Beach Reading!

Raleigh and I are so blessed to be heading to the beach for a few days with my family. I absolutely LOVE the beach.

While putting my toes in the sand, I am looking forward to reading Parenting Your Internationally Adopted Child by Patty Cogen. Raleigh and I are trying to prepare as much as we can before our treasure comes home. I know that we could read a million books and would not ever be totally prepared, but I also think it is smart to research attachment strategies, prepare to deal with our child's grief, etc...etc...etc....

If you have read other great books that you would recommend, let me know.:)

Another Update...

I guess I should have waited one more day before posting an adoption update. Our agency released this today via the South Korea blog

"The wait for a referral after your homestudy approval date is currently about 18 months, with 8 families waiting for referral since Nov/Dec 2008."

If this holds true we will receive our referral sometime near January 2011.

On a lighter note, today was the last day of school with my kiddos!!
School's Out For Summer!!!

Brief Adoption Update

Lots of sweet friends have been asking for an adoption update. So...I'll do my best.

The short story - we are just waiting.

The slightly longer story - it seems like most families with our agency are currently waiting between 12 months and 16 months for a referral. On July 30 we will hit the one year mark of waiting. So we could potentially recieve our referral (picture and medical information) as early as August or it may be closer to the end of 2010.

In the meantime, Raleigh and I are enjoying our time as a family of two and praying that God continues to prepare us to become a family of three.

Say a Prayer for the Chapman Family

In April, I posted the story of Katherine Arnold Wolf and how her brain injury on April 21, 2008 led Raleigh and I to pray without ceasing and intercede for others in a fresh, new way. Through this experience, God was beginning to lead us to adoption.

One month later on May 21, 2008 sweet Maria Sue Chapman saw her Heavenly Father face to face. I do not know Steven Curtis Chapman's family personally, but I always felt like I knew them.

I grew up in Nashville and attended Christ Community Church where the Chapman family also attended. So although I did not really know the family, I felt like I did. When I heard the news of the death of their youngest daughter, Maria Sue, my heart broke for this family. Raleigh and I once again found ourselves going to our knees in prayer for this precious family. I feel like when someone is in the depths of darkness and cannot even pray, it is our duty as followers of Christ to stand in the gap and lift up prayers on their behalf.

As we prayed for the Chapmans, the Lord started giving me a curiosity about adoption. Raleigh and I went to the beach in June 2008, and I took the book The Lost Daughters of China by Karin Evans. I read the book in a matter of hours and asked Raleigh to take me to the bookstore so I could look at a few more books. I really had no idea about the "specifics" of adoption so I purchased a variety of books and read them all on our trip.

God revealed a great need to both me a Raleigh....millions of orphans go to bed every night without a mom and dad. Millions of orphans have no place to call home. Millions of orphans waiting to have a family,waiting to hear the words I love you.

During April and May, the Lord brought Raleigh and I to our knees for others (Katherine and the Chapmans) and started teaching us what it means to pray boldly for others. Then the Lord showed us a way we could join His journey to love orphans. We always knew we wanted to be parents one day, we just assumed we would have biological children. God is so cool in the way he can transform our hearts.

When we got back from the beach, I started researching every adoption agency I could find. I requested packets of information that were mailed to our home, I watched online web seminars, and read a lot more about the Chapman's adoption journeys.

At the end of June 2008, Raleigh and I attended an informational meeting at Bethany Christian Services. Over the next few months, the Lord continued to give us clarity that it was His plan for us to pursue adoption. It is such a crazy God thing, because when I think back about it, Raleigh and I never had any huge discussions about why we should not adopt. God gave us each the desire to adopt and the peace to begin the process.

In October of 2008, Raleigh and I submitted our preliminary application to Bethany.

If you have made it this far, thanks for reading. Most importantly please pray for the Chapman family as they long to see sweet Maria Sue.

Korean Wedding Ducks

Our sweet friends Tara and Zeb visited South Korea in 2007. While there, they purchased a set of Korean Wedding Ducks. We feel so honored that Tara and Zeb recently decided to give us the ducks. We have them sitting on a bookcase in our den and love having a small bit of Korean culture in our home! Raleigh and I plan to one day give the ducks to our son or daughter on his or her wedding day.

These ducks are a traditional wedding gift in Korea, usually passed down from mother to daughter for many generations. The ducks represent a couple's marital status and are to be placed in a prominant location in the couple's home. One duck represents the bride and one duck represents the groom. If the ducks are facing nose to nose, then the couple is happy. If the ducks are tail to tail, the couple is having a tiff.

Luckily, the ducks in our house are nose to nose!:)

Worth the read....

"If you have your Bible and I hope you do, I invite you to turn to..."

This is how David Platt begins many of his sermons at The Church at Brook Hills. One of the things that Raleigh and I miss the most about Birmingham is church. God is using David in mighty ways for his glory. I encourage you to visit the church's website and enjoy a message or two. A powerful teaching series is the Radical series.

Over the weekend, I discovered that David has also written a book, Radical, Taking Back Your Faith from the American Dream. I read the book and there are so many great things to consider and I encourage you to read the book!! It will be worth your time. Basically, David invites us to consider in the teaching series and the book, that as followers of Christ and in lite of the dire spiritual and physical needs around the world, we are to live in a radically different way. Our life should be spent in radical abandonment to Jesus.

p. 93 Jesus simply, intentionally, systematically, patiently walked alongside 12 men. Disciples are not mass-produced. Making disciples is not an easy process. It is trying. It is messy. It is slow, tedious, even painful at times. It is all these things because it is relational. Jesus has not given us an effortless step-by-step formula for impacting nations for his glory. He has given us people, and he has said, "Live for them. Love them, serve them, and lead them. Lead them to follow me, and lead them to lead others to follow me. In the process you will multiply the gospel to the ends of the earth."

This makes me think of my own life. Who am I investing my life into so that they will one day go out and lead more people to Christ?

Happy Mother's Day to the 2 Best Moms in the World!

To Mom Gill from Bridgette…

Thanks for the countless Friday nights of watching TGIF and ordering a pizza.

Thanks for always letting me get a coke and popcorn at Target.

Thanks for teaching me that sometimes you just have to put your big girl panties on and deal with life.

Thanks for always letting me pick out paint colors for my toy room and bed room.

Thanks for inspiring me to dream big and then set practical goals to make the dreams come true.

Thanks for paying for my first car, my college education, and an awesome wedding!

Thanks for countless beach vacations that are the source of so many great memories.


To Mom Gresham from Raleigh…

Thanks for teaching me how to read.

Thanks for always letting me have Sobe drinks in my lunch even though now that I’m an adult I know they are really expensive.

Thanks for teaching me the value of Christmas traditions.

Thanks for all the years you drove in a third world country.

Thanks for letting me quit taking guitar lessons and learn on my own.

Thanks for setting the example that it is always better to laugh than mope.

Thanks for supporting my decision to "play with kids in the hospital."

We love you both so much! Happy Mother's Day!
Love,
Raleigh and Bridgette