things I want to do as his wife...

kiss him goodbye at the door every day as he goes to work.

kiss him at the door when he comes home looking my best.

hold his hand when we are places together.

rest my head on his shoulder when we are sitting nearby.

write love notes and hide them.

give him back rubs when he is sore.

wait up for him when he comes home late.

sing with him.

pack him a healthy lunch.

light candles for him.

let him be right.

cuddle with him during a scary movie.

wash the car together and have a water fight.

make him heart shaped pancakes.

sleep in his t-shirt.

grow old together.

have dinner ready.

kiss his forehead and get him medicine, soup and tea when he is sick.

try to make him laugh.

keep the spark alive.

make him proud.

wear his favorite perfume.

make his favorite treat.

build memories.

play in the snow together.

dance in the rain.

be adventurous.

be his rock.

study the bible together.

explore the world.

raise his kids in a happy home.

climb a mountain.

defend him.

respect him.

trust him.

love him.

honor him.

complete him.

Keep your prayers coming!

So far, God has answered all our prayers and has had His hands guide this whole process.

First of all He heard our prayers for a daughter. We had felt that our family was not complete and a little girl was who God had laid on my heart for the last two years.

The country of Uganda has been in our hearts since we welcomed three sweet little girls into our home for several days. They were visiting with the Ugandan Orphan Choir and we were coordinating the group's stay in our area. They were so beautiful and full of joy. They stayed in my girl's room. Every night they would pray, then worship, then pray some more in Lugandan. It was spirit filled goodness. Both Jeremiah and I talked of adopting from Uganda after they left but at the time it sounded near impossible. And we were waiting for Elijah to get home from Haiti. Little did we know that God heard our desire and had a plan in place for the future.

When we heard about Mercy through MAT, we knew she was an orphan. We were open to helping her however we could. A few days later decided we were dedicated to try to adopt her if possible. There were so many unknowns and questions about what the best decision would be for her. We were unsure if a medical visa would be best (we really thought it would be) or if just doing a legal guardianship would be the solution to getting her here quickly. God answered our prayers for a clear answer and we got one several weeks later.

We also prayed for Mercy's health. MAT came in contact with a doctor in NC who wanted to help. He was able to look at Mercy's MRI results and through the internet told Mercy's caregivers what kinds of medication to try. He also was willing to spend some time with me on the phone, answering to the best of his ability some of my questions. Mercy has been on one type of medicine that has helped with her seizures. They are almost completely gone. She still is walking into things and slurs her speech. She still needs medical help very soon, but she is doing so much better!

The Lord has provided for us financially when it didn't seem possible. We have had many wonderful people make donations for her and our family. The fees that we have had to pay so far has all been there when needed, either through donations or Jeremiah's over time.

The home where Mercy lives needs to get government approval so we can do the legal guardianship. They received their Non Government Organization approval (step 1) several weeks after we heard about her! That was great news. Now they need approval from the Ministry of Gender (step 2). They needed to go around and collect letters from people (references I believe), then turn them in. I think they need to have an inspection and then hopefully they can get approval. Today I learned that the prayers for the letter collecting were heard and they were able to gather them all. Tomorrow they will turn them into their lawyer. Hurray and thank you Lord!

Now, here is what we need prayer for:

The Ministry of Gender approval

Our i600a approval to be expedited (fingerprinting is next week!)

Mercy's health and protection

God's provision for the remaining fees (travel and legal fees)

our family and Mercy's heart to be prepared

our children and home while we are away

that we will not need to stay in Uganda for more than a few weeks

Christmas Letter

Greetings to you this Christmas season. I apologize for the emailed Christmas letter, but it was the only way I could get our note out to all of you before the end of the year. I hope you will understand. I may not have everyone’s email address, so please feel free to pass this along to family or friends who would enjoy reading this!

We have had an extremely busy year. We are thankful for all we have and the health and happiness of everyone in the Smith home. We’ve had a lot of great changes, and would love to share with you what has been happening in our lives.

Jeremiah is still employed at the B. Police Department; he just celebrated his 10^th anniversary. He is on his 4^rd year as a bicycle patrol officer. He is also busy with the SWAT team and the honor guard. He was able to travel to several parts of the country for training and is now a certified instructor for police biking. Unfortunately he attended a few very moving memorial services for fallen law enforcement officers in our area.

Kimberly is still a stay at home mom and is no longer home schooling the kids. We decided to enroll them in the local public schools and now we have more time with Elijah and Samuel at home. She volunteers for an organization for the Medical Advocacy Team. www.medicaladvocacyteam.blogspot.com Her role is to find host families for international children who are ill and need to come to the U.S for surgery. It is a rewarding job to help children in this way. She enjoys journaling, gardening, reading, playing with the kids and going on fun day trips with the family.

Loren will be 13 years old in March and is becoming a young man! He is in 7^th grade and attends H. Middle School. He enjoyed playing soccer again this fall. He loves to read, build things, play outside, and is very helpful with the little boys. He is getting excellent grades in school. He’s a very smart guy.

Corinn is 11. She is in 5^th grade at C. Elementary. She loves art, animals, making people laugh, singing and helping in the kitchen. She’s compassionate and caring. She likes to play outside, and cuddle on the couch watching movies. She’s doing really well in school and is making a lot of good friends.

Kylie is 6. She’s in 1^st grade at C. She is a funny, sweet little girl. She loves to cuddle and loves her daddy. She loves singing, dancing, coloring, dressing up, pretending and everything most six-year-old girls like.

Elijah is our little 3 1/2 year old boy from Haiti. He came home to us in March of 2009. He is a happy, cuddly, sweet boy. The adjustment has been going well and he is such a blessing to our family. His adoption was complete and final on 9/9/09! He is funny and loves to laugh. He had his first experience with snow today and had a great time playing in it with his sisters.

Samuel will be two on Jan. 4^th. He is the sweetest, happiest toddler. He charms everyone he meets! He loves to be active, is running everywhere and gets into everything! He is trying out words daily. He loves his brothers and sisters and they are very helpful caring for him.

Recently we decided to adopt again. We heard about Mercy, a little girl in Uganda in October. Kim has been helping trying to find medical care for her through MAT. Mercy has a form of epilepsy. She is also and orphan and it was discovered that processing an adoption would be more beneficial and quicker than getting her temporary medical care. Her story pulled at our hearts so we decided to add her to our family! We are hoping to travel to Uganda in February 2010 to bring her home. We have been busy with paperwork, fundraising and getting our family ready for another child. Mercy is four years old and will be sharing a room with Kylie. We were able to speak to her on the phone yesterday morning. Her laugh is so contagious!

We still live in the country, on our 5 acres. We have been working hard around the place and have been remodeling our studio (a 600 sq ft building used as a recording studio by previous owners). Loren decided he wanted to move his bedroom out there so now he is living in that building, about 20 feet from our back door. This fall, Corinn moved out there in her own room. They love their bit of freedom. We have also been busy ripping up our rotting back deck with plans to replace it soon. There are many projects we hope to finish! We would love to get a few small farm animals in the future. Chickens would be fun…

We hope you and yours have a very Merry Christmas and wonderful New Year. May God bless you!

Jeremiah, Kimberly, Loren, Corinn, Kylie, Elijah and Samuel