Progress!

I am elated to announce the arrival of both the referrals for our boys! As I spoke with our agency yesterday, I was told that it was very unusual for an orphanage to update already acceptable labs and photos....but they did. Everything is brand new. New pictures, new physicals and new labs.

As I looked (ok, devoured) the latest photos of our boys, I was very cognisant of the difference in the demeanor of the boys from the very first pics I ever saw of them to the most recent ones. You see, in the first photos, they had no one pursuing them....no one in sight. But it has come to light recently, that they are now very well aware that a family, our family, has claimed them. You can see the difference in their eyes. The light. They know.

Isn't that what we ultimately live for in life?....to be claimed? Ideally, we start off in life knowing we have been claimed by our parents and family. We belong. What does it do to a child's soul when this is missing? As we grow older, we long to be claimed by the love of another in the form of marriage. But even then, this hole of needing to be claimed is never satisfied until we accept being claimed and bought with the blood of Jesus Christ. It is only then that we come to a peace and understanding that can not be surpassed. The look on our boys' faces is a look I hope to see again when they come to know the love of their true Savior.


As I have told more and more people about what we are about to do....adopt, I keep getting the common sentiment of what "saints" we must be. This always takes me a second to register this because this is not how we see it at all. The way we see it, is that WE are the "lucky" ones. I think at times that I just can't believe that the Lord has chosen us to bless like this. This feels like the ultimate reward....these amazing children....these gifts of God. I literally feel like we have won the lottery jack pot over and over. Honestly, I don't feel like we deserve these boys. They are jewels. How is it that people can't see this?

Yes, we are the lucky ones.

An Update On Our Van Tenants

My previous post humbly stated that our van had a rodent problem. We have now uncovered the identity of the tenant. Walking out to our van to go pick up my daughter from a class, one of my children spied a squirrel on the dash sitting like a statue of the Virgin Mary in a low-rider.

Busted.

My eldest daughter squealed in delight thinking this would be her next pet and went running to open the passenger door. As she did, we witnessed the squirrel dart over to the driver's side where the pedals were and squirm into a hole near the gas pedal. The squirrel was now inside our dashboard. Being pressed for time, we had no choice but to take our squirrel with us and pray that it would not gnaw away at my feet while driving.

Upon turning on the van, it became very apparent in the 102 degree weather, that our air conditioning was now not working......thanks to Mr. Butthead, the squirrel. It could only be suspected that this pest had chewed through some wires to accomplish this.

Today, we took our van in to get it looked at. What was found was a squirrel's nest inside the dash and chewed wires. There was approximately $225 of damage. We were told by the mechanic that he gets about one case like this a week and that we were lucky because most of the damage he sees is usually above $600. It was advised that no windows nor doors should ever be left open because of this......ever.

So, people, this is one more story of our van that will be added to the museum of memories and one more story that when I hand over those keys, although uninvited, will lend to the tears shed when walking away. My van is still my all-time hero.