A Birthday Weekend

October 28, 1999 Hannah Ruth was born. I was lucky enough to be a part of her delivery (and Cody's in 1991). I remember being so anxious to see her. What was she going to look like? Who was she going to look like? We did not realize how this girl would change the dynamic of our family and "rock our world". :)

Big Brother just after her arrival. He did not realize what he was getting into. :)

This is one of my favorite pictures. If I remember correctly. She wasn't like this most of the time. I remember pacing the floor at 2 a.m. praying to God that He would quiet her.

And now. She is a vibrant girl. She enjoys life. She is full of energy and sass. She is a dancer. She loves baby dolls, playing with friends, cooking with her mom, aggrevating her brother. She has a compassionate soul. She is passionate which leads to A LOT of drama for all of us.

We wouldn't have it any other way.

Thank you, Jesus, for the gift of Hannah and how she has touched our lives. We are anxious to watch her grow and become the woman you have created her to be. May her vibrancy and passion never cease. May her steps always glorify you. We pray she loves you deeply all the days of her life and that she never knows a day without you and your gracious mercy.

Hannah with Marisol and Jess (her new doll)

Our October babies. We celebrate them both!

Debra

Sweet Pearl

We just got this picture from Mike and I had to post it. Is she not the sweetest?!

We hope to meet her soon.
debra

Happy Birthday, Jeffrey!

Today is his day. Some people don't like to make a big deal of their birthday. WHAT? WHY? After all, it is the day that God gave you breath, the day God's plan for you lept into action. I think that warrants a big celebration and a lot of giving thanks to God for the precious gift of life.

Jeffrey means divine peace. Divine means "proceeding directly from God" and peace means "a state of tranquillity or quiet". How very appropriate for my Jeffrey. I have only shared 5 years with this man and I see why his name is so perfect for him. I'm sure those who have lived all his life with him could give countless examples of why his name suits him.

Today I honor my husband. He brings peace to my crazy life. God knew I needed Jeffrey. He is a part of God's plan for my life and my purpose. He is strong where I am weak. He is compassionate. He is the real thing. He loves God and knows that he needs Him everyday in order to be a friend, a husband and someday a father. He fights for our marriage. He loves me when I am unloveable. He is my best friend.

Isn't it neat how our given names, unknown by our parents at our birth, are fitting to our personality and walk in life. God is amazing like that and it leaves me in awe.

Happy Birthday, Jeffrey!

love,

me

Jeffrey leaves early for work. I usually get up right as he is leaving. This morning I got up early to celebrate with Jeffrey by cooking him breakfast. Leaving early is hard. If I don't get up with him, we don't see each other until dinner. Time flies once we get home, have dinner and get ready for the next day. He said the best gift was me getting up early. Isn't he sweet??!!

Good Times

My dear friend, Jenny, came to visit this past weekend. You never really realize how much you miss something until you get a taste of it once again. Jenny moved back to SC about 5 years ago. Since then, we have tried to get together at least once a year for a girls weekend in Atlanta. Then Jenny started her family with boy #1, Will, and then boy #2, Josh. We don't see each other as often so I was thrilled that she was back in Nashvegas this past weekend with boy #2 and husband, Chris. Chris had an interview at Vanderbilt Children's Hospital for a pediatric ER fellowship position. Last month they were in Birmingham doing the same thing and visiting friends there. Selfishly, I would LOVE for them to end up in Nashville. But we know that God has His plans and He will put them exactly where He wants them in order to bless them and the people around them for His glory. Just like He does for all of us.

This weekend God blessed us with friends who are more like family. Saturday night, Jeremy, Sherri and Lily and Stephen came over for dinner and then we had a little music time. Lily and Josh had so much fun. It was weird to see both Jenny and Jeremy with children. God has brought all of us to new places.

Check out Lily's picture face! Crazy girl! Josh does not know what to think.

Lily getting her groove on with her picture face.

The gang.
We finally convinced Jenny to sing one or two of her songs. Really good stuff!

Jenny and Chris should know by the end of the year where they will be moving next summer. We pray for peace and wisdom for the next few months as they prepare for the big news.

Thank you Jesus for friends!

debra

Logged In

We received this message today from our adoption agency:

Congratulations again!

We have received confirmation that your dossier was logged into the CCAA on September 28, 2006. Right now the wait time between your log in date and referral is approximately 14-15 months and increasing. Please note that if you are adopting a special needs child this time frame does not apply to you. Wait for special needs families from the time the CCAA receives your letter of intent to the time you receive a travel letter is about three months. If you have any questions or need anything during the wait time, please feel free to contact your Family Coordinator.

The wait officially began September 28th.

What does this mean? The agency states the current wait time is approximately 14-15 months and increasing. Yes, increasing! We are waiting on the October referrals to see how many days the CCAA processed this past month.

Log in date: the date our paperwork was logged into the CCAA system.

