HOW MUCH LONGER!!!

We really had a wonderful Christmas... but I could not get past this feeling like I was missing one of my babies... All day it just felt like something was missing and I could not come out of the funk. I had a few moments of tears while I thought of Grace and how far away she is. I thought she would be here by now....? God's amazing timing is everything and I am thankful for that, I am working on being patient with the timing.

So anyway, there it is... me missing Grace again and we haven't met yet. Praying that she was safe this weekend while we all comfortably sat in our jammies and opened gifts...praying that God will use our family in a mighty way to change lives. That we would stop being so comfortable and start being used.

Thank you Lord for what you have given my sweet family and the blessings of our life, please radically use us to change lives around us. You know I want to.... we are waiting for your calling. Protect my sweet Grace.... please Lord, make this part of the process faster... I can't take it anymore. Help me trust YOU! - Amen

In order to keep life interesting...

Carter broke his little arm yesterday! After an ER trip, a visit to the Pediatrician and a nap we headed to Los Angeles to Children's Hospital to be seen by a Pediatric Orthopedic Specialist. We were so blessed to have someone we love very much treat us to a hotel the night before the appointment so we didn't have to spend 4 hours in the car with Carter being miserable.

After all of that.... a sling is what the doctor ordered. Because of the location of the break.. they can not cast it. He broke his Humerus at the top and all the weight of the cast below it would be more trouble than good. So we have orders to make sure he doesn't act like a regular boy for at least three weeks. No Running. No Jumping. No Climbing. No Wrestling. Hmmmm..... I am not sure how this will all play out.

Here are a few pics from our adventure over the last 36 hours =)

Everyone LOVES an Ethiopian Girl....

  Just been thinking about my baby girl so much this Holiday Season.... missing someone I have yet to meet is a weird thing for me. I guess its exciting and a little sad all in the same moment. Excited for this little girl that I am all but googy over and sad for a the time that we are missing. We don't know anything about her. We don't know her age. We don't know her Ethiopian name. We don't have any information about her medical history and to be honest... it doesn't at all mater to me. I LOVE HER!!!

ACCEPTED AND WAITING!!!

We got a wonderful phone call yesterday... really it was wonderful!! Our social worked called to tell us that our paperwork had been translated and accepted by Ethiopia's Women and Children's Affairs. This is such wonderful news as we are now officially on the waiting list to be matched with our sweet little girl.

How it works now: We wait! There is nothing else that we can do at this point, we are just waiting and praying that God will match us quickly with the little girl that He has already picked out for our family. I have no idea how long the wait will me... 6 weeks, 6 months... 8 months... 12? I don't know, but I am resting in the peace that God has His perfect timing already in motion.

Will you please pray for our family while we wait?!

Stats...

Every month there is a blog from Bethany Christian Services that shares updates on how many Dossiers are in Ethiopia, how many referrals, etc. I thought I would share some of that with you all...

Number of Dossiers Sent to Ethiopia: 21
Number of Referrals: 14

Hoping that the referral number goes up quickly and we included in that number~!

We would love if you all could be playing for us specifically as we make arrangements to have my pacemaker battery changed before we travel.... not sure on the timing, but we are trusting God and knowing that all of this is perfect according to HIS WILL!!

Dossier in ኢትዮጵያ

We are excited to announce that our Dossier is officially in Ethiopia and is being translated into Amheric, the written language of Ethiopia! I have no idea how long this will take as it was over 100 pieces of paper....

On another note, we are having some shirts designed that will reflect our hearts for Ethiopia and the people there... we are going to have those for sale on our Blog and an Etsy page hoping to raise funds for the Orphanage in Ethiopia where we will get our baby Girl from =) We are hopeful to have them ready and for sale by Black Friday!

Also, another fund raising effort is our Coffee! We know there are a few of you who are faithfully getting coffee every month, and it is so appreciated. I am hoping to have log a total of funds that have been donated so we can keep a tracker of those and all rejoice in what is being raised for the Orphanage!

We love you all! Please leave a comment if you are interested in a shirt! 

