Family Time Away

We are thankful to have had a few days away close to the beach with the kids! Our friends invited us to stay in their home, which was a blessing as we save and fundraise for our adoption. We had a wonderful time visiting with them, seeing the sights of Pensacola, being together as a family, and worshipping in their church for Easter Sunday. And if you know anything about our family, you know we can pack in a lot during a few days!

The Beach...

Beautiful white sand and clear water!

 

The Naval Air Station Museum

 

The Blue Angels Practice

Meeting an astronaut!

Robert "Hoot" Gibson
Astronaut on 5 Space Shuttle missions


Celebrating the resurrection of Christ on Easter Sunday

FBC, Pensacola

Easter 2012

Happy Birthday to Our Valentine Girl!

Each Valentines' Day, we celebrate the gift we received 12 years ago!

Katherine Anne 

"Pure Grace" 

A princess from early days!

"Comfortable in her own skin"
--one of the best compliments she's been given!

We never have to wonder what she's thinking!!

So content with life!

Growing with grace

We love you, Katie, and are so proud of who you are  and thankful for the joy you bring into our life and the lives of others!

100 Days

I love celebrations of both the small and big things in life! Today, David's school celebrated 100 days of school. He was so excited to dress up!

We made the trip to Goodwill and found a few items and borrowed a cane from a friend. He wanted to look at like Carl from the movie "Up," so we added a tennis ball on the bottom of the cane.

Happy 100th day of school!

Building Equity

Our family has been enjoying the slice of time between the holidays and the season where our schedules will become busier again. Though we have returned to the normal rhythms of everyday life, we are enjoying a slightly slower and calmer pace.

This is also true for our adoption journey. We have finished gathering documents and are waiting for the completion of our homestudy. We are grateful to have been supplied with all that we financially need to complete this phase. At an enjoyable pace, we are working through trainings and reading books to meet our adoption education requirements.

Soon, however, the pace will shift. Our calendar will be filled with campus ministry activities, Destination Imagination, Cub Scouts, retreats, and Spring baseball. We will enter a new adoption phase with more paperwork, grant applications, fundraising, and a referral for a little one(s) and the increased anticipation that will bring.

Yet, for this moment, we have been given the gift of calm. This morning's devotional in Jesus Calling spoke directly to me regarding this brief season. The words challenged me to not take if for granted, to use these quiet days wisely:

"Practice trusting me in quiet days, when nothing much seems to be happening. Then when storms come, your trust balance will be sufficient to see you through. Store up for yourself treasure in heaven, through placing your trust in Me. This practice will keep you in my Peace." 

As I read this, I reflected on what kind of equity we are building during this time. God brought to mind the moments after dinner when Thom leads our family in devotions and the brief but important conversations we have around our table. I thought of special times we are having with the Katie and David, just enjoying "girl" and "guy" time. I also thought of how the kids are talking more and more about the child(ren) God will add to our family and how their hearts are tender toward the sibling(s) they do not yet know.

I know that we have stormy days ahead of us (possibly tomorrow!) We will be more impatient with each other and our busy schedules, struggle forget to cram in devotions between dinner and baseball, become impatient and/or overwhelmed with the adoption process, and resent sharing rooms and toys. In these quiet days, I pray God will help us continue to trust Him and reflect on His faithfulness in ways that will build equity in Him, in His perfect peace.

 "When I am afraid, I put my trust in you.
 In God, whose word I praise—
in God I trust and am not afraid.
   What can mere men do to me?

Psalm 56:3-4

"But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also."

Matthew 6:20-21

Christmas 2011

A reflection of Christmas 2011 through pictures...

Our Jesse Tree...a new Advent tradition

ICE at Opryland Hotel

Christmas morning at home before going to SC

An annual SC Christmas tradition...

a

adding handprints to Mimi's tablecloth.

Cousins

Warm enough for fishing with Papa...

 a walk through the woods...

climbing trees...

and enjoying being together.

Welcoming 2012 with the kids' new trampoline

As we celebrated Christmas, we all couldn't help but think of what may be ahead for us in 2012.

A new series of Hallmark ornaments.   Praying a new set of hands will be hanging it on our tree in 2012!

Waiting for Christmas by Thom

I love the Christmas Season!! I love the colder weather, the lights, the music, and the season of advent as we prepare for the coming of Christ. I even love the big gaudy plastic or inflatable yard decorations. I love sitting at home with a fire ablaze, the lights off except those on the tree, and James Taylor Christmas on in the background. I love wrapping gifts and watching Katie and David as they express such joy and delight as they open their presents. I love watching Linus Van Pelt explain Christmas to Charlie Brown from Luke 2:8-14. I even love seeing the heart transformation of the Grinch atop Mount Crumpit, perched with all the toys and his faithful dog Max high above Whoville.

 

But this year something doesn’t seem quite right. Amidst the joyful celebration there is an ever-present unrest. Although Lori and I are very early in the adoption process, I am aware that part of our family, the portion known now only to God, will not be celebrating Christmas with us. As we wrap presents and cook cookies, decorate the house and share in the joy of the season, I find myself thinking of an unknown orphanage somewhere in the Congo where a girl, or a boy, or siblings spend another Christmas.

