Being cautious

I spoke with our facilitator yesterday and she was wonderful to share much information with me regarding this process, which is so foreign to Bob and I. However, as so often happens when you learn new things, we have become somewhat frightened by some of the information. We have decided that in an effort to be cautious and not to jeopardize the possibilty of our adoption of Lilie that some changes to our blog and the information shared here need to be made.
You may notice that we have deleted some of our past posts which included details that we have decided are better left private. We will also be using only Eastern Europe from here on out, and all mention of the country that we are attempting to adopt from will no longer appear on this blog, so we ask that you also refrain from mentioning the country in your comments. Thank you. Any other identifying information, such as region, orphanage, etc will also no longer be present.
We will however, make every effort to continue to communicate our feelings and our journey in a cautious way. We know that many people are interested in praying for and supporting us in various ways, and we truly appreciate each of you. Therefore, we do not want to shut down the blog completely at this time.
Thank you for your understanding and support. Keep on praying! God bless!

Snow Day

As I enjoy this wonderful "snow day" with my three beautiful children, I can't help but be sad for the one who is not here today. Everything seems to remind us of her. The last snow day we had was spent sled riding with all four of them, playing games and sharing the day making memories. As we played UNO, at 7:30 this morning, Rachel talked about Lilie's love for that game and how she hopes that she has taught it to her friends there. The boys mentioned her several times today as well. It's funny how so many little things remind them of her presence here and of her absence. 
I pray that we have some answers from the courts soon, because I am finding it increasingly difficult to be still and know that God is in control. I am a "fixer"! I want to get it done, all of it, now. Oh, God, you are workng on me, aren't you? So, I will continue to do my best to rest in Your care and know that your timing is perfect and your way is always the best way.

The gift of love...

Today was one of those days. A day that just felt "blah". Like there was just something not quite right about this day in particular. Truly, it took me all day to figure out that this day marked one month!

Lilija opening her package from us last week

So, today is February 15th. That means that it has been one month since Lilie got on that plane and flew back to Latvia. One month since we said, "see you later". One month since we lost a piece of our hearts. Today is the first time in weeks that I have cried. I am missing her deeply today. I think it's that I'm wondering how many more of these "months" do we have? If only one month feels like this, what is month 3 or month 6 going to feel like? Oh, what I would give to just hug her, hold her hand, "google translate" with her! I want to know what she's thinking, feeling, doing...and it's so difficult for her to tell us. I guess we should look at it as one month closer to her being home! Yes, that's what we need to do, celebrate this month of progress and the time we had with our girl... we really should!

We have gotten nearly all of the documents and paperwork together for our homestudy and we are just waiting to get the final word from the attorney in Eastern Europe that we are good to move forward. We have gotten to know some amazing people through this process as well. Some of whom we are sure will be friends of ours forever and have been such a wonderful support system for us. We have gotten to speak with Lilie 4 times now by phone and received one letter from her. Just last week, she received a package from us with letters from Bob and I and Rachel as well as some fun little things we knew she'd love. A worker at the orphanage was kind enough to take pictures of her opening our gift, and we really appreciated this opportunity to see her. She is wearing clothes that we had gotten her while she was here, a necklace that Bob's mom got her for Christmas and a bracelet that was also a gift!  

So, Bob was talking to Rachel about our phone call with Lilie today and she says "It's not fair! You guys get to talk to Lilie while I'm in school, but I'm the one that misses her the most!" "More than Mom or I?" Bob asks. "More than anyone!" Rachel replies.  And after I spoke with Lilie today, I had to rush to Jackson's preschool to perform my duties as "lunch mommy". So, I arrive and Jack says to me, "Mommy, did you talk to Lilie?" I said, "yeah, buddy, I did" and he says, "so, why isn't she here?!". He was so serious, and it broke my heart. Even the little guy misses her. 

After dinner, the kids wanted to play Wii for a little while. Of course, Rachel decided that a game of Wii Dance Party was in order! (In honor of Lilie, who's favorite game on earth is Wii Dance Party!). So Rachel, Nathan, Jack, Mommy and Daddy joined in an exciting rendition of "Womanizer" (Lilie's favorite dance number!).

A visit with Aunt Beth and lots of Wii Dance Party!

