Happy Birthday Matea!

Tomorrow our daughter Matea will officially be turning three. For those of you who don't know, Matea is our adopted daughter from Guatemala. Today we had some friends over for cake and coffee to celebrate her birthday. It was so exciting and sweet preparing for this birthday. Our Ethiopian children have never had a birthday of their own and it was very special for them to see this first hand. Grace will be the first of our Ethiopian children to celebrate a birthday in June. She has already told us that she has a few school friends she would like to invite to her party . She turned to me during Matea's party and said "Mom...I very happy". It brings tears to my eyes. We can really take these celebrations for granted but seeing them through the eyes of children who never even really knew of their birth dates...this is just incredible. I see Matea in her princess dresses and I remember what is was like anticipating her arrival home. I think about the pride she has in being a Latina girl from Guatemala (she reminds people she is a GIFT FROM GOD from Guatemala). I think of how much she loves her family and home. I think of how natural it is for her to talk about her adoption already and not feel like it is anything but special. And I am especially touched to see how happy she is having three new siblings. Another extreme blessing was that Naty Price joined us today. Naty was also born in Ethiopia and remembers our children from living in the same orphanage with them. It was surreal and profound for me to see Jared and Naty with their arms around each other playing. And Matea with her friend Sarah who is also adopted...very sweet. After the party we took a walk in our neighborhood, had pizza and cleaned up.

We had an open house today in our old house. According to our realtor quite a few people came. But I will be happier if we end up getting an offer. Please continue to pray. I have to say though that as scared as I am about our old house not selling soon, I am to the point where I just have to surrender. Our new house feels so right, but I have to be some what detached even in this home. God has moved mountains to bring our family together. During Matea's adoption I watched as a courier had to travel 4 hours during mudslides and earthquakes to get the paperwork signed. We endured 3 trips to visit her not knowing even if she would be ours.
With our new three kids God managed to somehow bring three orphans from the village of Asela to an orphanage in Addis all the way to NC to our family. He also made sure that we had people from Ethiopia at our church to translate letters, a child at our church from their orphanage, relatives of our new church friends to meet us in Ethiopia to guide us and translate for our kids. He then made sure the children in NC and the children from Ethiopia all would blend perfectly into one family. He also has kept us all healthy through these transitions and helped us to bond remarkably so.....We are watching as he knits every detailed thread to this quilt together....so we surrender and chose to believe that the one last piece of the quilt will come together in His perfect time....It is scary and hard to hold onto the faith at times but when miracles surround you it is important to keep the focus on the miracles....so we will keep looking at our beautiful family and just PRAISE GOD!