CREATION

For the last few weeks our pastor has been preaching on creation versus evolution. Now, most of us sensible people would never consider evolution. We all know that God created man in His own image. However, if you are like me, you were taught in school that the Earth is millions of years old. You were taught that dinosaurs ruled the earth millions of year ago. Up until now, I have never questioned that.

Well, my eyes have been OPENED! There are so many facts that disprove evolution. There are so many facts supporting the fact that the Earth is actually only thousands of years old.

I know for a lot of people, that goes against everything you were taught. I was never taught that the maker of the universe is a supernatural, supreme God. I was never taught that dinosaurs were actually ON THE ARK and they co-existed with man. I was never taught biblical truths in school. I was taught that Charles Darwin figured it all out - we evolved from monkeys. I was never taught to challenge the concepts of Charles Darwin and form my own opinions based on BIBLICAL TRUTH.

We went to the Creation Museum this weekend. Let me tell you, I was BLOWN AWAY. The museum is awesome and it really helps put the creation of the world into perspective based on what God tells us, and not what some scientist (who changes his mind every 5 minutes) tells us.

Yes, there were dinosaurs in the bible. Yes, God breathed the world into existance in just a matter of days. Yes, I am fearfully and wonderfully made IN HIS IMAGE, not in the image of Bubbles. No, I don't believe the Earth is millions of years old, and there is scientific proof to back that up. And, finally, NO, no I will not send my children to public school so they too can learn LIES. I will teach them to rely on the bible for answers about how our world and our existance came to be.

There is a website Answers in Genesis that explains things better than I could. Check it out. Learn the truth for yourself. And if you are anywhere near Kentucky, I highly recommend the Creation Museum. It will forever change the way you think!

ABOUT TO GET BUSY!

Finally, we are actually moving forward! All of our clearances are back, and I am overnighting everything to our homestudy coordinator in the morning. She did tell me that once she receives everything, it should move quickly. So maybe, JUST MAYBE, we can have something scheduled by the end of the week.

I am so ready to get this homestudy started. In NC, we only have 90 days to have the homestudy completed (which is why they made me wait until all the documents were in before we started). What is exciting is once the homestudy draft is on file, technically we can receive a referral. Now I am not naive enough to think it will happen that quickly, but it could. It has happened that way for a lot of people, so there is that chance.

I tried to "figure out" our timeline and I think it could work out as follows - we get our homestudy scheduled for sometime in the next couple of weeks. That can take up to 90 days. Then, we file our I800a and that is taking around 45 days. Then, we get our documents authenticated by the state, US, and Chinese embassy, and that should take just a few weeks (we will use a courier service). So all of that said, we theoretically, could be sending our documents to China in January, possibly even December! YAY! I would love to be DTC by the end of the year. We will see what happens. I know the homestudy can't be longer than 90 days, but I am not certain how long it actually takes.

It is exciting to see things *finally* moving. I feel like for two months I have just been wasting time. If we had not have changed agencies, I am sure we would be much further along in the process. However, I still feel like we made the right decision and the set back now, probably will be made up in the wait for a referral. Anyway, hopefully I will have an update soon regarding our homestudy. WOOT!

I'M TORN

Really, it doesn't matter because Jessica is already chosen for our family. She has been destined for our family since the beginning of time. But, I keep going back and forth about what age I hope she is. Some days, I want a four year old for sure. Most four year olds are totally potty trained. She and Julianna would be the same age. She can walk. Then I start thinking about babies, and I want her to be a baby. I read recently that the wait time for referrals is relatively short if you are willing to accept a child with an uncorrected special need, even for infants. I don't mind uncorrected needs at all, so I am hoping that works for us. I obviously am not expecting a quick referral. I am totally prepared to wait a while, but I can have hope right?

Anyway, I am just glad that I don't have to pick her exact age. I glad to know that God handles ALL the details, and whatever age she is will be the perfect age for us. I still wonder though...

NEUROTIC?

Yes, I think so. I joke a lot about how I think I have OCD. Now, I don't wash my hands a bajillion times a day, but I do obsess about a lot. When I get something in my mind, I can't think of anything else. I can't eat, I can't concentrate, I am a mess until I work out whatever I am worried about or working on. I have discovered recently that I can be totally irrational too. Here is an example - I desperately needed something that a "friend" had the other day and for a split second I thought of breaking into her house! HAHA! First of all - was it really "desperate"? Probably not, but it felt like it. It is like things eat me alive until I can resolve them.

