How's It Going?

Summer is quickly coming to an end here in our
quiet little corner of the world. Although the
past few weeks haven't been so quiet in our
household. :-)

Our church's Worship Team, which S and I are
blessed to be a part of, hosted an Evening of
Worship with Robin Mark this past Friday.
If you don't know who Robin Mark is, you're
missing out! Robin is a remarkably gifted worship
leader from Ireland. Each summer, he travels around
the U.S. and plays with local church's worship
teams and provides communities such as ours
with an amazing evening of not just great
music, but powerful worship! Our WT has
been preparing for months for this evening
and they didn't disappoint! They were awesome!
We were thankful to be able to be a part of this
event and meet Robin. He's a truly down to earth
guy who simply loves the Lord and loves to share
that love with those he encounters through music. 
Below is a picture of Robin practicing with the team.

 

The boys are wrapping up their racing season.

About two weeks ago, S's sister, brother-

in-law and niece came for a visit. They are one of

sponsers of the J&D Racing Team. That particular

Monday night, they were also Event Sponsers.
They were able to hand out the trophies to all
those who placed while getting to know some of
the racing families. A good time was had by all!

 

Our adoption paperwork is coming along. We

are ALMOST done with all the papers required

to complete our Dossier. This week, we hope

to have all but one document notarized, certified,

and on it's way to the New York Chinese Consulate
for the final special piece of paper needed to 'seal'
them. We will also apply for our immigration paperwork.
That piece of paper gives permission from our government to
adopt a child from another country. We will be given an
appt.to get our fingerprints taken (again) and then we wait
for them to clear. Once this is done, and we receive our approval,
then that will go through the process of getting 'sealed' and
our Dossier will be complete and ready for our adoption agency
to give final approval.  Once that is done, it will be sent to
China to be officially logged in!

Things have been moving very quickly with matches in our
agency. We could be traveling to China within the next
6 to 8 months to meet and bring home our daughter! :-)
We can't wait!! We ask that you please pray for things
to go as smoothly as possible and that all the paperwork
is processed in a timely manner! Thank you!

THANK YOU!!

We just received our first check from Just Love Coffee Roasters,
the company that is helping us with our adoption fundraising
efforts. :-)

A big THANK YOU to the family that purchased coffee to
support bringing our little girl home!! Enjoy the coffee!

Adoption Update

Just an update on where we are in the process. We're
currently in the middle of the paperchase. Sending
out marriage and birth certificates to get certified
by various Secretary of States and then to be sent to
the appropriate Chinese Consulates for authentication.

We will have our first home study visit this week.
We hope to have the home study completed and ready
to send to our agency for approval by mid July.

Right now, it's a lot about the hurry up and wait.
If you know me, then you understand that this is
very difficult for me. :-) I keep reminding myself
that this is all part of the process and EVERYONE
has to go through it and at the end of the paper-
chase is a precious little girl waiting for her mama
and baba. :-)

Things that make us uncomfortable

Okay...let's face it. There are just some things that are
uncomfortable talking to friends & family about....one of them
is money. This is not a post asking for money...don't worry. :-)

Although in the next few months, we will have 'fundraisers' of
sorts that you might get an email or phone call about asking for
support. Please don't feel that you HAVE to participate.
Follow your heart. :-)

One of the first 'fundraisers' is located on our blog. It's a
win/win kind of thing. :-) Lots of you like coffee. So, if
you buy some coffee from this site, you'll be supporting coffee
growers & children in Ethiopia while helping our adoption fund
in the process. :-) Click on the Just Love Coffee link
to check out all the great coffee they have available.

You see, when we first felt the call to adopt, we didn't know where
we were going. I prayed many times for God to 'give us a sign' about
the country we should adopt from. I've had several dreams over the
past year and a half. In some of the dreams, I would be holding her,
but would NEVER see her face. I would have dreams about laughter
in the house and I would hear the boys laughing but also the laughter
of a little girl. One of the last dreams I had before we put in our
application to our agency was of us meeting our daughter. I saw her
face! I knew where she was! Although I woke up right before I got to
pick her up, it gave me comfort in knowing He was giving us guidance
in which direction we should be looking.

So, this leads me back to the coffee. You see, Ethiopia is still on my
heart. If I could, I would adopt from both China and Ethiopia! I can see
your eyes rolling and hear the deep sigh right now dear. :-) My Godson
was adopted from Ethiopia as well as a couple of other children in our
congregation. Ethiopia will always hold a special place in my heart.

So, in honor of my Godson, E, and the children in Ethiopia who wait
for their forever families, we're supporting this company selling this
coffee. If you've never tried Ethiopian coffee, you're missing
something really good. :-)

If you decide to buy some coffee, thank you. If not, that's okay. We
appreciate you stopping by. :-)

J&D Racing Update for May

The green flag has dropped on the 2010 go-karting season. J&D Racing has had two practices and two races so far. J is doing double duty in the Tiger Sprint “A” class and the Jr. Outlaw class. D is continuing in the Tiger Sprint “B” class. Here’s the run-down of the events so far.

