Ethiopian Adventure Part 2

The 2 years leading up to this trip had been very long and hard, but this 24 hrs before we got to meet him seemed even longer! If you haven't ever flown internationally-it is not fun! In fact, I would go as far as to say that I loathe it. I have made the trip to Africa 4 times now, and I feel like it gets longer every time.

After Jonathon leaving his backpack(with every important adoption paper in it!) on the airport shuttle, our driver not picking us up in Addis (where we do not speak the language or know anyone!), and our room reservation being given away, we FINALLY made it to the safety of our guest house in the same city as our soon to be son! Like I said LONG 24 hrs!

We take a fast shower and head to the house he has been living! We were so excited, our hearts could have lept out of our chests! We arrive at the house, everyone is thrilled to have American visitors, so all the older kids are gathering around. One of the nannies leads us through the house and into his room. It is a moment I will never forget.

Our sweet baby boy was sleeping so peacefully in the outfit we had sent him, clinging to one of the toys we had sent as well. Although he was in a deep sleep, he was absolutely gorgeous and my heart immediately confirmed this is our son.

I had thought that from the time we first heard about him in June and saw his pictures, even though he was very sick. And all those weeks of skyping and getting to see him through a screen. But there in that little room, with several cribs filled with other babies, I will always cherish the moment I first saw my son.  In that moment, all of my fears slipped away.

We let him sleep as we gave out Christmas presents and supplies. But as soon as he awoke, he was in our arms. He immediately warmed up to Jonathon-this boy LOVES his daddy! Me, he wasn't so sure about at first. He didn't cry, he is a very content, happy baby. He just seemed confused. I am VERY different than the nannies or any women he has come in contact with. He was perplexed by my hair especially.

Then, off we went back to our hostile to enjoy getting to know our little one!

Ethiopian Adventure part 1

Finally, the trip we have been praying, waiting and hoping would finally come. Our trip to meet our sweet boy. I had been so over-the-top excited since we found out about our court date that the weight of this trip hadn't sunk in. It is a very unusual, huge thing to take in: the day you are going to meet your child. It's really hard for me to put it into words. When you are pregnant, you have an estimated due date, but that isn't a sure thing. You aren't really sure what day your child will arrive. Also, with Emory, never once did I think "I really hope she likes us." That wasn't an option-she doesn't have a choice! Not that he does either, but still, these are things that go through your mind.

Over these past 2 years, I have been taking in everything that I can to "prepare" us. I read every book I can get my hands on, went to classes, conferences, talked with other families that had adopted, etc. Now it was our turn to use those things in real life. How would we feel about him? Would it be like taking care of a stranger?

I have heard people say, "It really takes a special person to adopt." I've got news for you, people that adopt aren't any different than anybody else. We still have the same fears that everyone else does.

Now it was time to face those fears and questions, as we get to meet and hold this precious child the Lord has deemed to be ours. I had so many feelings I could have burst.

We packed up all the amazing supplies that so many had been donated and finally headed to the airport!

Our Christmas Gift

As many of you know, lately the wait has been increasingly difficult. From around the beginning of November on, with each day that passed and no word, our chances for meeting our precious boy before the end of the year were depleting.  The thought of not seeing him before Christmas and him not having a family to spend such a special day with was so hard to think about.

As our hope was fleeting, another family from our agency was heading over there at Thanksgiving, and we were able to send him a small package for Christmas.

We were so glad his court date on the 5th went smoothly, but also very discouraged when we didn't receive our court date. Often times I read from the devotional Jesus Calling. This is an excerpt from December 11th-
"I am working on your behalf. Bring Me all your concerns, including your dreams. Talk with Me about everything, letting the Light of My Presence shine on your hopes and plans. Spend time allowing My Light to infuse your dreams with life, gradually transforming them into reality. This is a very practical way of collaborating with Me. I, the Creator of the universe, have designed to co-create with you. Do not try to hurry this process. If you want to work with Me, you have to accept My time frame. Hurry is not in My nature. Abraham and Sarah had to wait many years for the fulfillment of My promise, a son. How their long wait intensified their enjoyment of this child!"

Ever feel like God is speaking directly to you? Wow.

Wake up 12-12-12 to an email from our director-we have our court date: December 25th. Well played God, well played.

I am so incredibly humbled by our Lord. We will be celebrating the birth of Christ on the same day this precious little boy will be transformed from orphan without a family, into a SON, brother, nephew, grandson, and great grandson.

What an awesome God we serve.

Hard to Sleep...

Some of you have been texting and calling to see how court went? And we don't want to leave you hanging anymore!

For us, this felt kind of like a kid waiting for Christmas morning! We had a count down going and the days dragged by, until finally the time had arrived. Yesterday was the longest day ever! A dear friend reminded me of Philippians 4:4-7, I tried not to worry but to trust that even though this important case was happening a half a world away from us, the LORD was near. He knows our heart and He knows what is best for this sweet boy.

Our little family had some special time together in the nursery last night. We decided to do Emory's bedtime routine in there. She picked some of Baby G's books for us to read together. The first one was "God Found Us You." If you know anyone that is or has adopted, I highly recommend it. It is a children's book, but it spoke to me in such powerful ways as it talked about how much the mom waited and longed for this precious baby. And even when days got long and hard, she knew that God planned perfectly. Here I am, thirty years old, and taking life lessons from a kids book! Thank you Jesus!

