What a Weekend

You may want to grab a cup of coffee - this will be a long post, it has been an amazing weekend. Let's start with Friday night, and go from there. On Friday evening, we just spent some much needed downtime. We went for a walk as a family and then hung out with our neighbors. Terry says we look hilarios when we all go for a walk. With all of our kids, we look like a herd of some sort. The kids played until after 11:00 pm. I think Trenton was asleep before his head hit the pillow. :)

Now, let's move on to Saturday morning. I have been registered to attend the Hope for Orphans seminar since the first of the year. Starting an orphan ministry in our church has been a desire of mine for a long time, but I just never knew how to start. This was an amazing training. Everything is so organized. They give you suggestions on a structure and help you see how this could fit within your church. Jason Weber from Family Life is a wonderful presenter and is also an adoptive father. I am very excited about the future for 2 Rivers Church and our orphan ministry. Stay tuned...

We also had the opportunity to conduct our raffle drawing for the fundraiser. I cannot thank you all enough. We raised more than $2,000 for our adoption. PRAISE GOD!!!! I am humbled by your love and support. If you would like to check out the winners list, visit our fundraising blog.

We will have other fundraisers going on over the next few months. We currently have other donated items posted on EBay. Check them out if you get a chance. We also plan to have a Yard Sale the weekend of May 15 & 16. If you live in the St Louis area, come check it out.

Now, let's talk about that concert. I had the opportunity to attend the United Tour concert with my friend Angie. Just a few words about Angie. She is a loving mother, wife and awesome woman of God. I feel so blessed to have her as my friend.

The concert was SOLD OUT and a packed house. We had front row - center tickets!!! That was so cool!!! Steven Curtis Chapman and Michael W. Smith have been some of my favorite Christian artist for many years. Their music is real - it touches your heart right where you are. Michael share some very special thoughts about God's heart for us. It helped me to see a lot in myself. I may post more about that later - just not sure how to articulate it right now. But I was blessed! We also had the opportunity to hear from Geoff Moore regarding Show Hope. Geoff is a wonderful artisit and song writer. It was really neat to hear him talk about his little China girls.

After the concert, we had a chance for a meet and greet with Steven Curtis. He is a great guy and I hurt for all they have endured this past year. Please keep them in prayer as the one year anniversary of Maria Sue's death approaches. Theirs is a pain I cannot even imagine.

So, now we are headed off to church. It is the 10 year anniversary of 2 Rivers today. We are having a tent service on our ground. It should be a great day.

Enjoy the pictures - till later....

Michael W. Smith - even better in concert!

Geoff Moore - what an amazing guy!!!

Mr. Steven Curtis Chapman

SPRING IS HERE!!!!

Finally, Spring is here. You can tell the temperatures are getting warmer in our neighborhood. It is amazing how all the families begin to venture out of their homes. It is almost like bears coming our of hibernation. :)

I took some new pictures of the kids this evening while we were out for a walk. I am practicing my photography skills. What do you all think???

Till later...

Adoption Ministry

I am really excited about a workshop that I am attending this weekend. For months, I have felt that God is leading us to start an Orphan ministry at our church. The difficult part is knowing HOW to get it started. We have a lot of people in our church with a desire to get involved, but we were unsure of what we needed to do.

Family Life has developed this course to help enable churches to start an orphan ministry. It is being held at Calvary Church in St Peters, Missouri. They still have spots open, if you are interested in attending.

Till later...

An Amazing Birthday Present

I had a birthday a few weeks ago. It was pretty uneventful, but still a nice birthday. We had dinner at O'Charley's and the kids sang happy birthday. Just a nice evening with the family. It had been a really tough week at work, so we kept things pretty low key.

Well, yesterday, I got a belated birthday gift. Through a charity auction, we won tickets and backstage pass with a meet and greet for... the Steven Curtis Chapman concert later this month. Yep, my girlfriend Angie and I will be sitting on the front row at the United Tour concert and then meeting Steven Curtis after the concert. WOW - that is the coolest birthday gift ever!!! Have I mentioned lately how much I love my family! Thanks guys!

Till later....

Adoption Update

I wanted to share where we are with our adoption process. As you will read in a previous post, we did not receive a referral when the March Shared List was posted. I have spent the past few weeks feeling very defeated. I had gotten my hopes so high. Tessa asks constantly when we will go get her "baby Tia". Yep - that's right, we have a name for this little one. Her full name will be Tiana Jo (insert Chinese name) Harlow. But to everyone in our home, she is baby Tia.

So, for now we wait until the next list is released later this month. Please keep us in your prayers.

Till later...

