Thankful for my many blessings....even on the crazy days!

Well....yesterday day was an eventful day around the McNabb household. Every day is full and never boring, but yesterday was just funny...that's the only way I can describe it. It started out with Caleb waking up with a nice "shiner" from hitting his eye on the bathtub drain the night before. Then....Colby opened the basement door and I heard him say to our big dog, Shadow, "No Sadow, you don't go out that der!" So I proceeded to try to "tackle" Shadow before he escaped, but I failed. I did manage to hit the door facing as hard as any linebacker in the NFL would hit their opponent!! I have a nice sore, scraped up, bruised shoulder and bruised toes to prove it ;) Shadow had a nice frolic around the neighborhood before my husband managed to tackle him in the next door neighbor's yard. Then to top it off last night...Caleb broke out in some weird funky rash. It was crazy and a little scary. He started developing streaks and whelps under his arms, down his legs, and on his chest and back. I tried to think back to what he had that was "different" yesterday and the only thing we could think of was that his papaw had given him a bag of Hot Tamales and he had eaten almost the whole bag. So....we think he was allergic to the red dye or the cinnamon in them. Thank goodness a little Benadryl helped. Also, we were under a tornado watch for the millionth time this week. We did have some tornadoes touch down in the area a few days ago and it was pretty scary.

As for our adoption process...our paperwork is in Manila!!!! We have confirmation that the embassy in Manila received it on April 7th!! Woohoo!!! Now we are awaiting Joy's medical checkup and visa interview appointments. Once she is issued a visa we can travel to go get her. It may still be anywhere from 6-8 weeks, which seems like forever, but it IS getting closer each day!!!! We are so excited! Although we still have no idea where we are staying and so forth! Eeeek!!!

I am just so thankful for my many blessings, even for all the little quirky, crazy things that have happened this week. I just hope Joy is ready for an adventure because it is always an adventure with her three little brothers!  They can't wait to welcome Ate Joy home!!!

Trusting and waiting.......

Funny how you can get so obsessed over a little piece of paper! We got our provisional approval for our I-800 today in the mail. I actually already knew it was approved because I called them on the 25th and they told me of the approval! I just couldn't stand it until the actual paper came in the mail and I could see it for myself though. Now.....you guessed it....more waiting!!! I know...I feel like that's all I say. I was warned by people who have adopted before the wait is hard and they were not kidding. I was thinking, well...I've been pregnant before and remember how the waiting was tough, but this is a different kind of waiting, in a way it seems almost harder, for me anyway. Maybe it's all the "steps" or the anxiety of  "approval" that makes it harder, I'm not sure. And also someone told me the wait gets harder the closer you get and they were right. It sure does. I cannot wait to bring our sweet Joy home!! In the meantime, I'm praying that God continues to work in wonderful ways preparing us for our daughter and preparing our daughter for her family and her "new world". I've tried so many times to TRY to put myself in Joy's shoes. It's not possible. There's no way I can feel what she's feeling right now, but I continue to try to feel it......the excitement she is feeling of knowing she now has a family after so many years, the sadness of leaving her school and the friendships she's developed there, the sadness of leaving her caregivers and the only family she's known for the past several years, the excitement of coming to a new country, the anxiety and sadness of leaving a country and culture for one quite different from hers.....the list could go on and on. I know God will place His hand upon Joy and give her the strength and the peace she will need. I don't expect it to be easy, but I know it's God's plan, no matter what the course may be and just knowing this gives me a peace. I've seen God's hand at work throughout this whole process and I'm sure He will continue to guide each and every step.

More waiting and preparing....

Our I-800 application is set to arrive at the TX lockbox in the morning! Hopefully it will be approved in a few weeks. I just hope and pray that I did everything right and didn't leave anything out. It was over a pound a half of paperwork, so surely we got it all covered. I hope so!!! I won't breath easily until we get the provisional approval.
In the meantime we are STILL working on Joy's room. It's still purple ;) We've added pretty multicolored beads over white sheers and I'm trying to decide between a hot pink rug or a light purple rug....decisions, decisions....lol!!!! Her papaw and dad are still working on her home made bed. I haven't seen it yet, but I'm sure it will be beautiful. Papaw Harold can build beautiful furniture :) I can't wait to take a picture of her room and send it to her! I'm hoping to send her a package soon.
We still don't really have an idea of when we will be traveling. There seem to be many variables as to how long it might be. After we get our provisional approval of the I-800 we may have a better idea. In the meantime, we are praying for the transition process of bringing our almost teenage daughter home! I still can't believe we're going to have a teenager!! YIKES! :) :) :)

I hope she likes purple......

