Introducing....

OUR SON, ABNET!


We got a call last night from Julie saying that we went through court on Monday! Abnet is legally our child! Yea! She thinks that we will be able to travel in about 4 to 5 weeks. They need to get his passport, and set up an US embassy appointment before we'll know for sure. We should hear from them next week with dates that we can travel.

And although I am so excited that the process has been really fast for us, I'm also feeling very sad for some others who have been waiting longer than us. Julie told me last night, that there were some families who have not gone through court yet, and they have been waiting longer then us. I can't imagine how hard that would be. Unfortunately the courts don't really look at who should be next in line, so you never know what order it will be in. I am praying hard for you all (you know who you are) that your case will come fast! & I'm sure we will be celebrating with you soon!


Here are some more pictures of Abnet:

This is when Abnet first came to Hannah's Hope (the AGCI's home). --i think he is about 2months here.


This was taken by some other families who were there to bring their children home. --again i think he is about 2 months old.


I think he is about 2 1/2 months here


About 3 months here



I know, I know, he's adorable! :)

Ballet

My New Toy

So after 2 years of waiting to get a new camera...I finally did it. I used to have a Canon Rebel film camera, but it broke about 3 years ago. I love taking pictures, I'm no pro, but I've really missed it. My small digital is convenient, but just doesn't take as nice of pictures. I especially wanted to have a nice camera before we left for Ethiopia. The nice thing is with Canon cameras is that all their lenses are interchangeable. So I was able to just buy the body of the digital SLR, and use all my lenses from my previous camera. Makes it a little more affordable. :)

Hopefully soon I'll have some great pictures to post for you all!

***Thanks Uncle Bob for giving me great advice on what to get & where to buy it!

We Need A Name...

Okay, I need your help. We need a cute/fun nickname for little one. :) I've been trying to come up with one for the past couple of days, & my mind is blank. So please come to my rescue, and give me some of your ideas.

June 30th

We got news today that little one's birthday is June 30th! When we got our referral they weren't exactly sure what it was, they figured somewhere between early June and early August. So this is great that we actually know! So that makes him almost 4 months old!

As far as our phone call went the other day...not much is known yet. They are still giving us the 3-5 month estimate for travel. But I really think that this is a conservative estimate. (or at least I really hope so!) But they believe all our paperwork has been submitted to MOWA (which is who approves us as a match for our little one). Once MOWA approves us MOWA will then forward everything on to the court, and it's at that time that a court date will be given. After that...TRAVEL!

Just Waiting....

Sorry about the lack of posting...but there hasn't been much to post about. We are just waiting right now for a court date. I have no idea when that will be. We actually have a call scheduled for tonight with All God's Children, and I am really hoping that they will have a good idea of when it might be.

I've been doing fine with the waiting...well pretty good. But I just saw on another families blog that they just got a court date for this week, and they got their referral the same time we did. (they are with a different organization) Although I'm really happy for them, I'm of course insanely jealous! But at the same time, I think that we are not even close to being ready to bringing the little one home! It's felt really far away at this point that it's been hard for me to really feel motivated to get things all done. But I know once we hear of a court date, we will most likely be traveling I think about 2 weeks later...so we need to be ready! :)

So off to go paint the room! & I'll let you know if I get any more good information from the phone call tonight!

Please Help

We just got this in an email from our agency, All God's Children International-- "...as many of you have heard our Guatemala program is going through a hard time as the current Guatemalan government is making decisions that are impacting orphans and birthmothers who are currently being cared for. Because of this we have had to stop bringing on families to our Guatemala program. Whenever this happens it impacts our orphan care program as a large portion of adoption fees go to helping the children who will remain in Guatemala.

Please also keep this in mind as you are praying for AGCI—we are trying to make a tremendous push in our orphan care efforts and we need the support of families to do this—both in prayer and finances."

So a great way you guys can help would be to help sponsor a child or a home (like the same home that our little one is in right now, only in Guatemala).

If you are interested in this please click here to find out more.


"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

Guatemala

Please pray for Guatemala and the adoption process. I'm not sure if I understand exactly what's going on, but I know that it will effect A LOT of children & adoptive parents here in the states.

