grand finale:: one week home

This blog was started for the "seoul" purpose (ha, see what I did there?) of documenting our journey to Gia for several reasons.  

• We wanted to have a place to keep family and friends updated throughout this nearly 2 year adventure.  We both have family and friends scattered all over the US (or world, in some cases!) and a blog just seemed to be the best fit for updates.  
• This also gave us a place to offer and receive encouragement.  If you haven't adopted and/or don't know anyone close to you that has, you need to know that it's a crazy emotional time.  If we had not had support from our friends and family, I'm really not sure we would have made it to this end sane.  On the opposite end of that spectrum, it was important to me to give back some of what was given to me, meaning I wanted God to use our story to light another path for another family that needed support.  I'm so happy to know that happened with at least two families!  Maybe there are more, but Gia's story is beginning to hold the hand of other friends of ours walking down Adoption Lane.  
• Finally, I want Gia to know her story.  I need her to know how God orchestrated every single tear and smile in these two years.  This blog was the best way I knew to record everything so that one day she could read it and know how loved she was before we ever met.  By the way, she was two months old when this blog was started.  I just love knowing that she started her little life around the same time we started looking for her.  :)

With that said, please understand that I may or may not add more to this.  Call me old school, but there is something slightly weird about posting all kinds of things about your kids and family online.  Since the purpose of the blog has been fulfilled, I don't feel obligated to keep it updated much longer.  Sorry.  

I'm happy to email with any of you that have my contact info!

Before we sign off...one more post...

Today marks one week of us being a family of three.  As I sit here trying to think of how to recap this week, only one word comes to mind: full.  

We feel blessed.  Gia has had SUCH an amazing (and easy) transition period so far.  I'm not pretending that we're out of the woods just yet, but the part we were dreading the most is behind us. She is a happy and seemingly healthy little one.  Her first doctor's appointment will be next week, hopefully.  We'll know more medical info at that time.  She is a good little eater too, as we have introduced her basically every southern food I can think of, including black eyed peas.  No cokes, though.  She loves the pups, especially our little 9 lb Maggie.  Gia and Maggie have adopted each other as best buds. Precious.  She is sleeping in her own bed in her own room---YAY!  Huge step for her!  She likes slides, but not swings...yet.  And pistachios are her favorite snack.  I leave you with a couple pictures from our first week together.  

Thank you all so much for being a support system to us!  We can never ever repay you for helping us get our daughter home!  

Hugs have been sent.  Hugs have come home.  And hugs were given tonight at bedtime.

airport welcome

There are no words to express the joy we have tonight.  Thank you all!

If you were able to come to the airport, we thank you for sharing that moment with us.  Even if we did look like a hot mess!  If you weren't able, please know that we had you in our hearts as we left the plane to join the celebration.

We are humbled at the amount of love our family has been shown for the past year or so.  Thank you just simply isn't enough.

Here's a glimpse of the airport reception for those that couldn't be there.  We may just have to crop you in. ;)

Special thanks to Heather and Rusty for documenting this for us!

And yes, we are now...
RECEIVING Hugs

Eating and shopping and tea, oh my!

(Kevin here. So it won't sound as smart as it usually does with Mal.. but she will say something at the bottom, so don't miss it.)

It's been a long day, so the easier route to blogging about our adventures is to share photos. Thus, I'll take you through our day via pictures and short captions. Enjoy.


