Sending a shout-out to our sweet friends who gave us a gift of money to buy a netbook so I have a way of (at least attempting) communicating while away. You know who you are and we're overwhelemed by your generosity.
Sitting in the airport awaiting our first leg of the flight. Would love to be able to put in words what's going through my mind, but my head is spinning. For starters, i'm dreading the thought of being away from George and the kids for any significant length of time. I'm also a bit worried about the flight. Or, not so much the flight, but landing in Kinshasa after dark. I'm sure it will be very evident that we're visitors! But, more than all those thoughts, I keep thinking of sweet Caleb and how I can't wait to love on him! I'm thinking about how much he and so many other orphans deserve a family. Caleb is one of the fortunate of the over five million orphans in the D.R. Congo. So many will remain orphans, never having a family to show them the love they so deserve.
I also know that visiting a place like the D.R.C. will change me. I've known that since we started this adoption process. I know that I can't visit a place like our son's birth country and come away the same person as before. I'm also sure that even though I know this, I have NO idea how MUCH this will affect me.
My prayer - and you can pray with and for me - is that while I'm there, whether for a short or longer amount of time, I will have an opportunity to make a difference, to be a blessing in some way to others. Don't know who or what or how, but I'm remaining open. :)
Before we left church today, my whole family (minus my brother, Todd) was there to see us off to the airport. What a blessing it was to have them there to support Vickie and I as we began the traveling part of this journey. Thanks, Dad, for being a great leader and praying with us before we left. What a special time!

And, we're off.....here we go!

Whirlwind Week

Pick Vickie up airport - check
Get Visas in D.C. -  check
Copy gazillion (I might have just made up a word) documents - check
Buy Gifts - check
Scabies medicine - check
Lice medicine - check
Ibuprofen - check
Neosporin - check
Antibiotics - check
Antimalarial - check
Typhoid vaccine - check
Yellow fever - check
baby carrier - check
stroller - check
passport - check
crisp new money check - gotta tell ya - I do NOT get that one, but oh well...at this point, we're willing to do anything to get Caleb home!!
formula - check
diapers - check
hand sanitizer - check
deet - check
Power of Attorney - check

And, that's just a small sampling of what we've been working on this week getting ready to go!  The list goes on and on.

Through all this busyness and running around, God hasn't forgotten to show Hisblessing.  For starters, He's allowed us to journey this path with Art and Vickie - how totally cool that two brothers and sisters-in-laws would be adopting from the same country at the same time!  And, for me, just spending time with Vickie is always fun.  Since Art & Vickie live in Hawaii and we live in Pennsylvania, we don't see each other often.  I'm so thankful that I'll get to spend my time in the DRC with not only Caleb, but also with Vickie and my new niece (can't wait to meet her!).

We didn't know how long it would take to have our visas processed.  When I called, they said we might have to spend the night since we'd be arriving after lunch.  We made it there by lunch and had our visas in the afternoon.  Didn't have to stay over night - yeah - another blessing!

And, I was totally blessed at work yesterday when my coworkers presented me with a generous gift of money (thank you so much, girlies!  love ya!).  Came home to find out that our neighbors and some dear friends have also felt compelled to help with this journey.  Thank you, Everyone!  You know who you are and PLEASE just know that you've been a huge blessing and we thank God for you.  :)

Oh.....and let me tell you about my other sister-in-law who knew how busy I'd be this week.  She called and asked if she could make us a meal.  I said, "That'd be great!".  Didn't I come home from Washington D.C. Wednesday night to find....are your ready for this?...chicken, corn, double baked potatoes, macaroni and cheese, lasagna, bar-b-que, apple cobbler, ice cream...I might even be forgetting something.....she not only made enough food to get us through the week without having to take a lot of time to cook.  She provided a couple of meals for the freezer for George to heat up while I'm gone.  TOTALLY AWESOME!  Thanks, Autum!

We were blessed tonight with lots of friends stopping by.  Love having the kids and the old people (Mark) stop by.  Tonight, I needed a couple of hours away from making lists, checking documents, etc.  Friends stopping by was the "perfect interruption" - just what I needed! 

Point is that God provides and gives us what we need.  The cliche "It all works out in the end" isn't just a cliche.  It REALLY works out. 

Tomorrow will be a day full of packing (AFTER soccer) and then Sunday, it's early church and straight to the airport.  Hopefully next time I blog, it will be from the DRC with a little man snuggling his mama while she's trying to type.  Can't wait!

Here we go!

Oh my!  Let's cut right to the chase and tell you that I found out THIS morning that we need to be in the DRC early next week.  I figured it would work that when it finally did happen, we wouldn't have much notice.  That's exactly what has happened!  Hopefully in a week, I'll have Caleb in my arms letting him know how we've waited for him and how much his forever family loves him!

