Best Ever

Just wanted to let everyone know that I have the best wife ever! I work a crazy schedule, long hours, have a long drive, and yet she's always supportive of me. When I got home from work (and very tired), she showed me a collection of pictures of what our family (her and the pets) had done while I was away. After having a long drive, and a long day, it was just what I needed! It was a nice way to connect back with what had been going on, and I loved it. Anyway, little things like that are what makes life great! I hope others out there stop and take time out, regardless of how tired you are, or your work schedule and enjoy one of the "small things" in life. I know it's often hard for me, but as evidenced yesterday, it is well worth it!

Adoption!

Too cute! I saw this and though of my husband and I with our baby (to be)!

If you look closely it's two horses with a fawn! Whoever took this picture did a great job!

Scroll down for an explanation of the pictures!

Busy like a bee

I apologize b/c I haven't had time to catch up on all of the buzz on every ones blogs lately. It seems like we haven't had time to slow down. I just got a little time today and read some blogs. I found one blog that said "How do you spell relief?" -"W E E K E N D!" No joke, how about L O N G W E E K E N D. I have Monday off and am excited for a break! David unfortunately, has to work. He just had a few days off though so he had SOME time to relax in between doing errands ;).

The first picture is one of an Ethiopian donkey game I got. I think it could be easily made. It just has cardboard in the legs, stuffing, thread, a small piece of leather, and fabric. The thing you put the wood on is a button. And of course you need little pieces of wood. The game is a skill game where you try to get as many pieces of wood on the donkeys back without it falling off. It's pretty fun!

About a week ago we had my brother-in-laws graduation party. He graduated from optometry school! My parents were down for the graduation and I got to celebrate mothers day with my mom-which hasn't happened for 4 maybe 5 years. My grandpa also came down for the graduation and spent some time with us. It was a blast having him. I truly have been blessed with the worlds greatest grandparents. The pictures above are of my parents and David with my grandpa at my bro-in-laws graduation party!

We also found out last week that our 3rd grade nephew won first in an art contest for 3rd-5th graders. There were fifteen counties that entered and he won! We are so proud of him. He is a really great kid. When he gets famous we still have some of his art work that he sent us from when he was small of "good Jonah" and "bad Jonah". I am glad that he sent that to us. We put it on the fridge and laughed about every time we saw it, it was so cute! I haven't got to see his new art work yet, but it'll take a lot to compete with Jonah!

I am very excited for the summer. School is about out and we have had several "end of the year" activities for the kids. Most recently an awards ceremony. It's amazing how busy everything gets. I think we have 8 more days to go, but who is counting?

I can't believe we are on the wait lsit!!! I know that unless a miracle happens we won't get our baby until Nov. or later so I am trying to pace myself and not get too excited until it gets closer to that date. I was told the average time to receive a referral is 3-5 months. That puts our referral in about Aug-October. Just in time for court to open up again! Even if they are backlogged, it's nice to be at this point. I am really excited to think that in a few months we will get the first pictures of our baby and information! Then not long after that we'll have our baby! I looked at a blog that chronicles every ones journey once they receive a referral. It looks like everyone who has put "either" and has wanted an infant has got a boy. I really think it would be easier knowing if we were getting a boy or girl so that we could start getting things together. Either way we are excited. I have a feeling we'll get a boy but I had a dream the other day that we got a girl. I also had a friend come over and said that she dreamed we got a little girl and brought her by their house to see her. Only time will tell. If we ever get another opportunity we would like to adopt again. Next time maybe an older child. We'll let the baby break us in some first! We both have always talked of adopting a couple of kids. We were so sad to hear that there wasn't enough interest in the bright futures camp this year so they had to cancel it. I hope all/most of those kids end up getting adopted anyway.

I read the blog "Jobs Daughters". I always love reading that blog and hearing about whats going on. There is a boy that was too old to adopt that they keep in touch with. The things he writes are very touching and its amazing to see his love for God and his "mom" who ended up not being able to adopt him but is working to find a way for him to come to the US. They just stared another adoption and the little girl that they were referred ran away and doesn't know that there is someone who wants her. She has seen all the other kids go to a family and didn't know that it is her turn. They have asked for prayers as there are TONS of orphans and it will be very hard to find her.

Lastly, we found some LITTLE doll sets the other day that were really cheap that we thought the girls in Ethiopia would like. After reading the story I mentioned earlier we wanted the kids to know that there are people out there that think of them often and care greatly for them. We hope to put a letter (in Ahmaric) with each one that lets the kids know that there are several people out there caring, praying, and hoping that they are doing well. Also that they are loved. If anyone is traveling and would have room in their bags to take anything let us know. They would easily fit into sandwich baggies and don't weigh very much. We'd be happy if you could fit one or two (we have about 15 total) We're not picky which orphanage they go to. We just want the girls to have them! If there are any boys that would want a doll they could have one too ;).

Family In Need of Prayer

Some of you may or may not be aware of the need of prayer on behalf of the Steven Curtis Chapman family. They just lost their youngest child in a tragic automobile accident witnessed by two children on their property, and committed accidentally by one of their sons. They are in tremendous need of prayer. Below is a link concerning what happened. Chelsea and I feel compelled to solicit all of you who read our blog to offer prayer on their behalf in light of such a tragedy. This family has given hope to over 1700 families through financial assistance for adoptions, in addition to the tremendous work done as a musician and Christian servant.