Day of Excitement....

We are so blessed to be surrounded by people we love who are on the same journey as us, this crazy road of adoption. Some roads are bumpier than others... last year we watched as our beautiful friends grieved the loss of their foster/adopted daughter go back to her birth mother. While their strength has been amazing, the ability to see God through the tears and heartache was inspiring. We have been honored to have many conversations about how God does truly have a plan for our children, that sometimes we don't understand.

This week, they have been given the exciting news of a new daughter to enter their home... she is just a little thing and we are all excited to watch as she gets to grow into this amazing family. So with hopeful hearts we pray for this little person, her heart, our dear friends and their tender hearts. Hope you can join us as we pray for them!
Here is her blog...  http://kuhldays.blogspot.com/

On a little side note, we got word that our Dossier was on its way to Ethiopia today!! I am so excited for such a wonderful day full of wonderful news!

Paper Pregnancy

Its funny how God can change our hearts when we don't even realize it happening. It would be an act of God for me to get pregnant... and I mean a total act of God! I know He is Alive and all powerful so that knowledge alone over the past two years seems to keep me wondering? Is it possible?

But now, after two years of watching most of me friends carry babies in their bellies and show the obvious signs of having a new addition to their family, I am not envious anymore. This is a big step for me! God has changed the way I am viewing things. I don't even care anymore that a stranger on the street doesn't know that we are adding a beautiful person to our family. I am not worried about random people we don't see very often asking when we finally do have our baby girl, where she came from? Because I know it doesn't really matter. 

So, I am excited to announce.....!!! I am having a paper pregnancy!! And for my own benefit I am going to list all the positives to this pregnancy instead of the regular kind.

1. No stretch marks

2. No throwing up

3. No feeling like a bowling ball is resting on my bladder

4. Not putting an extra 60lbs on

5. Not having to wait 2 years to fit into my old clothes, which by then are out of style.

6. Not throwing up!

Anyway, I know there are many beautiful things that come with carrying a baby in your belly, but I am going to focus on the less amazing ones and go with it! 

Here is where I am in the Paper Pregnancy... our Dossier (all the documents we have been gathering over the past 10 months including: 33 notaries, 33 State Seals, and every authentic legal document possible) is in Washington D.C. getting the official "GREAT SEAL" from the United States Secretaries Office. 

I will keep you updated, but we are hopeful to have an update come Monday!!  

Special Moments....

I feel like this picture is true to Noah's personality... funny, quirky and fun loving... and most of the time he does this all in the same moment. Yet, there is a side of him that I am so thankful to see when most people (even Daddy) don't see very often.

Most nights, Daddy puts the big boys to bed and I put Noah to bed. We each have our own routine. Daddy reads and normally there is lots of giggles and some noises that Mommies don't like to hear. I normally read, do a little "baby massage" and then we sing a song and pray... Tonight was different. We had been out and it was already an hour past bed time. I was tired and I could tell Noah was too. So tonight we skipped most of the routine and went right to the song and prayers. But as soon as I put him in bed, he was crying, "please momma snuggle me". How could I say no?!

So we sat in the chair in his room... his little hands rubbing up and down my arm. Slowly he stopped rubbing and I could hear his breathing change over to sleep. There are so many days where we are so busy and things move so quickly I forget that he is just a little guy still. He talks like a 5 year old and keeps up with the big boys so well, but really he is still so small. I sat there, holding a sleeping Noah, and took a mental picture.

Now that all we have left to do is wait for a phone call from our Social Worker that we have been matched with a baby... I want to make sure that I take time to make special moments with my boys before life changes once again. I am so thankful for those boys, they have changed me and I will forever be indebted to each of them.

A simple question... an opportunity...

There are over 147 million orphans on this earth... that statement alone breaks my heart! The question is, what are we going to do about it?!

The number one question that I get asked, over and over again, is "Why did you choose to adopt?" Now this is something that Ricky and I knew ahead of time that we would need to have an answer for..... we hoped and prayed that it would be asked. In the same way you pray that someone will ask you to give an answer for your hope! The answer is really simple actually, yet it has changed our lives forever.

