Joy in the morning

Since I am up at 4:00 a.m. due to lightning, thunder, and hail shaking the entire house, I thought this would be a great time to catch up on the blog.  Yesterday, we got the news that our home study is DONE and, after a few detail changes, it will be ready to e-mail to Taiwan!  After it is sent to our contact in Taiwan, it will be translated into Chinese, which takes about a week.  When we get it back after translation, the fun really begins.  We have to take the home study and several pieces of paperwork around to lots of different offices who verify each other and finally, it will be verified that Tennessee really is a state!  Then, we FedEx those papers back to Taiwan and we will enter their court system as prospective adoptive parents to Amber Joy.  It could be a few weeks to several months before we receive our travel date after the paperwork enters the courts.  We are prepared to wait as long as necessary, but obviously, we are praying that it is sooner rather than later. 

We had our first baby shower this past Sunday.  The ladies in our Sunday School class, our moms, and some other close friends gave the shower and it was so special!  Justin said "this kid is going to have more clothes than Cher."  And it is true.  She is definitely not going to have to worry about wardrobe!  She is going to be better dressed than her mom (which doesn't take much effort!) :)  We got all kinds of fun things: a baby bathtub, a rocker, clothes, toys, clothes, diapers, wipes, clothes...

I commented to someone this past week that I thought waiting was hard when we were simply waiting for an adoption referral.  I can't even begin to explain how just the knowledge that I have a child who is halfway around the world (literally) whom I love, cherish, and adore, but cannot be with, is 100X harder than I ever thought possible.  Our friends and family make things so much more bearable with their excitement, encouragement, and prayers. 

The Psalmist says, and I believe "Weeping may last for a night, but JOY comes in the morning."

Comments

  1. IlleanaJune 29, 2011 at 6:34 PM

    I can imagine the waiting is way too intense. But so worth it for your little Amber (bundle of) Joy!!! I can not wait for the day (and pictures) of that sweet baby girl in your arms and the arms of your hubby...She's getting the best mommy and daddy in the world! Hang in there...JOY 9does) COME IN THE MORNING :)

    Blessing and love always...
    Illy

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Power of Shared Experience

Image
When I worked as a hospital and hospice chaplain, one of the lessons I learned was the power of sharing an experience, joyful or sorrowful, with another. Life experiences can inextricably tie us to those faces we see in our memories. I remember one family in particular, whose daughter was a pediatric hospice patient. We worked as a team: doctor, nurse, chaplain, social worker, nurse tech (to help with bathing and toileting). We often made visits to this family, both individually and together, through the months she fought for her life. We shared with each other about the difficulties the family faced, and we also leaned on each other when the grief was heavy. You see, home hospice is a very unique place to minister and serve. As a member of the hospice care team, I was ‘assigned’ to a family who had recently been referred to hospice. Most of our patients and their families were served in their homes. We were invited into living rooms, dining rooms, and bedrooms of our patients. Their...
Read more

Aunt Stephanie's Favorite Weather

Image
Let me do some explaining about the weather in the highlands of PNG. We refer to it as eternal spring, and there is a lot to that definition. When you think ‘spring,’ what comes to mind? Flowers? Birds? Baby animals? BUT, if you live in the northern part of the northern hemisphere, maybe spring means something different: ice/snow that comes out of nowhere, buckets of rain, gloomy skies, mud. Here in PNG, ‘spring’ is marked with the end of rainy season—“wet” time--  (nobody really knows when it begins or ends, so it’s just a guess), and we say it’s the beginning of the “less wet” time of year. The temperature doesn’t change much, year-round. It’s typically 60’s at night and 80’s in the daytime. It can get hot and humid, but because we’re in the mountains, there’s no need for central a/c or heat. It’s rather pleasant most of the time. Most people who hear this say something like, “Oh, I would love that!” I have to say, after the time we’ve spent here, especially not leaving the c...
Read more

The Fun Part!

Image
Today, I finally let myself get caught up in some of the fun of preparing for a baby!  Since the paperwork is finished and turned in, it's exciting to turn our attention to getting the nursery ready and exploring Babies-R-Us.  :)  After work, mom and I went to Target to start the registry!  I can't get over how many baby items are out there.  It's insane!  So, I decided to attach pictures of some of our favorite baby bedding sets to this blog and see if any of you have a vote.  Not saying we'll choose what you choose, but if you have an opinion one way or another, please let me know in a comment.  Keep in mind that we have to choose a set that would work for a boy or a girl.  We will be taking photos of the nursery to go into our profile book that is shown to the birth mothers. So, can you tell that we like animals?  Tomorrow, I'm going with "Aunt" Brittany and "Aunt" Candyce to Babies-R-Us and probably Target again so that my friends...
Read more