GRACE MCCHESNEY

BE AVAILABLE

I just updated the timeline for grace after I read
ODB ... Reach out to others in need.

Wondering if this is why we lost our first referral and
our timeline has been all over the place and our travel
approval is taking extra long..

So I continue to serve while waiting on TA.

Lord Jesus, We honor You as the Son of God
and Lord of glory who died for all.  Help us to
demonstrate Your love to others today.

WHAT'S IN YOUR BURDEN ?

Sometimes our burdens are heavy,
Sometimes they are added to an already heavy burden load,
Cast your burdens on Him..

Right now, I feel like the salmon who is trying to swim up stream
against the current that is trying to knock you back down stream..

ugg the trenches right now are deep

MOTHERS DAY

     
For my mother, we try to get together the day after with her
for lunch. This year it will be dinner because I am homeschooling
2 children and Rebekah needing 24/7 care. I did have a 3 hour lunch
with my oldest daughter today. It was nice to catch up.

My faith has been shaky lately.  I am struggling with our
new daughter's file. Feeling like we were given hope but then it was
taken away with the update we just received.   And I know she is worthy
of  a family, she needs love and to get her needs met and to learn about
our wonderful Father !  uggg            why isn't this easy.

LID

Official LID 5/3   ( our dossier log in date )

I have not posted much lately because we have been going thru
some rough times lately..
So, prayer for our family... He knows our struggles.

APPROVAL

wow, we received our I800A approval today !!


working on our dossier.

MARCH

March has lots of birthdays. My mom, my oldest daughter and my soon to
be youngest daughter and one of my younger sisters and my uncle and
my niece's son.          HAPPY BIRTHDAYS

March will also be the month that I remember my sister who passed
away on the 6th.   She will be greatly missed. xoxo

March is when we received a RFE ( request for evidence) from USCIS
for our I-800A. Someone didn't write enough info about our 20 year old son
who lives with us in our home study .... UGGGgg
And now we are at a stand still because I can not get the paper they want because
I am leaving for my sisters funeral.   He's got this




             
 
This is where we are TODAY.. Just below Portland in pink area.
Blizzard warnings, And the storm has a name Stella
And more snow for this weekend.


Truthfully, I am very overwhelmed right now.

NEW HOPE

SHOW HOPE / NEW HOPE - KIDS WAITING FOR FAMILIES
Here are the precious children in the care of Show Hope / New Hope who are currently available for adoption. These children have varying ages and special needs, but the biggest need of each one is a family. They are loved dearly by their nannies and nurses and provided access to important medical care and surgeries through the Show Hope / New Hope program while they are waiting for their forever families.
There are many adorable children in the care of Show Hope / New Hope, but not all of them are paper ready. I'll keep this list as up to date as I can with those who are available for adoption. Show Hope / New Hope plays no role in if or when a child becomes available for adoption.

https://showhope.org/your-part/care-center-sponsor/
http://hopefosterhome.com/our-children/

                                                   Beautiful Brittany  needs a family

                                           Beautiful WEN is MATCHED with a family !!!

                                                           Maggie is Beautiful

                                               This beautiful Addie has SB

                                   
                                                  Elliot is a cute little guy

                                            Hugo is a handsome little man

                             

ABOUT LOVE

A friend posted this on face book:

"You do not know understand Christianity or the teachings of Jesus
 unless you fully understand that it is about LOVE, loving the least
of these Matthew 25:31-46 and loving your neighbor where ever 
they are.  Christianity is not about taking care of myself and my own
first, it's the exact opposite.  The beatitudes and the Sermon on the
Mount explain it so well.  What is happening in our country right
now has nothing to do with Christianity and breaks the heart of God.

