Catching Up

Sorry I got a little behind since, everything hit over the holidays!  I hope everyone had a very blessed Thanksgiving!!!!  I can't believe it's already Christmas!!  Part of me still feels like it should be Summer, ha but I guess time continues on whether we're ready or not!!

For those that missed it on social media, we received some WONDERFUL news a few days before Thanksgiving.   We received our Emigration Permit Approval.  (ha and yes I'm spelling it right!ahum for my dad who questioned it haha! Emigration basically means her permission to leave the country.)

We are thrilled!!! Because this means the paperwork was approved!!! HUGE folks HUGE. We were also submitted for court shortly after, which is also HUGE.   This means that the next notification we'll be getting will be notification of our court date!!!   Our court date will be the first time we travel.  (We'll make one trip for our court date and one to actually take custody and bring our girly home.)

So now we wait!!!  Notification of a court date would be such a nice Christmas present!!    We're hoping to be able to travel early this next year!  Which is extremely exciting!!  We've put off looking at travel before, but now we actually need to start planning!!  YIKES!!!!! ha Such a nervous excitement in my heart... but also a good excitement... but also freaking out a little bit on the inside!!  But a good freaking out?? haha if there is such a thing.  Yall!!! We could be (knock on wood)  meeting our girl sooo soon!!!  I mean... soon soon...  as in I was clipping coupons yesterday that won't expire till after we most probably will meet her, soon.   And now please excuse me while I do a happy dance.

Still another bit of anxiety lingering, is the necessary funds we still need to raise,  around 2,500 for our adoption, and the money for two trips gasp which include 5 airline tickets to Korea (2 trips plus an added munchkin's ticket on the journey home).   Still scary for us, but we do trust, that God will continue to provide as he has so abundantly thus far.   And yall, we have been so unbelievably blessed!!!!

Soooo many people have stepped up to help us that it makes me want to cry.   Our Both Hands project was such an amazing blessing!   We were able to serve Ms. Nancy who is so deserving on November the 7th, and were also blessed ourselves.   Sooooo many people, friends, family, and so many people that we don't even have the pleasure of knowing yet, have given so much towards our adoption and we are so incredibly thankful, to which we can never fully even express all the gratitude we feel in our hearts.  Praying God equally blesses each of you guys, and know that we will never forget what you've done to help us get our precious girl home.  Not ever.  And some day when she's old enough, we will tell her about the precious people in our lives that gave so generously and loved her so much even before they knew her.

If anyone would like to see our video of the day, you can view it here:
http://www.bothhands.org/project/delk-5423

Donations are still coming in and we're able to update our thermometer once a week if you'd like to keep up with it and cheer us on as we get closer to our goals.  Tax deductible donations can still be made on the page as well. <3

I'll end with a glance of our Christmas tree this year ;)  Because Christmas...   (p.s. can't wait to have a little gal helping us decorate next year!!)

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Her Name... "And we will Call her..."

Her Name…

Yikes... What terrible timing I have!- ha This is not an April Fool's

We have had several friends (and of course family- most of whom we have already informed) ask about what we are going to call our little girl.  So I figured… why not just do a post about it, since of course there’s a lot to it- haha do you know me yet? 

I really like things like this to be special and have a lot of meaning.  And this is our first little girl… she is already SO SO very special to us, so she deserves a special little name. 

Will and I are most definitely the nerds that picked out a name (or several for our future little ones) wayyyyyyyyyy in advance…. As in when we first started talking children, back when we were dating and getting serious.  I mean, you know, those conversations you have, just for the fun of it. This name was in the mix way back, even then. 

When we started talking adoption and getting serious about it, we still really thought of this name.   And when I started my blog, (knowing eventually it would serve for our adoption updates) naming it Delk’s House of Grace, I started it with “her” in mind.  I also knew back then, that the chances of us getting a little girl within any of the adoption routes we went were very slim, and that was still totally okay. On the off chance we did though, we always kept this name in mind. 

 

So what’s the name?   Ava Grace W__-__ Delk 

The W__-___ represents her name from her country, which for privacy reasons we aren’t allowed to share on the net with you until she comes home.  We will be keeping it as a middle name, so that she is able to hold on to that, because her heritage is very important.  But, we also love giving her a new American name to signify becoming wholly a part of our family, and her new life with us.

So why Ava Grace?  Rest assured, I’ll break it down.

Ava:   It has 2 meanings “bird” or a variation of Eve which means “life.”    Love them both for our little girl.  Your life is precious little one. So very precious.

In a deeper meaning for us, Ava was my grandmother’s name, my mother’s mother.   Sadly, this was my grandmother I was never able to meet and have the pleasure of getting to know.  She lost the fight to breast cancer when she was only 30 years old.  My mom at the time of her death was only 5.   This special lady was one that I was always told I favored the most in looks and mannerisms.  Her legacy still lives on.  My mother, her brother, and sister grew up with a select few memories of her, most of which involved her reading the Bible and praying with them before bed.     If there is one thing out of parenting that I would want my little ones to remember if I had to leave this world early, it would be my love for them and that.   Such a great, great legacy.   

We also Love Love the idea of giving our little girl a family name, because she is completely and wholly part of us. 

Grace:  The meaning is God’s grace, or God’s Favor. 

We love this one for its Biblical meaning.  I mean need I say more??   God chose us, as undeserving as we were, to bless us by sending His son to die for us, making us His children, rather than give to us what we deserved.  He continues to show soo sooo much grace to our family, and that is AMAZING.  So thankful for such a God, such a story of redemption, and couldn’t think of a better name for our little one, and her own personal story of redemption.  

     

Grace is actually also a family name on Will’s side, his mother's grandmother. Both families represent! :) 

So now you know what to call our little one! Could you just get here soon Ava Grace?! :) What do you think??

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