Finally!!!

We are finally going to get her! We will be leaving sometime around the 5th of September to bring her home!!! We got the email at 6 am this morning, and I am over the top excited and nervous that this whole thing is coming to an end. Praying for those of you still waiting, especially my sweet friends, the Lakeys. I know this wait is crazy hard, and the minute you think you've passes a huge milestone, you find yourself back in this endless pit of waiting. It will happen though!

God is so good...and not just because He gave me what I want today. You know?

update

Just wanted to give everyone a quick update. Hiwot's paperwork was submitted to the Embassy July 28th, and we heard back this past Tuesday that the Embassy needed some additional information. We are hoping that our agency submits what they need tomorrow morning. Then, we will just wait to hear from the Embassy again. Please pray with us that they get what they need, and we get cleared for travel soon. I can't believe it has been 10 months since we first saw her sweet face. So weary of the wait and REALLY ready to bring her home.

Meet Hiwot! We finally passed court last Wednesday, and I am so thrilled to get to say we are officially her parents. More waiting ahead, but I feel like I have another burst of energy to get me through. Let's hope it lasts. Praying for those still waiting to pass court!

more waiting

So MOWA didn't issue an opinion at all on our case today. That means that we are just waiting again...could happen any day, but no one can give a guess at how long it will take. I'm frustrated but am thankful that we don't have to have a new court date. This is crazy!

Tonight while we are sleeping...

Major things happening over in Addis tonight while we are sleeping. People will be deciding whether we become legal guardians to "our" sweet girl. I'll be on pins and needles in the morning!

Update and request for prayer

Good news first - so many of our waiting friends are getting approval letters from MOWCA like crazy! That essentially means they are passing court, and their children are becoming legally theirs. I'm super excited for all of them, and this is what about 30 of us have been waiting for the past few months. So far, 26 of the 30 have received opinions from the court, and out of these 7 are help up for various reasons. We are one of the 7. Ours was held up because of a fingerprint issue I had all throughout the paperwork stage. Everyone is hopeful it will be resolved quickly, but I have learned not to count on anything for sure during this process (except that God is good and in control.) We have another court date on June 13th where we will hear whether MOWCA got what they needed to give us a positive opinion. Hopefully, we will get good news and she will be ours! Once that happens we schedule an Embassy appt. and go get her which is taking 6 - 8 weeks. Please, please, please pray with us that we pass on Monday. Most likely they will be reviewing the file Friday, so prayers for the MOWCA official(s) that day would be helpful. Thanks friends!

Read this today....

Like cold water to a thirsty soul, so is good news from a far country. (Proverbs 25:25)

Really hoping for a call soon:-) Blessings to all my fellow "waiting" friends.

Daniel turns the big 10 today! I can't believe how fast time is flying by with these kids. I think Mark and I will just have to keep adopting to make sure we never have to say good-bye to this season. Daniel - we couldn't be any more proud of you. Love you!

On the adoption front...most of you have heard the great news that things are starting to move again, and we can be expecting good things soon! Truly can't wait to get her home:-)

Hope

Is this adoption where my hope lies right now? Or do I believe what I say I believe...that God is sufficient and that my hope is in Him? Sweet girl coming home is not going to be the end of my angst. There will be more problems to come. My hope, my strength, my joy is found in Him and Him alone. Thankful:-)

Waiting!

I am so ready to bring sweet girl home. The last update we got just made me sad....her eyes just didn't seem to have the same sparkle they used to. I am sure it is me reading into things, but I just feel like she needs to be home. I know God is in control of this process, but I am aching to get her home. Trusting but longing. I so often don't allow myself to feel sadness or hurt because I can always find someone worse off than me. I feel like I just need to be thankful for where I am, and I am so blessed. But right now I want to allow myself to be sad and just plain tired of waiting. I'm not okay with the wait...I'm frustrated that there are babies stacking up in the government orphanages because Gladney can't move babies out of their care right now. And I'm frustrated that there are people who are longing to be parents to the parentless but can't seem to make it happen....that there are sweet kids going to bed at night yet again without a bedtime story and lots of hugs and kisses. I don't want that to ever be okay. I want my heart to hurt for the things that hurt God, and I don't want to be distracted by this crazy world. At the same time, I don't blame anyone. I know Gladney is doing everything possible, and I trust them completely. I choose to believe that everyone involved is working in the best interest of the kids and birth families there. And in a weird way I am thankful for the wait. There is something sweet about the longing, and it brings me back to prayer so often each day. He meets me there EVERY time.

Thoughts on Addis

We've been home a few days now, and I think we finally have our days and nights right now. Thoughts of Ethiopia are still swimming in our heads though. So much I want to record in my memory about our girl's country....

