REFERRAL!!!!!! It's a....

We received our referral call THIS afternoon!!! I still can't believe we got the call!! We chose to accept the referral of a BEAUTIFUL 2 1/2 month old BABY GIRL!!!!! Yes, a girl!!!!! Still can't believe that part either!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We were also told that she has a slight heart murmur...she will have an echocardiogram in the next few months. Apparently they are harder in Ethiopia to have done (as you can imagine) and we had the choice to accept the referral, wait on more information, or decline the referral and wait for another one. We've known all along that God was in total TOTAL control of this adoption and we surrender COMPLETELY to his will and sovereignty!! We didn't hesitate at all to accept this referral. We have an international adoption clinic here at Texas Children's Hospital and we know we will be well prepared for anything or any circumstance that comes our way. Courts are closed now and will not reopen until October so we have time to visit with specialists and are confident we will have a "plan of attack" ready to go when she gets home! So we are confident in God's divine wisdom in placing this beauty in our care! WE LOVE HER already and the boys are thrilled with the news of a new sister!! I however am still in total shock and awe!!! GOD IS GOOD...ALL THE TIME!!!

We cannot share pictures of her until she is legally ours after we pass court in Ethiopia but I will tell you that she has the most beautiful light brown skin, chubby little cheeks, beautiful almond brown eyes, and the cutest pink little tongue sticking out in her pictures we received!!

We share this news because we know prayer works and we are asking that you would help us cover her in prayer. We are praying for God's protection over her; for God's ultimate healing of her precious, redeemed heart; for wisdom for the doctors she will visit while in Ethiopia; for peace for her as she waits on her forever parents to get there; for wisdom, peace, and patience, and blessing for her fantastic caregivers in the transition home in Ethiopia. We pray for patience for us as we wait for courts to open and we ask for prayers over our boys as their little hearts prepare to be stretched to make room for their sister and become a family of 5. We will continue to update you on our prayer requests and ask that you remember to pray for other families in the process with us. I will update as I hear news and I will be posting more about donations we would love to be able to take with us when we travel this fall!

Love to you all,

On deck!!!

We finally got the "on deck" e-mail from our agency today!!! This e-mail basically sums up how the referral process goes and says that you should be expecting your referral in the next 1-3 months. Yes, that is what it said...1-3 months. But from other adoptive families experience I knew it was going to say that as everyones' "on deck" e-mail says that, that I know of. I have seen several families get this e-mail and then wait more than 4 or 5 months to receive their referral. And we have also seen families receive this e-mail and get a referral within the same week! We of course hope we are in the latter group but we know God already knows the day we will find out who He has chosen for us and we rest in that today. Not to say that I still don't jump every time the phone rings! We're so excited that our year long journey has finally gotten us to this point! Hard to believe! Hope to have more news soon!

Getting oh so close!!

Yay for another referral today!! And this time it was for a boy (a tiny 5 week old boy!!) so that makes us unofficially now #1 for both a boy and a girl!! We're so ANXIOUS to know what this child will be!!! We're glued to the phone and the internet to stay updated!! Can't believe all the movement! Please, please join us in praying for our child and our referral call as well as others who are in Ethiopia going to court dates and those that are waiting on Embassy clearance to bring their children home. We so appreciate it!

Just a quick update!

Yesterday we learned that there were two more referrals for people on the list in front of us which made THREE referrals this week alone! We are now NUMBER 1 for a girl and #2 for a boy!!! Again, this list is unofficial so their might be some families in front of us that didn't ever join the Yahoo Group and introduce themselves or become a part of our fantastic online community. Also, it could possibly still be months before we hear anything. BUT WE'RE AT THE TOP OF THE LIST!!! It could be next week!!!!!! We're absolutely giddy with excitement about getting our phone call and finding out if our next child will be a boy or a girl. We really will be thrilled either way! We just can't believe it's possibly so close for us! Court closures are right around the corner (August 6th-Sept. 27th) so getting a referral now would mean lots of waiting as we would have to wait for court to reopen before we could even be submitted for a court date but that is okay! We're learning a great deal about enduring patiently! We would love your prayers over this next phase! I'll keep you updated!!!

