The Paper Trail...

:) I tried to find a scripture to uplift and express our present undertaking..."Jesus wept" was close for me; I could relate. I had my medical today and feel like a pin cushion. And the Homestudy paperwork has begun. I already have writer's cramp and my brain is mush tonight. About an hour and a half into it I was getting disheartened with the overwhelming amount of detail, I needed to scrounge up. Mike says we bought our house with less information than this, that was 20 years ago though; and where we lived before this? I cannot remember the address, though I know where it is :) I don't think that counts though. So we have to drive over there, thank heavens it is close by.
I was questioning today 'was this all just the beginning? would we survive?'... and then God spoke...He arrived through the mail. A simple manila envelope, which contained a homemade Christmas card from a special young man!!! My day did a 180 degree turn around. God knew I would need that card on this day as I am trying to get it done as quickly and efficiently as possible. So today we spent some 3 plus hours filling out forms and gathering information; then I spent 3 hours doing my medical. I have a pen circle on my arm so I can remember where my TB test is and a needle hole from the Syphilis and Aids blood tests collection. And the Doc said my blood pressure was up, go figure. Other than the lab work Doc is filling out my paperwork for my medical evaluation, Mike still has to do his. I have a zillion questions for our homestudy agency tomorrow, I would email tonight but my brain is not quite fully coherant at this time. David and Michael have to go back to school in less than two weeks and they have been working so time to sit and share is special. I finally found the white out, since Mike caught an error in part of the paperwork :). And day one of the Homestudy comes to a tired but somewhat satisfied close. Our prayer requests are for our finances, finding all our necessary information, my blood pressure recheck in 3 weeks :) just to be safe and remembering all the questions for our agency on my paperwork. And that I could have most of this paperwork filled out, because I always heard what ever you are doing on New Year's is what you will do all year... and though I know paperwork is probable with our adoption I would like to think it will all be quick and thorough and not too draining. Oh and our passports didn't happen they closed passport processing 11 minutes before we got there, so we have to try again when Mike has some time free from work...

"Then she gave birth to a son, and he named him Gershom, for he said, 'I have been a sojourner in a foreign land.'" EX 2:22

Today is passport day!! I have only been to Montreal when I was real little. The thought of traveling to foreign lands has been only thought about when doing genealogy. The reality that it is a definite need for this adoption is mindboggling to me. Where would I travel? I have never been really sure, I am content here in my country. I have learned about many countries, Albania, Kenya, Paraguay, Ecuador, Columbia, Phillipines, Cambodia, Thailand, ...through our missionaries that we have loved on, prayed for and in some cases supported. To actually go is an interesting prospect. First, flying is one of those things I believe was meant for birds of the air, it terrifies me. If asked what is a negative about your adoption, it would be flying...as a matter of fact it is the only negative that I have faced. I have flown before almost 30 years ago when I worked for the Boy Scouts and when I was in school for Youth Agency Administration, but I get a little chlostrophobic after say an hour. 10 -14 hour flights are slightly overwhelming to me and yet our desire to adopt far exceeds my fear at this time. Plus I know our Lord is able to give me a peace that passes all understanding and since this is His present call on our lives He will get me there and back :) It will be an adventure. I don't believe the cultural issues will be as big for me as for Mike, I grew up in New York and the diversity of cultures is immense... Chinatown, Little Italy, Little Indonesia, Little Puerto Rico, and numerous other 'countries' within the city. One cousin has a Ukranian Nanny, she had a German nanny before that, my family tree is multicultural, so the adventure seems so exciting to me. I will have a chance to be a sojourner in a foreign land, and yet it is really not foreign, for the people of Ukraine are also made up of brothers and sisters of our Fathers heavenly realm. We are all related, decendants of Noah's lineage, so we are family just the same. Within our own family we have differences. I married Mike a southern born and bred boy. The cultural things I had to learn are amazing as I look back over the years. I look forward to learning of our new son's cultural diversity that will add new flavor to our home and enrich our lifestyle. Things I learned moving from northern to southern culture are immense, I grew up we fried food very little, in the south they fry or add fatback to most cooking :). seeing ham floating in my green beans was a new experience and pimento cheese sandwiches, sweet tea, corn pudding, southern style mac and cheese and bread dressing verses the good german sage stuffing I was raised on. Bar b que means two different things to me depending on where I am at the time, words were very different, I had to learn the language of the south. I now cut off the lights rather than turn them off, but I would not trade the experience of growing and becoming part of the world my husband grew up in. Family roots run deep here, Mike's family has been in this area of South Carolina since the middle 1700's. I am the sojourner in this foreign land and I have thanked God for that blessing. I would be without Mike otherwise, and there would have been no David and Michael, but God moved my family here when I finished high school and I am blessed for the experience, I know I will be blessed again with this travel and I will be understanding to sojourning in a foreign land, and yet we are here but a short time before all of us who know and love our Lord will be home. So I look on with excitement of what this passport will bring as I look forward with great expectation of what my 'salvation passport' will bring. God is so awesome in how we are so very interconnected. The genealogy of His family tree interconnects all of us as family. We are all heirs to the kingdom, we just need our passports to receive His blessings for us. So I head out the door for my passport looking forward with greatfulness for what this passport will bring into our lives.

