Post #60

Ok so call me crazy :) but I have been waiting to post anything until we got a date and because this will be post #60 on our blog. I know crazy! Anyway the day that we have been waiting for since the day that we got submitted has arrived. Nancy called me this morning to tell me that our facilitator in country emailed her to let her know that our date is February 14th @ 9 a.m. yep that's right Happy Valentines day!!! :) We will leave on the 11th. I am so super excited, I can not wait!!! We have our SDA appt exactly 7 weeks from today! :)

still waiting...

We are still waiting to hear from the girls country on a date for us to come over. To say that we have been patiently waiting would be a lie. I long to hold my beautiful girls in my arms, to show them the love they so deserve. To do so many things with them that they wouldn't normally be able to do. As Christmas approaches my heart is hurting more because I know where they are and I know where they will spend Christmas. I made a few Christmas cards with the girls picture on them and hung it on the Christmas tree, and Andrew's son and daughter picked out ornaments for the girls to have on the tree. We have a tradition that each year the kids get a new ornament, and even though they are not with us, they too get a new ornament. They have a family that loves them and longs for them to be home we just happen to be a few thousand miles away right now. We will soon have them and our arms and soon they will be in our arms and I can not wait for that day to come!

I hope my next post will be that we have been given a date until then I hope each of you have a blessed day!

A child's heart

As most of you seen we posted a coca~cola sled fundraiser a few days ago, along with posting it on here, I posted it on facebook, and then I set up at the local grocery store and sold chances. We drew today, and Mandy Shemwell is now the proud owner of a sled, which by the way they can use today since it is snowing like crazy outside right now.

We set up(at the grocery store) last Saturday the 4th and then I set up Friday(10th) and Saturday(11th). I tried to remind everyone that was putting in for a "chance" to win a sled what they were really doing was having a part in saving the life of two little girls that will be coming to a HOME and will be orphans no more. We live in a small town so most everyone that came in the store were people that we know, yesterday (Saturday the 11th) a lady I love dearly, worked with for a long time, and who is raising her grandson who is a sever diabetic came in with her grandson. I hadn't seen her in a while so she didn't know that we were adopting, so I told her the whole story hehe and so she gave $5 dollars for 6 chances and then a $15 dollar donation. Over the rest of the day more people came in and more people entered to win the sled. I was about to pack up and head home and in walks the little boy and he came up to the table and stood. I asked him what he was doing, how his day had been, and he told me. As he was walking away, to go get the sodas that his grandmother sent him in to get, he came back to the table and handed me a dollar and I told him I said your grandmother has already put in and he said yeah I know but my uncle gave me 11 dollars for Christmas and I wanted to give a dollar to your girls. Awwwww I mean he is a child and he gets it. I mean I had a dollar thrown at me earlier, and yes thrown at me, and said I guess I'll give a dollar, I even had funny stories about some of the people that came in, I can't tell you how many people wanted to know "what" we were adopting I mean really we had pictures of the girls all over the place. But for this child who got 11 dollars as a Christmas gift from his uncle, who could have easily spent it on a toy, spent it on candy, or whatever he wanted to he chose to give it to Ellee and Johannah to help bring them home. He left and went and bought his sodas and left, but as he left the store he had the biggest smile on his face, and walked a little taller and he should by all means have the biggest smile on his face and he should walk taller. :) Hence the title "A Child's Heart"

Feeling like I should post...

Not much really to post, but I feel I need to post something lol... Just waiting right now, tomorrow will be a week since we were submitted to the girls' country, the next step will be getting a travel date. I guess right now the big things that are happening would be the fundraisers that we have going on. One is the Coca~Cola Sled that was featured in the post before this one, the Pampered Chef has been extended until Friday so only 2 more days, and of course beautiful jewelry through Picky Gal on Etsy. Lots of great items for Christmas!

Christmas is only 24 days away and  This year All I Want For Christmas is my daughters to be happy, to be safe, have a loving family, to never have to worry about being wet, hungry, cold, never go to bed without an I Love You, a kiss and a hug. I never want them to be scared alone again. I want them to know when they get up in the morning they have a family waiting to greet them. I can't wait until we get "the call" that tells us our travel date, I can't wait until the day that I write the blog post "Gotcha Day" I can't wait until I write the blog post that says "On our way home" and I can't wait until the day I write the post that says "We're Home!!!"

Please be in prayer for us as many things will be taking place over the next couple of weeks!

*Oh I thought I had nothing to post lol ;)

New fundraiser!

Enter for your chance to win the Coca-Cola sled below! 1 chance for $1, or 6 chances for $5. To enter to win go to the donate button on the side and once you have made your donation please message me to let me know. This will help us bring our daughters home! Drawing for the winner will be December 12th Enter today for your chance to win!

Cokes not included lol

***If you live out of town you will be responsible for shipping charges*** Thanks a bunch! :)

A VERY HAPPY THANKSGIVING

Wow we have so many things to be thankful for! First and foremost being saved by the Grace of God! Family and friends to share time with, and this an extra special THANKSGIVING We were submitted to the SDA (state department of adoptions) in the girls country. A big step! Now we wait for them to send us an apt date and invite us to their country. I can not wait to meet my beautiful daughters! I can not wait to hold them in my arms! I can not wait to bring them home! I have so much to be thankful for!!!

And as the old saying goes "What doesn't kill you will make you stronger" I totally believe that after the journey of paperwork! God is so good, and I can never thank him enough! My faith has truly been strengthened!

I love you Ellee and Johannah and mommy and daddy are coming soon!!!

The post everyone has been waiting on since our rollercoaster ride started on Saturday

As you know we found out on Saturday that we had mistakenly sent 2 copies of my state background check... Our fault for not triple checking and being in such a hurry, but the state guys fault for giving us 2 copies of mine instead of one of mine and one of Andrews, which he later corrected with sending us 2 copies of Andrew's and we received on Thursday. But we still didn't know anything was wrong with our paperwork until Saturday and didn't realize he had sent us 2 copies of Andrew's until Saturday. Now with all that said, we are determined people, we know God has called us to adopt Ellee and Johannah and nothing will stand in God's way! We have a great team who works really hard with us to. We had the extra copy but we had to somehow get it over to the girls' country in time for us to be submitted this Thursday, and if you remember from an earlier post this last package had a ride, so we didn't particularly trust a delivery service. So Nancy told us to send out an email and ask if anyone was leaving out on Monday or Tuesday so we would have time to get it to them. So I did that and a wonderful lady named Samantha came back and said that she was leaving out Tuesday (tomorrow the 23rd) and she would be willing to take it for us if we could get it to her in Phoenix in time. Ok so how are we going to get it to Phoenix in time. So we started calling delivery services, there are no delivery services open Sundays, so we were looking for maybe a same day service but the cheapest we found for that was $500 What are you kidding me. Next option seeing if anyone had frequent flyer miles they would be willing to give us because we did not have the extra money for a plane ticket, plane ticket $300. No one had frequent flyer miles. We put out requests on facebook, and believe me if you want something done put it on fb, because we had wheels turning everywhere and Heaven was being flooded with prayers for our beautiful daughters.

