I Got it!!!!

"I Got It" were the 3 words I sent to Erika when I was offered my new job.


Hello Everyone, I wanted to give you all a quick update on my job status. I was able to secure an offer from Depomed Pharma earlier this week. I will officially begin on September 19, 2011. This was not a quick process, but in the end very well worth it. Thank you so much to each of you for your help during this season of our lives. You gave career help/direction, provided meals and helped with everyday household expenses. We have been taught so much during this season, but the big takeaway at this time was learning to be a gracious receiver. Selfishly I would prefer to be on the giving side, but that was not my role. You stepped in and played that role in our lives.

Being a gracious receiver was a hard, but good lesson to learn. Thank you for being selfless givers. The Chapmans are thankful for your generosity!

The Waiting Room

Mark is sitting in a waiting room.  He just finished an interview and is waiting to hear if he got the job or not.  I am sitting on our couch waiting to hear from him.  We've been doing a lot of waiting these days...

I'm still not very good at it.  I realized recently that waiting is less stressful when we have confidence in Who we are waiting on.  It really goes back to trust.  If I am waiting in line at Burger King I don't have a lot of patience because I always have to wait a really long time there and I don't usually have a positive experience.  On the other hand when I wait at Chick-fil-a I expect a short wait, with good service and a pleasant "My pleasure" at the end.  That is because of my history of great experiences at that wonderful chicken place!

I traveled this summer with our youth group at Newspring Church to their week long youth camp, the Gauntlet,  in Daytona, Florida.  When it was time to travel home the leaders had to get 2000 people onto buses to travel home to five different cities.  That involved lots of "hurry and wait."  We worked hard to get downstairs to the lobby and then had to just wait..and wait...and wait some more.  We knew eventually there would be a bus and we would get on it and drive home.  We couldn't see the bus or hear the bus and we couldn't even see the door outside to the bus.  We simply knew we were promised by our leaders a return journey on a bus. Our leaders had faithfully done everything they promised over the last five days.  We chose to trust them because they had a history of following through.  We were moved from one room to another and the wait was long and frustrating, but we never really doubted that we would actually finally get on the bus!  We had no control over the journey to the bus.  I did, however, have a choice as to my attitude during the wait.  And that significantly affected my journey.  My attitude affected the people around me and my experience.  Although my physical surroundings and circumstances were uncomfortable and did not guarantee a positive outcome...I trusted that what was promised would come about and it would be for my eventual good.  I could have complained and fretted and tried to speed things up...but in reality it simply would have made the waiting more difficult for me and the people around me...and not sped up the end result one bit.

Trust comes as a result of relationship.  I trust more and more deeply the stronger my relationship is with someone.  Relationship takes time and experience and sometimes difficulty.  I believe that as I wait the Lord doesn't simply want my surrender and/or obedience, He also wants my trust.  He doesn't want me to throw my hands up in the air in surrender out of defeat....He wants me to place my hand in His and follow Him because I trust Him!  When I trust Him in that way I am recognizing His heart and that His intentions for me are good!

Just as I waited for that bus...I am waiting now.  I am choosing to trust that He sees ahead.  That the process and what it is doing in us/me is just as significant...maybe more so than what the actual outcome of all this is.  He is faithful and as I press in and draw close and get to know Him better...I trust more.  He's always after the heart and that is where trust rests.  My heart trusts His heart.  No matter what...

Would you please pray?

Some of you may get this and others, not so much, but that's okay:)

The past few weeks have been a little nutty!  It started with Eli having a slight fever for a few days, sore throat and generally feeling icky so we laid low.  Now I realize that was probably strep but it was mild.  After that I came down with a horrible case of strep.  I was out of commission for four days.  It was so bad that I went to the doctor and had to try two different prescriptions and Mark and the boys left town without me:)  During this three week period McCall had two ear infections and swimmer's ear and Haig came down with swimmer's ear.  Then Mark came down with a horrible case of strep and I'm pretty sure some kind of stomach bug at the same time. He was out of commission for about five days.  McCall was the next victim of strep and once on an antibiotic was still sick for four days.  Then I somehow hurt my back and began dealing with crazy, awkward back pain. Then Mark somehow scratches his cornea, which is mucho painful and tries to let it heal on his own but ends up going to the doctor as well because it started getting infected.

Finally McCall once again begins running a high fever and having major headaches, neck pain and GI issues.  I was terrified it was meningitis so we took him to the doctor but after 3 visits to the doctor and lots of lab tests we are still waiting to figure out what is wrong.  We are trying to keep him from getting dehydrated. Tomorrow will be day 5 of liquids only and MAJOR GI issues.

Sigh...sorry for the long drama...but I'm worn out!!  I'm not gonna lie that I'm a wee bit tired and discouraged.  This is the part where some of you will roll your eyes and tune me out- I feel like we are under some significant spiritual attack.  As of Monday we have all been fingerprinted. That was our next significant step in the adoption process.  It seems like every time we take a big step toward bringing our little ones home... our physical world begins to fall apart.  I do believe that the enemy of our souls has a hand in this!  I'm not trying to sound super spiritual because I do realize that we live in a fallen world and bad things happen.  But so many things at once?  It would be very easy for me to get overwhelmed and stay focused on survival and trying to make it through all the physical discomforts and neediness around me.  I definitely need to be present and helping here but also keeping my eyes forward and diligent in prayer and asking God for BIG faith!!

