Sydney's Two Brothers and Two Sisters

The other day Sydney was holding up her fingers and telling me she wanted two brothers and two sisters.  Well, yesterday we took care of the two brothers part of her request.  We adopted two little brothers. Two miniature dachshunds.  We haven't figured out their names yet, maybe I will try to figure out the poll thingy that so many of you are utilizing on your blogs right now.  If you have any suggestions, please post them.  I will try to post some pics of them once we download some from the camera.

And we are working on the two sisters part of her request, as well.  We are jumping through hoop after hoop trying to get to her baby sister in Kyrgyzstan.  And just when we think we have cleared all the hoops, more appear.  But the Lord is in control and He will get us through.  He has already gotten us so far.  This will get us to one of her sisters. The other sister will probably get here first. 

We are pregnant.  We found out the same day we got our letter from Homeland Security; boy was that a pretty exciting day for our family.  We go for a sonogram on July 2nd to find out our due date.  So far everything is going pretty well with the pregnancy aside from A LOT of morning sickness.  I wasn't sick once with Sydney, so this is a big change for me.  We did an early gender detection blood test this week and we found out that we are having a baby girl. Please keep both of our children in your prayers as the days we will meet them draw nearer.

Short Update

We were both able to complete our third, and hopefully final, set of fingerprints yesterday.  They are now on their way to FBI headquarters for our FBI clearance check.  Hopefully they will be super speedy fast and this new requirement will not delay us too much in our dossier completion. I still haven't heard anything from Austin yet on the rest of our dossier being authenticated.  Hopefully we will get that back before the end of the week.

More Requirements

Just when we thought we had the end in sight, more requirements get sent our way for the dossier.  Now we need not only a police fingerprint clearance, a Homeland Security fingerprint clearance, but one from the FBI, too!  There must be a large number of criminals trying to bring foreign born orphans into this country. There are a couple of other small requirements, such as a psychological evaluation (where do you get one of those from?) and other things that will be fairly simple. All in all, once we get these things accomplished and, of course, authenticated in Austin we are looking at probably another six weeks before we can even submit our dossier for translation and then it will be another two months plus for translation before we can be in line for our baby girl. Hopefully, our friends at the FBI will be more efficient than Homeland Security and it won't take quite as long as the I-171 H took.

In other news, we have received an offer on our house. The one we're building. For US to live in. We have been praying for an answer to this little situation we have gotten ourselves into (owning two houses at the same time) and I think this is His answer for us.  Not the one we were hoping for, but I think it is His answer nonetheless. Funny enough, we got the call when Tony and I were in Dallas for a few hours (most of which were spent in airports) picking out granite for the new house.  Our builder called and said he had someone who wanted to buy our house if we were willing to sell it.  Multiple discussions and many pros/cons lists later, we decided to let it go.  At first I was a little possessive and upset that someone wanted to buy our house that we have worked so hard on for the last seven months, but after my initial reaction, I found all I truly felt was relief. What an amazing God we serve!  He answers prayers.  Now we are going to add on to our current house, which is what we should have done in the first place!  

Three Cheers for Homeland Security!!!

It came!  Our I-171H has arrived! And it only took five weeks and two days! That has to be some kind of record for our government.  They must have seen my previous post and realized the gravity of the situation.  Either that, or the dart finally landed on our paperwork.  Three cheers for our brothers (and sisters) at the US Department of Homeland Security: Keeping us safe from invaders.  

Now I will mail our dossier to Austin tomorrow via FedEx and they said it will arrive there on Tuesday morning. Tomorrow I am going to call the Sec of State and see if there is any way to secure a speedy passage through their office; I am not above bribes, people!  Just tell me who and how much.  Can I get in trouble for saying that?  I will update you all on the dossier's progress as soon as I get more information.  Please say a prayer of thanksgiving and rejoicing to the Lord for answering this prayer.

On to other news: Sydney did it! She is officially potty trained!  Sure we still have about one accident a day, but I am calling it done! Thank you for your kind words and prayers of encouragement.  

Now, on to the selling of our house...

Babies in Kyrgyzstan

I have been reading my other blogs (see list at right) and the missionaries there have posted a heartbreaking account of the lives of children over there.  I have copied it here for you to see.

This morning we went to the orphanage in time for the opening of the day care/kindergarten. This will be such a boost for the entire community it is so right on many levels. Many of the parents in the village are at work through the day and there is no one left to look after the kids. It is not uncommon to leave a one or two year old home alone. They simply tie them to a tree, or dig a whole in the field were they are working and put the children in the hole. These many times are the kids that wind up in the orphanages. By providing a full day Care with meals included, it will be the break that is needed to keep families together ... Those that are able to pay will pay a small fee that will enable the orphanage to hire teachers. The day care will also be able to look after the small kids from the orphanage as well. We brought them a bunch of children's puzzles and pillows for the beds. They were put to use right away. It was obvious that they were hand made. They were all different...just like the quilts ... It's so great to teach the kids that, like the pillows,.... they are all special...they are all different....and they are all beautiful.

I have never heard God's voice calling us to bring our child home any louder than I hear it right now.   I have actually followed (read stalked) the mail lady in our neighborhood until she got to our box in the last five weeks hoping, praying, that today is the day.  Each day when I check the mail and it is not there, I hurt inside. Every day that hurt gets a little deeper.  And reading things like this about what happens to the children in Kyrgyzstan makes me want to just get on a plane and go get her.  I believe God has a plan for our family; this is it.  I believe in God's perfect timing; sometimes I need help with the patience.  Pray a special prayer of peace and patience over us as we wait.  Pray for our time to bring our daughter home be now.  

Five Weeks and Counting

I talked with Yvonne (adopted two girls from China) at the library yesterday and asked her if she knew of anyone who had applied for and received an I-171H lately here in Amarillo.  She said the most recent one she knew about took six weeks.  SO... hopefully ours will come in another week or so. Please pray that it comes soon.  Come on Homeland Security!!!!

On the home front, we (I mean me) are attempting the insurmountable task of potty training once again.  Sydney is very interested. In going in her diaper. She has no problem pooping in the potty, but she flat out refuses to tinkle in the potty. I have tried EVERYTHING I can think of to get her to tinkle in the potty, but she just won't do it.  I am not sure she knows how to release her urine into the potty. Diapers? No problem. But the potty is just not happening.  I am trying very hard to stay positive with her, but it's difficult when I ask her to tinkle, sit her on the potty, nothing.  Then as soon as she pulls her pull-up back on, she tinkles.  If anyone out there in Cyberspace has some advice for me, please let me know. I think she wants to be potty trained, she tells me she does. Then she will say, "No, I will just go in my diaper." We have tried rewards, treats, trips to _______, celebrations, big girl panties, peer pressure, and probably some things you shouldn't try.  If you or someone you know has every potty trained a difficult child, please pass on some advice to me.  Before I lose my mind!