SENT!!!

Our dossier is SENT!!!! I looked over everything one - last - time and then walked into the UPS store just as the pick-up guy was about to leave - he waited for me! It was placed in his hands and is on it's way to Eastern Europe!!!!

Dossier!!

22 apostilles in CA = $458.00

In the midst of this little give-away (see previous post below)... I am waiting today to get the last of our apostilled (like certified by the state) documents in for our dossier - when they arrive I will check them over and then GO TO THE UPS STORE and MAIL OUR COMPLETED DOSSIER TO EASTERN EUROPE!!!

This morning I took a picture of the documents we already have ready to go - checked them over and laid them out. Now just waiting for the rest - the other 2/3 of our dossier! I can't tell you how carefully I scrubbed our table and dried it, how carefully I reminded my children, "PLEASE do NOT touch any-thing on this table" Many of these documents took so much time, effort, and money to get written, signed, notarized, shipped, apostilled.... and finally, finally we get to send them to Eastern Europe to be translated and submitted!

Top picture = 22 documents we JUST got back!

The middle picture = the 8 I was looking over this morning before the rest arrived.

The bottom picture - all 30 apostilled documents we are about to send!

Give-away! Beth Moore "Jesus" Devotional

"Jesus, 90 days with the One and Only", a wonderful women's devotional by Beth Moore. Though this is pretty much a devotional for women - guys - you can enter and win it for your significant other, your mother, sister, friend, etc...

1. The Prize: One Devotional: "Jesus, 90 days with the One and Only" by Beth Moore.

2. Who can enter - U.S. only 18 years or older. You must be an open follower (not anonymous) of our blog to enter. Simply click on "follow" at the top of our blog page to become a follower.

3. Duration – July 25th through August 5th.

4. How to enter – "Comment" below on this post: Something encouraging to our family and others who might be reading. It can be a favorite Bible verse, a quote about adoption, a prayer for our little boy and/or family. Though you're always welcome to add more encouraging "comments" we will only enter each person once.

5. Non-requirements - These are NOT required to enter but would certainly be appreciated in an effort to help us to bring home Wallace: Please consider sharing about our adoption journey on your social networks, do a blog post, share this blog, or you can even contact us (go to "contact" towards top of page) and we can send you fliers and information to post (in the "real" world, on display boards, front offices, etc.). Please consider sharing in some way or another. Again - while this is NOT a requirement, please consider if it might be on your heart to donate in any amount to our chip-in (non-tax-deductible) or to our fsp (family sponsorship page) through Reece's Rainbow (tax-deductible). This does NOT in any way affect your chances of winning the prize or give you any extra entries for winning it. Sharing and/or donating would be done out of love of our precious little boy, our family, and most importantly, our God who is THE Father to the fatherless and loves Wallace more than we ever could!

5. Considerations/technical issues - We need to be able to contact you to let you know if you have won so if we cannot reply to your comment by using whatever account or email is attached to it (in the comment) then please check back here to see who won - and if it's you please go to "contact" on our page and send us the information (address) to send you the devotional. If we haven't heard from someone within 5 days after the drawing then we will choose another (by the same means).

7. How Winner Is Chosen – On August 6th we will choose a winner randomly.

More about the book:

Description

Best-selling author Beth Moore has an amazing gift for insightful Bible character studies. Millions have been drawn to her inspired lessons, and the media has called her "America's Bible teacher." The PERSONAL REFLECTIONS series reintroduces Beth's most beloved character-driven books, expanding them into 90-day experiences that include nearly all of the text from her original work, plus thoughtful questions and journal space to engage readers throughout this special time of study.

Jesus is the new presentation of Moore's classic, Jesus, the One and Only. These intimate reflections on God's one and only Son will invigorate and reward readers who long to grow closer and know more about our Savior.

About the Author

Beth Moore is a writer and teacher of best-selling books and Bible studies whose public speaking engagements carry her all over the United States. A dedicated wife and mother of two adult daughters, Moore lives in Houston, Texas, where she is president and founder of Living Proof Ministries.

USCIS approved!!! I17h arrived!!!

Praise God!! We got our I17h form from USCIS today!!! This means we are approved by US immigration to adopt internationally! This form is often referred to in the adoption world as the "golden ticket". Whoo-hoo!!! We did not expect for it to come so soon!! We will be getting it and the last half of our forms notarized tomorrow and over-nighted to Sacramento to be apostilled (state sealed) and my sweet auntie will overnight them back to us! We may have our completed dossier THIS WEEK!!! AAAAHHHH!!! (excitement!).