I really hope Joy likes purple! A couple of weeks ago when we sent our photo book to Joy we didn't have a picture of her finished room yet. I had to describe her room since I couldn't send a picture. Well....it was hard to describe a room that you haven't started yet.....so in that description....I told her her room was painted a very pretty blue. I had every intention of painting her room blue because blue is her favorite color, however I was going to use a island blue...or a turquoise because I found a comforter set that has turquoise, teal, purple, pink, etc. It's very pretty. Anyway, we picked out some very pretty turquoise paint for her room, but when we put it on the wall......MINT GREEN...so I went back to the store, got more paint which was a lighter blue and had no green in it....put it on the wall......LIGHT MINT GREEN!!! It was very strange....almost like her room was not supposed to be blue, but I was determined to paint it blue so we tried again........PALE MINT GREEN!!! I gave up. Chuck said, why don't we paint it a lavender purple....so I went to Walmart, picked out  the first purple that caught my eye and it worked! I think it looks really pretty. I just hope Joy likes purple!! If not, we are in trouble. I hope I get to talk to her and explain why I said her walls are blue, but they are really purple :\

We are supposed to be able to send her a picture of her room when we have it completed. So hopefully I can explain then. I can't wait to get it finished! Chuck is working hard painting the trim and doors now. The trim was an off white and we are painting it bright white to go with the purple. I got a very pretty purple bean bag to go in there as well.....Oh...I hope she likes purple!!!! :) :)

After the trim is painted, we have some pretty white furniture to put together. A white chest of drawers and night stand. Joy's papaw is making her a daybed. When he gets it finished Chuck is going to paint it white. It will have a trundle bed underneath so we can sleep in there with her if she wants us to. It's so much fun fixing up a girly room! I will be adding more pictures as we get it done. It's coming along though. Also, we are going to find a white desk to go in the dormer area because Joy loves to draw. I thought that would be a good spot for her to sit and draw and study :)

Finally...I800-A approved! Now....news for Joy :)

Finally got word today that our I-800A has been approved, after 11 looooong weeks of waiting!!!!!  This means that we are suitable to be parents (I should hope so !) and may adopt a child internationally. One step to mark off the list. Now.....we file the I-800. First, we have to wait until we get the rest of Joy's paperwork to complete the I-800. I have no idea how long it will take to receive those papers. Hopefully, not long. This is a very exciting time right now. This past Monday, our adoption specialist mailed out our fees, along with a photo book and letter to Joy. Joy is learning for the first time that she has a family! I wish I could be there to see her reaction. I wonder if she will be happy that she has a family, or I wonder if she will be sad that she will be leaving her home country and the only home she's known for the past seven years, along with all her friends who've been her brothers and sisters. I'm sure it will be bittersweet. I just hope she knows how much we already love her and can't wait to have her join our family. We've had several months, since August to be exact to look over her picture and her paperwork and we've become attached to her emotionally already. Before that, we had decided we would adopt and had already developed a love for a little girl whom we had never met. We were just waiting on God to show us who. I'm praying that Joy can sense the love and care we already feel for her and the transition will not be too hard on her. I don't expect it to be a piece of cake, but I just hope God will provide a peace for Joy and an understanding for us.

Excited for a very special friend.......

I am so excited today for a very special friend of mine, whom I've had the pleasure of getting to know "virtually" in the adoptive community. She and her husband are leaving today to meet their precious little girl!!! I am so happy for them! Praying for a safe trip and smooth transition for this precious family!  <3 <3 I can't wait to see pics of the family together!!!!

God is always right on time........

Since my post a couple of days ago when I said we signed the acceptance form, but were still a bit short from the full amount we had to send out, things have changed :) We now have enough to send the checks out on Monday!! This is amazing! We were actually short a little over $1000. God has once again proved He is faithful and we should never doubt that if it's His plan He will make it happen! I have said this over and over, but I can't say it enough. We are so thankful for the generosity that people have shown to help us bring Joy home! Thank You!!