4 months and giving up apples and bananas!

So the big 4 months of waiting milestone has come and gone (for those keeping track it was on the 18th). We haven't had phone or internet this week so this post is late, late, late! However, I have been writing it in my head over and over! I like to do that throughout the day...write posts in my head. Of course they always come out better in my head and when they're flowing out inevitably I am never by a computer to get them down as hardcopy but that is ok. Does anyone live their life that way? Always composing in your brain? Surely. No matter. Moving on. So FOUR whole months of waiting. Doesn't sound all that very long does it? Guess that is a matter of perspective...for us 4 months of waiting on a child who we have never seen a picture of or don't know anything about is not that long of a wait. The hardest part is knowing what that child might possibly be going through as I go to sleep in my large, comfortable bed tonight. When we think about what that small child will endure in these next few months before we know them and cannot physically do anything about then the 4 months seems like an eternity. However, what we rest in is knowing that our God is in control and is surrounding our child with angels as He prepares us for that child and brings our child home to us. We serve a BIG God who does not lose control in the circumstances or is unprepared for this fight this child will endure. We find peace in our God and in knowing that we can pray for this child and that prayer is indeed ENOUGH at this time. I will say that in 4 months of time we have gone from #17 in line for a boy and #10 in line for a girl on the unofficial list that a group from our agency keeps to NUMBER 3 for both a boy and a girl! I LOVE THAT! God is so in control of our journey and I just laugh at His sense of humor. So many people would assume (as we did) that requesting either gender would guarantee us a boy (which is wonderfully perfect for us mind you) as the wait time for a boy is half the wait time for a girl. I have loved watching as we move up on both lists at just the right times to keep us guessing! Guess it's the closest we will come to being "surprised" by the gender of a baby of ours! And I love the freedom we have found in giving God total control!

Which brings me to the title...giving up apples and bananas! I have been thoroughly enjoying Beth Moore's bible study When Godly People Do Ungodly Things. But my absolute FAVORITE nugget of truth that I have heard and have held on to recently is a message on understanding that God wants to be the THRILL of our lives!! I have grown up in the church as my parents did and their parents did and so on. I have sat through many messages, attended youth camps, read my bible, etc. But for 32 years I have missed this truth somehow! I have focused so much on the sacrifices of living for God and the things that I CANNOT do as a follower of Christ that I have MISSED what I CAN do!! Beth Moore points out that God wants to THRILL us and be the adventure of our lives!! She makes the illustration that all our lives we have been given apples and bananas spiritually and that God says that He didn't only feed us apples and bananas...He wants to give us kiwis and mangoes and papayas and pineapples!! There is PASSION where God is and the work He is doing! There are RIVERS of delight! Our God is limitless...get that?? LIMITLESS!!! I so know I don't live like I know that truth...I LIMIT God to what I know as my reality but scripture says otherwise! OH MY how I loved hearing that and feeling that. I get to find JOY in my faith and in my wait and in my struggles but not only in the those hard things! There is JOY now in the sunrise and the cool breeze and the laughter of my boys and the embrace of my husband. JOY from the Lord and I am thankful!! Thankful for this adventure that we've been called to and THANKFUL that the adventure does NOT END here! I love walking this road to grow our family through adoption but I have faith that God is not done with us after this adventure ends...this is just the beginning if we'll be listen and obey. And I don't know about you but I want kiwis and mangoes and papayas and I will be making sure my kids know this truth also!

As always we so appreciate your prayers as we move along this road to our child. We pray for patience and contentment with God's perfect timing. We pray over the child He has chosen for our family and for the transition to a family of 5. We pray for peace for the transition for our young boys as we prepare to make two long trips to Africa and bring our child home. And we thank you for praying along with us.

Because of HIM...

3 months down and a lifetime to go...