It says in Romans 8:15 "For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father." What a true blessing, that without the natural process of birth, we are still able to be sons and daughters of the most gracious, loving, everlasting Father. That though this "adoption" we are heirs to the throne... that we have a home awaiting us, our forever home. Christ has changed our lives, forever.

I am not going to be so bold to say that by any means, we are Christ-like, but with all our hearts we desire to be..... that is the constant theme in our household. The reasons we constantly remind our boys to speak with respect, not only to us, but to each other. The reason we are on a narrow hard path to show the world a Christ-centered marriage. The reason we go over and over God's word with our boys, the reason behind what the world see as madness... is to be Christ-like. I am also not naive enough to think we will ever be close... but isn't the point to try? Isn't that what we have been charged to do by our Father?

So the answer is this: To bring a child into our home, out of love and by choice... is exactly what Abba has done for us... “His unchanging plan has always been to adopt us into His own family by bringing us to Himself through Jesus Christ. And this gave Him great pleasure” Ephesian 1:5

PEACE... and a promise!

PEACE....

It's Saturday morning, I have been thinking about this post for almost 4 days now. I know, nothing like getting right to it! Seems our lives have been full of that lately. But more than ever before, I am confident in God's opportune timing.

My whole life, I have been told over and over that God's timing is perfect. We have all heard that right? This year, those words, have become real and alive for me. Almost a year ago, we started down this road of adoption. Our goal: To bring a baby girl into our home as fast as we could. In reality, God had better timing. Things that should have taken 6 weeks took 4 months. Things that should have taken 1 day, took 6 weeks. The paperwork that was suppose to be done and ready to go, really wasn't after all. All of these things could have been a deterrent and been a frustration, I am not gonna lie to you, sometimes they were. But for the most part, I was at peace with how long things were taking.

Now that we are done, all we have left to do it wait... I am confident that God has planned this out perfect for our family. Things have changed in Ethiopia over the past year. We will now make two trips together to formally adopt Grace... and then return to pick her up a short time later.

The wait time for a referral went from 12-18 months to 6-8 months. The flights to Ethiopia have gone from $6000 round trip to about $1300 round trip.

You get the picture though... right? God planned for the delay in our paperwork... he planned for this to be a blessing to our family, instead of a stressful time.

More than anything, God has brought our family to a place of peace. With the realization that after asking and asking for peace, it hit me like a load of bricks! Ephesians 2:14 For HE HIMSELF IS OUR PEACE.... (emphasis mine) How can we be seeking and asking for something over and over again, when the moment we decided to follow Christ. To live our lives to honor Him, to accept His loving forgiveness... we had PEACE.

I am so grateful for that understanding and I am excited as we come to the second step in our adoption journey. This step is less work, but will require a great deal of PEACE. Waiting for a phone call asking us to accept the referral of a baby girl will seem like forever away, but in reality I am confident that God will use this time in our lives just as He used the last year. To prepare and make Himself more real, more known.

I am going to promise to blog more... there is my promise.

Some Prayer Requests

Hey ALL! I know its been a while and I am sorry for that... we are stuck in a paper trap of adoption and it seems like its never going to end! Ug.... Anyway, aside from that we are still responsible for loving, feeding, cleaning, etc. THREE already active boys! LOL... So we have been busy!

I am writing this afternoon because I could use some prayer as we move forward in sending out papers to Ethiopia. We have two papers left that need to be signed. One from the Police Department and one from my doctor.

Please be praying that these go quickly and smoothly. I have contacted the police department and no one seems to know what I am talking about and are very hesitant to sign anything in front of a notary. My doctor has also been less than helpful, lets just say this visit is not covered by insurance and they are charging me as much as they can to take three min to sign a paper. I am frustrated and a little discouraged but I am trying to stay motivated. Will you pray for me to stay motivated and not be discouraged?? It would mean the world to me!

Thanks again to everyone who has been getting coffee from our page.... http://justlovecoffee.com/search4grace

Its amazing and you are appreciated!

