Amity's Quilt

Well, I finally finished the quilt I made for my sister for her wedding/Christmas around Thanksgiving. It was such a joy to watch them open this gift at Christmas. I designed the quilt to pick up some of the outstanding things in both her and her husband, Justin's, lives. This first picture was taken just before I finished it- I had it all laid out across the living room carpet. HHmmm, the things I won't be able to do for a while with a toddler running around.........

The center is called a Russian Sunflower. This reflects Amity's travels there for schooling. Also very dear to our heart, since our son was born there. Justin did some research in Texas- thus the Broken Star of Texas surrounding the Russian Sunflower. The whole thing is hemmed in by all the peaks and valleys we experience in life, making us stronger, just like the hem makes the quilt stronger (and nicer looking, too, eh?)

Hey, I even made it reversible-just like in life- make sure to keep the behind the scenes area nice enough to show the world ;0).

Joy In The Moment

So much joy in my heart. I stand in awe of what God has been accomplishing in our lives to bring our son into our home.

Yesterday, thanks to the amazing tracking system FedEx has, we were able to watch our FBI clearances as they were certified and apostilled in WV and sent back to our Family Coordinator at our adoption agency, AWAA. Hallelujah!!! We've been waiting since Christmas to see this accomplished- Thank you, God, for doing this great thing for us!

The only document remaining for us now is the CPS, or Child Protective Services, letter. There has been some controversy over the signing of this document. We have been praying for the completion of this single piece of paper since the very beginning of November. We found out yesterday.............. It is finished!! Our caseworker in Ohio emailed to let us know she had received it, AND made it to the FedEx office before they closed, so it should be here by Wed evening.

I am really beginning to get a brief glimpse of the joy that David had when he danced before God with all his might. I've never been hunted down by people trying to kill me, or many of the things David went through, but, my oh my, these psalms are really ringing true. It is definitely the "Living Word"- pour over it, let it fill and encourage you.......


"The one thing I want from God, the thing I seek most of all, is the privilege of meditating in his Temple, living in his presence every day of my life, delighting in his incomparable perfections and glory. There I'll be when troubles come. He will hide me. He will set me on a high rock out of reach of all my enemies. Then I will bring him sacrifices and sing his praises with much joy. Listen to my pleading, Lord! Be merciful and send the help I need.........
Don't be impatient. Wait for the Lord, and he will come and save you! Be brave, stouthearted and courageous. Yes, wait and he will help you."
Psalms 27:4-7,14 LB

This makes me ponder. As the popular song says, "You give me joy that's unspeakable...... and I like it, yes I like it....." HHHmmmmmm. ........ God tells us this joy should be in our hearts at all times. Not just when things are going right. WOW. The joy of the Lord is my strength. Weeping may endure for a night, but JOY comes in the morning. Even the song we sang as children, "I've got the joy, joy, joy, joy down in my heart, WHERE? Down in my heart, WHERE? Down in my Heart!! I've got the JOY, JOY, JOY, JOY down in my heart, down in my heart to stay.

Thank you God for your overwhelming Joy in the moment, in everything we do. Let our praises and joys always be raised to you, no matter what our current circumstances are. You are always you, never changing, always loving, always working things for good. You make my joy complete- help me remember that even when it's not going smoothly.

God's protective covering

Yeah!!! We got our FBI background checks back today. Finally. It took 3 weeks, due to the holiday backlog, vacations and closures. It arrived today on our basement doorstep in the mid- afternoon. Unfortunately, I didn't get home until close to 7, and the downpour (a good old-fashioned thunderstorm!!) has been going on for quite some time.

The Fed Ex envelope was waterlogged. As you can see in the picture- almost 3 inches on one side and about an inch along the top were soaked. I literally felt ill as I looked at the outside of the envelope, watching water run from it as I carried it inside. I'm doing a "help me" prayer at this point- please help me- let it be dry, if it isn't help me stay sane- a million different scenarios running through my mind on how we could get this done again. Who knows, maybe, suddenly, the Russian court won't require us to have "perfect documents," I hope the ink didn't run- maybe I can blow it dry with the hair dryer, maybe it won't be warped too badly......

I carried it to the office and had to cut it open with my trusty scissors as it had been completely sealed with that great packing tape that has the threads running through it. Praying all the time, I extracted 2 perfectly dry manila envelopes from the soggy mess. Incredulously, I looked inside the FedEx envelope, thinking that maybe it was plastic coated. No. It's not. And the cardboard inside the envelope was just as wet as the cardboard outside the envelope.

