Partial Update

What a perfect day to catch up on blogging. It is rainy and cold outside. The kids are snuggled in their beds for a nap, and I am snuggled in mine too. I have lost my voice over the past two days. COMPLETELY lost it. It is no where to be found. Sweet little Liam thinks I am playing a game when I whisper to him, so he whispers back. If I am lucky enough to get a hoarse sound out, he copies that too. It is quite funny. Unfortunately the strain on my sweet vocals to call out to my children when I need them or attempt to intervene a sibling altercation has NOT been fun. I am praying for a speedy recovery :).
It has been a couple of months since last blogging and truly not much has changed. So much has happened, but not much has changed. We had some awesome family pictures taken by my brother during the beautiful fall weather. We captured only a glimpse of its beauty in the pics. But hey..we have to have our mug shots in there somewhere, right? I was thrilled with the ones that turned out. Liam was not having a great day, so we were bribing him with candy corn :).
In other news, we have been busy building up the Children's department at our church. It has been a great experience seeing all the new faces coming through the doors and such a sweet experience seeing all the familiar faces. What a great manifold of giftings the Lord has placed in this church. There can be some fabulous and awesome things to come about. I am praying we dont miss a step or skip a beat. We are humbled at the opportunity to be used in this area to advance His Kingdom. Just this past week, I was just overjoyed at the new little faces coming in the doors. My prayer is that they are fed, that they are blessed, that they feel at home. My prayer is that they walk away with the biblical principles that will build them up and equip them.
That is where my heart lies. In the midst of the tools and the building blocks and the roads and paths that lead us in taking this next generation into their destiny. May I be used if only for a season to take part in the investment opportunity of a lifetime!! This is one investment that won't bring disappointment in the changing stock markets or faltering economy. I would love for every servant of the Lord to have a heart for this generation at some point or another. I believe that there is huge spiritual growth in serving the children. Christ encouraged us to learn from them...from their faith. See?!! I cant help it. Hope you are encouraged to participate, to invest, and to take a leap of faith. It is totally worth it.

Little Man

These pics were taken just last week. Little man woke up with this awesome hair and I had to snap a picture of his preciousness. His hair is usually the same everyday with little or no upkeep. But this day was an exception. I am assuming he had an AWESOME night rolling around in the bed. The next pic is where I found our little man after I could not find him anywhere in the house. I kept calling for him and even peaked into the living room not noticing him behind all the cushions. This is where he perks himself while watching his favorite video--CARS! He is a cutieee!
As I was lying in bed lastnight praying and reliving the days events, I lifted up my little man. He is such a momma's boy. He loves me so much that he sometimes has a hard time letting me share my love to his siblings. He typically will not let me hold another's baby..and sometimes he will try to separate Chris and I when we are in a long embrace after a hard day's work. I am praying that when his little sister gets here that he will be thrilled and not feel threatened...that his little heart will be welcoming and not jealous...that he will be all ready to play with her and not want to pelt her with a toy from across the room :). Pray for that with me. Isnt he a doll?!!

Please Pray for Peace, Respect, and Humility

With all the current adoptions occuring in ET right now, there has been increasing concern over the way some adoptive families are handling the process while in country. Some, if not most, of this is due to the huge variation in agencies sponsoring the adoptions. While some agencies are on the ball with regulations and specifications, some unfortunately are not. The result is a mixed message to the ET culture. One that is beginning to send a negative message. I am posting below a most recent message from Joint Council who helps mediate these adoptions. Please read below. If you are a friend/family who is just keeping up to date with our process, please pray over this situation that peace would reign and that no 'exodus' measures would be taken and ET refrain from adoptions. If you are a family who is currently in the adoption process, please read it carefully and prayerfully consider all that it is instructing the adoptive families to do, and finally if you are a family who has already adopted from ET, can you spread this news and help pray for the future adoptions to go smoothly and that the american families would practice respect and humility while in ET.

October 22, 2008
Joint Council Policy Recommendation
Cultural Sensitivity Regarding Adoptions in Ethiopia

Every adoption is like a rollercoaster for the adoptive parents. There are
always obstacles to overcome and hoops to jump through. But in every
adoption there are also many highs. For most adoptive parents the biggest high
is finally being able to travel, meet the child whose photo you fell in love with
long ago, and holding them in your arms. It is the moment that every adoptive parent
longs for and dreams of. Adoptive parents want to spend every moment with their
new child, learning every little piece of their personality and spirit. Adoptive parents want to show their new child(ren) everything that the world has
to offer them. This being said sometimes it is necessary for an adoptive family
to be respectful of a country's local culture and hold off these magical
moments for a few days. Joint Council feels that this is the case in
Ethiopia.

Very often adoptive families stay at an international, national or
local hotel in Addis Ababa. And fulfilling their long held desires, families often
bring their newly adopted child to the hotel during their stay in Ethiopia..
Many times the adoptive family also goes shopping or sightseeing in Addis
Ababa or another local city or village.

This overriding desire, which is very normal and certainly
understandable, often results in unintended cultural insensitivity to the Ethiopian
government and citizens. With over 3,000 adoptions expected in Ethiopia this year,
hotels and other common gathering places such as shopping areas often see
relatively large numbers of families with their newly adopted Ethiopian child.

Given that the vast majority of American and European families
adopting from Ethiopia are Caucasian or other non-black, the adoptive families and their Ethiopian child are easily distinguished and are often a point of
curiosity among Ethiopian citizens. Understandably, due to misconceptions about
adoption some Ethiopian citizens even look upon American and European adoptive
families with suspicion. Cultural differences in parenting and child behavior are
contributing to this suspicion.

The large number of adoptive families combined with the curiosity and
suspicions of Ethiopian citizens and with cultural differences in parenting and child
behavior, is unfortunately causing unintended yet very significant
concerns among some Ethiopian citizens and the government. Subsequently these
unintended consequences are weakening the work and services being provided in
order to ensure permanent families for the children of Ethiopia. Without
exaggeration, this may lead to the elimination of intercountry adoption as an option for ensuring that every Ethiopian child has a safe, permanent and loving
family.

During Joint Council’s trips to Ethiopia in June and July, concerns
regarding the large numbers of adoptive families, including the Ethiopian child,
staying at hotels and traveling throughout the city were expressed repeatedly
by the Ethiopian government. Significant numbers of Ethiopian citizens have
contacted the government with questions and more significantly with complaints.

During a Joint Council presentation to adoption service providers from the
United States, Italy and France, Joint Council addressed the very important
issue of cultural sensitivities. All adoption service providers we
strongly urged to refrain from utilizing hotels and restricting in-city travel for
adoptive families. Supporting Joint Council’s recommendation was the Network
(a large association of adoption service providers in Ethiopia).

Most adoption service providers that recognized the issue of cultural
sensitivity are following the recommendation. In fact some have instituted
cultural sensitivity policies regarding lodging and in-city travel
prior to the Joint Council recommendation. For example, increasing numbers of adoption service providers have established private guesthouses for adoptive
families. Unfortunately not all adoption service providers have chosen to be
proactive and implement cultural sensitivity policies. Just as unfortunately, many
adoptive parents are insisting on staying at hotels and going shopping in Addis
Ababa despite repeated requests from their adoption service provider, reputable
advocates such as the Network and the Ethiopian government.

