Adoption updates & Why I love my parents

These pictures perfectly demonstrate why I adore my parents. These were all taken in the last couple of weeks: birthday traditions, Sunday lunches (a tradition all but one Sunday a month if everyone's in town), and Grandma Beth at the fair. Are we not blessed beyond measure?!?

I have some amazing and wonderful adoption news to report. Our friends the Caldwells got their call today. They are now first-time parents of a beautiful (although I will not be able to see this for myself until after they pass court) little baby boy. The crazy thing is, their DTE date (dossier to Ethiopia) was January 25, 2008. Do you know when ours was? February 7th!!! Now before our family and friends not in America World get too excited, they were requesting an infant boy. We are requesting an infant girl...and there is a difference (not just anatomically speaking, of course) Since the beginning (with some changes at times), there is about a two month difference for infant girl and infant boy requests. If this continues to be the case, we are still on target to receive our referral in late September or October. The Joner family is #1 waiting for an infant girl, and their DTE date is way back on 10/26/07. (SO, AFTER I WROTE THIS ENTIRE ENTRY, I GOT A FACEBOOK MESSAGE FROM MY FRIEND KAREN AND FILLED ME IN THAT JONER'S GOT THEIR REFERRAL TODAY TOO--ON THEIR ANNIVERSARY! THAT MEANS THE JUVINALLS ARE FIRST IN LINE WITH A DTE OF 11/1/07...AND THEN THE NEXT DTE FOR AN INFANT GIRL IS 12/21...0R MAYBE 11/21 IF THE MYSTERY FAMILY UNACCOUNTED FOR IS REQUESTING AN INFANT GIRL. EVEN MORE EXCITING THAN BEFORE!!!) So, you see the difference. If my calculations are correct, I think we are #4 in line, specifically, for an infant girl. On top of this exciting news, four families (Ducommuns, Coxs, Moles, Moutsos) made it through court before the two month closure and will be traveling in two short weeks to get their little ones. We will be praying for Wempes, Wistroms, Schmidts, and a mystery family as they will have only one chance (not an overly exciting prospect) on August 6 to pass court before it closes. If they pass, they can travel during the two month closure to pick up their kiddos, if not, they have to wait until a court date when it reopens in October. There are nine other waiting families (have referrals, but no scheduled court dates) with America World, so you can definitely be praying for them as I'm sure the wait is excruciating. It had been awhile since I just talked adoption, so I wanted to share all this wonderful news. Blessings!

The rest of the pictures and details from Paraguay (aka the neverending post)

Getting soaked at the falls...but looking cool.
Crunches in nature
Sorry, I couldn't resist. Don't we look tough!

(And CHECK OUT THAT HILL in the background! The picure doesn't even do it justice.)

San Bernadino roomies

Alyssa and our beloved driver, Carlos

The restaurant in Brazil actually had a FLOSS machine!
Adam's happy dance
Mom and I having an online opp. in Brazil
The Iguazu Falls has 275 individual waterfalls! (and yes, I think my eyes are closed)
Gustav (aka Dave) and me

Diane's little buddies (she was lead teacher for the 2 and 3s)
Jesus condemned
The Villarica missionaries The Asuncion missionaries
The Floyds and Mccissicks (sorry about spelling botching)

Amy and her new friends after church

Some of the great kids (ours and theirs)

There was a lot of this going on with all our travels. I was lovingly dubbed "It."

Ramone and Carol Sunday night at Kapi'i

Three languages, one God

"The tender eyes that choose to forgive and never despise"

"Redeemer" drama

States and Paraguayan teams worshipping together

Everywhere we went, the kids ate up Adam.

Thank you, Jesus!

This "starts" (although it's in backwards order, so by "starts" I mean if you go from the bottom up. SORRY!) all from Sunday afternoon's church service: The drama, my sis and I dancing and singing to "How Beautiful"(okay, that one accidently got deleted), and Adam playing soccer with the church kids. (By the way, I was chastised over and over by Adam for not giving him "link love." I was just too ignorant to know how to link names with their blogs. However, I think I have more than made up for it now, Cramer, thus I will not be linking your name for awhile. I care about my readers, for goodness sake, and I don't want them to get bored with me because I keep mentioning YOU. It's pathetic when I now have your blog address MEMORIZED! GEESH! ENOUGH ALREADY!)

