No news is good news...right?

I've heard my whole life that No news is good news! But is it??? I've struggled this past week about getting no news. First, hubs has been in Africa. The rule of thumb there is "no news is good news." If you're getting a lot of phones calls, it means something has gone wrong. There is not a lot of phone signal in the bush as you could imagine. Tomorrow they will be back in the city, and I can't wait to talk with Ryan. I'm thankful he gets to go, but I'm also thankful he will be home on Friday. I miss my friend! Then there is no news from the orphanage we were assigned to. Did the orphanage accept our family? Is there a child who matches our family? I have found myself saying over and over, "Well, no news is good news." I suppose hearing nothing for a while is better than hearing bad news. I was so excited when I first saw an email from our agency yesterday. While we may have not gotten news, I was hoping other families did. I pray for these strangers, and I want them to get good news too. Unfortunately, most of them are still in our situation of just waiting to hear something. I'm trying to be positive, but really my friends, is no news good news???

One Step Closer

We were assigned to an orphanage this week!!! We are excited, and we are praying the orphanage accepts us. The orphanage has the right to decline our family so I don't want to get my hopes up thinking this is it. We should hear if we are accepted or declined by them in a few weeks.



So where could our child be???

In Orissa, India



Being assigned to an orphanage is one step closer to being matched with a child. One step closer to seeing a picture of a beautiful face. One step closer to hearing a name that will forever change our lives. One step closer...

Hoping to update again soon...with good news!!!

When Pigs Have Eight Eyes

Brody asked for a piggy bank this month.  I asked him why he needed one, and he told me he needed to save money to adopt babies.  He does not understand that the adoption process is long so he was ready to take matters into his own hands.  He thinks his saving will bring babies home faster.  He really wants to be a big brother!  Brody is energetic, loud, always into something, and surprisingly very tender hearted.   He loves babies!  And he has a heart for the orphan!!!   So all the coins have now been gathered all over the house to go into his bank, and he is proud of his bank.  With all the waiting, Brody's idea for the pig is a big encouragement to me.  That pig makes me smile every time I walk past it knowing our whole family is working towards bringing a baby home. Yes, the pig has 8 eyes...would you expect a normal pig from The Brices???

The update-  Things are moving in India!!!  They allowed 100 families all over the world get a registration number in the month of January....we were one of those families.  Whoo hoo!!!  Now that we have a registration number, we can follow our process online.  According to their new system, once our dossier is sent again but this time with a registration number we will get assigned to an orphanage within 15 days.  Hopefully getting a referral for a child at that time or soon after.  This is a new system, a new way of doing things, new laws to understand, and it could take longer than what they are planning for.  I remain very optimistic.  I'm believing we will adopt a baby this year.  I'm looking forward to sharing more good news in February.  Please pray with us!

Adoption is when a child grew in its mommy's heart instead of her tummy. ~Author Unknown

Happy New Year!

Pray, hope, and don't worry!

Happy New Year family, friends, and bloggy friends.  May your 2012 be filled with love.  As I told a lady in the adoption process the other day, may God continue to multiply our families! 

Happy New Year Baby (or babies as Brody says you will be twins)!  We are praying and hoping 2012 will be the year you join our family.  OH, how I cannot wait to hold you!    I want to be able to tell you how much you are loved and how very important you are.  I smile every morning as I pray for you.  We have a room ready for you, and we are eagerly waiting for you to be a Brice.  You will be treasured here.

Happy New Year Baby's Mother!  I think about you all the time just imaging what a difficult choice you had or will have to make.  You are giving me a precious gift of a child, and I'm so thankful for you choosing life.  I pray for you too!  I know I will probably never be able to tell you thank you, but if I could I would tell you how important and special you are as well.  I read this poem the other day, and it was perfect.  I promise to read it to our child one day.

LEGACY OF AN ADOPTED CHILD

Once there were two women who never knew each other
One you do not remember, the other you call Mother

Two different lives shaped to make you one
One became your guiding star, the other became your sun

The first one gave you life, and the second taught you to live it
The first gave you a need for love, the second was there to give it

One gave you a nationality, the other gave you a name
One gave you a talent, the other gave you aim

One gave you emotions, the other calmed your fears
One saw your first sweet smile, the other dried you tears

One made an adoption plan, that was all that she could do
The other prayed for a child, and God led her straight to you.

Now, which of these two women, Are you the product of?
Both, my darling, Both, Just two different types of love.
---- Unknown

Updating Our Health Examination

With our dossier being mailed to India on September 30th, we are making sure all paperwork is updated.  That meant doing our health examination over again.  Ours was done in July 2010 so the paperwork was over a year old.  Bummer!  I don't mind seeing our doctor, but I do mind having a needle stick me.  The lab tests are AIDS test, Tuberculin test, and RPR (VDRL) test.  The rest of the examination is a breeze.  Answering questions, me just chatting, is easy.  So once again, we've got that checked off our list!