It is essential that adoptive parents and adoption service providers
demonstrate respect for the country in which they are respectively adopting and
working. Without demonstrating respect for the country and its people, the adoptive
family is in turn disregarding the culture of their child(ren).
Similarly the adoption service provider is disrespecting the children they seek to
serve.

It is for these reasons and more that we urge adoption service
providers to encourage adoptive parent to please refrain from staying in hotels and
venturing out in public with their newly adoptive children. With respectful
deference to cultural sensitivities in Ethiopia, to the Government of Ethiopia, and
to the people of Ethiopia, Joint Council strongly urges all adoption service
providers to immediately implement policies which incorporate the following
principles Adoptive parents are similarly requested to respect their child(ren),
their birth country and culture and abide by the following principles and
the policies of their adoption service provider.

Cultural Sensitivity Principles and Guidelines

Principles
1. All due care must be given to demonstrate cultural sensitivities
towards the country, people and government of Ethiopia
2. Full recognition of the questions, concerns, curiosities and suspicions
must be given to the Government of Ethiopia and its citizens
3. It is recognized that adopting an Ethiopian child is a "privilege of
giving" bestowed by the citizens and government of Ethiopia
4. It is recognized that every Ethiopian child has a right to a family -
every family does not have an inherent right to an Ethiopian child
5. Actions and behaviors which may not appear to be offensive to U.S.
adoptive parents, may in fact be extremely offensive to Ethiopian society
6. Actions and behaviors seen as culturally insensitive damage the
institution of intercountry adoption and thereby limit opportunities for
children in need to find a family
7. Actions and behaviors seen as culturally insensitive significantly
contribute to the possible elimination of intercountry adoption in
Ethiopia and thereby eliminate the right of every Ethiopian child to a safe,
permanent and loving family

Guidelines
1. Adoption service providers will incorporate these principles and
guidelines into their contractual or policy relationships with potential
adoptive families
2. Adoption service providers will disclose the contractual or policy
limitations related to cultural sensitivities to all prospective adoptive
parents prior to approving an application from the prospective
adoptive parents
3. Prior to taking custody of their adopted Ethiopian child, adoptive
families may reside in a hotel during their stay
a. It is recommended that adoptive families utilize Ethiopian Guest Houses
or a lodging facility operated by an adoption service provider during
their entire stay in Ethiopia
b. Adoptive families who have not taken full custody of their adopted
Ethiopian child may choose to utilize a hotel
i. In such cases the adoptive parents may visit their adopted Ethiopian
child daily at the child care center
4. Upon taking custody of their adopted Ethiopian child, adoptive families
will utilize Ethiopian Guest Houses or a lodging facility operated by an
adoption service provider
5. Adoptive families will refrain from in-country travel with their
adopted Ethiopian child
a. Exceptions to this guideline (#5) are limited to
i. The visa appointment at the U.S. Embassy
ii. Other adoption related events
iii. An emergency situation
6. Adoptive families will refrain from pressuring their adoption service
provider or in-country staff to violate these principles, guidelines
and/or agency polices representing these principles and guidelines

A Friend's Journey...

I want to share this beautiful pictorial journey that our church friends just posted. They brought their little one home from ET just a few short weeks ago. I am in awe of the pictures, their stories, their messages...their depiction of our daughter's birth home. My heart hungers to hold her as I know she is there somewhere..even if it is still in her birth mom's womb. The Putty Family is precious and I have been thanking the Lord for their safe travels and successful journey to bring home their son. They have only greater things ahead. Watch their spectacular travel abroad. Don't forget to pause our music at the bottom of the page.Give it some time to load up before you hit play :)

Them there are fight'n words...

I am a fan of Joyce Meyer ministries and all her words of wisdom and her books and podcasts. She is an amazing speaker with a fascinating testimony. I have been through a couple of her biblestudies and have two devotional books of hers that I love. They are called, "Ending Your Day Right" and "Starting Your Day Right". This morning I grabbed the evening devotional (okay it doesn't matter that it was morning!) and began to open my heart to every word I read.
On a side note, this past week has been a difficult one for our family. In a nutshell, we have been on a downward spiral with some interesting goings on within our spiritual community. Without saying too much, it has simply been attack after attack on our family. Feeling like one against one thousand has not been the easiest feat. As Chris and I have held eachother close and spoken life into eachother, we have faced the hardships of others not speaking life to us. Essentially, these others should have been speaking life, should have 'had our backs', should have been supportive but were not. As I read the devotional this morning, it tied some very simple truths that have been spoken to us over the past few days by some great friends. I have to say that our dear sweet friends, our spiritual family has been the greatest during all of this. We are humbled by God's completeness as He has provided just what we need. One word spoken yesterday by a dear friend suggested that these attacks from the enemy are on the cusp of some great things going on in our ministry. ..and further to consider that the enemy is hard on our trail to thwart the very things that God is calling us to do. During this difficult few days, I have not had the clear vision to see such. It was like a lightbulb moment..."of course!".
In further confirmation, as I get back to the devotion (sorry for digressing),Joyce Meyer confirmed, "The devil does not want you to start anything of value-and if you do manage to get started, he does not want you to finish." p284.
I have long known that the enemy will use the weaknesses in others to attack us. While it sounds like a no brainer, it is a simple concept that is easily forgotten. While it may appear that the devil himself has come in the flesh to fire his flaming arrows, the truth is that he finds a weak soul to invest in for a few days in order to attack another. There may be times that this weak soul gets a revelation and the devil moves on and then there are times that he lingers for awhile and creates strongholds. My prayer is that God would call me to my knees before the enemy could use me to tear someone down. I admit that I have work to do :).
My spirit is strengthening as I break free from the false hold that was on me. PTL that the enemy has never and will never have the authority to win. His fighting days are over. As I shout from the roof tops, I believe that great things will be happening in this spiritual community..and I believe that even greater things will be happening in the spiritual realm where those that spoke out of character and acted out of character will have their eyes opened. I am believing that the Lord would shine His light on these situations and let the truth be known so that no more darkness and trouble would be allowed to settle here. It is time to put on the fighting gloves and get to work.
If you have not had the privelege to read any of Joyce Meyers materials, I strongly encourage you to start anywhere. There is no doubt, a message for you in one of the many books and studies that she has. In addition, I encourage you to get into a strong church community where you can develop a spiritual family that can hold you up like no others can. The church was designed for just such a ministry as that. "The believers gathered together..."
Be encouraged, if nothing else, that the Lord is faithful to answer the prayers of the righteous.

12 months and counting....

I think I have mentioned this before, but just got further confirmation this morning that the current wait time for our little girl is now 12 months. I was hoping that this delay was for those who had submitted their paperwork after us, but it applies to us :(. This means that it could possibly be August of '09 before we are able to get a referral. We have been told from the beginning 6-9 months. But over the course of our process, the wait times have gotten longer. Not much to say except that God is in control. I choose not to be (that) discouraged and look forward to the moments we will be able to hold our daughter and love on her and bless her and let her bless us. I can't wait! Our kids ask nearly every day about her. We love her as if she were here already. I am hoping and praying that our prayers are lifting her up whether she is in the womb or has just been birthed. May the Lord cover her and protect her and bless her birth mother and her caregivers. Today is a beautiful day. May the Lord be glorified in it.

