Selfish....

Soooo... I am guessing that my selfishness has been brought to light this last week. We got an update that stated: "Your paperwork is ready to be resubmitted, however we are waiting to submit everyone's together"............ long pause, deep breath, and cry selfish "why oh why do we have to go all together" tears. Please don't get me wrong, I LOVE each of the families that we have been on this extended journey with, each of them have a special place in my heart... I know that we will forever be friends and have a bond that no one, unless you have been in our shoes, could duplicate. I LOVE each of their children, having wept long hours over each of the names and we prayed for them. I am selfish, and I am working on it and praying for forgiveness as God continues to bring to light what He wants changed in me.

We are now only getting updates on Fridays, which makes for a long week, but I am praying this week will bring tears of joy...

We are at the end of re-doing our dossier, since we have been told that it expired yesterday. So my prayer warrior friends, would you pray with us that we can get our paperwork completed and sent to Ethiopia as quick as possible and that if for some reason Federal MOWA looks at our file prior to us getting the new paperwork to them, that they would pass us even without the updated documents.... since nothing has changed, I am still the same person that I said I was on my birth certificate 2 years ago, which has not changed in 30 years. =/

26 Weeks.....

This week marks the 26th week since we left Ethiopia, since we have been able to hold and love on our kiddos. 26 weeks of waiting for a the paperwork to be processed so we can bring them home.

We have been enlightened over the past several weeks of the "new" processes in which our case falls into, and we are tracking carefully to see what is next and what we need to be praying for to happen in Ethiopia.

It is so complicated, and most of the time I feel like unless I am talking to someone who is engulfed in the world of Ethiopian Adoption, I sound like this "wahwahwhahhawhaha". We have basically given this new process a 14 step breakout processes and as of yesterday we are on step number 7.

God has been teaching me so much through all of this, I thought I had learned patience, and I think I have. But what I guess I had not learned was that these kids, or Jake or Carter or Noah are not my own. They are God's children given to me for a short period of time, to be used by God to help mold and shape them into the people God has carved for them in the future, to assist them in impacting their worlds for Christ. And in our home or not in our home, they are God's children. I am learning trust now. Trust in the God that brought our two Ethiopian babies to us and trust in a God who is holding them close while we can not.

"The Journey is the Reward"..... something I am being constantly reminded of....

Throughout my life, God has taken me on many journeys. Some private, some public. Some that have brought me closer to Him and some that have pushed me and I chose to walk away from Him. The Journey's God has given me, to grow me, to shape me have actually been more rewarding than the actual end of the specific journey.

When I found myself to be a single Mom, with a 6 week old, I was sure that I had reached the end of what I could handle in my young life. After having lost three amazing, precious babies back to my Lord... I was finally able to hold and love my son and I was all the sudden going through a divorce. I am thankful that this journey brought me back to the Lord. It taught me to lean on the strength of my Savior, on the family and friends that God placed in my life. This journey has given me the ability to become part of who I am today. I love deeply and with my whole heart. I take my relationships with my family and friends with a seriousness that sometimes freaks people out. I am loyal to the end. That journey of my life brought many rewards.

I am on another journey, and I am excited for the what God is doing in my life... and what those rewards will be when this part of the journey is complete. Who knows what the next journey will be? Who knows what I will learn or how I will be stretched? God does. And I bet He is as excited for it as I am. =)

Still Waiting...

Well, the reason for the silence is compounded right now. One.. we moved to our new house and don't have internet, so blogging has gone to the wayside. Surely, there is not enough time in the day to do this at work!

Second, I feel like if I write it, it makes it more true. We are still waiting. Waiting to pass Court. Waiting for the letters from MOWA to come through. Today we got told that all Southern Region cases were moving forward, except the region where "K" and "G" are from.... I am doing my very best here to give this all over to a God bigger than my worry or sadness.

We would appreciate your prayers over "K" and "G" while we wait to bring them home. 

A little snippet...

As most of you know, we can not post pictures of the kids until we bring them home (if I knew when that would be I might be less crazy)... but I do have a few pictures that don't show their faces and are very special to us.

 Our sweet girl with her Momma

Daddy and his little peep's hands <3

The question I am getting right now the most? How are you doing without them? Do you miss them? To be honest, I have shared with the people closest to me that the feeling of leaving them there has left me with a feeling of grief so close to the death of someone you love, it actually shocked me. Don't get me wrong, I had plenty of thoughts about it being really hard to leave them, but I had in no way prepared myself for the feeling of loss and grief that I feel. And it was not instantly.

Over the past two weeks, the feeling has grown and developed into what it is now, grief. I have been praying for peace and as dear friends have traveled and seen the kids this week, I am blessed with an "in person" update that they are well. 

I wish I could hold "G" and tell him we are coming soon. I know he understands what is happening, and I want so much to be the person that explains and loves on him while he prepares for this change in his life. 

Would you call pray for the kids during this time of waiting? I want so much for them to be blissfully unaware of the wait and to play with the light hearts of children. 

