Practice Makes Perfect!

For those of you who haven't got to meet this cute guy, this is Noah, our nephew and we LOVE him!!! Today we got to experience first hand the awesomeness of full time baby care. Unfortunately my brother and sister-in-law are really sick, but fortunately for us, that means Noah gets to spend the night! Its about 9 pm, and so far, so good (except for the brief unhappiness we captured in the first picture!) So, maybe I'll blog again tomorrow and let you know how the night goes ;)

Things with the adoption are still moving along really well. We had our second homestudy today. We're just waiting on a few more papers (reference letters, doctors forms, Angie's passport) and then we can send everything to our social worker. She said she should be done with her part in a week, then she forwards it to our international agency, and hopefully they should be done in one to two weeks. From there is goes to ICPC (I think that's it) I know part of it is "interstate compact" and I think they'll have it three to four weeks, and finally it goes to another state agency with a lot of letters (I know part of that process includes INS and them agreeing to allow us to bring an international child into the state) and they'll take up to ten weeks. So, we really want to get all the of final papers to Susan (our social worker) this next week so we can begin that whole process. Its only after our dossier travels to all those places that it can then be sent to Thailand to be matched with a baby!!!!! I just keep praying that by Christmas next year we can at least know who our baby is. It so hard to talk about your baby and remain abstract. I want to call him or her by name, and shop for them.

Today I totally had a moment in regards to all that. We were at practice today for our church's Christmas Cantata and we were practicing the song where the kids choir comes in and sings "Sleep Baby Jesus." and I was totally overcome with tears. Now I'll admit that I always get a little teary-eyed when the kids sing, just cause they're so darn cute, but this time was different. I could just picture our child singing with them. And to hear the words they were singing and to think that we are going to be taking a child from a country that is nearly 100% buddhist and instead teaching him or her the love of Jesus. It makes me cry again just thinking about it. I keep praying that our little one is safe and healthy this Christmas being loved by a wonderful caregiver in Thailand.

We also pray that all of you are having a wonderful, happy Christmas. We love you all!!!