By Sunday though I had become discouraged, I was almost giving up, because I felt no way was this going to happen. I skipped church because I was so bummed, and I didn't feel like going in and plastering a smile on my face and pretending everything was ok or was going to be ok. But little did I know that Heaven was going to be flooded and lots of prayers was going up that morning. My daughter's Godmother had special prayer in their Sunday School class, and then our pastor made an announcement for special prayer.
Meanwhile I had a family Thanksgiving meal to go to, and was bummed but I went and I did have a good time, but the whole time I was thinking we had failed God had failed and it was over, satan had won. Wow was I WRONG WRONG WRONG!!!!

We had come to the conclusion I was going to have to fly to Phoenix hand deliver it and then fly home. Boy again was I wrong! Andrew just happened to log onto his fb, mind you he didn't put anything on his fb because he is a man I LOVE YOU HONEY ;) but low and behold God was at work! One of his friends posted "About to head to Tuscon!" This was perfect!!! So Andrew called him and talked with him, and asked him if he was flying into Phoenix. Jerry explained to him...Are you ready??? That he was flying into Phoenix but that it was where his connecting flight is. I mean that is Awesome! Our thought was that he would fly into Phoenix and drive to Tuscon, but again we were WRONG! LOL Do we see a pattern??? God is in Control! Andrew explained to him our little girls' lives depended on it and asked him if he would be will to take it to Sam. Jerry said the only problem that might arise was that he wouldn't have to go back through security since it was a connecting flight so she would have to try to come through security. After talking to Sam and the airlines we found out that she wouldn't be able to go through security, he was still going to take the package we were just now going to have to trust a complete stranger with it. Boy was I panicky! :)

So this morning we set out for Nashville bright and early to get the package to Jerry before his flight at 11:00. We met Jerry at his hotel, gave it to him, with a kiss and much prayer over it. I kept thinking we would hear something at 4 because I kept thinking that Phoenix was an hour ahead of us instead an hour behind us. So when I didn't hear anything at 4 I got a sick feeling, but Andrew told me that his flight wouldn't be in until 6 our time 5 theirs. So I had another 2 hours of pacing the floor, along with others pacing with us, which I could never thank enough for hanging in there with us. So at 6:30 Sam called and said "The Eagle has Landed" I think I might have screamed in her ear. I was laughing, crying, jumping for joy! The funny part was they didn't have to go through another person Jerry handed it straight to Sam. They asked the security officer if he could give her the package and with a strange look and a shrug of the shoulder Jerry handed the package over the security guy to Sam! Isn't God so Good!!!

My friend Linny has been through a lot today with her family, and this next little section is a snit bit from her blog, and because she said it so well I snagged it from her. I told her though lol ;) This is what she said "No doubt, the enemy is ticked!! I don't often talk about the enemy and his tactics, but I strongly believe that he, indeed, "comes to steal, kill and destroy".....and when God's children challenge the status quo, speak passionately on behalf of the orphan and are relentless to make a difference, the enemy wants to ruin their day. He wants to to discourage, to torment with fear and to harm...so thankful we serve the mighty God of the Universe - - - who is far more powerful in every way!!!"

She is so wise!!!

Thank you to EVERYONE who helped, prayed, called and showed us lots of love during this time!!! We love you all!!! (And Amber who lost sleep with me)

Now to wait until Thursday to get that email that says "You have been submitted"

To be continued until Thursday with A Reason to be Thankful Post....

If you haven't already heard...

Well if you haven't already heard here is the sad sad sad news.... Our dossier made it but the state police clearance for my husband didn't. The guy who done our clearances made two copies for me, why would he do that!!!! I checked them, my husband checked them but some how we missed that detail. We have contacted several families that were willing to take it with them to the girls country, but the problem is getting it to them. No delievery service picks us or delivers or even open for that matter on Sunday, flights are to expensive, and driving well driving isn't completely out of the question but how I would do it is hard enough. Needing lots of prayers right now! Our adoption hasn't fallen through, but it looks like we could possible have to wait until they open back up in Feb which I am NOT happy about it breaks my heart!!! I don't know what to do!!!

It made it!

40,000 calls to UPS, a billion hours of lost sleep, and a trillion times checking the ups website our second packet of paperwork has made it. What are the chances of the trip that our dossier took. Oh yeah 1 in a billion and of course we were that one lol but that's ok because God will NEVER give us more than we can handle. If you would have told me a year ago that we would have gone through all of this I would have said I will never be able to go through that but God has changed me and has made my faith even stronger. Anyway are you ready to hear the journey....

Package leaves Ky, heads to Denmark, from Denmark to Poland, in Poland gets stuck in customs, then is released from customs, but then Poland has a horrendous storm so it gets stuck in Poland, leaves Poland heads to girl's country, where it is stuck in customs yet again, but lets take it one step further the government gets a hold of it, it then is released to our facilitator over there. Wow what a journey. lol :)

Let's pray for a Happy Thanksgiving!!! (For those who don't know what I am talking about, the girl's country only take dossiers on Thursdays, this Thursday will be an even more special Thursday for 2 reasons, 1 it is Thanksgiving, what a better Thanksgiving present and more to be Thankful for, and 2 the SDA closes down from the end of November until the end of February. So we have to be submitted this week if there is any hope of us traveling to see and get our girls this year) Please keep us in your prayers, and pay attention to Thursday's post!!! LOL :)

Again it shows you my GOD is bigger than satan!!!

Fundraisers and paperwork

Wow this past week has been crazy, crazy, crazy!!! As you know from my last post we got an email that stated that quite a bit of our paperwork needed to be redone because it fell under the 6months or older rule. So we set out getting it all fixed so we could get it back out ASAP. And up until Thursday night we feared that it wasn't going to happen, but just when you think there is no way God shows up and poof it is done. So Monday all paperwork went back out to the girls' country and is now somewhere on the other side of the world. It will arrive in the girls' country tomorrow. It will need to be translated and then submitted. It would be great if it could be submitted this week, and it is possible with God, but it looks like it will be next week. So please pray for us!!!

Next... We are having a pampered chef fundraiser. If you would like to purchase anything you can go to http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pamperedchef.biz%2Fkcorbin&h=0bcbb and click on shop online, and under option one enter Lane and then click on my name and shop away. :) Help us bring our 2 beautiful daughters home!

Satan Attacks!