I was excited about the day, so my body decided to wake up at 5:00am. The bad news is I couldn't get back to sleep. The good news is that I caught the beautiful sunrise from our room:

Our first and main order of business today was to take a tour of the city. We were accompanied and guided by our friend, Hyuna. She was awesome. Our first stop was at a the largest palace in Seoul, where Malerie really enjoyed hanging with the guards. And hanging LIKE the guards:

Then I found a piano in the middle of the city, so I played it. No tips were given. They don't tip in Korea. For real. They actually don't. No restaurant, taxi, or bellman tips. Ever. Here's the piano:

We fulfilled our desire to rule a country by dressing up like a king and queen:

An authentic Korean lunch included dumplings, some sort of fried "cakes" and of course, kimchi. Malerie attempted the chopsticks, but after much frustration, the nice lady at the restaurant reluctantly delivered that new age utensil, the fork. We also made sure to sport our family love, war eagle:

Right next to the restaurant was Hyuna's favorite tea cafe in the city. It was super delicious:

The atmosphere was even cooler. We sat on mats on the floor... without shoes (a traditional custom in Korea) by the way. Look:

Malerie was a natural. She even looked Asian drinking it:

And we found a cartoon character, who fell into the trap of taking the stereotypical Asian shot, meaning it couldn't resist the release of the peace sign from its hand. Good times:

There was definitely more to our day but the camera got put away, and it's almost 1:00am here. It's unfathomable that we will MEET GIA in NINE HOURS. Wow. God is so good to us.

Prayers are so appreciated on one of the wildest days of our life tomorrow. Or later today for most of you guys. :) Until then, we sleep. You go to work. And Gia is with us soon.

Kevin



I just want to share two really amazing moments from today.

Our tour guide was really sweet about us adopting from her country.  It never occurred to me how awkward I would feel walking around a country and knowing that I'm adopting one of their own babies.  I felt guilty at times as Hyuna asked us about Gia.  I'm nervous about what tomorrow will be like as we walk around with her as first time parents.  Anyway, at one point of today Hyuna asked what our baby's name was, so we gave her the Korean name and the American name.  She lit up and said, "That sounds much like a Korean name."  And then I lit up, "Really?!" Apparently Giha is a popular Korean name, and it's pronounced just like Gia.  How fun!  We didn't even know how culturally relevant we were when we chose that name.

The next amazing thing from today will not be amazing unless you know me.  I mean really know me.  I wore tennis shoes all day long.  All day.  No heels at all.  No flip flops at all. Just the tennis shoes.  Go ahead and catch your breath.  :)   But seriously, most every single woman here wears heels of various sizes.  I'm so impressed.  However, not one person wears flip flops, and that makes me all kinds of sad.  

Alrighty... time for some shut eye.

Hashtag Bring Gia Home

(Guest entry from the husband, yo.)

Our twitter feed has been blowing up in the past 36 hours. If you don't have a twitter account, you're a loser, by the way. :) But for real, if you follow Malerie (@malhugs) or myself (@kevinhuguley), just click on the hashtag (#BringGiaHome) and see the insane amount of support and encouragement we've had. I'm sure the odds are likely that many of you that are reading this are the same ones actually sending those sweet tweets. Trust us, they've been both read and felt by us.

Malerie is currently busy working and organizing away (no surprise there...) on our gift bags for the many people we will be meeting over the next few days.. Check it:

Yeah, this "hotel" room is pretty ballin' if I say so myself. I use the quotation marks intentionally, as this is much more like an apartment than a hotel. In fact, that's exactly what it is. A two bedroom, two bath, apartment, which is good for Gia's transition.. seeing that our HOUSE is a two and two as well. :) The main difference in this apartment and our house (other than the fact that it's on the other side of the planet) is the view. At home, we pretty much have the front porch view of a typical neighborhood street. Here, on the other hand...

As for the other hours of the day so far, our adventures have led us around the city, having already walked more than two miles (or 3.218688 kilometers, trying to contextualize, ya know) in just a few hours. In that time, we managed to be typical Americans by stopping by a McDonald's AND a Baskin Robins. We're pathetic. But not as pathetic as the size of those shameful milkshakes they made us for dessert. It was basically a shot glass of chocolate shake. But don't let those food joints fool you. We've been pretty 'local' here with shopping so far. The markets are boisterous, crowded, and awesome. I may take the camera out tomorrow to share more of our experiences.

