The Sound of Music

You may not know that my husband is a talented musician. He doesn't advertise. Our daughter is a musician, too, even if she doesn't know it yet.

Her Hindi name means "song," yet another indication that she will fit beautifully into our family.

If she has musical roots, she will be right at home in our house. We will sing to her every day. We already sing every day. That's how we communicate.

When our wonderful social worker asked routine home study interview questions regarding how we would respond to various scenarios involving our daughter's emotions, we said we would sing to her and with her.

We'll sing when she's worried, we'll sing when she's sad, we'll sing when she's happy, you get the idea...and when she needs to learn a life lesson, there might be puppets involved.

wonderings

"Maybe now it's time, or maybe when I wait, they'll be there calling me baby, maybe." -Annie

Yeh. We've been singing the Annie musical songs a lot. Because we pretend that our daughter is sitting somewhere in India daydreaming about us the way we daydream about her. I mean, I'm sure she wonders when her mommy and poppy will come to her, just as all the children in the orphanages do, but I wonder how much depth there is to her wonderings? I imagine she spends more time thinking of the family she has lost than the family that might someday be hers. Of course she does.

We're getting ready to bring her home. We bought her these pieces of furniture at a yard sale this weekend, and we're making plans to sand and paint them and turn her bedroom into a little girl's dream come true. One friend gave us some clothes and toys for her, and another friend is giving us an art easel! I'm not sure what size she will wear, so we probably won't really start building her wardrobe until we're in India and she needs something to wear besides the mismatched clothes the orphanage puts on her when it's time to send her home with us.

Oh, my sweet girl. Please come home soon.

YES, we do!

Exciting news!

Our adoption agent just wrote me saying she had mailed some legal papers for us, and do we happen to have $3,000 now for legalization of the dossier and orphanage fees? And...thanks be to God...

I was able to say, "YES! We do have that amount in our Lifesong account!
I will authorize that payment right now!"

What a GREAT feeling to have the funds we need for the moment! Manna from Heaven!

There was already about $2,500 in our Lifesong account when we found out that some dear person anonymously donated $1,500, which brings us up to the $4,000 we needed to make the $8,000 matching grant! We are everso grateful to everyone who has donated!

See how prayer works? In the words of my adoption agent, "Yay, God!" :)

Please continue to pray, and I know we will have all the funds we need as needed!
Thank you so much for praying.

Praise God from Whom all blessings flow!

Wait and Pray

"Wait for the Lord; Be strong and let your heart take courage; Yes, wait for the Lord." 

Psalm 27:14

Great news! Our adoption paperwork (300+ pages) was finished yesterday! 

The hard copy of our home study has been completed and mailed to the adoption agency, the immigration office and another grant foundation. 

Now we can only wait and pray that the American and Indian governments will approve us and the finances will be provided. Please pray! 

My husband has been home from his Army desert training for a few days now. It has been so much fun watching "Anna's" video over and over, memorizing her voice and giggling as we mimic her accent in repeating her words to each other. 

At night, we ask each other what she might be doing at that moment in the orphanage. Is she eating breakfast as we go to sleep? Is she surrounded by other children? Is she playing? Is she singing? Is she at school being drilled with the English alphabet and numbers? In her video, she shows off what she's been learning in school, and we are so proud of her! 

Please pray that she will be safe. 
Please pray that God will prepare us and our daughter for each other while we are waiting.
Please pray that she will be home soon!

progress report

Our "dossier" is completed, all except the hard copy of our home study.

When that comes in, we can apply for grants and mail our applications to US immigration, all at the same time.

Once we've been biometrically fingerprinted and approved by the USCIS, we can send our dossier to India!

While we're waiting for that to happen, hopefully we will be approved for a grant so we can send the big adoption fees check to the powers that be in India!

Please pray that all these things happen in a timely manner so we can get our girl home!

Her Mama

"Jesus said, 'Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.'" Matthew 19:14

I miss her. I love her. I can't stop gazing at her photos and watching her video.

I'm memorizing her face and her voice and her mannerisms.

I can't share her photos or video online, but I can tell you that she looks a lot like the little girl pictured on Jesus' lap in this work of art. Big eyes, pouty lips, serious expression, brown skin.
Oh, my sweet girl.

My friends at church speak about her as if she is already here, and that helps me. Because she's real. She's out there. She's lonely, and probably sleep deprived, and malnourished, and heart-broken, and she's mine. And I am her mama.

Come then, Lord Jesus. Bring her home to me.

Family Construction

Ever seen a sign on the road announcing that your tax dollars are being spent for road construction?

Consider THIS a sign that your donation dollars are at work for family construction!

Praise be to God, our home study has been completed! Now we can now apply for some big grants to pay the major costs of our adoption.

We have come this far thanks to prayer, time, energy and funds donated by friends and family, and we are so grateful. Here is a breakdown of some recent costs we've been able to pay:

$850 final home study payment
$60 for six official letters verifying our bank accounts
$40 for two background checks at the local sheriff's office
$107 for four copies each of our birth certificates
$30 for three copies of our marriage certificate

Next, we will send a check to US Immigration for $890...but guess what!? Lifesong for Orphans will pay that out of our matching grant fund, which, at the moment, totals $1,564! This is thanks to donations from individuals and our church. The fundraisers have helped a lot, too!

Please pray with us as we continue to gather documents for the dossier (almost there!) and the grant applications.

It's a good thing the home study, the dossier and the grant application require a lot of the same documentation! Not that we're into killing birds with stones or anything. :)

Praise God from whom all blessings flow.