Extra prayers!

Please give us some extra prayers. I am just about losing any patience I have left especially after these two new letters. It would appear that somehow the kids thought we were coming last week...dressed up and then we weren't there...WAAAAA!!!!!!!!!

on the plus side...the note I received from Ejigayehu was amazing. She mentions something from the bible about "wiseness comes from the fear of God"....Prior to adopting the one thing that committed us was a vision I had about being face to face with God and Him saying "why didn't you do the one thing I wanted...which was to adopt" i recall telling someone that that was the one time I really experienced the fear of God. And I didn't want to ever come face to face with Him and have to tell Him why I didn't obey...It really is no coincidence that this is my daughter. Somehow God has connected us and she even somehow is unknowingly aware of my past visions...incredible.

Letter from Ejigayehu
To my dear family (the one I love),
How are you? I am doing good. So is Kidist, Yared and Leni(who is Leni??)? How about you all? I always thank God and pray all the time. I hope you know how much I love you. I can’t wait until you come. I was looking for a sister and a brother and I found both. I love you. Until we see each other again, I would like to leave you with one verse from the bible: “ the beginning of wiseness is the fear of God” (sorry translator didn't remember the exact saying in English)
Bye, I love you


Letter from Melkam
How are you doing? I am doing great. We were ‘faked’ this week. We were told a family was going to come and we thought it was you. So we all got together, did Ejigayehu’s and Kidist’s hair, Martha, Yared and I dressed up, with Kidist wearing the T shirt you brought for her, and were awaiting for your arrival anxiously. We then found out that it was a different family coming.
We had a great time for thanksgiving. Everyone in our house went to Sheraton, and had a big feast with great food and music. How did you spend your thanksgiving?
From Melkam and Martha

Letters from Melkem!

As a reminder Melkem is Ejigayehu's friend and is older (about 11 or 12). She has taken Ejigayehu under her wing and is best friends with her. We write to her and her sister Martha (9) who has been in the orphanage awhile but now have a family.

Letters from Melkam

Letter from Melkam to Deanna

To my dear mother,

How are you doing? If it is God’s will and I get a gift, I will write my address and keep in touch with Ejigayehu through letters. If you ever meet our family, please introduce them to Ejigayehu. I love you all. I am filled with happiness. You too should rejoice in the Lord.

I love you,

“I prayed to God, and He heard my prayer. Amen”

Letters to siblings

To Ejigayehu and Sisters

To my brother and sister, Andrew and Sam,

Even if people are not blood relatives, they can be brothers and sisters. I would like you guys to know that Ejigayehu loves you very much. She always talks about you. She is glad to have a big sister, a small brother and sister. She used to pray for a family just like yours. It is hard for Ejigayehu to speak English, but she is a smart girl. You guys can teach her English, right? It is for times like these that God gives us a brother and sister.

Good bye. I love soooo much.

Love and Peace

Letter to mark from Melkam

To Mark (the one I love),

How are you? I am doing good. Ejigayehu and I are the best of friends. She was first at KG house. Then she came to our house and in the process of showing her around the compound, we became very close friends. Then I started seeing her as my sister. She is a very good girl. You will probably know more of her kindness in the future. I can’t wait until I see you in person, especially you with Ejigayehu. I am so happy because we found a family.

I love you. Love and piece for you.

More Letters from Ejigayehu!

I hate waiting but I am loving these letters.

Letter to Samantha and Matea

To my dear sister (the one I love),

How are you doing? I am doing good. I was looking for a little sister and now I found one. I miss you very much. I can’t wait until I see you. Your sister Kidist and your brother Yared say hi to you. Do you know how much we love you?

I hope God will let us meet safely. Until then,

Good bye. I love you.

Letter to Dad

To my dear father,

How are you? I am doing good. I love you so much. Kidist and Yared do too. I miss you. When are you going to come. I can’t wait until I see you in person. I am very happy with the whole family. Until we see each other again,

Bye. I love you.

Letter to Andrew

To my dear brother Andrew,

How are you? I love you so much. I can’t wait until I see you in person. We are doing good. Kidist and Yared want me to tell you that they love you too and that they miss you. We can’t wait until we come to America. I love you. Until we see each other,

Bye. I love you.

Letter to Mom

To my dear mother (the one I love),

How are you doing? I am doing great. Yared and Kidist say hi to you. Mom, do you know how much I love you? God prepared you for us. So when are you coming? I miss you. I know we will see each other, but I can’t wait until it happens. Please come soon. Until I see you,

Bye mom. I love you.

Letter and minor update!

