala. Ok, time for answers. Gareth got through on the second call. He remebered us, (what isn't to remember, a handsome british guy and a beautiful baby with a killer smile) and said that he was willing to call and see what he could do. He told us to call back in 30 minutes. We called LOTS of people asking for prayers. our friends Demarie and David came over and we sat with our children and prayed!!!
We know we must have had so many people praying because we really did feel it, so thank you.
Gareth calls our translator back and got answers, just not the ones that we wanted.

1. WE are approved by the Guatemalan Government. That is a positive.
2. The birth mother has not signed off so Nicholas is not legally our like we were told.
3. We have not been submitted for our birth certificate like we were told (3 weeks ago) because they can not do that with out the birth mother's final signautre.
4.The birth certificate for him if we are able to get it will take almost 2 months, not 5-7 days.
5. Lastly, none of this has happened because the second half of our adoption fees have not been paid.
Yup, you read that right. Oh, yes, we paid them in May!! But somehow our lawyer and facilitator never got them. Considering our contact and former CEO is now AWOL, that leads us to believe that the money is gone.
We are hoping to know more in the next few days. There have been so many reports and articles written lately about how awful the Guatemalan government is. How ironic that our American agency was the one to do this to us.
We are not sure if we will be able to complete the adoption now, but will keep you posted on what we find out.
That is all I will post for now.
We truly appreciate your prayers and support through this difficult time.

Wonderful Wednesday!!

The day started out great!! We had a wonderful family breakfast!! My kids are just great and they had me laughing the whole time!! I then drove to Virginia and sat with my friend Melissa and her son Caleb. He had surgery yesterday to repair his cleft lip and palet. He looks amazing. Still in quite a bit of pain, but looked GREAT!! I am amazed at what doctors are able to do these days. What talent!!

I came home to find out that our only person of contact with our agency has now resigned. I truly understand why, but won't go in to details. The question is, where does that leave us? After my initial shock and bout of crying. Sorry Helena and Laura for calling while I was a basket case, (I had to get coverage for the class I teach on Wed.nights) Anyway, after flipping out a little, I wiped my eyes and got busy. I spent the last 2 hours on the phone and emailing. I have already learned a lot. Senator Mikulski's office is the only one that seemed to want to help. I now have 2 different people working there for us. I have also been in contact with adoption advocates. There are a few things that we are going to be able to do it is just a matter of getting the help. We will not quit until he is safe in our arms. There will be no more pity parties here. I am beyond being upset. Now I am just determined and you don't want to mess with me once I really get set on something!! WE WILL BRING HIM HOME AND HE WILL BE IN OUR FAMILY FOREVER!!! YOU CAN COUNT ON THAT!!!! Please continue to pray!!!!!

Terrific Tuesday

All in all today was a good day. I stayed home most of the day due to feeling a little under the weather. Maybe my body just needed a rest. Alex had basketball and cheerleading practice tonight. I coach her cheerleading and Gareth coaches her basketball. She is def. showing that she likes basketball more. Callum has show that he def. likes soccer more. He kept taking a basketball from Alex's practice and kicking it. It was too cute!!!

Still no news on the adoption front. We will have had our approval for a month on Thursday. It truly feels as if this is never going to end and we are never going to get him home. My head knows that this is not the case, but when you are in the midst of it, it is hard to convince yourself otherwise. We are trying very hard to stay positive. Maybe we will hear something by the end of the week. On a more positive note, the Guatemalan government finally voted and they are allowing in process cases to finish under the old law. That is a wonderful outcome to a long battle!!!!

Happy Monday!!

I went shopping today even though my Christmas shopping is done! I am now getting ready to head out to a Women's Christmas Party for Chruch. .My husband is so wonderful as he has been on daddy duty all day so that I can have lots of fun!!! He is such a wonderful dad!! He is on homework duty tonight too. I think that he realized I am a little stressed these days and needed the night off:0)

It will be a pretty busy week for me. I am hoping that will keep me distracted from the fact that we still have no new news.
My friend Melissa's little boy Caleb is having surgery tomorrow. Please pray for him. They will be at the hospital for at least 3 days.I plan to spend part of Wed. with them so she can get a little bit of a break. Another friend Reba is traveling to get their son in Guatemala on Wed. Please pray for their trip and also the 3 children that will be back here with their grandparents.