Please read to the bottom this story is not all doom and gloom!!!
So many of you if you are my friends on facebook has seen the ups and downs of my post this week. Monday morning started off like any other Monday morning. Woke up, drug myself to the bathroom, took a shower, got ready for work, left thinking wow a little bit later of a start but today will be a good day. Boy I couldn't have been more wrong in my life. I go into work turn on my computer to start the day, go to check emails and there is one from Chris our stateside worker. He was informing me that he received an email from our facilitator in the girls' country and there was a list, and when I say a list I mean a list of documents, that have to be redone. So I would like to tell you I held it together, that I got right to work to fix everything, and that everything was a bed of roses. No I had a BREAKDOWN the kind where you cry until you can't see straight you lose you"re breathe and the whole room spins. Well then I pulled it together, Right, No I then blamed everyone that I could blame, then I pulled it together Right? No I cried some more, and then I got to work right, Right :) I emailed, I called, I emailed more. Most of the items on the list were an easy fix and then we got to two of them. Both of them were not an easy fix. One was the state police checks, and the other was medicals. We contacted the state police and Chris was wonderful and very sympathetic, but really wasn't anything he could do. He gave us 2 options one was to go to the police station and do our fingerprints again, and then send them in and it could take up to 3 weeks to get it back. 3 weeks!!! We DON'T HAVE 3 WEEKS!!! Option 2, more Andrew and Jennifer friendly come to the Capital and it would take 20 mins, so since we have to go to the capital anyways once all the paperwork is redone that is the best option and exactly what we will do.

Next was the medicals WOW those have been the craziest. I won't go into that because it has been a big mess from the beginning. The reader's digest version is that because we had our physicals 6 months ago we need a new date put on the form, and they wouldn't do it. But we are still praying about it and know that God is in our adoption, he has been since day 1 of his plan lol, not our plan, even before we committed to the girls he was in it. God will not let us down now, and we will make this second deadline, and our girls Will be home by the first of the year!!!

Now on a more positive note I got an email today(actually a fb message which I couldn't reply to until I left work because our system blocks fb so it was just a text message of the actual message), and I will keep that special woman's name anonymous, unless she wants it known, and then I will let you know who that is. Anyways I received this fb message and it said that she was about to have her son's birthday and that instead of gifts that she was asking everyone to donate money and it would go to help bring our girls' home!!! Wow how amazing is that!!! I mean I was speechless, I didn't know what to say. I of course cried but this time it was tears of joy. I couldn't wait to get home and email her and let her know how thankful I was for her, and her great big heart. One of the things that she said that touched me also was that she wanted the girl's home too! How amazing!!! She knows who she is, so when you read this I just want you to know how thankful we are, so thankful that God has put you in our lives, and so thankful to call you my friend! Again you are amazing and we love you and that very handsome little boy of yours!!!

A hard but necessary post, but not a sad one.

November is national adoption month and tomorrow is Adoption Sunday (November 7th 2010) although our adoption will not be final it is a very real possibility that we will travel at the end of this month and get to see our beautiful daughters, in person, this month. Even though we have done several fundraisers, I still haven't liked to ask for money, but with traveling soon and getting the girls soon, we now have to ask. We are still not asking for money with nothing in return for you, but we do have a fundraiser that is still going on. You can go to http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.thepickygal.etsy.com%2F&h=9365c and you can purchase something for your self or someone else. I have been doing a count down on my fb page for Christmas and right now there are 49 days, which is 7 weeks, away from Christmas. You can purchase Christmas gifts and know that you are helping bring two beautiful little girls home!!! Please don't forget to put the LANE FAMILY when you purchase your items!:)

Now If you don't want to purchase anything and you just want to donate, you can click on the Help bring Ellee and Johannah home and make a tax deductible donation.

Please help us bring our daughters home!

Wasn't our week! :(

I anxiously waited an email, phone call something but nope nothing. So this week just wasn't our week to get submitted, but there is always next week! :) Some other pretty awesome people were submitted this week and will soon be getting their travel date. I hope that we travel around the same time so that we can get to know them more closely. So here's to hoping and praying that next Thursday is our Day!

But in different news a mommy and daddy are over adopting their beautiful daughter from the same orphanage that our beautiful daughters are in and were able to get some great pictures of our beautiful daughter Ellee!!! They are awesome! So many thanks to them and blessings to them on their journey!!!

Dossier has arrived!!!

So as of 11:00 this morning our Dossier was in country awaiting clearance, at about 3:30 I checked again and it had been delivered and signed for! Yay! I was on chat tonight and asked how long it would take for them to translate and I was told it could possibly take just a few days and there could be a possibility that we could be submitted this week! :) So now we just wait and see because it could be next week since there was a few in front of us, but it is there and we should know something in a matter of days or possibly a week. But we are so close to our daughters. We are extremely happy!

I also want to thank everyone who has visited our blog in the past couple of days. We have had a lot of new people to stop by and read about our journey. We have also had a couple of people donate to help us bring our daughters home, and we have also had a few people buy jewelry to also help. Thank you so much!!!

You can still go to http://www.etsy.com/shop/thepickygal and order your Christmas gifts, birthday presents etc and help bring our daughters home. We hope to be traveling in a few weeks and we still have lots of funds to raise. This was my fb post from today, so I will put it on here to, Did you know there is only 54 days until Christmas? How would you like to shop for Christmas gifts and help bring home two beautiful little girls? Well, here's your chance! :) Please go check it out and help us bring our daughters home! :) Please make sure you put the Lane Family when checking out! :)

Thank you all so much and please keep the prayers coming!

fundraisers with a cause

Now that our Dossier is En Route we have some major fundraising to do. We are doing a fundraiser http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.thepickygal.etsy.com%2F&h=58fe0 with Amber Taylor where you can get Christmas gifts, just cause you wanna gifts, birthday gifts, and most importantly you get to help bring two beautiful little girls home! :) Please go purchase your gifts and help us bring home two beautiful little girls. And please make sure when you are checking our please put the Lane Family so that we can get credit for your purchase! Thank you and God Bless!

Dossier En Route :)

We made a trip to the State Capital last night, and went first thing this morning to the Secretary of States office to get documents apostilled. After leaving from the Secretary of States office, where we found out there was no fed ex in Frankfort, so we drove to Louisville and found the fed ex where we shipped off our Dossier to the girls’ country and it will be there on Wednesday! So very very very excited!

So here are some pictures from today’s trip

View from the front stepsDoors that we had to go through

The front of the State Capital

 

And last but not least…..

The Beautiful Fed Ex package!

USCIS Approval!!!

We got it, we got it, we got it!!! I could not be more happier (I don't even know if that is proper English at this point) then I am right now. God has truly blessed us, and God once again showed up when to us it would be humanly possible! We had a deadline and we are going to meet it! We were able to speak with Bill Johnson who was running for Senate in 2010 and who will be running in 2011 for Secretary of State. He was able to put us in touch with several people but one in particular Mitch McConnell. Andrew spoke with him yesterday and he said that he would do what he could. So today we find out that our I-600A had been approved and that we would be getting our I-171H by fax and by mail! :) I can not be more thankful to God and for other's willing to step up and help us bring our girls' home!!!

Thank you everyone for your love, prayers, and support!!!

Buddy Walk 2010

Our family by the Reece’s Rainbow table

Our team: John Andrew’s Zoo Crew…We walked for John Andrew and we wore our adoption t-shirts and carried the girls’ picture since they aren’t physically with us this year. But they will be for Buddy Walk 2011!

John Andrew receiving his medal!

Fingerprints done!

