Glory to God!

One of our most precious possessions - a letter from our daughter. It's wonderful to physically hold something she's held.

Mihiretu on our new deck. If you look at the slideshow of the house fire damage, this is the area where the fire started and was so yucky looking. Looks better now! Praise God!

Mr. Cutie in the kitchen. Even though it's just the cabinet frames right now, I could sit on the floor (if I had time) and dream about the kitchen ALL day. I cannot wait to get in here and cook and bake to my hearts content.

My PRECIOUS Bible. I wanted to show you why it means so much to me. Hundreds of pages look like this.

I can now see that my Bible is beyond repair. It got so wet from the firefighters hoses that the pages are really puffed up. All that aside, I am so happy to have it back in my possession after 6 long months. It's like having my best friend home!!

Would you like to see what else the Lord has done for me? Yep, my recipes!

Wow, yesterday was a special day, full of emotion. It started out with my going to the restoration company to take a look at some damaged items from our home. It was great to see some of the guys who were at our house those first couple weeks boxing up restorable items and throwing out the rest. It was fun to see them.

After I looked at the items they had for me, one of the guys remembered that I had wanted my Bible. They handed it to me, only after asking me if I was really ready to see it. I was really sad to see the state it was in which was worse than I'd remembered. However, it was WONDERFUL just to hold it again and know that I could still use it to refer to. I could see that it was not restorable in the shape the pages were in. My plan is to see if I can find the same edition on ebay and begin plugging away recopying my notes into the new Bible. It's a NIV Study Bible, copyright 1985 by Zondervan. I'm just sure I can find one.

Right after I digested having the Bible back, they handed me a plastic bag FULL of my old recipes! I fell apart right then and there. I couldn't talk. I'm still tearing up about it as I write this. How did they get my recipes?? No idea. Really...I have no idea how they got them. Several people saw it sitting in my mother in law's garage, my sister remembers that she is the one who actually brought it there.

I guess I *must* have given it to them to clean but I have absolutely no memory of doing it. Regardless of how they got it, it was a GREAT gift to me from a God who loves me and is concerned with even little things like recipes when they mean a lot to me. I am so thankful to Him for this practical gift that showed me His love, mercy and compassion to me.

We (Blaine, Blake and I) also had our USCIS (Citizenship and Immigration Service) fingerprinting appointment yesterday. The day before the appointment, I realized we hadn't received the appointment notification which we were required to bring to this appointment. I frantically did some emailing and praying and it all worked out beautifully. They were incredibly helpful and now we are one more step closer to our beautiful daughter.

When I was bringing Mihiretu to school yesterday, I told him that we were getting fingerprinted today and that if we were running late, Katie and De would be picking him up from school. (I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE having these kids of all ages!!) He said, "But Mom, didn't you already get your fingerprints done before?"

I replied, "Yes, but these are different fingerprints and it has to be done again."

To which he replied, "Which fingerprints are these...your toes??"

Out of the mouths of babes!! Hilarious!!!!

That brings me to then arriving home to find the letters from Tarikwa that Bibi so graciously sent to us to have. One is just a little note and the other is a 2 sided letter, which is what you see in the above picture. How precious is our little girl??

The little note, meant for Bibi (Letarik's mom, Tarikwa's best friend) says,

"God Bless you, Letarik.

I miss you so much.

Pass my greeting to your Mom and her friend.

I love all the family.

Glory to God!"

What a precious little heart she has.

Created in the very image of God. Known by Him while still in her mothers womb. Left in an orphanage by no fault of her own. I see her praying, asking her Father in heaven for a new family. I see God nudging Blaine and I to begin the adoption process again. Blaine sees Letarik's face and God nudges him. We begin working with AAI for an older girl. We find out Letarik has been matched with a family. Praise God for her! No longer an orphan. Ok, Lord, who did you have in mind for us? I receive an email with 2 pictures...one is Tarikwa's. Our entire family agrees...she's it! She looks SO much like Mihiretu. We pray and move forward. God led us to adopt Letarik's very best friend. How cool is God? She's the one He had for us all along.

This little girl who, despite her extremely heartbreaking life circumstances which caused her to be an orphan, gives glory to God!!

I have a lot to learn from her.

I just wonder...might there be a Tarikwa out there somewhere in the world who is longing to be loved by you and through this child you just might have something to learn?

Blessings and glory to God!

Laura