One step closer to Liberia

"I can schedule you for the birth parent interview for February 7th and adopting parents interview on February 12th. Please confirm so I can put your name down for these dates."

That was the e-mail message that was waiting in my inbox this morning. For an adoptive father, this is like hearing your pregnant wife announce that she is having contractions. You are suddenly struck with the imminence of the what you have been planning for over the past few months.

For us, this message means that, Lord willing, we will be leaving for Liberia on the 9th of February and bringing our girls home on the 16th. We are tingling with excitement over this. And not just us...we have received calls and e-mails from friends who are sincerely sharing in our joy...and believe me, that makes it much more special for us.

While this is wonderful news for us, it has also put us into full panic mode with respect to all of the things that we need to do. On the list are:

• pack
• buy some clothes for the girls
• get the bedrooms set up
• get a car that holds all of us
• get tickets to travel
• make arrangements for Peyton and Reagan while we are gone
• get a list of items that the orphanage needs so that we can take supplies to them
• make sure that AOH locates the birth mother for the interview
• schedule time off from work
• make sure that I have caught up with things at work sufficiently so as to not be a burden for my co-workers
• get winter coats for the girls (that may be done...I don't pay much attention to the shopping)
• and I'm sure we're still forgetting something.

As always, we appreciate your prayers for us through this process. The end of this part of our journey is almost here, but it's just the beginning of what God has in store for our family.

New Year's Eve

At our New Year's Eve party we discovered a hidden talent of Lacey's. Unfortunately, I don't know of any way to cash in on this talent in a commercial sense.