We went today and had our fingerprints done, electronically, yay!!! Andrew had bee trying to contact our officer for the last few days, and yesterday finally she got back in touch with him. She told him that our fingerprints appt had been set-up but it wasn't until November 15th, well that's not possible so he asked her if he could email him a copy of the appt paper and she said No but that she could fax it, so she faxed it to him, and we went this morning hoping they would take us early. The officer had told us that it might be possible to have them done early but she didn't know, so we went, and they done them!!!! So now it is just waiting on her to finish her paperwork and send us our I-171H approval. We HAVE to have it next week, or we do not get to travel until February, please be in prayer with us that we get everything next week and get it sent off so that it will be there by November 1st!!!!!

We are believing that we will be going in the next month so we are still needing lots of funds, so please be in prayer for us, and if you can give and are feeling called to give you have 2 options. You can click on the "Bring Ellee and Johannah home" and that donation is tax deductible, or you can click on the orange donate button. Thanks a bunch!!!

God is in Control of My Adoption. Fear not I am with you Isaiah 41:10

Trusting is sometimes hard. Currently we are waiting on the USCIS to get back to us, and waiting is driving me crazy. I have to say throughout our whole adoption journey God has come through when it seemed impossible, I might also add that it is normally in the 11th hour, but nonetheless he still comes through. Last week Andrew contacted the USCIS to find out about our application and our officer informed us that they had "misplaced" our home study. Grrr so we rushed around to get everything back together for it and mailed it directly to our officer. Andrew also told her how important it was that we had it expedited and she told us there was only two ways that they would expedite one of them is the reason that we are in such a hurry to get over to our beautiful little girls. Our oldest daughter Ellee is in risk of being transferred to an institution. Being transferred to an institution means death. Most children transferred live a year or less :( This freaks me out and scares me!!! God is in control and he will come through and I know that but let me just be honest and tell you my faith is being tested! Andrea the Executive Director of Reese's Rainbow emailed our officer and explained to her the situation and she sent an email back to Andrea simply saying Thank you, but when Andrew explained to her the importance of getting our case expedited she seemed to be willing to help and so we are hoping to hear something by the end of this week! Please pray

Our next fundraiser will be November 6th at 8 a.m. we are having a 5k walk/run. The cost will be $10 per person. Please pray that this is a success and that many will come out to help bring our girls' home, and if you can come out, please come out and help us bring home our girls!

Emails glorious emails

As we climb each step and get closer to the top, I get more and more anxious. We have received 2 letters in the past week (because we sent one app and then sent in the home study a couple of days later) from our government letting us know that they were processing our application. Today however came a glorious email letting us know that they have assigned us an officer and we should be hearing from her soon. :) This is a BIG, HUGE, GIGANTIC step, ok did you get that this was a BIG, HUGE, GIGANTIC step lol :) I am sooooooooooo ready to go get my girls and bring them home.

I know you have to wait 9 months before your baby or babies normally arrive, but I have waited 8 years and 8 years is long enough! I can't imagine my life without Ellee and Johannah and I think about all the joy that they are going to bring to our lives and the love that they are going to give, and the love that I know we have to give!

I am really hoping we hear something in the next day or so...Ok here is my prayer/hope Thursday is my birthday what a better birthday present than being invited to come and take fingerprints ;)

Gift Card giveaway

Again with the cute pictures! ;)

We have a $25 dollar O'Charleys gift card and a $25 dollar red lobster gift card that was donated to us for an adoption fundraiser. You have a chance to get in on the drawing...1 chance for $1 or 6 chances for $5. You can make your donation by clicking on the donate button...After you make your donation comment and please let us know which gift card drawing you would like to be in...We will be doing the drawing Sunday night before midnight.

The waiting....

Waiting really is what we have been doing since the journey to our two beautiful daughters has started. Whether it is waiting on documents to come in the mail, dr. appointments, MONEY, home study, or the USCIS. Oh and can we say the deadlines that go with the waiting, oh and the forms making sure they are correct oh and the redoing of documents when their incorrect. Ok so this post sounds like I am complaining by no means am I doing that, but what I am saying is that God has taught me patience.
Right now we are waiting on the USCIS and getting our fingerprint appointments, along with the deadline that we need to meet so we can go get our beautiful daughters. Have you ever been so close to something, and it seem like you will never get there. A lot of hurdles have been thrown our way during our journey, some that we knew would come up others that we didn't, but God has been there the whole time with us and helping us to get over them all. I am just so ready to go get my beautiful daughters and have them home with us. They have a mommy and daddy who are ready to shower them with all the love that we have to give, a brother and sister who can't wait to be a big brother and a big sister, grandparents who can't wait to spoil them rotten, aunts and uncles both biological and adoptive that can't wait to love on them and spoil them rotten, and so much more.

Please pray that we hear something from the USCIS this week or beginning of next!!! My God is bigger than any hurdle and he has called us to these two beautiful little girls and for these two beautiful little girls to be apart of our family!

Keep Shopping (my guilt trip post) ;)

Look at those faces how could you resist not shopping and helping bring them home! :)

Due to a mix-up in dates Sarah has graciously extended the time on the pendant fundraiser until tonight at midnight...So this means you still have time to shop to help bring home two beautiful little girls! How many times can you say that you are shopping to make a difference, this shopping adventure will actually make the difference in 2 little girls lives...Sarah helps so many families to have fundraisers as a way to help bring home their children and she is helping us by helping us to bring home our girls and so can you so please go shop at www.etsy.com/shop/sarahstreasurebox

Please go shop and make the difference in 2 little girls lives and our life as well.

Mix-up in fundraiser days

Today is the pendant fundraiser please go to http://www.etsy.com/shop/sarahstreasurebox and shop to help bring home our beautiful girls! 5 dollars of each pendant sold (excluding custom made ones) go to our fsp fund...Shop for Christmas, birthdays, friend, secret pal, mom, but please shop to bring our girls home!

Fundraisers

This week we will be having 2 separate fundraisers to help bring our 2 girls home....On Midnight the 24th to Midnight the 25th we will be having a pendant/necklace fundraiser. They are beautiful. I will be posting the website on Friday evening. We will get $5 of each pendant sold. (Custom orders not included) When checking out please indicate that it is for the Lane family.

On Sunday after church we will be having a spaghetti luncheon after church.


We are waiting on the last (our) government step, and then we will be able to mail our complete, or should I say the rest of our dossier to EE and hopefully ;) get submitted pretty quickly and get invited to our beautiful daughters country.

It is very exciting and I can't wait to be able to meet my beautiful daughters, hold them, kiss on them and of course bring them HOME!

