Mowen Family of 5!!!!!!

We are so excited that we passed court today!!! Isaiah Kirubel and Kaleb Surafel are forever our sons!!!!

Making Some Progress....

It’s been a few busy days, I haven’t had time to blog. Then we have been going to bed early when back at the guest house. I’m not sure when I’m going to have the time to blog when we have all three boys with us!! We are still waiting to hear about passing court. Yesterday we found out that we have a positive MOWCYA letter, now we are waiting for the judge to review our case again. The court had meetings today, so the judge didn’t get to our case today. Maybe tomorrow….. [:)]
This week has been great with the boys. Kaleb is starting to respond a little more to us. He has fallen asleep in my arms twice now. I’m so thankful he is comfortable enough to relax and fall asleep. Jacob is going to Isaiah pretty easily and he will let Isaiah walk around with him, BIG improvement! Brad and Isaiah enjoy playing soccer with the other boys at the TH. I wish we would have passed court right away, but I am thankful for this time for everyone to get more comfortable with each other. We have gotten Kaleb to laugh a little too, he smiles pretty easily when people say hi to him, but he doesn’t really give people smiles with eye contact. But he is making a little progress every day. I can’t wait to see how much progress we can make once we have him full time!
Please continue to pray for us to pass court and for the bonding process.

Harar/ Dire Dawa

We went to Harar today! Jacob is from Harar and we didn’t get to visit there last time we were here. I was really excited to go see where he was from, and his first orphanage. We left our guest house at 6am to head to the airport. We flew to Dire Dawa, which was about a 45 min flight. We checked into our hotel and then drove about an hour to Harar. We stopped and bought some bananas to take to Abenezer Orphanage. Then we went to the new orphanage building. Abenezer changed building about 7 months ago. Jacob was in the old building, but the same people were working there. They were so excited to see Jafar! They couldn’t believe it was him because he has gotten so big. It was sweet to see them remember things about him and his story. I was impressed how much they remembered about him. We got a few more details about the day that he came to the orphanage. We got to meet the guard who brought him in and named him. We got to see the road that he was carried down (cars can’t drive down it). I wasn’t expecting this to be emotional, but it really was for both of us. Jacob was great, he didn’t react to anything. The guard wanted to hold him and kiss him and Jacob went right to him. This was huge because he has only let one other guy hold him here. He isn’t a huge fan of other guys holding him. We also got to take pictures with his first nanny and the officer that helps with the paperwork for Abenezer. They were all wonderful and it was so nice to know how much they care about the kids.
Abenezer Orphanage is small and since it is far from Addis, not many families visit there, so we were warned that they don’t have much. We were able to bring 26 cans of formula that was donated by a family in out small group and all the diapers we could buy from a store bought from some donation money my mom had received. When we walked in we first went into the babies room, there was one little boy without a diaper on. We were glad that we had bought a few diapers, but we also know that in a week or so they will be out again, and so it wasn’t a permanent fix, but that baby is at least sleeping with diapers tonight. If you go visit an orphanage outside of Addis, take all your donations there. The store room was pretty scarce and pretty small. When we walked in the doors with two soccer balls, the kids started cheering and singing. They didn’t have much to play with.
After the orphanage visit went for lunch, then to drive/ walk all around the city. We got to see the wall around the old city. It was built to keep the warriors out. There are 3 old main gates to get into the city. We got pictures of those too! Then we went into the old city and got to walk around a little bit. We bought a beautiful basket and some coffee. Harar is known for great coffee. The coffee factory was very small and only a few people worked there. The workers were sitting there chewing chat (a drug) on the job. Harar is also known for the hyena’s that come out at night. The people of Harar have befriended the hyenas and feed them so they will protect them and not eat them. People can feed the hyenas at night from their hand or their mouth. We weren’t there at night, but Brad might have been interested if we were.
Then we went back to Dire Dawa for the night. Since it was Christmas Eve there were people outside singing Christmas carols by a fire. My mom really wanted to go, but we were all tired and went to bed early. The bed was probably the worst I ever slept on and it was a long night. But Christmas morning we woke up and had breakfast downstairs with the Simon’s and Job. Then we drove around Dire Dawa (Dre Daw wa) and stopped by the local zoo. It took less than 10 mins to see everything. They had one hyena, one ostrich, several monkeys and birds, a couple owl, rabbits, and chickens. And in the middle of the zoo was a playground for the kids. The poor hyena was all cut up because it had tried to get out.
Next we headed back to the airport to fly back to Addis. We ate lunch then went to the TH to see Kaleb and Isaiah. Isaiah was happy to see us and was waiting by the gate. He got to go to church to and sing Christmas songs. We got a little (I mean very little) bit of eye contact from Kaleb today, it was the best day with him. He actually sat on our lap or let us hold him the whole time. It was the least amount of crying I think we had too! He doesn’t like to be told no, or if he can’t do what the big kids are doing. We tried to teach him to put his arms up in the air when we ask him how big he is, he started to catch on and liked when we all cheered for him when he did it. Isaiah thought it was pretty funny when we were cheering too.
Such a different Christmas Day than what we are used to, but it was nice to be relaxed and getting to know Jacob’s history better and spend some more time with Kaleb and Isaiah. We will celebrate Christmas on January 7th, the Ethiopian Christmas.