Upward Soccer

We have a new little soccer star in our home. Trenton has joined an Upward Soccer team. They are sooo adorable!!! I really don't think they totally get all of the rules of soccer, but they sure have a good time.

Till later....

The true reason for Upward - to teach these precious little boys about the love of Jesus Christ

False Alarrm

I am not really sure what to say right now - my heart is very heavy. As most of you know, we have been anxiously waiting to hear news on our special needs referral. I received a call yesterday from our agency regarding a little girl. I think my heart skipped a beat when I saw their number on my caller I.D. They carefully set my expectations at the onset of the call. The child they were calling about had special needs that were outside of what we had listed on our special needs checklist. After listening to all of the information and spending some time talking as a family, we realized that this was not the right child for us. It broke my heart to say no.

Please pray that God brings our little girl to us very soon.

Thanks!

Got You Celebration

Guess who she has wrapped around her little finger????

Our "Got You" celebration, as Tessa calls it was wonderful. She got dressed up in one of her prettiest dresses and went to dinner with her momma and daddy. She charmed everyone in the room while we waited for our table at Olive Garden.

I asked her what a Gotcha Day meant, she said that was when she "got me". And boy did she have that one right. I was smitten with that beautiful little face from the moment I first laid eyes on her.

After dinner we ventured to Toys R Us for a little shopping. Tessa chose a new baby doll that came with its own doctor kit. She said that this would help her practice for when she is a doctor some day. Wow - I had better get busy with that college fund NOW!!!

She also helped to pick out some Lego's for her brothers. Even tough it was her celebration, she wanted to share with them. Taylor settled for money :)

Till later...

Gotcha Day and DTC

Wow - what mother could ask for more??? March 13, 2006 I was blessed to meet my daughter Tessa in Nanning, Guangxi China. The picture above was taken just hours after she was placed in our arms. Poor baby had cried herself to sleep. To look back now and realize how far we have come is amazing. It is hard to remember my life without her. I love you baby!!!!

My other excitement is that we will be Dossier To China within the next few days. After 8 months of paperchasing, we have finally reached this milestone. I cannot even describe the relief I feel right now. Just one more step closer to our baby.

Till later...

Let's Talk About the Fundraiser

I want to take a moment to talk about our fundraiser. Yes, I would love your support. And in case you were wondering, you can visit our fundraising site by clicking on the logo. You could also help us out by posting the link on your blog. We are really hoping this will be a strong fund raising effort for our adoption.

But more than talking about the mechanics of the fundraiser, I want to talk about the blessings. Ya' see, we are just this ordinary family from the Midwest. We aren't famous people - just children of God who have been blessed with a house full of kids - and loving every minute of it. But the amazing part about this fund raiser has been the people that God has allowed to bless our family. Here's some examples - my husband called one of our local radio stations and told them about the raffle - within a day we had received a call from Ruth's Chris steakhouse with a donation. Here's the real cool part, they don't even know us, but were led to give. WOW !! Another example - I sent an email to the contemporary Christian group, Casting Crowns. Within just a few days, we received an email from them, offering to help. O.K. and one more - I sent a message to Kurt Warner's foundation - the same day I got a call from them offering to help. Did I mention that these people do not even know us - but they have chosen to come along side of us in this effort. Each donation we have received has a story just like this. People who care enough to see a little girl come home. I feel so humbled that God is allowing me to be a part of this. He has an amazing plan - I just can't wait to see it all unfold.

Till later...

Lifeline for a Lifetime

The title of this post was borrowed from a fellow adoptive parent (thanks Jerry). What does it mean? Well, it means that after a lot of prayer we have decided to pursue our adoption with Lifeline Children's Service. They were the agency that we had the privilege to work with for Tessa' adoption. The staff at Lifeline are like an extension of our family. We thank God for their commitment to the families and children that they help to unite.

As a status update, our documents are being authenticated this week by the Chinese consulate and then our dossier will be off to China. We hope to be matched when the next list of waiting children is released by the CCAA. As I am learning every day - this process is totally out of my control and God has a plan.

Till later...

New Pictures

I realized that I had not posted new pictures of my beautiful family in quite some time. We needed some updated photos for the adoption dossier, so without further delay - here they are...

Painting Anyone

To help keep my mind off of waiting for the phone to ring with our referral, I decided to redecorate Tessa' room. She and her little sister will be sharing a room, so we have to make sure it is something that will work for both of them.

I selected pink and green for the walls - and Tessa approved. We are going to accent with lady bugs and flowers. I found a great crib set at Target a few weeks ago that matched perfectly.