Basically, of what I understand, the president of Guatemala has said that he will sign the Hague into affect on December 31st and as of that date they will only do adoptions with Hague Countries. The U.S. is not officially ratified into the Hague and when they do the US says they will make Guatemala make changes before they allow adoption. At this point the president said nothing about if cases would be grandfathered in. He will stop all cases not completed.

So one of the big issues is that their are 5,000 children that have already been referred, but since the adoptions are not completed, they don't know if they will be able to bring their children home.

Sorry that I don't know much...if you want more information please click here.

I just can't imagine being a parent in this situation, just waiting to hear if you are able to bring your child/children home. Also I know of one family, who was adopting from another country when it shut down, and so they switched to Guatemala, and now if this shuts down, they will have to switch again...if they can, b/c every time they have had to switch countries they've lost a lot of money in the process, & so I don't know if they would be able to again. So please pray with me!

A GREAT DAY!!!!!!!

wow! I can't believe I am writing this! We have a referral! a referral! a referral! (if i say it enough, maybe it will really sink in!) I really wasn't expecting one for at least 3 more weeks. The majority of the families working with AGCI received a referral after waiting 2 months. (we only waited about 6 weeks!)

Last Thursday, I was reading Rachel some books, trying to get her to take a nap. The phone rang, and I decided I wouldn't answer it, but just try to continue to put Rachel down. Then I heard my cell phone ring. I figured it was Jesse just checking in. But when the main phone rang again, I realized it had to be more. I quickly tucked Rachel in, and ran to check caller id. The first number was Jesse's cell, the second one was AGCI! I immediately started to cry & shake. I then tried calling Jesse's cell, but got the answering machine right away. I hung up & check my messages. Listened to the one from Jesse..."Julie just called me, It's a good day! I'm on my way home!" I continued to cry (I don't think i have to specify that these were tears of complete joy & excitement!) I finally got a hold of Jesse, and he said he was on his way home and then we'll call Julie, and she'll give us the information. It takes Jesse about 20 minutes to get home, but I was completely beside myself! I called my sister, and she listened while I cried some more. I just could not believe that OUR DAY was here! I took some time before Jesse got home to pray. I thanked God that we have this opportunity, and I also prayed that this was the right child for us. It's very nerve wracking, to just be waiting and waiting to see who is going to join your family....i think especially since our options were very open. We didn't know if we were going to end up with siblings or not, or if we would have a girl or a boy. We just couldn't wait to find out!

Jesse finally got home, and we called Julie. She told us that there was a 3 month old little boy for us! This came to us a little of a surprise, b/c we kind of expected to be getting a sibling group, or figured that the child would be older (since we were willing to take an older child) But once Julie started telling us about him, peace just came over me. We are going to have a son! a little tiny baby son! Unfortunately I can't post his picture (not until he's legally ours).... but you'll have to take my word on it... he is just precious!

So now we have to send in all the paperwork accepting the referral, and then we wait some more. :) It usually takes about 2 months between referral and travel. But the courts are still closed, and once they reopen we don't know how this will effect us, but I am just so happy to have this little one! God is so good!

Waiting

We are still waiting. & I must admit it's starting to get hard. I know I shouldn't complain, b/c our agency actually has one of the shortest wait times for a referral, but it's getting hard. & we've only been waiting for about a month. Julie, our caseworker has said that a referral can take anywhere from 2-6 months, although most haven't taken that long. So please pray that Jesse & I can be patient, and wait on God's perfect timing.

Habakkuk 2:3 (NLT)
"This vision is for a future time. It describes the end, and it will be fulfilled. If it seems slow in coming, wait patiently, for it will surely take place. It will not be delayed."

Happy New Millennium

Ethiopia is celebrating their millennium today. To find out why they celebrate 7 years later then the rest of the world click here.

Wish we were there to join in with the celebration!

