2010 Reflections / Oh, by the way...

As 2010 comes to a close, I have a lot to be thankful for.  I can't possibly remember them all or list them all, so don't be offended if you or something else that is an important part of my life is left off.  Above all, I am thankful to God for blessing me and my family.  He knows that I am not deserving at all which makes all of my blessings even more amazing.  I am thankful for my wife which is one of my blessings that I do not deserve.  She seems to be CEO of a million companies in which she is the only employee trying to take care of everything, yet she still finds the time and energy to excel in every role while still being a loving wife, mother, and friend.  I am thankful for my daughter, another blessing that I do not deserve.  Her development, her sponge of knowledge, her creativity, her athleticism, her energy, her gentleness, etc is overwhelming.  I am thankful for the promise of my little boy.  I am thankful to my employer for putting up with me for twelve years and counting.  I am thankful for all of my bosses on all levels for my development and for putting my in favorable situations and allowing me to succeed in my career.  I am thankful to finally finish my education.  I am thankful for my parents, living and deceased, my stepmother, my brother and his family, my in-laws, all of my extended family, and my friends. 

Today, my family and I will finish the year with friends.  Our families will go bowling.  I have not bowled since my girlfriend and I took a bowling class back in college somewhere in the neighborhood of 15 years ago.  I married my girlfriend, but I left the bowling career behind.  It is just like bowling on the Ipod touch, right?  Or is it like when the little elves tease and jump out of the way while chanting "Who's your daddy?"  What ever the case, I am looking forward to a fun conclusion to the year.

As I look forward to 2011, I am excited about starting the year with my family.  I am excited about concluding all current challenges while preparing myself for the certainty of new challenges to come.  I will keep my eyes open for new opportunities.  Oh, and I look forward to the tentative date given to us in early March to leave the USA for Thailand so I can make a tentative appointment date with the Thai government!

Safe travels, and Happy New Year!

Daniel

Christmas comes early for our family...1st Approval!

Today, we received our first approval notice and this means that the Thai goverment has approved our match!  So, we now actually begin the paperchasing part again so that we can gather documents for immigration, etc.  We are hopeful that we will be able to travel to get our precious son in the next few months!  We feel truly blessed & can hardly wait to hold him in our arms.

December Update (from September)

Our Referral

Peace, Joy & Love

It has been many months since we last posted on here & we have had a lot to be grateful for this year.  We now have a referral of a beautiful, one year old boy!  We actually got our referral in July, but this year has been anything but peaceful.  We have had many ups/downs this year, but God is good and we have endured through all of them.  So, hopefully we will be able to post on here a little more regularly.  When we were waiting, reading other adoptive family posts always helped to get us through.

We are patiently waiting now to receive approval from the Thai government and hopefully we can travel this summer to get our son.  It helps that we get updates periodically on him.  We also are allowed to send him monthly gifts.  We were very excited about our most recent update as the pictures we received showed him in an outfit we sent.  We realize to some this may seem insignificant, but for a family who is waiting to bring their son home from half way around the world this meant so much. 

We wish to all a very Merry Christmas full of peace, joy & love. 

Post # 1

Well, I am new at this blogging thing.  My wife and I have decided to start a blog about us and our journey to Thailand.  We decided to adopt again a good while back, but we have finally started walking down the road six or so months ago.  For those who are familiar with the term, we are "paper pregnant".  Our dossier is in Thailand and we are waiting to be matched up with our child chosen for us by God.  We are expecting to receive our referral around December 2010.  The extreme best case scenario would be for our referral to be delivered around September, but we aren't holding our breaths.  Please feel free to check back from time to time for updates and additional ramblings by myself or my wife.  -Daniel