"And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten, from the Father, full of grace and truth." John 1:14
Friday, December 24, 2010
Merry Christmas from our family to yours!
"And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten, from the Father, full of grace and truth." John 1:14
Thursday, December 2, 2010
It's been a year!
Today is the first of many "anniversary's" of Rebekah's adoption. Life was really crazy last year as everything was taking place, and I wasn't able to share as much as I would have liked. I thought I'd reflect a little today on what transpired one year ago and try to remember as much as possible. I just don't want to forget! This may get long, so don't feel like you have to read it all. But, here are some details of how our adoption began just one year ago today...
It was a rainy, bleak day. I was headed to our church for a women's Christmas tour of homes. It had been a week since we had first heard the news that we had been matched with a little girl. We had hardly told a soul that anything had transpired. We were waiting to see if our agency could gather any more information on this "referral" before deciding for sure to travel to Russia. As much as we wanted to share that we might be traveling (especially since we found out right before Thanksgiving), we wanted to wait until everything was definite. It was hard enough for us to wait and would have been much harder to have all our family waiting, as well.
We initially found out about Rebekah the Tuesday of the week of Thanksgiving. We had requested a little more information about her before making the final decision to travel and were waiting to hear back. Our agency was closed over Thanksgiving and the Russia liaison was on vacation until the following Tuesday. I finally talked with her late that Tuesday afternoon and she told me that they were unable to get anymore information. She wanted to know if we desired to travel anyways or wait on another referral. I told her we were ready! She made me wait to talk to Zac and told me to call her in the morning. I left her a message early that Wednesday morning (saying YES, of course), and proceeded to church. I thought it might help keep my mind off of everything and make the waiting easier.
I kept my phone close and realized towards the end of the morning that I had a missed call from Anna. Our group had just arrived at the last home on the tour of homes, so I sat outside on a large porch and called her back. She informed me that she had our travel dates ready and we needed to leave in a week and a half!!!!! I could not believe it was all happening so fast after waiting and waiting and waiting. I knew I had to leave and get home and get busy, so I found someone to take me back to the church to get my car.
We had so much that needed to get done immediately - plane tickets bought, visa applications completed and sent off, but those had to wait because first we HAD to call our families. The news just could not wait another minute, so I drove to Zac's work and we went to a private room and made the first of many calls. Of all the wonderful things we got to do that day, calling our families and telling our friends was the best part.
We wanted to call Zac's family first so he could be a part of telling them the good news. We called Zac's mom and dad who were both home for lunch, and started the conversation with "It's a girl!!". They were so thrilled and cried and couldn't believe how fast we were leaving. We then called Aunt Amy and the second we told her the news she sobbed for at least a solid minute before ever saying a word. I will never forget that! She then told us how she had prayed we would hear something before Thanksgiving - she didn't know it at the time, but her prayers had been answered. Aunt Natalie was next on the list and she couldn't believe it at first and then was SO excited that it was a girl!! I remember her saying over and over, "it's a girl, I can't believe it's a girl."
About an hour had gone by and Zac needed to get back to work. I went home and then proceeded to call my family. I called my mom first, who was at work. I told her she might want to go somewhere private cause I had some big news. I remember she just laughed and laughed from joy! I then called my dad at work and he was just as delighted! He told me that he knew all along that it was going to be a girl - I couldn't believe that because he had never shared it with me before. He had also asked my mom the night before if she had talked to me because he just had a feeling that we had some news. Amazing! Aunt Jen was at work so I had to leave her a message, but when I finally talked to her she cried and couldn't believe it was a girl either!! We immediately started talking about names. :) It was so fun to surprise everyone by this news and the news that it was a girl. That is what made sharing the news even more exciting - despite all our plans, God had something even better in mind!
The rest of the day was filled with applying for our visas and then rushing to get them to the post office in time to have them over-nighted. After Zac came home we sat down and began the long process of researching plane tickets. We also shared our news through email and F@cebook, and it was wonderful and humbling to receive so much excitement!
