The Waiting

I am SO not good at this... I think that might be a reacuring theme here! Truly, the waiting is the hardest part!
Waiting for the call...
Waiting for the money...
Waiting for new pictures...
Waiting to pass court...
Waiting to travel...
Waiting and praying that becoming A FAMILY of 8 will be seamless. Several friends who have recently adopted were sharing what it is like... The transition for most has been easier than they expected, but they have been surprised at the things that have been hard. One of the most poignant comments I heard was that... "there wasn't any exciting things to wait for anymore". Being sad that you are no longer waiting seems strange in some ways, yet in other ways I totally get it. I love that when I go to sleep each night and pray that I get to imagine such an exciting time... the trip to Africa, meeting the kids, introducing them to their brother and sisters. I love that, and in a small way - I can imagine that I will miss the anticipation too.

On the whole National Board note... Entry 4 is DONE!!! Entry 3 will be finished as soon as I stop blogging and I hope to finish Entry 2 by tomorrow night!!!! I am taking a class on Saturday which will help me finish Entry 1! So, I should for sure be able to PACK IT AND MAIL IT ON Tuesday!!!!!!!! Hooray!

Nothing To Report

That about says it all! We have nothing new and exciting to report! We are counting down the days to March 6th while busily finishing up my National Boards. I am feeling pretty good and VERY thankful for the friends who are proof-reading my papers! I will send my papers from PostNet next Tuesday - you will hear me wherever you are yelling and screaming because the papers are done! Woo Hoo!

We also have a yard sale planned for Saturday, March 15th from 8 to 2. Ben's parents have donated their garage to hold the sale and we have a trailer full of "stuff" to sell! I am not sure how yard sales do in March... but we are going to find out!!!! We have about $4000 to raise/borrow/steal (just kidding about the stealing) before we leave for Africa so we are praying that this yard sale gets us a bit closer to bringing our kiddos home! Spread the word!!!

One Year Anniversaries

Megan Mekdes Joanna Wilson

This is a fellow American and Ethiopian family ~ their children have been home for a year!

Prepare to have your day ruined

This post is from Tom Davis who was writing from Africa about his missions trip... check out his blog for more

We have a team in Swaziland, that nation in Africa where nearly half the adult population has the AIDS virus. I received this email from Gary Black in Swaziland today and it wrecked me:

"The team found a four week-old laying on its dead mother yesterday, they kept it - we are getting it to the abandoned baby hospital Friday."

What do we do with this? That's my son's team down there. I don't know about you, but I'm outraged by a world that produces situations like this.

And while that may seem like a world away to many, for my son, it's as immediate as it is heart-wrenching.

The only thing that appalls me more is that so many of us Americans who can do something about this are more interested in stuff that will only ultimately burn up in the big fire.

God help us. God, help us to wake up. Help us to see how much you love the widow and the orphan. God help us to break as you are broken up over this four week-old.

God, help me to lose this tortoise shell religion that sheds these kinds of tragic situations like water. Forgive me God for not praying more. Forgive me for not emptying my bank account for your little ones. God, we have lost true religion. We have sought finer sanctuaries and better parking lots.
We have tried to fill our church pews with seekers, but we have not sought your children dying on their mother's chests. We need to see a way out of this mess that we've got ourselves in. God, help us in this 21st century mindset that we've acquired. I don't even know what else to pray.

Practice

Today we practiced having more kids. We ONLY had 2 extra, but they were 4 and 6 so we thought it was probably a good indicator of life with 6 since our new kids are 7, 11, and 14... These are the things I am guessing will be true with 6 kids

• They will ALL get to be much better soccer and basketball players. We had quite a game going on in our backyard today - Danny and Lilly were a bit passive at first, but once they noticed that we were not saying things like, "be careful, don't hurt each other" they got tough and all 4 of the big kids had a great time
• I will do 5 X as much laundry. The kids were outside for less than 90 minutes and ALL needed a change of clothes!
• We will ALWAYS need to drive the Suburban - the weight in the back of the van made the muffler scrape as we pulled in the driveway... and the kids were LITTLE!
• My grocery bill will more than double and we will not get to go out to eat - EVER! :)
• My love affair with hand-me-downs will grow into a passion! Kids wear out clothes so darn fast!
• We will no longer ONLY need 40 minutes to get ready for church/school/game/party etc... we will need a minimum of 700 minutes to get everyone out the door WITH their shoes/hair pretties/backpacks/waterbottles/diaper bag/lunch/purse/keys etc.
• I TRULY CANNOT wait to get home with our 3 new kiddos!

