Form I-171H

Well, we haven't received approval from the Philippines, but we have received our I-171H form. This means that the UCSIS (U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services) has processed our fingerprints, and we are approved on the U.S. side to get visas for our child(ren) as soon as we are matched. The weird part about this form, is that if we haven't been approved in 15 months, our fingerprints expire and we have to do them all over again. If it takes longer than 18 months, then we have to re-apply and pay the fees all over again.

So a BIG prayer request that we have is to get matched with our child(ren) by AUGUST 18, 2008. We have so much to pay for already, that if we don't have to re-pay all of these fees, it would help a lot.

Well, we continue to wait on our Philippines approval. It can take a while for the Philippines to communicate with the adoption agency that we have been approved, so we may have already been approved for two weeks before we hear it. We've been doing a great job of staying busy, and not thinking too much about how we haven't been approved yet. I think the prayers of everyone are really helping us to remain patient. When we were trying to get pregnant, I felt like I was going crazy some days because I thought about it so much, and was so impatient for it. This experience is totally different, I feel such peace - even in the tough, waiting times. I know that this peace is not from myself, it's peace and patience that can only come from God.

Thanks for sending your comments, we love reading them (send more, send more!!).

Married for 5 years!!!!!

On Friday, September 14, Dave and I celebrated our 5th anniversary. Wow!! I can't believe that it has been 5 years, but it makes us feel so good. To celebrate our anniversary, we decided to roadtrip out to South Dakota for a nice vacation. Here is a picture of us celebrating on our wedding night at a delicious restaurant where we chowed down on yummy steak.

We hit all the stops we could think of, and here are the pics to prove it...

Dave posing in front of the Corn Palace in Mitchell, SD

I can't tell if I'm trying to kiss this guy or say, "Looooooook, it's ye olde gold miner!!"

Dave and I posing in a carriage in the 1880's town

A little shout-out to Okoboji, IA while standing in the Badlands

Okay, so the Flintstones village was closed, but Dave was always jealous that Joel and Michelle got to see it, so he posed by the sign. Next time, Davey, I promise we'll see Fred and Barney and Dino and all their friends.

Devil's Tower, Wyoming - the legend on this one from the North American Indians is that a bear was chasing some children, and the rock told them to climb onto it and it raised up to the sky. The bear clawed the rock to try and get to the children and left these huge gashes down the rock. Really, it's lava rock - but I thought it was a cool story!!

The newest addition to Mt Rushmore...

Really excited to be from Minnesota, I guess

The Crazy Horse model in front of the actual Crazy Horse statue (off in the distance, kind of hard to see)

The wait continues

It's been 35 days since our dossier was sent to the Philippines by courier. We were really hoping that we would hear by now that we are approved to adopt by the Philippines. The wait is anywhere from 4-12 weeks to hear this news. We haven't been obsessing over not getting this news, but it's definitely something I think about once in a while during the week.

We heard from Hand in Hand that right now there is a huge international adoption conference going on in the Philippines right now. That means that representatives from EVERY international adoption agency in the world are meeting in the Philippines right now. That's a lot of people!!! So they let us know that since the Philippines adoption board is focusing on the conference right now, it will probably take longer for us to get approved.

So we wait...

Well, we have started our three weeks of craziness. From this past Friday (August 31) until September 18, we are home for 5 of those evenings.

Dave has conveniently volunteered us for a committee at church during one of the busiest times of the year for us. I don't know why, but it seems like the end of August through mid-September is crazy every year. Last year was the same way. So anyways, Dave and I are the media team leaders for the capital campaign at our church. We are fundraising to build a church building (we currently meet in an elementary school). It is good to be a part of all of this - just last night I realized that God is even in the brochure-making parts of our lives. So if God cares about our brochure-making stresses in life, then He surely cares about my babies more than I can even imagine over in the Philippines. It is good knowing that God knows who my babies are, and where my babies are, and when we'll be united with them. I know I say "babies" and "them" a lot, and that is because we are really praying that we are able to adopt 2 children from the Philippines on the first go-around. I don't think it's crazy - I really feel like we could do it and would be greatly blessed by having 2 children who are siblings.

