J Visiting Zane.......................

Oh my goodness! J has spent the last few days in our baby home and I am so happy that I am just crying here. I wasn't expecting pictures because I knew there was no internet connection at the baby home, so I felt certain that it would probably be a few more days. It is the strangest thing, I kept waking up through the night all teary eyed just thinkng about Jen being there and holding, kissing, and smelling my baby boy. We love J so much that I am just so happy. J did just that, these pictures show her loving our baby, and from the looks of it, he is quite smitten with her. She said her internet connection was bad but she wanted to send me enough pictures to hold me over until she could got home. She took more pictures and a video. I can't wait to see a VIDEO!!!!!!!
He is such a cutie and looks oh so happy & healthy and I am so thankful for that. The little short outfit is one that I sent him with his Christmas package and I know that it is a 6 months. So he is a bit on the small side, that's okay though, I think he is PERFECT! Please continue to keep him in your prayers! Now I really want him HOME!!!!!

Happy 11 mos. Birthday ZANE..............

Instead of being sad that he is not home with us, I am determined to be grateful that he is in our lives. I am very excited to know that J would have arrived in Vietnam today and it should just be a matter of days before she visits our baby home.
I can't wait to see pictures of Zane it has been way to long. This time next month he will turn 1 year old. We are definitely going to put up his crib that day in honor of his special day and have a small belated birthday party with family for him when he does come home. Hopefully I will be posting Zane pics in a few days!

Good News...........I think

Got an email from J yesterday. She said that she has seen the actual newspaper article that shows Zane's abandonment announcement. In Vietnam in order to identify a child as a true orphan one of the steps is the province in which the baby is in has to run an ad or announcement for 60 days. This is so that if there is any birth family out there they can come forward if they want to raise the baby. For this to have already been done on Zane means that the province is already working on his paperwork & we are moving forward. Very good news for us, I think. Trying hard not to read to much into this or get my hopes up to high, but from the sound of her email, I think this means we are alot farther along than she had thought.
Regardless, she will be there next week & can tell us exactly where we are at in the process & PRAISE THE LORD, she is going to be able to hold my baby boy. This may sound strange but I told her to smell him for me.
I can't wait to see pictures of our little guy!!!!
Thank you Lord for moving things along for us!!!!!!!!!

Gentle Reminders.........................

Last Saturday I had the priviledge of being able to talk on the phone with a friend & sister in the Lord Kristi. We had been communicating for awhile through email but hadn't actually spoken on the phone before. Kristi is adopting a beautiful little girl from Guatemala that is only 5 days older than Zane. For a reason unbeknowned to me at the time I felt compelled to share "Chloe's Story" with her. Since coming home with Chloe I am always careful of just how much of her story I reveal for you see I don't want details of our journey to Chloe to be one of discouragement, but one of encouragement. I want people to concentrate on the ending & not necessarily the journey itself. I want people to see just how great God is & that He is worthy of our praise. I want people to see that no matter what we are going through we are not alone, He is right there carrying us if we will only allow Him to do so.
Late that night I just told Kristi everything, for close to 2 hours we talked, we laughed, we cried, & we prayed. Something else happened that night, a friendship was formed. God crossed our paths because He absolutely knew we would need each other in the coming months. I just sit here and thank Him & praise Him for taking care of both of us.
I must admit Friday night I was a bit sad because we haven't gotten pictures of Zane in awhile nor an update. Not that I didn't know it would be like this, I have actually gotten more updates than I expected but still the selfish part of us always wants more. I was thinking that my sweet baby boy's 1st birthday will be on February 22nd and that just might be when we put his crib up & start to work on his room. I had said that I wouldn't do that until we were alot closer to picking him up because Chloe's nursery was ready for so long and it got so painful that I got to the point I couldn't even go in there anymore. So I didn't want to do that with Zane, but I think that it might be good for us to have something to do for him on his special day. Nevertheless it made me sad just thinking about it.
I got up yesterday morning, showered & then went to the post office. In that box was a card from, yes Kristi:

Folded Hands, Open Hearts
When we fold our hands to pray,
God opens His hands to help.
When we speak from our hearts,
God listens with all His heart.
When we place our faith in Him,
God fills us with the power of His love.

That card was so beautiful that I sat there in the parking lot & just cried & I let God speak to me...........I needed that gentle reminder that He's right there working on our behalf even when we don't know anything even when we can't see it, He is always right there.
Praise the Lord for that!