Day 6

Today we spent the morning and afternoon at the TH. We left for lunch at Bon Café (not our favorite). We finally got some smiles and giggles out of Kaleb. He likes to be thrown in the air. He is 30 lbs, not so easy to throw in the air. But he liked it. Right before lunch we got to celebrate little Solomon’s first birthday with his parents and all the other kids at the TH. Matt and Margaret bought a cake and everyone was excited for a piece. As all the singing started, Kaleb started to throw up. Brad had the pleasure of getting puked on today. Yes, this is the 3rd time one of the boys puked on us in 4 days. The nannies started to ask what we fed him, but we didn’t give him anything today. Not sure what is causing him to throw up so much, but the doctor thinks maybe he is over eating. They feed them like crazy in the TH. All of Kaleb’s food is mashed up for him, but he can drink out of a cup on his own. Isaiah was missing the tablet today because he liked to play Angry Birds. We left it at the guest house on purpose because he would play it all day if he could. We built the legos with him again, he really likes those! Jacob is really starting to warm up to Isaiah. Another boy here, Ashenafi, loves Jacob and he plays with him every day. Today Isaiah started to get a little jealous and tried to get Jacob to play with him instead of Ashenafi. It was sweet to see! Isaiah is pretty quiet so it was sweet to see him show some emotion.

Day 5

We spent the morning and afternoon at the TH today! When our van pulled up, Isaiah was peeking out the gate watching for us. Then he jumped in the van to hug us before we could even get out! He was excited that grandma was feeling better and came back today. We spent the morning taking turns playing with each our of sons. It’s a total tag team effort  Kaleb loves to walk laps around the outside of the TH. Brad and Isaiah went for a run around the house. After a couple of laps, Brad was way out of breath, Isaiah didn’t seem faded at all. Ha!
We left for lunch with other AWAA families and Kaleb went down for a nap and Isaiah went back to the other TH for lunch and a rest. We were back at 2pm. Kaleb was still sleeping, so we sat on the porch with Isaiah and Jacob. Isaiah liked playing Angry Birds, some other kids came to play too. It was somewhat relaxing of an afternoon. Kaleb didn’t quite have as much energy, so he actually let me hold him for a little bit. We have quite a bit of work to do to bond with him. Please be praying for us.
I got to take some pictures for another AWAA family today. They have been waiting since their July court date to come back and get their infant son. Well in the mean time, they have decided to adopt a 10 year old boy too!! I’m so excited for them!! Today their older son came to the TH and I got to take pictures of their 2 boys together!! Job, an AWAA guide, kept saying “their mom is going to be so happy to see them together!” They are coming here next week and I can’t wait to meet Debb, the mama!
My goal today was not to get puked on. On Tuesday Jacob threw up on me and on Wednesday Kaleb threw up a lot on me. Awesome. Just one of the joys of being a mama! Thankfully both boys were feeling better today and no one threw up!!
Someone from AWAA went to court this afternoon and our MOWCYA letter wasn’t there yet. They will check again tomorrow.