I am hoping and praying that we will hear something soon. We were told that with the holidays, the earliest we might travel is the middle of January. It seems everything is shutting down the week between Christmas and New Years and that is going to slow us down. I guess that I should look on it as, "oh boy, I should have my new son in another month", but today I am feeling "oh, to wait another month" :0(


We will get through this and this time next year, it will all be a faded memory!!!
p.s. do you love the title. I am really trying hard to stay positive. Now I need to come up with a happy title for Tuesday!!

Another Long Weekend.....

We are hitting another weekend with no new news:0( We still have nothing on our birth certificate. We did find out that the US Embassy has decided not to make any appointments for the last week of December,(that is nice of them huh?) so we will def. be traveling in January at the earliest. Please pray for us. We have made a decision that if nothing happens in the next week to week and a half, I may have to go down and work to get it done. I am not saying that I am not willing to do whatever it takes to get my son home, but it would mean meeting our son for the first time without Gareth. It would also mean hiring a translator to drive me around, staying in a hotel for however long it takes, both will cost money that is not budgeted in to our adoption fees. It would mean leaving my 2 beautiful children here behind while I do this. That will be fun organizing people to help watch them while Gareth has to work. It is really frustrating that it has come to this. Like I said, we will do what we have to do, but it is heartbreaking when not one step goes the way it should. The last step, meeting him together is the most special, and now we may not even get that!!! Please pray that we have some sort of resolution in the next 2 weeks, or I may be booking a flight!

Another day goes by.....

Still no news on a birth certificate. It is starting to get really hard watching families that got approval around or after us get their pink, "travel dates" when we haven't even gotten the birth certificate yet. I am beyond happy for them, but just can't seem to get over the fact that not a single step in this process with Guatemala has gone easily. Gareth mentioned that he is just done being in a holding pattern. For almost 2 years, we have waited and put our lives on hold not knowing whether we should plan on going somewhere, or do certain things just is case we are traveling. I have had all of my Christmas shopping and Christmas cards done since before Thanksgiving in hopes that we would be getting Nicholas before Christmas. Now that is not possible. His room is cleaned out and ready for him. There is nothing left to do but wait. Maybe I should have waited until the last minute to do things. Atleast then I would have had something to keep me busy and my mind off the wait. Alex asks daily when we are leaving. It is hard to explain to a 6 year old something that we can't really explain to ourselves. The only reason that we have is that the Lord wants us to wait for a reason. He has bigger plans and in the meantime, we just have to focus on all of the wonderful things that we do have. My head knows all of this but my heart is having a much harder time catching up.

Tuesday Update

On the adoption front, we did get news today, just not news that we wanted. It seems that the new Director has resigned, effective immediatley. We got the email from her this afternoon. Still no word on our actual case. Just one more obstacle added to our already stressful process.

Good news, Alexandria was just moved in to an advanced reading group at school. It means that she will be doing A LOT more reading and have more spelling words and be given a different test from everyone else every Friday, but we couldn't be more proud of her!! Callum continues to enjoy school. This morning he said goodbye to us before we even got in to the door leading to his class. We are so blessed that they both really like school!!!

Another Monday......

As this Monday comes to a close, we still sit and wait. Gareth spent most of his day attempting to get answers for us with no success. We are yet to speak to an actual human being. I got a call from my sister today and she shared her devotion, which when I got home and checked my email, turned out to be my devotion as well.

Although you never want to hear it at the time, you know that it was sent for a reason. We need to trust that God is sovereign and He ordained for us to be where we are at this time in our lives for His purpose.
We have to let go of our own expectations—even when it means learning to love our limitations. We have to know that God has a better plan and let go of our own timelines. That is not easy to do (the timeline part) especially as we wait knowing that we are so close to him being in our family forever and just to hold our son in my arms for the first time will be such an amazing experience. I will try very hard to Praise God with my attitude during the remainder of this process.

Thank you for continuing to pray for Nicholas and us as we wait. One of these days, you will read our blog and we really will have some news:0)

Psalm 38:19, “Praise be to the Lord, to God our Savior, who daily bears our burdens.” (NIV)

Matthew 6:8, “Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.” (NIV)

I Peter 3:14, “But even if you should suffer for what is right, you are blessed. ‘Do not fear what they fear; do not be frightened.’” (NIV)

Patience? What's that?

