Come on, Virginia!

Okay--let me just say that I am so excited to be about to send this dossier in right now, I could burst! Yesterday was a GREAT day! I had all my dossier documents certified and copied and headed toward Bethany to see our social worker and pick up the home study with the proper cover page and attachments. She is SO great, it was wonderful to see her and I was psyched! (I just passed right on by the WaWa gas station where my little mishap the last time I picked up the home study happened--no eye contact this morning!) After I picked it all up, I copied the home study docs, had them certified and headed a few doors down to the secretary of state. Let me just say now that yesterday was a GORGEOUS day and Annapolis is a VERY cute little city. Life was good! I went in, got all my lovelies authenticated and walked out a very happy woman! Lo and behold, what should be there but a sweet little baby shop. It was a sign. Emma needed something to mark this day. This shop had the cutest little everythings and I was just in love. The woman was very kind, very interested in hearing about the process and helped me pick out the perfect "authentication day" present: a sweet, soft little "lovie" to take to Emma and leave with her while we wait for her. I named her Dixie the Dalmatian, because even though our Dixie is obviously a Golden Retriever, little Emma will have her own little Dixie there in Kyrgyz and one here waiting for her!






After a lovely day in Annapolis, I stopped to buy some things for my classroom (today is my last day of freedom!) and then headed home. I got home very much later than I anticipated, as we were having some dear friends of ours over for dinner. We used to live next door to them in New River, and they are now up here and I am over the moon about it! I showed Rachel the house and then the baby things and realized that I have some of the cutest little things for her and I can't wait for her to use them. I know not knowing her size, season (heck even if she has been conceived yet!) makes the clothes issue sketchy, but I just had to post a couple of my favorites--and the best part? These are hand-me-downs! YEP! I have been very blessed by the great friends (with SUPER taste) who have given me their little girls' hand me downs/ unuseds and I am very thankful! I love the smocking in this one:



I ABSOLUTELY love this little Gymboree outfit--It's the onesie, the cute little pants, the sweater and the hat and they all look as if they have never been worn!




This little girl is going to need some heavy duty Paparazzi to catch all her stylin!

Speaking of photos...Jengish

is a fabulous photographer and I really am touched and told a story by the pictures he takes. He mentioned that he was saving up for a camera lens, but that they were very expensive. I emailed him and asked him what kind of camera he had and then realized that he may have a camera that I actually have a fairly decent lens for! I told him to research it, and see if it worked, and if it did, it was his! He said it would! The thing about this lens is that we have had a great camera and pretty nice lens for about 10 years now...but for about 7 or 8, we have had that camera and lens sitting in our closet because we joined the age of digital and it didn't fit. How awesome did I feel being able to say that not only do I have a lens that may work, but I have felt pretty guilty about having it and never using it (the depths to which my life is blessed never ceases to amaze me)and could give it to a most deserving young man with stories to tell? So...the point is, please check out his website and his pictures. Look at the faces of these people. See what he says about them. He told me a story about someone he saw on a bus, and it was such a beautiful story and analogy of God's love, I just cried when I read it. I asked for permission to post it and if he okays it, I will. I know my heart is indelibly attached to Kyrgyzstan, so I am very honored to be able to help his ministry and give some Christian encouragement. If you would like to as well, he could certainly use it.

Okay..enough of my soap box. I have to go get some blood work for my physical next week (with the NEW doctor, as it is pretty obvious that I will be redoing my medical certificates in September, thought I'd get the jump start!) and then on to school. Tomorrow is our first official day back. I have made up my mind. This is going to be a great year. Period.

Oh...and the title of the post? All I'm waiting on to fed ex the dossier is our marriage certificates from Virginia. Seeing as it is my good old home state, I have no doubt they will expedite for little old me. Ha ha!

Why do I jinx myself? (Be warned...this is long, but important!)

