Home Called Grace

We spent Christmas traveling to visit my parents and Zac's family in Vernon. We were in Birmingham the weekend before Christmas and then traveled to Vernon on Sunday night. Zac oldest sister, Amy, and her family came to Vernon for Christmas so we were very glad that we got to visit with them. Sadly, they all came down with the stomach virus which obviously put a damper on all the fun. Natalie and her family also came up Christmas day, so all the siblings were together for a little while, which is much harder these days than it used to be. It was so good to visit with each of our families.

It was exciting this year to receive a few gifts for baby boy :)! My parents and Jennifer picked out a stocking for him. They chose this particular stocking because the Santa looked "old world", which also made him look a little Russian. They also found a very cute Auburn t-shirt, which we of course love! The last gift they gave us for baby boy was a beanie baby, that they call the "prayer bear". This was very special because it was first given to Jennifer when she was diagnosed with cancer by some dear friends of ours that went to church with us at Dawson. The bear had been given to this family after their father was in an accident and had extensive damage done to his hand and lost several fingers. After hearing about Jennifer, they decided to pass along the "prayer bear" and encouraged Jennifer to one day pass along the bear to someone else. They all decided that it was time to do just that and that our sweet boy was very worthy of some prayer! One day we'll pass along the prayer bear to someone else, but I think he'll be parked in our home for a while.

I guess I would be remiss if I didn't mention that amongst all the fun and good time spent with our families we did feel the void of not having our son with us for Christmas. We truly feel that he has been born and so it was sad knowing that he couldn't be with us for his first Christmas. We so hope and pray that next Christmas we'll be together, or that we'll be very close to bringing him home.

We hope that you all enjoyed a great Christmas with your families!

Being home for Christmas in Vernon affords me no gym in which to train. So I am left to my own creative devices. It is hard to be disciplined enough to train when visiting mom and dad amid the endless desserts, warm fireplace, and generally lazy atmosphere that my home at Christmas always lends. However, I was determined not to let the weather and food deter me from at least playing a little with a few heavy toys around the house.


It was a good Christmas eve, but come New Year's it is going to be time to work on that gut.

zb

I Almost Titled this entry "What The Grace of God Looks Like", but I felt, in a way, it trivialized God's marvelous Gift of Grace. However, the Reason for that abandoned title was that I never imagined this Christmas would come.

Four and half years ago I married my wonderful wife. We were unemployed, living in a small trailer, and upon returning from our honeymoon we had a whopping two hundred and fifty dollars to our name.

I remember lying awake at night thinking how on earth would I be able to give my wife a home and family... But through God's mercy and shepherding, gracious parents, and tearful, labor-some, anxiety driven prayer... here we are... Praise God, here we are…

The red barberry in the planter box under the picture window pricks me every time I hang those Christmas lights, but the garland around the front door is always easy to hang. Allison loves to hang the wreaths, and always steps back several times to admire our handiwork. She also never fails to compliment me for how good everything looks. It will be our third Christmas in this house, we've almost got the outside decorating down to a science...

And I still reflect on those sleepless nights in that tiny trailer. How often I would say in my nervous mind "How will we live?", "How will we ever own a house?", "Lord, please help me..."

The Lord heard me. And the words which ring loudly in my ears as I write this are those of our dear Savior, “If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give what is good to those who ask Him!”(Matt. 7)

How good, and wonderful, and bountiful are His gifts to me.

“But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God”

- Ephesians 2:4-8

Recently we were asked to write an autobiography as part of our adoption home study. It was a joy to write and reflect on some of the precious memories in my life. I wrote these words about our transition to our warm, wonderful home:

“…I began work immediately at East Alabama Medical Center. When I got my first paycheck it felt like we had hit the lottery. The Lord in my dark hour patiently led me out so that I may provide well for my family. Blessed be the Name of The Lord…

That tiny trailer was our home for two years. I sometimes still miss it. Allison and I have always been very close and scarcely argued, and even then it was in a kind way. The small living space made us have to get along even more since there was nowhere to hide. We endured together, and loved each other more for having experienced adversity.

We saved up and bought a house in Opelika, Alabama the neighboring town to Auburn. We still live there today. I love it there, it is older and broken in. The cabinets still don’t close properly, and there is a million things on my “honey do” list, but I love it there. Sometimes when I walk to the front door I can smell the old varnish and wood, and it smells just like my dear grandparents house in Oxford, Alabama. I hope that smell is in Heaven when I get there…”

But godliness actually is a means of great gain when accompanied by contentment.

- 1 Timothy 6:6

Merry Christmas little Zachary, Merry Christmas Everyone...

zb

As most of you know, Zac loves anything strongman. He has been wanting a "log" for quite some time. One of the events in Strongman competitions is the log press. It is almost impossible to train for this event without an actual log. This became very true to him during his first competition in October. So, he finally decided that he just had to order one. He was extremely excited when it arrived and he's pretty in love! Happy "early" Christmas, Zac!!

Over the weekend, we also got together with Jason, Natalie and the kids and they (really just Georgia) helped me decorate our Christmas tree. Georgia was very pleased to get to put the angel on top of the tree.
We hope that you all enjoy a wonderful Christmas season!

Last Wednesday, Zac and I got up at 4:30am to travel to Atlanta in order to get our CIS fingerprints completed. About six weeks ago, we submitted our I-600A form to the USCIS (United States Citizenship and Immigration Services), which is part of the Department of Homeland Security. Our application was an "advance processing of orphan petition".

