No News Yet; Keep Praying

As of yesterday, we still have not exited PGN with the official adoption decree. We are waiting on the edge of our seats...it should be soon. Since today is Friday, we're once again saying to ourselves, "Maybe next week."

Please continue to pray over this adoption, as there are other BIG hurdles yet to be overcome once we exit.

Several steps still need to be completed without any problems or delays in order to get Israel home before Christmas.

To be honest, I am praying that he's home before his birthday December 9th, and I know that God is able to do just that if it is in accordance with His perfect will.

We are 100 percent dependent on the power of prayers to accomplish the impossible...please pray!!

Fun Facts

My friend Darcy "tagged" me on her blog to post 7 random (and somewhat embarrassing) things about myself on here. Since I am a good sport, here goes...

1. I talk on the phone too much. I have been known to spend over an hour, ok, truthfully, two hours, chatting with my sister or my friend Sariah while I do laundry and my normal housework.

2. I am easily startled, and if someone intentionally or accidentally surprises me, I will most likely scream. Loud. My brother used to love this quality and torture me with it regularly.

3. I love Thanksgiving food so much that we have Thanksgiving twice a year. Once in November with all the normal people, and in the spring or summer we have friends over to eat Thanksgiving dinner with us. Even though it's not actually Thanksgiving, I can never resist saying "Happy Thanksgiving" at least once or twice.

4. And speaking of holidays, I love Christmas!! If I am disciplined, I will wait patiently to start listening to Christmas music until after Halloween. But all bets are off if we get a good rainy day in September or October; my brother called me last week and his first question was, "Have you broken out the Christmas music yet?" My all-time favorites: Manheim Steamroller & the cool 80's Amy Grant one with "Tender Tennessee Christmas" and the very 80's, filled with funky synthesizers version of "O Little Town of Bethlehem." My favorite song of all time is "O HOLY NIGHT"--gives me goosebumps every time.

5. (I'm stealing this one from Darcy) My favorite smells: Chocolate, a new box of crayons, Christmas trees, bookstores, dryer sheets, and my hot glue gun. Why the hot glue gun, you ask? Because it reminds me of making crafts at Christmas time. Did I mention that I LOVE Christmas?

6. Oh, here's a good and embarrassing one: I have "movie rules." Here they are:

No sad movies

No animal movies (they're almost always sad)

No blood and guts scary movies

No cliff-hanger ending movies

I know, it's pathetic. I like happy, shallow movies. I also like to know the ending before I watch a movie (themoviespoiler.com is great for that).

Wanna know my all-time favorite movies?
Pride and Prejudice (either the old or the new version...they're both dreamy)
White Christmas (surprised?)
Home Alone (another Christmas movie)
Elf (anyone noticing a theme here?)
And a bunch of other sappy, happy, shallow movies like: Ever After, The Wedding Planner, Never Been Kissed, Hope Floats, etc.

7. Ok. Last one. Ummmmmm. Oh! Here's one: Every once in awhile, I make one of these:

I love decorating cakes and I love the yummy smells of cake and frosting that fill my house for a few days, but I do NOT love the icky sticky mess of dishes that are left at the end of the process. If I could just make the cake and get an assistant to clean up after me, that would be ideal!


So now, if you have just read this, and you have a blog of your own...you're tagged. Post a comment in my comments section with your blog link so I'll get to learn a few random and somewhat embarrassing fun facts about you. It's only fair!

No Flashback this Week

I'm not posting a flashback for this week because I want to keep the very top post on the blog focused on prayer for Israel.

Please,

please,

please,

please,

pretty please

keep this adoption in your prayers!

For the last week, the Lord has placed an intense burden on my heart to be praying, and we know that the burden is there for a reason. We expect more news this week, so until then, we will pray.

Praying for News

In the last few months, I've noticed a bit of an emotional cycle when it comes to waiting for Israel. It's been 7 weeks now since our case entered PGN, and the cycle has been playing itself out according to the usual pattern.

Here's how it goes:

We get some news, and we're super happy. We make projections like "If this step takes X number of weeks and then that step takes X number of weeks, and everything goes well, he could be home by..."

Then some time goes by and we wonder what's going on, but we do a pretty good job of keeping busy and being distracted.

After a while, I start to mentally keep track of how long it's been since our last bit of news, and somewhere in the back of my mind I develop a specific awareness of when the work-week begins and ends. A feeling of let-down comes with every Friday afternoon, and every Monday morning the thought: "Maybe this week."

A few weeks of that leads to the next phase, which is an even more specific awareness every day of the beginning and end of business hours in Guatemala and an increasing feeling of exhaustion mixed with discouragement and intensely missing Israel. At this point, my prayers become pleas and I start to do things like wandering in to sit in Israel's room for no apparent reason or searching on the internet for any, and I mean any, news that relates to Guatemalan adoptions.

This last phase can be ended by either

1. News

or

2. Prayers

Tonight I'm asking for a combo deal: prayers for news.

Good news.

Please pray.

Friday Flashback (....er, make that Saturday Flashback)

Oh come on! We didn't all really think I'd actually be on time with these things, did we? First of all, it's me, and I'm not on time for anything. And second of all, Fridays are crazy busy around here!