Day 4 Court

We started the morning off by going to court. We left the guest house at 9:30am. We stood in the crowded waiting room for about an hour. At 10:35am we went into the judge’s office with two other AWAA families. Both of those families are adopting little boys from Harar (where Jacob is from). All 3 of us are going to visit Harar on this trip! Both of those families already had favorable MOWCYA letters and they passed right there. So happy for them!!! The judge told us that she thinks that MOWCYA made a mistake and she requested a new letter for the afternoon. We left hoping to hear later today or tomorrow morning.
Then we spent the afternoon at the TH with the boys. My mom wasn’t feeling great, so she stayed at the guest house. Brad and I were going to be split three ways for the first time. But when we got there Kaleb was sleeping. Isaiah and I made a boat with legos. It was nice. He loved it! It was a great bonding time for us. Kaleb woke up about an hour later and Brad and I took turns chasing after Jacob or Kaleb. Everyone here keeps telling us how busy we are going to be when we get home 
No one from AWAA was able to go to court to check on our case today, so maybe tomorrow!

Day 2 and 3

Day 2
We spent the morning with the boys at the TH. My mom kept Jacob (in the Ergo, so the nannies couldn't scare him) out of our sight, so he had a much better day. That allowed Brad and I to spend all morning with Kaleb and Isaiah. We played soccer, volleyball, and chased them around. Kaleb is quick, we can't let him out of our sight for a second :) Kaleb thought it was really fun to climb into David's van *our driver). He thought he was hot stuff when he was sitting on the seats. I got to feed Kaleb some mushy food again, he won't sit on my lap to eat, but he at least let me feed him. i tried to give him some fruit snacks, but he had a hard time chewing them. All of his food is mashed up, he never has to chew. He has thrown a few fits when he doesn't get his way. When it was time to take him back to his room when we were leaving he threw a huge fit. I wish I could say it was because he wanted to stay with me, but I know it was that he didn't want to go into his room. He loves to be outside and having freedom.
This afternoon we went to the post office area for some shopping. We didn't even buy anything, ha! I felt too rushed. We want to go back and get some special things for Kaleb and Isaiah, but we have plenty of time for that. We ate dinner at the guest house and tried to go to sleep kind of early. I have been having trouble sleeping, like only getting about 2 hours each night since we left home. Jacob has been sleeping great at night, but not much a nap since we are out and about.

Day 3
Today we spent the morning at the TH again. Kaleb sat on my lap to eat today! He really seems to care less about us but he loves attention from anyone. This bonding is going to be a challenge. Isaiah had fun using our camera to take some pictures. He loves any chance to play soccer (football as he calls it) or just to talk to us. We found out that he had to go to court when his birthdad did a couple of weeks ago. Through a translator, he didn't seem too affected by it. Anytime we try to ask him how he feels about something, he always replies that he doesn't care, whatever makes us happy will make him happy. He is such a pleaser. Jacob played with Isaiah a little bit today. Isaiah thought it was cool when Jacob would pound it with his fists. Jacob even let Isaiah hold him for about 2 minutes today. We are making progress! Isaiah is such a good big brother to both boys. He shares all of his snacks and food with both of them (and us). He always watches for them on the stairs, etc. It is sweet to see. We met with the Doctor at the TH today. No big surprises, most of it we knew.
We also got to take pictures for other families today. It has been such a gift to us when we received pictures from others, I was happy to pay that gift forward!

Meetcha Day!