It was one of the most wonderfully exciting days we have ever had. After two+ years of waiting and just when we had begun to give up hope of traveling to Russia before the end of the year (or really, ever!), God finally said "yes" to our prayers. It was so sweet of the Lord to give us this gift right before Christmas, and it is a day we will never forget!
It was a rainy, bleak day. I was headed to our church for a women's Christmas tour of homes. It had been a week since we had first heard the news that we had been matched with a little girl. We had hardly told a soul that anything had transpired. We were waiting to see if our agency could gather any more information on this "referral" before deciding for sure to travel to Russia. As much as we wanted to share that we might be traveling (especially since we found out right before Thanksgiving), we wanted to wait until everything was definite. It was hard enough for us to wait and would have been much harder to have all our family waiting, as well.
We initially found out about Rebekah the Tuesday of the week of Thanksgiving. We had requested a little more information about her before making the final decision to travel and were waiting to hear back. Our agency was closed over Thanksgiving and the Russia liaison was on vacation until the following Tuesday. I finally talked with her late that Tuesday afternoon and she told me that they were unable to get anymore information. She wanted to know if we desired to travel anyways or wait on another referral. I told her we were ready! She made me wait to talk to Zac and told me to call her in the morning. I left her a message early that Wednesday morning (saying YES, of course), and proceeded to church. I thought it might help keep my mind off of everything and make the waiting easier.
I kept my phone close and realized towards the end of the morning that I had a missed call from Anna. Our group had just arrived at the last home on the tour of homes, so I sat outside on a large porch and called her back. She informed me that she had our travel dates ready and we needed to leave in a week and a half!!!!! I could not believe it was all happening so fast after waiting and waiting and waiting. I knew I had to leave and get home and get busy, so I found someone to take me back to the church to get my car.
We had so much that needed to get done immediately - plane tickets bought, visa applications completed and sent off, but those had to wait because first we HAD to call our families. The news just could not wait another minute, so I drove to Zac's work and we went to a private room and made the first of many calls. Of all the wonderful things we got to do that day, calling our families and telling our friends was the best part.
We wanted to call Zac's family first so he could be a part of telling them the good news. We called Zac's mom and dad who were both home for lunch, and started the conversation with "It's a girl!!". They were so thrilled and cried and couldn't believe how fast we were leaving. We then called Aunt Amy and the second we told her the news she sobbed for at least a solid minute before ever saying a word. I will never forget that! She then told us how she had prayed we would hear something before Thanksgiving - she didn't know it at the time, but her prayers had been answered. Aunt Natalie was next on the list and she couldn't believe it at first and then was SO excited that it was a girl!! I remember her saying over and over, "it's a girl, I can't believe it's a girl."
About an hour had gone by and Zac needed to get back to work. I went home and then proceeded to call my family. I called my mom first, who was at work. I told her she might want to go somewhere private cause I had some big news. I remember she just laughed and laughed from joy! I then called my dad at work and he was just as delighted! He told me that he knew all along that it was going to be a girl - I couldn't believe that because he had never shared it with me before. He had also asked my mom the night before if she had talked to me because he just had a feeling that we had some news. Amazing! Aunt Jen was at work so I had to leave her a message, but when I finally talked to her she cried and couldn't believe it was a girl either!! We immediately started talking about names. :) It was so fun to surprise everyone by this news and the news that it was a girl. That is what made sharing the news even more exciting - despite all our plans, God had something even better in mind!
The rest of the day was filled with applying for our visas and then rushing to get them to the post office in time to have them over-nighted. After Zac came home we sat down and began the long process of researching plane tickets. We also shared our news through email and F@cebook, and it was wonderful and humbling to receive so much excitement!
It was one of the most wonderfully exciting days we have ever had. After two+ years of waiting and just when we had begun to give up hope of traveling to Russia before the end of the year (or really, ever!), God finally said "yes" to our prayers. It was so sweet of the Lord to give us this gift right before Christmas, and it is a day we will never forget!
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