Kind of Bummed...

I found out today that our home study report will not be done until after Christmas. They thought they would be able to get it written before Christmas, but she called today to let me know that that will not happen. Oh well, I'll just have to be a bit more patient.. .

PHEW!!

We completed the first part of our home study today. Boy, did I stress for nothing!! The lady who did our home study was the most laid back, down to earth woman who made us feel so at ease. In fact, she didn't even go outside of our dining room to look at the house (that I had spent the past 3 hours cleaning:). That was ok with me, though.
We showed her a video that Chad made for us of little Misha and she commented, "We've got to get him home fast!" At that point, I knew I could breathe a HUGH sigh of relief. I don't know why I allowed myself to get so anxious, I know that the Lord is in this and that He will work out everything for good according to His purpose and I know, from His Word, that adoption is His heart.
Anyway, I am soooo pumped (to say the least). Our next appt. is Tuesday night and she is willing to get the whole process done as quickly as possible, knowing it is a matter of life and death.
Again, God has shown up and blown me away. He is such a cool God, isn't He?!?!

God NEVER ceases to amaze me!!

We got a call the other night from a friend of ours. She had recently been in Broken Bow and met a lady who had a sibling with Down Syndrome. Our friend shared our story with her and she was so excited. She can't wait to get together with us to share her experiences growing up with a sister with DS. I think that will be incredibly valuable to our girls. As if that wasn't cool enough, she asked if we still needed money for the adoption. After our friend told her that yes, we were still trying to raise funds, she wrote us a check for $1500.00!!! I am still in awe...a person whom we have NEVER met was willing to sacrifice soo much to help us bring TJ home!! It just confirms to me that this truly is God's Will for us. I don't even know how to begin to thank her...she is a true ANGEL!!!

ENCHILADAS!!!

WOW!! We survived!! We put in 2 ten hour days making 360 dozen enchiladas!! Boy were we exhausted! BUT it will be well worth it!! (I can't wait to find out the grand total from our church!)
I had a dream Saturday night that I was holding little TJ and kissing the top of his little head as he snuggled into me. I woke up with aching, EMPTY arms!! I cannot wait for them to be filled with my little boy. Tomorrow we will FINALLY be able to send the check to Adoption Consultants and get rolling with the home study. I can't wait to have that completed! I have been gathering paperwork while we've been waiting so hopefully we will be able to send in the dossier shortly after our homestudy is completed. This time cannot go by fast enough for me!!

Fundraiser Update

God is soooo good to us!! Our enchilada orders grand total is 325 orders...that is 3,900 enchiladas!!! Boy do we have a lot of work cut out for us. I know that God will provide the help and it will be all to His Glory.
After doing the calculations, if people only paid the $18 per order, which MANY gave above and beyond that, we would have $5,850!! Minus the cost of making them, which will be around $1500, that gives us a profit of...over $4000!!!! PRAISE GOD!!

As I was typing this, I got 6 more orders!! Crazy!!

I am sooo excited to be able to FINALLY move forward and get our son HOME!!!

What A Week!

This has been a huge week for getting out awareness of our adoption and the desperate need for these children to be adopted. We got interviewed by the Kearney Hub and the article will be out this Saturday. Then, today, I got interviewed on the Christian Radio Station by Stan Parker. Tomorrow, Toby, the girls and I will be going to NTV (the local TV station) to be interviewed. Lastly, on Sunday, we will be going in front of the church to talk about the adoption and our fundraiser. We are so excited!!
It is exciting, but every once in a while, fear creeps in, in the form of the "what ifs"...what if we don't pass our homestudy...what if we don't raise enough money...what if something happens to Misha before we can bring him home...etc. I feel like Peter when Jesus told him to step out of the boat. For the most part, I feel like I am truly walking on the water. Then, I take my eyes off of Jesus and begin to sink... I pray that he "helps me overcome my unbelief" (Mark 9:24).

What A Great Surprise!!!

We just got blessed tremendously with pictures and videos of Misha from 2007 and 008. It is so neat to be able to see him grow and change. I am so thankful for all of the wonderful people that the Lord has placed in our lives during this process. Thanks you Amanda!!

Fundraiser

I think we FINALLY decided to do an enchilada fundraiser. Our friends, the Laughrey's, had one and it was very successful. We will have people pre-order the enchiladas and then have a pick-up time and place. We will post the details as they become more clear. We know it will be in Oct. sometime, but that is about all we know. Stay tuned for more details:)

A New Name

Just as the Lord changed Abram's name to Abraham and Simon to Peter and Saul to Paul when they became part of His Family, so we will be changing Misha's name when he becomes part of ours. Technically, we cannot change it until we go to court in the Eastern Europe to finalize the adoption, but from now on we will refer to him by his new name. . . Toby Lee McDonald Jr. a.k.a. "T.J."...our little man:)

New Song

Praise God!!

PRAISE GOD!!!!
The appt. went well and we went ahead and put Misha "oh hold"!! Now...we just have to come up with 20 grand. No problem considering we serve a God who owns a cattle on a thousand hills:) Please keep praying because I know that the journey ahead of us wont be without stress. I am celebrating in this victory for now!! I feel like I just found out I was pregnant...in a sense, it is the same thing, isn't it?!?




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FYI

By the way....we had a GREAT meeting with our pastor and the fundraiser is back on!! God is already moving!!

BIG day today!!

Today is the day that we will (hopefully) find out if it is possible for us to adopt little Misha. Please pray that the Lord will allow it to be. We have all already fallen in love with him, it would break our hearts not to be able to welcome him into our family as our son.

Hope?!?

It seems like there may be one more avenue to try to be able to pursue little Misha. Please pray that God will make a way where there seems to me no way!!