Ok, so here is another example. There is a back road that leads out of my neighborhood to the main road. I take this back road very frequently. Well, a couple of months ago while on this road, I saw this "critter" hanging out in the tall grass. He was standing on his hind legs just looking around. He was about a foot and a half tall. At first I was thinking it was a prairie dog (hahahhahahahha), then it occurred to me that prairie dogs probably live on prairies. Then, I thought maybe it was a ground hog. That made more sense, so I went with that. I told Brad and he was like, "Um, yeah. Ok. Sure thing, Michele." So I felt kind of dumb and went on. Well, long story short, I have seen the little guy a few times. One time when I saw him, I even turned my van around in the middle of the road to go back to take his picture. Wouldn't you know it, by the time I could get back around to where he was, he ran away quicker than I could get my phone ready. Each time I tell people I have seen him, and they make me feel like a fruit loop. Well, the other day I was on the other side of town and guess what I saw? That's right, a ground hog (?). I almost wrecked my van. Seriously. Now I am wondering if I am imagining this stupid animal or if I am really seeing something like that in two different areas of town? It is actually making me feel like a lunatic.

Today, I took the kids to the dentist. Their dentist office is in the middle of town. There are a lot of commercial properties around. I was sitting on the couch in the waiting area and I hear a dog barking. I thought, oh my precious Jesus, now I am hearing dogs barking! When the little boy waiting near me said, "HEY! I hear a dog!!" I could have kissed him. LOL!

So I may be off my rocker. Maybe there really is a little ground hog hanging around town. Maybe I should keep these kinds of things to myself.

AND THE MOMMY OF THE YEAR AWARD GOES TO.....

Me! Not. I am the worst mommy of the year. Remember a few weeks ago that my sweet boy got cellulitis (skin infection) on his leg? We think it was from a mosquito bite, although we are not sure. Anyway, he seems to be allergic to mosquito's. I always rolled my eyes when Brad would say he was allergic to mosquito's. My argument was, "Duh. We all are. Hence the itchy bites." He would go on and on about his are much worse than everyone else's (uh-huh). Well, turns out, I think there is a such thing as really being allergic to mosquito's.

The other night my little fellow wanted to play in his "pool water" (just "pool" to the rest of us...). It was around dusk outside, and I knew better than to send him out there without bug spray. I looked for it, but I never found it. We had friends over, they were all outside and Jameson was getting antsy. So I just let him go. I thought he would just be outside for a little bit (and he was). When he came in, I could tell he had a few bites, but they seemed tiny. Well, yesterday morning when he woke up, I was floored. I literally felt sick when I saw my sweet baby. I can't believe I am going to post these pictures - please don't call CPS on me. I will *never* let him play outside at dusk again without loading him down with bug spray.

**DISCLAIMER**

Yes, his hair is long. Yes, it is pulled back with a bobby pin. We are letting Jack and Jamey grow their hair out like daddy's. No real reason, other than we want to. Keep your comments to yourself, because honestly, we don't care what you think.
OK? THANKS! LOL.

WEEKEND IS OVER!

YAY! You know you are in the throws of adoption paperwork when you get excited that tomorrow is Monday. You see, on the weekends, my paperwork is just sitting on someone's desk not being worked on. However, Monday is a business day. So hopefully people in TX, SC and NC are getting busy on MY stuff!

Get to work people. Don't make me come down there. YAY for Monday's!

IMMORTALS

I have come to the conclusion that Brad's grandparents are immortal. All four of them. I have never in my life met people so resiliant. Brad's grandmother was diagnosed with cancer several years ago (in her 80's). You automatically assume it is the beginning of the end, right? Wrong. She beat it. It came back. She beat it again and appears to be continuing that trend. She is now nearing ninety.

