Our Ethiopian children and their friend!

So the story keeps getting better. I heard from Naty's(that is the boys name from church and ethiopia) mom. She sent me back pictures she had taken in Ethiopia of our children together. These were taken from her trip in April. In one picture my youngest son Yared is sitting on the same bed as Naty. Another one Kidist has her arm around him and is smiling. Another one shows a group shot where all three are there. We are going to have dinner with this family tomorrow night. And Naty keeps saying to his mom "Kidist and Yared come home. No not now." God is so amazing!

God brings a heart friend to our kids....

Today…was amazing and such a blessing. In Sunday school we had introduced ourselves and also mentioned our new children. We just received the referral Wed. Then a gentleman introduced himself and said one of his children was from Ethiopia. Right then and there I was thrilled. Also, most of my friends have the typical 2.5 children so I am thrilled with meeting people with big families. After the class, we spoke a little more and discovered that he also adopted through AAI and that ther son was at Layla House . Our children have been there since December 6th. This child came home in April.

We went to gather our kids to take to their regular Sunday school classes. We met the little boy 3 or 4 years. I had made a photo album from some of AAI’s snapfish shots. This little boy and his family were the only ones I ended up showing this album to. When he saw Yared he had a huge smile on his face and seemed to know who he was. Then during worship time I decided to give him a picture because he looked so happy. After church..I saw him again. I showed the boy some more pictures. And then he SHOCKED ME (of course I was delighted)..pointed to a picture of my middle child and said KIDIST….I am so touched by the fact that God could bring these children a friend from across the planet and also friends to us with similar experiences. GOD takes care of everything...what a miracle...

OH HAPPY DAY..We have a referral of three!

On wed we received a referral of a sibling group of three. YeS THREE... Ejigayehu (8), Kidist (6) and Yared (4)...two girls and a boy. We are elated. We of course originally planned on only 2 but when the time came to chose from the waiting child DVD's these children seemed perfect and we then fell in love with them. We waited to hear of their availability and then we were thrilled to find out they would be offered to us. We said YES about 10 minutes after reading all of their paperwork. God is good and amazing.

Last week I had a few minute to myself and was praying while eating a salad at a restaurant. The kind of praying you do while you are by yourself and just talking to God while going on with your day to day stuff. I said DEAR GOD...you have asked us to do a big thing. I am so scared. How is this going to work? Was Noah scared when God told him to build the ark and everyone thought he was crazy? God made it clear to me that my concerns and stress are based on my limited AMERICAN PRIVILEGED mind set. Do the kids NEED Nike sneakers...do they NEED a guarantee at this young age about college etc? Right now they need love which we can give them...they need the simple stuff like knowing they can count on an adult to hold them if they are sad. They need clean water. They need to know they are safe at night. They need to see healthy adults who have the luxury of worrying about what new business venture to invest in rather than adults who aren't sure there if they will make it another year. They need to be able to dream about falling in love and getting married and maybe even seeing their grandchildren. Or taking for granted going to dinner with their own adult child one day...something their mother never had.....My concerns are limited and can cause me to have the type of thinking that would get in the way of seeing the bigger picture...God's picture. Orphans and widows are serious business to God and He has promised us that He will show up in our lives and our homes through this. While I don't have all of the answers as to HOw we are going to do all of this with 6 kids....we just have to believe, pray more, have more faith and hold on to God a little tighter.

D

Homestudy Approved and Referral Imminent!

Our homestudy was approved friday and we will be looking forward toward getting a referral in the next week or so. We ask for prayer in making the right decisions for our family. How do you decide looking at a DVD with one sibling group whose parents are both deceased, one whose mother had to bring them to the orphanage because she won't make it through the year and another abandoned...these are just theoretical but not far fetched in Ethiopia.We are so excited and simultaneously very scared. I was praying this week and asking God if Noah said to himself at any time while building the ark "am I crazy?"....We know this is what GOd wants and He is asking us to do something really big. But being human we worry.And we also can't help already feeling showered by GOd's blessing in this...and it feels very sweet.....so please pray and we will update you all when we hear anything...

Homestudy and Dossier finished....!

Yay...today i mailed the dossier to AAI and received a homestudy draft update from Mandala. The courts close in Ethiopia from August to October. I am not sure why but think it is weather related. But I believe we can get a referral prior to that. Even if we had a referral we would then have to wait a few months after October for our paperwork to be completed and then to get a travel date. But all of that seems to work well with our sched of our new house , work etc. We also have not yet had our fingerprinting appointment in Charlotte or received approval from USCIS withour 171H document which is the approval to adopt internationally. That won't come until the fall as well....So just wanted to give everyone an update. We are excited....And all of the kids at home are well...Andrew started school again on 7/9 and my oldest is traveling on vacation to Hilton Head this week. The baby is potty training and doing well. We are rewarding her with lollipops and smarties...after a dry day. This morning she said "i want a lollipop"...I said "you have to wait until after you have a dry day with your underwear today and then you can get one." About 20 minutes later she said "mommy I need to go to the doctor...I am sick"...I said "really, you don't feel well?" She said "I need to go to the doctor and get a lollipop and sticker"...She is so smart..