Today was our Meetcha Day with the boys! Even though we met them last year, today we got to meet them as their mom and dad! They were so sweet! Isaiah was holding Kaleb's hand as they walked out of the door at the TH. Isaiah came and gave me a big hug then hugged Brad. Brad picked him up in a huge hug. I picked up Kaleb and he was smiley and happy (thank you Jesus)! Then Isaiah came and hugged me again and he had tears in his eyes. Such a sweet moment to see him so happy too! Isaiah remembered Jacob too. He went up to him and said Jafar! I almost got a picture of all five of us looking at the camera-almost :) Isaiah was calling us Mom and Dad all afternoon, it kept surprising me. It was so sweet. Kaleb says some words, we just don't know what any of them are :) It sounded like he said Mom and Dad a few times, but we weren't sure. He remembered so much about us from last spring and from things in the care packages. He asked about our animals and if we had a car at home. he about fell over when he found out that we have two cars. He wanted to see pictures of our home. I totally meant to take some before we left, but I didn't, shame on me. Brad will have to do that when he gets home so Isaiah can see our house before we go home.

Our life is going to be busy, busy, busy. Kaleb is all over the place and Jacob isn't too far behind. They pretty much went in different directions all afternoon. I'm so thankful my mom was here to help. I'm not sure what we are going to do when we are out numbered. :) Isaiah is so sweet and is so happy to be coming to Illinois and be a family. He wanted to share everything he has with his brothers and with us. He was looking out for both of his brothers while they were playing by the steps, it was sweet to see him step into the big brother role for Jacob right away. He really likes his name and responded to it right away. Another Ethiopian girl heard him tell someone that his name is Isaiah and she said something to him in Amharic. I asked what she said and he told me that she said "that's not your name, its K******" He just laughed.

Jacob cried a lot this afternoon. Part of it was he wanted me to hold him and part was that he didn't take a nap this afternoon and part of it was that the nannies scared him when they freaked out and seeing a Big Jafar and they tried grabbing him and kissing him. He wasn't a fan. This will be a big adjustment for him.

We are so thankful that all three of our boys were together today and we can't wait for the adventure that tomorrow I'm sure will bring! We will be going to bed earlier on this trip for sure!!

We're Back!

We have arrived back in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Jacob was an EXCELLENT traveler!! He slept tons and his didn't get sick at all (he had the flu the day before we left). It is so nice to be back in Ethiopia. It feels like a 2nd home. The sights and smells are just as we remember them. It was so nice to have Job, an AWAA guide, meet us at the airport tonight and take us back to the guest house. Jacob went right to him and was smiling and loved Job just like he did 7 months ago. It was sweet to see them together again! It is now 1am ET time and I am going to try to look through our suitcases to see where things are and then try to get a few hours of sleep before the roosters, dogs, and people are up and going at sunrise! Tomorrow we will get to see the boys again! Job told us that Isaiah has been counting down the days until we came back! So sweet that he is as excited as we are!

Thank you for the safe travels prayers, they worked! It was an uneventful trip! Also we showed up with 10 suitcases that were all about 55 lbs. The handheld scale we bought was not correct, ugh. We spent about 30 mins trying to rearrange a few things and tried to buy a new suitcase (not easy to find at O'Hare) and then a lady said they are about the close the ticketing counter. So we just went over there to see what they would say about the bags. The lady was SOOOO nice. She didn't mind that the suitcases were over 50 lbs. We were also told that we should be able to bring 3 suitcases each (2 included, but a 3 for humanitarian/missionary). But the nice ticket lady has never heard of allowing 3 bags without a charge, she got her manager and he said the computer automatically charges so there was nothing they could do. Oh well at this point we were going to just pay the fees (4 extra bags=$800-yikes) But when she hit print, it didn't charge us. Praise God! Brad told her our God is bigger than computers! So we are thankful that we have all of our luggage and it didn't cost us anything extra!!!

Can't wait for tomorrow!!!

Busy Week!

