Congratulations

Recently SEVERAL families made it through court!!! CONGRATULATIONS! We're so glad so many of you got through! It's a huge accomplishment and now you are forever families! What a great thought! Check out the FBI forever families list to see all of them! There is one family that didn't make it through court and I know that it has been difficult for them as there are a few who have been delayed several times. Please pray that they get through court right away and can be with their children soon. Also pray that we get our court date. We are hoping for February but we are being patient and when it is supposed to come, it will. We are still enjoying our sweet boys referral pictures!

For those of you who are traveling, I just realized, you are going to get to see our son in person before we will. I know your bags will be full but if you'd be willing to take pictures of our son while you are there we would APPRECIATE it! Also if you have room in your bag, and we understand if you don't, to take an outfit for our son we would really appreciate that too! Let us know!

Enjoy making your travel arrangements for Ethiopia! How exciting! Enjoy every moment and, again, congratulations!

Pictures!

Saturday we spent the day with my niece, Quinn, and my parents. We had her try out K's rain forest spin and play. She really seemed to like it! I am glad she could try it out and break it in a little for him! I think it will go over well! I can't wait until they will get to play together!

Berkley was a little jealous and needed some attention! He enjoyed it so much he fell asleep!

Kate found her Christmas present a little early... oh well!

3 months old

Our son is now a little over 3 months old! I hate that he is growing up so fast with out us being around to watch him and all of his changes. It makes me look foward to the days ahead that we will have together!

Just for K

We are really busy but I had to stop for a second and post these pictures! Look at the cute K stocking we found! David's family also got K a stocking! Although we won't have our sweet baby home for Christmas this year he will be in our thoughts and hearts!

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It has been a hard week for us. We went to a funeral for one of David's best friends.

His (best friends) family could really use prayers so if you remember, they would be very blessed by them. It was a hard situation and I know that the love of God and prayers can work miracles.

Still so happy!

If there is anyone traveling soon and you would be willing to take an item or two to our son PLEASE let us know! I would apprecite it SO much!

Have I mentioned how much I LOVE being on the referral/court process part of the FBI list?! It's still a great feeling! I am SO happy that we've received our referral! Thanks be to God! I knew He would match us with the right child and I really think this is the perfect child for us! I am sure this is written on every ones referral, but when I was re-reading some information I noticed our referral said, "We truly believe you would make a great match for him!". I loved that they put that, regardless of what they write on the other referrals! I hope we don't stay on this list TOO long but it's nice to know: we have a boy!, his pictures are oh! so cute, background info., estimated age, etc. I can't wait to see updated pictures and get a court date! I love walking through the house and seeing his pictures and his smile, no matter which room I am in. I don't want to wait TOO long for this sweet boy to be in my arms, but it's a face I could wait a lifetime for if I HAD to! He is precious!

Oh, and I have got to work on his room some more and added some finishing touches (see below for wall sayings).

Snow? In SOUTH Texas?

This past Wednesday snow fell in Texas! I really don't like Christmas time in Texas b/c it is really hard for me to get in the spirit of things. Back home we always had snow sometime around Christmas, but Texas' weather is usually pretty warm and it feels like fall rather than winter. This year I got what I wanted, a white Christmas!

A gift from work!

I have the greatest co-workers. They have been patient with me through the ups and downs of this whole process. When we got our referral I made sure to call them and let them know. They were really excited for us and I loved hearing their enthusiasm on the phone as I told them details of our referral! The next day when I went into work they had ordered balloons for us! What a great idea. I love them so much! I would have never thought about doing something like this and it was the nicest gift! It made the day even more special! How cool are these?!

K's wall sayings!

We knew we wanted to put a couple of sayings on K's wall but weren't sure what we wanted. After we got our referral it was clear to us what we would choose! We had no trouble in our decision and knew these two sayings were perfect!

Our Referral!

Okay, I realize its a little past time for me to post. Honestly, I had not had time to catch up from Thanksgiving, work came too fast! I spent the weekend putting luggage away, etc. Also, my feet didn't touch the ground for a while. I'm not sure they still have and I'm still on cloud 9. We are beyond happy!

There have been a few moments in my life that were PERFECT, happily memorable, and/or just plain wonderful. Some of those: my first kiss, being baptized, graduating high school, meeting my husband for the first time, getting married, etc. It's interesting because with each of these what I envisioned was entirely different than what came to play out. Still, these times stand out and they are the memories that I never want to forget. Speaking of which, our referral day was nothing as I had pictured but it is now included on my list and encompasses everything. It was amazingly wonderful! The first time we got to see our boys face! What could be greater?

