how big is HE?

We've had so much happening lately and with school finishing on Friday, I've been on overload.

We finally were able to pick up our notarized medical forms! What a relief that has been. We are waiting for my birth certificate to come back from FL Secretary of State. We had to request my birth certificate from the Vital Statistics office in Jacksonville and then they send it off to Tallahassee. I'm curious to see if it is any different from the birth certificate we got from the vital statistics office here in town. My plan is to drive all of our dossier documents up to Tally on Wednesday and then have them off to the Chinese Consulate in Houston on Thursday. The Chinese Consulate in Chicago received Kurt's birth certificate...hope to have that by Friday. That is our one stray document. Our goal is to be able to have our dossier sent to WACAP by the end of June.

We are waiting on our fingerprint appointments for USCIS...the last piece of the puzzle.

It's Stanley Cup Playoffs...need I say more?? GO REDWINGS! We have a pair of Redwings jammies waiting for Jackson! They are the same pair that Sydney and Jadon wore.

Jackson's room is coming along quickly. Kurt is finishing up the dry wall tonight. We should be able to have drywall inspection on Monday. We want to have as much completed as we can because Kurt's parents will be here on Thursday and we want to be able to surprise them.

I was able to speak with our case manager from our agency for about 40 minutes on Friday. She doesn't think that we would be able to travel by December. We will continue to pray though. She is sending off a few more questions about Jackson. It is possible that he is in a foster home now. We will be able to send him a care package as soon as we have a LID. Hopefully we will have this so that we can send him a birthday care package.

FUNDRAISING!!!! We have started our fundraising. My mom who has only been retired for a year (and my dad for 8 months) has signed up to be a Pampered Chef consultant and is helping us raise money for Jackson. I had all of my things to put in the teacher's lounge and struggled with whether to put a note on there about raising money for the adoption. I spent a few hours contemplating it and knew that God was speaking to me. Have you ever heard God speak to YOU?? What an amazing feeling it is to know when you are hearing God's voice. How freeing it is to be obedient to His voice and His call. God continued to tell me and ask me, "Let me show you how BIG I am!" "If you don't let them know that this is for Jackson and what I've called your family to, how can I show you MY greatness?" An hour later a very special lady came to my classroom and gave us money for Jackson! She didn't want to buy anything, just wanted to give! I cried!!! What a blessing it is to see Jesus in others! GO GOD!!!

In two weeks my mom is having her first kitchen show and she's calling it A Trip to China! All of the food will be Chinese...how cool! I can't wait! Her website is www.pamperedchef.biz/barbarafraine

Amazing Books: Somehow I have managed to read two books and am on my third. I believe they are "must reads" if you are adopting from China. I think they have been able to prepare my heart for the journey God has put us on. The first book I read was "The Lost Daughters of China". The second was "Silent Tears: A Journey of Hope in a Chinese Orphanage". And now I am reading "The Connected Child".

Soon I will blog about how God called us to adoption. As I try to trace back when God started preparing our hearts, it's surprising to see how FAR back God began His work in us! Soon we will post photos of our family. I love reading other blogs and seeing pictures of their families. It makes me feel so connected to other families that have been called by HIM!

In Christ,
Stacy

"No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him-but God has revealed it to us by His Spirit." 1 Corinthians 2:9-10