The one good thing about the craziness of our life right now is that it does not allow me to sit here and think, "Okay, we sent our dossier to the Philippines on August 16th. It is now September 4th. We should be hearing something in about 2-4 weeks. Okay, what are those dates? What can I expect? What kind of information will I receive? Then what do I do? How are we paying for this? How are we going to be able to wait so long???" Instead, I stay busy with other things, and when I think about the adoption I pray that God is guiding the people in the Philippines to make wise decisions. I pray that our paperwork moves through the government in a timely fashion. But mostly, I pray that my children, their birthparents, and their caregivers are being watched over right now - that they are safe and loved.

Dave and I got the chance to talk with his family this weekend about the adoption. If I had my choice, I'd talk non-stop about the adoption forever and ever. Luckily, I understand that this would drive other people crrrrrrrazy! So whenever we get a chance to talk about it with people we love, and who are excited for us, we gab away.

At one point during the weekend I got to talk with Dave's mom about the weird emotions that I have experienced. At all times I am thrilled that we are adopting. I can't wait to meet our children, and have them home with us, and be a family. But there are times that I still mourn the fact that we haven't been able to get pregnant. It is such a conflicting emotion. It isn't that I feel like adoption is second-best at all, I just wish that I could experience the very beginning of my child's life. I know that I hold them in my heart, instead of my belly and arms, from the time they are babies. It's hard to explain these emotions, and very difficult to admit that I still long to be pregnant someday. I once read a book called Inconceivable - and it was a phenomonal non-fiction read. I would recommend it to anyone who experiences these crazy feelings. It explains what I talk about here way better than I could explain it.

So that's what I am feeling tonight. Thanks for reading our blog, and praying with us through this journey.

Can't wait for life to change...

Nothing new to report on the adoption front. We are still waiting to get approved by the Philippines to adopt. We'll hopefully hear new on that front in the next month or two. In the meantime we are staying busy busy busy, and trying not to dwell on the waiting.

I've been assessing how crazy busy we are right now, and I can't wait until we have kids. Our life is going to change completely, and I can't wait. Between vacations and work trips, Dave and I will be home for 12 of the next 30 days. ugh. Most of those 12 nights are filled with our new sign language class (every Monday night for the next year), church meetings and dinner with friends. I know all of this will be fun, but I miss our house sometimes too! I can't wait until we have good reason to just stay home with our kids, and bond and be a family.

Things I'm excited for:
- a loud house filled with the sounds of children
- cuddling as a family
- being home more as a family
- watching our children grow in leaps and bounds
- hugging and kissing our children
- embarassing our kids as they become teenagers by kissing Dave in front of them, and dressing like a dorky mom
- watching my fave kids movies from when I was little, and finding new goodies
- cooking together at home
- sleep deprivation
- hugging and kissing our children
- toys to clean up each night
- teaching our kids sign language and a bit of Tagalog
- being busy with the things in life THAT MATTER
- listening to our children talking
- singing and praying with our children before they go to bed
- hugging and kissing our children
- so many more things, I just can't wait!!!!!!!!

Hanging out with Grandma Alice at her new apartment

Philippine group

Dave and I waving to our friends, Andy and Tyler, from good old Okoboji

I joined a Yahoo group specifically for families adopting from the Philippines. I still haven't decided if this was a good idea or not. On the one hand - I love love love reading the stories about the families uniting. There was a beautiful story about how a mother couldn't take her eyes off of her new 1-year old daughter who she was just united with last week. She wrote that she is the most beautiful, and most loving little girl she could have imagined. I can't wait until that day comes for us. Even cooler was the fact that this little girl was from the little children's home in Manila. This is the orphanage that our very good friends, Andy and Tyler, volunteer at, and it is also the orphanage that Louis came from (the little boy we met at our adoption training). My favorite part was knowing that in some way, Andy and Tyler touched this little girl's life. (We also thank our new friends - Andy's parents - for the pictures on today's post!!)I've also been reading updates from a family waiting to be able to pick up their little 1-year old boy from the little children's home.

The reason I'm not sure if it was a good idea to join this group or not is because I also read about the problems people have experienced through their adoption process. I know that it is good to be prepared for whatever may come by reading about other people's experiences, but I also don't want it to feed into my fears about the adoption. The psychologist already assessed that I am a fearful person during our adoption assessment - do I really need more fodder for that?!