There's more..................
We got an email from J last night saying that she will be going to Vietnam from the 21st - 29th of this month. PRAISE THE LORD!!! She will be having meetings with our facilitator, going to the DIA, going to the US Consulate & most exciting of all is she will be spending time with our babies in the baby home. She has promised to take pictures for us & hopefully even a video. She said she would be giving our babies lots of hugs & kisses from us. That just made my heart sing. Just when I started to feel a bit down, I get this wonderful news & I am uplifted and strengthened again. Thank you Lord for doing this for me!!!!!
Thank you Lord for your love, your mercy, & your grace. YOU ARE WORTHY TO BE PRAISED!!!

THIS BOW COMES IN......................

ANY COLOR YOU WANT. VALENTINE & EASTER PRINTS ARE ALSO AVAILABLE! LARGE ARE 4.00 FOR ONE OR 12.00 FOR 4. WE CAN ALSO MAKE SMALL ONES $2.00 EACH & MEDIUM ONES FOR $3.00EACH. WE WILL ALSO TAKE DONATIONS!!!!!!!
PLEASE SEND YOUR ORDER TO ME AT mombyfaith@hotmail.com
THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR ALL YOU ARE DOING TO HELP BRING ZANE HOME!!!!!!!!!!!

****Added: The bows have the clip proof clippie's on the back, which are padded so that they don't slip out of their hair.

Pondering.................

With all the excitement of talking to Kristin back in forth the last couple of days about all the hairbows she has graciously volunteered to make for us, I have reflected over the last few years and pondered.
During our over 2 year wait to bring Chloe home Daniel was always reminding me "we don't see the big picture like God does."
Since coming home with Chloe I have had a few glimpses of that "Big Picture".
1) I am a better person today because of what we went through with our 1st adoption. During that time God did alot of "refining" of me and for that I am eternally grateful. I think it has made me more of a Godly wife & mother because of it.
2) I now realize that God has a plan for our lives & we have to trust Him, not with just bits & pieces or parts of it, but with everything we have.
3) I wouldn't have the friends I do now, Christian friends that I can call on no matter what the need is. Not just for hairbows but for prayer & encouragement.
I wouldn't know these precious women today if it wasn't for that journey. For that I can honestly say it was worth every tear shed & every ounce of disappointment & discouragement. It was all worth it.
I must admit that I am in awe at how Kristin has taken this initiative to raise funds to help bring Zane home, & someone esle that has asked several to buy 1 bow each so that I can send them all to a mutual friend that is bringing her daughter home as a suprise to her. Someone else said they didn't need a hairbow but would give a donation, could they give a donation? ABSOLUTELY! Wendy who is going to help me sell the cook books if I ever get them typed up, and so many that have sent recipes. God is truly amazing and He works in amazing ways! I just thank Him for that. I also want to praise Him because the 7 smocked dresses that I put on ebay, every one of them sold. That is $168.39 going into our fund. GOD IS SO GOOD! PLEASE PRAISE HIM WITH ME!!!!!

MORE BOWS TO CHOOSE FROM.........

HAIRBOWS FOR SELL...HELP BRING ZANE HOME!

My dear friend & sister in the Lord KW has decided to make hairbows as a fundraiser with all proceeds going to our adoption process. Here are just a few of the hairbows that she has made & the prices or we will also take donations for these hairbows. She can make any color that you would like, because again these listed are for sell, but are just a sample of what kind she makes, so please if you are interested you can buy these are specify another color. There will also be a small fee added for shipping but it will depend on how many are ordered. I have also began working on a cookbook as a fundraiser but of course a cookbook is going to take alot of time, so this is what we are doing right now to raise money. If you are wanting to purchase a hairbow, email me at mombyfaith@hotmail.com.
For those of you not interested in buying a hairbow, your prayers would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you so much!
Teresa

SET OF 2 SMALL HAIRBOWS $4.00

SET OF 2 MEDIUM HAIRBOWS FOR $6.00

1 LARGE HAIRBOW FOR $4.00

4 LARGE HAIRBOWS FOR $12.00

HAPPY NEW YEAR'S

We just got back from a 3 day trip to Gatlingburg, TN. Daniel takes a group of his youth & college students every year to Extreme which is 3 days of lots of concerts & preaching. Needless to say, I am exhausted & feel every bit of my 42 years.
Chloe on the other hand had a ball. She was passed from 1 girl to another, had glitter but on her, perfume and the whole 9 yards. They love her & she loves the attention.
No news on the adoption front. Our agency is closed for the holidays until the 3rd, so I am hoping for an update after Thursday. I am looking forward to 2008 because I know this will be the year we bring our son home.
I pray that all of you put Christ first in your lives and have a great 2008 year!
Love,
Teresa (a very tired chaperone)