We became more familiar with their family through their work through an adoption agency and an included DVD chronicling portions of their own adoption journey. At that time we were truly touched by their testimony. We cannot begin to imagine what they're going through at this time, but offer our sincerest condolences to a wonderful family.

http://www.tennessean.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080522/TUNEIN03/805220370&referrer=FRONTPAGECAROUSEL

http://chapmanchannel.typepad.com/inmemoryofmaria/

http://www.stevencurtischapman.com/

WITH HOPE
This is not at all how we thought it was supposed to be
We had so many plans for you
We had so many dreams
And now you've gone away
And left us with the memories of your smile
And nothing we can say
And nothing we can do
Can take away the pain
The pain of losing you,
but ... We can cry with hope
We can say goodbye with hope
'Cause we know our goodbye is not the end,
And we can grieve with hope
'Cause we believe with hope (There's a place by God's grace)
There's a place where we'll see your face again
We'll see your face again
And never have I known
Anything so hard to understand
And never have I questioned more The wisdom of God's plan
But through the cloud of tears
I see the Father's smile and say well done
And I imagine you
Where you wanted most to be Seeing all your dreams come true
'Cause now you're home And now you're free, and ...
We have this hope as an anchor
'Cause we believe that everything God promised us is true, so ...
We wait with hope
And we ache with hope
We hold on with hope
We let go with hope


Words and Music by Steven Curtis Chapman

Its Official

I just got an e-mail that we have been officially placed on waitlist to receive a referral!

On its way

The dossier paperwork is complete and has been sent to the courier in DC today!!! Two weeks and it arrives in Ethiopia. We should now be on the waitlist but are waiting for "official" word! How great it feels to be at this point!!!

Just as it's w/in reach

We found out a week ago that we won't be getting our baby until November or later. It was very discouraging news for us as we got our CIS MUCH faster than expected. We were hoping that there might be a chance to get things in before the rainy season. Our dossier should be going to DC anytime and we'll be on the wait list. However due to the rainy season we have a huge delay. We should get our referral during this time but the courts will be closed. I am glad for us to be so close but what a roller coaster ride! I have been really sad b/c we were hoping that we would be able to travel this summer. My husbands job requires seniority to get time off . Since he is newer to the company- he is low man on the totem pole and since our adoption will happen during the "holiday" months we are worried about him getting time off for the trip. I have decided to give myself a little time before I posted anything and know that God's timing is best. We have been being told all along that if CIS came quickly we could possibly get our child referral and get through court.

Happy Mothers Day

Happy Mothers Day! I know that this is a bit late but I wrote this and never got to post it:

For the mother who is waiting to adopt:

Although you are not physically pregnant, you are going through a paper pregnancy that is a huge roller coaster ride. You have been given several due dates that not only have drastically changed from 1 month to another, but end up being much later than you expected. You have to worry about rainy seasons, strange holidays, court dates, and/or other delays. You also will probably be pregnant with your child for longer than it takes a biological mother to go through her entire pregnancy and give birth. If you picked "either boy OR girl", as far as the sex of your child is concerned, you are probably still waiting to find out the sex of your child. You will not find out until a month or two before the adoption is finalized. You get strange looks when you go to sign up for a baby registry and then see the associate look at your stomach suspiciously as you assure them that there IS a child on the way and it IS yours! Even if you don't physically look pregnant and have the weight of a baby in your tummy you have the weight of your child on your heart. You wonder about them often hoping that they are okay, happy, safe, and taken care of. You wonder if they’ll get sung to and rocked, who will feed them, and who will put them to bed? You don’t get ultra sounds every few months to re-assure you that your child is “on target” and doing okay. You get to know your post office workers/fed-ex workers on a first name basis and they, often, are the ones who deliver your baby to you. Although you (internationally adopting) can't physically be there the day they are born you have the pain of knowing that you have missed out on several months and several photo memorable sessions of their lives. But - when everything is said and done you know that the paper pregnancy was worth it and that your child is a precious gift. That you are now their mother and there is no greater feeling in the world!

They're here!

I truly believe in the power of prayer. I have had several people tell me this week that they were praying that our CIS info comes back right away. Well... today I noticed that in 3 days it will be a month since we were fingerprinted for CIS. However, I went to the mail box and saw a brown envelope... I knew it was the CIS packet! It was- and we have officially received our CIS approval! Now on to the referral step!!!! Wooo Hooo! I can't tell you how excited and happy we are! Thanks all of you who prayed for this, and to God for His greatness! Now if we can get our referral and on to Ethiopia to pick our child up!

Chelsea couldn't have said it better. I was home and her grandfather is in town, and she came flying in the door around lunch time. She was smiling, running, and absolutely ecstatic! Really cute! "They're here! We got them!" A moment, I'm sure like getting our referral will be, when it hits a little bit closer to the reality of our dream coming closer and closer to reality. I suppose I was extra shocked because I had already conditioned myself to expect nothing for a long while. Crazy to look at our timeline from lilypie to see that we've been officially chasing this dream for just under 7 months.

As was stated earlier, all we can do is thank those of you heaping up prayers on our behalf, and thank our Lord who continues to pour blessing after blessing onto us.

Astros!

Last night we went to yet another great Astros baseball game! The Astros won 7 to Milwaukee 4.

I rode to the game with a friend of mine. It was Astros jersey give away night!!! David had to meet me later b/c he was working. My friend and I got jerseys which we were surprised about b/c when we got there the lines were LONG! Since David wasn't there to get a jersey she gave me hers to give to him! How sweet! She said she got one last year and wasn't all that excited about it.

I tried to get autographs again but the crowd was too big. Hunter Pence singed for a moment or two but the crowd got a bit crazy and he went and started stretching. I can't wait to take our baby to see his/her first Astros game!

It was a really good game with 3 home runs in a row! The other thing was it was Muscular Dystrophy night and the kids with MD got to have autographs, etc before the game. Every Astros homer raised money for MD. When Tejada was signing autographs he promised a pair of youngsters he would hit one for them. He delivered! Pretty cool if you ask me. I am glad he was able to come through on that promise!