Sorry to all who just had to endure that and don't have the history :) ANYWAY, back to Sunday. We then travelled to Kapi'i, a really impoverished area with one vocally Christian family. Ramone is the head of this family and the picture with him is him showing us his family business (he makes he famous Paraguayan cups for mate and terere). Close to his home is a Catholic church (and let me just say this isn't a generalization about the Catholic church, just this particular situation). The priest there knows that Ramone and his family have become evangelical Christians and has warned that anyone who comes to Ramone's church cannot receive (nor anyone in their family) the sacraments. I don't understand all the implications, but this is a very big deal and so Ramone's family is ostracized. So, the church service is held on Sunday night so that people can come and go with the covering of darkness. Now, it may be easy for those of us who have never dealt with persecution firsthand to become critical of this set-up, saying that those believers should "Shout if from the rooftops." However, the longer I live, the more I realize that things are much less black and white than I once thought. Ramone's family has dealt with more hardship than I probably ever will, and if they think this is the best situation, I don't think it's our place to judge. On a different note, once Alyssa was having a conversation with one of his daughters and asked her if she ever wished she had more (the poverty there was so real...from the bedroom where I changed for "How Beautiful" to the outhouse that served as their only bathroom). Her response was that yes, if she went to the city, she would have more things, but she would not choose that. Life at her home is much more peaceful. Is that not the truth!?? What an amazing reminder that while we in America have such incredible wealth, the price we pay for that wealth is perhaps much more costly than its worth.

From there we traveled several hours to San Bernadino where we'd be with SIM Paraguay missionaries all week. Our main job there was to do a VBS for their 20+ kids and lead worship. We were also there to serve in any other way we saw fit. The week was tiring and wonderful all in one. Worship was a huge responsibility, but God was faithful. The same was true with VBS. The kids seemed to have SUCH a great time (with the exception of one two year old that warmed up more and more and seemed genuinely happy by the end of the week!) We got to hang out with the missionaries a lot through different outings, mealtimes, and hours and hours of beach volleyball (SO GREAT!) By the end of the week we were all exhausted yet very content and joyful. The team ended the trip with a journey to Iguazu Falls...simply gorgeous. The last pictures (which would actually be the FIRST pictures) are of the falls and just having fun.

From there, Alyssa, Mom and I split from the team and headed back to Villarica for five more days of talking and simply enjoying one another's company (and getting a better taste of Alyssa's life). I cannot believe now that I almost missed this chance. My precious sister has grown more in the last two years than I think even she thought was possible, and almost missing this opportunity to meet her new friends, her host family for her first five months, and just being where she has lived was incredible. Not to mention, we women decided we saved the fam thousands in therapy for the amount of redemptive talking we did :)

The two weeks were powerful. I cannot thank my parents enough for this incredible chance of a lifetime. Neither can I thank enough my dear husband who gave me his blessing wholeheartedly and held down the fort like a pro while I was gone (even if the neighbor did tattle on him that they didn't keep a schedule. To which Karl responded, "We did too have a schedule! The boys slept every night :)") Also, our team really was special. The way God brought us all together makes me smile thinking about it even now. I was definitely blessed to be a part of such a diverse and wonderful group of people. The lessons I learned are definitely serving to make me a more Christ-like person. Thank you to everyone who prayed, gave wonderful encouragement (Shelley that one is especially for you!), and helped make the trip possible. Blessings to you all.

Dave had back surgery several months before our trip.
His girls tried to make the travel more bearable :)

Adam's "precious." He guarded his

guitar as if it was his firstborn child.

A traditional Paraguayan dance by Alyssa's students

Taken for Karl, my soccer extroardinaire husband in Buenos Ayres, Argentina

Broken down in Paraguay (notice Adam and I in the background having a worship team practice ?!?)

Well, I haven't figured out how to upload more than five pictures at a time, so I'll work on that because I have quite a few to share with you. This is the first two days, and I'm going to try to go in chronological order. The trip to Paraguay was long, but not as long as Ethiopia will be. Mom and I met up with the team in Chicago and we took a night flight to Argentina. The good news was it wasn't a full flight, so I got to stretch out over two seats and attempt to sleep. We arrived the next morning and decided to kill our all-day layover by going on a tour of the city. It was cool and fun and we arrived back at the airport ready to go. After this, we dealt with several frusterating and unexplainable delays, so we ended up getting into Asuncion, Paraguay around midnight. Can I just tell you how wonderful it was to see my sister on the other side of that door? Amazing!!! I love her so much. Talk about a pretty terrific woman....

So, we slept at the guest house that night and did our tourist thing the following morning. I got more than I usually get (I'm not usually a big spender...well, maybe that is unless you ask my husband (j/k)) because I had a lot of thank yous for all the people that made this trip possible! Then, running late as usual, we ate a fast Paraguayan lunch and took off for Villarica. On the way there, our van broke down and Adam and I made the most of it and had a worship practice at the garage where the van was getting fixed :) We arrived just in time to go to Alyssa's school's presentation. They had worked so hard (2nd, 3rd, and 7th graders) practicing their English (that's what Alyssa teaches at the school), doing traditional and modern dances, songs, and a skit. Then, their parents had all brought food for us to enjoy. It was a wonderful evening. That night, the team was spread out staying with Paraguayan families, except Mom and I got to stay with Alyssa. Then, the next morning, we met at the Villarica church...and that's the next entry...