Giving God All the Glory....Official Acceptance/Fundraiser

As I mentioned in my previous post we were blessed to have a fundraiser Monday through Wednesday of this week. This very sweet lady named Sarah who has a shop on Etsy did the fundraiser for us. I have never met Sarah and actually had never even talked to her when I asked her about the fundraiser. I just happened to come across her site through another family's fundraiser. Sarah had posted on her site that she would do fundraisers for families who were adopting. I thought this was very nice of her. Before the fundraiser started, I didn't know what to expect. I thought that we would be doing good if sold 10 pendants. I don't know why, but I just thought it was going to be hard to get the word out. I hadn't officially posted anything about the adoption on facebook yet and I thought many people were going to be surprised. Also....I'm not a very good sales lady. I usually end up talking the person out of buying whatever it is I'm trying to sell...lol!!! Anyway, I must say, this was definitely another one of those times when I saw God completely working things out! It was amazing. We not only sold 10 pendants, but we sold 94 total!!! I was jumping for JOY ;) ;) This was such a blessing because we signed our official acceptance form to adopt Joy on Tuesday! We are so happy and so relieved, but along with the excitement and happiness there is also a BIG bunch of money to be sent out. This fundraiser couldn't have happened at a better time. We are still a little bit short of sending out the entire amount. It turned out to be a little more than we expected because I didn't realize we had to pay for Joy's visa and medical stuff at the time of the match. I was just focused on the big amount, which we have been so blessed to receive from friends and family. It has been truly amazing to see God work this out. I know I've said that before, but it truly has. I just want to shout it out and tell everyone what He has done to bring Joy home with us!

Oh......I guess I should get to the part about Joy....I think maybe everyone who follows my blog already knows, her name is Joy :) She is 12 years old. We got a new picture of Joy, although I'm not allowed to share it yet. She is small framed and slender with long black hair and she has the most beautiful smile! We found out her favorite color is blue and her favorite things are shoes and bags :) :)  I am now preparing a photo book to send to Joy. It will include pictures of us of course, our house, the neighborhood, the community and some pics of the weather. I hope she likes snow because we've had plenty this year! I guess the first things I will be buying for her are snow boots, sweaters, and a coat! I am not sure what the weather will be when she comes home. It may be late spring, which will still probably be pretty chilly coming from a tropical island :) I lived here all my life and I've never gotten used to the cold winters. But of course, we will probably be hitting the 90s by June ;)   

On another note, we are STILL waiting on I800A approval!! We found out why, it has something to do with a new law that has changed in NC since we submitted our application. Chuck used to live in NC. Hopefully this will be cleared up in a few days and we will get our approval!

Thank you for all the prayers and support! I appreciate each and every one of you :)

Adoption Fundraiser-Shop for Joy!

We have been so blessed by people who have offered to pray for us and who have also offered to help us with the funds to bring her home. It has truly been amazing to see God’s hand in this and I give Him ALL the credit! One of those people is a very nice lady, Sarah, who has offered to donate $5.00 of every PENDANT sold in her Etsy shop towards our adoption. Please do not feel obligated to purchase, however if you do decide to purchase a pendant from Sarah I will explain how it works. She has some really really cute ones on there and very good prices too.

Sarah has offered to do this **starting MONDAY, January 24^th through Wednesday, January 26^th for us.

Go to www.etsy.com/shop/sarahstreasurebox   and shop for a pendant. Make your selection and when you go to checkout please put “FOR JOY” in the comment section. If you have any trouble ordering please let me know and I will try to help. Sarah said the fundraiser is for PENDANTS only and not custom orders. You can purchase a custom pendant, but there will be no donation towards our adoption. She has offered to do this on Jan. 24^th, 25^th, and 26^th.  

Thank you so much!!

Blessings,

Haley and Chuck McNabb

Yippee!!!! So excited for answered prayers today!

We got the call today saying we have been approved by ICAB to adopt the little girl we have been praying about and hoping for!! We are so happy and overJOYed!!!!! ;) We truly feel like God has led us to this little girl because it has been a process, or should I say roller coaster to get to this point, and if wasn't for some tough and trying times we faced in the beginning of this process I don't know that we would have opened our hearts up to "older" children, well our hearts were open, I should say opened up our minds to older children. The first thought of it was scary, to be honest, but God slowly changed our minds :)  We did a lot of praying and talking to God about this because I wasn't sure myself at first, but He has led me to believe and shown me that this is His plan for our family. 


We are waiting on an official letter and documents to arrive from the Philippines! From what I understand we will be given approximately 14 days to look things over and accept the match. I am excited for what God has in store for our family. I'm not looking for it to be a piece of cake, but I'm excited to be a small part of God's great big plan :) I'm preparing myself for challenges and struggles along this journey. I can't do it alone but with God I can do it! Also with all of the wonderful praying people in our lives, we can do it! I appreciate all the wonderful friendships I have made so far on this journey. I am so thankful God has placed them in my life at this time. Also, I'm so thankful for my wonderful friends who have been praying for us and been there for us from the beginning. I am happy to share this news with you!! Thank you!


