Travel Approval!

Good news! Our travel coordinator called today and said that we received our travel approval! She also gave us a date. She said that we should be leaving with their March 24th travel group! Our long awaited journey to pickup our beautiful daughter, Anabelle, is almost here! With that being said, we ask that you please pray for several things.
First of all, please pray for my peace during the flights and for our safety there and back. One of my biggest fears over the past few years has been flying. Yes, my husband flys helicopters in the US Air force and I don't like to fly! Its funny too that the one place where I feel called to adopt, is almost the farthest place we could go... All I can say is I am trusting God with this. He gave us this dream and I believe He will complete it and He will carry me through this.
Another thing to pray for is Anabelle's peace. From what I understand, someone is going to meet us somewhere, hand her over, say a quick good-bye and they are out of there! She is not going to understand what is going on. Who are these people and where am I? Some children are very distraught at first. Its going to be interesting to say the least. Pray that we will be able to comfort her.
One last prayer request is to pray for Caedmon's comfort as well. He knows we are going to go get his sister, but I don't think he realizes that we will be gone for 2 weeks. The grandparents are going to take care of him. Joseph's mom and dad one week and mine the next. I know he will have a blast with them and will probably be a little spoiled when we get back! ;)
We are going to do our best to blog our trip and post pictures while we are there to keep everyone updated! We can't wait to hold our precious little girl and bring her home! Thank you for your prayers! Love to you all! ~April

Another Thank You!

We have been so blessed by the support and prayers of our friends and family! Both of our families have been extremely supportive and we just want to say thank you and we love you all! Also a thank you to Joseph's mom's church for taking up an offering for us as well! Truly appreciated and such a blessing!

More Blessings!

Wow, what a weekend! We are just overwhelmed with God's goodness! God has blessed us so much with such loving Christian brothers and sisters! We just want to take the time to thank all those who have supported us and helped us reach our financial adoption goal! Another blessing which happened this weekend was my church that I grew up in, First Free Will Baptist, in good ole NC, took up an offering for us. One of our loving sisters in Christ, had read our blog, saw our need, and took action! She made the beautiful posters you see in the pictures! Thank you so much Trish and First Free Will Family! Thank you for being used by God to be such a blessing to us! ~April

Another Answered Prayer

April and I just received an incredible email; it said that our donation goal had been reached. I logged into the donation website and read a name that I did not recognize. Someone we don't know personally, just donated the balance of our adoption. I'm in a little shock right now. This feels a little like one of those angel encounters where they have to tell you "don't be afraid."
It has been humbling to write in the blog about how much the adoption costs and it's been humbling setting up the donation and t-shirt fundraiser. It's extremely humbling knowing someone has sacrificed financially so we can share God's love. It gives me so much joy knowing April and I did not do this on our own. Previously, I had greedily asked God to help me with "my" adoption, like I was in control. My new way of thinking is asking God how can I be used in this adoption. He let us pay for some of it and endure the paperwork but through it all, God has been in control.
I need to tell others about this. If only I can get through it without crying. Thank you, Lord.
This is touching my soul in a brand new way. I can feel why pastors preach and missionaries go on missions (local and abroad), that's where they were called and that's where they experience God. I'm experiencing God. And all I can do at this moment is be quiet and still, I'm currently caught up in the Awe phase.
I love this story, not just the money part, but the entire adoption journey.

Anabelle and her panda

This was a picture of Ana after she had just gotten her panda bear. We tried to post it before but for some reason we couldn't get it to post. This is probably my favorite picture of her, even though she isn't smiling. I can't wait to see her smile and laugh and just be a giggly little girl with a mommy and daddy who loves her very much! ~April