More than any season before, I understand the expectant waiting of advent. The Israelites waited 400 years for a message from God, the church awaits the return of Christ, and we wait for the miracle God will do within our family through the process of adoption. So this year with new understanding and meaning, 

Come, Lord Jesus. 

Come quickly. 

We await the miracle of your birth.

   “the people walking in darkness have seen a great light”                                                                 Isaiah 9:2

Christmas Traditions: Now and Then

Each year we decorate our home for Christmas the weekend after Thanksgiving weekend due to family travel. On Saturday, Thom began sorting through our decorations and strung lights on the trees outside. The weather was very mild and we headed out to the Franklin Christmas parade. After the parade we stopped in Sweet CeCees for yogurt before browsing the shops on Main Street.

Last night before bedtime, we introduced the kids to a new tradition, the Jesse Tree. During Thanksgiving, I was scrambling for an advent devotion to do with our children. I had given some thought to it earlier, but let it fall to the bottom of the "to do list." But as I watched the kids look through the "Black Friday" ads and become somewhat overwhelmed with "stuff," I desired to have something to help us focus on Christ each day. Thankfully I ran across the idea for the Jesse Tree on another adoptive mom's blog. We are a week behind, but are enjoying this time together. (And it helps David keep track of "how many more days until Christmas!)

After church today, we decorated our Christmas tree. As we hung ornaments on the tree, we talked about Christmas "now and then."

Though we did have a brief discussion about how Christmas is different now for children compared to the past, we mostly talked about Christmas traditions "then": when our adoptive child(ren) come home. Our discussion began when we hung stockings on the mantle and one of us noted we will have to buy new stockings when our family grows. We briefly debated whether we would buy new ones, but decided we will keep the ones we have for our children and Thom and I will add new ones for us.

For now, we have a small nativity I purchased in Uganda this summer. It sits in the center of our mantle.

 Throughout our decorating, we talked about our adoption, especially with Katie, who really "gets it." We wondered if our child(ren) will be with us this time next year or if we will still be waiting. We thought about ornaments we will add while we wait. We pondered about how we will introduce/explain Western traditions of Christmas, especially the "guy in the red suit," and changes we will choose to make. What a special time with our children!

After decorating the tree, we moved on to David's favorite Christmas activity: decorating cookies. He is serious about decorating and has been since he was 3! We had a lot of fun together!

The finished products

So thankful for time to make and cherish our family traditions!

Rainy days and Mondays...



This is the day the LORD has made. We will rejoice and be glad in it.

Psalm 118:24

It is Monday morning and the rush of a new week is here. The rain is coming down and traffic is calling my name. I go out into this week, however, with warm thoughts from our Thanksgiving break. Just a quick recap of our time away before heading out.

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving in Ohio with Thom's family! It has been a long time since we were all together. Our kids got to see aunts from Chicago, a cousin in from NYC, cousins from the D.C. area, and an aunt and uncle and Grandma, who live in Parma (outside Cleveland.) Thom's sister, Donna and husband Keith, hosted us all for Thanksgiving dinner. The meal was wonderful and the kids had a great time playing together! 

One of the things we have always done together is play cards and games, but not as much in recent years. This time we gathered around the table and introduced our kids to new games, Farkle and Apples to Apples. David is getting better at sitting and playing with us. It was fun to watch his personality come out when playing Apples to Apples!

Katie got to have her special "Aunt Dee" time and went to see the Muppet Movie. While they were out, Thom's sister Carole and mom helped me make some of our fundraising jewelry. We had a fun matching colors and working together. We are truly blessed and thankful that both of our extended families are so supportive of our adoption!

Our visits are too few and far apart, but we made great memories and enjoyed the time we had. So thankful for the time away and time to be with family!

Time Away

We loaded the van yesterday and headed north for the Thanksgiving holiday. If you know us really well, you know that we travel like gypsies. We I am the classic "I will grab this one-last-thing just-in-case" packer! Early in our marriage this baffled Thom. I packed as if we were either never going to return or be stranded in a corn field in Ohio. Now, 15 years later, he quietly packs the van with the skill of a professional mover.  (Thanks, sweetheart!)

Yesterday, he came in the door laughing and called me out to the van. Already packed (without my '"last minute" bags), he reminded me this is without the child(ren) we are waiting for! At this point, we have one row per child. It makes us smile and try to imagine the future God has planned for our family.

On the road, we enjoyed family time. Admittedly, adoption paperwork and thinking about fundraising has taken a lot of time and focus lately. Katie let me join her on the back row and we played games on her ITouch and then the old-fashioned "ABC" travel game. Because we were stopping half-way for the night, we stopped and ate in a restaurant (vs. the quick kid friendly meals). When we got to the hotel, we quickly changed and went swimming. This is one of our kids' favorite travel treats!

