I’m reading a book right now called, Carry On, Warrior, by Glennon Melton.  The first paragraph had me gripped immediately…I’m going to use it here and change a few words: my own are in ( )… (this adoption) story is tough to categorize.  It is a tragedy, comedy, romance, adventure, or redemption story depending on the (year), (month), (week), time of day, and how much sleep I’ve had.

Since my last post, our file has moved exactly NOWHERE.  The documents IBESR wanted were all turned in 2 days before Christmas I was told.  So, we continue to wait for good news regarding our case.  We wait with HOPE because friends and acquaintances are getting good news and their cases are moving forward!  We are very happy for them!

I was with our Sr. High youth group girls last night and we each shared one word that we hope to imprint on our heart, figuratively :), for 2014.  Here’s the words that were spoken by these sweet girls (one coming from Maggie who is currently a foreign exchange student in Finland and she got up in the middle of the night to spend time with us via Facetime!) : STRENGTHEN, EMBRACE, POSITIVITY (2x), COURAGE, PEACE, ADAPT, LEARN, FOCUS… my word is SURRENDER.  I want to be able to surrender all of this…every day. every hour.

I was sent a powerful Bible verse yesterday by a cousin in California (thanks Don Marsh!): Exodus 14:14 The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still.  Wow.

I find rest and comfort today in those words.  It’s hard for me to be still when I want answers and feel frustrated because things don’t appear “fair”.  Another place I’ve turned to for encouragement is the Southern Gospel channel on Pandora radio.  LOL I know.  I’m proud of my inner geek.  I blame my parents taking us to that Oak Ridge Boys concert at the State Fair back in the late 70s.  But, man, the truth (and the twang) in the words of those old gospel songs are so comforting to me…for now 🙂

We all missed having Vinny around at Christmas time (I had lots of teary moments all month when I pictured him being a part of our family and our traditions).  We held his picture in our pictures and made his own little pile of presents by each of ours.  We will leave them unopened (except for FIFA ’14 that we will let Will get a head start on- in the name of teaching Davensly).

Christmas memories.

A fun thing going on is we have started preparations for our trip to Haiti this June! Cal, Will and I are heading down with a group of Kozefò volunteers and friends.  So, step 1 was applying for the kids’ passports.  They are very excited about the process and to meet their brother!  Scott is not going with us on this trip for a few reasons, but mainly bc we are hoping and praying the 2 of us get to go down before then to appear in court, and June is a tough month for him to get off of work.  And, needless to say, it all costs $.

12-31-13 passport day!

Last Friday, Scott and I went to get our fingerprints done (again).  See a year ago for a funny post about that day.  This time around we had a few funnies, too- but this post is getting too long as it is.  For anyone with a good memory of that day, Scott did leave his cell phone in the car again this year. I did not.  And, one more quick story: I told the lady helping me that I loved her hair and I asked her where she gets it done- harmless enough… she then motioned to me that she takes it off… I whispered, “it’s a wig?!” And she whispers back with a big smile, “yes… And I just got it yesterday! You just made my day!”  hilarious.  She got a deal on it for $169 at the mall.  When we left she said she would pray for us that Davensly comes in 2014. 🙂

Here are a couple pics we got on Facebook on Christmas morning… a sweet gift.

Davensly. Kk, Riky, D, Stanley. and with their Nanny, Miss Nahomie. In their Christmas red, and Will’s shorts!