falling into place

when we asked you to join us in prayer that a paper would be signed by friday it honestly almost felt like i was setting us up for failure. it had already taken a long time for this paper to make it to the courthouse and to ask that it be signed in 2 weeks time even though the judge had a 6 week backlog? was i asking too much? apparently not.

there are hardly words to express how amazing i felt on wednesday. i recieved a phone call from our social worker and she was on her way to pick up this letter to send into immigration. now that the court has approved our additions to our homestudy i don't forsee any hiccups to occur between now and our travel call! but, i won't hold my breathe.

thank you for joining our family on this journey. we will keep you updated!!

ep approved!

in a record two weeks time our ep was approved.

i had been praying that hanul's ep would be submitted by july 9th. (this would mean we would still make it up to the lake for our family vacation, but that she would be coming home shortly after. plus, it would put me on maternity leave during dave's fall volleyball season-the busiest season in our household. not much of a planner am i?) instead, i was so very humbled when her ep was submitted on june 20th and even more astonished that it was approved on july 7th!!!! (it was expected to take 4-5 weeks)

so where does that leave us? well, the ep is what we needed to get the ball rolling in korea to bring her home. so if everything falls into place she will be home within the next 3 months. three months.

so thats if everything falls into place. we still have some paperwork to complete on the u.s. side with immigration. we are waiting on a letter from the court of arizona approving our homestudy addition (joey moving in, then moving out). we have been waiting on this letter for awhile now-and it finally reached the courthouse 2 weeks ago.

will you join me in prayer?

pray that this letter is signed by friday. i would be devastated if her coming home was held up because of this. pray also for her heart. thinking through her leaving her foster family breaks my heart. its all shes ever known. she feels apart of their family. and we are about to break that bond. she will be two in october. while on vacation i was with my nephew who just turned two and i couldn't help but watch him and think of her. i know the transition is going to be hard. i just want it to be as easy as possible for her.

lake fremont to do list

every summer we make the trek up to lake fremont in michigan. while this year's trip up was definitely the longest, with an unexpected stop in truth or consequences, new mexico to buy new tires and another tire mishap on the way from denver to fremont, it was still worth all the memories we created.

blowing a tire just before midnight on our first leg

fun in the car to pass the time

having a blast at the amusement park in denver

his first roller coaster ride-he loved it!

tubing with mama

fireworks on the lake

b, daddy, and poppo

 fishing with daddy

his first catch! "a beniah size fish"

fun with floaties on dry land

 sprinkler time to cool off (from 100 degree heat!)

wait for it..

uninhibited excitement

go luke go..go luke gooo!

off roading to dodge a major build up of traffic

pit stop at new holland brewery

cinnamon rolls from the amish bakery

dominate the floatie in water

grilling

boat ride with the fines

sparklers

settlers of catan

chilling

tattoo time!

swinging over the lake

 watching mimi ski

picking blueberries

play in the hammock with the uncle dave monster

cousin hammock time

 loving on baby gabriel

 baking cookies with mimi

game time with poppo

wraglers breakfast

paddleboat with mimi

looking forward to next summer already!