We Made It!

Wow! After waiting over two years and after checking the CCAA website almost every day for the last year and half I never thought I would see the day come when our date is included. It feels so unreal that we should see our sweet Mia's face tomorrow. I have so many questions. How old is she? Where is she right now? Is she crying? Or has she stopped crying for help? Will she be terrified of me? Will she even know and understand the look of love? Or will time have to teach her that? Will the nannies miss her? Does her birth mother ache every day for her? Does her birth father look at other children and wonder about her.

Hoping and Praying Tomorrow is the Day

I haven't posted in forever. Wow has a ton happened this past year. The word on the rumor queen is that someone on the West coast got their referral today. So we are hoping and praying that tomorrow is the day that we get to see our daughter Mia's face for the first time.

I have just been going crazy this past week. I have been making Dan leave the computer on at night so that I can check it in the middle of the night if need be. Monday night I checked it at 3:30 am to discover nothing.

Today I have been a complete mess and have barely been able to leave the computer. This morning was looking bleak and I sent an email to family and friends saying it looked like it wasn't going to happen this week. Next I had some sugar therapy. :) Then low and behold I checked it again around 1:00 and someone on the West Coast got their referral. How I am going to sleep tonight I have no idea.

Prayers For an Anxious Time

Just before Thanksgiving 2007, we knew we were getting close and that made Elise and I all the more anxious. So one Friday morning at our Men's Journey Bible Study, I asked Joe Leimer to pray for me. As he did, it hit me: "We need to invite everyone over to pray for us!" I talked with Elise and she was excited about the idea and so we called some of our dearest friends and invited them over for an hour of prayer in our living room. Burt, Sarah and Joe, Sara, Mike and Cheryl, and Todd were all able to make it.

Joe did a beautiful job leading the time and, man, were there some beautiful prayers lifted up that evening. Elise and I were a slobbering/sobbing mess as we felt so loved and were so touched by the care of all our friends for Mia! The only downside was that Keiffer and Bower thought that our little prayer circle was for them and they cried and pawed us for attention all the way through the hour. It was a little shocking that they weren't more conditioned by now to our nightly hour of prayer but...

Parenting with Boundaries

Elise and I went to a seminar on parenting called "Boundaries in Parenting" last week. Dr. John Townsend spoke and it was excellent. Of course, now we think we have this parenting thing licked! We are over-achievers, one must admit...

Preparing Keiffer Part II

Knowing that our dogs await an unsuspected awakening to true "dogdom" (once we get Mia), I took to writing a little book entitled, "Keiffer Becomes a Dog." This is a short story in which I attempt to prepare Keiffer for Mia's arrival but first must convince her that she is of canine descent. The conversation goes poorly...The little book is dedicated to Mia, using the same inscription heading as this blog: "dedicated to our daughter, Mia Grace Deeble, whom we alrady love, deeply cherish, and long to know. About you, my sweet, God whispers, 'She is mine!'"

Studying Up For This Daddying Thing

For Christmas, Elise gave me a book on Fathering. I had asked for one so that I could begin to prepare myself for the most important job I'll ever have. For some reason, having a daughter seems far more daunting (though equally special) . Perhaps it's b/c there's a foreignness to it all. I'm a boy myself, I have only 3 brothers, and I have a Mom that's been brazened by all the testerone of raising us four. My lovely wife is my lone coach in teaching me the ways of little girls. Having said that, however, I know there's a soft spot in my heart just waiting to be commandeered by Mia Grace. I fear, more than anything, just being wrapped around her finger.

John Mayer wrote a popular song called "Daughters" that really speaks to the power of a Dad in the lives and hearts of their daughters: "You are the god and the weight of her world, so fathers be good to your daughters, daughters will love like you do, girls become lovers who turn into mothers, so mothers be good to your daughters, too." Nice, huh? I would add a slight but ever so important twist to say that, as Dads, we have the powerful opportunity to show them God's heart for them and that their ability to love God directly ties to how we have been their father on earth. What a gut check job, I say.

Dan the Sand Man

As proof of Dan's deep love for his baby girl Mia, he actually took on the task of sanding, wiping down the walls, and painting Mia's room. To make it worse, all the work was on the ceiling. Since he absolutely hates working on the house in any capacity, let the record show that a Father's heart is already in play!

Out of Review Room Celebration

On September 9th, 2006 our dossier officially made it out of the review room with no questions asked. Phew! No more worrying about somehow getting kicked out of the program. To celebrate I (Elise) went and bought the highchair that I had my eye on for the last year. For whatever reason Mia's highchair was the one piece of baby furniture that I was the most excited about getting.