Am I Adopted? A way to share to your child...

I just discovered that Kirk Cameron and his wife, Chelsea are adoptive parents. Chelsea was actually adopted herself as a child and has always had a heart for adoption. It may be old news for many, but I have enjoyed reading up on this family and their experiences as adoptive and christian parents in this tough world. I am attaching a conversation that Chelsea had with their oldest son about his adoption. It is a beautiful account and a great way to share their entry in to the world and into the family.

Mommy, was I in your tummy?
How Chelsea told her eight-year-old son about adoption
Jack: Mommy, was I in your tummy?
Chelsea: No, honey.
Jack: What about Bella?
Chelsea: No.
Jack: What about Anha?
Chelsea: No.
Jack: What about Luke?
Chelsea: No.
Jack: Well, who’s tummy was I in?
Chelsea: Well, sweetheart, I don’t know her name. But you were in an amazingly, special, incredible woman’s tummy, and she took care of you in her tummy for nine months. And when the time came for you to be born, she felt God talking to her heart and telling her that Mommy and Daddy were meant to be your mommy and daddy. And because she loved you, she took care of you for nine months. And, Jack, she did the most amazing thing. She listened to God. She wanted you to be where you were supposed to be – where God wanted you to be. And then, Jack…God uses people like angels – not angels with wings – but anyone who does God’s work is like an angel…. The minute she [our social worker] brought you to me, I started crying because I had been praying for a little boy with green eyes like Daddy and curly hair. I looked at you, and I knew that you came straight from heaven, that God brought you to our family and you were the baby I had been praying for.

For the entire article, go here. It is soooo encouraging.

Date Night

It is late..but worth the moments to share just a great date night. It takes lots of work to find sitters and make arrangements and on top of all that justify the funds that it takes to pull it off ..BUT joy joy, Chris and I had a great date tonight. We decided to do the typical dinner and movie but altered the dinner just a bit by choosing a picnic at a local vineyard just 3 miles from our house. We have been meaning to visit but just havent had the opportunity to go without the kids.
We were pleasantly surprised by its remoteness and authenticity. We immediately felt like we were swept away to a vineyard far from home..perhaps Italy? California? Okay, I am dreamy..but still it was nice :).
We had a great time tasting some of their prize possessions and even got a sweet raspberry truffle to really start off our dinner. We found a great spot on the top of a hill not occupied by any other picnic-ers. As a matter of fact, we had the entire hillside to ourselves.
Our menu..
Homemade Creamy Tomato Basil Soup
Crusty French Bread
Creamy Butter
Fresh pears..picked from the tree!
A round of Brie
Summer sausage
and...2 kinds of dark chocolate

With the sun setting, the perfect outdoor temperatures, a light breeze, no passersby, a great delectable meal, and a close view of my sweety with NO interruptions was simply heavenly.
These pix were taken from my cell phone to capture just a blip of our date.
I would love to say that I wish you were there..but to be honest, I am glad you werent. It was just a moment for the two of us..one to remember. So...maybe next time.

I-171H Form Approved!

We received this form on Thursday! It was a sweet moment to see the envelope's return address from the government. When I opened it carefully, I pulled out the folded letter that officially states that Chris and I are approved to house an orphan from Ethiopia. It has taken about 8 weeks to get this once our homestudy was approved. This is the LAST document that had to be done before we could receive a referral. There is nothing holding us back now from getting the referral of our beautiful daughter except TIME.
Our friends from church leave in a week to pick up their precious son from ET. You can read all about their amazing journey here, The Putty Family. We are praying for them to have a fabulous and safe trip. I cant wait to see their pictures. She is a professional photographer by trade, so I am anxious to get their story told through the beauty of pictures. I am curious and excited to see the land and people where my daughter is coming from. I want to go there, now. I want to smell the land, the air, the foods. I want to hear the music and the voices. I want to see the eyes, the smiles, the faces. I want to touch the clothes, the water, the homes. I just want to be closer to her, to her heritage, to her family, to her caregivers. We pray daily for her. Our thoughts and prayers are never far.
Okay..I digress. The good news..the update...the moment we have been waiting for (at this stage) has come....We got the I-171H...and that is GREAT!!

Our Dossier is Approved

These are the pictures of the night before we sent off our dossier. Obviously without a professional photographer we had to get creative to get all of us in the pictures. It was hilarious (atleast for me and Chris). By the end of the event, I think we were about the only ones not in tears! Needless to say, however, we were thrilled to pass that milestone of sending off our dossier. On Friday, we got the news that our dossier passed inspection. Our SW told us that we have been approved and we are OFFICIALLY on the referral wait list. She said that we now have about a 7-9 month wait ahead of us before we get the referral of our beautiful daughter. That means that around Feb-April is our estimated time. After the referral of course we would need to pass court dates in ET and then we would have a travel date about 2 months after that. Despite the appearance of a long wait ahead, I think the worst is behind us. We are thrilled!

A babe is born--our nephew!

This weekend, I traveled with the kiddos to the far side of the state to see our little nephew come into the world. My sister was brave and strong as he was delivered, healthy and happy on Friday, August 8. These are a few pix of our visit. I am a proud Aunt! Notice the cousins all lined up. They had fun playing together and waiting for baby Owyn's arrival.

134 copies and a couple of days later

TODAY, TODAY, TODAY, Our dossier was mailed off to the agency! Late on Friday, I missed a nap to make 134 copies! It took about an hour to stand in Kinkos and one by one make copies of everything in our dossier, including our passport pics, money orders, checks, birth certificates, etc. At one point, I thought, This is crazy! I am going to put these through the feeder instead of doing each page, one by one. However, THAT thought was the crazy one. On the first document as it went through the feeder,the copier stopped running for a second and made this strange sound and my heart dropped to the floor. I thought it had eaten the page. This was a certified, notarized piece of history. I quickly snapped into sanity and retrieved the document as fast as I could and went back to copying one by one. There is no telling what my face looked like on their cameras! Slight panic and fear had to top the list!
Anyway, last night after dinner, we put all the documents in their very specific order and crammed them in the best fitting Fed Ex envelope. We sealed it up and with tears prayed over that precious package. It was a sweet moment as all of us, including Liam, placed our hands on it and lifted it up to the Lord. Liam even had 3 special words over it. We are not sure what he said because it was in his own language, but he was quite serious as he bowed his head and bellowed out a prayer. Evan was so sweet as he lifted up the package in prayer and his 'little sister'. He talks so plainly about her as if she is already in our midst.
We are believing for some great things as we plunge forward. It has been a long time coming to this moment. As a matter of fact, it has been 7 months. Our preliminary thoughts were that we would have already reached this milestone by April. BUT...again, I know that God is in control. Only he knows the perfect timing of when our little one is to be in our arms.
Oh Joy...is all I have to say!!