Today we drive the rest of the way to Grandma's house. We are looking forward to a few days of being with Thom's family!  Special treats are seeing cousins and aunts the kids haven't seen in over a year.  The kids are disappointed snow is not in the forecast this year. Of course, we packed our snow gear-- just in case!

"Drinking out of a fire hose"

We love our pastor's Biblical teachings and his sense of humor. Often when his teachings have included a lot of information, he will conclude by saying, "I know that was probably like drinking out of a fire hose, but I needed to give you all that background information. "

Yesterday was like that for us. Without going into too much detail, we had a school meeting and realized our sweet 7 year old son is having some problems at school. We are hoping it is a side effect of one of the new medications he is taking. If you have known us for long, you know he had a serious medical problem when he was 4. Pray for us as we continue to seek to understand long term effects and give him the support he needs, and for him as he struggles with the stress.

After that meeting, we had an appointment with our social worker for the 2nd homestudy interview. If you are unfamiliar with this process, a homestudy gathers very personal information about us and our family. The social worker uses this information to make adoption recommendations to our placement agency. Once approved, a legal document is compiled that will go to US immigration for approval.

Later in the afternoon, we had our placement agency orientation over the phone. More personal questions were followed by an overview of the Democratic Republic of the Congo adoption process. As with most adoption processes, there are many unknown factors. However, we learned some exciting possibilities in each meeting:

1- We will complete our homestudy process by the first of January (providing FBI fingerprint results are timely!)
2- It is possible that we will could be matched (receive a referral) while waiting to be approved through immigration. This means that we could be matched with a little girl earlier than we expected.

Both of these are very exciting, but both mean that we could have the next set of fees due sooner than we expected.  As we save to meet these, we are also fundraising through several different items. Visit our fundraising page for great Christmas items. 

We continue to see how God is leading us through this process. We are grateful for His provisions so far and the confirmations He is giving us along the way. We pray in this journey we continue to look to Him, trust in His timing, and give Him the glory for it all.

Thoughts from Thom

I’m not sure how it is for you, but my faith journey usually involves me doing those things I know I should be doing; reading my Bible, praying, being involved in church and the ministry at the BCM, etc. without a lot of direct divine intervention. I strongly believe that God speaks to us through His word, though His spirit and through the lives and testimony of brothers and sisters who walk this journey of faith alongside us.  For me, this has been the normative manner of God’s activity in my life.

What do you do when God clearly and directly speaks to you? How do you respond when you receive an obvious message from the Lord? God spoke very personally to me as Lori and I decided to follow His leadership in adoption. I felt God calling us to open our family to this opportunity and then saw as God confirmed this calling and repeatedly communicated His will for us to seek adoption in the Congo.  (ask me sometimes, there are some really funny stories!)

As with much of my journey of faith, I have no idea how this will end and ultimately what God is going to do in and through our family.  I trust that God will lead us to the child, or children, He has for us to welcome into our family and I hope that we will be aware of the lessons God has for us along the way.  Although I’m unaware of the specifics, I’m confident that there are lessons of faith, trust, perseverance, hope, disappointment, celebration, and sovereignty along the way. I’m equally sure, though often unseen and unheard, that the Father in heaven will be directing and guiding each step.

  “I will instruct and teach you in the way which you should go;

   I will counsel you with My eye always upon you.”

                                                                           Psalm 32:8

In the process...

Our daughter, Katie, is very interested our process of adopting. A few days ago, she asked me about the paperwork. She noted that, if we need any help, "I'm your girl!"  I assured her that, while we have it under control, we will let her know. Love her so much!

Yesterday, we met with our social worker to begin the paperwork process for adoption. This included an interview about how we came to be interested in international adoption, our interest in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), and general information about our family. Our wonderful social worker gave us an overview of the program and all of the paperwork and forms required.

As we walked out of the building, we checked our emails on our phones and discovered we had received an email with our "welcome documents" from our adoption agency. This confirmed our acceptance into their DRC adoption program. What amazing timing!

Over the next few weeks, we will be filling out many documents and gathering information for our home study, which has much more to do with us than our home! We will be getting fingerprinted for our FBI background check, writing and disclosing personal details about our life, and getting physicals. We will also begin the education process about international adoption in the DRC and meeting with our social worker for interviews.

While we have the initial fees covered through savings and unexpected financial gifts from friends, we will be fundraising to pay for upcoming fees. One of the ways we are raising money is through our t-shirt.

The shirt will be a blue, short sleeve American Apparel tee. The artwork above is a proof and is being finalized. The back of the shirt will have the following verse (in red):

"I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you." John 14:18"

If you would like support our adoption by purchasing a shirt, send an email to lori.s.thornton@gmail.com or purchase on the sidebar. We will have some children sizes (4 and 6) available, as well as x-small for adults/older children. 

We will have other items (coffee, necklaces, and earrings) available soon! Check back for more details.

Family Fall in Pictures

First day of middle school (6th grade)

First day of 1st grade

Game ball!

Ober Gatlinburg with Mimi and Papa

Halloween