How to Pay for an Adoption

First Day of School

I can't believe it....my daughter is in preschool! This past Wednesday they had kind of like an open house, so that the kids could check out their rooms/teachers with their parents. Of course they do this, so the separation is easier for the kids & let's be realistic it's really for the parents. For those of you who know Rachel you know this is not an issue at all for her. She went right in, and started looking around, and after being there for an hour was giving her teacher a hug. It was fun seeing the classroom. She only goes for 2 1/2 hours, but they seem to do so much.





So today was her official first day. I didn't think I would be really sad when I dropped her off, but everyone would laugh when I would tell them this, and they would say "we'll see". Well I didn't cry...does this make me a bad mom? I thought it was so cute to see my little girl walk into the school & act like such a big kid. Of course she loved it, and is so excited to go back.

The Wedding

I'm one of those people that once I stop doing something regularly it's hard for me to get back into it.... exercising for example, i do great until something happens where i can't excerise for a day or two, and then it takes me about a month to start up again...reading the Bible, emailing, cleaning...same thing. I can now add to the list...blogging. :) So sorry about my shortcomings...but I don't see things getting any better any time soon. But hey I can't be great at everything right!?

So I'm back tracking a bit and filling you in on the last two weeks. Erik & Lauren's wedding was great. We stayed at Hidden Hollow, a retreat/campground. I was actually not really looking forward to staying in cabins & trying to get ready for a wedding with three bathrooms and 14 people...but it actually was great. It was so much fun hanging out with everyone, and really having time to talk with people we otherwise wouldn't have time to talk with.

Here's a picture of our Cabin. There were 3 rooms, 3 bathrooms, 4 beds, 2 fold out couches, 1 air mattress, 14 people....Good Times!


Rachel & her friend Lulu swimming in the lake.


Lauren getting ready to marry my little brother.


Yes that's my dad in the kilt. You can kind of see Tamara (my sis) & I in the back.


Rachel was a great flower girl. She was acting a little off that day, and was definitely tired of pictures & other boring stuff, so we weren't sure how she'd do. But I do have to say she did great! She definitely thought she was hot stuff. I'm telling you if any of you ever need a flower girl...Rachel's your girl! :) (okay I know I'm her mom, but I still think she did good!)


My Brother & my new Sister-in-law! Yea!


& on a side note, we got to eat at Krystal Burger....Jesse loved it. Okay just kidding, it was awful. If you haven't ever tried it, DON'T! well actually you should, just so you can see how bad it is.



okay, so i've caught you all up with at least something...hopefully more to come soon :)

Tennessee, Here We Come!

We are off early in the morning to head down to Chattanooga, TN! My little brother is actually getting married! I can't believe it. We are so excited for him, & for us b/c we love the girl who said yes! So I won't be blogging, but once I get back I'm sure I'll have lots of interesting stories for you all! :)

Miniature Earth

Saw this link & thought I would pass it along. (thanks Pete!)

I think that it's always good to get a little perspective. Even after living over in Sri Lanka & India and seeing first hand some of the poverty people experience, I have been back in the states for less then a year & sadly barely ever think about what others might be going through in the rest of the world.

How come it's so easy to ignore, or just forget about it? Why do I get so caught up with my own life? I pray that God will continually remind us of all his children & their different needs, and also give us a heart to make things better.


Carry each other's burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ. - Galatians 6:2

Good-byes & Hellos

My brother-in-law, Matt lived with us this summer. I had no idea how he would be as a house guest, but I have to say he was wonderful! (we miss you matt!) He was just here for an internship for the summer, but has already left to go back to Arkansas for his masters. Rachel loved having a "big" brother to play with, and she would've been devastated, but luckily only 3 days after Matt left, my parents arrived. So thankfully she's been distracted! (she's getting quite bored with me!)


We've been busy with my parents this past week. It's been great to be with them again. For those of you who don't know they live over in Carlisle, England (northern part). So it's always great to have them back on this side of the ocean. :) Rachel loves it when they come! Since she is the only grandchild on this side you can imagine how badly she gets spoiled!

We went to Mt. Vernon... the home of George Washington. It's the first time I've been, it was great! They've just added a huge museum to the property, and in one of the films you can watch, it actually snows on you! Rachel loved that.

Here's Aunt Tamara & Rachel at Mt. Vernon.