We have been busy getting ready for our trip. I have been unbelievable calm. I have several friends that are stressed out for me! :) It's stressing them out that I am so calm. In some ways I know what to expect this time araound, and in other ways I have no idea what to expect. This whole experience will be such a different experience from last time. Last time we met this adorable 4 month old baby boy that came out of the TH smiling so big as his nanny handed him to us. We sat on the porch or on a blanket playing in one spot all day long. This time we are going to be greeted by an 11 year old and a 22 month old. I'm pretty sure that Isaiah will be smiling and excited to see us. I have no idea how Kaleb (22 months) will react to these strange white people who can't wait to hug and kiss him will react. We got to see several MEETCHA moments while we were in Ethiopia last time, and there were many 1-3 year olds that were not as happy to see their parents as the parents were. I'm trying to prepare myself for the worst case, but also hoping for a sweet moment as we hold them and tell them we love them. I also doubt we will spend much time sitting in one place, with 3 kids, I'm pretty sure we will be running in all directions this time at the TH!
I'm nervous for Jacob. I'm not sure how he will react to being back in Ethiopia and visiting his old orphanages. I have no idea how this might, or might not, affect him. He also is going to have a HARD time sharing mom. He likes to be held and cuddle often, and he gets a little jealous when he sees me holding someone else. I know this is a normal adjustment that kids go through when families grow, and we will all be better for it later on.
Thank you for all the prayers and enouragement along this journey!

Negative letter

We found out today that MOWCYA wrote a negative letter since our I-171h wasn't in our file soon enough. They do have it, they just haven't processed it yet. Our agency is working with them to get another letter written hopefully by our Dec 21st court date. Many families haven't had their MOWCYA letters on time but have passed court about 2 weeks after their first court date. My mom is coming with us for the first 3 1/2 weeks. We are really hoping we have passed court before she leaves so she can help with Jacob, so we can have 3 adults loving on 3 kids for at least a few days, ha! We know that adoption is His plan, in His time!

The last paper came!!!

After lots of waiting we received our I-171h this morning!!!!!!!! We need this piece of paper to be able to pass court. We aren't sure if it will make it to ET and be translated, etc. in time for our court date, but at least we have it and it shouldn't delay things too long. This is the last paper we need (from our end) for this process. Now we wait to see if the ET courts request more or not. We are so ready to get to the boys and for them to be legally ours!

On a different note, the boys birth dad had to appear in court today to give his consent. Unfortunately there are so many emotions behind every step of this process. I can't even begin to imagine how he must feel about today, and honestly probably everyday of the rest of his life. We are so excited to have the boys join our family, but we know that it wasn't an easy or painless choice for their birth dad. We will be forever grateful to him for making the tough choice of placing the boys up for adoption. We can't wait to hug him ourselves and tell him how much we love the boys and will always love and take care of them.

A New Health Update

Both Kaleb and Isaiah are healthy!!!! This is a huge praise!!! Kaleb has been sick more than he has been healthy this past year.

But....now Jacob is sick. I suppose this is how life goes with 3 kids, one gets better and another gets sick. Jacob spiked high fevers this morning, up to 104.7-yikes. The doctor is concerned about him flying to ET next week. What??? Seriously???? He has an ear infection and we are hoping that's all it is (not this viral thing going around that is lasting 2-3 weeks). He started antibiotics today and didn't have a fever at bedtime, I hope he wakes up without one too!!!

Please pray he is healthy for the flight next Friday!

Blessed Beyond Measure

We have been blessed beyond measure these past couple of weeks!!!! We have be given countless gifts that are helping to bring our boys HOME!!!! We will be leaving NEXT WEEK to go back to Ethiopia and hold two boys as our sons and tell them we love them! WE CAN'T WAIT!!!!
We have been asked if we have all the money we need for the trip. I am so thrilled to say that we are SO CLOSE!! I am in awe as I even type this. We started this adoption with about $1000 and a desire to follow God's will. God has used many avenues to bring us the money; we sold our house and used the equity we had, we sold all our stocks and bonds, empty our little savings account, we had a few little fundraisers, and TONS of faithful friends and family members have been SO GENEROUS! Seriously, I'm crying as I reflect on this. This couldn't have happened without God's hand in every step.
About two weeks ago we still needed about $10,000 for this adoption. We went ahead and applied for a credit card. Then within the next 2 weeks we were gifted a total of $5,000 from six different people. WOW!! Praise God! We didn't see that coming at all. It was another one of God's little reminders that He has this. We don't need to worry. Adoption IS His plan.
We need about $5,000 to cover the expenses for a 10 week stay in Ethiopia. We have no idea how long we are going to be there, but we are hoping its less than 12 weeks. We are trying to decide if we are staying at the Yebsabi guest house (the one AWAA uses) or try to find another cheaper place. We really love Yebsabi and the staff, but it's kind of expensive for a long stay. We tried to go to another guest house last time we were in Ethiopia and that didn't go well, so I am a little concerned to try a new place. I also LOVED seeing all the AWAA families come and go from Yebsabi, I will miss that if we are somewhere else. We will be at Yebsabi for the first week or so and see where we go from there!
I have been told that our Lifesong information is hard to find (you have to scroll all the way back about 25 entries) So here is the information for the tax deductible account again:
Lifesong for Orphans
Mowen Adoption #2363
PO Box 40 / 202 N. Ford St
Gridley, IL 61744