On Saturday morning, we got a call from Brad's dad saying that his almost 91 year old grandfather (husband to the cancer kicker) was involved in a terrible accident. The night before he was burning trash outside and there was an explosion. He literally caught on fire himself. He had sense enough to drop to the ground and roll, however, that didn't help. So he grabbed a water hose and put himself out. He then went inside, and got granny to help him peel his polyester jumpsuit off of him. The jumpsuit literally melted to his skin. After they get it off, he takes a shower. It wasn't until a little while later that he decided to call 911. He has 2nd and possibly 3rd degree burns on his entire right arm, his back, part of his face and his ear. So he goes to the hospital, and they said he has a 50/50 chance of making it. Turns out, his heart is only functioning at 30% and they aren't sure it's going to keep up. They decide to transport him to the burn unit out of town. We get in the car and head to the hospital about four hours away. Turns out, he is going to be totally fine. We actually got to visit with him today and he said it wasn't so bad. He is bummed about the recovery, but he said he is ok. He is on some strong medicine, he is 90 years old, and he still managed to recount all the details to us. He told us stories about how he used to do this kind of thing all the time. I mean the more he talked (keep in mind completely drugged), the more I thought, "MAN! Gramps is sharp!" And apparently strong!

Brad's other set of grandparents are just as strong and healthy. It blows my mind! Three of my four grandparents have long since passed away, and the one remaining has alzheimers and is living in a nursing home.

I can only hope that Brad takes after them and is in that great of shape 60 years from now! I am sure I will be long gone, LOL! I really do think they are immortal. Maybe they are secret super heroes or something. Whatever the case may be, we are praising Jesus that Gramps is going to be ok! God love him, I told him I hoped he learned his lesson. He said, "No, this was just a freak accident. I will probably still burn my trash." UGH!

RANDOM RAMBLINGS

Tomorrow we are going to our local Families with Chinese Children gathering. I know we technially don't have a Chinese child, but just because she isn't home yet, doesn't mean she isn't ours. So we are going. I also think it is important to get plugged in with the other families. Honestly, I could use the paperchasing support! LOL. I am so excited to be surrounded by sweet little Chinese faces! I wonder if there will be any red threads there?? Wouldn't that be kind of neat? I will be sure to post about how it went when we get home.

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In other ramblings, this paperchasing is *killing* me. I knew that it would be daunting, but I never expected the intensity. I was never told how involved it would be. Most people pursuing Chinese adoption know all about the reqirements from the CCAA (Chinese Center of Adoption Affairs), however, I am sure most people do not know about all the other requirements. For our homestudy alone, we have had to get birth certificates, financial records, our credit reports (in good standing), criminal background checks from the state bureau of investigation, child abuse clearances (from every state we have ever lived in)medical reports for all five of us (including TB tests for everyone), endless amounts of paperwork, social security cards, pet vaccination records, and the list goes on. At first I thought, well, I have to get some of that for the CCAA anyway, no problem. Nope, none of that can be copies. So I had to go back and get more medical forms signed, multiple criminal checks, etc... We are required to get all of that stuff before we can even schedule our homestudy with the social worker. I thought I would be able to gather that stuff while the homestudy was being done. It doesn't work that way unfortunately. I am a little OCD, so I have everything that is required taken care of. We are just waiting on our criminal and child abuse clearances to come. Hopefully that wont take long. Most told me 3 - 5 days, but one state said up to 30 days. I am praying it wont take that long. The process is long enough in and of itself.

I just never expected to be so emotional about it all. It is proving to be much more difficult for me that I expected. I guess since I have already waited 2 years, I thought it would just all fall into place and move quickly once we applied.

When I finally send our notarized, certified, authenticated documents to China, I am going to C-E-L-E-B-R-A-T-E!

KIDS!

Tonight, the kids went outside with Brad to get in the pool. Jameson likes the pool, but he doesn't seem to love it like the older two. He has his own smaller pool on the deck that he *loves*. Maybe it isn't as intimidating? Anyway, so they all went outside to swim.

After a little while, I went outside to check on everyone. Here is what I found:



The boys in the tiny little pool, Julianna on her way to get in as well, and Brad's feet soaking. Within a second, Julianna was in too.

Um? Hello? We have a giant pool literally 4 feet away, and all of my children and my husband are crammed in this tiny little inflatable pool? Are you kidding me?

Finally Jackson came to his senses and jumped in the actual pool. Why not? He had it all to himself!



