Happy Birthday Sarah!

Happy 15th Birthday, Sarah!  How did my first baby get so old all of a sudden?  Guess that makes me pretty old.  But Pat and I are SO very proud of Sarah and love her very, very much. She is a pretty special young lady.

Sarah is a very hard person to buy gifts for. She is NOT your typical teen and really doesn't "want" anything that I can buy her.  (Her birthday list included being healed from Lyme disease and a family for "Jacob" - if I remember right.)

(Bunny trail here.) This is Jacob. (No, they don't make bumpo seats bigger in Asia. When Jonathan came home at the age of 12 months, he was TOO BIG for a bumpo seat. He got stuck in it. Jacob is 3. He needs out. Like yesterday.)

Ok, so I can't heal her (although I pray everyday for that) and I can't bring Jacob home (no, I really can't), but I will share her birthday wish with you. Stolen Borrowed right from her blog: 

++++++ Sarah's birthday wish ++++++

I put out a plea on facebook today.

It's my birthday today, and can I ask you a favor? This is Sutter. Like me, he is also turning 15 this year, he has cerebral palsy, and he is waiting for a family in EE.

I was at his orphanage, I was at the institution he will end up at (when he ages out next year), and no person should ever have to live in either of those places. I'm also pretty sure I met him. He needs out ASAP before he runs out of time!

Would you be willing to donate just $15 to his grant? As a present to me, and as an effort to save his life.

And if you donate today, let me know and I'll enter you in a drawing to win a free custom hat of your choice (see here). Email me at forhisgloryhandiwork(at)gmail(dot)com or comment here.

The link to donate is: SUTTER and THANK YOU from the bottom of my heart!

+++++++++++++++++++++

Thank you so much for your consideration! (Sarah will leave the drawing open through Monday since I'm so late in blogging this.)

I am WAAAY behind on blogging our family events of the past few months.  ALL 10 of us have our birthdays between April and October, so lots of parties and not much time to blog about it.

Here are a few quick pics from Sarah's little party tonight. Sarah's traditional cake for her birthday is "Dirt Cake".  Except we forgot to get more Oreos when we ran to town to get the fair projects. Oops!  It still tasted great though.

30 candles
15 for Sarah
15 for Sutter

Yarn is always a safe gift for Sarah.
These colors were handpicked by her two little sisters.

Pat and Isaac were extremely privileged to go to the Packer pre-season game Friday night. Isaac's jersey (birthday gift a couple years ago) was still out so Elijah put it on himself and was dancing around.  

Yes, we were watching "Star of Christmas" in August...

Isaac's hair before the Packer game on Friday night. Summer buzz cut! 

BRINGING GRACE HOME: Well, we have news...

Sorry it's been so long since we've updated.  Well, we have news.  Unfortunately, it is bad news. We found out a few days ago our dossier had been rejected due to a tiny date error. I may have mentioned a hundred times once or twice how picky the adoption authority is over in Ukraine. So, I spent the day in Madison yesterday getting the new documents apostilled. The documents are already in Paris as of 12:30 this afternoon on their way to Ukraine via FedEx. I think it may have helped a bit sending them from Madison instead of here, but I'm not sure. They should be there in time for my facilitator to get them notarized and submitted on Thursday, the 15th. (Yes, Rochelle, I know UPS would have them there in plenty of time. :-))

So, what does this all mean??? This is the very hard part.  Once our dossier is resubmitted, we go back in line with everyone else that was submitted that day.  Right now, submission to travel time is almost 3 months. (Families submitted same day as us in June got dates for 2nd week in Sept.)  The thought of Grace having to wait 3 more months is something I can't even think about. She has waited SOO long. I feel so bad for her. My heart is breaking. After we got the news, all day I felt like someone had punched me in the gut. Plus, if you do the quick math, 3 months puts us at mid-November. Add a possible 6 week process. Ya...I swore I would never do Christmas in Ukraine again, but I may not have a choice. For those of you that are newer here, I spent the whole month of December in Ukraine to bring Elijah home. We knew from the beginning that it most likely happen and we were prepared (or I thought I was). It was very, very difficult. BUT, having said all that, we, as a family, will do whatever it takes to get her home.  We can always celebrate Christmas when the Ukrainians do on January 7th. :-)

I know none of this is a surprise to the Lord. I am finding peace in this, as difficult as it is. We would appreciate prayers for quick approval of our dossier this time and a speedy travel date.  Also, please pray for smooth "travels" for our documents and smooth submission on the 15th.   (Ugh...when we started this process, "I" was hoping for court on August 15th. sigh...it would have been my grandma's 100th birthday.)

I have to go cut/freeze some beans, but if I get time in the next few days, I'll share a bit more about my day in Madison yesterday with some tips for families coming behind us.  Some interesting things too...never a dull moment around WI's capitol.

I'll leave you with the verse the Lord gave me shortly after we got the news. (Couldn't help but smile about the word "submit" in the verse.)

Proverbs 3:5-6:

⁵ Trust in the Lord with all your heart
    and lean not on your own understanding;
⁶ in all your ways submit to him,
    and he will make your paths straight.