This week I went back to school.  It was good to get back into the normal routine of life...but my mind has been a million miles away.  It is so hard to focus on anything else but Kenzie.   
It has been fun to share with my students about sweet Kenzie.  I really think they love her as much as we do!

As much fun as it was to talk about Kenzie and to show off her picture the question I was dreading came....

 

WHEN DO YOU GET TO GO BACK TO GET HER???

 

 

I wish I could answer that question.  All I know to do is pray and to ask you to pray.  SO PLEASE PRAY!  Waiting is hard and I am sure that God will teach me something during the waiting but that doesn't mean that the waiting will be easy.  :) 

My heart aches for her.  I want to hold her, cuddle her, watch her, experience new things with her.  UGH....

 

So friends and family....I ask you.....keep me busy!  When I am busy, I do not have as much time to think about going to get her.  I know we are on the downward side of this process and honestly I am so happy and relieved.  I know that we are blessed because we have a referral.  This time last year we NEVER thought adopting from THOGL was possible again...but God had other plans. 

So pray...

Continue to pray...

Start to pray....

JUST PRAY!

 

 

Daddy and Kenzie

 



I am a big girl! 



First of all I apologize for not updating the blog while we were in Taiwan.....for those of you who didn't hear or didn't get my FB message my blog would not work properly in Taiwan.  So sorry! 

I have so much to catch you all up on....

The most important thing you should know is KENZIE is perfect!

We have fallen in love with this precious baby girl and cannot wait to bring her home!  Many have asked when that will be and honestly we have no idea.  There has been so many variations in processed cases that we do not even have an estimated time.  We will know more once our first decree is issued...but until then all we can do is trust and pray it is soon.

Leaving Kenzie was one of the hardest things I have ever done.  My heart shattered into pieces when I had to say good-bye.  Writing about it right now brings the tears and the emotions.  Surviving over the next several weeks or months until we can bring her home is going to be so difficult.  I ask for your prayers, support, and encouragement.  I am going to do my best to focus on my family right now....these are our last days of being a family of 3.  So I want to give Kyler the attention he needs before his world drastically changes too.

So Taiwan....
Everything was amazing.  We had the chance to do some sight-seeing and a tiny bit of shopping.  We mainly hung around THOGL and helped out with the babies.  There are SO many babies there right now that they need all hands on deck.  Plus it was important to keep Kenzie on their schedule since we would be leaving her. 
Our social worker appointment and court appointment both went amazing.  Richard and I were so nervous, but God went before us and all went smoothly. 
Besides meeting Kenzie the highlight of the trip was meeting Kenzie's birthmother and grandmother.  It was such a special meeting and God was glorified.  There were lots of tears and questions...but we all left the meeting with a since of hope and love for each other.  I am so thankful that I was able to take pictures to show Kenzie one day.  What a special treasure that will be for her.

There is so much more to our trip that I want to share...but that is all I have the energy for right now.  As a few of you know...when we got home (on Thursday) I got super sick.  I call it my "jet lag curse".  Everytime I come home from going somewhere internationally I get sick....vomiting and all of the not fun stuff that goes with that.  I am finally feeling a little bit better this morning.  Thank you Jesus!

Please Pray:
*Our paperwork will be processed quickly and decrees will be issued in record time.  (It's been one week since court)
*The bonding that we started with Kenzie will not be completely lost
*That God will provide someone to travel with me on the second trip to pick up Kenzie.  (We cannot financially afford for Richard to go so I am going to be traveling by myself.....it is very scary to think about traveling internationally by myself and then bringing a baby home internationally by myself.  We know that God will give me the strength but it would be amazing if someone could go with me or we could come up with the money for Richard to go.)
*We have several adoptive family friends who are also waiting on decrees right now...please pray that they will get those decrees soon and that they can bring their babies home! 

The craziness is in full swing....

I have not stopped all day.....

Packing, cleaning, making lists, running last minute errands......ready or not baby girl......we are coming!  (I think she is ready...haha!)

Please be praying for us...
We fly out Monday morning.  Our plane leaves at 8:30am, after a layover in Dallas, we leave from LA heading to Taipei at 2:30pm (which is Joplin 4:30pm).  As you head to bed on Monday night please pray for us as we are heading across the pacific ocean to meet our baby girl!  We are so excited. 

We will continue to update daily on this blog so dont forget to check each day!

But here is how you can begin to pray for us:

*Pray for our Social Worker appointment that we will answer the questions honestly and that all will go smoothly
*Pray for our court appointment.....we will meet Kenzie's birth mom at this appointment and we will be standing before the judge answering adoption questions.
*Pray for our time with Kenzie and the bonding that will begin over this short period of time.
*Pray for our time at THOGL that we can be a help to Ted and Bev and the babies that are there.
*Pray that our paperwork will be processed VERY QUICKLY and that I can travel back very soon to bring her home! 

