Homestudy visits complete!

We have been very busy getting all our documents gathered for our homestudy. On Saturday evening our social worker Megan arrived from Hong Kong to do our home visits. We were able to share the cost of her trip with two other American families here in Australia. We had a great time going over all the documents and visiting with Megan to meet all the homestudy requirements. After the visit Megan let us know that we will be receiving an approved homestudy! YEAH! Tick that off the list!

"Messenger of Hope"

After playing with names for the past few months we have a preliminary favorite :-)

Our little T-girl will most likely be named Tessa. We played with the names Tea', Alexandra, Anastacia, Sophia, Julia and many more. All the kids had a say and they wouldn't consider a name that didn't end in "a". We eliminated based mostly on how they sounded with the other kids names. We chose Jonah, Isabella, Elijah & Tessa. I still like Tea' (Tee-ah) and it sounds good with the others but I do think Tessa is the perfect name. Tessa means "messenger" and when you combine it with Hope - it is perfect in every way!

Now we are praying Ephesians 1: that the eyes of our heart may be opened that we may know what (who!) is the "Hope" of our calling, the riches of our inheritance among the saints!" I had been meditating on this scripture daily as encouraged during a sermon. One day I realized how perfect the name is for our little girl's middle name. "Tessa Hope" has been conceived in my heart! I had this same sense when we felt called to Ukraine for our son Elijah - a little one has been conceived in my heart and we need to go get her!