What do you do with 6 kids all day?

I had the privilege of caring for two of my nephews and one niece for the day. Our house was full of laughter, with the occasional squabble of course - and overall it was a blast!




My neice artfully painting
























How the day began - with gluten-free coconut pancakes with chocolate chips - Mmm!!!









My nephew with the cool hair (styled by water play time ;)



























Nathanael the serious "artist"!
















My nephew - who didn't want to paint but wanted him and his car included in the picture-taking :)
















My little beginning painter - Arielle. - Oh and we'd like to thank daddy (Scott) for letting us use his old worn-out t-shirts for smocks!







































Ice cream and fresh oven-baked chocolate chip cookies!











Sprinkler fun! The boys especially loved this - the girls were a bit afraid of the boys and their extreme splashing - he, he.

It's HOT! Sprinklers!

This was our fun on Sunday after church! It was hot and the kids had a blast! It didn't cost a lot - $2 sprinkler. And that part of the grass needed extra anyways :) And - look who is standing a LOT more lately? Evie! And she is so proud of herself - she claps every time she stands up - it is too cute!

Kiddo pictures!

What have I done in all my "free time" (Ha! What's that?)? Well, while my little boy was in his VBS class I thought me and the girls would do something fun - I hung a white sheet from the clothesline in the backyard, got my camera and snapped some pictures of my two little girls with pink and pearls. Boy did they have fun and so did I! But I hadn't had a chance to post anything because we've had a busy week with VBS. Boy I sure can't wait to take some beautiful pictures of little Wallace! I can't wait to show the world his sweet smile! We have no pictures of him smiling - yet.

Summer Vacation Bible School!

Just a few pictures to share from this week! This was the first time Nathanael went to VBS (this year it started at Kindergarten age) and boy was it a fun one! Though Arielle was very disappointed that she could not stay for the whole time she did get to see the horses and pet the animals - and us girls did "girl stuff" while Nathanael was in class ;) They taught the kids about how God created each one of us special and about God's love. It was a western ranch theme and they had everything from pony rides and jump houses, worship and song time, skits, a classroom that had been turned into a "fire-fly cavern", and even a petting-zoo set up! One of the pastors even joined the skit on the last night - it was a crack up! Though I know my 5.5 year old was probably a bit distracted with it being a new experience, lots of fun and excitement and other kids all around, I do hope he will realize when he looks back someday on all this - that God loves him so very much and that he'll see what I saw: a LOT of volunteers who love God and love God's kids enough to do a background check, practice, meet and prepare and give their time, energy and efforts to show these children that they are so special to God and God's people! As a mother I was so very blessed to see this in the heart of so many of the people we fellowship with! And I was so very blessed with how patient and kind they were to my little "ball of energy" boy :)

Biometrics - done! Walked-in!

We were able to do a walk-in at our local USCIS building for our biometrics fingerprinting appointment yesterday!

But....
Please PRAY!!! They are telling me it could be WEEKS before they even assign an officer to our case!! I am hoping to talk so someone more about it - waiting for a call back. Please pray for God to move this mountain - and/or give us more patience - and KEEP THE DOOR OPEN in Wallace's country long enough for us to get in there and get him out!!!

The BIG news!!

So.... the country Wallace is from voted to allow special needs adoptions to continue during the 3 months switch!!! This means we are pushing forward NOW to get our dossier (documents) submitted to his country asap! We will be preparing for traveling, fund-raising like crazy and praying for God to miraculously provide, getting our home ready for one more sweet little boy! Isn't this just totally AMAZING??? Seriously - this is an absolute miracle and kudos to Wallace's country for caring about their special needs orphans!! Please pray as many families still cannot move ahead with their adoptions because the special needs "list" is very short. We are thankful that Wallace's special need happens to be on that list but our hearts are heavy for the families in process whose precious little ones cannot come home but are not likely to be adopted by their own countrymen because of their special needs and so they wait... they wait to turn 5 or for their special need to be added to the list (please pray for this!!).

For those who've been fervently praying on Wallace's behalf: thank you and please continue now more than ever! And above all - Thank You, dear God, our Father!!!