Celebration Weekend

We took this picture right before we told Nathan's parents the news.

The weekend after we got a "yes" to the twins, our dear parents and precious friends made the trip to Birmingham to celebrate with us! Nathans parents are also in tax season so it was a huge sacrifice for them to make the trip. Since we've heard about the girls, we've been so humbled by how boldly and authentically people have loved on us! It has brought us to tears...well maybe just me, Nathan just had something in his eye. :) many times over peoples' goodness to us....sweet gifts and cards in the mail, sweet treats for celebration at discipleship, showers planned ...we're just blown away! Back to Birmingham- We got to spend Friday night with Kendall, Lindsay and their twins. Have I mentioned that our girls will have first cousin twins just 10 weeks older? Such a blessing! They are so super fun...we loved getting to catch up.

Kendall, Maddie Grace, Makenzie and Lindsay

Then Saturday my parents arrived around 9:30...so sweet considering they live almost 3 hours from Kendall and Lindsay. Then Nathan's parents weren't far behind (also about a 3 hour drive) We had a great time talking about the girls, then we had lunch at Edgar's Bakery. My parents had these shirts made for us to wear that day. Can you tell they were excited?! :)

Mama's sweet friend Dawn made the shirts for us!

We then made our first trip to Buy Buy Baby to look around and went to the hotel. Around 5:00 my friends, Liz, Tammi, Jennifer and Alicia arrived!! Liz and Tammi from Tupelo/Booneville; Jennifer and Alicia from Jackson...how great are they to make the trip to celebrate! We had dinner at Surin 280 and they showered us with gifts for the girls!

I had to "disguise" the picture of the girls since we can't post them on social media yet...that caused the picture to stretch for some reason...you get the idea. :)

Think the front of the table didn't get the memo we were taking a picture. :)

It was such a blessing to get to celebrate with the people we love. Baby Girls, you're already so loved by so many!

I-800 A Supplement 3 Sent

So this is for the sake of records. Friday, February 15th, the USCIS (US Citizenship and Immigration Services) received our Supplement 3 application. This is a request for them to approve us to adopt two children instead of one!

WE'RE "HAVING" TWINS!!!

This post has been a long time coming. I’m not sure why it’s taken me so long to write. Possibly because I’ve been overwhelmed by putting so many emotions into words. I’m not a gifted writer so this is a challenge. Might as well begin…

GOD IS LETTING US PARENT THE TWINS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Terribly blurry picture of us right after we heard "Yes!"

Here's the story: After hearing that the CCCWA was deciding between us and one other family, I was a total basket-case. Sunday night was the most intense with me waking around 3:00 a.m., laying prostrate before the Lord in desperation and surrender. Fast forward to Monday, January 21st, around 10:00 pm, I checked my email hoping I’d received something from Tiffany. (The January upload happened on January 21^st [22nd in China] so we were really hoping they would put the twins’ files on AGCI’s individual list at the same time.) There was no email and with it already being 11:00 a.m. in Beijing, we went to bed assuming we would hear no news that evening. We were just drifting off to sleep when my phone rang around 11:30. I was a bit disoriented but when I saw Tiffany’s name, there was a glimmer of hope. She told me that they chose us!!!! I was completely stunned! I did manage to jump up on the bed, scream, and hug Nathan; then we just sat in total shock on speaker phone talking through things with Tiffany. Even after we got off the phone, it was incredibly surreal. We immediately pulled up all the girls' pictures on the blog to try to make this dream we longed for seem real. Were we really going to be parents? Were we really going to be able to parent these precious twins we’d prayed for so long? Were we dreaming? On Sunday, I had completely convinced myself we were not going to be chosen and pretty much was begging God to equip me with all I needed to walk through the grief with faith and joy in Him. Did He ever blow me away!!! I believe the news was even sweeter after the surrender. After we got off the phone Nathan turned to me and said, “Kim, you’re going to be a mom!”. Such sweet joyous news to my ears! How wonderful is my husband?? We  talked details (finally!), I looked up double BOBs on craigslist, we schemed how we wanted to break the news to our parents and just kept saying over and over, “we’re getting twins!”. 

BOB double jogging stroller I've been wanting since we first heard of the possibility of twins in July!

The next day was filled with a flurry of phone calls. What a joy to be given this gift and responsibility! My brother was the best! He gave up his whole morning to allow us to tell my parents over skype…such a servant! We’re now awaiting our pre-approval from the CCCWA and also our updated approval from the USCIS stating we can now adopt two children instead of one!! :)