New look on adoption blog

New look over on the adoption blog. Hoping it will be easier to read! I think the other was too dark.

Home at Last Aug. 19, 2008

Hi all. We traveled home and made it, all people are in tact and all bags are home. We were so happy to see friendly faces at the airport! Thanks Mama and Daddy, Aunt Holly, May, Irene and Jane for coming to see us!
We are totally exhausted. Nate slept all night in his own bed, happily! Ked was not so sleepy as he slept on nearly every flight. That was nice for me, but not so good for Daddy in the night. He came up to our room three times and ended up staying in our bed very early in the morining. I am certifiably sick. So, slept heavily. We have the monitor all the way up and i still did not hear anything except for Dave one time get up. I did hear myself coughing! :( Anyway, other than the little dog -Jigs- tinish woosha, all is well. They are just going to have to get used to him. He is still our fuzzy baby.
I am looking forward to nap time and hope all will sleep.
It is all cloudy and rainy here, just like it is in Ethiopia now as it is the rainy season. Same temp. too. Interesting. I was looking forward to warm weather.
Thanks for keeping us in your prayers. We appreciate it. See you all eventually!
I have tons of thoughts and will try to post them here as i can. So, if you are interested keep checking in here. I will also post photos when we get to them. First it is laundry time. I have 5 bags and they all have stinky, damp, dirty clothes needing washed. I will have to un roll them from all the loot we brought back!

have a great day.

basement finish and leaving for Ethiopia August 2008

Sunday, August 3, 2008 Basement and we are off!

 

So, we are leaving in the morning!!! WOW we can not believe it is actually time. We hope to meet our sons on Wednesday!Please pray for our safe travels, attachment and bonding time. All four of us are going, we will come home SIX! Thanks for your prayers and all your help.
The basement is ready! My parents, Jerry and Ricki, our girls, Phoebe and Olivia, and a friend Stephan have all pitched in to help us get it ready at the last minute. We are so thankful for these extra hands.
So, off we go to get our sons. We hope to update this blog via e mail. So, stay tuned. Don't know if we can attach photos or not yet.

Referral May 11, 2008

Well, after a great deal of prayer and searching and question asking (information gathering) of friends and those who are home with Ethiopian children, and of our agency...... we feel that the best situation for our family and for the boys will be to have two sons. Picking the two was not hard, we had known for quite some time which two we felt a stronger "connection" to, if that is possible with a photo, I understand it is. :) Due to a signed agreement, I may not post photos or the names of our boys until we have finished our embassy work, in Ethiopia after we go get them. This is going to be a long time.

Well, a little info. Both of our boys are approximated to be about 3 years old. They seem to be quite lively little fellows and have winning smiles and happy countenances. We are so excited to go get them and have them home at last.

Both boys were totally cleared for adoption. One may have some new issues due to some policy. We do not know any details. We are praying that it will be an easily resolved issue and that things will still move quickly enough for us to travel in August. Please pray with us.

We just saw a little video bite of one of the boys and he is just so very endearing. I can not wait to call them mine, kiss their little heads and faces and give them love and mothering. We are very aware of the difficulty that will come as we all transition. We are pleased that a company which does a lot of publishing regarding adoption has finished a book and cd set on Amharic for adoptive families, done by native speakers. Yippee!!! We will start learning as soon as it gets here. I want to tell my boys how much their mommy loves them right away. I hope they can understand me.

I am doing another State Department run Mon and Tue of this week to speed along papers. I think Wed. we have a good chance of having the dossier sent to DC, that should take 1-2 weeks, we are hoping for one. Wed. or Thursday we should be able to send our papers for immigration approval as well. At this same time all the papers will be drawn up for the boys, to attach to our dossier.

Well, things are moving. Staying interesting for sure. Our faith in the wonderful work of God and His direction in our lives in all aspects is a very good thing. Sustaining, reassuring.

Brave (long) May 1, 2008

Today I drove in a blizzard to Denver to drop off a paper at IAN and to drop off the dossier for notarization. I asked myself while going about 25 on the highway all the way from Castle Rock to Denver, why I did not just wait until tomorrow. I guess there are a few reasons.... 1. I said I would do it today, and I do what I say. 2. If I wait until Friday then I have to wait until Monday to pick it up (yes, I a doing it again tomorrow to pick it up). 3. because I am a mom, and just like I love my girls and would do nearly anything for them.... I love my boys. So, I got there, got everything done and got info on the three boys who are waiting. ( I MAY NOT share info about them on this blog or on line anywhere until after they are ours -that would be after the embassy date in Ethiopia). Sorry. I want to follow the rules because, I am a rule keeper and I want things to continue to go well for other families.

So a new development arrises, we are approved for 4 kids 0-7. We said we want 2 boys under 5. There are 3 boys under 5. Our hearts say to keep them together, they are buddies. That counts for a lot really, when you are talking about a lot of loss.............

On the way home, I drove praying about this, with a really heavy heart. I had several verses rolling around my head and a bunch of songs that are meaningful to me. God's providence and care for each of us. Our path so often comes to us through difficult circumstances and that is certainly the case in adoption. Our hearts desire has names. Names are real.

These are just a few of the verses rumbling in my mind. I have so so many more.

