Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!!

I hope you all had a very wonderful time celebrating the birth of our savior. I know we did! So thankful for the birth of Jesus. We were fortunate enough to be able to spend a couple of weeks in West,TN. Bryan had to come back and work for a few days, but we(the kids and I) stayed in McKenzie. We are trying to get in as much time as we can with our family and friends. They are such a wonderful support system and were all very thoughtful to be sure gifts they purchased for our family were things we needed and could travel with to Belgium. We got lots of stuff like luggage, gift cards, carry on luggage for both kids, children's travel DVD players, and warm clothes. The best part of being in West, TN was not the gifts it was quality time with those who are dear to us. I know how fortunate and blessed we are and we are so thankful. Throughout this whole season those who had recently lost loved ones have been in our hearts and on our minds. There are so many lonely or starving people and it breaks my heart all year round, but particularly during the holidays. I pray that those who feel hopeless and alone know that their is hope and they are not alone. We have a savior who came to us in the form of a tiny baby and who died on the cross for our sins and he is waiting for us to let him in and he loves us more than anyone living on this earth possibly could. Christmas is my absolute favorite holiday and this year we had a great time celebrating with our two little ones and beginning to teach them that this season is not about Santa Clause it is about the birth of Jesus and celebrating HIM.



One of the highlights of all of our celebration was Christmas at Lifepoint. This year was terrific. Loved the music, painting, stories of waiting. Our family was featured as a story of waiting on God's timing. Click on the link to watch our adoption story.

The Wolski Story from Justin Crutchfield on Vimeo.

Bryan and I also celebrated our 5 year wedding anniversary on December 30th. Bryan has been a blessing to me in so many ways. I am so glad God chose him to be my life partner. He is a wonder Daddy and spiritual leader for our family. I love the values he is teaching our children. Even on a day he is completely exhausted he will take time to get in the floor and play with our kids. He is so sweet to me and makes me laugh a lot. We celebrated with a steak dinner ALONE. :)

5 Years!!

He suprised me with beautiful flowers! Love him!!

We are on the fast track to Belgium now. Our list has been narrowed down to where the only thing that is holding us here is our funding. We are still needing monthly financial partners who are willing to join us in planting a church in Brussels, Belgium. Once we reach a certain level of our funding we can apply for our VISA!! I am finding there are so many things to do to prepare it is hard to stay focused on one thing for very long so I am going to have to really work on my time management throughout the rest of this process. We are planning to get our fingerprints and background checks done within the next couple of weeks. We are beginning to look at apartments online and we are still undecided as to whether we will get a furnished or unfurnished apartment. There are pros and cons to both and we know God will plant us in the right apartment and the right location.



We are also going to shed another layer or "stuff" this month. I have already gotten 1 full bag of just toys ready for Goodwill. When we moved from our condo we got rid of most of our big items and a ton of the smaller things, but as we have watched teammates move we are realizing we still have way more that we need to actually move with. I want to be sure we have clothing that is in good shape, warm clothes, some toys for the kids, and our sentimental items. Most other things can be purchased at a later time.


There are so many things to do to prepare, but we must not forget or neglect our day to day responsibilities. We need to be having a our quiet time with God everyday and drawing ourselves closer to him, we need to take care of our physical health, have family time, and care for those around us who are in need. Prayers are appreciated for us along with the two other families who are in the US with us that are moving to Belgium soon. We are all in the same boat. I am so thankful God is sending us as a team. Our teammates are awesome! I know I have said this in previous post, but it is a new year. I feel refreshed and ready to see what God has in store.

Happy New Year friends!!

Wolski kids have passports!!

We can officially leave the country as a family of 4! That excites me beyond belief. So thankful we have all of the documents now to begin our VISA application. It will be a little while before we can actually apply. We must reach a certain point in our funding before we can actually apply. We know God is in control of this so we aren't stressing. Just thankful to be to the place in the process we are at at this exact moment. Please continue to pray for the financial provisions we need in order to move and serve the people of Belgium. Hope you all have a blessed weekend!

Thanksgiving!

I originally wrote this post on Monday, but we had a pretty eventful week so I am just now posting. I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving.

We are so thankful to be able to spend the holidays with family this year. I(Cassi) was able to take both kids down to West, TN a few days early so we were able to spend a full week with family. We split our time between my mom's house and Bryan's mom's. They are always great host and make us feel so comfortable. We are spending as much extra time as we can since we may not be there next year during the holidays.

We had three delicious dinners and Bryan was able to golf a couple of the days we were there(his Uncle owns the golf course). I went black Friday shopping and got the deals I wanted to get to save some extra money this year. We had lots of relax time. It was just what we needed.

As we ate each meal I couldn't help but think of all of the families here in the US and all over the world who probably were hoping for anything to eat or a family to share it with. I can honestly say that I have not had one Thanksgiving where I didn't have multiple meals with family and an abundance of food at each one. I am so very thankful for every blessing I have. God has truly blessed me. I want to reach others for his glory. I want to make a difference with what God has given me. I do not come from a wealthy family, but when you look at the big picture there are ways for all of us to dig in and help. We all have been blessed with individual talents and personalities and I am guilty of not using mine like I should. The scripture below has been on my mind a lot lately and as we all prepare for the Christmas season let us remember the true reason for the season, the birth of our Savior. Let's remember to love others like Jesus does. We should not overlook the opportunity to give of ourselves and help others It may not be easy or convenient and the timing may be horrible, but God doesn't promise us that following him will be a bed of roses. Loving others where they are at and encouraging them in a time of need is what it is all about. I know the Holidays are so very busy, but I challenge each of you to take time out and look at your surroundings and see if there is one life you can make a difference in this Christmas.

27 Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world. James 1:27

Passports

We have officially ordered the kids passports! What a praise! As an adoptive parent I cannot express the excitement I feel inside to be able to go and get passports for my children. I know it probably sounds silly, but when you are fostering for a long time and there are restrictions on your travel it is a really nice feeling to be free and know that these are YOUR children. God has really blessed us in a HUGE way.

Now that we have their passports ordered we can start collecting documents for our VISA. I cannot believe we are finally to this phase. Two years into the process it is nice to know we are getting so much closer. It is hard to describe how you feel when you are in preparation/transition for so long. We aren't in our own home right now so it is a little different with the Holidays and how we would normally celebrate putting up the tree and opening up gifts. Also since we are working diligently to get moved we will have to cut back how we spend at Christmas time this year. Right now every holiday and family dinner is extra special because it may be the last one you attend for a while. Currently our entire family is sharing a Master bedroom and bathroom. It is very cramped! All that being said. This is another way God has provided for our family. We are happy and thankful to be here. It is helping us in a big way to get to where we are being led. I will not sugar coat it. I will be thankful to get settled into an apartment in Belgium that we can make our own again. With everything being so unsettled for the past two years I am so ready to get moved and dig in to the ministry there full force.

I have posted the kids passport pictures below. I must say I think they are pretty cute. :)