Motivation

Isn’t it funny the things that motivate us? We have several projects around the house that needed to be done, but we have been putting off. Well with the home study coming up this weekend we were motivated to finally get some of these projects done. They weren’t things that had to be done for the home study, but we just wanted them to be done for it. I worked mainly in the house painting our bathroom and bedroom. My mom was here for the day and helped me a lot with the paint jobs.  Abby even got in on the action and helped us paint, then at lunch time she went around and took lunch orders for McDonalds. Painting is not a job I enjoy, but I just thought of that sweet little girl half way around the world with every stroke. My son, Matt, and I rescreened our back porch.  My sister and a friend worked in our back yard and did a lot of trimming of bushes and trees. I can’t thank them enough for all they did in our backyard. I was overwhelmed by what needed to be done, but they knew where to start and had a vision. My dad and my husband hauled 1500 pounds of yard brush to the County landfill, which by the way is A LOT of brush. Katie was also home for the weekend and did several jobs around the house. Thank you mom, dad, Debbie, Nola, Katie, Matt, and Abby for helping us get so much accomplished in one day.

Friday night David, Matt, and I attended a play at the Highlands County Little Theatre with some special friends of ours, Bernie and Irene Golde. It was the Diary of Anne Frank with Anne Frank being played by Rebecca Luepschen. Rebecca is Matt’s girlfriend and she did an awesome job. If you live in or close to Highlands County, I highly recommend you go see this play.

Again I ask for your prayers for our home study this weekend. If any of you that have been through this process have any suggestions or information you’d like to share with me about what a home study is like, please send me a message.

Another prayer request I have is for a friend, Karen Rapp and her family. They are also adopting a little girl from China. They are a little further along in the process than us, so right now they are waiting to get their LOA (letter of acceptance) and then their travel dates to go get there little girl Julia. Pray that all of this would happen quickly.  I have attached a picture of their little girl and she is beautiful.

While I'm Waiting...

We are progressing along in our adoption process. We sent 11 documents to the Secretary of State to be Certified (this is done to all of our notarized documents) this week. The Secretary of State office has to certify that the person that notarized our documents is a real notary, and once they do that the documents are certified and mailed back to us. Later the documents will be authenticated. For authentication we send our documents to the Chinese Embassy and they verify that the documents that were certified were done so legitimately.  Does all of this sound confusing?  Yeah it is, but what I am excited about is that we are making real progress. Our home study is scheduled for next Friday and Saturday, January 20 and 21. Please pray for our family. It is a little nerve wracking to have a stranger come into your home and ask you a lot of personal questions, not that we have anything to hide. We’ve been working around the house getting some things done that we had been putting off, so that is a good thing. With the help of my son we put new screen up on our back porch and it looks pretty good Painting is on the agenda for Saturday. I know this isn’t stuff we have to do, but it is a good motivation to get it done.

We are waiting any day now for a call from Colorado that will tell us that we can be officially matched with our little girl. A couple of things keep me going while waiting for that call. Most importantly is God’s Sovereignty, knowing that God’s timing is perfect and that God is in control, even when I don’t understand why I didn’t get the call yesterday. Secondly, as I wake up each morning I say to myself, “I am one day closer to flying to China to meet and bring home my little girl.” Then my mind wanders and I think of all the other things I am one day closer to, like watching her play with her brother and sisters and hearing them laugh together, taking her on her first trip to Disney World, our first Christmas together, teaching her about Jesus and taking her to Sunday School.            

So until we get “that call” from Colorado, I want to be obedient to the one making all of this possible and let him continue to work in me so I can be the best wife & mom I can be.

Forever... Chosen... Loved

Forever… Chosen… Loved. So where did that come from? Forever, we have decided to adopt a precious little girl and be a forever family. Loved, she is already and will be loved, forever. Chosen, are you thinking that we chose her? Well in a way we did, but the even bigger miracle is that God chose us, The Altman family, to be her family. Choosing her was easy, but understanding that God chose us to be her forever family is humbling, exciting, and miraculous.

Before I had our third child I had that lingering feeling of deeply wanting another child. When I heard a baby cry, my heart ached for another baby of my own. When I held a baby, I would smell their sweet little head and think of having another baby. God in his grace allowed our family to have that baby, and in April of 2002, Abigail Beth Altman was born and she fulfilled those longings in my heart. Since the birth of Abby I have been content with the size of our family. I can enjoy baby’s that are not mine without feeling sad and wanting another one of my own, like I did before our third child.

When Katie returned home from her trip to China this past summer she and I went to breakfast and looked through all of the pictures she had taken. Then it happened again, just a little bit differently. I saw a picture of a little girl. I didn’t long for another baby, my heart longed for this little girl. To hold her, hug her, kiss her and tell her that I loved her. But how? I knew we did not have the money for adoption, especially an international adoption. All I could think about was how I wanted this little girl to have a family, even if it wasn’t mine. I wanted her to have the love of a mommy and a daddy.

Over the next couple of months God continued to work in our heart as we continued to pray for a family to adopt this little girl. Well God answered our prayers and He chose us. This just amazes me! I know there are other families out there in better a better place financially and maybe even a little younger,  but that didn’t matter. God chose US! God has gone before us every step of the way, reminding us that He did in fact choose us.

We have a large part of our paperwork done and we will have our first visit for our home study next week.  Pray for us, please. Pray that we will be able to get everything done as quickly as possible, so that we can bring our little girl home.

So, Forever… Chosen… Loved. God chose us to love you forever, precious little one.

Isaac Paul Wright

The last several months have brought some very precious people into our lives. When our family started the adoption process, I never imagined the community of other adoptive parents and advocates that we would meet. These people have been a source of encouragement as we began the paper work and now our home study. Though we have not met these people in person, I am thankful for the Internet, which has made it possible to communicate with these families.
One of the families we've met is Nathaniel and Rebekah Wright. About 12 hours ago this mom and dad met Isaac Paul Wright, their new son, in China. What a Christmas to remember! I can't tell you how excited, happy, and how in awe of God I am right now. As I looked at pictures this morning of Isaac with his mommy and daddy and cried tears of joy I couldn't help but think of what it will be like when David and I meet our new child.
Congratulations Wright family. Praying for all of you!
Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world. James 1:27