That's all for now. Seeing that it's around 3am right now back home, I wish you all well, hoping for some Matchbox Twenty to serenade you while you sleep. "She only sleeps when it's raining... and she screams... and her voice is straining..."

Okay. This is why Malerie does this. Bye.

Kevin

day 1

Greetings from Korea!

We arrived safely this morning around 4:15 Korean time, meaning around 2:00 for you Americans.  We slept the majority of the 14 hour flight, believe it or not.  I didn't know I was capable of sleeping that much at one time, but the past few days have caught up to me apparently.  And maybe God is preparing me to NOT sleep at all on the way home.  Oh lordy...  

Whatever the case may be, I'm grateful we are well rested because I'm updating this from the Incheon Airport, where is it 6:45 am.  Remember the part where I said we landed around 4:15?  We have been patiently waiting for our van service to pick us up, but that doesn't seem to be happening.  Things could be worse.  I mean we are sitting in a nice airport with free wifi while eating Dunkin Donuts.  Holt's Korean office opens at 9:00 (I think) so we will either call and tell them their van service never showed, or we will get one of the hundreds of taxis/buses/vans outside to take us.  Never fear, we will get to our hotel at some point today.

Today is a free day for us.  We will have our city tour tomorrow in the morning, and then tomorrow afternoon will be another free time for us.  I'm hoping our hotel can schedule us a tour of the DMZ tomorrow.  It's the demilitarized zone between North and South Korea.  I would love to tell you all about it, but I don't know much about it.  More on that later, if we get it scheduled.  I would love to hit up some of the markets today and get some prizes to take back home.  Santa Clause is coming soon, after all!  ;)

Until next time....

Sending Hugs are Here

THE call

First of all, let me graciously accept the worst blogger award.  I apologize for being lazy in my updates. At some recent point of this journey, any update felt redundant.  It's just waiting to wait, ya know.  Regardless, we have had some really huge news this week, so I'll start from the beginning...

Monday:
After checking my email briefly during break, I noticed my sister had sent me a message asking if we'd gotten anything that I could share unofficially.  I didn't have anything to share.  But, for the last couple of weeks I'd been calling DC to ask for Gia's visa update, and I figured that was what my sister was asking about.  So I called DC one more time after reading her email to get a status update and reply to her email.

Me: Hi, can I get a update on my file?

DC rep: Sure, can I have the number please?

<this is when I give the appropriate info so the nice lady can access her file>

DC rep: Oh my, she's beauuuuutiful.  Congratulations.

Me:  Oh my goodness.  The picture only shows up when the visa interview has been scheduled!!  Really?!

DC:  Her interview is scheduled for tomorrow at 1:00.

Me:  Ok, thank you!  Thank you so much!


I was a giddy child for the rest of the day.  I knew that the visa interview was THE LAST STEP before travel call, so we were almost home free.  The problem was that travel call could come one day after VI or a month...no real way of knowing.  So, back to the waiting game we went.

Fast forward to today, Wednesday.

I'm sitting at school working with some kids in a tutoring session when my phone rings.  I normally do not leave my phone turned on or out on my desk, but when a TC is on the line you leave your phone out!  When I check the caller ID there's an Oregon number.  It's Holt.  I knew it!  This was the TRAVEL CALL we had waited for for the last 18 long months.  I asked my kids to give me a minute and answered.

Me:  Hello??  (real anxious because I KNEW it was the TC)
Holt:  May I speak with Malerie?
Me:  Hey, this is she!  (getting extra excited)
Holt:  This is your travel call...
Me:  YAYYYYY!! Oh this is so exciting!  Oh, sorry, go ahead...
Holt:  That's ok, I like getting those reactions for travel calls.

And we proceeded to discuss the logistics of traveling to get the baby girl.