In the meantime, I have A LOT to do to get ready.  My sister-in-law (who just got back home to Hawaii on Saturday) will fly out tomorrow morning to come to PA so we can travel together.  I'll be picking her up in Harrisburg and we will head to the Embassy in D.C. to get our visas rushed so that we can leave on the weekend.  If our visas are not processed, we will not be able to leave.  PRAY that this process goes smoothly.  I have plenty of stuff to do at home and don't want to be in D.C. until the time we fly out.  I'm looking forward to the fall parties at school with the kids on Friday and am so hoping we will be home for these.
So, today, I woke up not knowing that I'd receive THE email.  I started my day at Walmart at 5:00 this morning so that we could host the girls soccer team for their pre-playoff carb party.  I'm not sure what happened, but these girl are WOUND up!  Check out the photos.  All I did was provide a meal and a little music and they've gone crazy!!!

Not all the pictures uploaded, but trust me, folks - this was one fun night!  One thing I love about being a mom is getting to know our kids' friends and providing a fun place for them to gather. 

Thank you, Girls, for making me laugh all evening!  Take good care of my daughters while I'm gone!

So, now the fun is over and tomorrow I get REAL serious about packing and leaving for the DRC. 

Decision Made!

After a lot of research and prayer, we've decide that Caleb needs to come home!

Now -  that's a lot easier said than done if you haven't figured that out!  We are kinda caught in the middle of some recent changes made to the DRC adoption process.  If we follow these changes through to the end, we don't know when we'd get to bring Caleb home.  On the flip side, when the end arrives, there wouldn't be much to do in the DRC and our trip to pick up Caleb would be short and sweet.  However, since we don't see an end in sight (seems like it could add at least another couple of months to the process).  we've decided to be a little more proactive, which we feel could bring Caleb home by the end of the year!  Woohoo!  The bad part of this is that the stay in the DRC will be MUCH longer. 

We've opted for me (Hope) to travel as soon as possible (we're waiting for ANOTHER Embassy appointment date - hopefully it will be within a month) and to follow the paperwork through to the end.  We are being told to expect this to take a minimum of THREE (yes - that's right - THREE!!!) weeks. 

Ok, so for those of you know me, you're all thinking what a wimp I am.  And, you're right!  I don't know how I'll manage being away from George and the other kids for that length of time. I'm already homesick for them.  :(  And, I look over my shoulder in MILLVILLEto make sure I'm safe!  Can you imagine me in the DRC?  Not to mention the critters.....I may have killed a mouse of two (some of you OR friends may know what I'm talking about!!!), but I'm afraid of bugs and mice and....rats....yuk!

So, I may not know how I'll manage, but I know that I will.  And, I'll have my sister-in-law (who's much braver than I am - right, Vickie??!) with me.  We'll be picking up not only Caleb, but my niece as well!  Can't wait to meet them!  We should have our children with us very soon after we get there and will have lots of bonding time while we're shuffling around Kinshasa doing paperwork.

I'm counting on you all to be praying for us!  Please pray that our stay is NOT three weeks or four weeks (7 days would be nice- and I believe in miracles!!).  Pray that our Embassy appointment is SOON  - I am so over waiting!  Pray that our paperwork is in order and processes smoothly and quickly.  Pray that our airfare won't be outrageously expensive.  Pray for our safety.  And, please pray that Caleb and his cousin are healthy and that they adapt to their new mommies, daddies and siblings quickly.   Pray that someday they will realize how much they were loved and wanted even before they were home with their forever families.

Gotta run - soccer tonight (again) :).  Have a great evening!

Pray, Pray, Pray!

We were warned that International adoption is volatile and that changes can rapidly occur.  Now, we are experiencing it. 

We've spent the last couple of months waiting on corrected court documents (which still are not correct) and waiting for our Embassy appointment in Kinshasa.  The appointment was set for September 29th.  It was the middle of "fair week".  For those of you who are local, you know what that means.  We were in the thick of washing, cutting, frying serving 3,650 lbs of potatoes, 1,400 lbs of wings, making wing sauces, etc. at the Bloomsburg Fair.

We took time out the morning of the 29th to have breakfast as a family.  We prayed for Caleb and "celebrated" that it wouldn't be long until he'd be joining us.  That evening, we received an email saying that the process is changing and that the appointment that we waited five weeks for did not happen!  All paperwork must come back to the United States to be processed.  It's my understanding that it will then have to go back to the DRC.  Our agency still does not have clarification, but long story short is that we thought we'd be on a plane by the end of October and, as of now, there is no end in sight. 

Disappointed?  Definitely. 
Frustrated?  Yeah. 
Angry?  A little. 
Worried?  Actually I am.  This is the first time during this process that I've been worried.
Anxious?  Yes.
Losing faith?  Not in God, but in people (maybe this is how it's supposed to be?)

The list goes on and on....I guess it's hard because we were really planning for his homecoming within a couple of weeks.  The process was down to just a few weeks left.  He's been ours on paper since June.  It's time we get to officially welcome him home into our family.  He needs us and we need him.

I've read information from other agencies saying that this new step in the process can now take three weeks to three months, but our agency has not released any information (and our paperwork is "caught in the middle").  I'm hoping OW comes back this week with really good news.  Please pray with us that this issue is resolved quickly.

Thanks, Everyone.  Happy Monday!