PRESIDENTS DAY

Yesterday @ 6 am David received a call from work....
His crew was having issues and he was  not there to deal with
it.  I kinda felt sorry for him. Like he has to speak at church for
the next 2 weeks while starting  a new boat and back to overtime.
Praying that we don't get any snow this week while the kids are
on school vacation.  Just fun times !
Today we meet up with Brooke and her parents @ Jokers.
Brooke turned 3  !!
when we got there Gabriel got nervous and looked like he was
going to cry. We reassured him that he did not have to do anything
that scared him. Him and Rohana did not want to go on the slides
or bounce house or thru the tunnel play area. Hrutuja on the other
hand wanted to do everything Brooke was doing.
Brooke comes running up to me "Memere, I need money!"
She needed tokens, I had to laugh, it was funny.
Rohana sat at the table with  Rebekah and me and didn't want
to play any games. I felt bad because I let her stay up until 10 o'clock
because Repunzle was on tv last night. but she took a nap on the way home.

WINTER BLIZZARDS

snow , snow and more snow ..... ugggg
Last Monday was a 2 hour delay and no school on Tuesday
and Thursday because of snow.  Thursday after dinner I headed out
to snow blow my mom out and when I got there the neighbor started
doing her driveway, I think I said out loud.. "thank you, Jesus !"
I thanked him soo much for helping, he is a great neighbor.
Friday am we headed out to see the dietitian for Rebekah,
The roads were still aweful and the cold air took our breath away.
Once on the turnpike I needed to washing my windshield and only the
drivers side washed and I had another "Thank you Jesus" moment.
Our 1-3 inches for Saturday turned into 3-6 inches but dad still took
the little's bowling. They love going to bowl for the light.
Now (Sunday 2/12)  we are about to get  22-24 inches of snow.
Quite the blizzard with 50-60 mph winds expected power outages.
Everything that is non emergency is shut down for tomorrow.
Praying for the people whos power goes out (probably us) no generator.
Forecast is for another 6-9 inches Wednesday into Thursday... uggg
we are shoveling our driveway, the church, my mom and dads driveways.
I am not complaining just exhausted
Trying to see the Blessing in all this snow.
There has to be some fun tomorrow with no school and no work.. YES
That is the blessing of all the snow.. a family day.. awesome

Pray for New England 

WHY

A picture pooped up on my phone that I thought I had deleted.  Oh my
we really wanted to bring them home to our family, our children were
all excited about it.  The roads kept leading there, hings we saw, little
reminders. we fought so hard for 6 months then our hearts were broken
when we were told " a family has submitted LOI for them".
Our world stopped...What do we do ??  We felt that God wanted us to
continue.  so that is what we did.  we sent LOI for our Grace.

So when the picture had pooped up that evening
I foolishly looked at the waiting child listing that had the 2 siblings listed,
I just wanted to be reminded that they had a family coming for them,
But instead I saw that they no longer had a family going to get them.
oh my, I cried for them.  WHY ??

BORROWED

This is borrowed from lisa blog :