So here I sit with a flight itinerary to Korea sitting in my email.  It's real, y'all!  That girl is coming home and soon!  The cool thing is we will take custody of her on her 21st birthday.  I know it's weird to be excited about that, but we've missed so much already that I'm happy to start spending these milestones with her.

We are still a little bit away from being fully funded, though I know God is working some things out already to take care of that burden.  We have seen his hand in all of this, and I can't start doubting now.

In the next week please join us in praying for Gia and her transition.  That is just so heavy on my heart. I have read lots of stories recently of babies that just didn't want anything to do with new mom and dad.  While that is a good sign of attachment, it's still hard to know that we will be the ones pulling her away from everything she knows and loves.  So, please pray that God will start doing a big work in her heart and mind now to prepare for this change.

Can't wait to update from Seoul!

Sending Hugs

a place of her own

Today our guest room became Gia's room!

My parents were gracious enough to come up to B'ham and help with the transformation.  We emptied all the old furniture and started pulling down boxes of Gia's stuff from the attic that's been there since January.  So much stuff.  I didn't realize we had it all.

We did a lot of work and I am TIRED, but there's still a bit to go.  My plan is to finish the curtains this week, and we are waiting on a piece to come in for her bed.  Hopefully it will all be done before our TC!

Gia now has a place of her own, and I love it.  I've had to correct myself from saying "guest room" and now say "Gia's room."  It feels so weird, haha.

I so appreciate my parents' help, but I also want to share a gift they brought to us.

Can you see that it's her name?  It's written in traditional Korean cultural symbols and it was made IN KOREA!  I don't know how they pulled that off, but I'm in love with it.  It's a really sweet silk (?) scroll too.  So special.  The artist also sent a paper explaining what each symbol means.

Hopefully I will get around to sharing some other goodies from her new room.  For now, we rest.  :)

Sending Hugs

I loved puzzles growing up.

So this post won't read brilliantly like the others, since this is the male side of the family talking. But I'm just stopping by to thank each of you for your commitment to be a part of our adoption story. We're comforted by the reality that we know we could have NEVER walked this path on our own, and watching the Kingdom of God do only what it can do has been humbling and encouraging. Let me just say that it'll be exciting to one day explain to little Gia how people from all over the WORLD (literally) helped us get her home. For that, the Huguleys say thanks. A ton. Now please consider helping us in our last stretch of fundraising by giving $10 for every puzzle piece you wish to have your name on the back of. That will be a neat day, when we take this puzzle from its frame, flip it over, and show Gia how many of you joined us in this journey. I think 4 pieces fit names really well. :)

And I also want to say thanks to many of you for your comments here. They have been doses of encouragement, and I know that both of us have enjoyed reading them. Lastly, I know why many of you have continued walking with us through this... and that's because Malerie is a GREAT writer! Love seeing her gifts shine for the glory of God.

***Look to the write of the page for the DONATE button to buy a puzzle piece(s).***

Kevin

Sending Hugs

short and sweet

1.  Today I've been overly anxious to meet Gia.  Not sure why, but I'm ok with it!

2.  While doing some house chores today, God gave me a really huge peace about this last bit of the journey.  Again, not sure what "bit" we're talking about here, but I feel very chill about all this crazy preparation stuff coming our way in the next weeks.

3.  I love my husband.  As we were cleaning the other day I found the latest RoF record and I started re-reading the thank you lines.  Kevin is a brilliant songwriter, and his thank you's don't disappoint.  Ever.  The We Once Were record was extra special because he thanked Gia.  I wish I could take a picture of it to show you, but the size and font are crazy.  Instead, I'll try to rewrite it from memory...

I also want to thank our Korean daughter who God is sending us.  I cannot wait to meet you and be the best Daddy I can.

Melt my heart.  I'll have to find the album cover soon to make sure I'm quoting him correctly.

Sending Hugs

story time

I have two funny Gia stories to share today, both are fictional though.


Story #1--I'm sharing without permission from Grace so I hope she doesn't care!!