Garden Glory, part 2

I took these pictures a couple of weeks ago. Our garden is even bigger and better than I ever imagined it would be. In my previous thoughts about our garden,Garden Glory I have a picture of the corn that we were growing from seeds. As you can see, we have corn! I plucked two off the other day and we plan on grilling them tonight. The greatest part is watching the kids light up as we bring in arm loads of veggies. They are not as excited when I cook them up for dinner, BUT we are working on that!

Dossier Certifications

Yesterday, we visited the 'Boro again and had our dossier documents County certified. We took pictures of the county clerk hand writing the certifications for each document and she didnt mind a bit! Liam enjoyed eating raisins and spilling them all over the clerks office. Don't worry, he picked them up (and ate them!) Evan and Lacy quietly sat and played Nintendo. Following the certifications, it was time to seal them up and send them to the State for MORE certifications. This is to prove that your real documents are really real...and certifiably real. So...off via Fed Ex they went. We treated ourselves to lunch at a quaint restaurant off the town square and called it a day. We are getting closer.

Oui Oui Mocha!

I had to show off our littlest family member. She got a new t-shirt yesterday. It flaunts one of my favorite places, Paris. The back of the t-shirt reads: .
J'adore Paris Zee French make no faux paws! however, in order for her to wear it, I have one little requirement. Clean. This is not something that Mocha is always excited to be. As a matter of fact, since this special little purchase, she has had two baths in 24 hours. Why? Why? you ask? Cow patties. Need I say more?!!

Our fourth Social Worker

Just as an update, the new sw was pleasant. I think Chris and I somewhat are wanting some warm fuzzies from this place considering everything we have already been through. I have to confirm that we did NOT get this. It was a very brisk, formal, and nonwarm and fuzzy meeting....no water, no donuts, no hugs. We were able to crack a few jokes though and made a few smiles. On a real note, this agency has lost a friend through all of this. Our deceased (first) social worker's husband and her mother actually visited the agency earlier this week with the baby. She said that the husband was still very much grieving but has placed all of his energy into the son. This was the first time he had stepped into the agency since Kathy died in April. I cant imagine his emotions. She said that before she died, he would come over and that he and Kathy would eat late dinners together in the office. I cannot imagine.
We need to continue praying for them.

Dossier is in review

We spent the better part of yesterday in Murfreesboro getting our Dossier documents signed and notarized. About 30 minutes before we were supposed to meet our (new) social worker for this event, I discovered some discrepencies in the names on the documents. Some have my full name including my maiden name,some don't, some have Chris' middle name, some don't, some have a mixture of the two, some don't. I have read blogs of families who have gotten over there and when they were ready to take home their child, there were typos or strange things wrong with their paperwork. My fear (that I have to subside) is that it will happen to us.
After a panicked phone call and email to the main agency in Minnesota, we were still not sure how to resolve this. The reason is that some documents have been filled out by banks, employers, friends references, doctors,etc. These are the documents that cannot be easily changed. They all have different names. Some, like my passport and the tax statements cant be changed at all. Even our homestudy called me by my first name which I do not go by. I was all in a 'tizzy' as we left to the appt. Our sw was really not sure of the degree of strictness in the name situation. She went ahead and notarized everything with a few notarized 'extras' just in case we need to switch a few out. It is like everything depends on these signatures. Our daughter..bringing her home is dependant on the black and blue ink that covers these white pieces of paper. ..and if there is one typo....ugh.
We faxed the dossier to the agency in MN for review and we are praying that they are not only sufficient but found excellent. After this gets approved, we have to get county certifications to prove they are real and then get state certifications to prove they are even more real! This will then get officially sent to MN and we will prayerfully be placed on the waiting list.

Crisis in Ethiopia

How many times as a mom (or parent)have you felt your insides screaming when your child approaches your plate with hungry grunts and whines. You look at them and say, "this is MY food. No...you have already had your piece. This is mommy's!" Then after you indulge in another bite or two, you relinquish your selfishness and turn over the last few bites of your favorite pancakes, or your best chicken casserole or your buttered roll to the requesting child. Or you find just enough slices of bread to make sandwiches for your offspring for lunch. There is none left for you, so you turn and make some creative (sometimes barely tolerable)conconction for yourself out of frig leftovers and say to yourself,'atleast they got to eat something!'
It is our nature to care for our little ones, even to the point of sacrificing our own needs to meet theirs.
In todays news, Ethiopia is currently suffering from a major drought and elevated food costs. The news captures photos of families standing in lines to receive food rations of mixed cereals. However, due to costs all over the world, the rations have been minimized and fewer aid is coming into the country. As a result, millions are suffering. My heart sank when I read in an article:
"There is no widespread famine. There is localised, critical child malnutrition,"
"Already for some kids... it's too late, but it's not too late for many, many other children who need assistance until the next harvest comes in," said Sonali Wickrema, who designs programmes in Ethiopia for the U.N. World Food Programme (WFP).
"We want rapid assistance now in order to prevent large-scale and long-term damage," she said.
The Ethiopian government says 75,000 children are suffering from the most severe form of malnutrition because of food and water shortages caused by drought. "

At this time, right now, I have no idea where our precious daughter is in Ethiopia or what family she is coming from. I do not know her mother or other family members. She may not even be conceived yet. ..but there is trauma over there. There are blessed little children who are going to bed hungry, some have lost their lives to hunger and disease. Her family could be suffering right now. My heart aches to bring her home. ..to hold her and love on her. To give her my last piece of pancake...to bless her with the rest of my sandwich or let her drink the rest of my (favorite) sweet tea. My prayers are so layered sometimes I cant keep them straight but I hang on to the hope that Christ has given me. I hang on to the beautiful vision He has placed in my mind of her. My heart is torn for her mom and family. I am only humbled..only thankful that we have been chosen to bless her with a new home. I can't wait...just can't wait.
And my God shall supply all your needs according to his riches in glory...

Adoption update=>delays and new sw

We got a letter in the mail the other day from our local agency. I actually handed it to Chris not wanting to read it. He said, "What do you think it will say?" I responded, "probably that we have a new social worker!" That is EXACTLY what it was. To our dismay, they had given us another sw because our 2nd one was an intern and her time at the agency had come to an end. If you can remember, our first one tragically died during childbirth earlier this year.
Needless to say, this was not welcoming news. Due to the 4th of July holidays, we couldnt call the offices until yesterday. In a tear filled phonecall, I explained with the best of selfcontrol that I could muster, why I felt our family had not only been tossed around like a hot potato, but in light of the numerous mishaps, misinformation, and delays, we felt like our case was not being taken seriously. I did my best to convey how this is a life-changing event for our family not simply a decision to buy new windows for our house (I didnt use those words but I think she got the picture through my crying..) In the end, the agency's main sw whom I was talking to, decided to take on our case herself. THANK YOU!
I feel like we are getting back on track again..however, I will feel better when our dossier is actually in ET.
In addition to the letter from the agency, we got a letter from immigration services stating that our homestudy did not have the right wording to state that our home was safe for a child. ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!!! This goes back to our first and second social workers. UGH.. Anyway..that is being fixed and an addendum is being sent in the mail 'right away'.
So...how do we stay encouraged? How do we not lose hope? I remind myself that I have only just begun the process. There are many families (including some friends) out there who have been waiting for years for their precious babe from China. There are some families whose countries have just been shut down. Some families whose agencies were false and their monies stolen. My momentary troubles do not compare to these stories and I am humbled. I am reminded that God is in control. I pick myself up off my knees and wipe the tears from my eyes and trudge forward again and I thank God for my agency and for these people who have acted on my behalf and I pray that they are blessed for their work and faithfulness...and then I get back to my day.

