One Step Closer!!

Yay! We're one step closer to knowing God's plan for us and for the sweet twins!!! Today we found out the girls' paperwork made it to the local government!! Praise the Lord for His Mercy!!

Sweet gift from Anne Marie...Truth I need in front of my face each day!

Tiffany, our caseworker, predicts that the process should move more quickly now. Hopefully we'll know more of God's plan by the end of January.

Our handsome nephew, Rob, at Christmas lunch. Pardon the poor quality of the iPhone.

At this point our agency tracks the girls files to the CCCWA. Once there, they will submit a request to allow our agency, All God's Children International, to lock their files. If they say "yes" we know God's plan is for us to parent these girls! If they say "no" the chances of being matched with them are pretty slim.Will you join us in praying that the CCCWA would show favor to our agency?

Great BBQ place in Franklin- Trip with Nathan's family.

 Either way, we know God's plan will prevail and His plan is BEST! We can have confidence He's working all things for His Glory and our Good. - Good not necessarily being what we want - Good may mean lots of heartache on earth (us grieving that we love these girls but they aren't ours), but He is bringing us Holiness which is a Joy that cannot be matched!

Good News!

* I learned from my friend Anne Marie that a good blog post is never without pictures, even if they are unrelated to the content. :) So here are some super random photos.
* Also, the girls turned 17 months yesterday on my mom's birthday!!! Happy Birthday to a Godly, Amazing Mother and Friend!!

Dinner with Anne Marie a few weeks ago- such a treat!

On Friday, December 7th we received word that the girls' paperwork should be going to the local government in the next two weeks! We're so thrilled that God seems to be moving the girls closer to their forever family and us closer to knowing His will for us! We're just beyond grateful that He is so good to us.

Waterfall near Franklin, NC- trip with Nathan's family

So this coming Friday, December 21st should be the end of the two weeks. We don't know if the date will actually be that firm, but we're hopeful. Once the paperwork is at the local government, it then goes to the CCCWA where they will make a decision on allowing our agency to lock their files for us or if they'll be put on the shared list. Would you join us in praying that the paperwork would go to the CCCWA and they would make a decision before the Chinese New Year? 2013 Chinese New Year is February 10th but offices close before that...usually they have a month holiday.

With out sweet nieces, Makenzie & Maddie Grace

Praise be to the Lord, for He has heard my cry for mercy. The Lord is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in Him, and He helps me. My heart leaps for joy, and with my song I praise Him. - Psalm 28:6-7

Hi There!

 Just checking in to say there is still no news on the twins. We did hear that their original orphanage doesn't have the greatest track record with paperwork. That wasn't really a shocker but not exactly encouraging news. I'm praying for the worker to have dreams about the girls to prompt them to complete their paperwork. I'm having a hard time waiting on God to tell us if He's chosen us as their parents. My short prayer that I'm hoping will penetrate my heart is "Help me to make YOU my trust. 'Blessed is the man who makes the Lord His trust'- Ps 40:4"
  I am really thankful that God gave me the sweet gift of a great birthday. My husband is amazing! I woke up to breakfast he prepared and flowers, then a thoughtful gift, he took off work when I got off to celebrate and took me to a great birthday dinner. He's so good at loving me uniquely in the way I will receive it best. As if that wasn't enough, God has blessed me with the sweetest family and friends who went out of their way to express their love for me! I felt so cherished!!! Thank you Lord for your sweet mercy.

15 months and 3 days

  That's as precise as I can get on the twins age today, considering we weren't present on the day of their birth to know the hours and seconds. Actually, I guess no one but their dear birth mom (and possibly father) will ever hold that information. While I grieve that the girls will never hear "I remember the day you were born....", I grieve even more for the loss their birth mother must feel. What were those months like carrying twins? Did she know there would be two? Did she have to be on bed rest? Would her job even permit that? How many weeks were they able to form in her womb? What was giving birth to them like for her? What happened in the hours after birth? So many questions that will probably never be answered. As I grieve another month of their lives passing without us being with them, I can only imagine what her heart must feel as the 16th of each month rolls around.
   God has given us the sweetest gift of allowing us to send a package to the girls! It's so fun to be able to shop for them and love on them from afar. We covet your prayers for us and these little ones. Currently,we're waiting on their orphanage to complete and submit their paperwork to the civil affairs office. Please pray that God would put an urgency on the heart of the one responsible for the paperwork. Thanks so much!!!