All in all, it turned out to be a pretty good day. Bob and I were able to talk to Lilie on the phone today for the first time in 12 days. It was so good to hear her voice. I know that may seem silly. It's not like we have some great conversation. Her english is so poor that she really understands only about 1/10 of anything we say or ask! She says, "yes" to just about anything! But, it's like medicine for the soul just to hear her voice, truly it is. When she giggles, which she did a lot of today, it melts my heart. There is nothing better than knowing that she is happy and loved. That's really what it's all about, those phone calls. It's our way of connecting with her heart, telling her that we're still here for her and we care.

We have discovered through all of this that love is truly a gift. It costs the ones who are giving it something and it is priceless to the one receiving it. It has cost us the pain of seeing our daughter fly away on an airplane unsure of when we would ever see her again. It has cost us the comfort that we used to cling to. It has cost us the ability to close our eyes to those who are hurting and lonely. However, we can say with all honesty, that we would do it again and again and again. It is so worth it, because in the end, we have given one little girl more than she could have ever dreamed of or hoped for...the love of a family! As Lilie would say, "In America, family is good, family is LOVE!"

We love you, Lilie and God loves you, too!!!

Super Bowl Weekend - Hoagies!!!!!

So, this past weekend was Super Bowl weekend and that means, food!! So, we held a hoagie fundraiser to raise money for our adoption! We would like to take this opportunity to say thank you to all of those who helped in some way to make this fundraiser a success. We had several people willing to sell for us, which was a huge help. Also, great family and friends came together on Saturday afternoon to "build" the hoagies and get them ready for delivery. We were able to build 350 hoagies in about 4 hours! Thank you, thank you, thank you, to everyone who sold, built and delivered hoagies!!!! We could not have done it without you!! We raised just over $600 with this fundraiser (including small donations)!

With Saturday being such a huge success, we moved on to Sunday...after church on Sunday we built 36 more hoagies here at our home with the help of a great couple from our church. It only took us a half hour! Which was great considering that it was Super Bowl Sunday, we needed to get ready for the big game!
All in all, it was a very busy but very blessed weekend! We had an amazing time of fellowship with those who were so willing to give up their afternoon to help out and we had a great time watching the Super Bowl as a family on Sunday night.

We plan on having another hoagie sale in the future. We are discussing when this might happen. We will keep you posted!

Phone call #3: "I love you, big, big, big, big!"

So, I got to talk to Lilie on the phone today for phone call #3 since she left. Bob also got to speak with her through the wonderful invention of 3-way calling. As always, it is good to hear her voice. I could just imagine the smile on her face as she said hello, you could hear it in her voice! As she was being brought to the phone to receive our call, she said that she knows that she is loved more than anyone else because her family calls every week! So, whether or not she understands the words that we say, it is clear that she understands why we call! She was less reserved today, giggling and chatting. It was awesome to hear her "famous" words to us "I love you. Big, big, big, big!!" If we heard that phrase once, we heard it a thousand times while she was living here with us. The more "big"s you got, the more she loved you! Some days, she would keep saying big over and over again, so many times that we would say, "Okay, Lilie, we know, you really love us a lot!!!" This is the first time that she has said it to us since she left though, so it meant so much!


The kids saying "see you later!"



The person we spoke to at the orphanage was able to share with us about Lilie, her schooling, her behavior, and her feelings for us. We are so glad that we have someone there who is so willing and able to help us in this way.

God is working. He is providing for us through the comfort of phone calls and orphanage workers who speak English and love the Lord. He is providing for Lilie, the love that she so needs to feel, in exactly the same way. How often I stand in awe of a God who cares enough about me to work out the details for me! I know that we have a long road ahead of us. We don't even know what obstacles we may face in getting her home. We know that there will be many more challenges once she is here as well, but through it all, God will be working out the details and giving us peace. Thank you, God!

From Rachel's Heart...



The Thompson and Callen kids together



Hi I'm rachel the daughter of jamie and bob.I just want to share my thoughts about lilie being here.When she was here it was a awesome time, we went bowling, spent the Christmas season with her and the new years with her.We taught her english and math and I played barbies with her.She loved the things she got for christmas.She really liked going to church with us, and she always slept in till around ten so on sundays I would go and lay with her and wake her up.I feel bad for the people that helped us raise money for her too come here because half of them didn't get too meet her.Now that we are adopting her I won't miss her because I know that I will be able too see her again.I hope all of you that are reading this pray for us and give hope to us.



Being goofy, as usual!