We Were Submitted!!!

Yeah!!  YEAH!!!!!!!   We are shouting from the rooftops here at the Rowe home!  Our dossier was submitted, again, to our children's country in Eastern Europe.  Praising God today and thanking all our friends and family for their prayers on our behalf!

We were one of seven families submitted today, and hopefully in a couple weeks we and these other families will have our appointment dates!  YAHOO!!  Then the fun really begins!

I have made list after list in the past couple months, I need to go find them all.  :)  I will need the general "packing" list, the nursery "must haves" list, the "baby things to bring" list, etc..... etc.

I am, by nature, a planner and this whole idea of having to wait until the last minute to put everything together because we don't know exactly when we are leaving is driving me crrrrrr-aaaaaa-zy!  I mean, I can't pack my suitcase because chances are I will need to wear those clothes sometime in the next couple of weeks.  And we can't buy our plane tickets because we don't know when we are leaving.  And we can't set up child care for our kiddos staying behind because of the same reason.

But, I am trying not to stress over it all too much.  I have confidence that things will fall into place when the time comes.  We have great friends who have asked many times how they could help-- and if you are one of those I am now placing you on high alert!  :)

I am just happy and thankful that we are finally to this stage in this process.  Do you realize that February 14th, Valentine's Day of 2011 was when we made the decision to commit to these children?  That will be a year ago this coming Tuesday.  Wow.

So, we are ready to go in all the important ways-- our hearts and minds are ready even if our suitcases are not.

Please keep on praying for our family.  Pray that the officials won't find anything wrong with our dossier and that they will approve us for travel QUICKLY!  Pray that we hear about an appointment date SOON.  Pray that we all stay healthy and that there are no more major bumps on this road to adoption.  And pray a prayer of THANKS to our Heavenly Father for getting us this far and guiding us along the entire way. 

Just Opened It Back Up!

Hi Everyone!  Just wanted you to know that I have now opened my blog back up to all readers.  The previous threat has now passed, and I think we are good!

Have still been waiting for news on when we can travel.  For those who don't know, our dossier had to be completely re-submitted to our children's country for review because one paper had expired.  Yuck.

So, they will start to submit dossiers again next week, and hopefully ours will be one of the first in the batch!  Praying for a quick travel date thereafter.

Not much else to report-- just homeschooling, and waiting.  Everyone else here is good. Hope they are in your neck of the woods also!

What A Week!!

This week is truly a special one for our family!  First of all, Gideon's official "Gotcha Day" was yesterday-- January 16th.  This is the one year anniversary of when Evan and I got to meet the newest member of our family in China for the very first time!  I absolutely cannot believe that it has been a year already since I first saw his precious face.

Tomorrow, the 19th, is the anniversary of us officially completing his adoption and him becoming Gideon Sage Lie Rowe!  Boy that was a great day!  So many complications had occurred, and we weren't quite sure if it would get done in time, but it did!  The Lord was so merciful and blessed us right in the nick of time.

Then on Friday, it will be Gideon's 15th birthday!  And his first birthday celebrated at home with his family!!  Another exciting day.  He has been repeatedly asked what he would like to do for his birthday, but the only surefire answer that I have gotten so far is to go eat Chinese food at our favorite restaurant.  :) 

This week is also momentous as we prepare to YET AGAIN send over our complete dossier to Eastern Europe.  It has been a bit of a struggle to get it all done again quickly, as usual in any adoption there are things that go wrong, and people are fallible, so there are things they do incorrectly which must be done again.  But finally, I think and I pray, I have the necessary paperwork to take with me to Raleigh tomorrow for apostille.  Then, with many kisses on the envelope, it will be mailed off to another sweet family who is traveling this weekend and offered to hand carry it to the country and to our facilitators.  Yeah!  Considering it costs almost $150 every time you mail anything over there, this will be a great savings for us, and we are most appreciative!

So, all in all quite a week for us with both adoptions past and future.  It certainly helps 2012 get off to an exciting and happy start!

Not too much else interesting going on with our family here.  Enjoying lots of cozy nights in front of the cracklin' fire, reading on our Kindles, continuing our homeschooling, and trying to start the year off right with healthy eating.  Tim and I have been eating according to the Paleo lifestyle, and so far so good.  A few pounds have come off and I hope to be able to keep it up till Summertime!  Wish me luck!