Terry is working a lot of hours lately, so I am in charge of the "remodel". I had some help today, as you can see from the pictures.

Please continue to pray we receive our referral this week. All of our documents have arrived and they will be going off to the Chinese Consulate to be authenticated. This is just another step in the process. After this - our dossier will be on it's way to CHINA!!! It seems like it has taken a long time to get to this point.


Till later.....

WOW!!!!

That is all I can say today - WOW!!! So, why all the excitement you ask... Well, I decided to contact the USCIS regarding our approval from their agency. As you may remember from a past post, the average length of time for approvals was quoted at 90 days. Our documents were received by their agency on January 14, so I had accepted the fact that our approval would more than likely arrive in late March to early April. I contacted the office, just to make sure they had everything they needed for our application. Much to my delight, the phone was answered by a woman named Debbie. Debbie is one of the officers for the USCIS. She is a charming and wonderful woman. She said that our approval is complete and we will receive our notification this week!!!!



Yes, you read that correctly. We received our approval within 30 days. This is such a huge blessing. I had been praying that it would arrive in 6 weeks, but God had different plans. He exceeded my expectations!!! This was a great Valentine's gift.

We are now praying for our referral. Our hope is that Tia will be on the next CCAA Shared Special Needs list. Rumor has it that the list is due out this week. Please keep us in your prayers.

Till later...

Adoption Fundraiser

I wanted to take a moment to share some information about our adoption fundraiser. During the month of March - we have A LOT of adoption fundraising going on. The primary one is our raffle and online auction, which will take place March 15 - 25. It has been absolutely amazing how God has orchestrated all of this. We have received raffle donation from so many people. We will have custom jewelry, electronics, vacation packages and more. By the way, if you have an item or service that your would like to donate - please contact us. Our online auction will take place during the same time and be featured on eBay. The auction will have designer luggage, monogrammed children's clothing, customer adoption/birth announcements, etc. Once again, we have received some wonderful donation from our family and friends.

We are not relying on this event alone to fund our adoption. Each weekend in the month of March, we will be participating in a craft show. The largest will be March 7 at the St Charles Convention Center ( St Charles, Missouri) It is the Baby and Kids Expo . This is an annual event that highlights goods and services designed with kids in mind. I think this should be a great event for us. We will be stitching monogrammed children's backpacks. With an estimated attendance of over 3,000 - I think we should sell quite a few.

Our other events will be in Affton and St Peters, Missouri. The are local craft shows, sponsored by area schools.

If you would like more details about our adoption fundraiser you can visit our site at http://www.harlowadoption.blogspot.com/ . If you would like, please post our announcement bug on your blog, and you will receive and extra entry into the raffle. More details are listed on our site.

Our primary goal through these fund raising activities is to help bring our daughter home - but it is also to spread the word about adoption. Our lives have been forever changed through this experience.

Till later....

Fingerprinting is Done!!!

We had our appointment with the USCIS yesterday to complete our fingerprinting for our I800 application. This is just another step in the process.

I know we are getting there - but it sure seems like a long road. God has a plan, but I am having a really hard time waiting.

On another note, be learned of an Adoption Ministry workshop that will be held at Calvary Church in St Peters, MO. Calvary has an amazing adoption ministry known as Open Arms. The seminar will be held on April 25 and is sponsored by Family Life. A few of my adoptive mom friends from our church are planning to attend. We feel this will help give us the tools to start our own adoption ministry at 2 Rivers.

Also, on a happy note - our friends have decided to pursue the adoption of a little boy from Korea. There will be more details about that later - but I can tell you he is adorable!!!

Till later...

Happy New Year

Happy New Year - Chinese that it. We actually celebrated last night. We found a new Chinese restaurant and sampled some of their cuisine. I don't think Tess fully understands the Chinese New Year celebrations yet - but we want to make sure that we make it a family activity each year.

This is the year of the Ox. I had a chance to read what the characteristics are for a person born this year - "Those born in ox years tend to be painters, engineers, and architects. They are stable, fearless, obstinate, hard-working and friendly." I feel quite confident that our daughter Tia will not be born in the year of the Ox, but rather in 2008 or the year of the rat. I guess we will know more in the coming weeks.

Until later,

Fingerprints

We received our official notice today for our USCIS fingerprinting appointment. It is next Friday at 8:00 am in downtown St Louis. This is the next necessary step in our adoption process. Our paperwork was officially logged into the USCIS system on January 14. The current timeline is estimated at 90 days from the log in date. So, that would make it mid-April before our approval is received. But as I have learned in this adoption process, things change - and you just have to roll with them. For those of you who know me well, you will agree that this is not an easy task for me. But I am working through it.

