Those Eyes!

Do you see her eyes?

Sweet sweet girl

Do you see the hope?

The spark

The will to live...the will to love?

I don't understand. 

How can it be? 

Seven years and yet you haven't given up.

Please DON'T give up.....

Wait

Wait just a little bit longer.

Please Lord.

"So I will call upon Your name

And keep my eyes above the waves

When oceans rise

My soul will rest in your embrace

For I am Yours and You are mine"

(Hillsong/Oceans)

Baby girl.....keep your eyes above the waves.

We love you.

On Roadblocks and Hurdles...

Though we are working at warp speed to bring Hope home there have been some roadblocks.

We are seeking to expedite the process on the US side and have had issues with documentation requirements. We have submitted all that was asked for, but today we were told more is needed.

A picture is worth a thousand words.... 

Unfortunately three MD affidavits and a picture and a video are not enough.

The GOOD news? Once we jump this hurdle ALL of our paperwork is ready to be submitted to the government in Hope's country.

Truthfully...we are exhausted...we are worn down.....we feel defeated. Tears are never far from the surface.  We look at the video we have of our sweet daughter, and we pray for her health and strength.

Will you come alongside us and pray for miracles? 

Wishes

"To wish was to hope, and to hope is to expect." ~ Jane Austen, Sense and Sensibility  

So...we are WISHING.

Wishing our girl Hope was sharing secrets with her friends and doing homework and arguing with her siblings and splashing in the pool and staying up late watching Frozen and singing with us in church and falling asleep on Mama's lap and helping Daddy make pancake on Sunday morning and...and....WISHING.

Wishing...the real "heart-pounding; can't sleep" sense of urgency we feel to bring our girl home was felt by others.  Wishing.

Wishing...MONEY wasn't such an overwhelming obstacle to adoption. Wishing.

We are HOPING.

Hoping our girl has a guardian angel with her in her crib, singing her a lullaby, keeping her strong, telling her mama is coming.  Hoping.

Hoping you will come along beside us and pray, share and donate to our Hope.  Hoping.

We are EXPECTING!
Expecting a MIRACLE!
Needing a miracle.
Praying for a miracle.


Along with all that WISHING and HOPING and EXPECTING and PRAYING comes a lot of HARD WORK!

"You don't need to wish harder, you need to work harder!" ~ Amit

We still have so many amazing opportunities for you to come alongside us. For locals:

For EVERYONE!

Amazing Auction!  So much cool stuff!

Thirty-One Party! Beautiful, functional bags! Take a look!  Make sure to click on Lauren Horton's party!! 

Weighty Matters

A bag of sugar

A puppy

A dumbbell 

A seven year old girl.

"You plead my cause, You right my wrongs

You break my chains, You overcome.

You gave Your life to give me mine

You say that I am free

How can it be, how can it be?"

Lauren Daigle

Journey to Hope

Thank you for joining us on this "Journey to Hope"

So Happy to have you along has we follow the path God has set for us.

Though we are expediting this adoption, realistically we will be together on this journey for nine months, so .......Let me tell you a little bit about "us".

Marriage
34 years....say WHAT?!  
...and they said it would never last. :)
So thankful that God sees the beginning and the end and that in His infinite wisdom and grace He gave each of us our soul-mate. 

                  

Family.......
everything we dreamed of
the source of great joy
Our biggest blessing.

Family.....
the most difficult  thing we've ever done
the cause of many sleepless nights 
and tear filled days

Ten children
Ten VeRy unique personalities
Three testosterone filled males
Seven Hormone driven Females
Three that caused mama to gain weight  as they grew in her belly
Seven that caused her to gain weight during the paper-pregnancy.
Hmmmmm....or maybe it was the chocolate peanut butter ice cream?!

Thank you for coming along as we get to know # Eleven 

Excited to share more about her, and to walk with you on this Path of Life.