A Short Update...

I bet you are wondering what has happened to us!  It has been a whole week since I last posted.  It is only because we have been so crazy busy getting a contract on another house up in Alpharetta and taking care of the paperwork that follows with that!  We are scheduled to move on November 14th after closing on the 13th.  Woo hoo!

I haven't spoken at length with Janie since last Saturday.  She had her mother-in-law in town this past week and she doesn't know about Janie's pregnancy (she hides it in her extra pounds and large shirts).  Therefore, we couldn't talk with her very much. I did find out that she got the Bible I sent to her and we got her telephone service working completely so she can now call our toll-free number, the agency, and her doctor when needed.  I feel very relieved about this.  She has missed a few doctor's appointments due to the fact she doesn't have a car and has a friend who can be unreliable at times.  It is all I can do to not drive up to KY to take her myself!  

Jeff and I are so grateful to God in His timing of allowing us to move before the baby comes along.  It is a huge blessing in this economy that we are not taking for granted.  Thanks so much to all of you praying for us!

Our Birthmom

I talked with Janie for about 1 1/2 hours on Saturday night.  For so long that my battery died on my home telephone.  It was a great conversation.  She started off asking me questions about the Bible and about forgiveness of sins, etc...  It sounds like she became a Christian when she went to jail for a few days.  It was where "God got my attention."  Anyway, when she and her husband weret separated for awhile, she began really reading her Bible.  It sounds like she reads it quite a bit, but has a lot of questions.  She has also been reading the King James Version and so I told her that I would mail her a different translation that she could understand better.  So, today I mailed her the NIV Life Application Bible and can't wait until she gets it!  We are going to read through a book together and talk about it.  It is so absolutely wonderful getting to invest in her in this way.  What a HUGE privilege!  

Janie seems like a very thoughtful, goal-oriented person.  She has attended some college and was working as a GED tutor helping high school dropouts get their GED.  She was majoring in elementary education when she needed to stop school due to her financial aid running out and having 3 kids!  But it sounds like she would really like to go back to school to finish her degree. 

Janie lives in a very remote area in the Appalachian Mountains in Kentucky.  She does own her home, but it is very modest and is heated with coal!  As she says, "It is a pain to have to add coal to the burner in the middle of the night when it is really cold!"  I bet!  Talking with her has made me appreciate so much more what I have.  It is so easy to look around and not be content, but talking with her makes me realize just how much I have been blessed with.  She doesn't have a car, the town doesn't have taxis or buses and so she has to rely on friends to take her to get food, etc...  She doesn't have a phone that she can call out on (she can only receive calls), so Jeff and I are trying to take care of that for her so that she can call us when she wants and call the doctor when needed.  She has high blood pressure and so that scares me for her.  I just want to make sure she is cared for!

Because of her high blood pressure, Janie has given birth to all 3 of her kids around week 37.  With this in mind, she will be traveling to Utah the first week in December (her very first plane ride!).  At that point, she will see the doctor in Salt Lake City and he will set a date to induce.  It would be great for her to hold off until week 38, but we will take 37 too!  At week 37 we will be home for Christmas probably!  She said that all 3 boys were healthy at 37 weeks, so that put my mind somewhat at ease.    

We have decided to have more of an "open" relationship with one another after the adoption.  I'm not sure exactly what that will look like, but am very happy that she is open to it.  She told me that she just wanted to make sure that I was comfortable with anything we decide on.  It is such an amazing experience getting to know the birthmother of my child.  I count it as one of my biggest blessings in life.  I really can't even communicate with words how all of this feels, but I am so grateful that God is allowing me to experience it.  Adoption is such an amazing thing - maybe because it mirrors our adoption by God.  Or maybe because I am getting to experience this beautiful life through someone else's sacrifice.  All I know is that every time I ponder it, I well-up with tearful gratitude.  And to think that I may not have experienced all of this if the China adoption had just come sooner or if we had been able to have our own children.  It is times like this when I just KNOW that God is in control and desires good things for His children.  

