Update!

Today we received an exciting phone call from our agency telling us that they had received an update on Emsley and would be emailing it to us in the next few minutes!  I opened the email to find this adorable face looking back at me:

I was so excited to see a near smile on her face as the first few pictures we had received with her referral showed no signs of a smile at all.  Emsley has grown a lot since the first photos we saw of her.  She has so much more hair too!  How I wish I could reach into this picture and scoop her up into my arms!  We're coming soon, sweet girl!

We also received a couple more pictures:

and

I love this one because I can see the same expression on her face as when she was younger:

The final part of the update included some information from the orphanage staff about Emsley.  They reported that she is gentle and quiet.  Oh my heart!  She also likes to play with other children and is not a picky eater!  Let's pray she can teach her older siblings a thing or two about that!

Receiving this update has been like a refreshing spring to my spirit.  This adoption process can be so very hard at times and can feel so very slow but receiving these pictures and tidbits of information is just......wow!  Thank you, Lord, for this encouragement today.  Thank you that Emsley is growing well and playing with toys and (almost) smiling for her picture!  This Mama and Daddy are ready to have their girl home!

I-800a Fingerprinting!

This morning John and I made a trip to the Dept. of Homeland Security to have our fingerprints taken for our I-800a approval.  This is the last step before we can prepare and send our dossier off to China!  

We actually tried last week to go in a week early for our fingerprinting but were told that they no longer allow people to walk in early.  We were thankful that our actual appointment was only a week away rather than a month or more!

We are still waiting to receive an update on Emsley.  We've been told there is one coming soon!  We can hardly wait to see her sweet face again and to hear more about her personality.

What a weekend!

Our first fundraiser was a huge success!  We had so much to sell that it filled 18 long tables, 20 boxes of books, a driveway full of furniture and appliances, and the front yard covered with bikes, tools, artwork, baby gear, etc.  Traffic was steady both days and the weather was perfectly warm and sunny.  God answered our prayers and held off the rain and thunderstorms until Sunday morning.

This was only part of it....

More items were in the garage, on the side driveway,
and on the front yard!

We had a great time meeting new people from the community and sharing our story with them.  We were also blessed by all our friends and family who came by to support us and for those who stuck around and helped keep the MANY boxes, racks, and tables of clothing organized!  

On Saturday morning a wonderful friend from church baked two huge trays of her famous cinnamon rolls and caramel-nut rolls and they were gone in the first couple of hours!  So delicious!

John setting things up
(and being a little cheesy)

Despite the sunburns, sore muscles and tired feet, we had a wonderful weekend working toward our little girl.  The yard sale raised enough for us to pay our next agency fee and to authenticate and submit our dossier in the next few weeks!

The signs that were printed and donated by Thorne Printing!

Saturday afternoon, as we were packing up the last of the items that hadn't sold yet, we still had one bike and a bed frame with canopy left.  As I was standing in the driveway looking at those items and praying that they would sell before we had to pack them up, a minivan came around the corner with a young family who were looking specifically for......a bed frame and a kid's bike!  Wow!  This family told us that they weren't even out looking for yard sales, they were just out looking at house plans and came across our sale at that moment.  Just another reminder that God has the whole story worked out and He will provide for our needs.

We want to thank so many people who helped in a variety of ways to make this yard sale successful.  We actually wouldn't have been able to pull it off without the friends and family who gave of their time, possessions and talents to help us out!  There are too many to name here but if you helped in some way and are reading this now, please know that we thank you from the bottom of our hearts!

Feeling blessed....and overwhelmed!

We are in the midst of getting together our first major fundraiser!  This Friday and Saturday we are having a GIGANTIC yard sale.  We have been hugely blessed by our church, family, and friends who have generously donated items for our sale.

We've been collecting these items for a number of weeks now and have filled up my parents' four-car garage!!!  When I think about how many people have given us things or offered to help or done behind-the-scenes work on this project, my heart is overwhelmed with gratitude.  We have had people offer to help organize and price items.  We have had people offer tables, baked goods, craft items, etc.  A local printing company made up some wonderful signs with our sweet baby's picture on them to help advertise the sale and a local rental company offered clothes racks to organize all the great clothing we had donated.  The outpouring of support and love from everyone has been amazing.  We can hardly wait for the day when we can sit with our daughter and tell her of all the special people who helped bring her home to her family.

We are looking forward to a weekend of beautiful weather and are praying for lots of traffic at the sale.  Please help us pray for lots of people to come find something they just can't live without.

On the paperwork side of things, we have finalized our home study and submitted our I-800a application to the USCIS.  Now we are waiting for approval from the USCIS before we can get our dossier authenticated and submitted to China!  We are making progress and although the waiting is so very hard, the Lord is reminding us to "not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, submit our requests to God and the peace of God, which surpasses understanding will guard our hearts and our minds in Christ Jesus." (Phil. 4:6-7)

We have also submitted a request to Emsley's orphanage for an update on her development, growth, and overall health.  It's been a number of weeks since we made the request and we are really looking forward to seeing some new pictures and knowing a little more about our little girl.  We will share new pictures as soon as we get them!