Happy Birthday!

Today is Aaron's birthday. He is now 6 years old. We hope and pray that this special little boy had a great day today and that his birthday was somehow celebrated : ) Happy Birthday Aaron! This is the last birthday you will celebrate without a family. We are waiting eagerly to hear when our appointment is!!

Dossier submitted!!

This morning we got word that our dossier was submitted today...yay!! This is the first day the SDA office is open since November. We had no idea what to expect as to how quickly our dossier would be submitted, but now we know and will be anxiously waiting to hear when our SDA appt. is. Then we can make travel plans. It's seeming so much more real every day. We're coming soon Julia and Aaron! May God continue to keep you in His care : ) We are excited!

One other development that has greatly eased our minds, is that my dear friend Aimee is planning on coming on the second trip with me to bring the kiddos home. We have been racking our brains for months trying to figure out the best way to accomplish the second trip. Steve just really shouldn't be away from work that much more and I obviously can't get both of these kids home by myself. We worked out a few possible scenarios, but none were seeming right for a range of reasons. God has taken care of this and has blessed us with so many wonderful friends. From Aimee coming with me to my other dear friend, Ruth, who has been willing to help in absolutely every way possible. Ruth will coming over with her three kids (one will be a brand new baby) to watch the kids many of the days I will be gone, while Steve goes to work. My neighbor of 13 years, Lena, who has been one of my closest friends will also be coming over on some days too and Steve's mother will take a couple of days as well. We are so incredible blessed. We love you all and can't thank you enough!!

IT is off!!

Hello everyone! Praise the Lord....IT is off to EE!! Yes, the proof of home mortgage letter arrived from AHMSI last Thursday and it was.....wait for it.....DONE RIGHT : ) So we shipped it off to Secy. of State office in TX that same day to get it apostilled and it arrived Friday in Austin. We sent a letter urging the office to expedite, complete w/pics of Julia and Aaron. They turned it around back to us on Monday and we got it today.....now that's how it's done by compassionate and capable folks!!! Steve is sending it off to EE this evening to be joined with the rest of our dossier. Thank you EVERYONE for your prayers and for listening to all of our frustrations over this one document! And also thanks to those who reached out by being willing to trek over to AHMSI or send someone you knew to help them out, even though it never would have worked. We are very appreciative of the offers.

Goodness gracious, what will we do with all of this free time now that we don't have to spend hours on the phone w/them, jumping through the many hoops to "help them" get it right, and agonizing over whether they would EVER figure it out? Hmmmm........get ready to travel? Sounds good to us : )