Hi,

The recent update is that our case was to be submitted to court last friday. And the communication to Ethiopia is down so we may not hear anything until this Friday. I am about to go bonkers......We are not sure it was sumitted just that the attorney was 'going to" submit it on Friday and because of the email being down we may not know anything until this friday......AARRGGHHH! I need to scream and bite something.......Anyhow, in the meantime...here is a new cute letter from Ejigayehu....our closing date of our new house is now....1/10....and I received more sweet love letters today that I haven't had translated yet...

To my beloved family,

How are you? I am doing good. I can’t wait until you come. My favorite foods include cake, chocolate and ice cream(she tells me this in every letter....I wonder how she would feel about chocolate carvel cake..yum). I am glad that you are my family. I like dolls a lot. AAI is very beautiful??? I enjoy receiving your letters. We celebrated Ethiopian millennium at AAI. We made bon fires. AAI kids are my best friends and I love them all. I like the subjects Math and English and everything else. I love the back bag you sent me. I would like to get another one if you can (not sure what she is planning to do with it --but seems to have a purse fettish like Samantha ) Meskerem and Hermela are my friends.
Ok, until we see each other again or until we write another letter to each other, bye. I love you all. Please continue to write to me.

I love you,

Egigayehu.

Thanksgiving at Layla House!

This is a copy of the note from our adoption director Merrily. Sounds like the kids are having a very fancy Thanksgiving. Hope they won't be disappointed next year...HA!

Hi Everyone,

I wanted to let you know what is in store for Layla House tomorrow. A family
wanted to have a Thanksgiving day celebration for the Layla kids and staff. I
suggested getting a couple of sheep or goats and having them cook them there
which they have done a few times in the past, as it is hard to get turkey and we
have no way to roast it.

They then suggested that we check with the Hilton and Sheraton about having the
meal catered or even taking the kids to the hotels in busses.

The final plan is, 265 people going to the Sheraton for Thanksgiving dinner,
with Ethiopian music and dancing, I just wish I could be there.

All of the staff and kids down to and including three year old will go. They
will dress in their best, many in traditional dress. In order to make it
possible for the baby care workers to attend, Gail's daughter and some of their
friends and their mothers will care for the babies for a few hours. Busses have
been hired, hopefully all details are arranged.

This will be an experience the kids will long remember but for the staff it is
even more amazing as most of them would never in their lives be able to have a
meal at the Sheraton--

Part of me wanted to suggest that this money be used for more emergent projects,
but the family wanted to do it, so, it will happen!!

Merrily
Merrily Ripley
Adoption Advocates International

Report from my friend at Layla House!

I have befriended a woman named Eileen who lives about half an hour from us who is also adopting 3 kids from Ethiopia through another agency..she is adopting twin infant girls and a little boy 3. She was kind enough to visit our kids today in Ethiopia and give them our thanksgiving cards...this is her report:

Deanna,

We went to Layla House today. I called Nate and he was so kind and willing for us to come today. We got there late though and he had to leave so Ivy took us around. She is so sweet too. She is from NJ and has been there since the summer. She loves it there and she loves all of the kids you can tell. She took us on a tour and then we went to the kindergarten class where we met Yared and Kidist. The whole class was sitting at their little desks and they all greeted us when we came in. Then Ivy said 'how about we sing some songs for them?" It was absolutely precious. I stood there with tears flowing down my cheeks as these beautiful children all sang so sweetly. They were all so tiny and yet they knew all the words, hand motions and all in sync. They sang, The Intsy winsty spider, ABC's, hokey pokey, and If Your Happy and You KNow it. It was honestly one of the most precious moments of my life to see all of these children today. They were all so well mannered, excited, and happy in spite of their circumstances. We talked with all of your kids and told them you are coming very soon. They smiled and gave me hugs and kisses. I squeezed each of them and said it was from Mama Falchook. Deanna, their pictures don't do them justice. They are so much more beautiful in person. I nearly melted when I saw them and yes, the tears just flowed down my face. I tried so hard not to cry because I didn't want to scare them but I just couldn't believe I was holding them in my arms. This is all so sureal and so amazing. To look into the eyes of these kids and know that God created them and has a plan for each one of them was so overwhelming to me. They look healthy and happy. They loved your cards and stickers. Yared held them up to me and said "MAMA" as if he was verifying they were from you and not me. I assured him they were from you and he lite up like a light bulb. You are so blessed to get these precious children. I can't wait to see them again in your arms though. We've got the measurements of their feet and photos and video for you. The compound was amazing too. It is all so organized and well thought out. The kids were all playing or in classes. They are all homeschooled you know. They live and school right there. What a concept?? Anyway, I thought of you all day and I was so priviledged and honored to represent you to these precious and amazing kids. Thank you for taking the time out of your busy life to call me several months ago. It would have been tragic to have missed out on this absolutley amazing day today. I will never be the same!! You should have seen Ellie,too. She had the baby in a snugglie on her chest and she was taking pictures of all the kids. They literally surrounded her and were crushing the baby against her chest at one point. Our translater/driver had to help her and tell them to back up. Ellie had the biggest smile on her face the whole time there and just talked, touched and fellowshipped with each one she could. One little girl little followed us the entire time we were there. I wanted to take her home with me so bad. She is an amazing young lady and I know the LORD is using this in her life for a wonderful purpose. Thank you again, because my daughter and husband will also never be the same. May God continue to bless you and show himself to you. I'll see you soon.