Home.... and still in Ethiopia

So we are home from our Court Trip to Ethiopia! It was a trip that has forever changed our lives and we are excited to share with you all. I have a bunch of photo's that we took, most of them are of the kids, which we can not share right now, but the others are of Ethiopia and the people there.

Being in Ethiopia was amazing, it was a roller coaster of emotions. In one day, we went from the highest of high (being with the kids at the orphanage) to the lowest low (leaving them until we can return to Ethiopia). And there were lots of in-between!

We were blessed to travel with an amazing group of people, who have forever changed our lives. We love each of them and are blessed to have shared this experience with them.

I wanted to journal while we were there, but honestly it was so packed with stuff to do and by the time we got back to the guest house, we were exhausted! I am hopeful that through a bit of blogging I can recap our experiences there.

Here are just a few of the amazing moments we shared together in Ethiopia!

Ethiopian Sunrise is AMAZING! 

The Ethiopian culture is rich and proud

We were honored to have spent the afternoon with our Sponsor child from AHOPE! We were forever changed by her love and spirit! Can't wait to come back to see you "D" in a few weeks and we are praying for you as your family changes and is reunified! 

More pictures and stories to come! 

Are you getting ready??

That is the question of the month! But who has time to pack??!! Kiddos, Work, School for Mommy, School for Big Boys, House Hunting, Wedding Planning (Yippie for my sister!!), Baby Waiting (Yippie for my other sister and her twin baby girls!!), and living out of boxes for two months  makes it really really hard to think about even packing for Ethiopia! 

I don't know what to bring.. I don't know what to wear.. excuse for new clothes?? hmmm..... I DON'T EVEN KNOW WHERE MY SUITCASES ARE!!!!

We have been looking for a house for months now... well since March to be exact. We have put in multiple offers, all which have been accepted and then we waited for nothing! All short-sales and all taking WAY to long... so randomly we looked at a house that was farther out of town than we thought we wanted... about a half mile on a dirt road. 15 min from TARGET!!! I know... don't worry after the shock was gone I think I will be ok... Anyway, we looked it this past Sunday and fell in love! It is everything we wanted and MORE and all the things we didn't think we wanted but God said "Oh ya, you do!" and we do!

Here is one of the amazing views from the house... 

So on Monday (yes today is Thursday) we put the offer in on the house... after multiple back and forth with the agent, myself, the other agent, the seller... we agreed on a price and on Tuesday we signed the Sale Contact!!!

Sooooooo.... I am going country people! I have no idea how this will play out with my three inch heels... guessing I might need a pair of tennis shoes? We will be the proud owners of a beautiful house on 1 1/2 acres in hopefully less than 30 days!

Did I mention we leave for Ethiopia in 31 days... lol! 

We are oh so excited and Ricky has been looking at all kinda of weird stuff on Craigslist... like fainting goats and chickens... hmmmm.... I think no on the goat but I am willing to talk about chickens...

Here is the garden... and I think I could do chickens and fresh veggies! We are planning lots of fruit trees and some grapes for a little home made wine making! 

So anyway, lots going on over here and not a lot of time to pack for Ethiopia! 

An Update and Wonderful News!!!

Ya… probably been to long since I blogged. Life can get that way sometimes. We are still in-between houses so without the normalcy of our own house I think it feels different to sit in front of my laptop and write. Anyway, enough excuses…. Here is the latest on the adoption!

We received a Court Date!! We are scheduled to leave Los Angeles on Nov 20^th at 4:00 and arrive in Ethiopia on November 22^nd at 11:45am. We are getting to have an overnight in Dubai!!!  I am really excited about that since I have never been anywhere in the Middle East!! We will be gone a whole week this trip. We bought our tickets and have confirmed our reservation for the Morning Coffee House near the orphanage. We have Court on the 25^th, the day after Thanksgiving… and boy will we be THANKFUL!!

Our big man “G” has been sick the past two weeks but we finally got a report this morning that he was completely well and they were happy with his response to the antibiotics. He lost about 2.2 lbs while he was sick and is still lacking an appetite but it sounded like they were doing a good job at enticing him  to eat good food to gain that weight back.

We have close to 200 pairs of Croc’s to take to Ethiopia!!! What a huge blessing! We really need you all to be praying over getting them into the Country. It seems in most recent trips families who have brought a lot of one item have been held at customs for some time. We have been in contact with our Agency and they are speaking with the In-Country coordinators to see if there is anything they can do for us. A letter? Someone from the Orphanage to come receive the items? I guess customs thinks we will sell them there? It makes me sad to see goods being held up in customs when they are needed so much in Ethiopia.  So please please be praying with us that all will go smoothly through customs for the Croc’s!!

I am so thankful for all who participated and made collecting these Croc’s possible! We are so blessed by each of you and especially my sweet friend Terri, who took it upon herself as mission to collect from all over the world!

I am sure we will update again soon!!