I got a text from Grace yesterday.  Here's what it said:

Last night I dreamt that we took E (her daughter) and Gia to Abby Lee (dance company...Do you watch TLC??) and she made them do Asian style dance.  You said, "Uh, no, FALSE. Gia and E are AMERICAN CITIZENS!"
You also yelled, "Discrimination!" and we stomped out with the girls.  


Hilarious!  If I ever did go to Abby Lee's studio that probably would really happen.  That woman is nuts!  But I do like the idea of Gia being a little dancer.  And maybe a Toddler & Tiara.  :)



Story #2--from my dream last night

Gia was freshly home and was 17.  She and I were riding in the backseat of the car (hopefully Kevin was driving) talking about the whole process of her getting here.  She spoke fluent southern English and laughed a lot.  We talked about things I had done to get her home and what she had done over in Korea to leave, ha ha!  I wish I could remember some of the funny comments, but we did A LOT of laughing in the dream.



Hopefully, these are not prophetic dreams.  Oh Lord...


Sending Hugs

greetings

Everytime I turn around there is one more person offering to help fundraise for our adoption!  It's humbling, to say the least.  Today I got one such phone call.  Here are the details...

If you like to send cards (for any occasion) we have a DEAL for you that will also help Gia come home.  30 cards for $30.  That's $1 per card!  Seriously, you cannot get better than that.  And these cards are CUTE!  You'll probably want like 17 boxes, just sayin'.  :)

The cards are from the Usborne company.  If you want to read more about Cards for a Cause, click here.

Here's the link to the FB page for the fundraiser.  https://www.facebook.com/events/367919963278242/ 

If you need to message me for more details, please do.

Oh, and PLEASE pass the word; we are so close to getting this girl home!

Special thanks to Jeni Parrish for offering this amazing deal!

Sending Hugs

VP

What do we want?  VP!  What's that?  Visa Physical!

That's how a former cheerleader tells you that her daughter has a visa physical scheduled for August 30.

We got the email today that Gia's visa physical will, in fact, take place on Aug 30.  I have weird mixed emotions about it because while it's another HUGE step for us, it's still three weeks away.  You know when you're running and you know you only have another 45 seconds left but somehow it feels like you run for 45 more minutes?  That's how this feels to me.  It's almost like I'd rather not know how close we are because it makes it that much further away.  

Kidding, I do want to know!  I take it back!  

I love updating people as we get these last bits of news because the reaction is always the same.... "Great, so what does that mean?" 

So here's what it means:

Gia's EP was approved already (big step) and the only thing separating us from the travel call (TC) was the visa physical and visa interview.  Well now that the VP is scheduled, we are just one tiny little step away!  I'm pretty sure the VI can take place before the VP, so that may be done even this week.  Regardless, we are CLOSE.  So close that part of the email from today said to start packing her suitcase and getting our hotel arrangements figured out....AGHH!!  It's so overwhelming, in a good way.  

Another part of the email said to get all our fees taken care of before we can travel.  I know it probably doesn't seem like it, but I really haven't been incredibly stressed out about the money because I just knew God would provide where needed.  And He has!  But now, if I'm being honest, I'm slightly starting to feel it.  I think it's because I know there's a deadline now: 3 weeks.  Oh my...

We still have puzzle pieces and t-shirts, if you are interested in helping that way, but more than that we want your prayers as we start planning this trip.  