Many of you know that Patience does not seem to be my virtue. It seems that these past two weeks have really proven that. I would love to say that I waited out this adoption gracefully as many of you have commented that I have. Even if I came remotely close to doing so, these past 2 weeks have ruined me:0) We sit here after being approved for 2 weeks, and continue to wait for any confirmation that we were submitted for his birth certificate. We were told we were, "last week". If that were the case, we would have it by now. I have not heard a word from my agency since Wed. when I got this update. I sit here and know that God's timing is perfect and that a year from now, this really won't matter. At the moment, the not knowing is definitly not bringing out the best in me!! While these last few steps should run 3-4 weeks, we, once again are setting a record for not getting it done in the time frame given. I seem to be checking my email mutliples times a day for any news. I will definilty be going through computer withdrawl when this process is finally over!!!

"I'm so sorry"

I found myself saying this to a dear friend of mine last night, Demarie. Demarie and David started an adoption from Guatemala over the summer and they were told last night that Joshua would never be coming home. It turns out that there were too many unknown and unexplainable things in his paperwork, such as birth mom birth certificate etc. Although I found myself saying it many times last night, the words "I'm sorry" really don't cut it. I thought about this last night as I laid in bed. During our current process and 3 of our preganices , we were told "i;m sorry" in many different ways, all coming back to the loss of our child. Many may not understand the loss that is felt when something like this happens. I know that I heard comments, 'well at least you hadn't held him yet." , or atleast it happened now and not later." The fact remains that the pain is real no matter what the circumstances leading up to the loss are. God brought this child in to their lives for a reason and my heart aches for the pain that they are going through right now!! Please bow down with me and pray for them. Ask God to heal their pain and to give them peace as to how Joshua will be taken care of. Ask God to show them the direction that He wants them to go now. God does not put the desire of adoption in to the heart of HIs children for no reason!!!

And He shall wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there shall no longer be any death; there shall no longer be any mourning or crying or pain. Rev. 21:4

God must put people in your way for a reason!!!

I heard from two different families this morning that our using our agency. They were both given updates last night. We of course, have heard nothing!!! This to us means that they didn't have anything exciting to tell us and that they prob. haven't even started moving on our case. If only we could go do it ourselves. Christmas is def. going to be out as well as the end of the year at this point. I just have to hang on to the fact that God allows incompetent or lazy people in to our lives for a reason.
Thanks for letting me vent. I thought that this process would get easier now, but we still wait with no one returning our emails and calls and still no travel date even remotely in site:0(

Thanksgiving is over.....

Well, Mum and Joe fly back to England tomorrow. Our Thanksgiving holiday is now officially over. We had a great time. We shopped and played games and the kids have had a blast. Today we went in to D.C. and went to the'lovely' aquairum, the Bureau of Engraving and ended the day with the Museum of the American Indian. For those of you that have never had the pleasure of going to the National aqarium, it takes all of 30 minutes to walk through:0) While we were on the tour at the Bureau of Engraving, we saw a pile of money that valued $340,000. Alex said, "that is soooo much money. Why can't they just give us some?" By the end of the day both kids were in melt down mode, but all in all, we had a GREAT day!!

On the adoption front, we haven't heard anything new. We were hoping to have heard that we were submitted for his birth certificate by now. I really wanted new pictures before my in-laws went home too, but why should our process change just because we are almost done? Hopefully soon, i will have new information to share. In the meantime, we appreicate your continued prayer!!!

Nanny and Grandad are here......

Gareth's parents, Janet and Joe flew in from England last night. They arrived safely and we are already having loads of fun.
Tonight we are setting up the Christmas tree, (I know, is seems so early) but we are doing Christmas morning with them on Friday. The kids are over the moon. It didn't take Callum 5 minutes to realize who they were and he has been all over them since.

On the adoption front, we should get new pictures and a new medical the first part of next week. We are also hoping that they apply for his birth certificate this week as we were told they would. We will have to see about that:0)

Have a wonderful day!!!!!

Newest Update....

We were told today that we should be submitted for Nicholas's new birth certifcate next week. We also found out that our US Embassy appointment, when we finally get there, will now come via email to me from the US Embassy in Guatemala. I was looking forward to being able to give up my "addiction" to the computer for a while, but now I will still have to be on the computer daily. We have made our list and I started organizing the boy's room tonight. (doesn't that sound so awesome, 'the boys'?) Anyway, it will be interesting to see how it will work out with Callum being such a light sleeper. I don't think that it will be easy. Alex said that Nicholas can sleep in her room so she can get up with him in the middle of the night. I am half tempted to take her up on that. (just kidding) Gareth's parents are flying in on Monday from England, so for now, we get to enjoy their company and have a good time until we get more news. At least we have a lot going on so it will be a good distraction!!!!

