The Great Name Debate

We have been talking about names, names, names. The girls are pretty set on the idea that our new little girl needs to have a name that starts with the letter "C". We already have Levi, Chloe and Lydia...and my brother has Chase and Logan. So far, we have an L,C,L,C,L...it is only natural that the next name would be another C. Oh my, Lydia has come up with some weird and strange names that we think she is probably making up. Levi has not said much...of course...being a teenager...he can't really be bothered with things like this! Chloe likes Carys, Charlotte and Camille. Rick and I can't wait to hear what our sweet little girl's Haitian name is. Chloe told me that she is praying that her new sister will come with the perfect name! How sweet is that?

One fun family!

So, today, we dropped off our "one fun family" photo album at our facilitator's home. Her good friend is leaving for Haiti in the morning and will carry the photos to the orphanage and give it to the pastor. Lets hope that we don't look TOO CRAZY! We put in a couple family photos, some photos of our house, and then some funny ones of the kids together...acting very goofy out in the yard. Our facilitator seems to think that it will put the pastor at ease to see what we look like, especially since this will be a first for her. Strange to think that within a week or two we could be looking at photos of our new little one.

She is HOME!!

Our facilitator returned from Haiti today with exciting news! She was able to visit with a pastor who has agreed to let us adopt. This pastor started taking orphans into her home many years ago and then ended up starting a foundation to help with the costs. She now has 80 children in her home from the age of 2 months to 18 years. She has never let anyone adopt from her before so we feel very blessed that she is considering us. Our facilitator has a friend who is visiting in Katy right now, but will return to Haiti on October 31st and take our family album to the pastor. Our facilitator was allowed to go out back to see and play with the children. She said that immediately she was struck by a beautiful little girl that was running around and playing with a big smile. She said it was as if God spoke to her saying, "this is the child for the Mowrer's. She immediately shared with the pastor that she felt as though this was our daughter and the pastor agreed that we could adopt her. All we know is that she is 2 years old. We are very excited, but also protecting our hearts because with all adoption, especially international, things can change very quickly. When our facilitators friend goes to drop off our family album, she will be getting pictures of this little girl for us and finding out some important information like...name, birthdate, etc.

Leaving on a jet plane....

This morning Rick and I got up and took off for Austin.  We went to the Secretary of State office to get 14 of our documents for our dossier authenticated.  We drove straight there, Rick dropped me at the door, I was in and out in 40 minutes, Rick picked me up at the door and we were back on the freeway and headed back to Houston.  After 5 minutes on the road, I noticed that I had a missed call from our facilitator.  I was thrilled because she only calls if there is a reason, in other words, she does not call just to chat.  I immediately called her back and listened to her explain to me that she was in the airport in Miami waiting for her next flight to PortAuPrince.  She wanted to let us know that she would be meeting with a pastor, who is helping her find a child for us, TOMORROW!  Her good friend is also good friends with another pastor who runs an orphanage.  This pastor does not allow any of the younger children at her orphanage to be adopted, but her friend seems to think that if our attorney goes there in person, she may let us adopt one of the girls.  We are so grateful to God for our facilitator and friend.  She is an amazing woman with a beatiful heart and soul.  She is actually a very busy, high powered, international business woman that does a lot of work in Haiti and is helping us with our adoption as a favor.  But, all of HER business in Haiti was cancelled for this next week and she was going to cancel her trip to Haiti altogether, but then she remembered the commitment that she made to us to help us bring a child home and she knew that she must still go on this trip.   

I had to post this sweet prayer that a friend sent to me today: 

Father God, We praise You for Your compassion and love for Your orphaned children.  Thank you for blessing the Mowrers with a quiver full of children handpicked by You.  We are trusting You to grant favor, wisdom and direction to their facilitator as she seeks the next child You have chosen for the Mowrers.  We ask that You remove all obstacles and open all doors that lead to this little girl that YOU have selected to be added to their family.  We believe and are trusting in Your Sovereignty and Divine guidance.  In Jesus Name Amen!

A Night with the Chapman Family and good friends...

Tonight, Rick and I, went on a triple date with some our dear, sweet friends.  We went to the "A Night with the Chapman's" concert!  The band, "Caleb," opened...which is a band that includes two of Steven Curtis Chapman's very talented boys.  Next, Steven sang some of his old #1 hits before he started sharing a little bit about their adoption story and how adoption has changed their lives forever.  Then, he switched to the songs from his new album "Beauty Will Rise" that is dedicated to his daughter that was killed in a tragic accident two years ago.  The album is his way of greiving and healing her loss.  You can imagine the emotion as he sang "Cinderella", "Out of these Ashes, Beauty will Rise", "God in the face of my little girl" and "I will trust You God."  There was not a dry eye in the auditorium!  After that, his beautiful wife, Mary Beth, came on stage to share their story of grieving, getting through and trying to heal after Maria's death.  The Chapman's have started a charity called "Show Hope" which is named after their first adopted daughter.  This charity raises money to provide scholarships to families who need financial help with their adoptions.  Now, they have just opened "Maria's Big House" (named after their daughter who was killed) in China which is a huge 3 story care facility for sick orphans...some of the children are terminally ill and some stay for a short while.  Wow...talk about inspiring!  What an amazing family that is so completely grounded in our Lord and Savior.  The name of their tour is "Spring is Coming" which is symbolic of them finally being able to move forward after the "Dark Winter" that they have just experienced.  I just recently finished reading Mary Beth's book which is titled, "Choosing to SEE."  I would highly recommend this book to anyone,  but especially anyone grieving the death of a child.  The book is very candid, filled with honest grieving and a hopeful future.  A big thank you needs to go out to my hubby who planned such a fabulous night for me!   