In the museum they had a whole room just for hands on stuff for kids to do. Rachel loved trying on the dresses.


Afterwards we went to eat some fish & chips in downtown Alexandria. (so my parents felt more at home) :)


We've also done a lot of shopping (mainly for my mothers dress) for my brother's upcoming wedding. This is what Rachel picked out for Uncle Brian to wear.


And since we're not together for any birthdays we celebrated all the birthdays that have happened in the past 6 months.





So I've caught you up a little :) My parents leave today to head down to Chattanooga to help out Lauren & Erik get ready for the wedding. The rest of us will head down on Thursday. Can't believe it's almost here already!

We got it!

We got our I-171H today! We are officially approved by the US government to adopt 1 or 2 children from Ethiopia. We were told that this usually takes anywhere from 3 to 9 weeks, they were right on...it took us 6 1/2.

We can now officially wait for a referral! I'm just so glad to have this step done. I've heard horror stories of things being lost, or not just coming for months & months, so I am very grateful that ours has come with no problems.

Now we continue to pray for who God has for our family, and wait for a referral. Our agency says this will take any where from 2-4 months, but sometimes it has happened even faster. So we'll wait with excitement. :)

Behind...

I'm still not caught up with life :) It's amazing how being sick for a week can get you behind in everything! My house is a mess! My parents arrive on Tuesday so we are going to have a fun weekend cleaning! I've felt better this week, but instead of cleaning I decided to paint the kitchen. (much more fun!) I know, I know, I really put this on myself.

Here are pictures of our kitchen though :) (again please excuse the mess! I promise Grandma it doesn't alaways look this way!)


Rachel even got in on the action...


The finished product...


Here is the main reason we painted...we got some great art over in Sri Lanka (done by art students over there) & needed to have the walls match our pictures better.





Next up the floors!

Adoption Update....

The latest on the adoption front, is that our dossier is back from the US Department of State and the Embassy. (they check to make sure everything is notarized right & stuff like that) Everything checked out! Which is great, b/c I was sure something would be notarized wrong or something wouldn't work, but hey I'm all for this moving right along! :)

Our dossier now goes on to Ethiopia where it will get translated. We are just waiting on our approval from the government. (Probably another 4 weeks) Once we get that we can officially start waiting for a referall! Yea!

Help IJM win $100,000

Go to http://www.rezoom.com/ABETTERWORLD and sign up. Then vote every day on an organization of your choice who you want to win $100,000. Of course we are partial to IJM, but really vote for who you want. There are a lot of neat organizations out there doing some really cool things!

Trip to Nebraska - Part 2

I'm finally getting back to blogging. Last week I was at youth camp (more on that later), and now this week I am sick. :( My throat hurts terrible & I've completely lost my voice. I went to the doctor today, he said it's not strep, but probably just some sort of virus. So hopefully I'll be better soon. My house is a mess but I'm just not up for cleaning yet...so I'll blog instead :)

I never got around to putting all our other Nebraska pics up so here you go: The rest of the week we went to Jesse's mom's place. They have recently built a house on a lake. It's a small lake, but they are the only ones on it, so it's perfect! We had a lot of fun just hanging out in the water. & of course Jesse & my brother-in-law, Matt had great fun trying to kill each other on the tubes.

Here's Grandma & the granddaughters:


Here's Rachel/Daddy, & Shane/Zari Tubing:


Bumper Boats!


Keri in the bumper boats!?!


Rachel & Daddy jet skiing



Melanie (Jesse's sister) was so kind to throw Rachel a birthday party as well while we were out there. It was so fun, because we are never out that way during her birthday so it was nice to be able to have family be apart of her special day!


I'm ready to go back! :)

Busy, Busy, Busy

This past week has been really busy, so sorry that i haven't posted, and it won't change for a while. I'm off to youth camp for a week. We are headed down to Ocoee, TN. I'm just going, Jesse couldn't get off work, and so Gina (my great mother-in-law) is here to take care of Rachel. So I'll have lots to post when I get back..still have to finish posting about my last trip. : )

Hope you all have a great week!