IN HIS TIMING & CARE, LOVE HUGS *& KISSES TOO

YOur sister Eileen

What Amharic looks like...

This is what the letters look like before my friends Ban and Yemi translate them. We have received some in English but just thought it would be interesting to see them. Notice the sweet little drawings at the bottom of the letters...I love those little love letters...

Good news/a little bad news!

The little bad news is that we didn't get submitted or pass court today. The good news is that we know what the issue is. The attorney has to have some papers signed that need to travel up pretty far out of Addis. So, once they get the paperwork back they can submit it immediately and the judge will make a decision. We should know something next Monday. The funny thing is that with Matea's adoption the same thing happened. We were kicked out of the courts twice. The last time the attorney had to send someone through a mudslide to get a signature...we were resubmitted and then passed. With Sam and Andrew I had false labor twice and then had to be induced and then pushed and a Csection...so my adopted kids will all have their own similar story as my birth children do....

Also, received a box of clothes from my cousin Nora...THANKS TO NORA....

And my friend's Ban and Yemi (living here but family in Addis) gave me the emails and phone numbers of their parents/relatives in Ethiopia as support when we are there.

I feel so blessed...

Keep praying...
Deanna

Another letter from Melkem!

This letter came via regular mail and was written in Amharic. It came to me after I received the letter telling us about Melkem and Marta's new family.

I am so touched by the depth of these children:

To dear Deanna, the one I love,
How are you doing? I am doing good. I can't wait until you come and we see eachother. I know you can't wait until you come too. I love the letter I received from you. It had good advices for me. I thank you for all of the advice. (I had told her in my letter to never give up, keep praying and God would find a family in the right time).

Sometimes when I look back at my life, I become tearful. I sometimes wonder why it is that everybody else gets families, but not me. I feel like people don't choose me because of my past history. But Ejigayehu reminds me not to think that way, but be hopeful and that one day I will find a family.

Your daughter Ejigayehu is my best freind. Hopefully, Ejigayehu and I will play with Kidist and Yared and (couldn't determine other name). Ejigayehu can't wait until she joins you in America. I love you all.

Bye....Sincerely, Melkem

BOO HOO....but I am so happy they have a family now. I just would like to keep in touch with them and stay connected to their family. So we are hoping they will be open to a "best friends..."open adoption.

The whole "past history" thing she is talking about is most likely just translated to mean her past without a family etc. but in my mind WHO CARES...these kids are incredible...so I am so happy for her....

Reattaching her letter after finding her family:
Dear I love and I respect D’anna,
A few days after I received your letter, I was told that we found a family. I knelt down and thanked God . I was crying in joy. All of your hard work was not in vain. I learned that I should never give up hope. I know somebody by the name of Katie emailed you last time. We thank you for everything you have done for us. Ejigayehu is also very very happy. I love you bye bye…

All I did was pray and ask others to pray. When you think about it many of these kids have no one even on the planet praying specifically for them. Prayer is powerful...Praise Him...

God is amazing...tomorrow is a big day for us pray.

D

2 years ago today and blessings in the mail!

Two years ago today we brought our baby home from Guatemala. We are hoping that November 19th will be our lucky day for the kids. The new address of our house is 1119. So pray for us on monday...maybe we will hear some good news.

Yesterday we received mail from the kids in Ethiopia and from Martha and Melkem. They were written in Amharic so I had to get them translated.

Looks like Martha and Melkem have reasons to celebrate with a new family.

From Martha:
To my family how is your health. I am doing very good. We love you all. Me and ejigayehu are doing fine. Kidist and yared I love them. I love everybody. The kids are equal in age . we go and play with them. I can’t wait until you are coming. Me and ejigayehu are happy…until we come to America ..I can’t wait. When you come ..ejigayehu we will show you all the things..

