December 26, 2011 - Baby Cradle

Today my sister Staci brought over a surprise for me!  She gave me her baby cradle that she played with when she was little.  And even better, my dad made it :) Of course I started crying.  There was also a home-made blanket in it.  It’s so cute and will forever hold a special place in my heart.  I am so excited for our baby to play with it!

December 25, 2011 - Christmas

It’s Christmas Day!!! Happy Birthday Jesus :)  We were hoping to have been called by today and notified that we are on the waiting list, but that didn't happen.  Although we checked our emails 5 times today and didn't see anything, it was a great day.  We got to spend this wonderful time with our families today.  

December 18, 2012 - Starting Leslie's Passport Process

YAY!! My Mom is coming with us!!!!  I am so excited to be able to share that part of our lives with her and that she will get to see it all happen :) My dad went and picked up the passport papers today!  Beyond excited!  Now if we could just find out if we are on the waiting list!                      

December 18, 2011 - Leslie Says She'll Go With Us

After doing a lot of thinking I talked with Matt this morning about asking my mom to come along with us to Taiwan during the adoption.  He said yes and agreed that would be a good idea :) So I asked her after church today and she seemed so excited!  I really hope she can come and be part of such a special time in our lives!  Now we must convince my dad to let her fly half way around the world!  

December 17, 2011 - Sling Came Today

Ok, something very small but wonderful happened tonight when I got home.  I had a small package in our mailbox that had a sling wrap for a baby!  It will wrap around my shoulder and I can carry our baby in it which will free up my hands to do other things.  I was told this was a great way to “bond” with our child and to make sure and bring it over to Taiwan when we go!  Apparently, many adoptive parents buy them and use them especially when they are over there.  It’s purple and very cute!  I love it :) The best part is that it only cost $10.  Originally $30, I got it for free but then had to pay the shipping.  I am pretty excited to know that I will be holding our baby soon! 

December 16, 2011 - Next Step Fingerprinting!!

After a long night out shopping and getting lots of Christmas stuff done, we came home and got the mail.  We got a letter from the Department of Homeland Security saying that they received out paperwork and home study that I sent to Taiwan and it’s been approved.  We are officially scheduled to get fingerprinted on January 9, 2011 at 12:00pm!  Never in my life have I been so excited to get a letter like that :)  We were told the whole process to do this normally takes about 3 months so we are thrilled its only taken 3 weeks so far!! 

December 16, 2011 - Wondering When We Will Know - Sick Baby at the Mission :'(

We got an email from Mandee today stating that one of the babies in Taiwan has been very sick and in the hospital so Bev has been staying there with it.  Meanwhile, Ted has been running the mission there, so he is trying to hold down the fort while Bev is away.  We might not know for a little bit longer if we are on the waiting list.  We were really hoping to be able to share the good news with our families at Christmas, but we don’t forsee us getting the news from them by Christmas.  It worries me to tell everyone we are adopting (although I am so excited I want to scream it!) because we just don’t know for sure until we are on the list.  We don’t want to be presumptuous about all of this because you never know where God will lead.  So we are waiting and are learning to be patient.  Some days I am very good at being patient and others are a struggle, but I know it will all be worth it in the end.

December 12, 2011 - Waiting....

We are still waiting to hear if we are on the waiting list……….hhhmmmm…….  (Side Note from Matt - Lindsay has never been really good with patience hehe)

December 12, 2011 - Carseat Canopy Came Today

I am such a dork!! So I actually ordered the first baby item last week and it came today!! It’s a carseat canopy.  It’s dark brown on the inside and has a beautiful design on the front :) Made my day!!

December 10, 2011 - Movin' On to Fingerprinting - Starting Family Pictures

Oh my!! God is good.  Tonight when we got home Matt handed me an envelope which contained our confirmation letter from the USCIS (U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services).  They received our paperwork and approved it for us to continue on and get fingerprinted done.  They will be sending us another notice in the mail soon that will contain the date and time that we will go get our fingerprints done.  We can’t believe how fast that came!  We know the process is supposed to take about 3 months, but our God is bigger and luckily does things in his timing!  We are flying through this :)  Another great thing today was that we took Matt’s family pictures.  We will be sending those over to Taiwan eventually, so it’s nice to have those started and hopefully finished and ready to go soon!  It was nice to get to include the family on something regarding our adoption.  It was a good day. Thank you Lord.

December 7, 2011 - Recommendations from the Empsons and our First Baby Stuff Purchase

So a few days ago we sent an email to Bev Skiles just introducing us and we were looking forward to hearing from them soon and we are praying for their ministry over there and the work they are doing.  We also mentioned we were friends with Dave and Sherree Empson and that’s how we came upon their organization.  She emailed me back today and talked about how Dave gave us a “glowing” recommendation and she knew God would bless our journey!!!  We were so worried that we would get lost in the busy-ness of everything going on over there and we would be over looked or they wouldn’t really know us --- but it’s such a relief that she knows who we are!! We know it sounds silly, but I’m assuming they talk to so many people every day about adoptions and it as nice to hear her comments back to us! 

And……..we gave in and finally bought our first “baby stuff”!! We know we have not even been put on the waiting list and we are probably jumping the gun on this one, but today we don’t care and have decided at least for today to enjoy where we are in this process J  We bought a “baby wrap” off the internet and only had to pay the shipping on it!!  Mandee Shivers mentioned it on facebook that they were giving away free wraps – so I had to do it, right?!  THOGL also mentioned that people usually bring those to Taiwan when they come because it brings forth a good “bonding” experience for the child when meeting their parents for the first time!  We also bought a carseat canopy for the carseat….someday.  It was also on sale and I only paid for the shipping on it.  It’s super cute and its brown, teal, and red.  Its brown on the inside so it could be for a boy or girl, but I am hoping it’s a girl at this moment :)  Otherwise, I might be giving that as a baby shower gift someday if we end up with a boy!!