Thank you to all those that have prayed for us and our journey!! I am feeling better about the paperwork this week and I am hopeful we will get our I-171h very soon.

Our Adoption T-shirts Only $10

I forgot to add the t-shirts to my last post. I'm trying to get rid of these before we go to Ethiopia too! So we are selling all the remaining t-shirts for $10 each. The shirts say "Break my heart for what breaks yours"

These are the sizes we have:
Adult Shirts:
Medium-8
Large-3
XL-2

Youth Shirts:
Small-1
Medium-1

Toddler:
2T-1

12 month onesie- 1

Here is the paypal link for the discounted t-shirt price:

You can only order one t-shirt at a time, this was the only button I could get to work. If you want more than one t-shirt you can send the money through paypal to mowen2@hotmail.com
Shipping will be $2 per shirt $3.50 for 2 shirts and $5 for 3 or 4 shirts.

Thank you!!!!

African Necklaces Only $10

*Update we only have 21 necklaces left as of Monday morning!!! Praise God!!

We still have 53 African Necklaces and we leave in less than 2 weeks. We have decided to sell them for $10 to try to sell them all before we leave. They would make a great Christmas gift or just to keep for yourself! Here are the pictures of what I have left:
Long Necklaces
13 red
2 chunky red




Short Necklaces
6 red
1 blue
To purchase the necklaces for $10 each use this paypal link:

THANK YOU!!!!

From Worry to Thanksgiving

"Worry implies that we don't quite trust God is big enough, powerful enough, or loving enough to take care of what's happening in our lives" Francis Chan-Crazy Love

Yep, that's exactly what I needed to hear this week. I have been at peace with about everything since beginning this adoption journey over 2 years ago. I really didn't worry about much at all during the whole process of bringing Jacob home. We were both ready to say yes to adopting again before we even left Ethiopia. But this week Satan has been working on me. Ugh. We still don't have our I-171h that we need to pass court.We found out on Monday that we still haven't even been assigned an officer. I wouldn't think too much about this but our friends were fingerprinted the same day and they have had their I-171h for over 2 weeks now. On Monday the only thing they wanted to talk about was how we were able to get a court date without the I-171h approval. They seemed mad that things were going out of order. I keep telling myself that God knew this was going to happen, but I have still been worrying about it. I have been so worried that I have been in tears telling a few people about it. This isn't normal for me. Satan has led me down a road this week of constant worry. We are planning on staying in Ethiopia until the boys are cleared to come home. We both think this is very important for our boys for a number of reasons. But we won't be passing court until we get the I-171h, and it makes the timeline of how long we could be in Ethiopia very uncertain. I of course have been questioning if we are really supposed to stay in Ethiopia, if its God's desire, or ours?? Then as I was driving home last night three songs in a row reminded me that this is what we are supposed to be doing. The songs said "where you go, I'll go" and "I will follow You" and "be courageous". Yep, those little reminders calmed my heart and I know that we are supposed to go to Ethiopia and stay as long as we can with all of our sons. The unknown is scary, but God is bigger than all of that. I have begun changing my prayers to prayers of thanksgiving, because HE will work this out. Adoption IS God's plan!!
I have emailed several people about praying for our paperwork and our hearts, and we have totally felt the prayers and I feel better. Now if only the people in charge of issuing paperwork would feel the need to get moving on our case! :)
"Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God." Philippians 4:6

