Preparing for Rain

When it came to thinking about the nursery, when to start became a subject of much debate. To be honest, at first it was a little hard to feel too enthusiastic about getting the nursery ready when we began to see what was happening with the wait times. One thing's for sure, we didn't want to have a completed nursery and be staring at it for a year or more with no Anna. We heard varying opinions from people who had endured a lengthy wait with an adoption. Some people said to work on the nursery now... others advised that we wait. And there were definitely those times when we didn't want to even think about it -- just let the room sit as it was until we could at least see a speck of light at the end of the tunnel.

Then we recalled a scene from a little movie that came out last year called 'Facing the Giants'. They didn't exactly roll out the red carpet for this one, so many of you may not have heard of it. It was actually made by a church in Georgia. Our understanding is that the writing, directing, acting, film editing, even the camera-work were all done by members of this one church. If you haven't seen it, we recommend that you check it out on video. The acting probably won't win any Oscars, but it delivers a very powerful and inspiring message.

The main character is a high school football coach who is feeling like nothing is going his way. In this pivotal scene of the movie, the coach is sitting in his office when he is visited by a somewhat mysterious character, Mr. Bridges, who walks the hallways of the Christian school, praying for the students as he touches each of their lockers. Knowing that Coach Taylor is feeling dejected, he decides to tell him a parable about two farmers who both pray for rain. One just prays and waits for the rain hopefully, the other not only prays and waits for it, but he also prepares his fields to receive the rain. The question he posed to the coach..."Which farmer are you?".

So, which one is truly trusting God? We realized that we weren't demonstrating that kind of faith with the adoption. Faith isn't frantically tilling your fields when you see the rain clouds rolling in. True faith is working the soil even though you're in the middle of a drought and there's no relief in sight. So we decided that even though the forecast isn't favorable for that packet to arrive on our doorstep anytime soon, it was time to start preparing for Anna.

Even so, we didn't want to go gangbusters with the nursery and end up twiddling our thumbs for two, maybe three years... so we're pacing ourselves.

It's been a little while ago that we picked out the bedding, which was a gift from Laura's mom and grandma. We decided that this would most likely establish the theme for our room, so we thought it might be a good place to start. We knew we wanted something cheerful, and ended up finding just the thing with brightly colored flowers and flies of the butter and dragon variety. :)

The bedding provided our color pallet for the walls. It might be hard to see in the picture below but our main color is a subtle green called Soft Reflection. To mix it up a bit we painted one of the walls a pale yellow (Blazing Star) and added a touch of pink (Cotton Candy) in the little cubby-like entryway to the room.

One of our favorite things about the nursery is the furniture that we're using. The dresser and bookcase in the pictures below were Laura's when she was a baby, and we were very happy when Laura's mom suggested that we use them for Anna's room. The pieces need a little work, so we plan on refinishing them and found some knobs to give the dresser a little update. We picked up a pair of lamps and a new light fixture to tie in the brushed nickel knobs on the dresser.










We went several months ago to start looking at cribs (a gift from Greg's mom) and found one that we really liked. This is something that we haven't quite pulled the trigger on yet, but we are ready to buy and maybe just leave it in the box for a little while before it gets put together... looking at an empty crib for too long might be more than we can take!

Of course the closet is already pretty full with clothes for lil' miss thang as well.

Anyway, thought you guys might want to have a sneak peek at the nursery. We will send out periodic updates as construction continues.

Love,
Greg and Laura

Grab a hanky...

We found this video on another website and just had to share it with you all. It is a song written by Steven Curtis Chapman, a Christian artist, for his three daughters that he adopted from China. He and his wife have also created an organization called Shaohannah's Hope which is a great resource for anyone interested in adopting.

Hope you enjoy the video...

The Journey

The journey of infertility is a long and difficult one. Each couple that faces this heartbreaking realization in their life has their own unique experience to share. Resolution can come in many different ways, yet there are undoubtedly some common themes that every couple can identify with. We came across a video that does a beautiful job of expressing what many people endure while on their journey to become parents.

Though we have found our path... the path that God made for us, we wanted to share this touching video with all of you. For anyone out there that might be facing similar circumstances... and are struggling for direction, we encourage you to keep praying and hold on to the hope that you will find the way.

Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your path straight.--- Proverbs 3:5-6

Click on the link below to watch the video (there is music, and you may have to do some scrolling to see some of the words, or change your setting to "Full Screen" - try your F11 key when the video comes up or click Tools, Full Screen).
Empty Arms Video Link

The Name Game - Part Deux

A while back we brought up the subject of a name for our daughter ("The Name Game" posted on 10/5/06). Sorry to keep you all waiting for so long, but we're finally ready to reveal the name we've chosen...

When we first started talking about names several months ago, we did like a lot of couples and got a baby name book. We didn't even get through the A's and we came across a name that we both really fell in love with. Of course we continued through the rest of the book in search of other names that might be possibilities, but never found anything quite as perfect as our original pick. A beautiful name with a beautiful meaning, we think. And that name is Anna.

We especially love the meaning of Anna, which is "grace". We also liked that it is a variation of Laura's middle name, Ann. We're still discussing middle names, so you'll just have to wait a little bit longer for that. :) We'll keep you posted...

Love,
Anna's Parents-to-be

Happy New Year!

We hope everyone had a nice Christmas. While we missed Greg's dad greatly this Christmas, we were thankful for our nephew, Nathan, who always provides much needed comic relief for all of us.


We wish everyone a wonderful 2007 filled with good health, much happiness, and many blessings!

Cheers,
Greg and Laura

The Name Game

It seems the question, "Have you thought of a name yet?" is happening more and more these days, so we thought we would let you all in on a little secret.......... We're working on it!

You didn't think we were actually going to tell you right then, did you? Suckers!! :-)

We've spent the last few months tossing around names and have pretty much narrowed down the first name to one we really like. The hard part has been the middle name, which we want to be a Chinese name... as one way to preserve her heritage. This obviously becomes a little more tricky. Not only do we want a name that "fits" with her first and last name, but it's also important that it be a proper Chinese name and have a good meaning.

The meaning of a name seems to be of extra significance in Chinese tradition. It is common to combine two shorter names into one. And the names, when put together, take on a somewhat varying meaning than the two separate. Also, depending on how it's arranged, the name could have a completely different meaning.

Some of you might be wondering, "Won't she already have a name when you get her?" The answer is yes, she will. However, it is likely that this will be a name given to her by the orphanage director, and might only mean something about the location of the orphanage itself. It is our feeling that this won't carry the "specialness" or distinctive quality that she deserves. Of course, we will always hold close to our hearts the name she has when we first meet her. But our wish is for our daughter to have a name that was chosen with love, and especially for her.

We've been doing a bit of research on Chinese names and have a few ideas that we are talking about. Currently, we're in the process of consulting some Chinese sources to make sure the name(s) we like are acceptable and have a meaning that we are happy with.

We feel like we're pretty close to a final decision, so we'll try not to leave everyone in suspense for much longer. On the other hand, what's the rush?... It's not like we're running low on time. :-)

Cheers,
Greg, Laura and ????

We broke down...

After 4 years of wanting, waiting, dreaming, and praying we couldn't wait any longer to buy something! The day we were DTC we just happened to find ourselves wandering around Toys R' Us and stumbled upon the cutest dress... we couldn't pass it up.

In other news, still no word on our LID. As luck would (or wouldn't) have it, we've heard that there is one man in charge of logging in dossiers and apparently he was on vacation the last week of August. This probably means we are just now getting logged in - hopefully we'll hear soon. Also, unfortunately, the wait time for referrals continues to creep up and is now at about 13 1/2 months. Rumor is this should begin to level off soon and stay closer to 12 months... We pray this is the case.

Oh, and the photo gallery is finally ready... be sure to check out the link on the right side of the page. We'll try to add to it from time to time, so have a look every now and then and see what's new.

Thank You

We just wanted to take this opportunity to say a big, heartfelt "Thank You" to everyone for your comments, e-mails, asking how thing are going, and so on. Knowing we have your support means a lot!

This is such a long process with many ups and downs... and even though we aren't too far into it, the support we've had has really helped. One piece of advice we were given when we began our homestudy was to celebrate all the "little" milestones along the way, and we've tried to do that so far as we completed certain phases of our paperchase (yeah, yeah... any excuse for ice cream is a good one). These mini celebrations have helped to keep our spirits lifted as the time passes, but what has helped the most is all of you and the support you've shown.

We still have quite a journey before us, but we just wanted to get this "thank you" out now to let you all know how grateful we are to have you and how much your being there means to us.



xie xie (Thank you)