G-Mami's Got Skill!

G-Mami came over and finished her mural in Tatiana's Room...It's awesome!

Wanted to share it with you...

It is so "Storybook!"

Thanks, Mandy!

The artist at work!

Tatiana's Secret Garden

"If I had a rose for every time I thought of you..."

We can't believe it! It's finally here! Less than a week before we leave to travel; only 8 days before we are united with our forever family! My mind is racing!

I wonder about what the children are doing now...are they counting down days with anticipation as I am or are they grieving the upcoming separation with their foster family? Will they receive us and bond right away? Will things run smoothly and fast? Will they cry on the plane? Will I forget to pack something important? Will I pack too much?

You see, the questions go on and on...

Another opportunity came up for Ben to share at a local church about our Adoption Journey and bringing awareness to adoption this Wednesday. Please be in prayer for him. Hopefully he will be able to share some vital statistics that really provoke people to consider how they can be involved with adoption, either by adopting or helping someone adopt. We are so blessed God has given us this opportunity and desire to do so.

We will keep you posted as we go. Thanks for tagging along with us by following our blog...

(Just a side note: my family has "pet names." My mother is "Beamie," grandparents "Nana & Papaw"; my dad and his wife, "G-Daddy & Mamie"--our God parents have chosen their names !!!! They will be introduced as "G-Mami & G-Papi!" G-Mami, Mandy Flurry, began to paint a mural on Tatiana's wall in her room today. It is going to be a beautiful brick wall with black iron gate opening into a flower garden...Roses or flowers will be draped over the wall...Already it looks great! On the scrapbook page I made for Tatiana, there is a quote that says, "If I had a rose for every time I thought of you, I would walk through a garden of flowers forever." It is neat how everything is falling in place...Also, Amber Cosman gave me this beautiful princess drape to put over the bed...We are thinking of incorporating this in maybe after Tatiana arrives...a family from Oregon who have adopted us, really, is sending sports pillows for the boys; I will talk to G-Mami more about using her creative talents in their room once she is finished with Tatiana's. This is so much fun...and I am glad we are doing it before the kids get here as suggested by one adopted mom...thanks!)

Be Blessed!

THE VISA HAS ARRIVED!!!

Well, I just thought I had goofed!

Our visas arrived today! Yippee!

Today, I was looking at the ticker at the bottom of the page and I realized that when we meet our children for the first time, we will have been on this journey for

9 months and 6 days!!!!

A week later than the normal termed pregnancy!

Ben is practicing some elementary Spanish terms while I scramble around the house with lists...of things to do, places to go, people to call --

all before we leave in just 12 days!!! So much to do!

We have continued fundraising. This past Sunday we have a wonderful family at church who organized and cooked a Gumbo Dinner for us and sold tickets. We made over $300 with that fundraiser! Thank you Wilson Family! Thank you, WC! We also had some other donations made that is putting us right

under the $3,500 mark!

Mrs. Emily & Bro. Don Wilson

Please continue to pray for us as we tie up loose ends here and that God go before us and prepare our hearts as well as the hearts of our children to receive us. We are so very honored to be the parents God has chosen for them. Please also continue to pray for their birth parents and the governmental bodies.

Our thanks and prayers go out to all of you who have followed us along and supported us through your prayers and financial support. The journey has been fun thus far, but it's about to get REAL exciting! Don't miss the updates to come...follow along as we hope to be able to have access to our laptop and give daily updates and download pics while we are in Colombia! And as the days come closer, I am sure to share some of our anxieties with you as this is a bit of a therapy for me! God bless you all and we love you!

Rooms

What to do...what to do....why, there's so much to do....

Andrew and Diego's Room
We are looking for sports pillows for Andrew's Bed...any suggestions for wall decor for the boys? Not much out there...

Tatiana's Room

Done! So, Ben says...

Update on Recycled Requests List

Regarding a post dated April 30th:

Ben's brother gave us two booster seats for the car;

now we have three!

We are going to wait til we get in Colombia before we buy a stroller, unless someone has one they'd like to re-sale.

We decided bunk beds may be too dangerous for little Diego;

and Ben built headboards!

We found some relatively inexpensive dressers!

Still buying & collecting clothing and learning toys!

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Will post some newer pics on the blog hopefully this weekend!

I GOOFED BIG TIME!

I can't believe I did this...totally goofed! I sent off for our visa without a check! How crazy is that...should get the paperwork back tomorrow and will send it off again Monday! Glad we have a few weeks before we leave!

17 Days before we meet our children!

Travel Date Set!

Our travel date's set...and we're planning to meet the children on June 4th! We fly out of Atlanta on Jun 2nd to Bogota and Jun 3rd from Bogota to Florencia and then we meet our babies the next day! God is so good. Our children are beautiful! We aren't posting pictures on the blog until we get to Colombia...but stay tuned, because you're in for a treat...they are precious!

We are blessed to have supportive people around us including our church family...We have raised more money thru the baby bottle fundraiser, and Ben's brother gave us 2 booster car seats...

We have been preparing the children's rooms...that has been so much fun! Do you realize, though, that there is not a lot of boy-themed room decor? Maybe I can get some pics up soon of what they look like thus far...

I have been involved with some awesome adoption support groups online and many have given some helpful advice in preparing for the trip and what's expected. So, I thank God for them and their patience with me as I ask numberous questions...

Most of all, I give praise to God for what He is preparing us for and has blessed us with these fabulous children!!! I continue to pray and ask for your prayers for the children, us and their birth parents, and the Colombian people. Thank you...