Radio Silence

So it has been awhile since our last entry.  Within this time period I have been pretty sick.  Most importantly though we have not heard from the Ripa about a court date.  Even though they stated they would send us a date in early June we have not heard anything.  Which makes us sad and frustrated but at the same time reminds us that God knows what He is doing.  With my health I honestly think it would have been very difficult.

Things are getting better though I am improving slowly and getting answers from doctors so that I can continue improving.  We have had the honor of receiving pictures from a wonderful acquaintance who is picking her little girl in India as I write.  We also got some pictures of her in a group setting which shows her smiling.  Such a lovely little look at our beautiful daughter.  In the picture she is one of the only children standing while the rest are sitting almost like she was saying "its me mom".

Oh how we long to hold her and bring her home.  In the mean time we are still waiting to hear where we are moving and praying that we can bring her home before that move so we won't have to redo a ton of paper work and changes to the adoption process.

Jeremiah 29:11
"For I know the plans I have for you," declares The Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future".

As we wait for you Haddie we hold on to the promise our Lord gives us.  We trust He is preparing your heart and ours.   Although we are not physically together God is building and readying our hearts for each other.   We love you little one...

Prayers...
Please be praying for the parents who are traveling to India right now that their travel is safe and productive.

Pray for Haddie's health and emotional being.

Pray for our court date and the many changes we have going on as we anticipate Haddie's homecoming.

Eventful Week

This has been quiet an eventful week.  School has ended for the kids, we had a bout of the stomache flu, we sent in our request for our i800 extention, and we recieved and updated photo  and measurments of Haddie.  This was a huge suprise because it normally takes forever to get anything from our Ripa or orphanage!  She is so beautiful and looks so tiny.  She is 26 pounds and 3 ft 1 inch tall.
I just want to get her home and help her gain some weight with healthy foods.  This week we also found out that the court will be emailing us with a court date in the next two weeks, so we are waiting on pins and needles for that day.  We are also still waiting to find out were we are moving.

God is so good though... Even with the anticipation of our upcoming move and adding Haddie to our family I have been holding it together.  I got to a point where I just had to give it all over to The Lord because honestly it can make a person crazy.  Moving so much we have learned that our roots are in our family and our Lord, not in our home.   Home is our family....  And it will not be complete until Haddie gets home to take her spot in it.


In the Bible it states - John 16:12-15

“I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you. All that the Father has is mine; therefore I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you".

This verse gives me so much comfort to know that even with all the unknowns, God gives us His Spirit to guide us and show us His ways and truth.  It is the only way to live life in a world that is becoming more lost everyday.  

New Hope and friends!

When things are at a standstill in this adoption I tend to get a little low.  Recently I remembered a website my friend told me about or actually it is a group of families who have adopted from India online.  I joined the group and through that met a women who's daughter is in the same orphanage as ours.  She introduced me to a Facebook page of 8 other women who have a child in Hyderabad!

So I, with Andrew's advice, I broke my one rule of no Facebook accounts and signed up under a assumed name to join the group of wonderful women going through the process of adopting from India.  Come to find out that most of these women are adopting from the same orphanage!  God is so good!!!  This has been such a wonderful and encouraging find.

Also we just found out yesterday that our paper reached the court and that our agency will be contacting them to make sure they arrived and are being processed.  Hopefully we can get a court date soon!

Please pray for Haddie as God prepares her emotionally for us.  Pray that we can get into the courts soon.  And please pray for patience.

God's Hand

Just when your thinking 'why God' He sometimes gives you a glimpse into why.  Today is the day we should have been in court and it is four days past Haddie's fifth birthday.  We missed another one of her birthdays which breaks our hearts but we are trusting God.  About the glimpse; God showed us today that it had to happen the way it did to get things moving in India.  Just yesterday our adoption agency was given a court petition for the adoption to get started in Hyderabad.  This could have taken many more months without their mistake.  There may be other reasoning behind why it happened they way it did, but we are pleased and thankful that we get to see a little glimpse into why.

