March update from America World

We received an update WEdnesday on our little girl from AWAA. She is doing well and has gained 1 pound since she got to the Transition Home. Every little bit of information and new picture is a gift from God. I will treasure all these pictures for her. They will be the history we have on her. Another family leaving on the 11th of April has agreed to take some more pictures of her. So will keep getting up to date info on her. AWESOME!!Well folks, it may be a while before I write. WE have opening night for Beauty and the Beast tonight. Ava has 5 show this weekend and 6 next weekend.Crazy!!She is soo tired and so am I. We will be hosting Easter this year. We love having Easter. It is the best celebration. Jesus died for us and ROSE again!Amen!

New Pictures!

We got some new pictures from the Hall family today. G** received her care package from us and got to see pictures of her family and home. She also got her pink blankie. Steph Hall said she was really shy and couldnt understand why she was getting things; like were they really hers?She looks so healthy and loved at the TH home. I can't believe it is still going to be over 2 months until we can get her. The pictures the families are taking for us mean sooo much. Words cannot describe this feeling of TOTAL LOVE that I have for this child. I mean, sometimes I can't believe God is blessing us with another child. I love her so much already. My heart is overwhelmed. Thank you Halls!!!

2nd Care Package on its Way!!!

I sent of a 2nd care package to the Howley family who are leaving next week. They have been waiting to pass court and travel for over 6mos!!We will be praying for their travel and the rest of the families leaving next week to be united with their children.We sent G*** a pretty little princess purse,a couple of Ava's My pretty ponies, 2 outfits(I hope they fit),some fancy sunglasses and a few barettes, hopefully she her hair is getting long enough to wear them.Emily Howley promised to take lots of pics and love her for us.Thanks Emily!!

Posts from my YG Group.

I AM SO SORRY FOR YOU MAY FAMILIES!!! i was expecting you guys to get moved
up, and i can't imagine your disappointment!
> > jaime d.
I echo Jaime. I AM SO SORRY that this is the news you received on your May
court dates. It makes no sense!
>
> This morning I was thinking how our adoption journeys are such a picture of so
many other aspects of our life - where things don't make sense, where we get
passed by, where we wish God had planned it to happen differently. And yet He
has given each of us a UNIQUE journey in both adoption and in life.
>
> It's kind of overwhelming to think of how mindful He is of me, to plan this
journey, this adoption, this life JUST for me - in a way that He knows will
bring most glory to Him and teach ME most about WHO He is.
> He has carefully weighed and measured the pain that would come with it and has
determined that the good far out weighs the pain. It really humbles me and
makes me feel loved by Him!
>
> Hold tight and know that I understand your disappointment. I am praying for
each of you.
>
> Blessings - Sherry :)
A few years back the Lord was asking me to go through something that really made
no sense to my human thinking. As I was complaining to the Lord that I just
didn't get it, and how could He get glory from this because it "doesn't make
sense", He took me on a tour of the Bible.

1)It didn't make sense for Noah to build a boat when there had never been rain.
2)It didn't make sense for Joseph to get thrown in a pit, sold to Egypt, thrown
in prison etc.
3)It didn't make sense for the Israelites to wear themselves out marching around
Jericho day after day when they had a battle to fight!
4)It didn't make sense for God to use a murderer of Christians to spread the
gospel to the gentiles!

It's so easy for me to trust God when things make sense, and yet He gets so much
glory if I trust Him when they don't!

Thanks for your beautiful reminder Sherry!!

:-)
Renee'

2 Thessalonians 3:16

Now may the Lord of peace himself give you peace at all times and in every way.

Romans 5:3-4

Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings,beacuse we know that suffering produces perserverance; perserverance,character; and character, hope.

Court Date Will NOT Change!

We got an email today stating that after numerous appeals our court date will remain May 20th, 2009 with no chance at an earlier date. I am heartbroken to have to wait and I feel that I shouldn't be but I am.We will just have to wait one more month to go and get her.PLEASE pray for our family to have peace and be patient. This adoption is God's plan and we are on a crazy wonderful ride and have to wait on HIS timetable. This will all make sense someday.I am trying really hard not to have a pity party.God is still working on us and needs to teach us more in this time.

TEPIC, MEXICO

While Ava and I visited my folks in Arizona, Mike got an opportunity to go to Tepic Mexico on a mission trip with our Church. They helped build a church in a small community that is trying to plant a church in a very needed area. They visited an orphanage and got to witness to many people. A number of people gave their lives to Christ. Praise God!The trip was a success and our church is planning to continue to help with the needs of this community.Pray for this new church and the people there that they will be able to continue learning about God's love and that their church will GROW!!!