• safety
• travel arrangements (flights and hotels are not included in our fee for Holt)
• Gia's transition and ours
• our jobs (mine particularly) as we take time off
• Gia's foster family as they are losing a child they've known for almost 2 years 
• for us to have opportunities to share Jesus with people as we travel

Sending Hugs

know more families

home improvements for a cause

Tomorrow we greet August, our 10th month in waiting.  So you could say that news of the EP submission was the end of our adoption "pregnancy."  We are very much looking forward to Gia's homecoming, but it's getting very overwhelming as THE day approaches.  So much to do!  We've cleaned her room out, painted, bought more clothes, and put together storage shelves and such, but that's just the beginning.  I keep thinking of all the little things we'll need to prepare for as travel approaches and it just makes me crazy, but in a good way.  Here we are, a couple with no children, traveling to a foreign country to get our sweet daughter who will likely be 20 months old by that time.  We have no clue what to pack or how to prepare for what she might need!  Ahhh!  Please don't hear this as a complaint...I'm simply giving you a glimpse of what's going on in my mind.  Our agency does a great job preparing us for travel and how to pack, not to mention all the friends we have that have walked this road before.  We'll be fine.  :)

I am happy to say that we can finally see the light at the end of the financial tunnel.  I checked with Holt today about our balance and it's a little less than what I thought.  We're definitely in the home stretch for fundraising, whew!  That's been the toughest part of this whole year!  We are still selling any t-shirts we have left and the puzzle pieces too.  One last fundraiser was presented to us by another adopting family just a couple weeks ago, and we had to jump on it.  If you are in Birmingham (or surrounding area) you have the opportunity to help Gia come home and get your house in order too.  Contact Precision (message me for contact info) this week and all proceeds will go to Gia.  Precision is owned by a guy we go to church with and his family is adopting too, so it makes it extra special to us that he's giving this week to Gia.  He can do literally anything you need.  We've used him for heating and air stuff, he's built retaining walls for friends, he's a plumbing expert, or can just screw in a lightbulb for you.  You name it, he can do it!  This fundraiser is for this week only, so pass the word quickly.  Make sure you tell him your with the Huguley adoption so we will get the Gia dollars.  :)

Sending Hugs

puzzle winner

51 puzzles pieces so far.  Keep 'em coming, everyone!  

I'm sure you're dying to know which picture we chose, right?

Well, the winner is...

It was fun to read all the texts, emails, and blog comments about the pictures you guys liked.  I liked them all, but at the end of the day Kevin and I both thought this one represented our journey the best.  The path, a little beaten but still beautiful, lined with cherry blossoms...perfect.  The only thing I'm not loving is that this pic is from Japan.  Oopsie on my part.  I thought they were all Korea pictures.  Oh well, the idea is the same.

This has been an intense year.  At the end of the day, we really can't complain because our adoption has been much shorter than most.  We were blessed with a relatively calm process, though we didn't know it at the time since this is our only experience.  Even so, there's been lots of (good and bad) emotions and we're glad to see the light at the end of the tunnel.  After she's home a new set of issues will surface, but right now we are focusing on getting her here!  

Only a few more weeks!!

I just placed the order for the puzzle, and I promise to update with pictures of the puzzle as we put it together with your help!

Sending Hugs

EP is submitted

Gia's EP was submitted today!  

We got the email today.  I was at church working and I took a quick break to check my email and Twitter and FB....all the necessities, ya know.  Anyway, I saw that a Holt email had come through, which was odd because they normally update on Mondays.  Plus, I've been under the impression that we wouldn't have more updates until at least September.  Well, surprise surprise, Korea submitted another batch of EPs TODAY, and we were in it!   

I just stood there in the church hallway tearing up and trying to call Kevin.  It doesn't matter how long we wait, those big moments always catch me off guard.  Even though we know the news is coming, there's something surreal about actually reading it.  I'm sure the travel call will be the same, whenever that may happen.  

Which brings me to the FAQ section...

• What does "EP submission" mean?
• The EP is her emigration permit.  It's basically her permission to leave the country.    
• How long does the submission take?
• All we know is approval takes about a month.  Beyond that, who knows how long it will take.  
• When will we travel?
• It will be at least a month because her EP will have to be approved.  From what I understand, the travel call can happen anytime from approval to the end of the year.  My personal assumption is about 8 weeks, but it will likely be longer. 
• What else are we waiting on besides the EP approval?  What takes so long to get the travel call?
• After her EP is approved (about a month), we still have to wait on her travel certificate, visa physical, P3 packet, and visa interview.  We are not responsible for any of those things, so we're at the mercy of Holt, Holt-Korea, or the foster family to make sure those things are completed in a timely manner.  

