December 31,2006

Tonight as we sit and wait for the New Year to come, I am thinking about what the New Year holds for our family. In 2007 our family will be complete. We should be making a trip to China to bring Grace home.

We are still waiting for the homestudy to be done. The social worker is coming one last time on Tuesday night. We are still waiting on one reference. Once that is done we can send in our homestudy to CIS. Hopefully by the end of the week.

When we arrived back home in NC tonight we found what Santa had left for Grace. She had an Asian cabbage patch doll, Fisher Price peek a boo blocks, a Tinkerbell pillow and frame, a Dora the explorer China doll, and a Snow White beanie. Now if we could bring her home to play with them.

Next year Grace you will be with us. Everyday is a step closer to bringing you home. This is the last year you won't be with us. We hope someone is taking good care of you and giving you lots of love.

Christmas Night

What a busy day we had! God is so good! We had a wonderful dinner with our family. You were never far from my thoughts, Grace. I couldn't help but wonder what you did today.

Your Aunt Debi, Uncle Ron, Maribeth, Leigh-Anne and Chett gave you an adorable Tinkerbell Ornament. Miss Alexa and Nijel gave you a Humpalumps pocketbook.

Our favorite song this year is about you. Your brother N even wants it on his mp3 player. He calls it Grace's song. I posted the words below so we will always remember them.

Merry Christmas By Brad Avery of Third Day

There's a little girl trembling on a cold December morn
Crying for momma's armsAt an orphanage just outside a little China town
There the forgotten are
But half a world away I hang the stockings by the fire
And dream about the day when I can finally call you mine
It's Christmas time again but you're not home
Your family is here and yet you're somewhere else alone
And so tonight I pray that God will come and hold you in his arms
And tell you from my heart I wish you Merry Christmas
As I hang the tinsel on the tree and watch the twinkling lights
I'm warmed by the fire's glow
Outside the children tumble in a wonderland of white,Make angels in the snow
But half a world away you try your best to fight the tears
And hope that heaven's angels come to carry you hereI
t's Christmas time again but you're not home
Your family is here and yet you're somewhere else alone
And so tonight I pray that God will come and hold you in his arms
And tell you from my heart I wish you Merry Christmas
Christmas is a time to celebrate the holy child
and we celebrate his perfect gift of love
He came to earth to give his life
and prepare a place for us so we could have a home with him above
It's Christmas time again and now you're home
Your family is here so you will never be alone
So tonight before you go to sleep, I'll hold you in my arms
And I'll tell you from my heart, and I'll tell you from my heart
I wish you Merry Christmas

Goodnight, Grace! Next Christmas you will be home!

Merry Christmas. Grace!

We missed you this morning, Grace. We pray you are safe, happy, and well! We are working hard to get you home. This will be your last Christmas without us. Next year your day will be filled with laughter, love, and family.

Santa brought you a blanket and a Tinkerbell pillow. He must have known we are planning to do your room in Tinkerbell. I think he may have left you some things in North Carolina. We will know when we go back home.

Merry Christmas, Grace! We love you!

Progress

We have accomplished a lot the last few days. We have our medicals, the kids medicals, 6 more documents certified, and are online classes completed. We have 2 documents to complete and then we are just waiting on our homestudy and 171H. We have our third homestudy visit tomorrow night. We are eager to get this show on the road. The two major things-homestudy and 171H are out of our control. If we could just get those two we could get our dossier completed. Let's aim for the end of January.

2nd Homestudy visit

Well, today was the second homestudy visit. The kids talked to the social worker. Their interview was short and sweet. Then it was my turn. I don't do well one on one. I answered the questions but not as well as I would have liked. I guess there is no point worring about it. I am who I am.

First Homestudy Visit

One down, three to go. We met with our social worker today. It was about 1 1/2 hour visit. Tomorrow she will just be talking to me and some of the kids. Thursday night it will be Dallas' turn. She is really great. I am so glad we found her when we were looking for someone to do J's 3rd PPR.

We got our China physical form completed. Now we just need to send it to CHI to make sure it is O.K. We are getting there.

Still looking for PreApproval from China. Hoping it will come in the next month. Once we get that we will start decorating Grace's room.

The boys got their physicals today. After 3 1/2 hours total today in the doctor's office Julia and I were glad to be out of there. Hopefully the papers will be ready tomorrow. Good news is our physicals are ready and we can pick them up tomorrow. We, also, sent 6 more documents to be certified. We are hoping to have all of the documents done by the time the homestudy is completed.