He places the lonely in families....

Tonight, we were honored (along with our Orphans Hope small group) to welcome home our dear friends, the Owen's, from Ethiopia with their two sweet boys.  Their oldest is two and their youngest in 9 months. What sweetpeas!  And, what a blessing to finally get to see Brian and Tracy in their new roles as "mommy" and "daddy" to their boys. They have waited a long time for this miracle of adoption!  I am so thankful that they were obedient to God's calling on their lives to adopt and that we could share this journey with them.  Praising God for giving these boys a wonderful, Christian forever family! 

God sets the lonely in families...Psalm 68:6

God just blessed our socks off!

Put on your seatbelt becasue this is a doozy!  I have had email contact with this great family here in Houston that are kind of "mini celebrities."  They were in the process of adopting a 9 year old boy from Haiti when the earthquake hit.  Literally, the day after the earthquake the husband hopped a plane to Port-Au-Prince, hired a driver, drove to the orphanage where their soon-to-be-son was, picked him up and took him to the front steps of the US Embassy in Port-Au-Prince.  They slept and stayed there for 9 days!  Finally, on the 9th day the US Embassy gave their son a "pardon" to become a US Citizen and they were able to fly back to Houston.  Is that a cool story or what?  Well, the mom of this family has been a great connection for me since she has "been there, done that" in regards to Texas and adopting from Haiti.  So very thankful that God has placed her in my path.  She hooked us up with our social worker and then hooked us up with a French translator.  sidenote: For those of you that are not familiar with international adoption....once your dossier (a huge stack of required paperwork and documents about your family) is authenticated on the state level, the US State Department level and the US Haiti Embassy level...it has to then go to the Government of the country that you are adopting from, but before you can mail it there, it must be translated into that countries official language, which for Haiti is French.  Back to story: As soon as I started emailing this translator, I absolutely loved her.  When she emailed me her contract...her very first requirement is that you email her a family picture, that way she can add it to their "family wall" of adoptions.  These are the families that she is currently translating dossier's for.  That way her family can be praying for us!!!  A dossier is roughly 30 pages...give or take a few.  Her fee for translating is $20 a page which comes out to be approximately $600.  The day that you contract her, she takes a deposit of $200.  Rick and I decided last night that I would contract her today.  Well...this morning, I was in a huge hurry (imagine that) and was determined that I would have a joyful heart and have a positive attitude...as the last few days have been pretty stressful trying to figure out this bank letter, police clearance letter, psychological evaluation, and then scheduling notaries for all the above.  I jumped in the car and headed down to HPD, but before I left the neighborhood, I suddenly realized that I forgot to email the translator and contract her.  So, I flipped a Uey, ran in the house, emailed her, and took off again.  I prayed and sang along to KSBJ the whole way to downtown Houston.  I actually made it through downtown WITHOUT GETTING LOST.  This was a huge feat for me.  Found a parking spot RIGHT IN FRONT of HPD. And, when I got my number called, the lady behind the counter actually knew EXACTLY what I needed.  I was in and out of there with three original, notarized letters in 45 minutes!  It was a piece of cake or maybe a miracle!  As soon as I walked in the door, I checked my email.  I noticed right away that I had an email from the translator but to my surprise, when I opened it, she had put her phone number and asked that I call her as soon as I got it because she had some "really exciting news to share with me."  Okay, really?  I am thinking...what in the world?  How could this girl have exciting news for me...I don't even know her?  But, I have to admit, I was also very anxious to hear what she had to say.  I didn't think my day could possibly get any better than it already was.  DRUM ROLL PLEASE...when I called her, she told me that a family that had used her to do their translations when they adopted from Haiti had called her.  They told her that God had placed it on their hearts to bless another family that was adopting from Haiti by PAYING FOR THEIR TRANSLATIONS and that family was US!  Oh my goodness, I cannot even tell you the emotions that went through me!  I was screaming, crying, laughing, speechless, completely overwhelmed, in awe and so thankful to this amazing family that does not even know us to be blessing us like this.  The even cooler things, it that they want no recognition for this act of kindness, they want to remain completely anonymous. Thank goodeness, I was able to send them a thank you note through our translator.  We are thanking God for His provisions and we are trusting in Him completely as we contnue on this journey.  What an amazing confirmation that we are definitely walking that path that God has laid before us.

Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him and he will direct your path.  Proverbs 3:5-6