HOME STUDY HERE WE COME!

Okay, so yesterday, Tuesday, April 29th, our case worker called me on the way to work. They finally heard back from the FBI about our fingerprints, so our home study will be next Tuesday, May 6th at 4:00pm. She is going to interview me first, and then when Michael gets home at 5:30pm she can interview him. Then she can interview us together. We are going to be all interviewed out when the night is over! I have talked to our case worker several times on the phone, but I have not actually met her yet. I am excited. She is totally sweet and funny on the phone. It will be great to see her face! My biggest prayers are for Clover to be on her best behavior and for us to be able to communicate well with our case worker. I want her to really get to know us! She is a huge part of the decision making process. I know that she prays everyday for wisdom from the Lord. Let's pray with her! Her name is Stephanie!

We have a busy weekend. I need to put the finishing touches on the kid's room and do some minor organizing/ cleaning here at the house. I will be sewing curtains and pillow covers. Of course, Michael wants the yard to be perfect. First things first, right? And I don't want to have any dust or laundry laying around, you know what I mean? The home study is the last step in this huge process. After next Tuesday, everything is out of our hands, where it should be.

I am so aware of God's timing right now. He has orchestrated the exact time that we would be done with our paperwork and ready for kids. Ever since we started this whole ordeal, we have made ourselves deadlines. We have actually missed every single deadline along the way. And the FBI took way longer on the fingerprints than they normally do. It hasn't even bothered me, even though I am so anxious to get my kids. I just feel God's hand in every detail. He has the exact kids and the exact moment picked out and we can't screw that up! Thank you God for loving us so much that you would not allow us to miss such an amazing opportunity! Thank you God for not allowing me to screw anything up! I feel more and more confident everyday that God is right in the midst of this thing. Not my will, but yours!

Continue to pray that God would soften our hearts and the hearts of our kids. Pray that God would ready all of us to accept and love each other the way that we are called to. Pray that God would be honored in our home always. I have an overwhelming feeling lately that my kids are safe and happy. I am so thankful for whoever is taking care of them. Pray for their foster parents right now. Thank you God for these kind people that are loving my children well. I pray for so many blessings for my children's foster parents and for all the other foster parents who are on the frontlines...loving orphans...just as we are charged to do. God be with them all.

Amanda

What are my kids doing right now?!

Michael and I went on a little trip this weekend to the Hill country. This was sort of our last trip together before our kids enter the picture. We went with some of our best friends to camp out at Enchanted Rock and then into Fredericksburg the second night at a B&B. It was way fun and a great time with friends. We had a blast! I was talking to my friend Lauren while we were away about the adoption stuff and she excitedly said, "I wonder what your kids are doing right now?". It was so funny to hear her say that she thinks about that too. It was funny and totally encouraging at the same time. I just love the fact that I am not bringing kids into just my life, but into so many other people's life as well, really amazing people. We have been so blessed with friends and family that are just as excited as we are to meet our kids. Since Lauren said that, I have thought about it even more often than before. What are they doing this very second?

Are they being naughty? Are they telling a joke? Is anyone laughing at their joke? Are they sad and lonely? Are they playing outside? Did they get a hug today? Do they love Dora or Diego? Are they in time out this very second? Are they sleeping peacefully? Do they feel well? Was somebody mean to them today? Do they know that Jesus loves them?

It's so weird to me that my kids are alive and running around somewhere and I have not even met them yet...so weird and so exciting. I can not even express how amazing it will be to meet them and begin to learn who they are. Who are they? What is their little personality like? I am such a people person. I love meeting people and asking them so many questions. I love how different we all are. I love it that we all have these hilarious quirks that make us who we are. I love watching people and learning more about them. I even love it when I meet people who are totally freaked out by someone like me who asks a million questions. That just makes me want to know even more about them. People are so interesting. I just plain love people! My kids, they are people too. I am going to be allowed the privilege of getting to know these particular people better than anyone else in the whole world. God has chosen them specifically for me to raise as my own. God loves me so much. Who has he chosen for me? What an amazing gift--to serve a God who knows each of us so intimately.

We recently saw the movie 'August Rush'. It's about a woman who had a baby and was told the baby died. She finds out after the boy is like 9 years old that the baby lived. She goes searching for him and eventually finds him. At first, I liked the movie, but didn't really feel I could relate at all. I mean I am not my kid's birth mom, you know. But yesterday I was thinking...my kids are out there in the world just like her kid was. And she had never met her kid, just like I have never met my kids. Not conceiving my kids, doesn't make them any less my kids than if I had conceived them. In God's economy, we are all His children. He just entrusts children to us as earthly fathers and mothers anyways. They are not ours, but His. A friend told me once, "They come from Him, whether He puts them in our arms or in our bellies. They come from Him."

So what are they doing right now anyway?...hopefully sleeping.

Update:

We are just finishing up our picture book for the kids and waiting on the call back to schedule our home study. We should hear this week. They are just waiting to hear back from the FBI about our fingerprints. Once the FBI clears us, they will schedule our home study. After they process the home study, we will be officially waiting. They will start trying to match us with some kiddos that very day! Whoa nelly, so soon! I can't wait!