Jesus in our Family Picture

This is a picture we had taken of our family at Easter in the Childrens church room after church that day. It was probably a few months after that we really saw the irony of the photo. In the middle of the picture you can clearly see the picture of Jesus on the backdrop appearing to stand behind me and Chris and be included in the family picture. His hands actually look like they embrace us. We couldnt have picked a more appropriate place for him in our family. Although it was a sheer accident (on our part) that we stood where we did, it was by far no accident on God's part to place himself exactly right where He belongs...right smack dab in the middle of our family, our marriage, our lives. I love looking at the picture. I look right past our smiles, the imperfections in my hair, wardrobe, etc...and I laugh..out loud, no doubt..at the beauty and humor of the Lord. It's a perfect picture!

Eye of God

This is an image taken by NASA in 2003 by the Hubble Space Telescope. It is referred to as "The Eye of God". This image has been featured in many space articles and magazines. It is actually described by astonomers as "a trillion-mile-long tunnel of glowing gases." I thought I would share this beautiful picture. It's likeness to an amazingly gorgeous eye is undeniable. Isn't it awesome just to dream for a moment that perhaps the Lord looks upon us with such hugeness and such glory? Just recently a fellow blogger offered words of comfort as she discussed this space image and challenged the thought that if our Lord's eye is this large, imagine His hands and how so very much they encompass us and lift us up. It is quite comforting to think of it that way!

Garden Glory

We are trying to get serious with gardening...I mean I am. I will explain Chris' involvement in a minute. For several years, I have created larger and larger areas to garden and expanding the library of produce that I plant. This year, I am excited to add corn to the backyard garden (check out photo)! I planted the seeds not more than a week ago and they are sprouting up quicker than I can say 'hopscotch jolly.' (Does that sound country enough?!) We live on 6 acres of beautiful land. Three acres are wooded and the other 3 are pasture. Our house sits right on the border of both. It is a perfect place to raise kids, do some gardening, watch the dog run and hopefully add a few farm animals. I am trying to convince Chris into letting us get a donkey from our neighbor who is giving hers away. (We'll see!!)
In the meantime, I am trying to nurture my little garden and hopefully be able to enjoy the fruit of my labor. I hope to see some corn, zucchini, red onions, 3 different types of tomatoes, green peppers,squash, green beans, and a variety of herbs.
Now..let me describe Chris' role in the gardening. He is an avid supporter. He will water it faithfully, create and maintain any composting, even purchase a few plants to add, and he definitely enjoys harvesting any ready fruits or veggies. As far as his involvement a couple of years ago, it can be summed up in 4 words: He mowed it down. We can laugh now about it, but 2 years ago, not so much. I was 8 months pregnant with our 3rd child and I had been nurturing my beautiful garden since the spring..and it was not funny. I had even started seeds indoors 6 weeks before planting during the winter months trying to get a head start. Here is where the crazy idea came from. During a car ride back from town one day, we noticed a man had mowed down his garden. It sparked a conversation going somewhat like this, 'Why would you mow down a garden? I wonder if he had already harvested all the veggies. I wonder if that helps it grow better next season. I bet he is going to plant new stuff now." That is how it went. A few days later, I look out of our kitchen window and discover that my husband has JUST FINISHED MOWING DOWN MY GARDEN! Let me say that we had just begun harvesting the veggies. It still had many more weeks of growth and plenty more veggies to harvest. You can imagine my response....and let me remind you that I was 8 months pregnant. This condition already creates an increased level of emotion. Needless to say, Chris will not ever mow down a garden again....and anyway the 4 foot high fencing that we installed prevents any temptation! His explanation?!1 Well..it was something like this: Didnt you say that you wanted me to?!! ha..ha...ha..ha... He was very serious and to this day, it has been chalked up to miscommunication. Ummm...hmmmmmm. Yep...miscommunication. See...these are the things that make a marriage stronger. and you just thought I was talking about gardening!

Le Dossier

We are excited now to have gotten our second installment of dossier instructions and list of items to gather and notarize. We thought we would have been WAY into the waiting time by now, but as we realize and rest at ease knowing that God is in complete control and He is watching over every bit of our process, I choose not to be discouraged that we are not on the timeline we had set for ourselves. Thank goodness, things dont happen because I choose for them to happen. There is no telling what kind of situation I would be in! Time to hop into the paper chase!

Homestudy is off to CIS

I have avoided writing lately as we hit another bump in the road. It has been discouraging to be blogging only mishaps and bumps...and since I had little to rejoice over as far as our adoption process, I couldnt write. Briefly, I will say that the reason we have been delayed again is because we received misinformation regarding our education credits...again from our SW who just recently passed away. We were told that we could gain 10 hrs credit each from multiple sources including books, seminars, conferences, meetings, online meetings, etc. We were encouraged to do the Hague accredited 'With Eyes Wide Open' (voluntarily) after we were in the official waiting for a referral stage. We had been steadily reaching that goal as our homestudy was being reviewed and found out that this was not good enough. As a matter of fact, all the credits we have so far gained are basically not applicable. While our SW was aware that this 'With Eyes Wide Open' was apparently mandatory, we did not. She thought we would be grandfathered in, even though our paperwork had not yet been submitted. It is CRAZY!! Anyway, Chris and I have been in seclusion filling our precious nighttime moments at the computer trying to complete this online course which takes approx 10-12 hours to complete. We are done! We completed the course, and YESTERDAY...yes YESTERDAY...one day after our 14th wedding anniversary, our completed Homestudy was sent to CIS. WOOOOO HOOOOOO! Happy dance!

Home Study complete

Victory!
Our homestudy is complete and we are having it sent on to our partner agency, CHSFS. We are thrilled! It did not come without a few more tears but atleast it is done. We found out today that our previous SW did not turn in valuable paper work to our partner agency a month ago. I was shocked to hear our new SW say, "they do not have this part of your application ..." WHAT?!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Again, this has revealed just more items that were left very undone before our SW passed away. These were items that we were told had already been done. Our new SW called today with very sincere words of comfort as she completely understood and encouraged me to express my frustration. As we have been trying to tred lightly where our previous SW is concerned due to her untimely demise, we have not really been able to express how all of this uncompleted work and delays have affected us. Our new SW expressed that it is normal to feel frustration and even guilt during this time that we are trying to celebrate her life and continue moving forward doing jobs that she had neglected. She too expressed frustration and guilt and encouraged me to please feel free to express myself, that I would not offend her. She did say that she and her supervisor felt this case was the most important item on their docket and they are doing their best to pick up the pieces and complete it in a timely and yet excellent manner.
I appreciated her grace and words of encouragement. I cannot imagine being in her place and I pray that we continue to grow grace during this process.
As I was walking down my beautiful long driveway to get the mail with tears in my eyes, the Lord reminded me that He is in control and He has a plan. My response, "Yes, Lord." And that is exactly what I needed to hear Him whisper to me. Yes...just trust. So easy to get caught up in the moment and feel like everything you are doing is falling apart or not going 'as planned'...but truly, we are called to "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight". In my bible notes, it states that "He will remove the obstacles from your pathway and bring you to your appointed goal". YAY!! Unbenownced to me, there are tons of obstacles he has already removed from this adoption path. I am grateful. I am humbled. I am loved. I am blessed. I am His child and He loves me!So, in other words...Relax! It's all under control!