We figured the case would be between midnight and 7 am our time. It was so hard to sleep!...

This morning, every time I turned over in bed, I checked my phone for an email from our agency! We broke down and emailed them at 9:30, to find out they were having communication issues getting in touch with their representative. Finally, a little while later they were able to get an email through to tell us that everything went well in court! PRAISE THE LORD! Unfortunately, we are awaiting a letter from the courts before we will have our court appointment date. Bummer. Not exactly what we were hoping for. They are thinking they will get this letter in the next few days and we will know our date!

So thankful things went well and we are another step closer to this baby joining our family! Thank you from the bottom of our hearts for your prayers, support, and encouragement!

Court Date...Kinda

Wanted to give you all our most recent news! Once we were submitted to court, November 14, we thought we were waiting to hear when our court date would be. Instead we got an email telling us things have changed a little. Usually, change is not a good thing in adoptions, but this time it isn't that bad.

Apparently, there will be two Ethiopian court dates for baby G. The first one is for the orphanage, any living relatives, and our agency to be present for. The second one is for the adoptive parents to be interviewed. These take place on two separate days. In the past, they have given the agency both dates at the same time.  Recently, the judge has decided to wait until the first court appointment before they are scheduling the date for the adoptive parents.

So, Baby G's first court date is December 5th! That's right a week from tomorrow! Wohoo! No, this is not the date we will be going to, but it is a very important day in the life of our little one! Hopefully, after this court appearance, we will have the date that we will be going over to Ethiopia to meet our sweet boy and stand before the judge ourselves!

To say that we would appreciate your prayers is a massive understatement! Ethiopia is 9 hours ahead of us, so the appointment will take place in the middle of the night for us on Tuesday night/Wednesday morning-please pray for our family!

Case Submitted.

Wednesday morning we got the email that we have been waiting, praying, begging and pleading would finally come-Baby G's paperwork was completed and submitted to court! PRAISE THE LORD! We are so incredibly thankful that our family is one step closer!

Thank you so much for your prayers, encouragement, and support! We cannot thank you enough for that-it truly has meant more than you will ever know! These past 5 months, since we have had a name and face to go with our adoption plans, have been difficult, to say the least. As we have seen him change and grow, each day we aren't with him gets harder, but the Lord has heard your prayers and ours helping us and him along the way. We are forever grateful.

What's next? Next, we will be getting an email with our court date! This will be our first trip over there-where we actually get to meet him, hold him, give him lots of hugs, kisses and attention! It will also be when we go to court to make the adoption official on the Ethiopian side of things. When? That's a tough one. I hate to put a time-frame on it since the last one was so far off! "Typically" you hear back with your scheduled date 1-2 weeks after submitted. Then it can be anywhere from a week to usually 6 weeks before your actual court date.

Please keep the prayers up-we are still hopeful that we may be able to make it over there before the end of the year! Please join us in those prayers!

Questions and Prayers

Since we have started sharing the news of our little one, we have gotten a lot of questions. I mean A LOT. I am so glad people are interested in being part of this journey with us! I thought I would take a minute to answer those FAQs!

1. Are you sure this baby is the one you are going to adopt? Most people have asked this of our parents. Understandably-just wanting to know how sure we are this baby is going to be part of our family. The harsh truth is it isn't 100%, nothing is with international adoption. I would say at this point we are 90% sure. We are waiting on paperwork-which is taking much longer than we would like! In our minds, he is our son. We love and pray for him as if he will be.

2. What is his name? Are you going to keep it? We can't quite share his name on here yet for the safety and protection of the adoption. I can tell you, we do plan to keep his Ethiopian name as his middle name, and it means "wonderful."

3. Is he still in an orphanage? Yes and no. He was actually moved from his orphanage to what is called a transition house because the orphanage simply couldn't care for infants that young. This is an answer to prayer! The transition house, although still full of orphans that need and deserve families, does have more resources. When I spoke with them Saturday-there were 12 infants in this house along with  20+ older children.

4. What's next? The first thing is his paperwork being officially ready for us. We are hopeful this will happen in the next couple of weeks. Then, our case will be submitted to court. From there, we will receive our court date. That is when we will make our first trip to meet him and go to court to adopt. Then, we will come back to the states as our case is submitted to the US embassy. When we pass the embassy-we make our second trip to Ethiopia and bring him home!

5. And the most asked question-when will we get to bring him home? The truth is, we don't know. I wish we did. This is where we are asking begging for your prayers.

How can you specifically pray?
-Pray for his paperwork and those that handle it
-Pray for his health and that he is getting the nutrition his body needs
-Pray for his nannies that he is picked up, held, and loved on each day
-Pray for us-that we will have peace and patience during this trying time of waiting
-Pray that we can have him home before the end of the year-most days it feels like this would require a miracle, but we still believe in miracles!
Join us in praying that the Lord would hold and care for this precious son of His until He can use us to show him that love!

We truly cannot thank you all for your prayers-they mean more than anything else! If a picture would help remind you to pray for our little guy, message me your address and I would be happy to mail you one!

Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:6-7