Is Teresa our daughter?

We still don't know if the other family is going to proceed with adopting Teresa. It has been a very long weekend waiting. We found 2 videos of her online.  She is absolutely adorable.  Dallas and I truly believe she is our daughter.  We sure home we find out tomorrow.  We know it is in God's hands but it sure would be nice to know one way or the other.

Is Teresa our daughter?

Since adopting Grace Dallas and I have always said we would like to adopt one more daughter.  Dallas always wonders if the time is right.  A year ago we went through Financial Peace University by Dave Ramsey. It changed our lifes.  We still aren't done but our only debt left is my van and the house.  So we weren't planning to find our daughter yet.  We have been discussing whether we thought she was in China or possibly foster care.  We really wanted to be debt free before starting the process again.

Along came Teresa, a little girl on our previous agency's China Special Focus list.  We first saw her picture on May 11, 2011.  We didn't decide to view her file until May 15.  Unfortunately by the time we asked another family was already viewing her file.  We are now waiting for their decision.  If they move forward we miss the opportunity to have Teresa as our daughter.  We are hoping to hear something at the beginning of the week.

There are several reasons we feel Teresa is our daughter.   She is born the right year.  The boys were born in 1992, 1995, and 1998 and the girls were born in 2002 and 2005. Our next daughter should be born in 2008, right?  She is from the same province as Grace. This is a big one.  Before we saw her file we knew she was living in Beijing but didn't know what province she was from.  We said if she is from Fujian then she is the one.  We were quite suprised the next day to find out she was from Fujian.  The agency gave her the name of Teresa. The day I saw her picture for the first time was the same day my friend, Teresa, received her baby through domestic adoption.

So now we sit and wait and wait and wait some more.  We know if she was meant to be our daughter the other couple will say no but this waiting is tough.  It is like waiting for a call from the doctor's office to find out if you are pregnant.

I decided to title this blog Finding Faith because Dallas and I weren't quite ready to begin this journey again but we know we need to have faith and follow God's direction.  If this is the path we are to go then God will surely lead the way.  Dallas is also pretty insistent that this daughter's middle name be Faith. 

Hopefully in the next post I will be able to answer the question  "Is Teresa our daughter?" 

Fun in the Snow

Last weekend we had a few inches of snow. The girls had so much fun. Our sledding hill is small but to the girls it was a huge mountain.

Zachary and Gizmo

If you go down a few posts you will see a photo of Zachary and his dog when we first got him. Look how much he has grown. The dog, not Zachary. Last Saturday Zachary started obedience lessons. Unfortunately, they are for the dog not Zachary.

I Am Back

Looks like I will be having more time on my hands pretty soon so I decided I would start writing on my blog,again.

Lots has happened since August 12(date I last posted). We celebrated 5 years home with Julia, Grace had her second surgery, and my best friend passed away.

My mom battled Alzheimers for over 15 years. On November 16, she peacefully went to be with the Lord. Not a day goes by that I don't miss her or talk to her. I know she is in heaven playing with her grandchild and catching up with all those that went before her.

Kristopher received the Big Envelope yesterday. Inside the big envelope was his acceptance letter to NC State University. Needless to say he has one proud Daddy. Kristopher does not like making commitments so he will not say if that is definitely where he wants to go. Since he has applied anywhere else and can't stand filling out college applications I think the chances are pretty good we will have another Wolf in the house.

I am going to attempt to keep this blog updated and share lots of pictures. I have to make up for lost time.

Grace- Two Years

Two years ago today Grace came into our lives. That day is still clearly etched in my mind. It is hard to forget our day touring the Forbidden City with sweat pouring off us, our flight to Fuzhou, and then being rushed to meet Grace. Upon meeting Grace a picture had to immediately be taken and Grace was pretty inconsolable. These strangers were holding her and she wanted no part of it. Those first few weeks Grace wanted nothing to do with Dallas. She wanted me to hold her all the time but I had to be standing up. Grace is still a little bit of Mommy's girl but she definitely loves her Daddy. Every day she asks a dozen times "Where is Daddy?"

Grace is one determined little girl. She knows what she wants and if it is in her power, she makes sure she gets it. She does everything with her whole heart. Her verbal skills are no where close to where they should be but she has made great progress. She is due to have another surgery in November. Her palate is too short so this surgery is needed for her to be able to form some of the sounds. Even with the language deficient you can clearly tell Grace is a bright little girl. She learns new concepts very quickly and problems solves well. Her speech will not slow her down.

Happy Family Day, Gracie Mei! We love you!

Gizmo

Zachary has been saving for a few months for a new puppy. Today we went to a shelter and he picked out Gizmo. Isn't he cute?