The Huff's *Posted today by the Momma*

Inspired this morning

Good Morning! I am feeling inspired this morning so I thought I would take a few moments before the kids get up and share where we are in the adoption of our baby girl Grace.

Well, we are still in the paperwork process! I know right, its so much paperwork. We have completed our Dossier (which is the packet that goes to Ethiopia) and have been so blessed to have a good friend do all the notary on it for free!! Thanks D.J.!! As soon as we get that back, make the copies, and send it to our social worker we are ready to go!! We will then have it authenticated by as many branches of the government you can think of, and then it will be off to Ethiopia!

I am a true believer in a God who if you ask, He will answer. So I am asking all my praying, God fearing, God honoring friends whom I am blessed to have, to pray with me. I want to pray specifically that God would move us through the referral process quickly. That although the standard wait time is over 12 months for a referral, that God would move in the situation and bring us our baby Grace quickly. Specifically that we would be able to travel before the end of this year to adopt her legally and bring her home. Thank you for doing this for our family and for Baby Grace. We love you all and are so thankful for all your support!

YIPPIE!!!

I am honored to announce that according to the United States Homeland Security we will be able to provide a stable and caring home for an orphan!!! What that means people, IS THAT WE ARE READY TO SEND ALL OUR DOCUMENTS TO ETHIOPIA!!!!

At this point, we have been cleared completely by the US Government, all billion departments of it, to bring a Non US Citizen into the country as a legally adopted child. It was such an amazing piece of mail to get today! The next step is to have a notary party, and hopefully to be able to send away all our documents Monday or Tuesday of next week to Ethiopia, where we will wait for a match... that is the part that we have no idea on the timing of it all. Looks like it still will be closer to the end of 2010 or the beginning of 2011.

Some really great news also came last week, that attached to the National Health Care Bill, which I am not really a fan of for many reasons, on the very last page was a small miracle for our family. On the last page of a 906 page document, was the extension to the Adoption Credit that we had been so faithfully praying to continue. Some of you know, but most of you don't. There is a large Adoption Tax Credit that was set to expire at the end of 2010. With this amazing news, not only was it extended, it was increased by a few hundred dollars!! So thankful for that amazing gift of God providing for our family.

This was even more exciting, as it came on the heals of more news. This news was a little more shocking and not as exciting. With Ethiopia being a third world country, there are bound to be changes in the adoption program as they learn and grow within their own justice system. So in the last several weeks it has come to pass that not only will we have to travel TWICE to Ethiopia, once for the court date and once to pick her up, but BOTH of us will be required to go. So in our planning it went from one round trip ticket to for sure THREE and possibly FOUR! This was a huge shock to our budget and planning, but through it all God gave me such a peace about the change. He kept telling me, "I will provide that for you, don't stress"... and boy did HE!

Here is brief snap shot at what we have been so blessed with in the past few months, which I know was God laying the ground work for the change that was to take place in the financial planning of the adoption.

1. I had a job land in my lap! Not only is it something that I really enjoy doing, but I am blessed with an amazing boss who allows me to work from home most of the time. His generosity surpasses that of a boss, which is why for many years before this we have called him family. I am so blessed by the opportunity to stay with my boys, have a job I love, and provide financially towards the bringing my baby girl home to her momma.

2. My amazing, smart, handsome, hard working, handsome, driven, handsome... ok... ok... Ricky, had his year review at work, let me just say, I could not have been prouder. He could not have done any better since there was no room on the scale for him to get a higher score! I love this man, he lives his life to do God's work, to provide for his family, and to do all of that to best of his ability. I am so blessed to do life with him. So anyway, with that, comes a pay increase!!

3. Let me just say, Ricky also has an amazing boss who loves our family, and has requested from the head boss man, that my love be promoted to an Engineer 3 position!!

4. We have been in the process for over 9 months now to modify our home loan, tonight we got word that we were finally in the last stages of getting a modification and we soon would have a lower house payment with no damage to our credit score. Such a blessing and we are so indebted to Jimmy and the office for all their hard work on this long process. Thank you guys!!

