We are NOT LOA ...My Mistake

Sorry all you fellow adopters...that's what I get for updating our blog really late at night. We are NOT LOA...just PA. You'd think on my 4th adoption I'd get the acronyms right. Thanks Jennifer for the e-mail or the blog would still have the wrong information.

A point of prayer though...The CCAA is allowing families who have adopted within the last year to use their dossier from the last adoption for their current adoption. (Thanks Jan for letting me know about this!!) There's a good chance that is going to work for our family which will make us make closer to the next "acronym". Pray with us that the last details will work out for that! We should know in the next week or two.

For all of you who have never adopted...this post is Greek...thanks for your patience. Those of us who adopt spend hours scouring each others blogs trying to figure time-lines to estimate when our child will come home. I don't want to give anyone false home by an erroneous post that things are speeding up in China:)

Now back to finishing my Christmas letter....

Just One More...

It's official. We're adding another Chinese princess to our family. After 2 1/2 months of praying and staring at the photo of a sweet little girl on BAAS' waiting list, on November 12th, we called Bay Area Adoption Services and said "yes" to adopting Lily Jinli Horton.



Lily is 3 years old and has a heart defect similar to Isabelle's. Unlike Isabelle, Lily has already received her first heart surgery in China. She will need her 2nd surgery shortly after joining our family. So it looks like 2011 won't be a year without a heart surgery after all.

Phil and I really struggled, through prayer, on whether or not adopting again made "sense". The bottom line is being obedient to God's call on your life rarely makes "sense" from the world's perspective. We can't explain it in quantifiable human terms. We just know it is what the Lord is calling us to do and who are we to question His call on our lives.

The final week Phil and I were praying about our decision, my mom, Michaela and I went out to see a movie together. When we came back home from our girls' night out, Phil left a note for me in our bathroom to let me know the decision he made...



I LOVE that man!! I ran into Michaela's bedroom to tell her what Phil "said" and tears of joy streamed down her face. Torie's reaction was the same, as she Face booked for the news from Austria. We are so blessed that our older girls support us on this journey to which the Lord has called us.

When Lily joins our family we will have a 2, 3 and 4 year old. It brings me inexplicable joy that the Lord has chosen me to parent three more toddler/pre-school age daughters in addition to AnnaGrace, Michaela and Torie.

Right now we are in the midst of, in adoption world speak, "the paperchase". If all goes well with our paperwork, Lily will join our family sometime between late spring and early summer.

Pray for God's hand of protection on Lily until she joins our family. Pray especially for her nourishment as she is VERY tiny right now.