I wonder.....

We spent the last 2 weeks in St. George Island, FL!   It is our favorite place and we had the best time.

 

  We spent most of our days on the beach. Reece and Mary Ashtyn love to snorkel and play in the waves.  The four of us spent lots of time in the ocean.  After a full day on the beach, we headed out to eat, usually in Apalachicola, Eastpoint, or Carrabelle.  It was such a relaxing vacation. 

We spent a lot of time talking about Lily.  The kids did a lot of wondering...

I wonder if Lily will like the ocean...I wonder if she'll like seafood... I wonder where she'll sit in the car...I wonder where she'll sleep in the RV...I wonder what she looks like without her hair in pig tails...I wonder if she'll let me fix her hair.

Trent and I wondered too...

I wonder what it will be like when we meet her for the first time...I wonder if she thinks of us as much and we think of her...I wonder if she'll be able to camp by this time next year...I wonder if she'll be able to run and put her toes in the ocean...I wonder if she'll be overwhelmed by how much we already love her. 

Then we marvel at the peace that we have about Lily joining our family.  God has always planned for her to be ours!

 Reece and Mary Ashtyn wrote her name in the sand.  They are so excited about their Mei Mei. 

Please keep praying for our Lily.  Our home study is on the way to immigration,so we're praying for I-800A approval very soon.  Until we can get her home, we'll just keep wondering and dreaming about our girl.

New Picture!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We sent Miss Lily a little sterling silver heart necklace through Gifts to China with Love.  We have been over the moon today, because we got this......................

 

I am so in love with this sweet little girl.  I am so thankful that God chose us to be her parents!!  This picture is amazing, but the VIDEO that came with it is priceless.  Lily is just bubbling and at the end she says, "sheh-sheh Baba and Mama" (thank you Daddy and Mama).  She looks straight at the camera and calls us Daddy and Mama!!!!!  You have never seen two bigger idiots than us when we heard that.  What a blessing she already is to us!

Prayers for Lily

We've gotten several comments from people who are following our blog...so I thought this would be a great way to get more people praying for Lily.  The first and second posts on this blog explain how God led us to Lily.  Our family has no doubt that she is meant to be with us.  We are at complete peace with our decision to bring her home from China.  She has a bilateral hip dislocation and walks in a severe crouch. 

 Every good and perfect gift is from above.  James 1:17

She is one determined little girl.  Reports that we have say that she is very independent and enjoys playing on the playground with the other children at the orphanage.  Her hips don't slow her down at all!!  We have already met with an orthopedic specialist and reviewed X-rays that were sent from China.  Since she is older, we won't really know if the dislocation can be corrected until we can do further testing to determine bone density and structure.
If you're reading this, please say a little prayer for our Lily Joy.  Please leave a comment if you have a prayer request...we would love to pray for you, too!!  

This Picture is Worth....

A thousand words?  Of course!  Once we start talking about our girl, it's more like millions of words :)

A get out of jail free card?  Not exactly, but it did get us out of a speeding ticket on the way to try to get our fingerprints this morning!!!  When the policeman came up to the window, he caved once he saw our precious Lily's picture!  Thank goodness!!


Free admission to Disney World??  No, even BETTER....an early admission to immigration for fingerprinting.  TODAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  WoooHoooo!!!!!  When we arrived at 10:30 this morning, the immigration officer told us that they could NOT fingerprint us.  There was only one technician and they were busy.  Again, he caved when he saw our girl and worked us in at 12:30.  Another huge step to Lily Joy!!!!

We also submitted all of our dossier paperwork.  As soon as these fingerprints clear, we can start getting the dossier (paperwork that will go to China) certified and authenticated to get it ready to be sent to China...dossier to China (DTC).  

Please pray that these fingerprints are processed quickly and we get our CIS approval SOON.  Pray with us that God is preparing Lily to be a Bamberg...we want her to be as excited as we are.

Fingerprint Appointment

We got the letter for our fingerprint appointment today!!!  One step closer to Lily!  The appointment date is on a day that we will be in St. George Island, FL.  We are praying, praying, praying that we can go this week and get these done.  If not, we'll be making the 7 hour trip home for fingerprinting and then go back....anything it takes to get our little girl home.  Please say a prayer that we'll be able to get fingerprints done this week. 

10 Years

Ten years ago, the sweetest boy in the world was born.  I am so blessed to be his Mama!  No matter how old he gets, Reece will always be my baby boy.  I am so thankful that God led us all the way to Kazakhstan for our son. He is such a blessing to us.  He's always got that sweet smile on his face and always gives the biggest hugs.  I was sitting up front in church this morning as he walked by to go downstairs for extended session...he stopped in front of everybody just to give me a big hug.  He is so sweet and loving.  I am one very blessed Mom!

 

I'm still trying to figure out how our chubby cheek baby turns 10 tomorrow!

Happy Birthday, Reece Man....Love you bunches!!!