Christmas Offering

Last Sunday just before the service began, the pastor of our church here called me over and asked if we'd be home in the afternoon. Said he was going to stop by. "What for?" I thought.

Around 4:30 in the afternoon I saw him walk across our lawn and scrambled to shove Jake's LEGOs into their box and grab the cardboard creation he had made off of the sofa so he would have somewhere to sit.

He came in got right to the point. "How are things going with the adoption fundraising? How far do you still have to go?" We shared how well we had done to date but that we were about $16,000 from finished. He spoke of prior years when the church raised money for Kiev and Haiti. He felt they were in a good place with their Haiti fundraising as they were about to send them a sizable check towards a project down there. "I was thinking," he said, "about using our annual Christmas offering to help you reach your goal to bring Johanna home." Stunned. Humbled yet again that God would use His people to help us fulfill Lourdes's dying wish and bring Johanna home. Still well up EVERY time I think about how absolutely right this is.

We arrived at church yesterday to see these flyers on the seats. I was a little taken aback as Advent has not yet begun.

Tim, the kids and I will each have a Sunday during Advent to speak to the congregation about Johanna and our journey to meet her, love her and make her a Chittenden.

If our family crosses your mind during any Sundays in Advent, could we ask you to pray for whichever one of us is speaking? That God would give us the words HE wants the congregation to hear. That we can hold back the tears that come so easily when we speak about Johanna and this journey. Thanks! It would really mean a lot to us!

Times flies

Greetings friends!

It has been more than a month since I last posted and lots has happened. What a ride this is!

In September, a sweet mom friend in Santiago offered me her frequent flyer miles that were due to expire in October so that I could travel to see our sweet girl. What an amazing gift! We surprised her with my arrival and the funny thing is Joy says she had been talking all day about skyping us. In fact, she just wanted to set the laptop next to her so we could "watch" a movie with her--just hang out. So cute! When I walked int the room, she had this look like "Am I seeing things?" and then ran and jumped into my arms and gave me the biggest squeeze ever.

A short time after I arrived with a new stuffed
lamb from her big brothers!

The trip was amazing. Her English is coming along amazingly so much so that I spoke to her mostly in English which made it so much less stressful to spend time together (for me at least! LOL!)

It had been a month of ups and downs with paperwork. Some met with opposition and some with open arms. After much prayer and exhausting emotional work on the part of our friends who are running like mad to move papers for us, we finally feel like we are in a good place with all of her family. We spent time with her aunts, uncle and cousins one afternoon. Brought donuts and juice for the cousins and just talked about how willing the family is to support what was her mom's dying wish. I mean fierce support by one aunt in particular. Thank you Lord for this and for your continued protection!

So blessed to have the support of these strong women (her aunts
who are her mom's sisters.)

We were invited to a friend's pool with
homemade paella. So fun!

Spinning in her new dress with her straight hair!
Such joy in that smile!

 It truly did not think I could love her more.