Persistance!

We are in the middle of a big push to complete our paperwork! Our goal is to have the paperwork completed in the next week. There is so much required information, so many details, but...we know persistance will pay off.


Hope you all have a great week!

Our House Guest Are Gone

I am just returning home from the airport where we dropped the Bensons off for their long flight home. It has been a great time having them in our home since the middle of June and we will miss them like crazy! It is amazing how you can have so many connections with people who literally live on the other side of the world. Our world is small and thank goodness we have modern communications to keep in touch with. We will miss Payton's little squeal around the house, Luke's sense of humor and Pauline's all around sweetness. Thanks guys for coming to see us and we pray that you will be back soon for a much longer stay. Believe it or not, seven weeks is not long enough. Call us when you get home!

We love you!
Nathan and Emily

Time to Get Moving!

I know it has been a while since I have updated my blog. Thank you to those of you who actually mentioned that you noticed it has been a couple of weeks since a post.

The Aussies are here until a week from today. We have been very busy spending time with them and we dread the day they leave. Our prayer is that this will only be a temporary good bye and that they will choose to move here very soon.

Many of you know that I recently changed jobs. Since we have to wait for me to build up time on the job for me to have benefits and vacation time, we have been purposely delaying the completion of our paperwork. After our guests leave, we plan to get on finishing our paperwork post haste! Jessica - get your notary stamp ready. We estimate that this will put us in line to "get" our baby about a year from now.

The last few months have been filled with ups and downs and we know God is preparing us for the bumpy road we will have until we finally at long last, bring our baby home. We are confident that God holds everything in His perfect timing and He has slowed us down. God knows the baby He has picked out for us and He knows the perfect time for us to proceed!

Thanks to all of you who continue to hold us up in prayer.

Adopt(ed)

Thanks to Brittney G for the t-shirts she brought back from student camp for us.

This shirt is a great reminder that all of us who are Christians have actually been chosen by God to be His sons and daughters (Eph. 1:5) That is an amazing thought!

From what I have read a lot of people have thought about adoption. If all the Christian families who have considered adoption actually completed an adoption, far fewer children would be in need of a family. According to UNICEF there are 143 million children around the world who are orphaned (meaning at least one parent has died). This doesn't even count the number of children who are relinquished or abandoned.

God lovingly commands us to love others, especially those who are innocent, young and poor. The Bible makes a great case for Christians to adopt. If you would like more information, please read the book "Successful Adoption, A Guide for Christian Families." I loved this book and by the end, I knew this was the plan God had for us.

We continue to be encouraged by many of you about our adoption and about my job situation. Thank you so much! You have no idea what this means to us. Everything from a small word of encouragement, a prayer or things like Brittney did with the t-shirt - we are in awe of your encouragement!

I started a new job this week - thank you for your prayers. You can now pray that we have a productive week working on paperwork.

We hope each of you have a great week.

"Let's Play Adoption"

I love these girls!

One thing that is so great about them is that they totally "get" the whole adoption thing.

Ben heard them in their room the other night playing adoption with their new "babies" from Disney World. The next day at Mom's they had to have a Birthday Party for Gabriella Isabella - Brittni's new adopted baby (a Disney character). They needed to get their plastic cheesecake out of Mom's garage to celebrate. It was Gabriella's first birthday since being adopted. Sissy had adopted a baby on the same day, but she had not named her baby yet. Isn't that the cutest thing you've heard all week?

I am so thankful for a supportive family right down to our nieces. Even Turner kind of understands. She knows that Uncle Nathan and Aunt Emily are going to get a baby from South Korea - that is the pink country on her globe. If you even mention it, she runs off to find South Korea on her globe. Isn't she smart?

Please continue to pray for us as we seek God's guidance for our future.

Have a fun and safe 4th of July.

The Aussies Are Here

We are having a great time catching up with Luke and Pauline and getting to know Payton. Don't worry...we haven't taught her anything bad yet, but she does know how to give a "hand full of sugar" now and she drags out a great southern "Hi" instead of her cute Aussie "Hello." She is too cute and it is fun for us to have a little one around our house. It makes us ready to have our little one home.

Have a great week!

Pre-Adoption Workshop

Last Saturday we attended the pre-adoption workshop. We had a great time and it was great to have a little get away too. The meeting was to go over the requirements for each county, have a show and tell time with kids who were adopted and to discuss the aspects of becoming a multicultural family.

By far our favorite part was the show and tell. The kids were so cute. Once they came in the room Nathan was toast and watched them rather than pay attention to the meeting. We were pleasantly surprised to find a couple from Fort Smith among the show and tellers. I knew the wife from a Bible study I did a few years ago, but I had lost track of her and had no idea she adopted from Korea. How exciting is that?

Both of the other families at our table were adopting from Vietnam. It is so interesting to see how God lays on the heart of each family what they are supposed to do (domestic versus international and if international, what county).

This meeting really got us excited and Nathan finally feels like a part of the process. His comment is that he doesn't care about the paperwork or the process, he just wants his baby!

Please continue to pray for us as we seek God's guidance for us with regards to my new job.

Thank you to all of you who are interested enough in us to check our blog. I notice that we have had over 500 hits!

Have a great week!