I'm home!

Hey everybody! What an amazing 16 days I had in Paraguay! I only have a second because I'm supposed to be spending time with God right now and got distracted (AH!), but I wanted to say it was AMAZING. What a blessing to serve missionaries! I can't imagine what a breath of fresh air it must have been for them. They were all so wonderful. We spent our time planning worship sessions, tweaking the days' VBS plans, working/playing with all the kids, and spending great time with missionaries. My friend Adam and I spent a considerable amount of time at night (usually from 10-12 or somewhere in there) on the beach volleyball court with the other missionaries. What a blast! Karl and I used to play volleyball a lot before we had kids and it reminded me we need to start doing that more.

There were many other lessons learned as well, one of which was a renewed commitment to spend regular time with my Lord! Thus, why I need to write more later. Just wanted you to know!!! Thank you so much for your prayers and thoughts. I will hopefully be able to post pictures and many more details soon.

In adoption news, our friends the Laughners (who visited us last winter) got their referral for a precious little boy along with four other America World families!!! Is that amazing, or what? That means that we actually may be in the top five waiting families for an infant girl and top 15 overall. Can you believe it?!? As for prayer, our hearts go out to all of the families that have their referrals and are waiting to get a court date so they can go to pick up their children! Because the courts are due to close in a couple of weeks, it honestly might take a miracle for them to make it through court before the 2 month closure. I feel sick for them. We are all trying to remember and LIVE in the knowledge that God's timing is perfect, and He knows exactly what's going on. We will continue to pray for that miracle until closing, but mostly, I am praying for peace for these wonderful families in the midst of their great longing....

Paraguay or Bust! (And an adoption update)

First, our computer is stinky, stinky, STINKY....so this will be short. It keeps freezing and then I have to click into another window (every several seconds) to get it to unfreeze....and then it does it again--over, and over and OVER!!!! This has been the case for several months, so posting (and checking e-mail and surfing the net and checking friends' blogs) turns into a maddening instead of joyful experience. All that to say this post will probably be short.

Okay, enough complaining. I leave for Paraguay in just about 48 hours. Many of you not in our geographical community may not be aware of this wonderful opportunity, because I'm not sure I blogged about it (?) You see, my sister is a missionary there and has one year of a three year term to go. Our old church (where Karl was a youth pastor for 7 years and my parents still attend) is doing a mission trip there and Mom and Dad were going. Well, about six months ago, they said that if Karl and I were interested, Dad would back out of the trip and I could go in his place....with them covering almost ALL the expenses and Dad and Karl could work together to watch the boys. I KNOW, I KNOW, you can't believe I haven't blogged about it before. So, I leave for 16 days Thursday morning. AHHHH!!! I'm a little crazy. Adam and I are basically in charge of putting together 6 (or 7?) sets of worship. But these are not typical "American" sets. These are like hard-core 8 songs a pop sets. More AHHHH!!!! And then, we've been working so hard on this YWAM drama as a team, that Adam and I have NOT spent enough time putting things together and are working our tails off this week to get things in at least some semblance of order. THEN, I, who am not a dancer by training, am doing an interpretive dance to "How Beautiful" that I did once before at our old church about 3 years ago. I still have a lot of work to do, let's just say. The good news is that God is in control, that I know so much of this will all float away when I get on the plane, and that God's strength is made perfect in my weakness, right? That is what I will cling to! I really am so very, VERY excited about how I have seen God's hand already, it's just these last 36 hours that have me a little hairy (not to mention that I'm trying to spend quality time with my three precious boys because I will miss them so very much!) SO......if you can, please keep our team in your prayers July 3-July 14 (the 19th for Mom and me as we get to stay a little longer to be with my precious sis) and even more for all the SIM missionaries that will be coming together for this retreat that we're helping to lead: that the Holy Spirit would empower them and fill them and be so real to them that they are able to return to their respective fields with a new passion and drive for ministry...and a new understanding of just how much God loves them. (Oh, and please pray for all the "boys" back home in Indiana, too!)

For those of you that check this blog mostly for adoption news, we are officially (I think!) in the top 20 waiting families. I can't believe it! I think more than ever, it's becoming more and more real. AND, it is possible, depending on the requests of the "mystery families" and those families that are asking for an infant either sex, we MAY even be in the top ten of waiting families for an infant girl!!!! We are still thinking around October to "meet" her and travel around February, but it is becoming so much more and more exciting. PRAISE JESUS!!!!

Thank you all for your support, encouragement, and prayers. Keep 'em comin'! :)