JUMPIN' FOR JOY!

I thought this picture of Christina "jumpin' for joy" was a fitting feeling. So happy to say that we've completed our home study paperwork and sent it off to our social worker a couple of days ago! Now we wait for the home study approval, finish our step 1 dossier compilation and we will be ready to submit our dossier to Taiwan! I think we'll be ready to do that in the next 3 weeks or so. On an earlier post, I did say that maybe I was dreaming when hoping to have our dossier ready to submit in 2 months, but I wasn't too far off. It will be just a couple weeks longer... I think. I work only part time, (guaranteed 2 days per week), but God has been blessing me with an extra day (or sometimes two) of work every week that I can put directly into our adoption account. So it will be such a relief to get this first major chunk accomplished! Just keep at it steadily. Then we will enter the waiting period.....

Proverbs 21:5 Good plans and hard work lead to prosperity, but hasty shortcuts lead to poverty.

MAKING BLOGGING FRIENDS! (visiting with the Dijkstra family)

Something that has been such a delight for me is having the opportunity to follow along with other bloggers who have something in common with us. It is such an encouragement to take the journey with other adoptive families. When I am feeling discouraged, all I have to do is look at some of the wonderful postings and pictures from their stories, and it makes me say, "Hey! We can accomplish this!" All of your blogs are in various stages of the adoption process - some just beginning, some several years past just enjoying their families. It is a joy to see the kids and families grow together. One of my favorite blogs, (and obviously a favorite of many people as she has quite a few followers!) is "Funky Doodle Donkey". I started following Mireille's blog early this year. Her unbelievably awesome photos keep me coming back every week! When you see them, you are going to say what I said..."I want to come and live at your house and go where you go!!!". Although Mireille and her family live in South Africa, we had the wonderful opportunity to get together when she and her family were visiting Florida. My family had the pleasure of meeting Mireille, her husband Dirk, and her two darling daughters, Jasmine and Juliet for a visit back in July. We had a great time and made a new friendship. What fun! (click on my title to visit her blog!)