I-171 Received!!!

Hey Everybody! We received our I-171 from Dept. of Homeland Security today! Woohoo! This is our pre-approval to bring an orphan into the US. We will have to file our actual I-600 once we know names of children to put on the forms.

I was SO excited. Our new phrase in our house is forward motion. We may still not know very much about the end result of this process....but as long as we are moving forward.

We still have our 'eyes' on a set of siblings. Would you pray for them with us? One of them may be very sick and we are waiting to hear a final word on this - hopefully within the next month or so. We are feeling more and more drawn to these children. We just want it to all be the Lord's idea!! His are always the best ones, right?

Our hope and prayer all along (from the very start in January) was to have our children home by this Christmas. A local magazine called yesterday who heard our story back in March from a friend of mine - she had considered putting our family in the May issue about Mothers but decided against it and never called us. So, I thought it was just a passing thought for the owner of the mag. No biggie. But she called yesterday and wants to feature us in either Nov. or Dec's issue. She wants to have pictures of our new children with our family in the issue. November's issue is about families. But Decembers!! December's issue is about a Season of Miracles!!! Of course, it is!

We are believing the Lord for a season of miracles. He has orchestrated so much already that Mark and I couldn't have tried to write this many details into a story if we tried. I was thinking the other day about 'our adoption' story. A friend recently said to me, 'This isn't really your story. It belongs to your children." I LOVE that. I love that God is allowing me to walk this side of a journey of how a child is 'born' into a family.

He knows who will belong to us for their time on earth - I can't wait to squeeze them!!

Thanks for your prayers!!
Love!!!
a for the Fritchmans

The sounds of summer...

We have 3 1/2 more days of school left. And yet, the sounds of summer are already here.

I'm laying in my bed with my laptop after a LONG day of preparing food, cleaning house, doing laundry, and changing sheets and I'm listening to the sound of 15 twenty-something-year-old college students in my living room singing their hearts out to Jesus. That is the sound of summer.

Our college interns arrived this afternoon. And they are precious! Every last one of them! They came over for team-building stuff in the backyard and burritos/taco salad. And then as I'm getting my kids ready for bed in the back of the house we are serenaded by the sounds of God's people worshipping Him with all their heart. Most of them just met each other - I had commented on how quiet this crowd was as they were getting to know each other. But not during worship. During worship, they sang with all their heart. They worshipped like they knew Jesus. My kids sang along with a few songs as they prepared for bed.

I pray that God's spirit would always be welcome in our home! That all who enter would find rest in His peace.

I know that the summer is 'fixin to' explode with craziness - busy, fun-filled activities - non-stop people - comings & goings -

but tonight - we are resting in His presence. Tonight, I am thankful that my husband is one of the most Godly men I know. I am thankful that he has a heart that is longing for people to find the One who created them and knows them better than they know themselves.

Tonight - I am thankful for the sounds of summer!!

Nanny? Summer? SSI?

Hey All - I have a friend with 2 kids 6 & 8 who is looking for a nanny for the summer. Room would come with the job - Super fun!!

You could hang out with the Fritchie's at the beach all summer.....any takers???

Email me!

Update

The update is that there is nothing to update. I should probably just end my post there - ha!!

Adoption update - we've been able to see pictures of most of the children at Eban House who just arrived. They are the most precious smiles! We have our eye on a couple but we are just praying that the Lord will bring us who we are meant to have! They still aren't referral ready - just waiting. So then, so are we.

Summer - it's on it's way. 2 1/2 more weeks of school. The beach is FULL every weekend with visitors. I'm already looking forward to our Wednesday - local, weekly, play, beach date of moms and kids of all ages from toddler to teenagers. It really 'caught on' last year and it was a great time to see people and hang out.

The GP - Our college interns arrive the day after Memorial Day. Mark's gearing up, preparing the housing, busy, busy, busy. If you think about us, pray for us and our family. We always feel a little stressed and 'attacked' during the few weeks that lead up to the summer. It's the transition month - going from the steady, weekly, school year schedule to the unpredictable, wonderfully busy, blissfully free summer schedule. I do love having people coming in and out of our house all summer. I love fixing meals on a whim, having out-of-town friends coming to stay at the house. I love the summer.

Boys - we thought Eli broke his arm today. It was bound to happen, right? At the skatepark, he fell. Our friend who is a doctor who also happens to live next door (handy!!) looked at it. Says it might be a hairline fracture but it's not broken. Shew.

Asa is in a play at school this week. Actually, both boys are in the play - Eli is singing with his class (he's an army ant!) and Asa is a praying mantis and has a speaking part!

I think of things to blog about all day long. And by 8:00 pm when I actually have time to blog - I forget.

Success!! Thank you!! More good news...

What a great weekend for our garage sale! We made $1300 on Saturday! Wooohooo!! Thank you SO much for all of you who donated so much 'stuff' for the sale! Our garage was crammed full from the front to the back - fromt the top to the bottom and only a fraction of it was really ours!

It was a beautiful day and there haven't been many garage sale weekends yet so it was perfect! We had a great time hanging out with friends - we had a sign up telling people that we were adopting internationally. It was great fun to talk with people about that - hear other stories of how they adopted 30 years ago - one lady said that she was 'the product' of an adoption and was very thankful - all very encouraging stories.

The second lady that came to the sale told us about an endowment that she thought her local church has that might help us fund our adoption. So, I took the information and called today. The endowment actually serves another function (helping folks attend seminary) but the pastor was SO kind and generous. He asked very detailed questions and without hesitation said that he had a discretionary fund that he would start putting some money away for us and to call him at the end of the summer. He wanted to help us 'put a dent' in the cost of the adoption! Thank you, Lord!! I am amazed at how God knows where EVERY penny is coming from. I am not anxious - I am anticipatory. I am watching & waiting. So far, the show has been exemplary!!

The last piece of great news is that the USCIS stateside is now able to communicate via computer programming with Ghana embassy/govt regarding I-600 forms. I could try and explain this but I wouldn't do a very good job and you would only leave with WAY more questions than you have now. Here is the bottom line - once we receive a referral - we can file our I-600 (Petition for Orphan Adoption) here in the US - they will have the approval in Ghana as soon as it is approved in the US - We will ONLY HAVE TO TAKE ONE TRIP TO GHANA!! Yea!! This is great news both emotionally and financially for us! Once we travel to 'meet' our children, we will also be able to bring them home with us in that same trip. Again, thank you, Lord!

Such great news. Please keep praying for our children. His timing. My patience. I trust Him completely. May my emotions reflect that trust!

Thank you again, for being a community of believers who is loving on us so unashamedly as we move through this process!!