Our First Conversation

This past weekend Jacob started answering questions!!! He is so darn cute!! Our first conversation went like this:

Jacob babbling from the highchair
Me: "Hold on Jacob, I'm getting you some juice"
Jacob: "Juice"
Me: "Did you say just juice?"
Jacob: "Yes"
Me: "You just answered me, you are getting so smart!"
Jacob: "Yeaaaa"

Oh.melt.my.heart!!!!
Ever since then he has been answering "yes" or shaking his head "no" to answer questions. He amazes me everyday with all that he is learning!!
I'm so lucky to be his mama!!!

Please pray for paperwork

Will you guys please pray for our paperwork?? We are still missing our I-171h and the office still hasn't assigned us an officer (from 3 weeks ago). We know of another family that was fingerprinted the same day and has had theirs for almost 2 weeks now. We need this to pass court. They aren't being cooperative and we think we have been moved to the naughty (annoying) pile after contacting our congressman. Brad just had a discouraging phone call with them. We are praying for God to move this mountain!!!
Thank you!

Health Update on the boys

When we receive the referral, Kaleb had been sick 19 times with different things, many times Wheezy bronchitis, among some other things. This also means he has been on antibiotics about 19 times. This was all in the matter of about 9 months. Ugh. I wish he wasn't sick so much, he has to be miserable and he barely gets over it before something else gets him. Poor kid, he's feeling miserable way more than he is healthy. We just got another email that says he is sick yet again. Last week they told us he was sick and on antibiotics. Today we got another email saying he finished his antibiotics, but unfortunately he is sick again. Please pray for him! Please pray all these illness don't have lasting affects. We know he has some health issues (different than these) that we really want to get him home and get him treated and healthy.
Also this is first time he has been sick that we know of. He is having some pain, so pray for him too.
Its hard hearing these things about your kids and just sit here for 3 more weeks. We leave in 22 days, and I hope this is the last time they are sick without having their mom and dad take care of them.
Thanks for your prayers. We know the Ultimate Healer is always in charge and capable of anything!!

Things we Remember about Isaiah

Since we spent a lot of time with Isaiah while we were in Ethiopia adopting Jacob, we have some fun memories with him. Here are a few:
-he loved to read the Five Little Monkeys book and he would say in his accent "own little monkey jump-ed-did on the bed"
-he asked for a watch, we looked all over Addis and we only found a Hannah Montana watch; he didn't seem to mind one bit :)
-Brad got to take him across the street for a Coke on his birthday
-he was so proud of his brother and loved when Brad would go get Kaleb and bring him outside
-he didn't know that Kaleb could walk until Brad showed him
-he is really good at soccer and showed off his tricks; but he liked to play volleyball with Brad too because he knew that Brad liked volleyball
-he was proud of his school work and brought it out to show Brad when he did something well
-he has a beautiful smile

We are so looking forward to seeing these sweet boys in less than a month!! We can't wait to hug them and tell them we love them!!

Donations-How you can help!

Several people have been asking how you can help donate things/money for orphanages in Ethiopia. Here are some of the current needs:

-clothes for children age 11-14 years
-crocs and shoes for children age 11-14 years
-toothpaste and toothbrush
-towels
-scrubs for nurses and nannies
-crocs for nurses and nannies
-wipes
-vitamin drops
-fruit snacks/granola bars/beef jerky
-children’s dvds
-money to buy formula over in Ethiopia
-soccer balls (that can be deflated and we will inflate in country)

Since we plan to stay in country between court and embassy clearing, we don't have tons of room for donations, but we would love to deliver some things to the orphanages that we visit (we will vist 5 different ones because we are going to the ones the boys were all in). Jacob was in 2 different orphanages, Kaleb and Isaiah were in 2 different ones and then all 3 boys were at AWAA's Transition Home.

Thank you for considering blessing the children that are in Ethiopia waiting for their families!!

Dedication Day!