Happy Birthday Ellee

Happy 5th Birthday to my sweet Ellee! Today started out as a hard day, I was really upset thinking about how my girl was spending her birthday in an orphanage half way around the country, not getting cake, not getting ice cream, not getting presents, not getting showered with love on her special day, and it really depressed me. I have a very rough morning, and for anyone who knows me I love to smile, I love to laugh, but today it just wasn't happening. It was so bad that I thought I was going to have to leave work early because I was so down and out. Just when I thought my day was probably going to get worst IT DIDN'T it got SO MUCH BETTER....I went to my computer and opened my email and to my surprise I had an email from another Reece's Rainbow family and it said that they were currently adopting their daughter from the same orphanage that our daughter Ellee is in and she was able to get some pictures what I didn't know was that she got a video to, and when I opened and watched the video I cried like a big ole baby :) It completely changed my mood and the way I saw things the rest of the day. Now to just hurry up and get my girls home, so they do not have to spend another birthday, or holiday alone.

sorry blog followers

I wanted to first say I am sorry for not blogging lately, been super busy with getting everything ready for our final visits with our SW. Yes I said final visits!!!! She came to our house on Tuesday and we had a great visit then we had to drive 3 hours to where she is located at on Thursday. We did our seperate interviews and then our interview together. To say the least it was interesting. It was a great visit though and she said that she is going to try to get everything done by Tuesday that way we can get everything in and finished. We are praying for an early appointment with the USCIS and a quick approval. We are almost finished and then we will go get to see our beautiful daughters! God is so good to us and we forget to say thank you for all the little blessings and big blessings that he provides in our lives daily. I need to remember to thank him more, and remember if it weren't for him then we would not be able to say that we are blessed with two beautiful daughters!

Please keep us in your prayers! :)

In your weakest moment God shows up and does something amazing!

Yesterday Andrew called the SW to see how our paperwork review was coming and she told him that half of the members had looked at it, but half hadn't but that she would let us know something soon. So yesterday to say I was bummed would be putting it mildly. Today however was made extremely better day, well it started out with me breaking my shoe at work so I had to call Andrew to see if he would bring me my other pair of shoes, and when I called he was talking to the SW on his cell phone and I could hear him talking and after a few minutes listening I could hear he was talking to the SW. I got so excited as I heard more and more of the conversation. I had to hang up though cause I had to take the kiddos to the lunch room, on my way back I saw Andrew standing there with my shoes and a big smile on his face. So I got up to him and he started to fill me in on the conversation, the exciting part was on Tuesday the SW is coming down to our house to do that part of the Home study and then on Thursday (yes the same week) we go to her to do our separate interviews and then our Home study will be complete. How exciting!!! I can't wait, I want my daughters' home!!!!

I was so excited after I heard the news that I started shaking extremely bad :) I took ham to my desk instead of putting it on my sandwich, and I couldn't form complete sentences. I was so giddy! :)

Please pray for us because now we have to kick in to high gear to do more fundraising and have several things to get together! :)


In your weakest moment God shows up and does something amazing! :)

Wow God!

I love how God uses things to point out to us that he is GOD! So we have been not so patiently waiting on hearing something from our home study agency and our social worker. I run to my computer every morning and check my email like a crazy women, but nothing and it is driving me crazy. Tonight I got my devotional book out and read what was for today, and wow God spoke :) Here is what it said;

Wait and Work
Blessed is a man who endures trials, because when he passes the test he will receive the crown of life that He has promised to those who love him. James 1:12

As individuals and as a nation, we become impatient for the changes that we so earnestly desire. We want solutions to our problems, and we want them now! But sometimes, life's greatest challenges defy easy solutions, so we must be patient.
Psalm 37:7 commands us to wait patiently for God, but, for most of us, waiting quietly for Him is difficult. Why? Because we are fallible human beings who seek solutions to our problems today, if not sooner. We seek to manage our lives according to our own timetables, not God's. Still, God instructs us to be patient in all things, and that is as it should be. After all, think how patient God has been with us.

Wow what do you say to that? God knows exactly when we need to hear something. And I know that God has to be super patient with me ;) because I am only human and a lot of time my human nature is what gets the better of me, and I forget that God is in control. So my goal is to wait patiently on God and try no to be spastic and know that everything happens in his timing and that it will happen!

My husband wrote the last post and he said that we had hit bumps in the road but knew that this was God's plan...Well let's just say that we hit some more bumps in the road, but God is so much bigger than any bumps that we might hit. Satan has attacked this adoption since the beginning, the first ones were just small bumps, then he hit me when he attacked my dad...There are four IMPORTANT things in my life besides God being number 1 but the others are my dad, my girls, my mom, and my husband...Well satan attacked my dad, the he tried to attack my girls, but like I said God is bigger than anything else, and I have to keep reminding myself satan has read the end of the Bible or else he would might (ha) give up seeing as how God WINS!!!

Needless to say we are in cruch time now. God has done soooo many miracles in helping us get our girls and we know that he will continue to do so. We have been blessed with so many wonderful friends, family, and strangers in our journey and will never know how to repay each of those people, but we know that God will bless them bigger and better than we ever could!

First time posting

Hey all!! Most of the time it is my wife posting, this time it is her husband. It has been a journey and a half trying to get everything done. The Lord has blessed my wife and I on this journey on showing us that this is His plan. I really can not wait to go to Eastern Europe and see our two girls for the first time. We got their room pretty well finished. It looks great!!! Advice I give to all is have much patience, without it you will get very frustrated. And to pray about all decisions throughout the process.

Closer :)

So life has been a roller coaster lately more so now than ever, but I strongly believe that God never gives us more than we can handle. We finished our end of the home study this past week, and our SW was on vacation so we hope to hear something this week and hope to finish up in the next week or so. We will then be able to submit everything. We had a fundraiser last Saturday and it was a bust. We did have 4 wonderful people show up and show us their support, then we got our church newsletter this past week and to our surprise there was a line that read lane adoption 500.00 dollars boy we were surprise, we then find out that the money was donated by "someone"...We then had a yard sale today and we did pretty good on that, and plan on continuing that tomorrow because we didn't sell everything that everyone donated, so we would like to sell those items.

More to come later :)

Silent Auction

We are currently holding a silent auction that will end at 5:00 p.m. today. The items that are included in the auction is a coca-cola grill set w/hand cooler donated by coke, 3 pics of the Todd County High School one old and two new donated by Kim Rager, 2 Holmon Bibles donated by lifeway, Holiday World Splashin' Safari (2) tickets donated by Holiday World (bid is up to $45 right now, 1 year membership to Air Evac, 2 UpperCase living sayings, donated by UpperCase Living, one says Good Food Good Friends, and the other say Faith, Hope, Love...Blog would not let me post pics but I did post them to Facebook. Thanks a bunch!

sorry no posts

I wanted to say sorry there hasn't been any new posts lately. My dad has been in the hospital for the last two weeks, and I haven't left the hospital. I joked that the hospital was going to eventually id me to make sure I had a home to go home to. lol....Dad is home and doing a lot better now, but we were very scared there for a little while. He was set to come home last Sunday, and Sunday morning at 1:15 he started going into cardiac arrest and they had to ventilate him. He was on the ventilator from Sunday morning until Saturday morning, and on Friday I don't think I smiled once or even stopped crying because we didn't know if he was going to make it, but after many prayers and begging God to please not take my dad, they took the ventilator out and he has been doing great every since. He got the vent out on Saturday morning, Saturday night he was eating chicken breast, rice/gravy, salad, and pineapple, by Sunday he was in his own private room, and up walking around and by Tuesday he was ready to be discharged. He did have a spell on Monday night, and it was caused from having a nightmare about being on the ventilator and he thought he was having another spell but he wasn't he was just having a panic attack.