I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit; for apart from me you can do nothing.

I guess this would be a good spot to share about our other branches in this tree. Mike and I have been in love for always, at least it seems so. I grew up in New York, My family moved to South Carolina when I was 18, Mike's family is so rooted in South Carolina history, they have been here since 1752. We met when I went to the wrong church :). I was to meet a friend who I was to attend seminary with at her church downtown. I did not realize their were two churches in the city that were of the same denomination so I went to the wrong church and met Mike and God moved from there in our lives. We knew from the onset God destined us to be together and He has blessed us in our lives together. We have weathered many storms and some of the most miraculous blessing. We married in 1982 and were blessed with two wonderful boys David 25 and Michael 22. The boys look nothing alike and yet they have a deep bond of friendship and love for each other. They enjoy each others company. They must they are roommates at College. David spent seven years landscaping before deciding there had to be a better way to make a living then working in the South Carolina heat. So he returned to college to pursue a degree in Environmental Science. He has an Associate of Science degree and Photography Certificate already in his portfolio. He loves the out of doors, reading, and hiking. Michael is pursuing a degree in Wilderness Leadership Experiential Education. He loves music, the out of doors and socializing :) Michael plays the violin and is presently involved with a band that plays traditional music of the 20's and 30's, they play for contra dances, a mix of traditional dancing that resembles square dancing to me. They will record their first CD this coming week. Both are Eagle Scouts with Eagle Palms, David has 8 palms and 73 merit badges and Michael has 9 palms and 66 merit badges. They have enjoyed scouting through the years and both have worked summer camp staff for many summers. We are blessed that God saw fit to give us both of these miracles and are ecstatic that they are looking forward to another brother.

We have a 'few' other 'sons' that we have acquired through the years. I (Sue) have been a Scoutmaster for years and we have an extended family from the boys who have blessed our lives over the years. Mike is the Assistant Scoutmaster and lets me be the Scoutmaster. Really it is more about how God has gifted us. Mike does all the logistics and I do the teaching and Leadership development part. It has been a mission field for us through the years. These wonderful young men have grown in strength and faith. Many serve our Lord in the fields they are in. Our 'scouts' serve the military, the medical field, technical field, business, education, etc.. They have grown spiritually to be an outstanding group of servant leaders, all over the world. We are so humbled that God has allowed us this great mission area, it has blessed our lives and I treasure being called 'Mama Sue' by them.

In less then a week David and Michael will be home on Christmas break and so will many of our "grown up" scouts. Our home will be a flurry of activity and visitors all part of the family that God has richly blessed us with, and as we look to the new year, we pray that it will bring us yet another young man we will call son. We are truly blessed by the young men God has sent our way and we look forward to the ones He still has yet to send to us. Our branches continue to grow and intertwine with others and we see the fruit of God working in their lives and the blessings God has made them to others as well as us. I am so humbled by His grace and Mercy and the gifts He has given us through the young men He has sent our way. We are ready to add another to our family...our door is open ...

In The Beginning was the Word and the Word was with God...

What an appropo title for us to begin this journey on our blog. Because without a word from God that this is what we should do we would be on another trail doing our own thing. But we have been blessed in the past by His wonderful will for our lives and so we begin a new journey with Him. What journey you ask, a journey to add a new branch to our family tree. We have been praying for a young man in the Ukraine for a short while now. We have heard about him on other blogs and have watched him for a while. In the Ukraine older children are plentiful and they have little hope in the streets when they are released from the orphanage. They are released poor and without familial contacts in many cases. The statistics say 70 % of the girls will end up in prostitution and 70% of the young men will end up in jail. It is a sad future that they face at this time. We were praying for this young man when we were told his 16th birthday was coming soon and to pray for a family for him, so we prayed and prayed and felt a strong pull towards his plight. God sometimes has to hit people over the head to get their attention, we are such people at times... The night before the deadline to follow Mike and I realized we wanted to be there for this young man. In eighteen hours God performed miracle after miracle in this process and we were able to file the necessary documents for adoption of this special child. It is all in His hands. We have begun following the Word we felt clearly spoken to our hearts and souls and we have been blessed thus far...