Soooo behind...

on so many things - including blogging!!!

School is swiftly coming to a close here, and you know what that means.....  We will be traveling to meet and bring our cute girl home!!!   We are sooooo excited!!!

I can't be excited without thanking all of you who donated to help make this possible - monetary donations, prayer donations, positive thought donations, encouraging message donations - each and every one of those things has made a huge difference for us!!!  Thank you so very very VERY much!!!  I am so grateful to each of you, because without your support - this would not be happening.  So - thank you from the bottom of our hearts.

The Princess is beside herself with excitement for her little sister, Littlest Dude is excited too, but it is still sort of an abstract kind of excitement - I can't wait to see both their faces when they meet her :)  Hopefully they will all be well acquainted through skype and face time :) and it will become more real to Littlest Dude :)  He doesn't quite understand the concept of adoption yet :)  But, I am sure it will become a little clearer to him within the next month!!!

We are excited, nervous, anxious, and soooo very happy and feeling so very blessed.  The Lord hears and answers prayers - we are a living testimony of that.  We are soooo grateful to him - he is soooo good.

PS - look at sweet Veronika - could she be yours?  Isn't she a cutie?   She needs a family so badly....... http://reecesrainbow.org/?s=Veronika - and she already has over $5,000 in her grant account towards her adoption!!  :)  And - because she is in another region of the country - you wouldn't even have to spend an entire month there, like "some" people we know ;)   Go - take a peek at cute Veronika - you know you want to!!!!

Thanks for sharing in our journey and in our joy!!!!

The Lord WILL provide :)

He really will......

I am behind in blogging - but mostly because I am trying to get everything ready to go to Fiona's country!!!  Whooo hooooooo!!!!

Our plane tickets are booked.  Our apartment is reserved!!!!  The Lord helped us work it all out :)

And - you know what?  It ended up being the 2nd apartment we looked at :)  The one a very kind, sweet foster mother in Fiona's country found for us, as she has done for many adoptive families.  She has such a big heart for these kids and knows what a difference a family can make for them and she wants them in families. She has been so patient with us and so helpful, we are so grateful for her!!!

The countdown has begun!!!!

We'll be there soon cute girl!!!  Hopefully we won't rock your world too much, but know that we love you and can't wait for you to know the love of a family!!!

You know those moments....

the ones where you just have to turn everything over to the Lord and pray that he helps you work them out....  In our apartment search for our time in Fiona's country - well - we are having to do that.  The one, really great apartment, at a great price that the most darling foster mom from Fiona's country found for us, fell through - and we are in a mad scramble to find something now that our flights are booked.

So - any extra prayers you have would be greatly appreciated that we can find an apartment for a good price that will be appropriate and safe for our month long stay. 

A month - a whole month away from my kids - it's hard for me to even think about it.  I am so grateful for my married kids who will stay with their siblings, for their sacrifice and love for them and for Fiona.  They are truly a blessing. 

On the name front - we have narrowed it down to 9 :)  I keep trying to get The Dad to narrow  it down a bit more, but he keeps saying we have "time" :)   I think he might be doing it to purposely drive me crazy ;)  They sure are cute names though!

So - we are praying hard to find the right apartment, that the Lord will provide the answers and that it will be a good place for us and our cute girl.  We know he's got this - just praying he will help us to know asap - since we have to submit the address as quickly as possible to the Ministry of Fiona's country....

Thank you so much for all your prayers and support on our behalf - they mean the world - seriously - we couldn't do it alone.  THANK YOU!!!!

After much debate, and decision, and number working.....

The Dad had to make a decision he never wants to make......

to fly a non-preferred airline....  gasp........

our favorite just wouldn't work with us to fit in our budget.....

So - you know what that means......

COACH baby...... 

not a single chance of an upgrade (which never meant a thing to me until - well - we got upgraded on an international flight last summer - now it means WOWZA - those people in first and business class - yup - they are lucky lucky lucky!!!!)

but - in the grand scheme of things - it really is unimportant - because - we're going to get our sweet girl!!!!!!!!

What's in a name????

Let me tell you - over the years - the naming of our children has brought about much debate, indecision, and discussion between The Dad and myself :)  The first baby was easy - he let me name her the name I'd been dreaming of naming a daughter for years.  The 2nd baby - well - that got a little more complicated - but luckily we both found a name we loved.  The 3rd baby - well - it all went south from there on out ;)  Finally by baby #5 we did a "hers and his" trade - I got to name The Princess and he got to name Littlest Dude....

Which brings us to #7 :)  Lucky number 7 (lucky US to be getting #7!!!)

Here is the back story on Fiona's name :)  Fiona is not really the given name of the little girl we are adopting - it is her "screen" name :)  When adoption agencies or ministries list children, they don't use their real names - they use names they make up - to protect the children's identities.   So - our little sweetie doesn't even know that we have referred to her as Fiona all these months (not that she knows anything about us yet ;) or that so many people have been praying for her, as Fiona :)  And - Fiona is most definitely not her real name.  We know that now, because we now know what her real name is :)  

It is a beautiful name - and one that we plan on keeping either as her first or middle name :)  We also think Fiona is a beautiful name, just not the name we would have picked for our little one (partially because of Littlest Dude's former love of all things Shrek :)

Why a whole post about this?  Well - I just don't want anyone to be surprised or offended when or if we change our little sweetie's name :)  We have always said that we needed to know what her name really is, and then to hear the story behind it (who named her etc...) and meet her - see how attached to to it she is and then decide whether to change it, or keep it the same :)

So - we will definitely keep you all updated!!!!  But - don't hold your breath, because we won't be able to officially announce what it is until our adoption is final - which could be in about 6 months :)  Holding your breath for 6 months just "might" not be a good idea ;)  

So - for now - "Fiona" - she stays :)

He hears and answers prayers....

seriously - our adoption journey has just solidified my testimony of that truth.  Our Heavenly Father knows each of us personally, he loves us, we are his children - and how could a parent NOT love their child with all their heart?  He is always there for us, wants the best for us, loves us - listens and answers - not always in the way we want, or as quickly as we might like - but he does answer our prayers!

And - he answered ours!  We have travel dates, and we have our little EE beauty's real name :)  And - wait for it - it's going to be a shocker.......  It's NOT Fiona ;) ha ha ha

I can't post what it really is - but it is a very pretty name and there is a good chance we will keep it as her first name, but definitely as a middle name, if not :)  It's not going anywhere :)  We can't wait to meet her and discover who she is :)

It really hit me this week - we are actually going!!!  The culmination of all these months, of everyone's prayers and support on her behalf - it is actually happening!

My corner "pile" of things to take to EE is growing.  We are working on what to take humanitarian wise for the orphanage - diapers? clothing? books? medicines?  Not sure exactly what is best - but we will figure it out :)  Maybe a combination of all of the above? 

I still feel like I need to pinch myself - but - I'm not dreaming - it is really happening! 

And  - my heart is full of gratitude to the Lord for all of his blessings and for his answer to our prayers.

Praying......

yup - praying hard!!!

That we will get our travel dates - TODAY!!!!

And - along with the travel dates/invitation to travel to meet our girl - we will learn her REAL name!!! 

We are all so anxious and curious to see what her name really is. 

She has no idea that we call her Fiona, that someone at RR gave her that "name" when she was listed on their site.  She has no idea who Fiona is :)

So - I am praying hard tonight - that the travel invitation and dates will come - along with her name - wouldn't that be the BEST way to start off a Monday????

Much better than insomnia - right?

I'll keep y'all posted.....