Catch UP

It has been awhile....again. So much has happened since my last post. Life is extremely BUSY here because we are preparing to travel in a few weeks. SO EXCITED. I will wrap up the last couple of weeks. We got another update since my last post. Miss Olivia "B" is getting big and she is extremely beautiful. She is up to 16 pounds and 22 inches. Everyone comments on her eyes and how big and beautiful they are...I can't wait to look at them in person!!! She has gained 3 pounds in a months, so the move to the transition home has been a good one for her. Those nannies are fattening her up for us!!! They also commented on how she LOVES sucking on her fingers. She fits right in with the other kids...all 3 of them were thumb suckers. Now we have a finger sucker! God is so funny. He knows how to put the right kid in the right family. Andy and I got our last travel shots yesterday (except for the flu shot which we will get later this week). Andy made up our will; guardianship papers are in the works for the kids when we leave so my parents have decision making abilities. Andy ordered a power plug adaptor for our trip. Plane tickets are ready. Christmas shopping has begun. I registered for our baby shower which will be on Dec. 18. We had our zumba fitness for Ethiopian orphans and brought in several donations for the orphanage. We have a tote full from this drive. About 30 people came out and had an amazing workout!!! Loads of fun. Now I am working on 3 concurrent donation drives. The preschool where I teach is doing a donation drive for the orphanage by collecting baby and toddler items (we already have on tote full and it doesn't end until Thanksgiving). The 3rd graders at Andrea's school are doing a donation drive for educational supplies for the orphanage. Their goal is 100 items, but after the first day they had already collected 20 so we may have a lot from this one. Andy and I got to speak at church for Orphan Sunday and we were approached by several people asking to help with donations. We will be setting up a donation drop off next Sunday for our church. We were also given $400 by someone after church to spend "in-country" to get supplies for the orphanage!!!! I was sooooo blessed by this. She got a bonus at work and wanted to give 10% to the orphanage in Ethiopia so she asked us to spend it for her! That is going to be a BLAST!!!!! Now the next few weeks are going to be extremely FULL. This is my to do list:
1. Get flu shots
2. Prepare my class for a sub for 3 days and get all of our "pre-Christmas" activities done prior to leaving for ET
3. Finish guardianship paperwork
4. PACK - making sure to get all we need
5. Get malaria prescription from travel dr.
6. Get other prescription from family dr.
7. Finish gathering up remainder of donations prior to first travel and putting them in travel safe bags/totes.
8. Help mom with baby shower
9. Finish up Christmas shopping
10. Take Andrea on girlscout trip
11. Get Andrea's new violin and glasses
12. Make kids activity list for my parents for while we are gone
13. Prepare for Thanksgiving at my house
14. Craft fair and father daughter ball on the same day
15. Get Christmas program put together/rehearsals for children's church

There is sooooo much more within all of that, but that is a start. It sometimes helps "putting it on paper" to help organize my thoughts. If you have any suggestions, send them my way!!!!!

Fingerprints AGAIN

We finally went today to get our fingerprints redone. Our I-171H expired and we had to do our fingerprints again so our form is valid. Otherwise we would be able to bring home our sweet pea. Hopefully we will get the form back before we travel for court, but we shall see. We at least have to have it by the time of our embassy date. It feels good to have it done. It takes FOREVER to get anything done through CIS. Our appointment was at 8am so Andy and I had to get up EARLY. My mom came over to get the kids off to school and then took Nathan to her house. On our way home (after a yummy breakfast date with my hubby) a HORRIBLE storm came through. We think we saw the beginnings of a tornado! Once we arrived at home, the wind came howling through and the phone rang. The sirens were going off in town indicating a tornado warning. YIKES. We were ready to run down to the basement. I called my mom to make sure they were ok and she and Nathan were hiding out in the pantry!!! Definitely a memorable morning.

Moving Right Along

We have reservations made at the guest house we will be staying at while in Ethiopia. We hope to take part in a feeding program the director of the guest house runs. She feeds city kids and orphans on the streets every Saturday! I hear amazing things about it and I can't wait to see it in action. We also received our plane tickets and travel itinerary in the mail from our travel agent. Things are moving right along. It won't be much longer and we will be headed out to meet our baby girl. Oh I can't wait. We have 2 families over there now that are taking pictures for us, so I am eager to see another update. We continue to pray for her health and safety. She is so precious.