Hope everyone is having a great January.  Keep us in your prayers that things with this adoption keep moving steadily forward and that God watches out for our children while they wait for us to come.  I hate the fact that this has taken so long, but I can't worry about something I cannot change, so I will just do my best to keep us plugging along.  The reward at the end of all these paperwork complications and re-do's will be sweet!!

Hmmmm.... just a thought

Saw this today on another adoptive family's blog and thought it was worth repeating here:

We will go before God to be judged, and God will ask us, ‘Where are your wounds?’ And we will say, ‘We have no wounds.’ And God will ask, ‘Was nothing worth fighting for?’

 — Rev. Allan Boesak

Yes, there are definitely things worth fighting for, and our two babies waiting for us to cross the ocean and get them are our battle right now.

Ten Reece's Rainbow families got their appointments today, and while I am thrilled beyond measure for them, I am also disappointed and saddened for us.  We have waited for SO LONG.  Most of those families had only been waiting since November.

I feel like this is a battle, just like going to China and getting Gideon was a battle.  We fought and God enabled us to win that one, and with God's help again we will fight and win this one too!  I know everything happens in His timing, and that it will all work out perfectly in the end, but waiting is hard especially when everyone else is rejoicing around you.

So please lift our family up in prayer today, and ask God to grant us a travel date SOON!  We would be most grateful.

And, while you are here, take a moment to look at this article from ABC News with Diane Sawyer on Reece's Rainbow and the special needs children living in Ukraine.

http://abcnews.go.com/International/hidden-angels-american-families-saving-children-syndrome/story?id=15234109

This is what we are about.  This is our battle right now.  This is one way we can show the Lord when our judgement day comes that we fought and fought hard for HIS children, for what HE would have us do.  We will not give up!  

A Belated Merry Christmas!

Hoping that everyone enjoyed a wonderful Christmas with family and friends!  And may many blessings come your way in 2012!!  It was a big year for us this past year, adding Gideon to our family and committing to two more.  I only hope that this coming year is as full of love, excitement and blessings for our family!  (though not TOO much excitement!)

Enjoy the rest of the holidays everyone!!

Happy Holidays!

Yup, it has been awhile since I have posted anything.  After Halloween everything seems to run together in one big blur!  We have been doing great though and hope you have been too!

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving with a house brimming with family, friends and children!!  And of course, an abundance of yummy foods!

 Here was my table decor for the occasion

 And a family tree with lots of memories!

 Our buffet table where we served ciders and appetizers.  And some great inspirational quotes were written above.  The ribbon was where everyone was to hang their card with something they were thankful for written on it.

 The funny boys table!

 One of the place settings

Dinner is about to begin!



 This was from earlier in the day when the kids were all cuddled up watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade!

 The teen table!

And all the in-betweens at their table too.

Besides Thanksgiving Day and all the festivities it brought, we had something else even BIGGER to be thankful for........ our sweet Georgia was baptized!!!!

 Ready to go!

 Walking in to our preacher Tommy Poarch

 Coming back out after her baptism!!

She is a new creature in Christ!

We are so proud of her and her decision!!  It is one she does not take lightly and that she came to after much prayer and discussion with us.  She knows that she wants to give her life to God and we feel blessed as her parents to be able to support her!

Now we are preparing ourselves for the next holiday... CHRISTMAS!!  The excitement is in the air as you can only imagine being in a house with 6 kids!  We have done lots of fun things so far like baking cookies, going to a couple ornament and cookie exchanges, decorating gingerbread houses, caroling at the nursing home, attending the town's annual Christmas tree lighting, driving to Mc Adenville (otherwise known as Christmastown USA) to view the Christmas lights, and of course, picking out and decorating our tree!!  Whew!  But it was all a ton of fun!!

 Making a gingerbread house at our homeschool group's Christmas party!

 Enjoying some snacks afterward.

 Christmas caroling at the nursing home.

 Going to see the lights is an annual tradition for our family!

The houses are all decorated with so many lights and done so beautifully!

 SO many lights!!