Dave and I have decided that we want to make a conscious effort not to be spazzes about this adoption. I don't want to be the nag who continually calls Karin asking for updates, and demanding that they try to push this process to go faster. We understand that the Philippines is completely different from the US, so we can't come at this with an American frame of mind. Americans expect immediate results, and it just doesn't work that way in the Philippines. We completely trust that Karin will give us updates as soon as she receives them - she has told us this numerous times. Our adoption dossier was sent over to the Philippines on Friday, August 3rd. We haven't heard any news that they have received it, but after hearing a story about the Philippine postal service this weekend we are now praying specifically that our dossier moves smoothly through the Philippine postal service and lands on the right desk of the right person at ICAB (the government adoption group for the Philippines).

Our good friend Nikki gave me a great idea last night. She told me that when they were pregnant with Sammy (the cutey-pie in the picture), they prayed specifically for him to be a cuddler, as well as other personality traits. She asked me for things that she could pray for specifically for us. I had never thought about praying this specifically to God for our children! So Dave and I are in the process of making our list and praying over it. Like Aaron and Nikki, we do pray that our child is a cuddler - we are touchy-feely kinds of people! As we think of other specific prayer requests, we will list them.

Thank you for reading along with our blog. It is encouraging to hear that you are reading about our journey with us, and to know that you are thinking of and praying with us!!

What a cutie-baby!! Sam-a-lamb

Tomorrow, tomorrow, I love ya, tomorrow!!

Today we sent in our next payment which covers the dossier preparation on our agency's side, and part of the Philippines fee. I e-mailed Karin to let her know that I mailed the check via Priority Mail. She e-mailed me back to tell me that she would mail out our dossier TOMORROW!!! AWESOME!!

We are only 3 weeks behind the inital deadline that we had set for ourselves. I think a little part of me thought we would never get to this point. I kept thinking something would come up that would prevent us from finishing the dossier, or sending it out. I guess it's that part of me that feels like I don't deserve good things. God keeps continually reminding me that I'm his beloved, and He wants good things for me. I feel His blessings pouring out on us as we wait on His timing for our children. Not to say that I have been waiting patiently, but I feel like His blessings are better than I can imagine because I constantly remind myself that my babies are in God's hands.
Dave and I got to attend the annual Hand in Hand picnic last Friday. It was such a fun evening!! Karin was right, it was like going to a United Nations party. There were kids from all of the different countries that Hand in Hand adopts from. It was so beautiful!! We saw another couple from our training sessions. We got to catch up with them and meet their little girl who they had biologically. She was such a cutie!!

While we were waiting for the line to go down for the food (we figured since we are kidless, we can wait to eat), Karin introduced us to MaryLee (the founder of Hand in Hand). MaryLee was just up visiting from FL for a little while, and timed it perfectly so that she could come to the picnic. I got tears in my eyes when I was talking with her - I'm so grateful for her, and for the strides she has made in making adoption from the Philippines happen for so many people. She is the one who helped the Philippine government write their adoption laws - WOW!! She also introduced us to her son, Jeremy and his wife. MaryLee adopted Jeremy from the Philippines years ago. He was such a nice guy - he told us that he thought we were pretty great people for adopting from the Philippines. He is so grateful to his mom for adopting him. We felt a huge surge of encouragement from his words, and had a good time getting to know him.

While we were eating we were sitting near a family and their three teenaged boys. We learned from them that they had always wanted a little girl, and they were adopting an infant girl from Guatemala!! We had a great time getting to know them and hearing their stories. They were able to go meet her a few days after she was born!! How cool. The process takes a long time there, though, so they are hoping she will be here with them by Christmas. They already had pictures of her, and she is so beautiful. In Guatemala, they require that the birth mother take a picture with her baby. That small little Polaroid packed such emotion as I stared into the eyes of this 18-year-old woman. She looked so very sad to be saying good-bye to her daughter, and my heart broke for her. It made me realize that in addition to praying for my babies, I need to make more of a conscious effort to pray for the birth mother of our children as well. Birth parents make such a brave choice when they make that adoption decision.

We also got to see little Louis (the little boy who gave us hugs and kisses during our first training session). It was so fun to see how big he had gotten and his eyes sparkling as he played with the other children. There were lots of games for everyone, and there was even a pinata!! My favorite thing to watch was how intent those kids were on hitting that pinata, and seeing even the little ones smacking that pinata with all they had!! As we were leaving, Karin gave us a hug, and told us that she couldn't wait until we were one of the couples chasing around our little ones. I can't wait either!!!