Baby Steps

The great thing about baby steps is that even though they are small, they are still moving forward! In our case, even though it has seemingly been a few steps back, it has just been baby steps. Due to the circumstances surrounding our social worker and her recent death, our homestudy was on serious delay. However, it has now gone into full gear. Our new social worker has picked up the pieces and found some missing parts. After supplying her with those elements, we are nearing completion of that phase. Today, our homestudy is under review by the supervisor and hopefully in the next few business days, we can get this thing sent off to all the right places.

"Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the Lord, our God." Ps 20:7

Room Service Please

My 6 year old daughter woke up early this morning as I was just sitting down for some quiet time in my favorite chair. Now, I need to set this up just a little more. She had already gotten up once, and I encouraged her to go back to bed and sleep in because it was too early to get up. Within a few minutes, she came in and saw my face of shock, both of us knowing that she had now disobeyed. She said, "Mom, I have a question." My slow and controlled response, 'yes, Lacy?"
In her sweet little voice with concern and slight frustration on her face, she said, "Mom, when am I going to get room service?" (me) "WHAT?!!!"
(Lacy) "Well, I never get it! I havent gotten room service in a long time (never) and I want to know when I am going to get it. It's just not fair. Other people get room service all the time and I never get it."
(me) "What are you talking about sweetie? Are you talking about breakfast in bed?!"
(Lacy) "Yes, Mom. I never get that. When am I going to get that, like eggs and toast and stuff when I am in bed? It's just not fair"
(me) "Okay, well kids dont get room service. I dont get it except when it is Mothers day! So, when you grow up, maybe you can get it then! We will continue to eat breakfast like normal, in our wonderful kitchen!"
(Lacy) sigh...
(me) "Now, go back to bed...." and I added a few more words about disobedience.
Am I missing something? Is the new trend to feed your children room service in bed? Hmmmm....I have totally missed the memo on that one!

Bring The Rain: A Letter to My Daughter

Bring The Rain: A Letter to My Daughter

A beautiful story. These past few days of rain have not been anything to the richness of soil that has been growing through the raindrops that have been falling for this family. I have been a sobbing mess trying to describe to Chris what I am reading. I have been barely able to read the pages as my eyes well up with water. Angie's beautiful message of hope and love for their child is so touching. Her trials and lessons learned, her messages from the Lord are so tangible. Read Angie's story. Her husband is one of the talented singers from the group, Selah. Read, learn, love, pray, grow.

Oprah-the truth

This video explains so much. It is so sad...and yet so predictable that the enemy would use and confuse such an influential figure. Yes, one day her eyes will be opened. In the meantime, I pray for all those who believe in her, who believe that she is doing good. What a deception! What an ingenious way of trapping those. They believe that just because she does 'good' that it is in the name of Goodness, the one who created good, the one who gave us life, the one who makes it very clear about the way, the only way to Him. In the end, Oprah will be held accountable for those that are led astray because of her teachings. Wow! The video is amazing.

Tragic Loss of our Social Worker

We are without words. Our social worker passed away a few days ago. Read below.


Kathy Elaine Herrod Robison

On Friday, April 4, 2008, Kathy delivered a healthy boy, John Micah Robison, but sadly lost her life after suffering an amniotic-fluid embolism.

Kathy loved her job and working with families. She believed in the work she did here and was integrally involved in almost every aspect of the work at the agency - writing the newsletters, coordinating volunteers, organizing special events, and overseeing education classes. Kathy was kind-hearted, full of life, and dedicated to her family and friends. All who knew Kathy are mourning this great loss.

Family visitation will be on Monday, April 7, 2008 from 4-8 pm at Woodfin Funeral Home, 1488 Lascassas Pike, Murfreesboro, TN.

The funeral will be at 11:00 am on Tuesday, April 8, 2008 at First Baptist Church, 200 E. Main Street, Murfreesboro, TN.

Please keep Kathy's husband, Nathan, new son, Micah, as well as her whole family in your prayers.

Goodnight Moon

Liam has been enjoying story time lately. I have to say that I enjoy it too. His little warm body still against my chest as his tiny fingers hold the edges of the book in anticipation of the next page. By far he has two favorites, Brown Bear, Brown Bear What do you See by Eric Carle and the second which is my favorite as well, Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown. I have been reading that book for over ten years now. When Evan was born, it became our favorite quickly. We read it so much, that I could recite the whole book without turning a page. But the best part about the book is the intricate drawings. While they seem simple and nondescript, there are slight differences in each page that make you search for the characters. For example, throughout the entire book, the little mouse is moving about the room eating the mush in the bowl, watching the moon rise, etc. Or you might find the kitties playing and then snoozing later in the rocking chair. The moon rises ever so slowly from one page to the next creating this great image of time passing by while this little man says his goodnights to everything in the room. It is by far my favorite kids book and has given me thoughts of an adorable nursery with the same theme. It would be a sweet mural to adorn a nursery...(my artistic side never leaves me). I dont think that book will ever get old..or the preciousness of Liam in my lap or the memories of reading it to Evan and Lacy.

Yahoo Groups

We belong to two great blog groups that have been super informative about the Ethiopian adoption process. If you are in the process and have not joined in, please consider it. They are CAFEKids@yahoogroups.com and EthiopiaAdopt@yahoogroups.com. Both groups have some fabulous attendees that share the best information. Interestingly, the hot topic this week has been over the financial weight of adoptions on families and the choice of whether or not to have a fundraiser of some sorts. The responses have been all across the board ranging from the polite encouragers to the downright firm opposers. I have enjoyed reading the responses and it has caused me to consider perhaps a fundraiser of our own. I have found two on Etsy.com that have caught my attention. I am particularly drawn to the beautiful artwork of JunkPosse who has created these beautiful silver pendants of Africa to help raise support.
From the beginning, Chris and I have planned to send out support letters to our friends and family. This is a great way to share our heart and gather support from all over the states. This support can include emotional, spiritual, and financial elements. All to create a circle of warmth around us as we prepare to bring home our daughter from Ethiopia. We hope to get those out soon. In the meantime, I am praying for some ideas of fundraising if we are called to take that route. I have no doubt that God will provide if we ask.

