no preference

I've been painting our daughter's dresser and bookshelves. So far, I've done three coats of white primer. My vision is to recreate Sleepy Beauty's forest on that furniture, with trees, flowers, squirrels, birds, chipmunks, you get the idea. But there will be no Disney princesses decorating her room, because I don't want her to ever think that beauty means being skinny, busty, blonde or fair-skinned.

Not that I have a problem with Disney. It's magical. Our daughter will have the movies and sing the songs, and we will let her play with Disney princess toys if she likes. But that image won't be presented as the ideal, I hope. At this point in her life, I'm pretty sure she doesn't have a favorite Disney princess, or a favorite color, or a favorite animal. She hasn't been given the privilege of developing such preferences. She's never had a lot of choices. But she will.

If you've ever been outside the US for an extended period of time and freaked out when you returned to be confronted with the many choices available at any given US store, you might sort of understand how our daughter will feel when she hits the US. She's already going to be traumatized by the fact that she's just been removed from everything she's ever known, even if everything she's ever known is nothing that any of us would ever want to experience.

She probably has some understanding that her life in the orphanage, consistently having something to eat, clothes to wear and a school to attend, has made her so much more fortunate than many other children who have nowhere to sleep, nothing to eat and no chance of education.

Soon though, our daughter will be even richer! She will be among the richest people in the world, simply because she will have health insurance, a roof over her head, nutritious food at least three times a day, plenty of clothing, her own bedroom and family and friends who love her dearly and will protect her always. That is how God has chosen to love us, and by His grace, that is how we will choose to love our daughter. God wants to give us all that is good and pure and true, and that is what we want for our girl. All will be done to bring her safely home to blessing and peace. And for now, she has no choice in the matter. :)

Thank you for praying. Thank you for supporting our cause. Because of God's grace in giving us the support of friends like you, our daughter will know that she is loved.

faithful care

Under different circumstances, our daughter might not be in an orphanage right now. It could have been much worse. Had God not seen to it that she was cared for, that someone was merciful enough to leave her in capable hands, she might be on the streets fending for herself. But she's not. She's safe. Jesus rescued her.

Sure, I worry that she might be malnourished and unhappy in the orphanage, sharing her living space with so many other children, but compared to most orphans around the world, she's hit the jackpot.

These were some of my thoughts as I lay awake last night: Where was she born? In a shack? On the floor? In a crowded hospital? In an alley? Praise God for the orphanage. Praise Jesus that our daughter is being fed, clothed and educated.

God is providing for our daughter's needs, just as He has always provided for us...comforting for a mama whose baby is with strangers half a world away, and whose husband will soon be deployed in that direction.

Praise God for His faithful care.

As an update, we're waiting for US immigration to approve our application so we can go get our biometric fingerprints taken. Always waiting. Please pray for us.
Praise God for providing the funds we need, when we need them.
Please pray that the funds continue to come in. We're waiting to hear from a grant organization, and our silent art auction is next weekend! Can't wait to see how His will is accomplished!

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!