Thank you everyone who has called, emailed, texts, and most of all prayed for us during this time!!!!

A special gift

Today I went to Nashville and picked up two pink toddler beds, and several other items for my daughter from a lady that I can't say thank you to enough. So lets go back and get filled in! Yesterday I was having a blah kind of day, not for any particular reason, but it was just one of those days. Let me just tell you when God turns a day upside down he really turns it upside down. So I was sitting on the couch, still in my blah mood, and the phone rang. Normally I don't answer the phone if I don't know the number and I let it go to voice mail and then if it is someone I know I call them back. For some reason this time I answered the phone, and the lady (and I have to be honest I didn't remember her name, so I had to ask her name again today, and it is Rainy) on the other end begins to change my day completely. Lets go back again, I have been checking craigslist like a mad women trying to find toddler beds for the girls and I wanted them to match and if they couldn't match to at least somewhat match. Well I had found the two cutest little pink toddler beds that I fell in love with and had inquired about them. I had emailed Rainy and told her that we were adopting two little girls, and told her from where and told her that I loved the beds but I couldn't afford exactly what she was asking for them, but that if she found that she was unable to sell them and was going to go down on them to please give me a call because I would love to have them. Ok so we are caught up, so when she called me last night it was not to tell me that they had went down on the beds but that she was GIVING them to us!!! Words could not express how I was feeling! I couldn't help but to cry! To see God's love through her was amazing! I met her today, and even though I probably drove her up the wall because I am not the greatest driver in Nashville and don't know much about it and the fact that I am from a town that has one stop light, I kept calling her because I was lost. She was absolutely amazing and was very sweet, kind, and loving. To step out and help a complete stranger, you know it feels different when it is being done for you. We do it all the time with different missions, and helping people that we see on the streets that might be hungry but to actually have it done for you feels completely different. I can say I truly saw the love of God through a person today.

The funny thing, not ha ha funny, but the funny thing is throughout this whole journey we have had people reach out to us and help us and has given us things. A friend (Amy) that I can truly call a friend now has stepped out and she has given us items for the girls and is even throwing a baby shower for us along with my great friend Kim. Words can not express how I feel. It is like I told Rainy today that thank you seems like a super small word, but unfortunately in the English language that is all there is so I have to settle for that, but if anyone knows a bigger word to express how I feel please tell me ;)

Thank you all for your wonderful thoughts, prayers, your and love!

News and such

Right now we have several different things going on. Got news from our social worker today that our packet II was just missing a few items, but it was things easily found and they are on their way to the mailbox first thing in the morning. She told us that we were almost there and everything was downhill from here. So hopefully that will be finished soon, and we will be able to get our fingerprint appt and then get the rest of our dossier over to our daughters country and then get ourselves over there and them HOME!

In different news ;) We have 3 seperate fundraisers going on right now. The first one is a T-shirt fundraiser. You can order whatever color you would like including tie dye the cost is 12 dollars for sizes up to XL, then 2X and above is 2 dollars more. The front of the t-shirt says " Adoption Every child needs a safe and loving home" the back of the shirt says "Touching lives....Two at a time" and gives our blog address. *The second fundraiser is a puzzle piece fundraiser...We have a puzzle being made that has the girls picture on it, and you purchase a puzzle piece at $5 dollars and we will place your name on the back of it. *The third fundraiser is an adoption benefit on July 10th from 12-4 at our church. There will be bouncers, food, and a silent auction.

You can donate through the "Bring Ivy and Rose" button or on the donate button. Thank you all for your support!

Blessed beyond measure!!!

God is an awesome God! We are blessed with Amazing friends, I should have wrote this one several weeks ago, but let me just say that I am a little absent minded with everything going on :) A few weeks ago my friend Shawnee posted our blog on her facebook and wrote an amazing post about it, and then two days ago another wonderful friend of mine, Becky wrote an amazing posting and posted our blog on her page. I have been showed some amazing love by them!

Today we have had some really great blessings from friends, and companies. My friend Marla is donating a Longaberger basket, and a couple companies have donated some items. What a blessing! I can say we have been truly blessed!!!

Next Fundraiser

Our next fundraiser is underway. We are holding our next fundraiser July 10th at Elkton Baptist Church. We are having a silent auction, it will be held from 12-4, we will even have fun for the kids. There will be bouncers, and snow cones and hot dogs. We are in the process now of trying to get companies to donate items that we can be part of the silent auction. God is an awesome God and will continue to provide. Please pray for the success of this fundraiser.

Father's Day

Father's Day has come in gone, and millions of dads all around the world have children that look up to them no matter how old they are. I have a wonderful daddy, who I love with all my heart, and am so very blessed to have him as my dad. Although today was a great day, visiting my dad and Andrew's dad it was also a sad day too. I have two beautiful daughters sitting in an orphanage that don't know they have a wonderful DAD, and of course a MOM but it is Father's Day ;), waiting with open arms for them. I was telling Andrew tonight that I am so ready to get them home. I am so ready to show them love that they are missing out on.

No laughing....

Ok for everyone who is reading this there is no laughing aloud :) Last night we had to go to the airport to pick up our niece. As we pulled into the airport and I saw the sign that said Nashville International Airport I got butterflies in my stomach, knowing that in no time we are going to be going to that airport to head out and meet our beautiful daughters. As we were waiting for her flight to come in I was thinking about all the pictures I needed or someone else was going to need to make. A picture of the flight departing for the first time, and then of course a pic of the flight landing. Then the time came for us to leave and I was sad. (I told you all not to laugh lol) I was sad because I was leaving and going home and not on a plane where I would like to be because I am so ready to go and see my girls. But let me just add that I am happy because our neice is here and she is a blast to have here.

Good news today

Today we got good news. We had to call Andrew's insurance company to get a form from his insurance company stating that the girls' could be covered under his insurance. They will actually be covered under mine since mine is so much better, but for our home study they require that they have a statement from both companies. He called today and at first they told us that they would probably not be able to be covered under his insurance because it is a pre-existing condition. She told him to let her look through and then give him a call back and let him know. She called back a little while later and said that it will not be considered a pre-existing condition because we are adopting, and that falls under the birth/adoption clause how great is that.

Now if we could just get more good news. We are trying to get another fundraiser together and it has not been going good, but I know God is good and that is all that matters!!! Still praying and believing in faith!

Bump, Bump, Bump...

I wonder if some people knew what this adoption means to me or my husband if they would change their attitude about things. Grrr

I heard from someone recently the more bumps you hit in the road here the less that you will hit in country. Boy do I hope that is true!!!!

Just feeling a little frustrated tonight and wish that I had Dorothy's ruby red slippers and I could click them and say what I need and poof it would happen, but we all know that was just a bump on the head and a dream.

Ok now that I am done complaining...

