Coming Home ... Again. What an Honor!

On November 8th, Connie, Austin, Lily Grace and I were honored to be guests of Lifeline Children's Services for their annual fundraiser in Birmingham, AL. We are currently working with Lifeline on our second adoption and they had asked if we wanted to be a part of their fundraiser. Basically, they asked if we would participate in their "Parade of Families" during the program. And I thought "A Chance to Praise God" and thank our friends at Lifeline at the same time. Wow, how awesome is that? They asked us to send a few pictures that they would show while we said a few words about "Coming Home," the theme of this year's fundraiser. Oh, and another benefit is we got dinner and an uplifting message of adoption from David Nasser. Check out his web site at http://www.davidnasser.com.


Lifeline selected 10 or 12 families who have been part of their "Family" over the past couple of years and had each family be introduced and go up on the stage to say a few words during the parade of families. I didn't plan what to say, knowing that God would have me say what He wanted when it was our turn. Turns out He had other plans anyway, read on. Our family was introduced after the Chambers family (yes, for those of you who know and love them that's Dr. Jennifer Chambers from the Birmingham International Adoption Clinic). How cool is that! We wanted to hold Lily Grace up so that everyone could see how beautiful she is, but she was in her own world. She did not want to be picked up, she wanted to dance and twirl on stage while I spoke. There were many smiles in the audience and even a few chuckles as Lily stole the show all for herself. Oh well, perhaps that was God's way to show Lifeline's guests how He can turn around a life and let them be a part of it.

We also got to meet some friends that we exchange emails and blog postings with that we had never met. The Ferrill family was one of the featured families who spoke for several minutes. They have adopted Kimmie and Quan from China and have four really cool children that God gave them in the usual way. We seem to have so much in common with this family, even down to our music likes - Casting Crowns rocks!. It was great to get to meet them. If my math is correct, the Ferrills have 6 children. So, yes, maybe we Greens could at least handle half that many!

And speaking of new additions, we did turn in the remaining paperwork for Lia Faith to Anna at Lifeline to complete our homestudy. We had that with us at the banquet and provided it to Anna then. Earlier in the week, we had spent two hours in the pokie (that's southern for the jail) getting our fingerprints redone, then one hour in a lawyer's office to see about getting Lily Grace a US passport (preceded of course by an Alabama certificate of adoption and birth certificate), and finally a few minutes with the judge to get reassurance that yes, indeed, we are still married. It's funny, when we go to the judge's office to obtain a current-dated copy of our marriage certificate, the lady always says. Oh my, I'll have to go in the back to find that one. We don't keep records that old out here! On this Thanksgiving, I thank God that we are so blessed to still have each other after all these years! Now, we turn our attention to the Dossier work and the waiting. Please lift us up in prayer as we do this all over again! Fun, fun, fun...

Here are a few Halloween pics and Pre-Thanksgiving pics for you to enjoy.

Mickey and Minnie Mouse

The Artist (who now has a girlfriend!)

The Renderings (Love & Happiness)

The Squeaker (Squeeky Shoes Highly Appropriate)

Let's See, Was That the Nina, the Pinta, or the Santa Maria ... or the Mayflower!

Love,
Jerry, Connie, Austin, and Lily Grace
Green, Party of Four (and working on Five)