Thank the Lord, We have Approval!!!!!

WE HAVE APPROVAL!!!! I was at church for our monthly Women on Mission meeting and that is when I got the news. It couldn't have been more special. I had 7 of my friends and sisters in Christ to share the Joyful news with me!!! Funny enough, it was my Women on Mission meeting 2 years ago, in november that I got the call that we had approval for Callum too. Is there a lesson here? Make sure that you go to your church meetings!!:0) Anyway, There were MANY nights that I would lay in bed and wonder if I would ever be able to post this. 9 months to the day of entering PGN, our file was picked up with a big Approval stamp on it!!!!
We now apply for his new birth certificate with our last name, then his passport which should come a few days later. After that, we have to get approval from the US Embassy in Guatemala for his 2nd DNA to be taken. It usually takes a few days to get that done, an then we wait for processing. Once the lab in N.C. gets the results back to the Embassy, we are issued our appointment. I know it seems like a lot, and although we are not sure right now if we will have him for Christmas, at least we now know that we will indeed be bringing him in to our family FOREVER!!!!! Alex is soooo excited that she is going to be a big sister again. Before she went to bed tonight, she said, "you better go pack." It was too cute!!! I had to remind her that it will be a few more weeks.

We want to thank you all from the bottom of our hearts for all of your support and prayers. I will not say that this process has been easy. I will not say that we did not have many talks with God questioning His timing and asking many questions. I will not even say that I did not struggle and wonder if God was even hearing what we were saying when we prayed, especially the last few months. What I do know is that God is GOOD, and always wants the best for His children. I now wonder if I appreciate this moment more now that I have had to wait almost 2 years for it.

Anyway, enough in to my brain.....we now have lists to make and shopping to do. I haven't bought the boy a stich of clothing yet!! Gareth's mom flies in next week. Guess what we will be doing???? How much fun we are going to have!!!!!!

Thank you again for all of your prayers!!!!!

No new pictures

We found out today that we won't be getting new pictures in the batch that was just given out. Not suprising but they "forgot" to take pictures and video. We are the only ones that were left out. Go figure. We should get some before Christmas though, so that is something to look forward to. We also hadn't been kicked out by the end of business day today either, so that is a huge praise. Just praying that we get good news soon!!!!

Another week for us......

This week marks 9 months in PGN for us. Gareth and I were discussing the other day that we never in a million years thought that this case would surpass Callum's back in 05, but it has, and then some. There are quite a few families that are getting out of PGN in one go and a total of 8 weeks. I just pray that I remember God's plan in this and know that He has a reason that we are having to wait this long. We are supposed to hear from our agency this morning. Seems that everyone has gotten picutres and video, and we didn't. We had to just laugh becuase the one thing that would have been positive and helped to get us through, somehow got messed up. Is there any other way with us? Please pray for us as we wait. We will hear somtething in the next week or two, be it good or bad. Please pray that when we talk to our agency we are kind and gracious.

Yesterday, we went in to D.C. with the kids. We had a GREAT time. We took the metro just so that Callum could ride the train. He didn't want to get off. Alex loved the fossils in the musem, and asked all sorts of quesitons. We had a great day!!!!

Hopefully I will have another update for you later today once I have spoken to our agency!!

Here are pictures of Nicholas from July 2007!!!

Our Adoption

Many people have expressed that they always want to ask about how our adoption is going,but never want to upset us by bringing it up. Please know that you will never upset us by asking, but in saying that, I have decided to start this blog so that you can follow along without having to ask:0) We really appreciate your thoughts and prayers through this process!!! Please continue to do so as we continue to wait.

There are alot of terms that you may not have ever seen before, but I posted our timeline so that you know where we stand. We have currently been in the last main stage for 9 months. KO stands for kick out and that is when their agency decides that we need additional paperwork or that something needs to be redone. I know that it makes no sense, as it would seem a lot easier to redo them all at one time. Hopefully we won't have anymore. The moment we get out with an apporval, we can move on to bringing Nicholas home forever!!!!

Again, thank you all for your support!!!!!