Time To Believe

It's been a rainy season the past few weeks, and I am not just talking about the weather. For some reason the enemy has been stirring up all kinds of trouble, casting shadows of doubt in some, waves of frustration in others. We have had two families close to us with huge issues in selling their homes and buying another. Silly things that have caused delays and tears and just upsets all around. Issues have arisen that we can't post. We have had people doubt their faith, admit marital concerns, reveal personal weaknesses and health concerns. It has seemingly been a consistent stream of dirty water passing through the pipes, so to speak, a heavy cloud overhead with endless showers of rain, drizzle or just darkness. Even in our own family, we have become subject to the contagious frustrations of a toddler or the solitude of busy-ness that consumes us at times. However, it is time to stand firm, stand tall, proclaim victory and give the enemy and ear full. It is time to shout from the roof tops "NOT ME! NOT MY FAMILY!" It is time to lend helping hands and listening ears. Time to provide warm meals to friends and a warm hug. Time to send words of encouragement via email, snail mail, phone or voice. Time to praise our Lord for the little things...because we know that even greater things are happening that we cant see. Time to take charge of our bodies and the health of our families. Time to make a difference. Time to say to God, "USE ME!" Time to get on our knees and admit our weaknesses so He CAN use us. Time to teach our children why we are here. Time to start waking up each morning and realizing that we have been blessed with the gift of life for that day and that we owe our Lord the very best that we have. He believes in us, it is time that we believe in Him.

Fingerprints done....for good

Thursday afternoon, I revisited the CIS offices for a reprinting of my fingertips. The first ones apparently did not take well, so I received a notice to have them retaken. I was not thrilled by this news as my first appointment was far from exciting. However, as I was preparing to walk into the building, I looked at this as a new opportunity to try to get the man at the counter to smile. As some of you may know from my previous blog, this gentleman was far from polite and received an honest comment card from me regarding the less than satisfactory services that had been provided. This time, he smiled! I was initially greeted with his snippy "Do you have a cell phone with you? Where is your paperwork?" But, without hesitation, I immediately gave my biggest smile and answered his questions with lighthearted responses. I began to explain that this was my second visit and suddenly we began to converse. His face began to soften and he even cracked a joke or two. I was surprised that he was even sharing detailed information with me. He explained that the reason my prints needed to be retaken is probably because of my frequent handwashing. Due to the fact that I was a health professional and now a SAHM/artist, I have no doubt washed my fingerprints nearly away. He did reassure me that this would be the last time I would have to come. He said usually the CIS gives up after the second try and they take the best prints they can get.
I forgot to mention that I was seen right away. My first visit was 45 minutes long. I believe Thursday I was in and out of there in 15 minutes. Overall, I gave them an "excellent" rating this time. The entire staff was having a great day...and it showed.

The Call to Care for Orphans..a message from Rick Warren

A Roaring Love of a Tigress

Several years ago, a momma tiger lost her premature cubs during birth. As the momma tiger's health began to decrease due to the loss, her caretakers tried desperately to find other cubs to fill the void. After a long search, they were able to find orphaned piglets at another zoo. Placing small tiger skins around the piglets, they made the transition and the rest is history. The momma tiger's health jumped back up to normal and the piglets found a new mom! Despite the unbelieveable nature of it all, this beautiful adoption was meant to be!

Fingerprint Blues

The day started early with a complete tear-drawing disappointment as our adoption agency told us to come to a class to hear families share about their journey of adopting from Ethiopia, and then cancelled the families coming because they didnt think anyone was going to show up..even though we signed up to come!!! It was a complete shock. I will refrain from sharing any comments on how I feel about our social worker who completely dropped the ball on this one. We drove in from out of town early this morning, made arrangements for our three kiddos to be watched during the two hour event and all to discover that steps had not been taken to confirm our place at the meeting. ugh...the good news is that I was able to shrug off my frustration with a little shopping at a new store before heading to pick up the kids. It was enough time away to gather my thoughts and just grab a smile from within as the sun began to shine on my face.
By the time I arrived in the driveway at home, I was slammed with more disappointing news. My fingerprints apparently were not savvy enough for the CIS. Ugh... so I have to go back and get them retaken in a couple of weeks. Sigh...
This is what I do know. God led us into this journey and He will certainly provide the way for it to all fall into place. This is just a bump in the road...or two. Sigh...
Somedays I am just tired of bumps!

Ever Considered Adoption or Why Adopt?

Ever since Chris and I have begun this journey, my heart has wondered why I have not pursued adoption sooner. I am totally a believer, totally on board, and totally know that it was God that led us to this time in our lives to begin this great venture. Below is a video that gives a great message as to the biblical reasons to adopt. John Piper says it better than we ever could. I pray that as we continue on this venture, that it be an encouragement to others to consider adoption for their own families. Instead of Why adopt...consider Why not?
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Horn Of Africa Restaurant

For my birthday, Chris took me to an Ethiopian restaurant near the airport. Actually this area has several ET restaurants and this one came recommended from an Ethiopian lady that Chris works with at the airport.
I have to say that it was definitely an authentic experience. ..so authentic that at times I found myself nearly panicking that I had eaten the ice cubes. Let me explain...when we travel to Ethiopia we will not be able to drink the water. It is not healthy to drink and obviously the ice cubes are not safe to crunch so you are highly encouraged NOT to eat the ice or drink the water. As we were eating yesterday, I sometimes would pause mid-crunch and had to re-establish that we were not in ACTUAL Ethiopia yet..we were still in the safe USA with plenty of safe drinking water to be had! I know it sounds a little crazy..but the environment, food, and staff were all 100% Ethiopian and we were totally enthralled. We felt like we were there...(almost!).
The food was exactly as I had been reading, stew-like and very rich in flavor. We enjoyed Doro Wat (chicken stew) and Awaze Tibs (beef tips). Of course, this was all served on one large platter with the bottom layer of Ethiopian Injera bread which is the actual 'utensil'. This style eating continues to exemplify the nature of Ethiopia....family. In this meal, you are all sharing one plate (albeit) huge. It kind of gives you that down home southern feel as everyone sits at a large table eating'family-style'. It did take me and Chris a little to get used to the spongey texture and room temp feel of the injera bread. Other than that, we enjoyed the authentic experience and look forward to trying out some of the other ET eateries.

CIS Fingerprints- CHECK!

We can totally check this one off the list! DONE! Friday morning we rose early, smuggled the sleepy kiddos into the car with a breakfast snack, and headed downtown in the pouring rain. Through the school zones and rain and rush hour traffic, it took us nearly an hour to get there. I was doubting my husband's insistence that we leave that early..but truly, we needed to (sorry honey!). We got there just in time. There were quite a few applicants already standing in the drizzly rain waiting for the doors to open. By the time we parked the car, the doors opened and we hopped in the back of the line with kids in tow. There were a couple of not so nice employees...but overall, our experience was rated, "good". We had to fill out a survey and I did mention that I sure wished our greeter had atleast made it appear he enjoyed his job more. I just said a quick prayer. I cant imagine working in such a tense environment. The documents have to be perfectly inline, every name correct, every t crossed, and I dotted. The fingerprints have to be done perfectly as well. For me, she had to redo them several times. Apparently I have soft prints that dont show up as well.
One of the staff told Chris that the couple before us was also adopting from Ethiopia. We had no idea. It was not the environment for chatting. As a matter of fact, Liam got reprimanded for not staying in his 'zone'. Yikes! I thought they might throw us out the way he pointed his finger at our toddler. At one point, when we were standing in another line, Chris and I were instructed to line up against the wall (as opposed to casually standing about 3 feet from the wall in a not so straight line!) Yikes again! We were glad when it was over. It took 45 minutes from beginning to end.
To really top it all off, we were all treated to a nice hot breakfast at IHOPS. Thanks Dad!