We are Under Contract!

Well, we decided to move forward with the buyer's best offer on our house and feel pretty good about it!  We are moving out November 14th.  Obviously, the task at hand is now to get a contract on another house!  We found one that we really like in a neighborhood off of Waters Rd in Alpharetta.  We are planning on putting an offer on it tomorrow.  We'd love your prayers that it would go smoothly!

I spoke with Janie again tonight for about 1 1/2 hours.  I just love her!!  I want to tell you more about it except that it is now 11pm and I am exhausted from being in Chicago all week and just getting home.  I will let you guys know more about it tomorrow.  One thing (to hold you in suspense. ha)...she let me see her My Space account and I got to see a picture of her youngest son, Payton (above).  A TOTAL cutie!!   

Eternal Perspective

Right now I am in Chicago for a church conference at Willow Creek Community Church.  I am having so much fun getting some "hang time" with my team here in the windy city.  However, it is probably the best and worst time to be here.  Worst in that we are still trying to negotiate the sale of our home and our buyers just declined our last offer.  Best in that singing praise songs to my God and being in His Word in the midst of this turmoil is the best place for me to be.  Jeff and I have so much to think about in this declining real estate market and it is next to impossible to predict how things will go.  We could take our house off of the market and wait until Spring/Summer to try again, but who knows if the market will be better then?  And not getting out now leaves us little financial margin for me to work part-time at my job.  We just hate giving our house that we have spent years renovating away for such a lower price.  All I know is that while I was in the middle of worship today,  these issues seemed so very small.  In the grand scheme of things, I know that God is totally in control and that none of this really matters in eternity.  What does matter is how I respond in this situation - with faith, trust, and love or with fear, control and doubt?  I am not an orphan and do not need to live life like I need to provide for myself somehow, someway.  I am a daughter of the King!  He is using all of these circumstances to continue to refine me into who He desires me to be.  And becoming an image-bearer who reflects His glory to the world is much more important than Him giving me an easy sale of my house.  Thank God for eternal perspective!! 

I Spoke with Janie Tonight!

Yay!  I finally got to speak with Janie, our birthmom, tonight!  The agency director got her phone number to give to me so that we could start talking more regularly.  It was a great conversation that gave me a lot more clarity about her life and this child.  We are really excited!  She also told me that she gave birth at 37 weeks with the rest of her boys and so she felt that she would probably give birth at 37 weeks again.  She said that all 3 boys were healthy weights when born even though they came so early.  At 37 weeks, it would put her at the beginning of December, which would be so great for us!  Maybe we would be home by Christmas then!  We will see.  

The other piece of news is that we are getting our counter-offer from the couple interested in our house tomorrow morning.  We pray that it is an offer we can accept!  We also found a couple of houses this weekend that we are very interested in, should we get a contract.  Keep praying for us!  

Lots of excitement at the Scholen household!  

Need a Covering

We need prayer. Most of you know we want to sell our home and move into a better situation that would allow our family to grow and provide for an opportunity for Tracey to stay home with the kids. We did receive a contract on Wednesday and we countered yesterday. We are not desperate by any means; just want to get the best value out the house. I believe it is priced with a discount in mind with the current market, but you know, everyone always wants more including this buyer. I just got off the phone with the buyer's agent and the buyers seem stressed out. They plan on coming by Sunday to see the house again and maybe talk about the details. Please keep us in your prayers as we negotiate some sort of win-win. -Jeff

We Got an Offer!

Yesterday the realtor working with our interested couple emailed asking us if we could show the house to her couple and their parents this weekend.  She was going to be out of town.  We said sure thing and thought, "OK.  Well, I guess we won't be getting an offer until at least after the weekend."  Well, this morning an offer was waiting in Jeff's inbox!!  We are thrilled!  We THINK we can work with this couple, so keep praying that the negotiations go smoothly.  They want to move in November 15th!  

Thanks team!