Parallels

As I sit here thinking about all that it takes to bring our little girl home from China it would be easy to get frustrated and wonder if it's worth it. Then I think of this little face

and I know that it's worth everything that we put into it. I remember that I was once in need of a Father, and God gave his only Son to die on a tree so that I might receive the Spirit of adoption. The sacrifices that we make to bring Brooklyn home are nothing compared to God's sacrifice to bring me home.

These thoughts come to me in the midst of another wait. We're waiting on USCIS to approve our I-800A. We can't move forward now without this approval. We're hoping and praying that we will receive it this month. This will allow us to be DTC (dossier to China, meaning our paperwork has officially been sent to China) in early August.

I find waiting to be hard. I like to feel like I have control of things, but sometimes you just have to let go. This draws another parallel to my life in Christ. Sometimes I want to hang on to things when He's shouting, "Let Go and let Me handle it!" It's hard to walk by faith. Faith get's tested all the time.

So I find us in faith hoping that we'll receive an update on our little girl. The precious pictures that we received last week from our agency were special, but we would love to have more information about how our little girl is doing. Every day that she spends in China is a day that we miss out on seeing her grow. Every day that she spends in China is a day that she misses out on having a family. Every day that she spends in China is a day that she's not getting the surgery that she needs for her eyes. Please pray that the remainder of the process moves quickly so that we can have our little girl in our arms!

I would also like to give a quick update on our fundraising efforts. We had a successful yard sale in Williamsburg last weekend. Thanks to everyone who contributed, and to all of the family and friends who helped out. We couldn't have done it without you!

We're also making progress on the puzzle. We chose this puzzle, which happens to be 2000 pieces, because the scene was from an area near where Brooklyn is living. Thanks to some recent generous donations, including $350 raised by First Baptist Church in Artemus, KY during their VBS, we now have 398 puzzle pieces sponsored. If you've not sponsored any pieces yet we would love to get your name on some pieces.  No matter how many pieces you sponsor your donation will be appreciated. You can send your donation for the puzzle to us at 780 Sweetwater Cir., Old Hickory, TN 37138 or by clicking on the Paypal Donate button on the left.

Thanks again for all of your help. Soon we'll have this bundle of joy walking into our arms!

Fingerprints Done!

Yesterday was our scheduled day for our biometrics appointment to have fingerprints done at the USCIS office in Nashville. This is one step in getting approval to bring an orphan into the country. Now we continue to wait for the approval letter. Please pray that it comes soon!

We were also able to get a lot of paperwork authenticated through the county and state today. Paperwork has to go through a tedious process of authentication prior to going to China. We hope to be able to send our paperwork to China (DTC) soon after receiving our USCIS approval.

We are still hoping to get enough puzzle pieces sponsored to cover our next payment to the agency. I hope to be posting an update on puzzle progress soon. Could your donation be the one that puts us over this next hurdle?

We are also asking for recipes to include in the recipe book that we're putting together to help raise funds to cover the required orphanage fee. Please send your favorite recipes to mom4sadie@yahoo.com.