Yardsale Fundraiser

We had our yard sale fundraiser today and it was amazing! So many people came out and supported us! We raise quite a bit of money. It was funny because we got up to the church at 5:30 this morning to set up, and within 10 minutes of us being up there and having the first load unloaded, we had customers browsing. It was funny because they were browsing while I was still unpacking. We had several of our big items sold before 7:00 am...By 7 we felt like we had already been there all day, because we had so many great customers. By 1:00 we were exhausted, heat exhausted and ready to go home. We had a couple of big items we still wanted to sell, but we were going to pack up and leave at 2:00 if they weren't sold, of course a little disappointed, but like I said we were really tired and hot. And of course you KNOW God came through. We had a 52" TV that was donated to us and we were really trying to sell that because that would bring us some money. We had one lady that came up and said oh yeah I want that, I will send my grandmother up here in just a few minutes to get it. So as we waited for her grandmother to come by we had several more customers, and would you know more people was looking at the TV, but we told them that it was sold. Well her grandmother did show up, but wasn't able to get the TV, so God being the God that he is had one of the customers that really wanted the TV still there and she bought it. Once those customers had purchased all they were purchasing we packed up the items that we had left, put them in the trailer that is so conveniently sitting in our church parking lot about to head out to one of the towns here in KY that are less fortunate, and we headed home.

God is such an amazing God!!! We prayed and prayed and prayed for that TV to be sold and it was sold, and all the other big items that we wanted to get rid of we were able to sell. The moral of the story is that God is GREAT!!!! :)

I will not panic, I will not panic, I will not panic!!!

I will not panic are my famous words of the day! Andrew tells me that our CSP/POA's are probably in the air and on their way to Ukraine, but that they haven't actually passed through customs yet so there are not going to be any new updates. I do not like when there are no new updates. It drives me crazy! These little pieces of papers are what holds my beautiful daughters there in the orphanage, for Ellee it is keeping her from being transferred to an institution, and for Hannah it means that no one else is able to adopt her. Patience is what I am being taught during this journey, I don't remember asking for patience though. God knows me from head to toe, and he knows that I panic, and I'm not a patient person :)

Yard sale starts in t-minus 14 1/2 hours. Praying that it goes well!!!!!

Night Night Sweeties

So I am stuck on this whole time thing now. I have thought about it but more so in the last few days. As of right now it is 4:22 here and it is 12:22 there. My sweet angels have already been put to bed, and been there for hours. Boy I can't wait until I am able to put them to bed. Bedtime stories, good night hugs and kisses, and most importantly bedtime prayers.

As I was reading one of the other families that are adopting through Reece's Rainbow blog they were able to get their sweet Sophie today, and keep her until they leave the country. I can't wait until that happens with us. The emotions they must be feeling now. Wow what a great gift!

Jamaica, Jamaica Ny that is :)

So I got up this morning to check on our CSP/POA's and they are in Jamaica...Jamaica NY lol...As of right now they are probably somewhere as of now but there are no new updates. I can't wait until they get there, they should have actually been there over a month ago, but since everyone makes mistakes they aren't.

As I am writing this it is 12:23 P.M. here and where my beautiful daughters are it is 5:24 P.M. I can't help but wonder if they are eating dinner and if they are what are they eating. I also think about how many times today they have been hugged, if at all. I think about if they have been bathed. Wow so many thoughts are running through my mind right now. Geeze I can't wait to get them home so I know that all of these things are being done.

Please continue to pray for our Yard-Sale this weekend. Please pray that it is a success because we still have so far to go, but we know that God will provide!

CSP/POA's on their way!!!

So yesterday's post you saw where we received our apostilled CSP/POA's and we thought we were going to be able to send them off yesterday. We called around to find the best price to send them and it ranged anywhere from 90 dollars to 191 dollars. Wow are you kidding me, just to get some forms over there. Yes it is very worth it but I spending my children's college fund here :) just kidding but it is crazy. So Andrew called Fed-Ex and they quoted him 30 dollars, we thought that was awesome, but then we got there and they wanted to charge us 130 dollars. Again are you kidding me! So we waited until today and we sent them through the US mail and hello 34 dollars. Sometimes big companies make me mad!!!! Ok stepping down off my soap box now.

Finally Apostilled!!!!

Yay we finally received our CSP/POA's from Tray Grayson's office finally apostilled! We now have to go to UPS and get them sent off to Ukraine! We also found out today that our FBI checks was sent to our Home Study agency back in April. So we can finally move forward. We hope to have everything finished no later than the end of this month and hurry up and get our travel date so that we can go get our beautiful daughters!

This weekend we are having a Yard sale Fundraiser! Please pray for us that it goes well and we can collect more funds. We still have a long way to go, but we know that God will provide. He has been in this before we were in this and will continue to be in it.

Thank you for everyone who has been praying for us, support us, and have financially helped us. We love you all!!!!

Moving forward....hopefully, prayerfully :)

We have had to redo several forms for one reason or another, either the notary's expiration date was within six months, or the notary messed up somehow, or our doctor does the whole physical and then decides she doesn't want to sign the form. We then get another doctor and he doesn't mind signing the form, but does mind giving us a copy of his medical license, his exacts words were, "I don't really want to give you or the Ukrainian government a copy of my medical license." I was devastated but he did end up giving us a copy. The next bump in the road came when the CSP/POA's that we sent off to be apostilled several months ago didn't come in and then when I called they told me that they had sat them to the side and completely forgot all about them, with their apologies and their promise to get them out within the next day or two, I hung up the phone. They kept to their promise I received them in the mail on Saturday, with a letter enclosed stating the could not complete the request because they required a separate form for each document. Ugh really could you have not told me this on the phone. OK so yesterday was Memorial Day so everything was closed, so first thing this morning Andrew went to the court house and requested the forms 12 of them to be exact and he explained to them why we were needing them and to see if they would give us a break on the fee, NOPE they sure wouldn't it was another 60 bucks. WOW really, I am a hard working citizen who pays taxes and you can't give a break. OK so Andrew got them and sent them out again. So we shall see.... Sorry for the complaining but this is called "Journey with the Lane's" lol sorry had to try to throw some humor in there... That's all for now, let's pray that we get them back this week and they are ready to send to Yulia!

It's not about me :)

Wow today was great. Drove around Eastern Kentucky and saw many great sites, and everyone that we stopped at I kept thinking about how great it will be when we get Ellee and Hannah to take them to these places. Also got a great deal on two great car seats. Paid 20 bucks for two carseats that look practically brand new. As we were driving around and looking at different yard sells all I could think about is there items there the girls' will need or want. I have never been the type that needs flashy things or designer clothes but for so long when I go places it was about me and what I wanted or needed, but now everytime I shop it is all about Hannah and Ellee.

We are still waiting on quite a few things to come through so hopefully we will soon have a travel date, and be ready to go. I am so excited and can't wait. God is really teaching me patience, but that is ok because the outcome will be such a blessing.

A little late...

