Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving, it's not just a day to eat turkey, mashed potatoes, and pumpkin pie until you are so full that you cannot breathe (although that is good, too). This Thanksgiving is a day of reflection on how God has so truly blessed our family.

God has given Keith and I a wonderful marriage. I am so thankful for Keith and everything that he is to our family: a follower of God, a great husband, an awesome dad, a hero to our boys, and a father-to-be for our precious Hannah. I am so thankful that God has brought Keith and I together in this way.

God has given us two handsome sons. It is incredible to watch David grow to become a man. He is a faithful Christian and is not afraid to stand up for what he believes. He is a friend to everyone. He is so intelligent and aspires to be just like his dad. He has grown so much this year physically, emotionally and spiritually. I am thankful for him.

Jeremiah is such a blessing to our lives. He is kind, caring, and compassionate. He loves nothing more than to serve others and to gloify God in doing so. He, too, is a wonderful young man, and I am thankful for him.

Although we have not yet met Hannah, we are also blessed by even konwing that she exists. This adoption, and watching God be so faithful in it, has brought our family closer. Hannah, as we wait for you, God has given us patience, understanding, and an unbelievable peace. Yes, the wait has been so much longer than we ever anticipated, but we have seen God's hand throughout each day.

So this Thanksgiving, we find our family all over the world...our parents, brothers, and sisters in the states, Keith away from home at an undisclosed location, the boys and I here in Germany, and Hannah in China, but we know that no matter how far apart we all are, God's arm is not too short to keep us all together.

I am thankful for an awesome God who is always faithful. His love for us is beyond measure, and we see it every day.

David Speaks

Wow! I really do talk. I thought that I might tell all of Mom's friends about what I think about the adoption. First of all, I would like to verify that the window seat was REALLY my idea. I would also lke you to know that Mom spent hours (no joke) doing trigonometry to figure out what angle to cut the wood in. She probobably wore holes in graph paper redrawing this toybox/windowseat.

Anyways...
My thoughts on the adoption at first were that it was kinda like a phase or fad. They would talk about nonstop for about a week or so, then drop it completely, wonder were the money was going to come from, and cancel the adoption. (makes no sense, I know. I tried.) Then, when I realized that they were serious, I had to think about whether or not I really wanted a baby sister. Eventually after much thought (and a couple of grounding threats (just kidding)) I decided that getting a baby sister from China would be kinda cool. I mean, how many other 15 year old guys get to go to China to get a baby sister? My only concerns right now are noise control (wailing baby, screaming mom, etc), damage control (peanut butter in the keyoard, memory card over here and over there at the same time, broken nose, etc), and college money. I am clearing out my savings to go to China, so hopefully mom can pay me back (with a 200% interest rate, compounded daily) in a few years. I start college in 2 1/2 years, so I'll just have to trust that God will provide. And with FoxMarkt, I can start saving money on everything! At FoxMarkt, I was able to get a suit for homecoming for only 20 Euro! The only thing that they do not have there is shoes for guys in high school. I know, I digress.

I hope that Hannah is nice to mom after I am gone, or I will have to make her live with me and that would not be much fun for both of us. But, deep down I really do want a baby sister. I have prayed about God helping me to live with a new sister. It will be challenging, but I will get over it.

That's all I have to say about that.

Big Brother David
who has a myspace, so if you are really bored, you can hit the link to myspace, then the link to mom's blog from myspace and go in circles all day!

OK, blogger is having difficulty with the links so if you want to go to myspace, just copy and paste this url into the browser.
www.myspace.com/davidsawesomespace

So when it works you can do the circle thingy.

We expect to see her face in December!

Can it be true? Is it possible? We might actually get to see Hannah's face in the late December/early January set of referrals from China! Our baby girl should get to come home in February or March! Since it looks like we will be receiving our referral in late December, we will receive our travel approval (TA) approximately a month later. The TA is China's official invitation to travel. Once we have received that, we have to ask for an appointment at the US consulate, called the CA. Usually, you get approval of the CA within 24-48 hours after receiving the TA. The CA determines when you travel to China to pick up your new daughter.

Our only possible problem lies in the fact that the Chinese New Year is in February this year. It starts on the 18th of February and lasts for 15 days, so there is no traveling to China during this period. Well, we could travel, but nothing would be open and hotels would be booked...

However, God has carried us this far and will not leave us without a plan. From the beginning, we can see how God has orchestrated this entire adoption, and have NO DOUBT that He will see it through to completion!