Ha ha...I looked at the last post--Progress! I'm telling you (and you, and you and and you also) that it seems like I take a step forward and then move back three. I was *supposed* to go to our county clerk today and certify all the documents I now have so that on Monday I could pick up the homestudy and authenticate everything...sending the dossier off that afternoon. Well...as I am putting together all the papers, I realize that I am missing a cover sheet to go with our Immigration approval....and John's notary is out of the office. Sooo...can't do that until Monday--which puts me out of pickup on Monday am. That's ok..when I went to Staples to copy everything (AGAIN, mind you!) turns out that the date for John's medical is the 7th of Aug, but some things were notarized for the 6th--which is obviously inaccurate. Have to do those over on Monday as well. Pickup for the home study and authentication will now be Tuesday. Marriage cert authenticated should be here by Friday at the latest, and my *cross fingers* new target to get this flipping dossier OUT OF MY HOUSE is Friday. Of course, our Happy Friday message says we now don't need a couple of things, which saves money, but UGGHHHH...I just copied all that cr*p and it's getting authenticated (hopefully as we speak in good old Virginia!) and I seem to flush money down the drain like it is going out of style. (John, if you read this, NO COMMENTING, do you hear me?)

On the money note, I want to bring up something that may be of interest--if for no other reason but to be humanitarian. John Wright wrote about this young man on one of his blogposts. His name is Jengish, and he is Kyrgyz. He was called to do God's work, and has travelled as a missionary, though he is now home in Bishkek and serving as a minister to the homeless in Kyrgyzstan. I don't know about any of you (okay, I do!) but I know that every time I read John's blog, or saw the wondrous pictures of the things his family did in Kyrgyzstan, I certainly teared up and was touched by the love and generosity shown to people by complete strangers. John was looking for people to support Jengish as he is in Bishkek, working with the homeless, while also helping his family and I knew that God called me to help this young man. The whole adoption path has been very interesting, to say the least, in how we even ended up in Kyrgyzstan (a country I previously was not aware of, and, like many others of us in our blessed American lives, could probably only connect with Kazakhstan, one of the "stan brothers" or "one of those former Soviet countries") looking for our baby girl, but as I have always been a believer in the existence of a plan far bigger than me, I know Kyrgyzstan didn't just come to us by chance. While I have every hope and prayer that we were led to this country because this is where our daughter will be born, I also know that sometimes the things we believe the most don't ever end up being that way, and there was another reason we just don't see because we are so fixated on "our" plan. Don't get me wrong or misread--I do NOT think we were led to Kyrgyzstan NOT for our daughter but to help this country's homeless, but I do think in the process of forging our family, opportunities to help do God's work even when we are worlds away present themselves, and I am honored to be able to be called to participate. I was touched so much by the work the Wright family did, and could easily justify donating to help their cause as not only Biblical, but supporting the country our daughter was to be born in. Helping Jengish on a regular basis now falls in both of those categories, as well as continuing to honor the country that is helping me become a mommy. So...getting to the point...if any one reading this is interested in helping this young man, I know he would surely appreciate it and use the money wisely. Realizing that we are going to be eating mac and cheese for a while as we pay for this adoption, I know that the money I spend at Starbucks, Chic-Fil-A and yes, even my beloved CD Cafe will be used not only for the glory of God, but for the country my baby girl will be born in. It's the least I can do...these are words that Jengish sent to me earlier today and they were stirring. If you can and want to support his ministry, I will certainly let you know how...okay, enough rambling...here are his words:

Yes, of course there are cases when you do everything nothing happens but still it's worth a try. It's a human life, and by pulling the person off the streets you are actually saving someone's life.

There are people I have taken to the rehab center and man, they have changed so much. There is no better reward than to hear an ex alcoholic, and an ex addict and ex homeless person to pray and thank God... Thank God for giving them a second chance and giving them a new life. That's just something absolutely beautiful. I can keep doing this even if it's hard sometimes, just to be able to see the transformation in people's lives.

A person that has no home, no hope changes into a person that has this huge joy and is filled with God's presence and love. You can see it in their eyes first of all. Even before they gain some wait, even before their health gets back to normal, you can see it. The change that happens inside. You can see it in their eyes. It's amazing what God can do in a very short time.

So yea, on my part I commit to love the homeless and do everything I can to help them to get out of this miserable life. And I commit to preach the Gospel and tell them how much God wants them and loves them.