2013.01.24 11:26 PM

Moments in time...
Moments when time stands still... 
Moments when your heart is "date stamped"...

My guess is that some memories just flashed through your mind as you read those statements - we all have memories, happy and sad.  Memories that are personal and those that have impacted your family, church, and our nation.

Some memories are so special that your heart is "date stamped" with a memory that you will never forget, a moment when time stood still and everything else around you disappeared...

Some of the "date stamps" of my mind:

December 27, 1997 at 11:00 AM - I married my best friend on a cold, snowy winter morning

August 11, 2000 at 1:27 AM - we became parents and were blessed with our beautiful Megan Paige, a baby girl beautiful on the inside and outside with a heart like no other

June 15, 2002 at 1:55 PM - another blessing - a little boy, he came into this world quiety and scared us to death, but Matthew Christian has blessed us since the day he was born

and one more date stamp for this Mama's heart...

January 24, 2013 at 11:26 PM - the call!!  The call that woke us out of a sound sleep and introduced us to our third blessing.  The blessing of a beautiful four year old daughter!

Soon after hanging up the phone we received an email and, in a moment, we were in love with our beautiful daughter.  Oh my heart - she is GORGEOUS!!! 

On Sunday, January 27, 2013 we submitted our official Letter of Intent to adopt her as our own. 

We can't wait to share her with you, but we need to wait for our official Letter of Approval (LOA) to post her pictures online.  Believe me - it will be worth the wait!  If you see us out and about - stop us, we always have pictures with us and would be happy to share.

We are hoping to travel to bring her home in May or early June.  In the meantime, if you would like to join us in prayer, please consider praying for these concerns:

• Pray that our paperwork is reviewed and approved and we receive our LOA quickly!
• Pray for Makenna's continued good health and her heart to be prepared for our family.
• Pray for our preparations - more paperwork to be completed, her bedroom preparations and our hearts to be prepared to care for her.

There is much to do - we are about to have a pre-schooler in the house again!  We are so excited and grateful that God has given us the opportunity to call her our daughter.

Now for some other news... January turned out to be a very exciting month in our house!  Jason received a call right after New Year's about a new career opportunity.  After a few conversations, he was certain that this was a great opportunity for him and our family.  His last day at Landis Supermarket, after 21 years of employment, was on Friday, January 25th.  He is now a Project Manager for Response Electric and is loving his new job!  We are loving his new schedule which means  he is home with us every evening, every Saturday and every Sunday!  The past two weekends have been wonderful having the whole family together to relax (by that I mean work on Makenna's room! and shop for our little girl!) and spend time together. 

Another perk of his new job is that he now has a company car!  We are hoping to put a significant dent in the gap of the funds needed to finalize our adoption by selling his car in the next few weeks.  If you or anyone you know may be interested we will be selling his 2008 Kia Spectra - we want to get it all cleaned up, and put some new tires on it before we post it "For Sale".  The car is in great condition and only has 36,000 miles, it's a 5 speed manual transmission and gets 25-28 miles per gallon of gas.  Asking price is $7000 (just under Kelley Blue Book value).  It a great 2nd car for running around or great for a high school or college student.  Once we have it all spiffed up - pictures will follow!  If you are interested, please feel free to email us or give us a call!

The past three months of waiting have been HARD - so very HARD!  I can honestly tell you that it was worth every minute!  We know we have more waiting ahead of us - we will wait for our Letter of Acceptance - our I800 approval and Travel Approval, but we have seen HER face and we know this is all worth it.  She is going to have a family, she is going to be loved, and sometime in May or June or whenever God plans for us to go get here - there will be ONE LESS orphan in the world.  She will be our beloved daughter!

With a full heart,
Jessica