Just a few more days and Greg and I will be on our way to bring Myla, Rea, Sheryl, and Rosemarie home! We have been Skyping with them every weekend. They were so excited last night. Sheryl asks the most questions. "Mommy, do you have snakes there?" "Mommy, do you have Coco Krispies there?" "Daddy, can we go to the beach?" Since Harper and Myla are the older sisters, they have the title of "Ate" (pronounced a-tay). The younger girls already look up to Ate Harper and love to talk to her when we Skype. Harper's life is so interesting to them. The girls love to sing for us. We have entertained them with our singing as well, but our singing is more like a comedy routine. They always want to see our cat, Emory. Emory gets to look into the computer's camera and give her best purr.
I want to thank everyone who has helped us and prayed for us over the past 16 months. There is no way that this would be possible without God and all of the love and support of our family and friends. We have received so much help on the house and gifts for the girls. Your actions are changing lives. Please continue to pray for all 10 of us in the Garner family. We have lots of adjustments over the next 24 months. We will need your prayers every day.
We will be able to post pictures of our beautiful girls soon. Be looking for their smiling faces. I hope to blog from the Philippines to tell you what we are experiencing.
With love,
Lesley
Sunday, June 1, 2014
Monday, March 3, 2014
Another Day Closer
The girls found out about their new family at the beginning of February. I made photo books through Shutterfly with pictures of our family, our house, and our pets and sent them to the girls. Our agency has a liaison in Manila and she took the books to the girls. She sent us new pictures and short videos the day the girls found out. They have grown so much! It was so wonderful to see their smiling, happy faces :) When we got the videos of the girls we learned that they can speak and read English. What an awesome answer to prayer this is!
Every day is one day closer to bringing our girls home. Their paperwork is at immigration now being processed for Visas. Greg and Jordan have worked hard painting Harper's new room and the girls' new room and bathroom. Harper has moved into her new room. We ordered the girls' bedroom furniture over the weekend and it will be here next week. In about 2 weeks, the house should be completely ready for its new family members.
We hope to get to Skype with the girls soon. We are waiting for the Child Care Agency to set up a Skype Schedule. The girls are very busy with end of school year activities. We are thinking of topics to talk to them about - interesting, right?
Cole has one more basketball tournament left in this season. His team has qualified to play in the TVBA Final 4 at UNA. Congratulations to the DHCA 6th grade team!
Harper's dance team is having a Platinum season - and if you don't know anything about dance competition, Platinum is excellent!
Jordan is getting started with track season. He has been running in the cold - brrrrrrr. The first track meet is this weekend.
Every day is one day closer to bringing our girls home. Their paperwork is at immigration now being processed for Visas. Greg and Jordan have worked hard painting Harper's new room and the girls' new room and bathroom. Harper has moved into her new room. We ordered the girls' bedroom furniture over the weekend and it will be here next week. In about 2 weeks, the house should be completely ready for its new family members.
We hope to get to Skype with the girls soon. We are waiting for the Child Care Agency to set up a Skype Schedule. The girls are very busy with end of school year activities. We are thinking of topics to talk to them about - interesting, right?
Cole has one more basketball tournament left in this season. His team has qualified to play in the TVBA Final 4 at UNA. Congratulations to the DHCA 6th grade team!
Harper's dance team is having a Platinum season - and if you don't know anything about dance competition, Platinum is excellent!
Jordan is getting started with track season. He has been running in the cold - brrrrrrr. The first track meet is this weekend.
Wednesday, January 1, 2014
What?
You might be wondering how does a family get to the place where they decide to adopt a family of 4 girls? Here is the beginning of our story.
Greg and I have been discussing adopting a daughter for a few years. We have discussed different countries and different ages, trying to determine what God's plan for our family was. In December 2012, we knew the timing was right to put the plan into action. We researched and found an established adoption agency who worked with the Philippines. In February of 2013, I contacted Christian Adoption Agency and told them we had interest in adopting a healthy girl around 4 years old and wanted to know how to get started. Greg knew all along that God was going to send an older sister with this 4 year old girl. In less than 1 week, I received an email with a Special Home Finding request for 4 sisters. Yes, it was a perfectly healthy 4 year old girl and her 3 perfectly healthy sisters. Greg and I prayed about it for about 5 minutes and then we knew, with His help, these girls were God's plan for our future.
We have completed all of the interviews, paperwork, and most of the waiting. We found out on the morning after Christmas that the Filipino government officially matched the girls to our family on December 20. That was the only Christmas present that we wanted this year - Praise the Lord!
We still have a few more months before we can bring the girls to their forever home. The next steps are to get their Visas and Passports. That should take between 3 - 5 months. Then Greg and I will go to the Philippines for about 7 days and bring them home.
In the mean time, we hope to be able to Skype with the girls soon. I have made photo books to introduce our family and home which I will send to them soon. We are doing a few small construction projects at the house. The girls will be moving into Harper's room. Harper is getting a new bedroom. And we are turning the garage into a large family room. Thank you VERY MUCH to some friends who are volunteering towards these efforts!
Please pray for the six of us in Alabama as we make changes to our home and prepare for our sisters. Please pray for our four girls in the Philippines as they learn of their forever family and the changes to come. None of this possible without the love of Jesus Christ my Lord!
Greg and Lesley Garner
Thomas - 26, Jordan - 18, Harper - 16, Myla - 15, Rea - 12, Cole - 11, Sheryl - 10, Rosemarie - 5
Greg and I have been discussing adopting a daughter for a few years. We have discussed different countries and different ages, trying to determine what God's plan for our family was. In December 2012, we knew the timing was right to put the plan into action. We researched and found an established adoption agency who worked with the Philippines. In February of 2013, I contacted Christian Adoption Agency and told them we had interest in adopting a healthy girl around 4 years old and wanted to know how to get started. Greg knew all along that God was going to send an older sister with this 4 year old girl. In less than 1 week, I received an email with a Special Home Finding request for 4 sisters. Yes, it was a perfectly healthy 4 year old girl and her 3 perfectly healthy sisters. Greg and I prayed about it for about 5 minutes and then we knew, with His help, these girls were God's plan for our future.
We have completed all of the interviews, paperwork, and most of the waiting. We found out on the morning after Christmas that the Filipino government officially matched the girls to our family on December 20. That was the only Christmas present that we wanted this year - Praise the Lord!
We still have a few more months before we can bring the girls to their forever home. The next steps are to get their Visas and Passports. That should take between 3 - 5 months. Then Greg and I will go to the Philippines for about 7 days and bring them home.
In the mean time, we hope to be able to Skype with the girls soon. I have made photo books to introduce our family and home which I will send to them soon. We are doing a few small construction projects at the house. The girls will be moving into Harper's room. Harper is getting a new bedroom. And we are turning the garage into a large family room. Thank you VERY MUCH to some friends who are volunteering towards these efforts!
Please pray for the six of us in Alabama as we make changes to our home and prepare for our sisters. Please pray for our four girls in the Philippines as they learn of their forever family and the changes to come. None of this possible without the love of Jesus Christ my Lord!
Greg and Lesley Garner
Thomas - 26, Jordan - 18, Harper - 16, Myla - 15, Rea - 12, Cole - 11, Sheryl - 10, Rosemarie - 5
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