Court Date

On October 11 we received the email that brought the unbelievably wonderful news that we have been waiting on for MONTHS. We are going to Ethiopia to meet our precious baby girl!!!!! We have a few weeks to prepare, but things are moing forward. I was at preschool teaching my little ones when I saw on my phone that I had missed a call from Andy. He never calls me during school hours so I knew that it was either about one of the kids or he had gotten info about our baby girl. I called him back when my class went on rotations and he asked if I wanted to go to lunch. OF COURSE I DO!!! So, I called him when class was over and he walked in the door of my room as I hung up the phone. He was holding a piece of paper and he handed it to me. On it was an email from Salome our social worker from FTIA. On it was our court date!!! At first I was a little disappointed because it is still several weeks away, but then I was overjoyed because it is official!!! We are going to hold our baby girl in our arms soo soon. It gives us time to pack, shop, get shots, get fingerprinted, get my classroom prepared, let Andy accrue enough vacation time, etc. We are sooo excited. Now that we have a date, I can't stop thinking about her and imagining what it will be like to hold her and look into her precious brown eyes. We have 2 families going over next week that are going to take more pictures of her for us! These will probably be the last ones we get before we go over ourselves. Andy contacted our travel agent and got our flights all settled and I contacted the guest house where we will be staying and made reservations. It feels good to be at this point of the process since it has been soooo long for us. We have had so many delays and bumps in the road. We are praying for smooth travels and court appointment. May the Lord go before us and prepare the way for our journey. He has been so faithful.

Happy Dance

Yesterday was a WONDERFUL day!!!! We got our first update on our African beauty and man o man is she beautiful. Andy called me while I was at preschool getting ready to take Nathan to lunch at my mom's. I started crying as I opened the email on my phone and looked at her beautiful pictures. She is sooooo healthy looking and happy. Her eyes are very clear and peaceful looking. She is still small, but growing. At 5 months she is 13 pounds and 20 inches long. I'm not sure if the length is accurate, but it might be. She has gained 5 pounds since her referral in July. Her hair is starting to come in and boy is it CURLY!!! Mommy is going to have fun trying to do her hair! YIKES...I had better start ready up on it! Based on the pictures and the mats she is on and the chair she is sitting in, she is in Addis...that means she has been moved from the orphanage in Awassa to the transition home in the city. This was good news for me because it means they are expecting us to come soon. The best news is that she got the care package we sent to her...she is playing with the toy keys we sent....she is holding the voice recorder we sent of us reading to her and sharing our hearts to her...she is looking at the picture album we sent and actually looking at a picture of her big sister Andrea! Her cheeks are full and her skin is clear. I am on cloud nine. It came at a time when I was getting really discouraged. Everyone else was getting updates except us...the two month wait was worth the joy we felt at seeing her beautiful face again. Thank you Jesus for the gift.

Submitted to Court

We just got word this morning that our case was submitted to court!!! We will know in the next 2-4 weeks when our court date is. We are praying for early November, but it is all in God's hands. We are just thrilled that things are moving forward. This means that all of our paperwork is in order and we are just going through the formalities. Praise you JESUS!!!! I feel like screaming from the rooftops. It has been a long time since we have gotten some good news. I am giddy.

Cool God Stuff and Adoption Update

You may ask...Why in the world is she posting a picture of an elephan trunk. Well, this reminds of God. The story unfolded like this: We had the opportunity to go to Busch Gardens over spring break and really enjoyed our day there. At the elephant exhibit the staff would put the animals up and go out the their enclosure and hide treats for them. They would put things like skittles and licorice and bananas everywhere, especially in obscure locations. They really liked the skittles, but they were hard to find. It was fascinating to watch them wrap their trunks around them and gently put them in their mouths. You may think, how does this remind you of God. Last week Andy got a new company vehicle and found that it needed new tires. These tires were going to cost around $450! With the adoption, we are trying to save as much as we can, but Andy felt that he had to have them because he was afraid that they would burst! Well we went on with our week and were trying to find ways to make some extra cash. One afternoon, Andy was looking through the camera bag trying to find some charged batteries and lo and behold in the pocket was $250 he had tucked away during our vacation! WOW. How could we forget about that! Then later that day he was in the bathroom cleaning up and underneath my jewelry box sat traveller's checks for $200. Can you believe it....$450 just sitting in the house. We had to stop and just thank the Lord for His guidance and His watch care. I find it much like those skittles...the money was hidden away in special spots, we just had to find it!

On the adoption front, we haven't really heard anything other than what I have been researching on my own. Several Bethany families (including one that received their referral on the same day and other families that received their referral after us) have been submitted to court. They should know within the next 2-4 weeks as to when their court date will be. I can only hope and pray that our case was also submitted in this group. I feel like I don't get any information, and then I feel guilty for asking for more. Several of these families have also received updates; we haven't gotten anything since July 29. I could cry many days if I let myself dwell on it, but I just get busy doing other things or I spend time in prayer over beautiful miss "B". I also have been in contact with USCIS. Our fingerprints have expired, but I sent in our paperwork for refingerprinting over a month ago. I called them 2 weeks ago and they didn't even have our case filed. Yesterday, he said our case was filed but that it was waiting to be assigned to a person. He requested that our file be sent to him specifically. He said he will have it within the next day or 2 and then he will call us with our appointment for re-fingerprinting. That will be within 4 weeks from the time he gets back with us. After the prints are taken, we may have to wait an additional 4 weeks. I wonder how long it would have taken if I hadn't called them. I thank the Lord tha I got someone on the phone that was kind and willing to look into our case. Many times people from CIS aren't that helpful and you have to wait until it is "Your Turn". We have to have this paper for our Embassy date. Lord may it come quickly.