Patience, patience and more patience

What a trying time for me :) I have always struggled with patience and this is sure a test for me. I learned that the papers are drawn up for Abigail in Uganda and signed off by her mother. They are ready to have us! However the United States is not so ready to send us. It takes up to 90 days for the I-600A to process and we are still waiting for the home study to be finalized. Michigan is known as one of the slowest states in the nation to process so it looks like we'll be able to go at the end of January. A month later than I had hoped for. (Key word "I") I am however continuing to pray that our application will be the exception and we'll get it in time to travel sooner. Please continue to pray with us! I am now reminded that all things are in "his" time and not my own. No matter how much I want to go in December, God will send us when everything is perfect for us to travel. I will release all control to him. I feel entirely helpless and impatient at this point but I will continue to put my faith in him that only he knows the perfect time. It's like being pregnant, you're getting bigger and bigger and yet there's no due date! Nobody can tell you when the baby's coming! I had Nolan 6 weeks early so I never had to worry about patience when I was pregnant! Other than that we are having a spiritually awesome week and we see the Holy Spirit working within us everyday. GOD is so great! Nolan's birthday is fast approaching and grandma and grandpa H will be arriving for the celebration! Nolan is so excited. It's the first year he'll have a "big boy" party with his little buddies :) my baby is growing up :) This week I will find comfort in Psalm 37: 7-9 I hope this week finds your souls beautiful and heart open. God Bless Heather Psalm 37:7-9 Be still in the presence of the Lord, and wait patiently for him to act. Don’t worry about evil people who prosper or fret about their wicked schemes. Stop being angry! Turn from your rage! Do not lose your temper—it only leads to harm. For the wicked will be destroyed, but those who trust in the Lord will possess the land.

SHOTS!

WHOA! Nobody told me that when you go to a foreign country you have to have so many shots! Yikes! I'm smiling and laughing as I say this because Jason and I were taken back at the 8 vaccinations plus Boosters we will need. PLUS, we have to have follow up shots when we get back! I asked him where the shots had to be administered and he said everywhere. Everywhere? Oh, God will need to give be strength! Haha Hey if I can swing child birth, shots won't be a big deal right :) What an awesome week! We are moving forward! I applied for my passport on Monday, our attorney contacted us with lots of details and now we're waiting to send our application to Homeland Security and we'll be ready to go! We contacted our congressman and he's going to help keep the process moving through homeland security too! We have received a tentative date of mid december to mid January we will go! YEAH! A DATE! On another bittersweet note I have decided to complete my year at Stryker and then I will be staying home with the kids. KIDS! I love that word! I absolutely love my job but no matter what I have always promised to put my family first and we feel I should be at home. I have just really struggled with working and trying to be a good mom to Nolan. I want to give my children all the time that they need from me. I want to be available for Abigail 100% as she learns to adapt to her new life here and for Nolan adapting to a new sibling too! I am just so excited about this. I thought for a long time I'd never stay home because I worked so hard in school but like Jason told me, I'll just be using all my education at home. I just don't want to miss a thing! Sign my up for classroom volunteering I'm in! I'd like to do some part time accounting work to keep up with things but for now I will bask in the delight of being a mom. ahhhhh......It's so great! Our friend Josephine went to Uganda on Monday for a month. We would appreciate all prayers for her safe travels. The really great thing is she was able to take a little something from us for Abigail. I was so excited to shop for my daughter! I thumbed through each little dress trying to find the perfect one. And finally, there is was. The most perfect Pink and Brown dress with a cupcake on it. It was SO sweet and my heart dances when I think of her putting it on. We also sent a little stuffed animal which we hugged and kissed to pieces before sending. Nolan colored pictures and we sent pictures of our family for her. It was just awesome to know that she'll have something in her hands from us. Thanks for all of your continued prayers. I feel like we are getting so close. Only one application left in the US and our attorney as been so amazing at getting things done fast there. I can't wait to hold her. If she's not here by Christmas then we will be excited to pick her up in January. I'm just so excited we have an approximate date now, it makes it feel so real! God Bless you all and have a beautiful week!

It's the first day of school today! My son is getting to big and I just couldn't be more proud of him. What a special time for him. KINDERGARTEN! Wow. It seems like yesterday he was just born! I love the fall and the hustle and bustle of school starting, it's my favorite time of the year! Well I went to get my passport and found out my license expired the day before. OOPS! Just waiting for that to come and then the passport is out of the way. I think that will conclude all the documentation needed for Uganda. We're getting closer! Just waiting on the final write up from the homestudy and we'll be ready to submit to Homeland Security! YEAH! We're getting closer! I feel a little heavyness on my heart today. Our financial "back up" plan has bombed so I'm a little edgy about that. It's just so hard to predict in the end what we'll need and with me not getting any paid leave from my job it's unsettling. I will continue to pray for another plan and I'm sure we will continue to prevail. Maybe God is just telling me I don't need a back up and just to trust him it'll all be right the first time. So I will continue to save everything I have! The devil likes to throw wrenches in to discourage us and this is just one of his wrenches. T-shirts, T-shirts, T-shirts we'll keep selling them! Only $10! I will write more later this week when we have new information!