From Melkem:
Dear I love and I respect D’anna,
A few days after I received your letter, I was told that we found a family. I knelt down and thanked God . I was crying in joy. All of your hard work was not in vain. I learned that I should never give up hope. I know somebody by the name of Katie emailed you last time. We thank you for everything you have done for us. Ejigayehu is also very very happy. I love you bye bye…

From Ejigayehu:
To my mother. How are you doing how is your health. How are your kids. I am doing good. I am very happy you are my mother. Kidst is doing fine. And hope you guys are okay. Until we see you, miss you. I love you very much…I can’t wait until I see you.

To the father I love very much. I love you very much. How are you guys doing. We are doing well. We are happy that you are our father. Everybody is doing fine here. We are happy that you are our father. Until God gives us the opportunity to see eachother bye.

To my dear family how is your health. We are doing very well. Did you find the letters I sent you. I am waiting anxiously for the day I am going to come and we are all going to be together. AAI…I pray for you everyday…I have a lot of friends and I play with them everyday…I like the games. I am first grade..1B school is going good. I like playing swings, Demee…I like chocolate, cake, ice cream. From working I like cleaning house. I like make my bed…..In the meantime until I see you BYE…

We also have another letter from Melkem that we will translate. We still do not know who their family is. We really want to stay in touch so hope they step forward to communicate with us.

We are also happy that Ejigayehu likes to make her bed. Maybe she can teach the other kids. We received their report cards too. All is well but Ejigayehu does not have good Math or science scores...they were in the 60 %. Her music score however was 90 percent. Seems to be a perfect match for us.

We have an open house for our home tomorrow from 2-5...pray for a miracle to sell our house....

Blessings, D

ps...Martian Child is a sweet movie.

Dreams and snakes in the garage....

One of my original posts on this blog mentioned the vision I had with our children's mother handing me oranges. Well lately I have been dreaming some really strange dreams.

This part happened in real life. This week Mark pulled into the garage in our minivan. The baby was asleep in the back seat asleep. I was at the hair dresser (I am now a light haired brunette or dark blonde). Anyhow, he pulled in and was about to get out of the car and on the ledge of the garage face to face with Mark as he opened the door a 2 foot black snake curled up and looked at Mark straight in his face and stuck out his snakey tongue. Oh NO! He got back in the car..pulled the car out and called our neighbor Dan (snake killer) Rhew. Dan walked over, hoe in hand and very professionally cornered the snake and broke his neck with a blow by the hoe and shoveled him out of the garage and into the wild woods behind us. Dan said he was about 2 feet and looked like he had swallowed a mouse...OOOHHHH! YUCK!

So, I go to sleep that night and with all that is going on with building a house and adopting 3 kids, working on a CD , taking care of my kids and running the business (during a slow time) that will hopefully pay for the house etc....I tend to wake up in the middle of the night super nervous or I have strange dreams and then wake up. So, I drempt I was in a house and chased by indians with axes (or HOE's) and then they catch me and throw the axe right at the back of my neck...as I fall (in my dream) I wake up. As I wake up and think about the dream somehow I am so aware that I am weirdly the snake in the dream and Dan is the indian...ODDD DReAM......and as scary as it was to dream it was funny when I started to analyze it.

The eiffel tower....So another night I dream I am on a plane and i am thinking I am going to NY or something and then I notice I am in Paris because behind the buildings in front of me I see the eiffel tower. And I am elated. I am crying tears of joy because I was so excited to be in Paris. And I kept saying ..I didn't even know I wanted to be in Paris but I was crying like I had just won some kind of major beauty pagent or something. And then eventually the buildings were out of my way and I was gazing at the eiffel tower in awe. I wake up....

THe next day I have decided that I want the Eiffel Tower to now be my icon...place it on the fridge or something. I figured later I would go online and download a pic...then I get my new issue of More mag and turn to a gorgeous pic of the Eiffel Tower.

I really think this was meant to be a reassuring dream. God brought me to this place where I was about to see something beautiful but it was blocked by the other buildings (my fears). However, by just taking a minute to look beyond the obstacles I saw a dream coming true by gazing on the Eiffel Tower.....I also don't think it is a coincidence that it was the Eiffel TOwer which carry the ET initials of Ethiopia. So I like to focus now on the pic of the Eiffel Tower as a reminder of God blessing us with something beautiful...

Patience is a virtue I don't have ...