Thank you, God!! Thank you for caring for the little details. Thank you for your cover over us- in this case literally :) Thank you for proving, yet again, how you are handling everything- I praise you for you are so incredible. I thank you that you will continue to smooth the path for our son to come home.

THANK YOU, GOD!!!!!

Baby Shower Pictures

As you can see from the fireplace view in our Embers Room at church, my friends did an amazing job decorating. What a neat idea with the clothes line- if you look closely, the diapers in the middle spell his name- ELI!

There were toys in primary colors all over the room with balloons, gifts and food in abundance. Delicious soups, great salad with all the toppings and accoutrements, cheese and crackers, bubble bath punch, complete with rubber duckies. Each table had a theme with toys as the centerpiece. It was all so lovingly laid out and blessed us greatly



Tim even stayed and did the masculine job of running all the AV equipment so everyone could watch our meeting with Eli, larger than life on the wall. Isn't modern technology amazing?


We had so many pictures- video of us as well as pictures of our son and a ton of pics from Krasnoyarsk.

Thank you so much to everyone who had a part in making this day so incredibly special for us!


It is so amazing to me. Having a shower really makes it real, doesn't it? I am actually going to be a mama soon. Tim will be a papa. A beautiful perfect little creation that God is placing in our care will be looking up at us soon, and, with big trusting eyes, say "mama" and "papa," and he will be calling us that. It is so hard to grasp after all this time that there really is a light at the end of the tunnel.



I laid out all the gifts and toys and books and clothes and pictures we received Sunday so Tim and I can play with them for a little while before Eli comes home. We decided to pack away several toys- that way he is not overwhelmed- and he'll get a chance to play with each toy to it's fullest, as we pull out a few toys at a time and have a blast playing together.

My thought on this is so deep. This love I feel grows more each day. Having these expressions of love from our friends and family, both here in Ohio and in PA makes me think more about our son and what parenthood is going to mean, which makes my love grow so much deeper. If I feel this deep and overwhelming amount of love for this little boy of ours, how much love does God the Father have for me- who created and knows my inmost being. No wonder Mary pondered these things in her heart. They are unfathomable to think about- this amazing love God has for us. Thank you, God!!

Baby Shower

My girlfriends at church threw a baby shower for us yesterday. It was amazing. I'll try to post a little about it soon, once I get a chance to look through the pictures.

God is so amazing, as are our friends and family that so saturate us with His love. I guess that is why they call it a "shower", eh?
more tomorrow-

Merry Christmas, dear son!! Jan 7 is the Russian Orthodox Christmas- so that is when our son celebrated the birth of Jesus.

The Sweet Blending of 2 worlds

What a great blend, eh? The Russian teacakes on the left and the Ohio Buckeye candy on the right! Doesn't this just bring it all together? Can't wait to go get our little boy!! Miss you, son!!

Happy Holy Days!

Hope you all had a wonderful blessed Christmas and New Year.
We had an amazing time with our families. Our family production of Kidstuf at church did a program called Jingle Jam for Christmas Eve. We had such a blast doing it!! I think, over all, we had around 600 or more people between the 2 services. Here is a pic of Tim and me in character as Gordo and Cammie.
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We had a special time with each of our families, talking and laughing together, opening gifts, sharing memories. It was a joy, and a surprise to have gifts for our son to open. How humbling it is to see all the thought and care that goes into preparing these special gifts.

We don't make it home to my mom and dad's very often, and very rarely do all my siblings make it home at the same time- but we were all there, together, at some point this week. Mom hosted an open house party for all our friends in and around Carmichaels. I think over 50 people showed up........ and stayed the whole time. It was so overwhelming when I realized they were all there to show how much they cared- about me and Tim and our son and our journey to unite our family. We hadn't asked for any gifts. This was just a time they could rejoice with us- but there were so many gifts. It is very humbling. Here are a few photos-


Tim and my dad put together a video using footage from our visit in Oct with our son. I realized that it is possible to relive every moment all over again as we watch the footage of us with our son. The pictures and video, along with several of our favorite songs, played softly in the background while we do-si-doed around the rooms, surrounded by love, family and friends.


Thank you to all- we pray special blessings on you for making our time so sweet- and to my mom and everyone who had a part in the evening- all you did was amazing and filled our hearts up to the brim. Even Baka enjoyed helping us open presents for Eli! Though, I think she just wanted to eat more paper :)

May God bless you all richly during this coming year, filling your hearts and lives with all He has for you- praying we all remember to stop and listen for that still small voice, directing us, guiding us, showing us the path to follow as we stay centered in His will.

God Bless you all!!

The Swingles