Fingerprints update

I made several calls to the CIS offices on Monday and through a plethora of transfers, disconnections, and onhold music, I finally was able to speak to a LIVE person. Atleast I think he was alive. He was not of much help. I explained our circumstances of receiving this odd letter with the appt date but no appt time. He said this was not the actual notice and that I needed to go to the Memphis office to find out. WHAT?? We are no where near the Memphis office! I explained that I just needed someone to confirm if an additional letter was sent that was currently en route or did something happen in the mail or did perhaps our letter have a misprint?!! In the end, he gave me an email to contact the Memphis offices. An email! I also explained how we were on a time crunch since the appt was supposedly scheduled for 4 1/2 days away!! I asked for a phone number and was informed that no local offices have public phone numbers. OKAY! I was grateful I had internet access and a current email account.
After the phonecall, I emailed them. No response of course...for several days. However, to our great surprise, within hours of this entire ordeal, Chris brought in the mail and guess what was on top? Our fingerprint appointments with a date and time!! They were printed on official watersealed government paper. I had to immediately email the CIS in Memphis again and ask them to 'disregard previous email!'
In the end, actually later that evening as I was recounting the events and my anxiety, etc...the Lord clearly spoke to me that I should have trusted him more. Yes, Lord....I should have.
We look forward to our appt on Friday. It is at 8am..so we will have to travel with the kids early early to get through the school zones and rush hour traffic, but we will make a morning of it! We are just grateful the letters finally arrived in the mail.

CIS Fingerprints

We got our fingerprints appt today!!! Yeah!! We feel like we are moving closer and closer to our baby girl! We are a little confused about it but we will call our social worker on Monday. It said simply, 'your appointment date'. We understood that we would have a time and a date but ours only had a day specified, no time. Anyway, they dont give you much notice We have til the end of the week! We are excited though...we are moving, moving, moving forward.

Neighborly love

A friend of a friend's neighbor just came back from Ethiopia last month. They created this beautiful video of their adventure. They live just miles down the road. This video is much like the experience our friend had two years ago when she and her family were adopting their son from Ethiopia...and it moved her to tears. It did the same for me! Chris and I both agree that the moment the nannies were loving all over the babe was the quencher for us! We loved it. Check it out for yourself.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=-LMFqU1WaVE

Why Ethiopia?

Probably the most frequently asked question as we have begun this adventure is: Why Ethiopia?
Well...the best way I can put it is, for all these reasons and more...
We have always known that adoption would be part of our lives at sometime, somewhere, somehow.
Domestic adoption, while completely needed in this country, did not seem like an option for our family.
We felt the calling to Ethiopia as we began to explore, in depth, the countries that were our options through the agency we had chosen.
The wait to get an adopted child through Ethiopia is about a year...which is incredibly less than most other countries.
We fell in love with Ethiopia and its rich culture and its great need to provide safe and loving homes for its near 5 million orphans.
Have you looked at their skin? It is irresistably beautiful!!
From all the experiences that we have heard, we were even more convinced.
We have many interracial families that have totally inspired us to think outside the box.
We have never felt so much peace and guidance from the Lord as we have during this adventure.
We have been sponsoring a child in Africa through World Vision for over three years. Our hearts have naturally been drawn to that country through our sponsored child, Charles, who lives in Malawi.
Without sounding completely crazy, we feel the Lord drew an arrow straight to Ethiopia for our eyes to see.
...and more!

Home Study

Well, today we had our second Home Study with our social worker and we were with her for about four hours. We had numerous questions to answer with many interuptions from our precious little 18 month old. We gave her all of the home work we have gotten done so far. We only have about three more things to do and our home work will be done!! It has taken some time, but we are on the road to be getting our precious one from Ethiopia. After we get the rest of the home work done, we just have to wait. We are getting more and more excited! We still can't believe that our dream is becoming a reality. We watch on-line everyday about different couples that our coming home with their baby. Everytime we watch and read, we get more and more excited! I can't wait to post our adventure on u-tube for others to watch the Cottrell Adventures! More great news to come soon..

Police Clearance Letters

A normal part of the homestudy process is to get police clearance letters. When we sat down with our social worker to discuss the infinite paperwork list, this was one of the items. She gave a brief description of what it entailed..and basically it sounded something like this, "All you have to do is go to the local police department and ask them for a letter of clearance". This sounded incredibly easy and so a couple of weeks ago while I was out and about, I dropped by our local police department and 'asked for a letter'. To my surprise, this process was a little more complicated than just the asking. First of all, I had gone to the city police and not the county sherriffs department. Since we live outside the city limits, we are supposed to use the county dept. I did not know this, of course... AND, I did not bring Chris, which is apparently a no-no. They will not submit letters unless you are TOGETHER. So, it took a week and half before we could go to the sherriff's dept because of our crazy busy schedules. Then, instead of simply telling them our names and addresses, we had to fill out a form with more info and describe in detail what exactly we wanted this letter to say. The lady was pretty adamant about this. We found out that we dont go home with this letter that day. Instead, it will take a few days to a week. This was again another shocker. I was glad we had not waited until the last minute to do this. In closing...our letters are supposed to be ready by Monday. Yippee! We can hopefully check this one off the list!

Valentine getaway

Chris and I are having some much needed couple time this weekend at the Chattanooga Choo Choo. We were so blessed to have some incredible friends offer to watch the kids while we whisked away for a night without the kiddos. So far, it has been a blast. We had incredible uninterrupted chat time on the drive down here, we got some great time to shop around and we just finished a fabulous meal at Niko's right around the corner from the Choo Choo. We started off with Rock Shrimp served over zucchini cakes...mmmmmmmmmmm. Then we split an entree of Eggplant Parmesan with spinach, artichokes, and feta cheese. It was VERY delish! We topped the whole meal off with a flourless chocolate torte served with raspberry sauce and whipped cream. Is your mouth watering? Well, it should be!!
Our time together has allowed us great opportunity to stay connected about our endeavors regarding our babe in Ethiopia and just enjoy the sweet moments of each other without the kiddos. Although I do have to say, I miss them--a little :)

progress

Well we got our Lap top today and we are able to relax in the bed now and blog. It's funny because everytime we do anything remotly related to adoption, our kids ask "are we getting our daughter yet?" As a matter of fact, our oldest son asked tonight, "what is her name?" We are almost done getting all of our paperwork done for our home study. We have our second appointment scheduled next week and hopefully we will have all of the paperwork done for our social worker. Our kids don't understand how hard it is to get all of the paperwork for the homestudy. As a matter of fact, we don't even understand. God is definitely working in our favor. Everything is coming together slowly but surely.