Book of Ruth

As a church we have been going through the book of Ruth. I wanted to leave you with this today:
God is always watching and His hand is always leading!
If you can take a moment and pray for my friend Sarah, she is traveling to Russia today to go to court next Monday to adopt her daughter Kate (she is 3 1/2 yrs old). Thank you!

We continue to wait on the Lord and know he has chosen our son for us and it is only a matter of time before he is home with us. It is difficult knowing he is there and not here, I so badly want to hold him, kiss him and tell him how much he is loved by us and God. God has a plan for his life, nothing is by chance (fate).

Jeremiah 29:11 For I know the plans that I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope.

One Year Today

It has been one year today that we started our adoption process. I remember the feelings when we started, I just wanted to get going with the paperwork to get our boy home. My husband thought I was the energizer bunny, go go go.

I have definitely slowed down, seeing we are waiting and waiting and waiting. Nothing more to do but wait. It is hard waiting and going on with your life, at least when you are busy you feel productive. Now it is out of our hands literally and up to everyone else in Bulgaria, but ultimately God has been in control the whole time. Thankfully!

Our friends, Devries, who started actually 2 months later than us are going to be traveling for court next week to Russia. After court their is a 10 day waiting period (they will return to the US because they have 3 boys) and then they return to pick up their daughter (she is 3 years old). So hopefully their daughter will be home by the end of April. Amazing! Russia is faster than Bulgaria for sure. I am still hoping we will have a referral by next January, if not sooner.

Thank you to our friends and family who have been following our journey and for your encouragement. Remember we will be having a garage sale this summer so start looking through your things that we could use in our sale. Thanks.

Cathryn's Party at PlayWorld

Cathryn had her birthday party yesterday at Playworld. She had 5 friends, her sister and 2 cousins (9 children in all). They had so much fun. Our room was a bit small for the kids and adults, so the adults were standing around. We got there at 12 to decorate the room (balloons and streamers), the children started arriving at 12:30 and then we ate pizza at 12:50-1:15. They then played on the jumping castle, slide, etc and we had cake at 1:45-2 (opened presents). The party was done at 2 but we didn't leave until 3pm. My girls wanted to stay and play with their cousins.

We finally had to leave and it was so beautiful outside (50 degrees) so we went to a park to play. It was a wonderful time, and Cathryn had fun with her friends from church. Cathryn got some wonderful things, she got outside chalk and Spanish speaking doll from my in-laws, disney bathing suit, towel and sandels for the beach from her cousins, crafts, princess polly pockets, a ladybug game which they played today after church and a Barbie DVD. She was exhausted at the end of the day as we went to a Logan's Restaurant for dinner, she was so ready for bed at 8pm.

I will post some pics when I have downloaded them.
Today we worked in the garden a bit, raking leaves so our new plants can grow:) It is in the 50's again and tomorrow is supposed to be in the 60's. Is Spring finally here? In Michigan you never know, we could have snow tomorrow.

More USA Agencies

Thanks to Terry M who runs the Bulgarian support yahoo group Facab, she has some great information about Agencies that work in Bulgaria and everything else under the sun about Bulgaria (holidays, food etc).

Here are some agencies that I didn't find, that can help you adopt a child from Bulgaria:
1. Americans for Int.Aid and Adoption (AIAA)
2. Adoption Abroad
3. Adotpion Avenues
4. Little Miracles
5. Journeys of the Heart
6. Kids to Adopt
7. Adoption Miracles
8. Lutheran Social Services of Minnesota
9. One World Adoption Services
10. World LInks
These are all Hague Certified as of today, but you must check as some of them only have a 2 year certification as opposed to a 4 year.

Meet the Robinson's

My husband rented this video for the kids when I was at the Woman's Retreat. They had movie night together. So when I got back I watched it with hubby when the kids were in bed. Did you know it is about a little boy who lives in an orphanage and wants to find his birth mom? Anyway, I really enjoyed it, it was kind of wierd/funny. It is rated G but of course has the word stupid in it quite often,which really irritates me. Why do they think they have to put that word in G rated movies? We call it the "s word" in our house. The girls will look at me and say "they said the s word,mom". So other than the s word it is a good film. The little boy doesn't end up finding his birth mom but instead finds "his" family (wife and kids) and he is adopted.
There is also a line in the movie by the orphanage care taker that talks positively about the birth mom loving him enought to want the best for him. I enjoyed the movie.

The last song on my play list is from the movie, when you watch the movie the song is pretty good!