Now, IF I can ever remember to start working on our passports I've got to get busy!! We haven't applied for those yet! I've been finishing up on some online training that needs to be done. We are almost finished with it. Oh......and we are still waiting to hear if our I-800A is approved! Sure hope so!! I had almost forgotten about it while waiting on approval of our dossier and match. So hopefully we will be hearing from USCIS any day now. I hope!!! Then......it will be hurry up on the I800.......and wait......Lot's of hurry up and waits in this process!

Answers to some of our questions....

I was so happy to get an email today with the answers to our questions we submitted To ICAB back in October! The orphanage answered every question we had. This helped out a little with my waiting anxiety, but we are still waiting on official approval of our dossier and to be officially matched with the little girl whom we feel God has picked out for us. Still praying for God's will to be done. I know the match will happen if this is His will, it's just in His timing also ;) So we wait......The email we received today stated that they are still waiting on some updates, so I think that is why it is taking so long. 

Waiting is the hardest part...

Well...our dossier has now been in the Philippines for 50 days waiting to be reviewed by ICAB. We  did hear from ICAB on December 30th. They had some very important questions to ask us about our parenting plans and about how we would deal with certain situations if they arose in our family. We prayerfully and carefully answered the questions and sent them back to ICAB. We had to get statements from each of our boys about how they thought the adoption would make them feel and how they felt it would change things. Difficult for a 3-year-old to answer.....but we tried. We have also inquired about the questions that they allowed us to ask (back in October). We have still not heard anything regarding those questions. From what I understand the questions have been sent to  the child caring agency so they can answer them. I am hoping we hear back soon. In the meantime, we are awaiting for ICAB to review our dossier and then decide whether they think our family is a good "match" for this particular child. We are also awaiting our I800-A approval from USCIS. Hurry up and wait............

Biometrics....DONE....still waiting to hear from ICAB

We took a quick trip across the mountain a few days ago to get our biometrics (fingerprinting) done. We were successful in walking in before our appointed time, so I am thankful for that. When we got home we had some specific questions to answer from ICAB, so we quickly but carefully answered those questions and have sent them to our adoption specialist who will send them to ICAB. So....still waiting to hear.......hopefully it won't be too much longer!

Biometrics....aka "fingerprints" here we come...

We received our official appointment letters from the Dept. of Home Land Security for our biometrics appointment. We are hoping to get these done a little earlier by "walking in" instead of waiting for our appointment. We know several people who have done this, so we are hoping it will work out for us too. One reason is to, of course, save a little time and then it will help us out because Chuck is off work next week and he won't have to use a vacation day to travel the 3 1/2 to 4 hours (make that 5 hours for our family) that it takes to get to Charlotte. Anywhere we travel as a whole family, you might as well add a couple of hours to that time.....lol. Still waiting to hear from ICAB (Inter-country adoption board) in the Philippines about our dossier. It's day #33 of waiting, but who's counting?

Well we had an ice storm today. It has been freezing here. I would like to be in the Philippines right now enjoying the 80 degree weather! Hopefully it won't be long until we can go :) It is still amazing watching God work this out. Because of people's generosity we almost have enough to pay our program fee which is the biggest chunk of adoption cost. We are so very grateful for all of the support and prayers we have received. I could never thank everyone enough! 

We are still awaiting word from the Philippines on approval of our dossier. I was really hoping we would have heard something by now, but looks like it will be after the New Year. We should be getting our biometrics appointment in the mail any day now and I've got to start working on our passports!!! I keep forgetting about those! Can't go anywhere without those!!!!!!

We are having our first big snow of the season and the boys are really enjoying. They had a blast sliding down our hill like little penguins today :) It is very cold...I could only stay out long enough to snap a few pics. They didn't seem to mind the cold....they were having too much fun!!

Here's a video clip of them sliding down the hill......wheeeeeee!!!!!

Today's Reminder

Today's Reminder

Merry Christmas - Third Day

Sponsor a Child - Compassion

Sponsor a Child - Compassion

God is faithful and He hears our prayers!

We are so grateful and thankful for the generosity of people. It is being proven to us once again that God is faithful to his promises and he hears our prayers and the prayers of the orphans. He promises in the Bible He will     bring justice to the orphans and He commands us to care for them and the widows...or for that fact anyone that is oppressed.....

17 LORD, you know the hopes of the helpless.   Surely you will hear their cries and comfort them. 18 You will bring justice to the orphans and the oppressed,   so mere people can no longer terrify them.

Psalm 10:17-18

Thank you Lord for the reassurance each day!