Because something the Lord has been pressing into me recently is that when we adopt a child and bring her into our family...we are establishing a heritage for her and a future filled with hope.  We are releasing her from whatever bondage or legacy of sin that she may be coming out from under.  We are establishing her identity as a beloved child and as one chosen by Christ to become His daughter.  We are aligning her to answer His call on her heart and her life and providing opportunities for her to heal and then step into the future He has planned for her.

He is going to rewrite what could have been....just as He did for me!  There is no reason beyond the grace of God that I did not end up on the streets or as a young, unwed mother.  This year the Lord really seems to want me to realize that although I responded to His call to become His daughter, at 6 years of age...He still saved me from the life of self-destruction that I would have chosen without His intervention.  He rescued me from me!!  And each year I become more thankful!!

So the enemy does not want these children to be released from their spiritual captivity because that would mean a whole line of children blessed by a heritage rooted in Christ's salvation and relationship with Him.  It amazes me how that works:)  The enemy wants to stop this process.  I am learning so much about the power of prayer and the power of praise.  They push back the darkness.

So would you please pray for us?  Pray for a hedge of spiritual protection over our family, that we remain focused on Christ and His Word, that we will not become distracted or discouraged by our physical circumstances and that we return to good health!  Thank you for the prayer cover!!

Fingerprint time and more!!

Whoo hoo!!  They finally came!! The past week we spent traveling and visiting friends around the state, but as I was pulling out of the driveway I decided to check the mail box one last time ....and our fingerpring appts were there!!!

Unfortunately they are for a date where a few of us will be out of town, so after many phone calls,...we are all (8 of us) heading down to Charleston this Friday to prayerfully walk in for our biometric appointments.  We have to be in Charleston Saturday for a baby shower for my sister Maura so some dear friends are going to let all of us spend the night on Friday.  We are going to hit the road SUPER early, Friday, and hope they will take all 5 of us sometime during the day.  So, if you would, please pray that we can be seen earlier than later, all on Friday!!  This would be the next big step toward completing all of our paperwork.  Pretty exciting:)

For more information on how our family is faring during this season...check out Erika's blog!

Waiting, waiting and more waiting...

We keep checking our mailbox each day hoping to find a letter from USCIS with our date for fingerprinting.  At that point we, (meaning Mark, Erika, Ben, Midge and Leo), will travel to Charleston to be fingerprinted.  Then we wait again:) for the letter that says we were approved.  That could take a few weeks.  Then we will send our dossier on to our agency and they will send it to Uganda.

Then, hopefully and prayerfully we will receive our referral, which means actually being matched with a child and receiving her picture and information.  We also have a few other significant events that can/will affect this process going on in our lives!  You can read about them on my (Erika's) blog over here...


In the meantime, we wait...

I just want to be with you...

I try to be patient. It is hard, but I try. But the other day I heard this song on the radio. I must say my tear ducts in general aren't over flowing, but they are filled with dust either. As I was listening to this, I couldn't help but think about my child(ren) out there that are not with me. I did start crying. I did get a lump in my throat and was missing my little one(s). The sentence that God used last October came to mind, "If you are called to adopt, your child is out there not getting the love and care that they could be getting if they were with you." This of course is different as a natural pregnancy, you know where your child is. Thanks to this book you know what is going on during pregnancy. We are only into month 5 of our adoption, but there is a strong chance the newest member(s) to our family is in this world. They are active, breathing, learning, but not being physically loved on by their mommy, daddy and brothers. I really miss them as crazy at that sounds. I have not met them, but I love them, I pray for them, my heart aches that I am not with them. There is no definite date at this time and I can't imagine how much more I will miss them once I actually see their faces and we are matched.
It seems like each day that there are changes in our adoption plan. That is not uncommon, but it is not welcome either. As I listen to others about their adoption there is one common denominator, no story is the same. God is making our story a special one as well. We do trust that his timing is best and our prayer is for patience.

PS: I know the song "Smile" by Chris Rice is about seeing Jesus for the first time, but I could help of thinking about my present circumstance. Although I can't wait for that day either!!

Check out these tees!!

We have had WONDERFUL success selling the Ugandan necklaces.  We actually should receive another order of them any day now.  So THANK YOU!!  And thank you to everyone that has purchased coffee through Just Love Coffee Roasters as well.  We have received a check each month from those purchases:) 

We recently found out we received approval to fund raise by selling Wild Olive t-shirts!!  If you know me well at all you have seen me wearing these t-shirts, so I am over the top excited:)  I love these shirts!!  They have Scripture on them without being cheesy and they are comfortable and soft and trendy....they are simply great!

We still hope to offer, at some point on this journey, a t-shirt specific to our adoption from Africa but for the next few weeks every time you purchase a Wild Olive tee from this page...we receive a portion of the profit! At checkout you click on coupon code and then put this code, CHAPMAN0518, in the space for coupon code, and then we will receive credit and a portion of the proceeds.  The more shirts we sell, the greater portion we receive!!  We can only fund raise through Wild Olive until the end of June so think ahead and purchase for birthdays and Christmas!  I love getting these shirts on my birthday:)

The shirts are $30 each and there are 11 styles to choose from!  So go here to check out your options and don't forget to put in the code CHAPMAN0518. Thank you ahead of time, and as always let us know if you have any questions!!

You are a blessing and thank you for joining us on this journey!!