David had joked with me one day that the reason our referral hadn't came yet was because I wasn't being patient. I laughed but was aggravated all the same time b/c I didn't think there was ANY way I was going to gain patience. Try as I might, it is a huge character flaw and I didn't know if I could honestly become patient. I tried several times and failed miserably. However, the week of our referral I just decided that it wasn't a big deal and it would come sometime in the future. I still checked to see where we were on the list but with far less frequency than before. I knew it would come when the time was right. The day of the referral I checked it right before leaving to go home and saw we were still second and figured "tomorrow, maybe". I guess David was right, b/c our referral came a day or two after my newly gained patience!

I went home that night and was exhausted. David, luckily, was home on vacation! Our cupboards were bare so I suggested that we go to Wal-Mart and get some much needed groceries b/c if not I would be going to bed at 4:30pm! I really hate going to Wal-Mart and so I figured it would be a good day to get it over with and it would certainly keep me awake! We were out of Clairitin so we figured we'd better hit that line first, before it became too busy. While David stood in-line I shopped for some other items we needed (well maybe not patient entirely). David made a weird face while he listened to a message on the phone. He is always missing messages and things so I wasn't too surprised. But then he had a serious look on his face. It scared me b/c he didn't say anything. He just was all serious and said Mary called. I thought he was meaning someone from church so I was trying to decode what he just said. I kept trying to ask questions and he said a couple of things and then handed me the phone. It was so strange b/c he really didn't say anything more. Just motioned to me to say something! About that same time the ppl. in front of us left and we were at the cash register. They had a big sign posted "NO CELL PHONES IN THIS AREA"! (Apparently it interferes with their equipment.) I heard a familiar voice on the phone say, "Chelsea, this is it!" I realized it was Mary with Gladney but really didn't believe that this WAS it. I really don't know what she said after that. I was in shock and the lady at the cash register started yelling at me to put the cell phone up. Dirty looks were flashed my way by other customers. I wasn't about to do that so I just stepped back. I could hear David trying to calm the lady and explain to her what was happening.

Mary was still talking, as I listened I realized she was trying to schedule a time to go over everything with us. She said something about another referral at 5:30PM, staying late, and what would be the best time for our referral. I was so surprised that I think I mentioned something that we needed to finish grocery shopping b/c we needed groceries, then I realized what I said and I agreed that 5:30PM would be workable and we were on the way. Mary was nice and re-assured me that the other family would be getting their referral at 5:30 so we couldn't get ours at that time :)! Then said how about 6PM? I said that would be great and didn't think to ask anything else, so Mary prompted and asked if there was anything we wanted to know about the baby. I didn't think she could discuss that before our "referral at 6PM" so I was really glad she asked! My first question "boy or girl"? Boy! We had been back and forth, during this process so much, on what we wanted and I was afraid when she said one or the other I would be disappointed. The minute she said boy I thought PERFECT! Then she told me his name and how old he is. The name was unique and fun. It has a great story behind it. I was so shocked when I heard his age. 2 months! Wow! We couldn't get much luckier! How perfect, we won't miss that much of our child's life! I knew how blessed we were and everything was even better than I imagined (minus being at Wal-Mart). I handed the phone back to David and it was my turn to check out. The lady at the register scanned my license while I appologized for being on the phone. The lady was nice and said that we could stay on it! It was funny.

The rest of the shopping trip was a blur. We started putting items in our cart. I was so excited I couldn't think. I really don't know what we came home with, grocery shopping after receiving such wonderful news isn't a great idea. I know there were a few things I saw I knew we needed. Other than that I don't know what we came home with! It really didn't matter, suddenly nothing else mattered. The lady was amazingly fast at checkout (as I am sure you well know, usually its forever of a wait) and we were on our way home planning how things would go to get ready for 6PM! We called a friend and asked to borrow her high speed connector. She was sweet and said she would bring it by. Then we got our digital camera out and called Mary. We were able to record the whole referral with our camera. She went over all of his information. We were trilled to have as much background information as was provided. It was sad but interesting. We couldn't see half of what she was talking about (b/c of dail up), although she had provided attachments, but we were able to pull up one of his pictures. He was/is BEAUTIFUL! David and I both ooohed over him and Mary was in agreement. Our friend came over with the high speed hook up and ooohed over him too! We didn't let Mary off the phone before we accepted our referral!!! We plugged in the high speed hook up and looked, stared, and marveled over our new baby boy. We put the pictures on a disk and went straight back to Wal-Mart to print out tons of pictures! We called everyone we could think of on our way to Wal-Mart and while in the store to tell our good news! We have the 5 pictures, 500 places around our house! Every time I see him I think I fall more in love with him. He is perfect!