I mean, I guess I could have decided to not take Maya to preschool or go to work. Or perhaps I could've skipped the house-cleaning and cookie-making for our Friday night Bible study...

"I'm so glad you could come! Don't mind the toys strewn all over."

"If anyone needs to use the bathroom, watch out for the big smear of glittery toothpaste across the counter. That stuff is a pain to wipe off!"

"Oh, my, would you excuse me while I kick this pile of dirty laundry into the closet?"

"Are you hungry? I think there's a big box of goldfish crackers in the cupboard...can you pass those around for me? If you dig down deep, I think there's also some Cheerios in the couch cushions."

"Have you guys seen my blog today?! You wouldn't believe the pictures I posted...so adorable!"

Somehow I'm thinking that wouldn't go over very well! So, with that said, here's a fun flashback for you. A little late, but very worth it I think...

The Bateman Family blog would like to present to you the most fabulous and flattering first grade school picture ever in the universe:




I love my daughter, and I think she is adorable and precious. But when I saw this picture, I laughed out loud. And when I got it out again to scan it a few minutes ago, I laughed so hard I got tears in my eyes! I am sorry, but it is so bad it is hilarious!

How is this a flashback, you ask? Aaah, patience...we're getting to that.

So, as I laughed hysterically at my poor daughter's picture, a distant memory came to mind of my own embarrassing first grade picture. And then this thought: "I wonder what Jeremy's first grade picture looks like?"

And suddenly, a Flashback Friday idea was born.

After a little digging and an email to my mother-in-law, I now unveil, for the first time in public, two more fabulous and flattering first grade pictures:

Mine first.



I particularly love my home-haircut-gone-wrong-get-her-to-the-salon-to-see-
if-they-can-make-it-better-and-for-heaven's-sake-put-her-in-
a-dress-so-people-can-tell-she's-a-girl
style.

But I must say, I am rockin' that lace collar!

Ok, now Jeremy.

I'm afraid Kaylee must have taken her smiling lessons from her Daddy.



Poor Maya. The tradition has now been established, and two years from now, she doesn't stand a chance!

"Sunday Conversation" (a token ESPN reference for those of you who are sports junkies or lucky enough to live with one like I do)

A lot of my posts about Israel are discouraged posts, but tonight I'm posting to say that we had a great conversation with Israel tonight!

When we talked to Israel tonight, he sounded like he was in a very good mood. He was unusually... let me think of the best word...chatty. Yes, chatty.

Usually only a few of our questions spark more than a one or two word response, but tonight, every question was that way. We usually get a lot of "I don't know" when we ask about what he did today or in the last week, but tonight he rattled off a whole list of things he had been doing. He was talking so much I wished my Spanish was better so I could ask him even more questions and tell him even more about what we've been doing!

It was nice!

I was able to tell him that we've made some progress with our case this week, and he sounded excited. I explained what else needs to be done, and I told him that, although we can't be sure, we hope to be done in the next few months. We usually don't say much about our case because we don't want to give him false hope, but I felt like he needed a little encouragement that we are still working and there is progress. My prayer is that we are able to get him even sooner than the time-frame I so tentatively suggested to him tonight!

So there you have it. A good report. We are thankful that God provides gifts like these in the middle of a process that can be so discouraging. He knows just what we need!

Flashback Friday

I love taking pictures, but most of them end up in photo albums and we only look at them once in awhile. I saw "Flashback Friday" on another blog I like to read, and I've decided to steal the brilliant idea since it's a good excuse to go digging for the cute pictures I've forgotten about!

I remember taking this picture. I had a heck of a time getting Maya upright, Kaylee's arms not around Maya's neck, and maintaining a spit-up free environment! Four years later, I'm so glad I took on a few minutes of stress to capture these little faces...it feels like it was only about 5 minutes ago, but they've changed so much!

Look for more flashbacks on the Fridays to come, although knowing me, they may end up being Flashback Sundays, or maybe Mondays...

Progress & Perspective

Progress...

We got an update from our agency this week that said that our case has moved to the "next level" in PGN. We don't quite know exactly what this means, but from this info we've concluded:
1. We are closer to being done today than we were yesterday, and
2. We've gotten across at least one person's desk without that person kicking us out.

We'll take it! We pray on.

Perspective...

Tonight I was doing dishes after the kids were in bed, and Jeremy came out of our room where he had been doing his devotions. He came to share a verse with me. (I've gotta just stop for a moment and say one thing: when my husband brings me Scripture to encourage me, I find Him positively dreamy!)

Here's what he read:

Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, for our "God is a consuming fire." Hebrews 12:28-29

There are so many things that I get distracted by and worried about, and in the middle of it, I lose perspective. When my focus is on circumstances and finances and schedules and obligations and expectations, I start thinking about what I don't have and forget what I do have: a kingdom that cannot be shaken.

No matter what happens in my life or in my family or in the world, I have been given eternal life as a free gift from my Father who loves me enough to die for me. Wow! If I kept that truth always in front of me, I couldn't help but be overflowing with thankfulness, worshiping God with reverence and awe.

Perspective restored.