How Far Along: 31 weeks
How I'm feeling: nervous, overwhelmed by the to-do list in my head, wondering if I could get a caffeine IV so I can accomplish everything I want to in the days without running out of steam (I guess God knows what He's doing by limiting my energy - haha!)
Gender: GIRL!
Total bills so far: $14610.09
Bills this week: $2338.75 for the final agency payment; $24.95 to overnight the LOA/I-800 to Lifeline
Ways God is working: Our LOA arrived at our agency on Tuesday, April 28th and at our doorstep (well actually the driveway since I met the fed-ex guy half-way) on Wednesday, April 29th.; the HAB brand launched on May 1st. We have 6 families raising funds for adoptions through our Hot Air Balloon project!!! Within the first 72 hours, we have nearly $700 in sales! We are going to be featuring one of our families each day this week on the HABdesigners Facebook page, so we are hoping to reach 100 likes on the page before the end of the weekend. :) God has worked out the House Parents situation like YOU WOULD NOT EVEN BELIEVE!!! (Ephesians 3:20.... Jemma - this is SO your verse, baby girl!) And last but not least, Annalisa got home from China and had a good trip - haven't seen her yet - but it sounds like she was able to visit many orphans and prepare many files for children who need forever families!!! So proud of her leap of faith and that God used her in such a special way in China for Lifeline!
Things learned: Trying to rapidly learn about facbeook pages! :) And, you'd think that I'd be able to write here what I've learned about the next steps that we are taking for the adoption - but it's just SO complicated that I don't even know! I know that our I800 sits at the Lockbox department of USCIS for 2 weeks, so I figure I have 2 weeks to figure out what comes next. Also, unless God does a 180 and closes the door, we are thrilled to learn this week that Brody and Jenny (my cousins) are going to be able to be our children's House Parents while we're in China!!!! This is SO amazing!
Stuff we've done for the adoption this week: Filled out the I-800, Form 864w, and Supp 1. Overnighted those forms along with our signed LOA, care/nurture plan, passport copies, and copy of our 797 back to Lifeline!!!! Received our travel info videos, parent info form to fill out when we have our travel information, instructions for all the next steps, and some new medical forms to fill out for Jemma.
What I am looking forward to: feeling better again (awful cold right now... maybe even worsened by the fact that I think I might be allergic to air. WHAT THE WORLD?!?!) Also, this may sound negative, but it isn't ... I'm not looking forward to anything this week... I really like where I'm at right now. I like how God's paced the adoption process. I like homeschooling for the first year since we've started. I feel like God is growing us in crazy new ways, and I just don't even need to look forward today.
Praying: for God's perfect timing! for the rummage sale. for our respite baby to be able to feel safe and loved in our home in a few weeks. for our house parents' details in coming up to stay with the kids during our trip to China.
Pictures of the week:
Here are (finally) the pictures of our Hot Air Balloon project:
You can view the HAB project at: BY THE POWER OF HIS HAND
and read about the story behind it here: Why Hot Air Balloons?
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