I would however ask that you pray the paperwork is expedited and we receive our approval in record time. We can always hope - right...

Till later,

We Are Making Progress

I am pleased to say that we have mailed our I800 application to the USCIS. For those of you outside the adoption community -this is a really big deal! This event is the culmination of months of preparation. The current wait time for receipt of our approval from Homeland Security is approximately 90 days. This can vary - A LOT!!! As I have learned - nothing is "typical" in an adoption.

I want to point out that this is again a time when God showed His grace on us. As with each step of the adoption, there is money to be paid. Terry and I had really struggled with this payment. We needed $830 to send with our application. Since it was Christmas and our taxes are due - we were really having a tough time with this payment. But God made a way. I had some additional stitching jobs that came in at the last minute, a family member sent us a donation, etc. By the end of the month, we had more than enough to cover the payment. It just helps to remind me that He has a plan for us.

The next step in our adoption process will be the receipt of our referral. We have asked our agency to wait to match us with a child until we have received our USCIS approval (the 90 day wait). It is our desire to adopt a child as young as possible. If we wait, the likelihood will be greater that she will be younger when we travel. That was a really hard decision, but we know we did the right thing.

Lastly, I would like to ask you to be in prayer for one of my friends. My friend Jennifer's father went home to be with our Lord on Christmas day. This was such a tough blow to her and the entire family. The relationship that she had with her father is one that I envy. He was truly one of her best friends. My heart has ached for her. I have asked God to give me the perfect words to say, but all that comes to mind is "Love her like Jesus". Please pray for my friend.

Until later....

Wow - has it really been a month???

I cannot believe it has been a month since I posted to our blog. With the holidays, time just seemed to fly by. So, grab a cup of coffee and I will fill you in on the latest at our home.

We had a chance to share an early Christmas with my mom and dad in late November. My Parents spend the winter months in Florida, so we have to have an unconvential Christmas. The kids loved it!

Thanksgiving was great! We spent the day with Terry's family. Terry had to work on Friday, so it was a short trip - but still a lot of fun. I had the chance to spend the rest of the time off with the kids. I love these times. We laughed so much! With four children in our home, there are very few "dull" moments.

We tried something new this year - Gingerbread houses. O.K. - it was a kit - I did not bake the gingerbread (that would be way too Martha Stewart for me lol) Anyway, the boys and the girls worked together to make some amazing gingerbread houses.

We spent the rest of the month of December getting ready for Christmas. We have 7 trees in our house this year. Yep - you heard me right - 7 trees. What was I thinking?!?!?!?! They look beautiful and the kids loved them.

We also celebrated two birthdays this month. Tanner turned 10 on December 8 and Taylor 15 on December 11. For Tanner's birthday, we took him out for dinner with just mom and dad. He chose Red Robbin. He loved when they sang to him and brought ice cream. He also chose a new pet this year. Tanner now has a hamster named Buggies. She is really cute and all the kids love to watch her run in her wheel.

For Taylor's birthday, just she and mom went out to dinner and to the salon for a makeover. I was really needing some highlights (other than the gray) and Taylor wanted a color stripe in her hair. She settled on a pink stripe in the front of her hair. Her dad was not excited, but after I convinced him that it will eventually wash out - he was alright with it. Taylor also finished this quarter on a high note with honors again. She is doing great in High School. I am so proud of her.

When the kids were writing their letters to Santa - I caught a glimpse at Tanner's letter. It made me cry ( not a tough task when it comes to my kids). He first asked that his mom and dad would have a great Christmas. Pretty cool - huh. Then after he finished his list of item he would like - he asked to help him be a good boy so he could go to China to get his baby sister next year. Once again, I teared up. He is such a sweet little boy!

Christmas was spent here at home. I unfortunately had the flu. I drifted in and out of sleep on Christmas eve, while Terry finished wrapping all of our gifts. He also tackled those "some assembly required items". It was not a pretty site. He was pretty frustrated when he finished at 1:30 in the morning. uggh...

The kids loved all of their presents. In the afternoon we kept our tradition of going to the movies on Christmas Day. We started this about 6 years ago - and still enjoy it. There are no crowds and a lot of new movies debut on Christmas Day. This year we saw Bedtime Stories with Adam Sandler. It was a really cute movie. The kids loved the guinea pig.

So, what is the latest on the adoption???? Well, our home study arrived the week of Christmas and we have filled out our I800A application. I am mailing it to our agency this week and then they will send it to the USCIS with their documentation. We are getting closer...

I hope you have a wonderful new year and I promise to keep up with my blogging.

Until later...