December 5, 2011 - THOGL Cleared, Cleaning House, and Gifts from Staci and Bob

Yay!!! Today was such a blessed day :) So we heard this evening through good ol’ facebook that Bev Skiles posted something regarding the new law in Taiwan.  She basically said that the government came and inspected THOGL and told them they could continue on as normal with all their adoptions for the time being.  Apparently the law has many parts to it and there is a timeline for each “part” and when those different parts will take affect.  Words cannot even describe how relieved we are to hear this tonight!  Of course we sent a message to Andrea (Miss know it all --- in a good way!)  And she answered some of my questions and confirmed that they are continuing with the adoptions!!!  We are hoping we will get a call or email soon to let us know when we are on the waiting list!  For right now we are just taking it 1 day at a time and doing what we can here to get ready for the next wave of paperwork.  We have been “cleaning out” each room in our house so we can take pictures and have those ready for when they need them. 

Another blessing today was that Staci gave us payment for a PNO we are going to work this Friday night.  It was so humbling to receive that gift of money to put towards our adoption and it was way more than I expected!  Another blessing of the day came from Bob Alltop at Beacon Signs in Avon.  We had put in a vinyl decal to be made as a Christmas present this year and Bob emailed me and said he wasn’t charging me for it?  We were confused and emailed him back and offered to at least pay for the materials!  He politely said no to my offer and hoped we’d have a Merry Christmas.  Even though the total was $22 – that was so nice of him to give that back to us.  We have no doubt the Lord was part of that and whatever or whoever spoke to Bob’s heart that day touched our lives and hearts in a deep way.  So in all, today was the hope we needed to keep moving forward.  

December 4, 2011 - We Qualify for the List

Whew! This morning we woke up and went to the computer right away to see if Ted had emailed us about whether we would qualify for their adoption program or not.   He said he went back through and read our home study and went through the documents Mandee had sent him explaining our reason for adopting, etc. and we would qualify to be put on the list when the time comes!  We are so relieved.  Now we need to pray for Ted and Bev and the law “interpretations” that will be sent to them in the next 10 days or so.  Everything is pretty much riding on that. But, we know our God is bigger than any government and His Will is perfect.  We know he sees the bigger picture and we are trusting in whatever he has in store for us. :)

December 3, 2011 - Government Stuff and an Unexpected Gift of Love

December 3, 2011 (9:00am)

This morning we got an email from Ted explaining that they will not be adding to their waiting list anymore until they hear word from the Taiwan government explaining the timeline on the new law.  I am devastated to say the least and my heart is so heavy now.  We are trusting God’s leading and know he will never forsake us………just wish whatever he is telling me was corresponding with “our world” down here.

December 3, 2011 (noon)

Today’s journal entry has nothing to do with our own adoption, but Mark and Holly Trump got to bring their 2 little girls home today :)  We can only imagine the joy they felt.  Gives me hope!  On another note~ Holly Wasmundt just walked up to me today and gave me $40 to put towards our adoption?  I was shocked at the compassion and heart and also God’s timing.  I seriously almost had a meltdown right there at the cheer competition.  I was speechless and humbled to know that someone would just hand me money out of nowhere?  Isn’t it funny how a simple $40 can change our whole perspective and attitude towards something.  I know it did mine.

December 2, 2011 - Heavenly Appointed Happenings? :)

Today it was our mission to send off our I600A form to Lewisville, Texas to start the process of getting fingerprinted. We have heard it takes about 2-3 months to complete the process.  As we are sitting here typing, the nightly news is on the TV.  I happen to look up at the TV when they announced that a photo had been sent in from Lewisville, IN.  I just started laughing out loud because we had never even heard of any place called “Lewisville” until today when we mailed our envelope and of course God had my night timed exactly right so I would see the TV at that moment.  Maybe it’s a coincidence? Or maybe that was God’s way of whispering “you’re on the right track”.  Either way…..it made me smile :)  My mom (who has been amazing during this process) went and picked up some pictures for me today that we will be sending to Taiwan.  She is so positive during this journey and it keeps me going on some days.  I also have been speaking with Andrea Berry, whom we met on facebook through THOGL page.  She has been my guardian angel for sure!!  We can’t even begin to write down everything she helped us with tonight specifically, but we are so grateful God has put her in our lives!!  Our next item on the “to do” list is to take pics of our house: inside and out!  Oh, and take pictures of our family (yikes!)  I better get started on this right away! That could take forever!!

December 1, 2011 - Home Study Sent ; Start Fingerprinting

We woke up this morning with some of the best news ever!! We finally got 3 emails back from Mandee and she said that our home study had been emailed to Ted and Bev in Taiwan and it was in translation!!! YAHOO!  We also get to send some pictures of ourselves over there :)  We have learned sooo much in the past 2 days about the process are pretty sure our heads are going to explode!  But I am so full of joy and we have only begun to see Gods work in this process.  We were told to go ahead and send our info to apply for fingerprinting.  Cindy Scheller has been a God-send in helping us with that today and getting it ready! We have no idea how we would have gotten it together without her!  We should know in about a week if we are on the “waiting list” to adopt or not?  We better be ~ I just paid $800 to get fingerprinted!! :)