Please continue, more than ever, to pray for Gia's transition.  This has been such a biggie to me in the last few months, and I continue to pray that God would prepare her for all the craziness that's about to happen in her little world.  We covet your prayers for our transition as well, obviously.  

Sending Hugs (sooner than later!)

cherry blossom choices

You know, girls always seem to have that certain high maintenance taste.  This fundraiser is no different.  Apparently there are no cherry blossom puzzles that meet all my requirements, so I'm ordering a custom one.  It ends up being about the same amount of money though, no big deal.  The fun part is that I get to choose the picture we use now!

Korea is home to the world's largest amount of flowering cherry blossom trees and they host several festivals in the spring celebrating its beauty.   (You can read more here.)  So naturally I found tons of great pictures from the Korean festivals, and now I can't choose which one to use.

This is where you come in.  Which picture should we use for the puzzle?

I'm going to order this by the end of the week, so send your vote in quickly.

And if you haven't sponsored a puzzle piece yet, it's not too late!  We have already had about 20 people sponsor!


Sending Hugs

puzzle preparation

Happy independence week!  I hope everyone found lots of bbq and watermelon...yum!  

Alright, here's the latest details in our journey to Gia.  It seems that all the families through Oct 2011 have now been processed.  We sent our paperwork to Korea in November.  If everything falls into place (ha!) then we *could* be traveling as soon as October to get our sweet daughter.  Yay!  

While we are SUPER excited that our wait is coming to a close in the coming months, we are still facing an $8300 mountain.  This seems like a lot, I know.  As we look back over the last 9 months-ish it is so cool to see what God has done with the fundraising, so we can't really complain.  It is a lot to raise within just a few months, but we've come so far so fast that I just don't feel overwhelmed by it.  

With that said, I do want to launch one last fundraiser in an attempt to get this last bit taken care of.  I know we have lots of friends around the country (and some around the world!) that have followed our journey, and I think this is the PERFECT opportunity to incorporate those people especially.  

We are purchasing a 500 piece jigsaw puzzle to hang in Gia's room.  It will be of cherry blossoms because that has been such a sweet symbol for us throughout this journey.  Plus, we got this picture recently that just made us melt.  

See the cherry blossoms in the background?  

Doesn't she look like a little model??

So, the puzzle will be put together only when a piece is sponsored.  That's where you come in.  For $10 you can sponsor a puzzle piece and we will write your name on it as a reminder of who God used to bring her to us.  I cannot wait to pray a prayer of thanks over each piece as they are sponsored!  500 pieces at $10 a piece will get us pretty darn close to finished...hallelujah!

You can sponsor a piece via the PayPal "donate" button or you can message me for an address, if you'd rather donate that way.  Make sure you hit the "donate" button and not "buy now" or you'll be buying a shirt.  We do still have plenty of those too, but puzzle pieces are a good option for those of you that aren't t-shirt people.  

Please pass the word!

Sending Hugs

bummed

Another batch of EPs was sent out today, but we were not on the list.  Sad day.  Who knows what this means, but it looks like it could be January once the EPs reset again before we are contacted. There is a slim possibility that we could still hear something by the end of the year, but it isn't looking promising.  

Also, we applied for a grant a few months ago that I'm fairly certain we didn't get.  I checked the website today and saw the deadline for notification was June 15.  Their site made it sound like they would notify families with a yes or no.  We got nothing.  So I emailed them to see what was going on and why we hadn't heard anything.  

Double whammy today...

Sending Hugs

maybe possibly???

Please pray with us this week as another batch of EPs is hopefully submitted.  We want to be in that group!