It is awfully sweet that my kids love their little brother so much that they just wanted to be with him though! Even if they had to cram into a little 2 ft x 2 ft pool.

BUSY, BUSY

Our summer road trip plans fell through recently, so I have been busy trying to find something else fun for the kids. At first, I thought we would go to the beach, then I remembered that my children are albino, so that wouldn't work. I have thought of a ton of wacky things, but nothing really sat well with me. So after I talked to Brad about it, we have decided to accompany him on a trip to Kentucky to the Creation Museum. He has been wanting to go for church related things for a while. So we decided to just do it. The awesome thing is Brad has money set aside in his salary that pays for trips like this, so we will only have to pay for food for the kids and me. We are excited. The Creation Museum is close enough to Ohio and Indiana, we will visit those two states too, just to say we've been there! FUN!

We also have free tickets to Carowinds. At some point after public school has let back in, we will do that too. Just a quick day trip. I think I will also try to throw in a quick trip home to Charleston. Then, at the end of September, Brad has another business trip in Clearwater, FL. You know I can't let him go to FL without us!

It is funny, we have sat home all summer, and we wait until the end to cram in a ton! The kids will be excited to go, go, go. Fortunately, they are great travelers, so I am not worried about them. The beauty of all of these trips is the cost. Everything is covered except for food! We have to eat regardless of where we are, so that isn't a issue.

I am excited. I have felt so bummed and discouraged lately, I think I will really enjoy getting out of town for a bit!

Yeah! I love family road trips!

WILD OLIVE IS AT IT AGAIN

So those crazy chicks at Wild Olive Tees are at it again! This time, they are hooking up our kids! They have an awesome new line of kids tees coming in mid August. I don't know about your kids, but my holy terrors sweet angels need a constant reminder that they are CHOSEN by GOD, and they need to act like it, daggumit. So, I will for sure be getting my kids shirts. Also, for a limited time, they are donating above and beyond the 10% to Love Without Boundaries. So by ordering an awesome tee shirt(S), you are witnessing to a bajillion people just by wearing it (unless of course you never leave your house, in which case, you aren't witnessing at all. Unless of course you live with some that isn't saved, then you would be witnessing to them.), you are helping an organization that helps save the lives of sweet sick babies (and maybe, just maybe, even my little girl. I don't know but what if she is waiting there? She could be, you never know. Even if she isn't, there are so many babies that need your help.), and you would be instantly cooler.

So there. Get your tee shirt! Get your kids tee shirts! You know you want to.

ANOTHER SONG

I just have to share another song. I can't help it. I know most of you are very familiar with it, but still. It makes me cry everytime I hear it. Before I knew that we were adopting, this song B-R-O-K-E my heart. Now when I listen to it, it makes me so happy that we are giving a child HOPE for a future. Hope. Eternal hope. Praise Jesus for mountains moved! He promised Jessica that He would give her Hope. He promised her a family. Jessica is one of the fortunate ones. She will get to see her promised fullfilled on this earth, others will ahve to wait for heaven. Anyway, here is the song:

When Love Takes You In
I know you’ve heard the stories
But they all sound too good to be true
You’ve heard about a place called home
But there doesn’t seem to be one for you
So one more night you cry yourself to sleep
And drift off to a distant dream

Where love takes you in and everything changes
A miracle starts with the beat of a heart
When love takes you home and says you belong here
The loneliness ends and a new life begins
When love takes you in

And somewhere while you’re sleeping
Someone else is dreaming too
Counting down the days until
They hold you close and say I love you
And like the rain that falls into the sea
In a moment what has been is lost in what will be

When love takes you in everything changes
A miracle starts with the beat of a heart
And this love will never let you go
There is nothing that could evercause this love to lose its hold
When love takes you in everything changes
A miracle starts with the beat of a heart
When love takes you home and says you belong here
The loneliness ends and a new life begins
When love takes you in it takes you in for good
When love takes you in

The waiting is hard. I am glad to know that my little girl doesn't know I am coming. She isn't watching the clock tick like I am. She doesn't know what a family feels like so she doesn't know what she is missing. I find peace in that. Please help me pray for God's timing, but that is comes quickly.

Here is the video to When Love Takes You In if you want to watch it. Be sure to grab some tissues first.