1. Mark 10:27
   Jesus looked at them and said, "With man this is impossible, but not with God; all things are possible with God."
   

Ephesians 3: 20Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, 21to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen."

So, then I decided to hear the radio. This song came on.
Brave
(Nichole Nordeman, Jay Joyce)
For Charlie, who rearranged my fearful heart.

The gate is wide
The road is paved in moderation
The crowd is kind and quick to pull you in
Welcome to the middle ground
You're safe and sound and
Until now it's where I've been

'Cause it's been fear that ties me down to everything
But it's been love, Your love, that cuts the strings

So long status quo
I think I just let go
You make me want to be brave
The way it always was
Is no longer good enough
You make me want to be brave
Brave, brave

I am small
And I speak when I'm spoken to
But I am willing to risk it all
I say Your name
Just Your name and I'm ready to jump
Even ready to fall...

Why did I take this vow of compromise?
Why did I try to keep it all inside?

So long status quo
I think I just let go
You make me want to be brave
The way it always was
Is no longer good enough
You make me want to be brave
Brave, brave

I've never known a fire that didn't begin with a flame
Every storm will start with just a drop of rain
But if you believe in me
That changes everything
So long, I'm gone

So long status quo
I think I just let go
You make me want to be brave
I wanna be brave
The way it always was
Is no longer good enough
You make me want to be brave
Brave, brave

Isaiah 41:10 So do not fear, for I am with you;
do not be dismayed, for I am your God.
I will strengthen you and help you;
I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.

These and many others are some of my most cherished verses. I am a person naturally given to fear of the unknown. I am also a person who has a desire to unearth the unknown, maybe so that there is less to be afraid of, but it is also fun. How do I do anything, let alone unearth the unknown or do the interesting things I long to do if I am afraid of the unknown? In our life together so far Dave and I have done more and seen more than most people our age.

I team teach ladies Bible Study at church. In January we ended the book of Jonah. Now, I got a really unusual take home, practical application. I read about Jonah not doing what God wanted him to do. Then he did it but not willingly. He missed the blessing that could have been his. The question for me was this: "What are you not doing that God has asked you to do? Why?" At that point we had been talking very seriously about adoption for at least a year or more. I was struggling with being comfortable. Too comfortable. Yet not feeling settled at all really. Something is missing. I knew it but was not willing to go forward. Why? Fear of the unknown, all that could go wrong....... I ask myself if that is a good reason for not doing what I KNOW I should be about? Am I Jonah? Yes, I have a reason to be afraid. But, God says "Do not be afraid". I came home in tears of gratfulness for that release of fear to do what is right, what deep down I longed to do. Ok.... we are on our way, full throttle forward. Find the boys, bring them home. I love them dearly. I am not afraid. I am realistic, but I am not afraid.

Fast forward to today. Three? I am afraid. Part of me thinks to myself; "Say what girl? I thought you were over this! God talked to you, did he not? You got his hand, go forward." The other part of me says, "But... what if... where...how...?"

I remember all the verses, I remember countless song lyrics. Then this one comes on the radio. Tears spurt out of my eyes. Fear stress coming out. I know it, it has a name. Fear must go. I will be brave. My sons are brave, my daughters are brave. I too will be brave. If God wants us to have three then it WILL work out. Financially something will make it possible. I know we can love three. I know we need them and they need us. Why? How? But......... "with God all things are possible" "Do not fear, for I am with you", "and Jesus said, let the little children come.", "The Lord is my shepherd I shall not want... yea though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death (and my boys have) I am with you...my cup overflows, surly goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life..." . Yes, God can do it.

So, on to living free of fear.

Announcement of Adoption 4-3-08

Thursday, April 3, 2008

Announcement of Adoption

Good News to share!
We have decided to adopt our sons from Ethiopia! Oh yes, I said sons. We hope to bring home two boys, under the age of 5, to join our fun family. Yes, I said adopt! Why? you ask. Ok, it is obvious we have two biological children, hence the question. We want sons, you can not guarantee that with a biological birth-yet; we believe that the world is overpopulated for the current and practical distribution of natural resources and wealth; we know that there are children in the world, a great many, who do not have a loving family to call their own and every child deserves a family of their own; we are Christians and have taken to heart God's desire that we as Christians care for the orphan, and adoption as a means to do so fits well with our other beliefs and desires; we have wanted to adopt for, well, as long as we have known each other and the time is right. You may not agree with all those reasons, but they don't have to be yours. :) Yes, I said Ethiopia. Yes, that is in Africa. Why? you ask again. Well, why not!? Every child deserved a loving family of their own. There are other factors concerning stability and such too. After beginning our research on the country, we are totally sold on the incredible nation of Ethiopia! Take a look at our links if you are interested.

We are all so very excited and hope that you can share our enthusiasm too. I have decided to keep a blog so that others can easily access information about our adoption as they have interest and time. I should be able to update while we are in Ethiopia as well. Yes, we hope to all travel and see the country while we are there.

We began to look for an agency and research countries in late January. In late February we decided on Ethiopia. In early March we decided on International Adoption Net (IAN). We applied and began our home study. Most people we tell are very supportive and want to be part of the adventure in some way. Scroll down for some ideas of how you can be involved IF it interests you.