 The boys at the Harrisburg Christmas tree lighting-- the girls were at their ornament exchange and missed it this year.

 There were crafts to do too and Grayson made this adorable snowman!

 Going on a horse and carriage ride

 At the tree lot getting our tree!

 Strapped to the car and ready to head home!

Our beautiful tree before the decorations

Last but not least, we had one more celebration this past weekend-- a surprise birthday party for my honey who turns the BIG 40 on Friday!!!!!

We successfully pulled off the surprise with the help of many friends and our kids.  I think it was the first time on record that I REALLY surprised him!  He is usually someone who can guess what is going on, or the present you are about to give him, a mile away.  :)

We had the house packed with friends and lots of yummy food as well.  And only after I told him that our pipes had sprung a major leak and that our dining room was flooding was I able to get him home for the party!! ;)

His friend Steve played a big part in the surprise, keeping him out all afternoon so the kids and I could get everything done.  Thank you Steve!!



And happy early 40th birthday to Tim!!!!

So I think that has caught everyone up to speed on our past couple months so far!  We are ready for Christmas and all the joy and wonder it brings for us and our children. 

We are still hoping to travel to Eastern Europe in the early weeks of January too.  All our paperwork updates are there including our request for an appointment date sometime the week of January 10th.  That is our daughter's birthday when she turns 5 and after that we have no need for the "list" anymore to go and get her.

Pray that our request is granted.  There have been some difficult things going on in her country which was the main reason I decided to make my blog private.  Glad all of you are still following along!  We will keep you posted with any updates.

So for now, Merry Christmas everyone!!!!!!  Enjoy this last week of fun and cheer before the big day!!







Time is Flying By....

and we still don't have our babies.  :(

BUT.... we did get some encouraging news recently!  The country where they are located is accepting dossiers again and will hopefully start issuing travel appointments in December for people like us who have been submitted for what seems like an eternity.

However, we still need for that special needs list to be approved before we can go.  If it isn't approved in December, at least we KNOW we can travel in January, because our daughter will turn 5 then, and after that it doesn't matter anymore.  YEAH!

Continued prayers for the whole situation, and mostly for the kids while they wait, are always appreciated.  We know that God is strengthening our resolve and patience through this situation.  We know that everything is done in HIS timing, not ours.  We know that there is a reason that we will go when we go, whenever that is, even though we might never know what that reason is.  Everything in this life happens for a reason, and is part of His plan.  We have to trust and find solace in that.

So as the time goes on, we try not to dwell on the fact that we are not there NOW.  We take each day as it comes and are busying ourselves with life which is always bustling in the Rowe home!

Most of our kids have recently completed their soccer tournaments.  It has been an exciting past couple of weeks around here with all the playoffs!!  The only ones left playing still are Evan and Gideon who just beat a great team tonight with a 2-1 win!  On to the last game of the season tomorrow..... let's see if they can win the championship!

Georgia had her soccer party tonight and received her trophy.  She did so well for her first year playing and she loved it!  We are very proud of all our kids and the great jobs they have done this season!

This weekend the kids are gearing up for another fun 5k run with their Dad!  It is the annual Santa Scramble 5k held every year right before the Concord Christmas Parade.  All the kids are running in this one and cannot wait!

I myself am headed out of town this weekend, leaving Dad to tend the troops on their own.  *smirk*      
My sister-in-law is expecting her first baby early next year and her baby shower is this weekend!  Yeah!  I am co-hosting so off I go for a girly couple of days.  I am sad to miss their 5k, but I am sure Daddy will send me pictures and updates!!

We are also coming up on Thanksgiving week soon and we will be hosting the family and some friends at our house this year which should be lots of fun!  There will be 12 kids here at the Rowe house so look out!!  :)

We will definitely take time to count our many blessings, as I hope you will as well.  God has richly blessed our family and continues to do so, and we are grateful beyond measure.

In the words of W.T. Purkiser......

"Not what we say about our blessings, but how we use them, is the true measure of our thanksgiving"

What an amazing thing to remember at this time of year.  Be grateful for those blessings He bestows upon you, and USE them in a way that will make Him pleased that He bestowed them on you in the first place.

Happy Fall everyone, and Happy Thanksgiving!!