We have officially been DTE for 3 months now. We can't believe how fast time can pass most days. The boys and I spent the last week working at our church's vacation bible school. Josh and I are volunteering in the nursery twice a month and I volunteered to help with VBS if needed in the nursery and I was quickly taken up on my offer! I have to say it was a long week working with 8 14-16 month olds! However, the boys (who are not quite old enough to be in the "real" VBS program) had a great week doing crafts, singing songs, and learning about Jesus. I am impressed with the volunteers that worked with their age groups and the material (and craft projects!!) that they completed in a week!

Summer is moving right along and we're hoping to be getting closer and closer to getting a referral of the child God has planned for us in the next couple of months. However, there is a new rule involving having a birth certificate from the child's region before getting a court date scheduled. Through our paper chase stage I found it difficult at times to get all of our birth certificates here in the United States and we have a dedicated office for that! I can't imagine trying to get this official piece of paper from a "region" in a third world country and all the logistics that need to fall into place to make this new rule happen. So, as you can imagine with me, there has been quite a slow down in the process in the last month. The new rule for making an appearance in court just went into effect so we figured things would slow a bit to allow some time for the learning curve that would accompany this new process. So it's back to "hurry up and wait!" Again, we know that God is the author of this journey and our child will not spend ONE MORE DAY in Ethiopia than God has allowed. However, we are getting REALLY excited that we're getting closer to actually seeing a picture of our child!!

On another note, I can't begin to tell you or share with you all that God is teaching us through this process. But I can share bits and pieces which is why I love this blog! I am always amazed at how "blind" we can be to things that are written plain as day in our Bibles and I know there are scriptures alluding to this. How I love when we begin to "see clearly" as God allows our hearts to truly grasp what He is passionate about and the Holy Spirit begins revealing the truth to us. I was talking with someone the other day about passions and what we would say if someone asked us what we were passionate about. What would you tell someone you are passionate about? I wonder if it would line up with something the Bible says God is passionate about. Would it be your job? Your hobbies? Traveling? 147 Million orphans? The poor? The neglected? Children being sex trafficked? Would others know your passion? Would how you spend your time, your resources, your talents, your money point to your passion? These questions have been on my heart and I'm hoping to spend more time on my knees learning how Christ wants me to answer these questions. I'll also be praying that you'll know how He wants you to answer these questions. I'll also challenge you to read the book Radical by David Platt. The whole message is about taking back your faith from the American dream. I'm hoping it will change your life in a big way as it has changed mine. I'd love for you to take 2 minutes to watch the video below. As always we truly appreciate your prayers over our adoption and those walking this adoption journey along with us.

Dos!

So, 2 months in! And what a great month it has been on the adoption front! There has been tremendous movement this month. Lots of families bringing children home, lots of court dates being assigned to families with referrals, and LOTS of referrals recently! So, so exciting! We have moved from about #16 in line for an infant to #7 in these 2 months. Now, this list is completely unofficial in that it is comprised of AWAA families that choose to be a part of the Yahoo Group where this list is compiled. There are always "mystery" families that may be in line ahead of us that are not a part of this fabulous wealth of resources group! And that is ok! We're still doing really okay with the waiting and I'm sure that is because we're so new to it. I know the wait only gets harder...the wait to hold them after we see their face, the wait to bring them home after we meet them and leave them Ethiopia, the waiting as our family is apart during these trips. We knew this adoption process would involve waiting...hard waiting. But we're in love with a BIG GOD who supplies peace beyond understanding and we are beyond grateful that we are privileged enough to draw from that peace. And through this journey that is what we've learned most...how amazing our God is and how amazing it is that He allows us to be a part of His plan and all the while He LOVES us...REALLY LOVES US! How amazing it is that our adoption gives us a glimpse of our vertical adoption through Christ. And how do you begin to explain all that to those that are casual or cavalier about our intent to adopt? I guess the same way God does day in and day out with me...with grace and mercy and kindness and gentleness. He knows I don't "get it" like I should but He still shows patience and mercy and grace daily...even when I don't want or deserve it! We will be praying fervently for the families on this adoption journey with us and we'd love and fully appreciate you joining us in praying as well. Here's to month 3!!