We've been asked a lot lately about updates or news on the adoption, and there has not been much to tell.  All I know is that on October 1st our dossier will be in India.  All of our paperwork has been sitting in Tulsa for months, and I'm just happy it will finally make it to India.  We are looking forward to a day when we can give our family and friends some actual news...and good news too! 

Any other families redoing paperwork lately?   :o)

Keep Living Our Lives

I've got India on my heart and on my mind.  I dream everyday about our child.  I'm so ready for another baby, but we still have a long wait ahead of us.  India adoption laws were redone this year, and we're unsure exactly how it will affect us.  Hopefully this Fall we will have a better idea what the timeline might look like.  After reading through the new adoption rules last week, I was a little bummed.  I sighed and gave Ryan a "now what?" look.  Ryan being very wise said, "We keep living our lives until the time comes."

You may ask what is the Brice Family up to this summer.  Schools here do not get out until the second week of June so that's when our summer began.  My son Brody and I went to Alabama to see my folks our first free weekend.  The next weekend we travel to Virginia Beach for our niece's 1st birthday party.  The last week of June was youth camp.  While B and I was traveling all through the south, Ryan worked hard on preparing for camp.  We had 155 teenagers go to camp at Mrytle Beach this year.  It was an awesome week. Brody also had a blast at the beach. 

The Skywheel

Before I even knew it, it was July.  Ryan's family visited us this past week.  It was so nice to have family here in North Carolina.  This week we are preparing to go to Honduras.  I've been washing clothes and trying to get suitcases ready.  Ryan is taking two trips of teenagers to Copan, Honduras. I'm going on the first trip with him.  While we are in Copan, we will work with the Chorti.  The Chortí Indians are the desendants of the Maya Indians. 

Please be in prayer for this unreached people group.  They are starving.  The rains came very late this year, and they are just now beginning to grow crops.  So there is currently no food.  Our church has been sending teams to them the past few weeks to give out beans and corn.  Our two student mission teams will be giving out food and telling Bible stories.  We've been planning this trip for a year, and everything we've planned has changed.  We are excited about this opportunity to show them love.  I blogged about the book of
Esther a few months ago, and I shared my heart about the "for such a time as this" moments. That seems to be the theme of this year.  We are once again faced with a huge task before us, and we are humbled that God is bringing us to the physically and spiritually hungry "for such a time as this." 

When we return from Honduras, Ryan will again two days later take another team to the Chorti.  Pray Ryan will have lots of energy to do the work that needs to be done.  Pray the July team will plant seeds in the hearts of the Chorti and the August team will come water those seeds.  Pray there will be a great harvest in many different ways.

Brody is pumped to get to spend some time with his Nanny and Pops while I'm in Honduras.  They are taking him to the circus.  I can hardly wait to hear what he thinks about the circus.  There will be several fun adventures with his grandparents!

August and September will be pretty busy too.  B and I might get to go to Texas.  Brody has his preschool graduation, and then he will start Kindergarten.  Oh MY!...Kindergarten!!!  August 25th is his BIG 1st day of school.  Then a few days later Ryan heads out on a trip to Nigeria, Africa to the Dibo people.  My two favorite guys will both be off having adventures.  I'm a little sad to have a quiet house during the day come fall, but there are a couple of volunteer activities I'm looking into. 

We've made plans all through the winter, but then our calendar is a little blank.  I had great hopes 2012 would bring a baby into our lives, and our traveling plans would be to India to meet our child.  I want my 2012 days to be filled with taking care of my two children, but I know in reality this may not happen.  So I will take the hubs advice of "we keep living our lives."  It's a must to keep planning and to keep doing.  And I'm sure there will be lots of fun along the way!

Happy Mother's Day



Brody and I making a memory at the Birmingham Zoo



Making the decision to have a child is momentous.  It is to decide forever to have your heart go walking around outside your body.  ~Elizabeth Stone

I just wanted to wish all the moms a very Happy Mother's Day.  Being a mom is hard work, but the salary is the best because the reward is pure love. 

It is a joy to be a mother to Brody!  I watch him daily grow and grow into the amazing boy he is.  It's bittersweet to see my baby grow into a little man.  I held a friend's baby recently and as I handed the little bundle of joy back to her mother my chest ached.  I long to be a mother to another baby.  There is just a need inside of me to take care of people.  So as we continue to wait in the adoption, I pray God will allow me love on those in my community around me. 

Adoption update...things a starting to move again in the India adoption world.  We are extremely excited about eight children now being with their forever families.  I have loved reading the blogs of these families, and I have shed some tears of joy over these last few weeks.  It's also exciting to know that there are spots for eight more babies at the orphange.  Our family is #8 on the non-NRI waiting list.  There are six families on the NRI list that come before us so really that makes us like #14 on the waiting list.  The estimated time for a referral is 18-24 months.  That's a long time, but I remain optimistic that things will continue to keep moving making the waiting time a little bit shorter.  I think if God can move mountains then He can move paperwork too.  I chose to be optimistic in everything.  I figure I can always cry later if I need to, but I rather look for the good right now.  While I'm looking at the good, being #8 is better than #10!  It's good to be at a new number.