Just read this wonderful post. Well said! I really needed that today. We received our home study packet last Friday and spent the weekend answering 6 pages each of questions regarding our growing up home life, marriage, personality strengths and weaknesses, current home life, parenting styles, resources available to us, etc. Also, included in the packet was a financial statement, committment forms, background clearances, immigration paperwork, and a training DVD. Ah, let the fun begin! We finished all but the immigration forms and the DVD, so we priority mailed the first part back to the agency so they can set up the home study. That should take about 1 1/2 months. During that time we will be preparing our dossier documents so that once the home study is done, our dossier can be forwarded overseas. I'm hoping we can have it there by the end of May. That's probably wishful thinking, but once I set my mind to something, I'm pretty good at getting it done quickly. I talked with our ageny today and found out that we probably won't be able to put a "hold" on our little guy until our dossier is in his country. Apparently that was an option up until just recently. Argh! Now I'm nervous. What if someone else is looking at him and it's just a race to see who gets their dossier there first. BUT, I'm reminding myself of a couple of things. First and foremost, I serve a Mighty God whom I firmly believe has a plan for my life and that He orchestrates each event for good. I KNOW it'll all work out in the end. I guess what I'm worried about is that it won't work out the way I want it. Youch! That's some brutal truth. So you could be praying that our dossier prep and home study go quickly but also that we would trust God with this situation. It's going to be a few months before we get an official match, so have a while to be patient. Second thing I'm reminding myself of is that this is a small program. I believe our agency is the only agency that has this particular list of waiting children, so how many others could really be looking at him? I guess he could be adopted within country, but I just can't let my mind go there. As we do with everything, we'll just take each step forward until the door closes.

The reason I was encouraged by the earlier post is that I paid for the agency fee and home study fee today. That's a real shocker to the savings account. I just have to remind myself that I'm storing up treasures in Heaven. The opportunity to change a child's life is worth so much more than a well padded savings account or college funds. As my husband said, "It's just money!". Sure we worked hard to save that money and hate to see if go away, but God is our financial manager and if He opened this door, it's up to us to walk through it in obedience.

Well, on to the Twiggy updates. Here is a classic pose of Twiggy Two...

You can see from the picture that her laugh comes all the way from her toes. It was one of the first things I remember calling home from China to say, "You're gonna love her laugh". She loves to be silly and she and Twiggy Three often get into giggle fests. Just last night we could barely get them out the door to gymnastics due to all the sillies going on. Her giggles are good for our hearts because she is our more emotional, sensitive child. When she's happy, she's really happy, and when she's sad, she's really sad. The sad days are getting fewer and fewer as she learns how to navigate relationships. Her favorite place to be, besides climbing a rope and twirling on bars, is on my lap. Boy, is she a snuggler. She would snuggle day in and day out if she could. Actually, I think she would rather curl up with animals, but since they're in short supply around here, she has to take what she can get. She is an animal lover! After having a "Panda" birthday party a couple of weeks ago, today she brought home a Giant Panda book to do a book report on. Her knowledge of animals is amazing. She's always telling me this or that about that newest animal she's read about. She would be a monkey if she could. She can scamper up the rope at gymnastics like nobody's business. Those tummy muscles of hers are rock solid. She's skinny but very strong. Oh, and daring! "Slow down" is not in her vocabulary. A couple of years ago she was riding Twiggy One's big girl bike and decided to race around the cul-de-sac as fast as she could. Not a good idea! At one point, she stood up and stomped on the pedals. That action cause the steering wheel to turn sharply and catapult her over the handlebars and onto the edge of the sidewalk...knocking out three teeth in the process. Thankfully they were baby teeth, but we're still paying for that one. First the visit to the ER, then the retainer to correct a tooth as it came in behind the bottom teeth, and now possibly another retainer as the final tooth to come in is crooked and also in a partial cross-bite. Sigh! I have the feeling that won't be her last visit to ER. (BTW, Twiggy One is now jealous that Twiggy Two and Three have now had ER visits and she hasn't. Goofy girl...)

Speaking of Twiggy One, watch for her update soon. And news about when the social worker is coming for our home study. Do you think I ought to clean or not? I know that's really not what they're looking at, but still!