a brother and a sister hold on to each other

 There

Here

There is so much filling my heart, but I don't know how to share if meaningfully yet. So, I hold onto the parallels in my children, and ponder the small tokens I see of their hearts knitting together even now.

Before they've touched one another. . . .

Again, I am so humbly honored to be blessed with such amazing children.

Easter Pictures

ehhhhh are you sure about this bowtime, Mommy?



cheeseburger :)




her baby cheeks won't last much longer . . .




my sweet darlings




how small she is, how big Daddy's hand is!




exhausted from the hunt

 And our Easter scenes are brought to this blog by Facebook . . . which has refused to let me upload them all week!

Our Papers are Submitted!

We just received word that our dossier has been fully translated (including our amended USCIS approval) and is being submitted to court in Kinshasa. That means that we are in line for a court hearing, with an estimated timeline of 4-8+ weeks. The next update we'll receive from DRC will be that we passed court. We will legally be the parents of our son and daughter for days, possibly weeks before we know it! It is exciting that the next step in this adoption process is becoming legal parents, but really it's all a formality. We are their parents, they are our children. Even though he doesn't know yet, our son has a big brother forever. Our daughter has her little sister Jacqueline to follow her always. Rob and I have been greatly blessed with five children. We pray for more blessings in our future.

For those of you who might be interested, it took 3 weeks to received our amended I-600A approval. We had to change our age range from 0-4 to 0-6 years.

Spring . . .

It's spring! Isn't it nice? Time to prepare for Easter, time to get outside with our families, and maybe time for new family portraits? Well, we can help you with all of that! Keep reading for the Raffle . . .

Please let me introduce to you my friend Eileen

Eileen has a sweet heart, especially toward orphans. She prayed and brainstormed, and came up with an idea of how she could help our children come home. She asked her mom to help her assemble and sell Easter Buckets to raise money for our adoption. I can't tell you how grateful I am that my daughter and son already have sweet friends loving them before they've even met :)

Eileen and her mom are offering these cute Easter Baskets (they're big!) for your special bunny!

each one is $10, personalized with the special boy or girl's name,

and include things like:

candy

plastic eggs

bubbles

play dough

balls

glow bracelet

silly bandz

the recipe for Resurrection Cookies

How awesome is Eileen! She'll even deliver it to you herself!

So, how can you get yours?

1.  leave a comment on this blog with your contact info

2. email Eileen's mom, Brooke Helf at brooke(at)inhissight(dot)org

3. sign up at the orphan care table on Sundays at

Crossroad Church of Walton County

And . . . You can enter our Spring Raffle!

Spring Raffle

Photo Session with 41ten Photography

Two Easter Baskets

Another friend, photographer Nakia Biles of 41ten Photography is offering a great prize!

Photo Session with 41ten Photography:$159 value

Includes:

*Session fee (1-2 hours of photographer's time at location of your choice or studio for newborn/maternity)
*Choice of print package valued at $99 or Photo CD with 15 images with copyright release also vauled at $99
(This can be used as a studio credit of $159 if winner wishes to apply credit to wedding package)

check out her amazing work at http://www.41tenphotography.com/

But, even if you don't win, each raffle ticket can be redeemed at 41ten photography for a free session fee!

(normally $60, no pictures included)

her current spring special is $99 for a Phote CD with 15 images

So, now you want to know how to get your tickets? Donate to our adoption on the sidebar!

1 ticket for $5 donation

3 tickets for $10 donation

then, after a $10 donation, get another for blogging about our giveaway or posting on Facebook!

Please leave a comment on this post letting me know that you donated and blogged/posted

This raffle is open now through Monday, April 18th

Easter Buckets on sale until Easter Sunday!