Thanksgiving and new pics

Hi everyone! I've posted 2 new pics of Jasmine from 11/20. We were so surprised to get any new pictures so this is such a treat for us. She's standing and sitting up all by herself! Yea God! We can't wait until we get to meet our precious girl and put a smile on her precious face. We still don't know the extent of her needs and are also eager to get her home so that we can have her thoroughly checked out by our pediatrician and therapists and get her whatever help she needs to get caught up.

In the meantime, we're continuing to do our part in bringing her home. We've been working hard on continuing to get organized and baby-proofed at home. We've been unpacking and continuing to try and sell items that aren't needed so as to help w/our adoption expenses. We've identified a 3rd grant agency that will also be selecting families in the month of Dec. to give grants to. We're praying that somehow, some way, between the 3 agencies, we'll get the money that we need to complete our adoption. We're anticipating getting our I171-h back sometime in the next 1 1/2 weeks! We're continuing to try and promote our coffee fundraiser to family and friends. As to the rest, we are continuing to trust God to do His part and raise the money to bring Jasmine home.

It's funny how God, when He's teaching us something, will continually put that lesson in front of our faces. This past Sunday, the message at church had to do with not missing Jesus in the season. But instead of talking about how busy-ness robs us of Him, they talked about how the need to be on the throne and in control robs us of Him. They spoke about Herod the great and how he missed Jesus because He didn't want to lose his throne and was so busy trying to control everything in his life to keep that throne. As he was speaking, it occurred to me that the things I've been trying to control are the adoption expenses and parenting Lily. I've not even realized that I've been missing what God's been doing and the miracle of adoption and being a parent because I've been trying to control and be on the throne of those areas. I don't want to miss these miracles because I'm worrying. I want to be in a place of fully celebrating this adoption because, in God's presence, it's done and paid for. I want to fully celebrate Lily and do my part to parent but trust God to guide her in her own spiritual journey with Him, instead of worrying about the little things. And in both of these areas, I want to fully celebrate this Holiday season in these amazing blessings that He's given us and trust God to work out all of the details. I want my faith to be something that I live and go deep in and not just give lip service to.

Well, I hope you all enjoyed your Thanksgiving! We've so appreciated all of the prayers and encouragement and support. Despite all of the tough things we've gone through this year, it's actually been one of the best for us because of all of the blessings and things that we've learned. The things that were taken away were returned back ten-fold. We have a community that we love w/wonderful friends & family. We have a new church that challenges us and supports us and encourages us to go deeper. And we're about to have a new precious baby. God is so good! Thanks for your continued prayers over our adoption and we'll definitely keep you all posted!