Wal-Mart, the right place, the right call...

David’s thoughts:

I think Wal-Mart is overrated for a variety of reasons. And there are a ton of reasons why I would prefer to shop elsewhere. From our location we don’t have many choices – but I feel somewhat addicted to the place. If you can’t get it, or find it anywhere else, there’s a good possibility it’s at Wal-Mart. I say that because we scuttled off to this wonderful place to do our shopping (cupboards were bare!). While standing in line for some allergy medicine, I reached into my pocket, and grabbed my cell. Apparently I left my phone on vibrate since church service on Wednesday night. I noticed that I had two voicemails…as I quickly turned the phone on its’ loudest volume, I listened to the voicemail. Hhhmm…that’s annoying! Both voicemails were from work!! I am on vacation sooooo that was a little annoying. When I got through with each of those, there was a new message. This kind of stuff happens all the time with my silly phone. I miss calls I shouldn’t, it doesn’t always ring, and sometimes I can’t tell who it was that called, because my phone doesn’t always register them. So no real surprise I really had three voicemails. This last message was left at 5:03pm. It was very simple, and from Mary. She simply left a message saying she had tried to reach Chelsea, and that my phone was also on the list of numbers to call. I quickly wrote down the phone number and hurriedly called back. Much to my delight the phone was answered by Gladney, and specifically Mary. She asked if both Chelsea and I were present, because she had our referral. Now mind you, I’m in line at Wal-Mart getting allergy medicine. So I motion for Chelsea to come over and grab the phone, that it was Gladney. The funniest thing is that she didn’t believe what was happening, or take it seriously at first. And then you could see the excitement build and overflow as each piece of information was received. By the way, near the Wal-Mart pharmacy they have a sign saying no cell phones allowed, and they mean it! Chelsea had this quickly pointed out to her, and had to leave me while I paid for the meds. It did give me a chance to explain to the lady working the counter what had just happened to us. As soon as she found out that we were receiving news of our referral, she lightened up on the rule, and apologized…of course it didn’t hurt that Chelsea had just hung up the phone! We rushed through the rest of our trip as quickly as possible, but Chelsea was just overwhelmed. She couldn’t take it any longer – and we had to call Mary back at 6pm. Turns out that we made it back home with only minutes to spare! I suppose to make a long story short for now, we were referred a beautiful, happy, and precious baby boy! HOORAY, HOORAY FOR US! Thanks for your support again! And I can guarantee there will be more to come! If you couldn’t tell, I’m not the least bit excited!

Have a great night…WE ARE!!!

Another week

Today marks another week for us. What this brings us to, I really am not sure. I know Wed. has always been the week marker for us but besides that I have lost count and have stopped counting. There is no longer any need, I know that it should come sometime this month and eagerly anticipate it. However, as we've said from the beginning, it's God's time and not our own. It's a peaceful feeling and there is no rush. It will come. I thought it was interesting that several families have said that they feel that God hand picked their child for them. There are little things that they have found their child does that they are grateful for! I've always believed that would happen for us. I know God will provide "the match" for our family. I was joking yesterday that that is why this process has taken so long! :) We both have, in my opinion, very diverse personalities. I can't wait to see who our baby will be and the personality he or she carries. All in good time, all in God's time.

No News…

So the last post was made while Chelsea was in Nebraska. I don’t think I did my part while she was gone – I didn’t post anything else!! She normally does a lot of our posting, and I may have lost or jeopardized my posting duties with my lack of performance!

We were sure we would receive our referral just in time for Thanksgiving, but that obviously didn’t happen. I suppose it is just as well since we would have been separated by 20 hours of driving, or roughly 1200 miles. It would have been awkward for me to jump up and down on the phone, and not have my partner in crime jumping up and down right there with me. It wouldn’t have helped any that I worked all week either! Perhaps timing really is of the essence.

We’ve grown so much over the last 14 months, and continue to do so! It is fantastic when your eyes are opened to new things, and new life! We celebrate with great joy in the new found perspectives of life and family. We also continue to celebrate with those who received such exciting news on Monday! A huge Shout-Out, thunderous applause, prayers of thanksgiving, and all other acts of celebration rang out across the adoption and blogging community as families made it through court! WAY TO GO!

The week here in East Texas has shaped up beautifully. As for us, we have enjoyed a “cold front,” that actually made our heater kick on! In fact, today is such a glorious and sunny day! The sun rays our peering through our modest home, working their way from the front windows toward the rear. And the sky is bluer than ever…cloudless as well. Could today be our day? If so, it couldn’t be on a more spectacular “winter” day!

Oh! Thanks to all of you for all the happy birthday wishes! It was much appreciated!!