Still Waiting

Just wanted to give an update that we're still waiting on news about the twins. The Lord has been SO VERY gracious to fill us with His Spirit to enable us to have peace and patience during this time of waiting. This poem has been such an encouragement on some hard days.  He's also given us a purpose of praying for His sweet children as if they are ours during this time. What a privilege to be entrusted with this responsibility for either this "gap" time before their forever family knows them or for the rest of their lives as their forever family! God is so gracious to give us deep joy in being a part of bringing His Kingdom to earth.

October 4th

  Well, I'm a day late but better late than never. Five years ago Nathan put a ring on it! (Thank you Ms. Barbara for the reminder..she's a walking calendar...it's great! :) Yep, he got down on one knee and said the most wonderful words, "Will you be my wife?". My sweetie did such a great job planning the night...it was absolutely perfect for us! He planned a little "trail" to him with notes and flowers which ended on the roof of the Crusade office, which is where I had secretly hoped he'd propose but never told a soul, the only One that could control that knew though. Those notes will be forever cherished by me. My dearest asked me on a date last night and we were able reminisce about all the events of the weekend. God continues to blow me away by allowing me to enjoy Nathan's love, friendship and leadership....absolutely more than I could have asked or imagined!

Could it be twins???!!!

Below is the post I've tossed around sharing for a long time. It felt risky to post something so "unknown" (by us), but in the end, this process is part of our story and it does and will continue to reflect God's faithfulness. The update since I wrote this almost two months ago is really nothing. :( We're still waiting for God to reveal His plan to us. I read John Pipers letter to Noel saying yes to their adoption. Such an encouragement to my soul, "What matters is not that we do all we might have done or all we dreamed of doing, but that while we live, we live by faith in future grace and walk in the path of love. The times are in God’s hands, not ours." - Piper

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Oh my! We received the BEST CALL EVER on Monday evening.. The "shared list" was due to be released on the evening of July 23. All day I had talked to God, "Lord, it would be really fun if you'd work a miracle and allow our LID (log-in date) to arrive today." So at 6:00 pm when I get a call from our caseworker, my heartbeat picked up the pace thinking the Lord might have chosen to surprise us. Well, He most certainly surprised us, but not with a LID. Not in a million years did I expect to hear what she had to say. Caseworker: "Hi Kim, I've got some exciting news but it's not definite. There is a possibility of twins. Would you and Nathan be open to twins?" Kim's thoughts: "What!!???? Are you kidding me? That would be just about the greatest thing I've ever heard!! Will Nathan be ok with this? Wait, we're only approved for one child. Lord, this would be just the most precious blessing! How much more will this cost? How in the world did we get blessed with this call?? My friend Kelly is praying for SN China twins...should I suggest her instead? How can I carry both babies around in a ergo at the same time?? What is the special need?" All of these thoughts swirled around in my head in a matter of minutes. Of course she answered all she could, but we don't have a file yet so there are still many questions that are unanswered at this point. Ultimately our agency needed our green light on twins before they started chasing their files. Our caseworker said that she'd email me all the details and a link to their pictures!!! Sadly Nathan was working in Midtown on Monday so I couldn't just fly to his office to discuss. I called him immediately and told him to drop everything, I needed his full attention for this news. Funny thing is that he was in the bathroom. :) He had answered since I had called 3 times back to back so he was worried I needed him immediately...which I DID! So I said, "Ok, you can call me back, but just pray about TWINS!" He laughed excitedly/nervously. He called me back and I told him the facts I knew, we prayed and opened the link to the pictures at exactly the same time.

We thought that girls were so incredibly precious, but we were trying to wrap our brain around this and wondering if this is what God has for us. We laughed, asked questions that couldn't be answered, sat in silence thinking, made the same comments over and over "this just seems to be too unusual for it not to be what God has for us".

What I haven't explained yet is why our caseworker told us "it's not definite." You see, typically when she calls us with a possible placement, she has the file of the child "locked" so no other families can see it. However, the twins files haven't yet made it to CCCWA. We've received word that the orphanage is working on their files to be posted on the shared list, but we are trying to secure their files before they hit the shared list. So there is no guarantee at this point that another family won't get their file before us...SIGH! The girls are just the most adorable things ever.  Like I said, the girls are one year old and both have a minor special need. Now we wait. We wait to see if God has ordained for us to be these girls parents. On Monday night I was trying to force myself to be guarded which was pretty much impossible. By Tuesday, I had completely given up and prayed that God would heal my heart if this doesn't work out. It's been great to be put in a situation to really trust His goodness no matter the outcome.

"Oh the depths of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God. How unsearchable His judgements and His paths beyond tracing out. Who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been His counselor? Who has ever given to God, that God should repay them? For from Him and through Him and for Him are all things. To Him be the Glory forever! Amen." - Romans 11:33-36