5/2/10 at Stafford Motor Speedway
Opening practice was good. J’s Tiger Sprint was hopping coming out of turns 2 and 4. This is basically from J outgrowing his kart. No extra weight needed for his kart to make minimum weight with him in it. He is getting taller, so the Center of Gravity (CG) is higher causing the kart to shift more weight to the right side while in the corners. This causes the right side tires to dig into the track then loose grip, dig in and loose grip, etc. We have some work to do to shift weight around to try to get the weight redistributed. J ran well in the outlaw. It seems to suit him well. D had a little bit of hop in his kart too. We can get this out as he has not outgrown his kart yet.

5/17/10 at Stafford Motor Speedway
D started 6th of 7 in the third heat of the Tiger “B” class and finished in 4th. So he started 12th of 12 in the first feature race. D finished 8th. Not a bad finish, but the kart was hopping coming out of turn 4. J started 8th of 8 in the first of two Tiger “A” heats and finished 2nd. He started 3rd in the feature, but due to the ill-handling of the kart coming out of both turns, he kept dropping back and finished 8th of the 15 karts. J had a harder time in the Jr. Outlaw. The chain came off and bent the rear chain guard and stripped the teeth of the rear gear on the first lap of the first practice. The chain popped off again on the first lap of the second practice. After putting on a new chain, rear gear and chain guard, J started 5th of 6 in the third heat. He finished 3rd. This earned him the 9th starting spot of 18 karts in the feature. Unfortunately when the karts were sent out to the track from the pits, J drove 20 yards and the new chain (with 8 laps on it) broke. We couldn’t get it fixed in time, so he had to scratch, which put J in last place in the overall point standings after week one. Not a great start to the season for J&D racing, but hopefully it will only get better from here.

5/22/10 at Twin State Speedway in Claremont, NH
A brand new 1/8 mile go-kart track was built in the middle of the stock car track at this facility. This was a practice only and the first time karts have ever been on the track. The asphalt was just put down the first week of May, so the track is smooth (D likes this), but doesn’t have much grip. All three karts seemed to run well, but it was hard to tell, since it was a practice and many of the people were not able to make it. J&D Racing will be racing the 4-race New England Challenge Series at TSS. Race #1 is on Sun. 6/13.

5/24/10 at Stafford Motor Speedway
D started and finished 3rd of 6 in the third Tiger “B” heat. This was good enough to get him into the first of two feature races (the one you want to be in). He started 9th of 9 and was able to drive to a 5th place finish. Pretty good for him since his kart is still jumpy in turn 4. We will address this before the next race on 6/7. J started 3rd of 7 in the first heat race of the Tiger “A” class. J took down the checkered in the heat and started on the pole of 14 karts for the feature race. J finished 3rd and brought home a trophy for his podium finish. Enjoy the video of J’s heat win!!



We were able to fix the chain problems on the Jr. Outlaw kart by changing the drum and a spring on the clutch. One of the clutch springs was stretched and causing the clutch weights to vibrate too much. Since replacing the spring & drum, we have not had any problems with the chain. J started on the pole of the third Jr. Outlaw heat and was able to finish 2nd. He started 4th of 16 karts in the feature race. He fell back to 7th on the first lap, but was able to maintain this position when the checkered fell. Not bad for his first time in a Jr. Outlaw feature race. This kart was handling well and J put down some very fast lap times in practice. We are pleased with the set-up in this kart for now. Once J gets some experience in it, we think he will be able to run towards the front of the pack.

As mentioned, the next race will be at SMS on 6/7. We will try to get some photos posted of all the karts soon.

Have a Happy Memorial Day and remember those who have given their lives for our freedom. God Bless you all!

Mother's Day

Mother's Day. So many emotions....years ago, this day would
have left me sad as I had thought I would be a mom only to
find out that I wouldn't. That happened twice, then God blessed
me with two wonderful boys.

I grew up with a sister. When J was born, I didn't know what
I was doing. I mean, I didn't grow up with a brother...what was I
going to do with a boy?! All I knew about were dolls and playing
school. I knew nothing of toy cars and trains. I've since
learned to play with toy cars, build things with lego's, and have
an occasional battle with a light saber. :-) Oh how God has
blessed me with these two boys!

As I sit here this evening, my heart is a little empty. You see,
we are awaiting an addition to our family...a little girl. :-)
I know where she is, I just don't know who she is...yet.
Even though I don't 'know' her, my heart longs to hold
her. Last March, I bought this bunny. I don't know why I felt
compelled to buy this bunny on that day. Maybe it was the day
she was born. All I know is that I felt a push to buy this bunny
and name it Hope. I remember crying while putting it's little heart
in with the stuffing and making a wish (according the lady at the
stuffing station). I didn't 'make a wish', but I did pray that God
would guide us in the timing for our adoption and and for Him to
watch over our little girl until the time we would be together.
This bunny will be sent to her when we mail her her first
care package. :-)

So as I sit here this evening very thankful for the blessings
that He's given me, I look forward to the day I get to play with
toy cars (which have turned into real go-karts and I only watch
the boys drive them), build things with lego's, have the occasional
light saber fight or n*erf gun battle, AND co-host tea parties. :-)

A New Journey Begins

Today we got some wonderful news. We are going to be parents
once again. :-) No, I'm not with child. God has led us down
the path to adoption. We found out today that we were accepted
to adopt a little girl from China.

Words can't describe the emotions right now. The seed was
planted almost two years ago. After much prayer and waiting
for His time, we submitted our application. We don't know how
long this will take as time frames change from month to month,
but we know she's so worth the wait!

We look forward to sharing this journey will all of you.