It's HERE!!!!

Finally! Our I171-h arrived. My family went out to lunch yesterday. On the way up the driveway, my husband opened the mailbox. As he did, I said..."each time we do this my stomach hurts!" He looked up at me with this face and immediately I knew it must be the form we have been waiting for. I couldn't help but to get emotional and scream at the same time. Our boys were elated, too. I think they thought we were going to get our China Doll right then! Ha! I wish! Receiving this form only brings us one step closer to getting a LID (log in date). This is the date when China has received all of the paperwork they need from you and your 20 months of waiting begins. (As of now, the average wait for a fam. is 20 months. I know! It's crazy!) We should be going straight to our state capitol Mon. morning to get everything Authenticated. Doug called our adopton agency yesterday, and they said we have ALL of our required docs. So, as soon as we do this final step, we can send our dossier (paperwork) to our Angency. They will check everything thouroughly and translate it. Finally they will send it to China. We're very excited. Pray that all goes well in the final steps we have to take.
************************Praise be to God, for HE is good!!******************************

Summer Fun

These pics. are of us at our Home Study Agency's picnic. It was so amazing to be with so many other families who were in this process with us. We are standing next to a Chinese flag.

This summer has been a blast, but has flown by!

We have been to Myrtle Beach with the whole fam. which was a complete blast and much needed. The boys totally love the beach. They are quite the boogie boarders! Doug and I celebrated our 10 year anniversary while on the beach. We went to one of our fav. resturaunts ALONE and enjoyed the adult conversation, which doesn't happen very often. (lol) We took a stroll down the beach and sat on a patio listening to some live music. We really enjoyed each other that evening. As for the big gift??? We agreed that our baby girl is the greatest gift we could receive for our ann. so instead of spending our $ on ourselves, we chose to put it towards the adoption cost.

Doug and I also just attended Student Life youth camp in Cleveland, TN with our youth group. It was HUGE for us to leave our children for 5 days, but we really saw God doing some amazing things....including working in our lives. He spoke to me that week and said that HE must be first. I am guilty of putting my family before God. I love being a Mom and taking care of my children. It's a HUGE part of who I am, so HE reminded me that HE needed to be first. Thank you, Jesus for that gentle reminder. I think we all need to be taken out of our "normal everyday" routines and lives and attend a camp to refocus and get back on track....an adult church camp if you will. Our boys did well while we were gone...well, sort of. Brennan cried everyday, but they were WELL taken care of. Thanks, Donna!!

Well, we're STILL waiting on our I71-h (immigration forms). Each day we go to the mailbox with great anticipation and....... NOTHING. It's getting a little frustrating, but we're reminded of who is in control. When we were at camp our worship leaders introduced us to their daughter they'd adopted from China. We were in awe of her and our hearts ached for our Lily Hope. His timing is perfect. We still have a LONG way to go...so in the mean time, we're LOVIN' life with our boys!!!!

Please keep us in your prayers. We certainly could use them throughout this process and forever!

Until next time.

God Bless.

Julie