There are many parts to receiving final approval from CIS. First, we had to complete the initial application, then CIS runs background checks and our fingerprints . Last, they will have to read our home study. When all is given the official "stamp of approval", we will receive our I-797 form. We HAVE to have this before we can begin waiting for our referral. This process can be very slow. Processing can take up to 90 days or more. We are praying for a quick turn around.

Getting fingerprinted was very interesting. Most of the people there were getting fingerprinted as well, but it seemed as though they were being fingerprinted in order to receive their U.S. citizenship. I really didn't know how everything would go, but to my surprise everything was very well organized and the employees were extremely friendly. Zac and I both agreed that we were very happy that the people working there were friendly and helpful, especially so that those seeking citizenship were treated well and hopefully given a good impression of our country.

One strange and a little disconcerting fact... I'm pretty sure that our fingerprints were run through and now reside in the national FBI database. Who woulda' thought!

We arrived back in Auburn from Birmingham just in time to cheer on our Auburn tigers in the 2007 Iron Bowl. We watched the game with Natalie (Zac's sister) and her family. Needless to say, we were thrilled that Auburn pulled out their sixth-in-a-row victory against Alabama.

Zac and Jack all decked out in their AU gear:

Six in a row!!!!!! :)


By the end of the evening, Georgia and Jack were all tuckered out...It's hard work cheering on those Auburn tigers:


Do I see a 7 in our future?? We'll have to wait and see! War Eagle everyone!!!! :)

We enjoyed a great Thanksgiving in Birmingham visiting my family. We were there from Tuesday night to Saturday afternoon. While we were there, we decided that it had been way too long since we took family pictures, so we had some fun snapping some shots of everyone! Here are several pictures (and a few stories) from the week:

The Family:


Sisters:


Zac and Me:


Zac was excited about his Thanksgiving meal that included a delicious turkey leg. He says "Let's Eat!":


Zac woke up early Friday morning (before 5am) to participate in his first ever "black Friday." It was crazy! But, he got a great deal on a video camera to use to document all of our adoption experiences. Here he is after he got home:


On Wednesday night, we got to see some of my old high school friends from Dawson. It was very fun to see them and catch up. They are all so dear to me:


On another note...this Thanksgiving was our first as pet owners. We decided to bring Gracie with us to Birmingham because of the expense of having to board her for so many nights. Well, Daisy (Jennifer's beagle) didn't really like the idea:


But, after lots of playing and fighting they both decided that maybe they did like each other a little:


Hope your family enjoyed a wonderful thanksgiving as well!

Last Wednesday, we had our second Home Study interview at Lifeline Children's Services in Birmingham. Because CHI (our adoption agency) isn't licensed in the state of Alabama, we had to have another agency that is licensed in Alabama conduct our home study. I learned about Lifeline through working at Women's Hope (formerly Sav-A-Life). The founder of the Sav-A-Life ministries is also the founder of Lifeline. At Women's Hope, we also worked closely with several of their social workers. I really respect this agency and their integrity in how they conduct adoptions. It is a very neat place!

Our interview was in two parts. For the first part our social worker, Amy, met with us separately. Then, we met back together for the last part. Everything went great and was much easier than expected. We have a great social worker in Amy (pictured above) and she has been very helpful. She has also adopted a little boy from Russia and shared with us many of her experiences with her son. It was helpful and encouraging to hear how well her son has adjusted (he is now 4).

What's next?...Well, we have a few small things that we need to complete and turn in to Lifeline, which we should be able to take care of by the end of next week. Then, we wait for Amy to write up our Home Study. Once she finishes, she has to then send a copy to DHR in Montgomery. DHR has to approve everything, which can take about a month. Then, DHR will send our Home Study on to the CIS. This will be the last phase before the CIS can give us their final approval. Once we have their approval, we can then send everything to Russia and officially start "waiting." Phew!! We are hoping that this happen no later than the end of February. Please pray that our paperwork would be processed quickly and that nothing will happen to cause a delay.

I have been admiring some of these fun t-shirts for a while now. thanks to good ole' Cafe Press, you can just about find anything you want on a t-shirt these days. Enjoy!

Some for me...


One very sweet one using the Russian flag...


And some for baby boy... (these can be made into onesies, hats, bibs, etc.)


Can't wait to actually see these on our sweet boy one day!

If you'll look to your right you'll see the devil.
Yep, the devil. What we thought would be a loving, happy companion has turned into a demonic force within the Boman household.
Don't ever, ever, ever get a dog.
As I was sitting at the computer this morning, our dog became suspiciously quiet. Nothing good is happening when an indoor pet is intentionally making no noise at all. They are in stealth mode.
Walking to the kitchen to refill my mug I stumbled upon a trail of torn up toilet paper that led to the Devil herself. She had retrieved a fresh roll of Cottonelle Aloe & E (the best by the way) from our bathroom, marched into the dining room and proceeded to make us hate her.
Never in my life have I hated and loved something so much as this mut.

zb

Well, we've finally done it...it's been a long time coming, but we have now officially entered the blog world.

As many of you know, we are now in the process of adopting internationally from Russia through Children's Hope International. This blog is an open invitation for you to follow along with us on what is sure to be a wild ride! We hope that this blog will serve to keep you informed of every little step that we take towards becoming parents. We also hope that this blog will open all of our eyes and add awareness to the miracle of adoption.

We truly feel that the Lord has led us to adoption and has some amazing plans in store for us. We are excited to see it all unfold. We know, however, that this will be quite a long journey full of ups and downs. We are relying on you, our family and friends, to lift us up and pray for us as we embark upon these unchartered waters. We love you all and look forward to sharing this journey with you. Buckle up...hold on...here we go!!