The last few months have seemed to drag by. We are done with our homestudy. We had our biometric fingerprints for homeland security paperwork done. Then we waited and waited. During that time as more people found out about our adoption we answered a lot of questions. Some were good and some comments shocked me. I guess sometimes you just expect "christians" to be farther along in their walk. We have experienced some negative comments about Ty's race. I guess the hard part was from a family member that I never expected it to come from. But God sees the bigger picture, and while some people are ok with letting orphans sit and wait because they look different than them, I am not. God has opened my eyes. Boy oh boy has He opened them. Recently at a Bible study we learned about how God opens our eyes to see His glory in the things around us. God spoke to me in that moment about how He also opens our eyes to those who may be suffering. He has opened my eyes to the millions of children sitting in orphanages or on the street. Some cases so severe it's hard to even comprehend. God has opened my eyes, and frankly it hurts. He has opened them so much so that even as I look at my child sleeping I think of others who lay and wait. Some children are never even picked up unless they need to be fed or cleaned. Some suffer from disabilities and are drugged with medicines. They are pushed out of sight and out of mind. Now as I look at my child I think about those children, and my heart breaks. So as God opens my eyes to these things I pray that He would give me words to speak to those who claim His name. I pray that He will help me speak in love. I pray that He will help me love like He does as I advocate for these precious children. I'm sure that there are many times in my life where I disgust Him with my words and actions. He has had compassion on me. I pray that I will have it on others. I know that He has special plans for our little boy. Will He teach people it's ok to love those who are different than you? Will He raise up other families from our adoption? I hope so! I pray that God teaches us all something through this adoption. I feel His molding and shaping in my life even now. I praise Him from whom all blessings flow. Our dossier has currently arrived in China and today we are logged into their system (LID). This is great news. It finally feels like we are moving through things again. Please continue to pray for God to provide for this adoption. Pray for Ty's eyesight as he has been diagnosed recently with strabismus and is having trouble with his vision. Pray for us all to love like Christ now and even after we bring Ty home. We are currently selling costers to help raise money to bring Ty home. They would make great Christmas presents. If your interested in them give me a holler. $12 for a set of 4, $7 for set of 2, or $4 for 1. You can also have them monogramed for $1 more with an initial or picture. Check out the picture at the top of the page. Hope you all have a Merry Christmas.