Enjoy the Trip

Today I was reflecting about my senior trip. We went on a bus trip to Florida. It was amazing and is still one of my favorite trips to this day.

The thing was, Florida was only a small part of the trip.

We didn't just power through the journey, peeing in bottles, eating pre-packed snacks and never stopping (shout out to my dad-in-law) ;). No. We wound our way down to Florida. Rafting. Mountain climbing. Shopping. Going to museums. Racing shopping carts.

This was all before we got to Florida.

Don't get me wrong, we had a BLAST in Florida, too. But if we had just blinked our eyes and been there we would have missed out on so many wonderful adventures. Friendships were deeper. Showers were fewer. Arms were stronger.

I think that the process of adoption is a similar journey. If we just blinked our eyes and it was over we would miss out on the sweetness of the process.

Sometimes things don't seem so sweet, like when the scheduled "shower" for the day is a Walmart bathroom or when your dossier gets lost, but it is all part of the bigger trip that we are on and that makes it kind of wonderful, too.

Enjoy the trip, Reader.

Advice from Terri

After Garth and I were married I got a job working for a local bank. I had that job for a little over three years. Toward the end of my time there, I was expecting Grace.

Gracie was our first baby. Or "Number One, haha" as she refers to herself.

There is so much advice out there when you are pregnant. Eat this. Don't eat that. Wear this. Don't wear that. Worry about this, that and the other.

Being a first time mother, I was overwhelmed. Who do I listen to? The books? The doctors? My well-meaning friends?

At about 12 or 14 weeks the doctor recommended that I have a test done to see if the baby had any genetic problems. I really worried about what to do. Some friends said, "You should find out so that you can prepare." Others said, "What can you do anyway? Forget about the test."

Neither answer gave me peace.

Finally a friend named Terri that I worked with at the bank told me, "Do you take your vitamins?" "Yes," I said. "Do you drink water?" "Yes," I replied.

"What else can you do? You are doing all you can, leave the rest to God."

That little bit of advice has stuck with me ever since.

Even now, nine years later.

I have done all I can. I just mailed the (second) dossier off yesterday and it will be hand carried to Ukraine on April 1. I have applied for grants. I made lotion bars like a mad woman.

Now is time to leave the rest to God.

Our Video

Here is the video for our Give1Save1 campaign.

If you haven't seen it, check it out!

God bless!

(No captions yet, but I will sic Garth on that project.)

Amazing Grace

I went to a workshop in Atlanta and saw this video. It is about a girl who had been blind since birth. Everything that she holds to be factual is based on faith.

Tonight Garth and I went to a concert that the League for the Blind held at the Embassy. It was wonderful. The Blind Boys of Alabama. Normally they have a blues group and I leave feeling the need for a hearty serving of hemlock. This time, however, was gospel. And oh what gospel it was. Stand up. Respond. Clap in rythmn. (still working on that last one, haha).

I left feeling uplifted.

As I sat in the auditorium I thought about how we are taking a huge step of faith. Not based on any experience that we have. Not based on anything but...faith. I can't explain it if you don't understand faith. There are roads that you will take that would cause me to balk. This is a road that we are taking that we realize is out of many people's comfort zones. But that doesn't mean that it is not the right one.

We are walking by faith, not by sight.

And we are promised that One Day we will understand.

Muito Brigada!

Thank you so much to everyone who has given on our Give1Save1 page so far. I was raised right and I always like to send out thank you cards, if you want to message me your address, I would be happy to, but unfortunately I don't have the majority of your addresses, in fact, there are some of you I haven't even met, so I thought that I would put it out this way as big THANK YOU from our growing family!

Brooke 
Julie
Katie
Bridgette
Corina
Larisa
Annie
Eric
Mark
Audrey
Kerry
Stephanie
Bethany
Christina
Natalie
Steve and Linda 
Casey
I was telling Katie, of Give1Save1 fame, how much it means to me to have people loving on us this way, this has been an interesting journey. For every family member or friend who thinks we are making a mistake and decides to speak negatively about it to others, there are ten people, coming out of the woodwork to support us! 

When I look at all the love that has come from unexpected sources such as I listed above, I just feel so blessed, like God is saying, "I support you and I am bringing others around you who do as well."

Thank you. Words cannot express the blessing that we feel through your support. It is more than a dollar amount, it is the redemption price for a life. 

God bless you.

The Sponsellers and the Mystery of the Missing Dossier

Well, Readers, as you might have guessed from my cleverly worded, Nancy Drew-esque title, we have yet to have our dossier turn up.

(For all of you who are like "dossy-what:" a dossier is your life in paper form. Every legal document  is original and notarized. There were about 35 documents in our dossier before it was apostilled.)

I know what the problem is. We had 35 documents that were then apostilled (which involves attaching yet another piece of paper to each document) making a total of 70 documents to be mailed out. Those 70 documents got shoved into a manila envelope with $3.32 in postage on it. Needless to say, not enough postage. Now we can only hope that someone, somewhere will have mercy on our po' envelope.

Instead of wallowing in what Dr. Suess refers to as the "Waiting Place," we are forging ahead. Today I got the ball rolling to redo. I think I will be able to have it completed within a week with some running. I will take it down to Indianapolis this time instead of risking another "glitch."

Whereas I am not thrilled with this development, it is what it is. Thankfully we were far enough ahead that this does not set us back at all.

At least I am not getting stretch marks.

:D

Give1Save1-Europe: New Week, Welcome the Sponseller Family!

Give1Save1-Europe: New Week, Welcome the Sponseller Family!: Good Morning! Hope you had a fabulous weekend! This week I am so excited to introduce you to the Sponseller family ! Please meet Garth and...