- shanty, shack towns everywhere...they just go on for miles!
- poverty like I've never seen before
- joy despite their circumstances
- dirty feet
- homeless sleeping on the side of the road all over the city
- little and big hands held out asking for money
- babies on the backs of women
- women carrying huge loads of eucalyptus down Entoto Mtn. - can't believe how hard they work
- absolutely BEAUTIFUL people
- sweet babies lying in crib after crib with bottles propped up in their mouths
- the special needs kids at the government orphanage - don't know where to put this in my brain
- sweet men playing with our kids - such love in their eyes
- cars everywhere, constant horn honking, smell of diesel fumes, no stoplights - craziness on the roads!
- donkeys, cattle, goats in the middle of the street
- men holding hands and arms around each other....affectionate people
- boys too young at an all boy's orphanage - kept imagining sweet David there at the age of 5.
- the smell of fire burning all the time (most still cook over open flame)
- a fusbol game with a family at the top of Entoto Mtn - language not a barrier when it comes to fusbol!
- Korah (the dump) - don't know where to put this in my brain either...too much!
- the leprosy hospital and women with no fingers weaving beautiful things
- a crazy baboon at the lion zoo
- a soccer game at Kolfe (boy's government orphanage)
- plates so full of food at a lunch with the Kechene girls (Kechene is the government run girl's orphanage) - we didn't think they could eat it all but they did!
- sweet women at the Bjoe Guesthouse...they took such great care of us
- Gladney - they do all they do with excellence and have a heart for all the children of Ethiopia
- some really neat families that are with us on this journey
- sweet girl and her friends at Gladney - can't wait to get her home

I'm trying not to think about the investigation and the delay in bringing her home....so frustrating, but I know God's got it. His timing is better than mine:-) We are excited to go back!

Home Sweet Home

We are back home and trying to get back into the swing of schoolwork and chores....hasn't been easy so far! The trip was great. It was hard at times....so much poverty and too many little kids with no mommies and daddies....but also really cool. I am hoping I don't just go back to life as usual but that this actually changes something about the way we live. I'm afraid it will fade after a while. Our visits with sweet girl went well. It was a little weird because we weren't supposed to show her any favoritism at all, and she was not to be told we were her parents. So, we just sat and watched a lot...handed out stickers, took pictures of all the kids and showed them over and over to them (they love seeing themselves in photos.) Margo had the hardest time not playing favorites, and her and sweet girl really hit it off. She actually ran up and gave Margo a hug and kiss the second day we came. She is a very pretty girl and has lots of spunk....definitely rules the roost in a room full of 2 year olds. Court day went well. The birth mom relinguished her rights, so all we have to do now is wait for this stinkin investigation to get over :-) Once that happens, we will be assigned an embassy date (hopefully sometime in March) and go back to get her!

The big kids did great, and they made great friends with our driver. (I loved having a driver by the way....I could so use those precious ladies at BJoe and our driver here at home!) I have to admit I was glad to be back to American food. I hope to blog some details of the trip soon....so much I want to share!

Ready to go!

Our bags are packed, and we are ready to go!!!! I can't believe this is actually happening after all these months of waiting. I have to admit that as much excitement there is around this trip, there is a nagging feeling at the same time knowing we will meet her and have to leave her there. Praying for a tiny miracle that we actually pass court but know God's got a plan bigger and better than mine. Here is our loose shedule...
-we leave tomorrow at 3:30pm-arrive Amsterdam 9 hours later....12:30 am Dallas time-3 hour layover in Amsterdam and then off to Addis with one stop along the way - 9 hour flight again. -We arrive mid-day Saturday Dallas time but late Ethiopia time. There is an 8 hour difference.
We get to meet our little girl Monday morning (Addis time). The week is filled with visits to her, a trip to Kidmia (a very cool ministry about 3 hours away from Addis - www.kidmia.org,) shopping, orphanage visits, etc. Our court date is Feb. 4th, so please be praying for that day. We leave the 5th and arrive back here on Sunday the 6th.
Thanks for the prayers, offers to help and well wishes. We will try to keep you posted.

The First One

I've been asking my sweet hubby to create a blog for a while now. Yes, I know I probably could have done it myself, but I always depend on him to do the things I don't want to do. It makes him feel needed, and guys like that. Right? Anyway, I finally got it done with the help of a sweet neighbor...in the nick of time I might add. We leave in 2 days for Ethiopia to meet our little four year old princess. We are in the process of adopting a little girl from there, and I CANNOT wait to meet her. We won't get to bring her home yet because we have to pass court and wait for an embassy appt. before we can go back to get her. Soon though! We hope to travel this spring sometime to pick her up. Our kids, Daniel (9) and Margo (8) are going with us along with Mark's mom, Joyce. We are leaving our sweet little five-year old boy, David, here. I'm hating the though of leaving him, but I know he is going to have a ton of fun at 4 different friends' houses. I hope to use this blog to keep everyone updated and record our journey.