WooHoo!!! That was fun!

2 Days In A Row!!!

WE HAVE A COURT DATE!

March 6th is the date when A, M, and E will legally become ours! Well, we hope! :) This is what happends... on March 6th all of our paperwork, along with letters from our agency, from the Ministry of Women's Affairs, and our kids mom (if she is still able) will be presented to a judge in Ethiopia. He or she will look over everything and IF it is all in the correct order :) our adoption will be approved. IF something is missing, they cannot find our kids mom, if she has passed away and that does not become clear right away then our court date will be rescheduled for the following week. This is very common and so we will try not to worry. We will just pray that all is well the first time!!! I cannot believe this date is here already! 6 months ago we had no idea what God had planned for us in 2008! And now, here we are. Thank you all for your prayers! We are so grateful for the support we have recieved from all of you! WOOHOO! :)

Great News!

All 9 of the families passed their court dates today! That is WONDERFUL news!!! I am so excited for these kiddos and their parents!

A friend emailed me today to remind me that this whole adventure is on God's time... not mine! OH, how easily I think I have it all under control. It makes me remember when I was learning to drive and I KNEW what I was doing... but my mom NEVER stopped making those "braking motions" with her feet anytime we came within 500 yards of an obstacle. I guess I am a bit like my mom that way... God is driving JUST FINE but I have to add my 2 cents in and check in everyone once in a while with... "do you see that up there... don't forget to stop there... remember, to use your brake...OK - I HAVE HAD ENOUGH! I WILL TAKE OVER NOW!"

So, I will continue to pray for my March 5th court date - but I will remember that I don't get to TAKE OVER on this one... just like I didn't let my mom take over when I was learning to drive :)

Tonight was a special night at our church. We are celebrating Lent and had the traditional Soup Supper before hand. This is the highlight of the church year for my children - THEY LOVE SOUP SUPPER!!! The last 2 weeks we have missed, and Lilly cried both times! Anyway... without our knowledge, our church collected an offering tonight to be donated to our adoption expenses - our church is awesome! They also contacted THRIVENT who agreed to match funds for the evening! What a huge blessing they are to us, for their wonderful prayer support and their financial support as well!

I wish I had known

I wish I had known when I left for work today that it would be the last time I saw Lilly with ALL her baby teeth. About 5 minutes after my kiddos came in, I got a VERY EXCITED voice to tell me that she had lost her first tooth! OH, the joy! I actually scared my 5th graders when I squeeled along with my girl! It was so exciting. As Ben and I sat at dinner tonight, hearing the tale of the apple and the tooth we both were amazed at how different she looks with that gap... my little girl is growing up! Tonight the Tooth Fairy will visit our house and leave some money - I can't believe it! :)

On another note, those of you who are reading this on Tuesday night... please be praying that the court cases that are being presented to the judges in Ethiopia go through. We cannot be assigned a date until the 9 families in front of us (some of whom have had 2 other dates but did not get approved) are finally approved! We are desperately praying for a date on March 5th. IF we get a date on March 5th, then we should get an Embassy Appt the last Tuesday in February which would give us a travel timeframe of the week BEFORE Spring Break which would be PERFECT!!!!

So, please, please, please pray that court is successful for our friends and that we find out soon about our court date!

Embracing What God has for us...

"So here's what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life- your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life- and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God has for you is the best you can do for Him." Romans 12:1-2, the Message

We got letters from the kids... they were wonderful. A called us Mom and Dad, oh, I am glad. I was worried that he wouldn't. M was so excited and E drew us cute pictures. A asked "When come you Addis Ababa?"

SOON, Sweet Boy... SOON!!!

Please be praying for court dates SOON! I am now preparing myself for travel in April... but oh, we are still praying for March - pray with us!