So in short, well actually long, we have mostly good and some shocking news this last little bit.

Thank you for your continued prayers and financial support through out coffee page !!!!

We love you all,

The Huffs *Written tonight by the Momma*

Some Additional News that has been posted

On our Agency Blog there has been a lot going on, so I thought I would up date ours too. About two weeks ago there were rumors floating around that Ethiopia would be changing their policy from only requiring parents to come once, when you pick up your child, to now have to go twice. This would be effective April 9th, 2010.... here is what the blog said on Friday....

Hi everyone -

The much hoped for meeting today between the adoption agencies and the Ethiopian court did not take place due to the court president (whoever that is?) not being around (not sure where he/she is) - the communication I received simply stated that the meeting has been postponed indefinitely due to the Court President not being available.

I was also told that there is now an "official" printed notice on the message board in the Court complex stating that as of April 9th, the new rule of requiring adoptive parents to be present for the court hearing, shall be put into place.

Please know that BCS will continue to advocate and try and work with the Ethiopian court and adoption judges to see if there is anything we can do to postpone and/or revise this new rule. We will keep you posted as we hear additional details.

Also, I will meet with Pam and Tendai once they get back in the country to see how this will affect our program and our in-process families.

Stay tuned and thanks again for your patience in this situation.

Please be praying for the additional funds for this second trip... it was not in the our original plan. We know that God is good, and that this is His plan. We are confident He will provide.

Thank you all so much for your support.

Brandi and Ricky

So many....

Tonight my heart is full of emotions...... because our adoption agency has two orphanages in Haiti, we have been well informed of the situation as it was unfolding. Both with the country of Haiti and with the process for the families who have been waiting month to adopt from Haiti. Tonight, as we learn the staggering number of children that will be left without families I just can hardly hold back the tears. I know God has called our family to bring Grace home from Ethiopia, there is not a doubt in my mind. So why do I feel my heart being called to bring another child home?

Our wait for Grace is looking like another year or more, these children need help now.... I just feel so overwhelmed.... so please as you think of us this week, please pray for clarity in our hearts.

Quick update on Grace... we are waiting for the Department of Homeland Security to approve our application still... seems like its taking forever!! But we did hear something that was exciting... friends of ours have family in Ethiopia near the orphanage where Grace will be from, and they are going and holding and loving on their friends babies while they are waiting to come to America... the thought that maybe someone we know and trust will be able to hold Grace and love on her brought mixed emotions from me... and I know when its time I will be grateful. At this moment though, I feel almost jealous of that time spent with my baby girl.... sounds weird I know, and I am praying for God to take away that feeling... thanks for praying my friends, its a process.

Paperwork, Paperwork and more Paperwork!!!

We got a call from our social worker yesterday, and our Homestudy is complete and has been singed off by the director of Bethany Christian Services. Which means.... that now it will be sent to Los Angeles to the Department of Homeland Security to hopefully meet up with our application to bring a non US citizen into the country. Once that is complete, and we receive yet another finger printing appointment (this will be 4 total) we will be well on our way to sending all our info to Ethiopia to be matched with our little girl!!! YA!!

I also wanted to answer a question that we have been getting a lot lately: Do we know who she is yet? And the answer to that is NO =( How it works is that once we have put a request in with the Ethiopian Government, we are then placed on a list. Once our name reaches somewhere close to the top of that list and we are matched with a little girl, then we will know as much as they know about her. Mind you, that could be very little. We will likely get a picture and some medical information but even that might not be accurate. So we are right now, just praying that no matter where she is, or rather WHO she is, that she is being protected by our loving Jesus.

Prayer Requests:

If you all could be praying that over the next two weeks, which will be a mad dash of paperwork, that is all goes smoothly? We have already been surprised by people's willingness to help once they learn that all of this jumping through hoops is to bring our baby girl to her forever family.

Ok so that's all for tonight!!

ps... maybe leave a shout out if you are following this?? Am I writing no one? LOL!