ARIZONA

Ava & I just returned from visiting Grandpa and Grandma in Sun City Arizona. We got to visit the Grand Canyon. What an AWESOME sight that is. We hung out, visited,went to flea markets, swam and ate.Ava and I took the golf cart to Starbucks for coffee and donuts almost every morning.We also got to visit with Aunt Ardith who was back from the Philippines.It was very relaxing and nice and warm. Thanks Mom and Dad!!!We didn't want to come back to the cold and snow.

Romans 8:24-25

"For in this hope we were saved.But hope that is seen is no hope at all.Who hopes for what he already has?But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently."

Court Date!!!!

We have a May 20th court date!!YEAH!!!!!!!!!At the same time we got an email from our Ethiopian coordinator that the MOWA(Ministry of Women's Affairs) has agreed to open up additional court appointment dates so we have a chance of getting an earlier court date.Thank you for all the prayers. PLEASE keep praying that the Ethiopian government will have mercy on all our cases so these children can be united with their forever families as quickly as possible. I am very excited and trying to remember this adoption is in God's hands and this is HIS plan for our family. So we are on HIS timetable.God Bless

Psalm 126:3

The Lord has done great things for us, and we are filled with joy.

Care Package on its way!

We sent a care package to G**** with the Hall family. They were so wonderful to offer to bring some things to her. We sent her an album with our family pictures in it so she can maybe start to recognize us, a super soft blankie, a prayer book for children, a little dolly and couple of Ava's little dresses from when she was 2. I just can't believe she is that little, when I pulled out Ava's stuff that was 2T, I can't imagine her in them. I happen be able to talk to a lovely lady Kelly B. who just returned last week from picking up her daughter, I emailed her and asked her if she happen to see our little girl. She said she did and that she is soo little/petite, seemed very happy and easy going and was STUNNING! The information that we are getting and the families that are traveling before us that are going to love on our daughter are these AMAZING blessings that are truly a lifeline in this unbelievable journey. I only have a couple pictures of her and I just stare trying to take in every detail. Last night I finally had my break down and just cried and cried. I am soo happy!! I cannot believe God deems us worthy enough to give us this special gift. I mean, Who are we that we deserve this?As the Hall and Black families travel and bring us more pictures and information we will be fervently praying for their safe and exciting journey to there own children. My only way to repay this debt is that we will someday be traveling and able to bless another family the way these families are blessing us.I am so full of Joy right now.

WE GOT OUR REFERRAL!!!

Today we got a referral of a 2 year girl.I cannot share anymore details with you until we pass court.But she is BEAUTIFUL!!!I can't take my eyes off of her photo.It was a perfect day, Ava had a late start at school and she got to be here when we got the call and the photos of her.She said and I quote"I KNEW God could do it!!" and then she said "maybe this is our valentine from HIM."It feels surreal.Our next step is to secure a court date before we can LEGALLY claim her and right now they are passing out court dates approx end of April and after we pass court THEN we travel to get her within 2-3 weeks.

Beauty & The Beast Rehearsals Have Begun

Hello All!! Our quiet and relaxing winter has come to an abrupt halt. Ava started a new play Disney's Beauty and The Beast. Rehearsals are going to be 3-5 nights a week and I am one of the producers(1st time producing)YIKES!!!I even recuited Mike to help with set building.The next two months are going to go fast which should help us as we are just at the end of our waiting for referral.We are sooo close. I saw a picture today of a little girl from Ethiopia in our paper and I could hardly take my eyes off of her. Is this what she will look like?Some days the wait is truly painful.I told my husband we are probably going to adopt again and he said start NOW! A lot of parents say adopting is addicting. We will see.

Home Study Update

We had our home study update for hopefully the last time on Tuesday night.After much prayer and thought we upped our age to 4 years old. This has been a hard decision and a great leap of faith that God will give us the PERFECT child for us. When we started this process Ava was only 4 and by the time we travel and are home with our new child Ava will be ALMOST 7. I woke up early on Wednesday morning and felt such a strong desire to read my bible and the book I have next to it is some of God's promises in the bible and after I prayed for peace and more faith in this whole decision I opened the book and my eyes literally went to a section on God's Faithfulness, Hebrews 10:23 "Let us hope unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful." I couldn't believe it. Once again God gives you answers and reassurances when you look to Him for them. I am blindly letting the Lord lead me to this child for I need to have faith that while we can not see what our future or this child's future holds that God's plan will be perfected in our lives as long as we are letting Him lead us. I'll finish posting with one more verse Psalm 9:10 "Those who know your name will trust in you, for you, Lord, have never forsaken those who seek you.