Thank you so much friends for joining us on this journey!

 Love you all :)

Happy New Year!!!

I had intented to write this post yesterday but we had a fun filled day hanging out with my family and it just didn't happen! 

I am so incredibly excited for the year 2013.  Big and exciting changes for the Jett family! 

This time next week we will have spent an entire day with our sweet baby girl.  We heard from THOGL yesterday and Kenzie's birth mom has been notified of our court appointment and plans to meet us there.  We have so many emotions about that meeting.  Please begin to pray now for us as we meet her BM.  Please pray that she will know our heart and we will be able to communicate our gratitude towards her. 

Nerves are really starting to set in about our trip over....tomorrow I will post more about how we are feeling and how you can specifically pray!  Right now I am going to hang out with my little man....today is his last day of Christmas break and this momma is going to give him my undivided attention!

Kenzie Ann Mei-En Jett

5 months old

Weighs: 16.6 pounds

Length: 23.5 inches long

2 teeth

WAIT

A four letter word that holds so many emotions for me.....hope, frustration, trust, anger, love, worry, faith.....and the list could go on and on. 


WAIT

In life we are required to wait on so many things.  jobs, money, love, ADOPTION.  Waiting is a part of everyone's life.  Some wait patiently....others....like me....wait very unpatiently. 

What kind of "waiter" are you?  What is your attitude in your waiting?  Who or what do you rely on?

It is in your waiting that your true character is revealed. 

When you pray "Lord, let YOUR will be done."  Do you REALLY mean that?  Or are you actually praying with a selfish heart knowing your prayer actually means "Lord, let MY will be done"  If we prayed that prayer with pure motives we would never question God and His timing. 

I get it.....like I said I am someone who does not wait well.  I hate not having control...I hate not being in control....I hate not knowing the outcome.  But you know what I hate even more....not completely allowing God to handle my wait.  I get so frustrated with myself for giving in to satan and his evil plans to still the joy out of my waiting, the prayer out of my waiting, the full reliance on God out of my waiting.   

This has become my daily prayer..
"God, I am going to be faithful in the NOW and trust that when YOU decide to answer my prayer (in your way) you will."

Romans 8:28
"And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose."

As Christians we often over look the fact that we will have troubles.  We expect life as a Christian to be easy, for God to answer our prayers exactly how we want them to be answered.  But if there is one thing that I have learned in my 33 years on this earth is that God rarely answers my prayers in the way that I want.  Does He answer them...yes....but rarely in "my timing" or "my plans".  So, yes we will have troubles...we will have waiting, but God promises to overcome.

So I leave you with this....
How are you in your waiting?
Will you still follow HIM even if HIS plan is not your plan....HIS timing is not your timing?

Our sweet Kenzie is 5 months old today!!!  She is growing up SO quickly.  I CANNOT wait to get my hands on her in just a week and a half.  It is going to be so hard to leave her but I know that I will be with her again very soon and she will be in our family forever. 

We have been having so much fun this Christmas break.  We have had tons of family time, relaxing time, and even some cleaning/organizing time (totally not my favorite and the offer still stands if someone wants to come to do that for me.....haha).  God has truly blessed me and I am so in love with every part of my life right now.  This time last year there were some MAJOR uncertainties but over the past year God has performed some amazing miracles and Richard and I will always give him all the glory, honor, and praise.  Some day I will share God's story of redemption, forgiveness, and love....but right now this blog is dedicated to our journey to Kenzie.

10 days....10 days baby girl....mommy and daddy are coming! 

We had an amazing Christmas!!

My parents surprised us with a trip to Dauphin Island this summer as an entire family (my sisters and their families included).  We have to pay for meals and souviners but everything else is taken care of!!  So June 29-July 6 we will be laying (as a family of 4!!!) on the beach!  So excited.

It was so fun to sit around and talk about Kenzie.....knowing she will be with us next year.  At first I thought it was going to be super hard but I actually was very upbeat and excited knowing that our process will all be over very soon and also that she will be in my arms even sooner!

We got an email from Ted this morning that the social worker appointment is on Jan. 10.  The SW appointment is important because this is a report that is submitted to the judge that shows him we are "fit" parents and encourages his approval on our case.  We are still praying for immediate approval!

Now the craziness of getting ready for Taiwan begins!  There is so much to do to prepare to be gone for a week and a half.  I am so thankful I got all of my school stuff done.  That is one less thing I have to worry about.  Now I just have to get us packed, make sure stuff is ready for Kyler, clean my house (anyone wanna come over and do that for me..hah) and finish getting Kenzie's room all ready! 

11 days and we will be on our way!!!  PTL!