“I have a gift for you.” said the God of the Universe. “I made this precious gift just for you. I’m giving you this gift because I love you.”
I closed my eyes and held out my hands with anticipation.
“What will it be?” I wondered with childlike curiosity.
“Is it something wonderful like traveling to a far away country to see exotic and amazing things?” I asked God.
“No,” He replied. It’s far more wonderful than that.”
“Is it riches? I’ll have a large home, fine clothing, lovely things?” I asked.
“No,” He replied. “It’s much finer than anything you can own.”
“Is it beauty?” I asked. “Will I be graceful and pretty with bright eyes and long legs?”
“No,” He replied. “This gift is far more valuable than physical beauty.”
“Is it wisdom?” I asked. “Will I understand the great scholars and philosophers?”
“No,” he replied. “It isn’t wisdom. Your gift will bring deeper insights than wisdom can provide.”
“What is it?” I asked.
God placed the wrapped gift in my hands. This wasn’t the gift I expected. I didn’t understand it. It felt heavy—so heavy I could hardly hold it.
“Don’t unwrap it.” God said. “When the time is right, you’ll see the gift for what is truly is. Until then, trust me.”
“This can’t be my gift.” I told God. “It’s much too heavy for me to hold. It hurts when I hold this gift.”
“You can’t understand the gift yet,” God explained. “but this gift is made just for you.”
“I don’t want this gift. Can I have a different gift? This gift is too much for me. This gift feels painful and raw. Please God, anything but this.” I pleaded.
God spoke soothing words to me in quiet, hushed tones, “Just wait. Just breathe. Just be. Trust me. I made this beautiful gift just for you. You think it’s too heavy right now, but I will help you carry it.”
“Okay.” I finally agreed. “I will accept the gift. I don’t want it, I don’t understand it, but you are the God of the Universe. You are a good and loving God.”
I was surrounded by darkness. I felt afraid–nothing made sense. Those around me seemed to think everything was fine. Didn’t they understand? Nothing was fine.  I couldn’t see the way forward.
“I know you can’t make sense of this.” whispered God. “I will help you carry this gift. I will direct you each step of the way. I will walk beside you and soon you’ll begin to see things clearly.”
I held my gift and began to cry heavy, salty tears. The tears came freely, so freely I wondered if they would ever stop. On and on they flowed, so many tears.

“Let the tears come.” whispered God. “Every tear you cry makes room for more joy than you can imagine.”
The ache in my heart was almost too much to bear. There were times I was sure my heart would break into a million tiny pieces. It was an ache so deep it seemed to come from a place inside me I didn’t know was there.
“I know you’re hurting.” whispered God. “This ache is because I am growing and stretching your heart to make room for a love deeper than you can imagine.”
With time my gift began to change me.
After a while it didn’t feel quite so heavy.
The tears made room for joy. So much joy.
My heart grew and stretched to make room for love. So much love.
As the darkness subsided, rays of light began to break through and something unexpected emerged.
Beneath the tears, heartache and darkness I saw my gift.
Hope. So much hope.
It filled me up. My hope was light and bright and good. It was so beautiful my soul could hardly take it.

God explained, “You had to walk through darkness to see the light. You had to cry heavy, salty tears to make room for joy. You had to ache deep in your heart to make room for love. This was the only way I could give you my true and lasting Hope.”
“Thank you.” I said. “The darkness has subsided and I can see more clearly. My tears have dried and made room for joy. My heart is bigger and I can love more deeply. I have hope. Hope is a gift more precious and beautiful than I ever imagined.”


This was my feeling the first year with Rebekah.
  just , WOW
Any special needs mom can relate to this.

DISNEY

The kids were given Disney On Ice Tickets for a Christmas Gift.

                                 The Cinderella story on Ice.

         
                                     Jasmine and Aladdin

                                        oh , there they are again.... Rohana's favorite

                                 Memere and Brooke

                                     Poor Rohana had a stomach ache and more later.

This girl you can't leave alone for 5 mins.  She gets excited when she is on the floor
She some how got her feet inside the standing toy and knocked it over good thing it
is plastic.  She was also being very loud..it is really awesome to her make sounds.

Yesterday, Our Home study was received by our Placing agency. 
So we were moved to the Country program.. Our new worker noticed 2 typos
on our first page of our HS... uuggg.  must be fixed !!

AND today THE PLACING AGENCY JUST NOTICED THAT 2 OF THE 3 REFERENCE
LETTERS WERE NOT NOTARIZED.......uuuggggg   must redo....

HAPPY 21ST

Amazing, married for 21 years !!!!


dig out a wedding photo

They have not been all fairy tale years. They have been
learning and growing years. Learning about each other
and growing in our faith.    So Blessed

And yes, we are in Maine not at a beach retreat for a week
We are getting a dusting of snow right now. it is always
pretty to watch the snowflakes fall.......... And

David and I have a lunch date.   wooo hoooo !!




Our I800-A Application will be at the lock box today !!

2017