¡Muchas Gracias!

Just want to thank all of you who have so generously donated to our adoption. Your gifts are very much appreciated! We get more excited every day. Paul Vincent asks about Rose daily. It is so sweet. Yesterday he was concerned about fixing her room up. He wanted to make sure that she would have plenty of toys. Um...no worries, son!

A Visit With Frank Kelly

Monday evening Paul and I went on a date. It's funny - we almost always end up going to the same place to eat. So, we made our way to Nabeel's (a wonderful place to eat if you are ever in the Birmingham area). We ate a nice dinner and shared great conversation. It's amazing how just a few minutes of talking without interruption can really build your marriage. After our meal, we drove next door and walked into the church - not really for any particular reason other than to spend some time there. When we entered the church, we realized that they had a special guest doing a talk. The speaker was a man named Frank Kelly. We found a seat and listened to his story. We had missed about half of his talk, but we still enjoyed hearing, and learning from, his life experiences. Little did I know what a treat I was in for! Paul has been to many services like this, but it was my first one. It was titled a 'healing service'. After Frank finished his story, he invited us all to stay and he would pray with each one of us individually. Turns out that Frank has a gift, given from God. Frank is what I would call an intercessor. He can lay his hands on someone, say a prayer, and God is able to work through him. Normally, I would be the first one out of the building and getting in my car. Seriously, this stuff kinda gives me the willies. However, God gave me peace. He led us into the church that night and put Frank in front of us for a reason. I felt no anxiety at all. And if you know me, that in itself is pretty awesome. Since we had arrived late that night, we were sitting near the back of the church, which put us in the back of the line to see Frank. We took this opportunity to pray, reflect and read while we waited. It was a special time. The crowd got smaller and smaller as time ticked by and soon it was our turn to speak with Frank. He came right over to us and asked (well, he kinda stated) "you two married?" Ha. Yep. He first addressed us as a couple. He said some extremely interesting things pertaining to our situation in life at this moment. One example - He told Paul not to question me quite so much. Ha! Trust that your wife knows what's important. Paul is the authority, however I know how to run things. Awesome. Perfect. He then directly addressed us as individuals. As Catholics, we sometimes ask people to pray for us. We not only ask or family and friends for prayers, we also ask those who have gone before us to pray for us. So, Frank gave us each of us a list of saints (those who are in Heaven) that could pray for us and directly intercede for us with our special intentions. Paul's list: St Ignatius of Loyola (for discernment), St Gregory the Great (for wisdom), St Ansel (for understanding) and he also told Paul to read Psalm 146. Um. As if the specific saints weren't enough...God wanted Paul to read that particular psalm?! "...the Lord protects the stranger, sustains the orphan, and the widow." WOW! Then Frank prayed for me. He first mentioned peace. Am I feeling the peace of God? Oh yes! He then named St Theresa of Avila (for depression and perfection...give it to God, St Francis de Sales (for writing and the gift of counsel in working with people), St Pius the 10th (the Eucharistic saint), and drumroll please... St Rose of Lima (everything will fall into place). Wow! No doubt! We left that evening with the biggest sense of peace and comfort in what we are doing with our lives. We know that God has led us down this path as a family and we are both completely anxiety free regarding the future of our family. Incredible. Thank you, God.

Over Reaction

Forgive me.

I think I over-reacted to someone that hurt my feelings a bit. I need to toughen up and learn to deal with things a little better. I have decided to hold off on going private for now. I just hope everyone learns to play nice :)

I got a letter from the FBI. I left one itty bitty thing blank and they sent me the form to fix it and I mailed it right back - I felt so silly for making a mistake!

Oops!

Thank you so much for all of your support. We expect NOTHING from anyone except your love and prayers... any donations are a GIFT to our sweet girl.

Private

Just giving you a heads up that this blog will go private in 24 hours. 

I hate to do it, but I must. 

Please comment if you want me to add.

GREAT DAY!

Who knew Monday could be a fantastic day?!

I talked with the listing adoption agency today and we had a great conversation. It was such a breath of fresh air - so nice to get some estimations in our timeline!

We could travel in NOVEMBER!!! That's like - tomorrow!! HA! That means if
1.Our homestudy is approved...
2. We get immigration work done...
3. Dossier paperwork takes the 2 months that the immigration stuff takes...
4. We 'pass' our psychological eval...
WE MIGHT HAVE OUR SWEET GIRL HOME FOR THE HOLIDAYS!!! What!?!?! God ROCKS!!!

Deep Thoughts

Well, maybe not so deep. #1 Notaries rock and I want to be one. Seriously. $10 to watch someone sign their name and stamp their paper. I can do that. #2 I have to figure out who will be the guardian of our kids if something happens to us. Um. That's a toughie. Who wants 3 kids? They are precious, but... That's huge. #3 I am really into organizing. I'm all about the keep/donate/trash thing right now. Might need to get a garage sale going.

In case you never read our story...

Please feel free to visit our family blog, so that you can get to know us better! AuburnMommy

International Adoption Clinic

Paul and I went to the IAC yesterday at Children's. We met some great adoptive parents that are also physicians. These moms will be our lifeline on our journey. It's so nice to know we will have the ability to text/call these doctors while we are out of the country! What a gift! We also met another couple adopting through Reece's Rainbow!!! The Gardner family is adopting precious Keegan. They also have two bio kids at home. They live at the beach, too. Ha! (Paul and I dream of living at the beach!) We have a lot in common. What a gift to make friends with a like-minded couple! Awesome! So, that's one more thing knocked off the to-do list! Exciting!! We are working, sweet girl!