Update

We received an update yesterday evening from our agency director. I just want to first praise our Heavenly Father for the awareness that Congo is receiving in international adoption. Not long ago, the U.S. Embassy were reviewing 10-15 cases PER YEAR. As of now, they are reviewing 10 cases PER WEEK. This means 40 orphans a month, 480 a year are being united with their forever family. Praise Jesus!!! Since it does take approximately 3 weeks for the embassy to investigate each orphan (check all of the child's documents for their legitimacy as well as status of the child and where they come from to prevent child trafficking), they increased our wait time from 6-9 months to 9-12 months. We are still believing our plus 1 will be in our arms come June or July of this year!!

Our home study should be ready for us to review today or tomorrow. After we make sure all information and facts are correct, we will send it off with our immigration paperwork. From there we wait for them to send our fingerprint appointment date and time!

On another note.. I love the Christmas season but hate the advertisements for all of the TOYS! Big K has been bombarded with toy commercials during Dora and catalogs in the mail. I am sick of hearing, "Mommy I want that for Christmas," "That's awesome, I want that." Each time, I am constantly teaching him the "reason for the season". By Christmas he is going to know why we celebrate it and Who we celebrate! Well a few days ago Trev received a sweet gift for Boss's Day. Since he is a little tall and needs only size tall shirts, he can't shop at most stores. So we had to take back one of the presents to our small town Wal-Mart (meaning..Alco..mind you...this was like Wal-Mart to Trevor growing up. It was a BIG deal to go to Alco in Dalhart :-)). We looked through the store while Big K was just "looking" at the toys. We really didn't seem to need anything. Then my amazing husband had an incredible idea. Since Big K was in the "toy shopping" mood, he let him pick out 2 big toys to give away. We got down on his level and explained what we were doing. Without hesitation he ran over and searched for 10 minutes for 2 of the best toys. Since it was 8:00 at night and really didn't know of a little boy's home to take them to, we drove him to the Good Samaritan and let him get out and put the toys in the donation bin. He was so giddy getting out of the car to give them away and since then, every day, he asks about the little boy. Yesterday he even asked if he could go to his house and give him a hug? When I thought my child was a greedy, selfish, toy connoisseur (I know, he's only 3 :-)), he truly showed how big his heart was. I just love him!! I do want to encourage you.. take time to show your kids the importance of others as well what it truly means to give. Operation Shoebox has kicked off this year (Those in Dalhart, People's Church is a relay center so you can drop off your shoeboxes by November 16 and they will be delivered to the shipping facility) . What a great opportunity to give overseas. Toys for Tots bins are going up. Or just simply bless your neighbor and their kids! Just take the time to show the love of Jesus by simply giving!