Craguns 2009

Hello, We just got back from a great weekend with family at Craguns in Branierd Minnesota, This is our 4th year and it keeps getting better. The kids Swam and Swam and Swam. WE got in lots of visiting and catching up. Thank you to all for a great weekend and I am so grateful to my family for their interest in our adoption,the support and prayers.I love you all. Thank you. Next year there will be at least one more. Enjoy the photos.

Happy NEWS!!!

10!!!yes I said 10 America World families have received referrals in January already. This is so incredible. We are praying they keep coming. The next infant girl referral is a March DTE(Dossier to Ethiopia) and we are May. It is getting closer.

Isaiah 43:5-6

Do not be afraid, for I am with you; I will bring your children from the east and gather you from the west.
I will say to the north, 'Do not hold them back.' Bring my sons from afar and my daughters from the ends of the earth -

Infant Girl Referral Times Increase!

It is with a heavy heart that I am writing this as we have found out recently that the infant girl referral time has increased from 7-9 months to 9-11 months. It is heart breaking to say the least. These times are when my faith in God deepens as I tend to depend on Him even more as I look for comfort. My ache to become a mother has been a struggle for a long time, ever since I was little that was all I ever wanted to be, I believe these deepest desires are the things that God uses to bring you closer to Him and rely soley on Him. I cant say I am not mad right know but I know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him... Our adoption journey started long long ago in our hearts, that longing that God has a great plan for our lives, we just need to continue to trust in Him and know he has plans to prosper us. This is my faith journey. I'm glad I finally have started to journal it. My greatest hope is that my children know and love God but also know how truly incredibly WANTED they were no matter how they came into our lives. Please continue to pray for our family and others that wait for their children to be brought home.

Christmas Praises!!

3 America World Families received baby boy referrals this last week. We are praising God with these families for the BEST Christmas gifts a waiting family can receive. We will be having our monthly conference call next week with our Ethiopian Coordinator and the rumor has it that the infant girl referrals will be taking longer there are a number of families well into there 9th months of waiting. Join us in praying for God's grace and patience in this tough time for these families and ours. We waited for 7 months in the El Salvador program and are close to another 7 months in the Ethiopian program. Many families have had even longer journies than ours. Please pray for us that we can wait for God's timing for our family. Ava prays EVERY night for God to pleeeeease bring Paetyn(our name as of now) to us soon. I have tried to explain to her that God has it all planned out and we just need to be patient. NOT easy for a 6 year old.

Merry Christmas from the Gagnons!!!

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

For unto you a Child is born ...

Happy Birthday Jesus!!!
This is a drawing Ava did yesterday and it was soo good I decided to share it!

Tis the Season...

This photo was taken when we went and saw the play "Peef the Christmas Bear"

I love this time of year, the house is all decorated and my shopping is done. Ava has only 1 weekend left of performances in "The Best Christmas Pageant Ever."She is a STAR!!!We finished up this last weekend with 5 performances and only 6 more to go. Our USCIS (Dept of Homeland Security) approval needs to be extended as it is only good for 18 months and our time is up in February 2009. Sooo.. we need to extend it for another 18 months. Here is the kicker our Home Study is up in April and that will have to be updated starting in March of 2009, we very well could get our referral by Feb and travel by first part of April HOWEVER in order to adopt our child once we are back in Minnesota we have to have a valid home study. UGH!!! This will be our second update! Oh Well.
All in God's timing. I have to keep reminding myself of that. It's soo hard to be patient.

Hello Everyone!!
My first attempt at blogging. We are currently 6 months into our 7-9 month referral wait. We are requesting a girl age 0-4 years old from Ethiopia. We originally were going to adopt through the country of El Salvador but the government all but shut down adoptions. Our agency gave us the opportunity to switch countries and we did immediately. Our church was doing the "Pray BIG" series and Ava (my daughter) and I were praying every night to bring her a baby sister soon so we changed our prayer to by Christmas of this year. We are very close and only God knows the perfect timing in adding to our family. We are waiting patiently for HIS timing. GOD IS GOOD!!