No new news or updates regarding our case. And in fact we know NOTHING. We had asked and our adoption director here in the states has been very communicative but in all honesty doesn't know anything so she sent a note to her person in Ethiopia. Her person in Ethiopia is waiting to hear from the Ethiopian attorney as to whether we have to wait for another court date or if we can just get resubmitted. They said on Monday they can answer that question. We also don't know what the problem was...we were told it was something that would be fixed fast but it has been several days already.....was it that they forgot to bring our paperwork....was it that a relative didn't show up....was it that something needed to be notarized or did they find out that the kids are not available for adoption at all (that is where my mind goes).....I am believing in God's perfect timing but am feeling anxious. These children have been such blessings to us already and we firmly believe that we are all appointed by God to be together as a family. Mark says that I am much more patient than he is but I really don't think so.....


Please pray because these children really want to be home by or around christmas and it is possible that if we don't hear anything next week it won't be until January...I will be fine with that as long as the children are at peace as well.

Blessings,.....deanna

20 Years of wedded bliss....

Because of all the excitement over the pending court case I forgot to announce the great milestone of celebrating 20 years of wedded bliss on November 8th to my hubby Mark. We went out to dinner on 11/3. I cried on our dinner date...due to all of the concerns about the house selling etc and then Mark reassured me. He told me that God will support us as he has. Once I got over that we reminisced about our first dates, our long hair on our wedding day. The fact that we had a yoga instructor alzheimer Unity minister who performed the ceremony in 20 minutes. At the time Mark was a jewish atheist and I was a liberal christian/lover of all things new age and Meher Baba......So I wanted the bible mentioned etc but looking back it was an odd ceremony. Amba dressed all in white and told us she would not tell us anything about the ceremony because she would improvise...still we had our best man read a couple of bible quotes. One of my friends said that was the shortest ceremonies in history. Any how Mark and I laughed as we remembered the ceremony and the fact that I had insisted that this catering hall make a carrot cake. It was awful and tasted like a carrot cake mix...ooohhhh yuck...Anyhow, we have come along way and Praise God for our marriage , our life and our family....

Didn't pass!

We are really disappointed but this is the letter we received from the agency today. We will just have to keep waiting I guess.

Deanna,

I am sorry but your case did not pass court today. It was withdrawn
(temporarily) as an error was found, it is being corrected and Gail does not
think it will cause a long delay. I have asked for more information.

I am so sorry, I know this will be a disappointment, it is a set back but a
correctible one.

Merrily

Please pray this doesn't end up being drawn out. I have no more information than this until I get some from Merrily.

D

Tomorrow is Court! November 13th!

Okay tomorrow 11/13 is the big day for us. Our case will go before the Ethiopia Court. Ethiopia is 8 hours ahead of us. Please pray. Also, we have been told that we may not even know tomorrow but may have to wait a day or two before we hear. If we pass that means that the adoption decree has been given and then we just need to wait for an embassy date and can travel..hopefully in a few weeks. Also, received some amazing pictures of our kids today. If we pass I will then be able to post the pics....

Thanks to all for all of the support...keep us in your prayers.
deanna

Roots!

How do you know for sure when it is time for a retouch on your hair? When you are sitting at dinner with your hair pulled back and your two year old says to you..."Mommy where your blonde hair go?" OH my...I had been thinking about making an appointment , never said a word to anyone...but had no idea it was that bad...out of the mouths of babes...my oldest daugher started laughing...

And Andrew is coming home with an electric guitar....his birthday present. He says his favorite song now is "another one bites the dust." And is determined to start a band with his friend Austin called the "Batteries" "Get it" He says to me..."both Austin and I have names starting with the letter 'A' ....so we will be double "a's" Or "The batteries"...He is turning 10 on 11/28th but we are celebrating his birthday with 10 ///10 year olds here tomorrow night for a party...

Pray for our upcoming court date in Ethiopia on 11/13...We would like to travel the first week of December to get the kids...

Blessings,
D

Prayer Request!

Please keep our family and kids in your prayers. Things are moving really slowly for all of the cases in Ethiopia right now. It would appear that there are new requirements asking that any relatives be present at Court. This is difficult because of transportation, communication etc. Plus the people are afraid to show up because they are really poor and believe the courts will force them to take care of the children of extended relatives even when they have no money. This is not true but it tends to deter people from being present.

In our case, the mother is deceased, Ejigayehu's father is deceased and Kidist and Yared's father is HIV positive. The grandmother is alive but cannot care for them.Please pray the courts on 11/13 are lenient and that whatever relatives that need to be there are present and the kids can come home to our family......

D