When referrals arrive each month, the CCAA updates their website to say "Dossiers logged in prior to .... have been matched to a baby". Referrals arrive once a month to the agencies. The # of days processed from August 25th to September 25th was 13 days which is the average they have been processing over the past few months. We are waiting to see how many days the CCAA processed this past month. Currently, dossiers logged in August 9, 2005 and prior have been matched.

If the CCAA continues to process 13-15 days each month, we are looking at an 18-24 month wait for a baby girl. My heart faints to think we must wait that long. Should they speed up and start processing 30-35 days a month, we are still looking at a 12-14 month wait.

Please pray for peace during this wait time. God knew all this when we started the paperwork. He knows our daughter and the exact moment she will be put on our arms. He knows and may we rest in that knowledge.

Today we will praise the Lord!
Debra

Indescribable gift

Our dear friends, Mike and Rachel, welcomed their second daughter to our world yesterday. We rejoice with them. She was a little bigger than her big sister, Rose, weighing in at 8lbs 5oz. We can't wait to meet her!

Pearl Caroline

Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. James 1:17

Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift! II Corinthians 9:15

debra

Refugee Camp

I'm catching up on my blogging today. :)
The weekend my family came, Doctors without Borders set up a refugee camp in Centennial Park. D and I thought it would be a great school trip for Cody and Hannah. We all found it alarming and very informative. Walking through the camp, I could hear the children in Uganda that I met years ago. If you have ever gone to Uganda or other spots in Africa, you know what I mean when I say the people touch your life in a profound way and you never forget them. Their strength is amazing, their faith in God genuine and raw, and their true joy contagious and convicting at the same time.

Back to the refugee camp. They took you through in groups. The goal was to make you feel like a refugee for the 45 minutes it took to go through the camp...to empathize with the millions of displaced people around the world.

The first task for a refugee...leaving the danger for the safe place. We were trying to cross a border. How do you get passed the guard? Ideas offered by those in our group: kill the guard, overtake the guard, bribe the guard. We bribed the guard to cross the border. Once across the border, we start addressing the basics...housing, food, water.

Housing: These tents are set up for refugees. Often there are more people in the tent than can really fit. The kids are very innovative and make toys to play with.

BP-5 is a solid packet of food that can be dropped into a region.
Hannah trying the BP-5. She said "not bad". I didn't like it. But if I were starving, it would taste as good as a steak.

Toilets. To promote clean water, toilets are constructed. Signs are posted with instructions on how to use the toilets. Water and soap are provided for washing hands afterwards.
This is on the floor of the Toilet. You remove the center to expose the hole and stand on the footprints and squat.

The Cholera Clinic

One of the posters at the end of the exhibit.

Thank you Doctors without Borders for opening our eyes to the life of millions around the world. During our walk, our guide said he was asked the question "Why should a 17 year old care about refugees, care that people are dying?" His response was the biblical story of the Good Samaritan. I think reasons for caring are unique to the individual.

So...why should we care? Do Americans "deserve" better lives just because we were born in America? These are tough questions. For me, there is nothing more rewarding in this life than to make a difference.

To whom much is given, much is expected.

debra

My Family the Lumberjacks

Last weekend (Oct 5th) my family came over for a work weekend. We love our house and our yard. The back yard is a bit overwhelming. The first owner of the house loved pine trees and did not feel the need to trim them over the 20 years she lived in the house. Needless to say, our yard has layers of pine needles and no grass because of all the shade. We really want to open up the back but having 70 ft trees cut down adds up when you have 10+ in your yard. My brother-in-law, M, volunteered to cut some of them down for us. So they loaded up the truck and headed to Nashville. We rented a lift and I'm so bummed because we were working so hard that we did not get a picture of M in the lift. We had a great day and 1/2 day working together. We cut 7 smaller (diameter) trees down and M trimmed the lower branches off the remaining trees.

Jeff and I are so thankful for my family and for how hard they worked to help us with this daunting task. They saved us thousands of dollars. More importantly we enjoyed having them at our house and for the quality time with each other. Mom cooked most of the weekend and Hannah played hostess making sure we had plenty of water all day. Having Mom in the kitchen only served as a reminder of how wonderful it would be to have family closer to us so that we could work and dine together more often.

Here are pictures of the first tree coming down.

M cutting the base and Daddy supervising

Jeff and Cody are ready to guide the tree so that it doesn't fall on our neighbor's fence.
Timber!

Cody brought his 4 Wheeler and trailer (Praise God!) and we used it to carry the limbs to the street. The city of Franklin picks up any limbs that you trim/cut yourself. We really loaded it up. The picture below does not do it justice. The piles were about 4 feet high and expanded the width of our front property. The city worker was not going to pick it up at first. Thankfully, my dad and M were outside when he arrived and they assured him we had done all the trimming/cutting ourselves. It took him 3 trips to pick it all up.

We still have lots to do with respect to the yard. We are so thankful for my family for helping with one of the largest projects.

Thanks Family!!

debra

Our House

Several people have requested pictures of the house. Here they are...