Kinda crazy I know, but I just remembered I didn't post on Mother's Day. Even though this Mother's Day I didn't have my girls with me, I thought about them all day and I know that I am already a mother and that is super special. I walked in the choir room that morning, at church, and one of my dearest friends who is like a mom to me, said "Happy Mother's Day, you've been waiting a long time to hear that" and it brought tears to my eyes to know that the journey of trying so long for a baby for so long is about to be over, and the new journey of being a mom is about to begin. WOW!!! I can't wait!!!! :)

Finished painting the girl's room

Finished painting the girls room tonight. Now just to get their beds and bedding and get it all set up. Still trying to decide if I am going to do the wood letters to spell out their name or get the creative expressions letters and put them on the wall. I am leaning more towards the creative expressions. Tomorrow my plan is to clean the floors, put the new blinds up, put up their bookshelf, and their kitchen and dress up areas that was given to me by my friend Amy.

Can not believe that it is just a few short months away, before I will have my daughters here. I almost said until I am a mother, but I feel like I am a mother already. I have been trying to imagine how life is going to be after the girls get here, and I just keep thinking of how wonderful life is going to be.

So many people have asked how they can donate to help us so I added a donate button tonight. You are able to donate straight to that account and it will go towards the cost of paperwork, and then of course travel, lodging, visas and medicals for the girls, and so much more towards the adoption.

Can't wait

As I sit here on a Saturday morning and listen to the rain come down, and the thunder rolling, it makes me think of my little girls. I know it sounds crazy, but I can't wait until the day that we are able to stay home due to rain, stay in our pjs all day and watch cartoons, read stories, and play all day. As someone who has been wanting to be a mom for so long, those are some of the things that I look forward to.

Next month will be our first trip and I can not believe that it has come so fast. I was talking to my mom last night she told me that she is getting more and more anxious to meet her granddaughters and it was funny because she said "Grandma is ready to meet my grandaughters," My mom never wanted to be called Grandma she wanted to be called mamaw or memaw, but never grandma. I think that has changed ;-)...

As it gets closer I truly feel like a kid in a candy store. :)

Almost Here!!!

As we were driving back from Hoptown today I realized that it is just two short months away that we make our first trip to see our beautiful daughters for the first time in person. We get to hold them, and hug them. It is so hard to believe. :) We've seen them in pictures, but we will actually get to see them in person. I wonder how that first meeting will be. Will they know that we are their parents when we first meet them. Will they smile, or cry. I know for me it will be complete joy. I don't know how I will control my emotions. I don't want to scare them with what will be tears of joy on my part.

God is so good and I am so glad that he has chosen Andrew and I as the parents of these two beautiful girls.

Journey....

I know I am a little behind on updating but we have been doing paperwork, paperwork, paperwork, and more paperwork. We are getting more and more anxious as the time gets closer. I know God has been preparing me for my beautiful Angels in the last week most def. On Tuesday this past week I went to a meeting for church and the missionary that was there speaking spoke of her trips to Haiti and how each time she went she would work in the orphanages for children with special needs. Then this past weekend I went to Women of Joy Conference in Louisville and Sarah Palin was there and she talked about Trig her son that was born with Down Syndrome, and then Steven Curtis Champman was there and he spoke of his 3 daughters that he adopted from China. He also did several songs that he wrote about adoption.

We serve such an awesome God! Hopefully it won't be so long before my next post.

Fundraiser 1

We had our first fundraiser this weekend. We did antique style photos for children, and the parents paid 10 dollars and they get a 10x13 photo of their child(ren). We get the whole 10 dollars. We had 56 people that signed up and 43 showed up. We are really blessed with wonderful friends who were there for us. We are looking forward to our next fundraiser which looks like it is going to be cookie dough.

Paperwork

Finished the last of one packet of paperwork today, and then got home to another packet of paperwork in the mail. LOL... It will all be worth it in the end! We are now getting more into cost, so please be praying for us as God will provide the funds. We are moving forward very rapidly and was told on Friday that we could be going a lot sooner than originally thought.

I have to say God has opened my eyes to so many things over the last few weeks, and I feel so blessed to think of what the future will hold. God is so amazing and these little girls are going to bring so much more joy to my life. I can't wait to bring them home!

Wow what a day!

Wow is all I can say! It has been an absolutely great day! When there are things that you want, and things that you are waiting for it seems like it takes forever. One of the parts in the adoption process is getting a home study done. Well since we are doing a foreign adoption, the state of KY won’t do the home study, so we had to go through a private home study agency. Part of the private agency is that you have to go through an approval process, so we had to fill out all these papers and send them in and wait for them to contact us with whether we were approved or not. They told us that it could take up to two weeks before we would know anything. One of the other things they told us was that they would receive our paperwork at the Ky location, but it would then have to be forwarded to the Missouri office for approval, so that would tack on a few extra days. We called one day last week to make sure they had received our paperwork, and the girl told us she had and she was making all the copies of everything we had sent in and would be forwarding it that day. She told us she would call us when she knew something.

One of the funny things is I told Andrew today to call the Love Basket and see if they had found out anything, because I am impatient and want to know something now. I had called him around 10:00 to remind him. Around 11:40ish I had checked my email and the director of the Love Basket had emailed me to let me know that we had been approved and would move forward with our next step. I am super super excited, and so very glad that we are one step closer now.
Thank you all for you love, prayers, and support! More to come…

What's Up

A journey is said to begin with just one step. Who knew one step would take us on a journey like this. A few months ago life was crazy, and seemed to be more disappointing than could ever be imagined. I had a dream of being a mother, but my only thought at the time was having a baby myself, never did I think of adoption. The thought of adopting kept creeping into my mind. I would think about it daily and probably 100 times a day. Maybe not that much but it was a lot. One night at dinner my husband and I were carrying on a conversation, when it took a change in direction. We began talking about adoption. I was aww struck, because he had felt the same calling and had been feeling it for several months along with myself, but was afraid to mention it to me because he was afraid that he would hurt my feelings.We wanted to adopt a child with down syndrome, and selfishly wanting a girl. We decided that we would start the process after the first of the year, because the holidays were so close and we didn't want anything to take away our attention from doing it all at once, because we did not want to get started doing this very important thing and then stop because of the hustle and bustle of holiday life, but what we didn't know at the time was that over the next few months our lives would be turned upside down. Andrew's grandfather passed away at the end of August, a week and half later my grandmother passed away, a few weeks later my aunt fell and broke her hip and was in the hospital for a few weeks, Thanksgiving day we get the call my sister had unexpectedly passed away, a week to the day of burying my sister my aunt passed away. So to say the thought of adoption took a seat on the back burner would be an understatement, but God had bigger plans....

After the first of the year we started back to school. On January 14 a really good friend of mine sent me an website that had children with down syndrome waiting for adoption. I was scrolling through the pictures of the children on the site and came to the first little girl Ivy. I fell in love with her then. I knew at that moment that she was the one God was calling us to. I immediately got in contact with the director of the agency and inquired about Ivy. I was very surprised at how quickly she responded to me considering it was a weekend. After corresponding back and forth with Andrea for a few days and getting the process started with Ivy she asked me how we felt about adopting two. At first I thought I don't know because I was only looking to adopt one at this time, but now there was two. Before I could answer her she sent me pictures of Rose and again I was in love. I knew these were my daughters. I feel like when you ask God for a blessing that is exactly what you will get. It will probably be bigger and better than you actually thought.

Thus has started the Journey with the Lanes, and taking us all the way around the world to Eastern Europe.