Hopefully we will be getting the call soon to go to court and start finalizing the adoption so we can bring our little 5 year old home with us.

Thank you Lord for the little glimpses and for the honor of being able to see you at work in our lives. Protect and prepare Haddie's heart and ours as we move forward in the completion on our family.

Ready set...don't go

So to all those who are actually taking the time to read this, we have had a change in plans.  You heard it right this adoption is a one of a kind according to our wonderful reps from the adoption agency.  We found out on Tuesday early morning that India had made a mistake and it wasn't our little girl but another little girl who was ready to have a court hearing.  This was a very hard pill to swallow.  We were so close... Our adoption agency has been great through the whole thing they share our disappointment and have since contacted the Ripa and government with strong yet helpful words of truth about how this has effected us and the family of the little girl who it was actually for.  The agency has never seen this happen before so I pray this is the last time for us and for anyone to suffer the emotional and financial effects of this mistake.

When we found out that we were going; God had given me an uneasiness but I worked through it just in hopes of holding Haddie.  He showed me He was still in control in so many ways through those couple days.  For instance I was on the way to San Francisco to get visas and He put two wonderful women on my flight.  Women I have known for many years and whom I look up to.  They prayed with me and comforted me through the flight and encouraged the road we had ahead.  When I found out through an email that we for sure would not be going a since of peace came over me almost like God was saying, "not yet but soon".  The Lord is so faithful and through the time we found out we were going, till the time we found out we weren't I prayed God would show me and He did through His Holy Spirit.



On the way back the Lord reminded me that whenever thing falls apart I need to keep holding on to the hope that He does not let go...

                                   His beauty is never ending...(my view from the plane home)

Got a call!!!!!!!

While cleaning my house on Friday I picked up a little jacket for Haddie that Sarai was walking around with and put it in her bag I have ready for her.  As I held on to it I longed to hold on to her.  An hour later I recieved a phone call from our adoption agency!  He informed me they recieved an email which stated that they want us there for the 23rd of April court date.  I was in shock when he told me and he was in shock that they think it is normal to call parents up and get them to India in a weeks time.  I was just thrilled to have some news.  The adoption agency rep told me that this has never happened in his 15 years of working with Indian adoptions.  The email they had sent him contained the wrong name on it.  So we decided we would make all the reservations like we are going but if they did actually contact the wrong people we will have to put all of it on hold.

So we are now packing, have our flights, rooms, and the other one hundred things needed to travel to India to meet your daughter.  At least we think we have it all together...  I am traveling to San Francisco to get visas for Andrew and I in such a short time frame.  Pray  we can get them please.

 One snag though after the court day they will put in for her passport which means that it might be a month till we can bring her home.  This means we will have to leave on the 25th and have to leave our little girl there.  Oh it breaks my heart to think about it.

Please be in prayer for us as we embark on this adventure.  Pray for her heart to be open to us and pray for ours as we bond with her.  I know and believe God's timing is always the best and the way this came around is amazing.  I just dread leaving her behind.....

Fundraising...

So we are still waiting to hear from India about the court date.  Some of the things going through our minds right now...will that ever happen, what is Haddie doing right now, does she even know we are waiting for her, are we being scammed :-), does adoption get any easier and many other questions.

I was praying about this the other day and the Lord revealed to me that my desire for Him should be similar to the desire and anticipation I feel when thinking about getting Haddie.  I wonder if the Lord felt that way towards me when I was far from Him.  Did He yearn to comfort me?  Did He agonize over the anticipation of me surrendering to Him?  All the anticipation that comes with adopting or really anything in life doesn't compare to the anticipation of meeting Jesus face to face.  Imagine that excitement and celebration!

We are in the process of purchasing shirts for a Haddie fundraiser.  We have them put together but just need to order them.  So if you would like to purchase one to help support our adventure let us know.

The front of the shirt says: What is pure Religion?

The back says:  "Pure and genuine religion in the sight of God the Father means caring for the orphans and widows 

in their distress and refusing to let the world corrupt you" (James 1:27).

And at the bottom of the back: India now has one less orphan, Thank you