On Sunday we had Jacob Dedicated at church. It was a very nice service and 14 family members came up front with us to all show they love and support Jacob and want to help teach him to love the Lord. We are so blessed by our families and thankful that God chose us to raise Jacob!
Here's some pictures from the day:

Brad and Jacob wore their traditonal Ethiopian outfits. They couldn't get me in my ET dress though :)

Brad reading Jacob's life verse

Proverbs 3:5-6 Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.

Celebrating Jacob's Birthday

Yesterday we had Jacob's birthday party. He is so loved, 34 people came to celebrate this sweet boy! It was so fun to have a house full of people and 11 kids! Brad's sister has a bouncy house that we set up in the garage (too cold outside) and the kids played in that and rode the little toys around the garage. It was a perfect place for the kids to have fun! Here are some pictures from the day:

6 Month Post-Placement Visit

We had Jacob's 6 month Post-Placement visit tonight with our wonderful social worker. It's crazy to think that we have been home from Ethiopia for 6 months now and we are starting to pack to go back! CRAZY!!
Jacob has adjusted wonderfully and we are so thankful to have him in our family!! We can't wait to see him interact with his brothers. In 5 weeks and 3 days we will have our whole family together in Africa!!!! We can't wait!!!

A Different Perspective

Here's a post that I read on another adoptive mama's blog. It gives you an idea of what our boys will be experiencing soon.


Imagine for a moment…

You have met the person you've dreamed about all your life. He has every quality that you desire in a spouse. You plan for the wedding, enjoying every free moment with your fiancée. You love his touch, his smell, the way he looks into your eyes. For the first time in your life, you understand what is meant by "soul mate," for this person understands you in a way that no one else does. Your heart beats in rhythm with his. Your emotions are intimately tied to his every joy, his every sorrow.

The wedding comes. It is a happy celebration, but the best part is that you are finally the wife of this wonderful man. You fall asleep that night, exhausted from the day's events, but relaxed and joyful in the knowledge that you are next to the person who loves you more than anyone in the world…the person who will be with you for the rest of your life.The next morning you wake up, nestled in your partner's arms. You open your eyes and immediately look for his face.

But IT'S NOT HIM! You are in the arms of another man. You recoil in horror. Who is this man? Where is your beloved?

You ask questions of the new man, but it quickly becomes apparent that he doesn't understand you. You search every room in the house, calling and calling for your husband. The new guy follows you around, trying to hug you, pat you on the back,...even trying to stroke your arm, acting like everything is okay. But you know that nothing is okay.

Your beloved is gone. Where is he? Will he return? When? What has happened to him?

Weeks pass. You cry and cry over the loss of your beloved. Sometimes you ache silently, in shock over what has happened. The new guy tries to comfort you. You appreciate his attempts, but he doesn't speak your language-either verbally or emotionally. He doesn't seem to realize the terrible thing that has happened...that your sweetheart is gone.You find it difficult to sleep. The new guy tries to comfort you at bedtime with soft words and gentle touches, but you avoid him, preferring to sleep alone, away from him and any intimate words or contact.

Months later, you still ache for your beloved, but gradually you are learning to trust this new guy. He's finally learned that you like your coffee black, not doctored up with cream and sugar. Although you still don't understand his bedtime songs, you like the lilt of his voice and take some comfort in it.More time passes. One morning, you wake up to find a full suitcase sitting next to the front door. You try to ask him about it, but he just takes you by the hand and leads you to the car. You drive and drive and drive. Nothing is familiar. Where are you? Where is he taking you?You pull up to a large building. He leads you to an elevator and up to a room filled with people. Many are crying. Some are ecstatic with joy. You are confused. And worried.The man leads you over to the corner. Another man opens his arms and sweeps you up in an embrace. He rubs your back and kisses your cheeks, obviously thrilled to see you.You are anything but thrilled to see him. Who in the world is he? Where is your beloved? You reach for the man who brought you, but he just smiles (although he seems to be tearing up, which concerns you), pats you on the back, and puts your hand in the hands of the new guy.

The new guy picks up your suitcase and leads you to the door. The familiar face starts openly crying, waving and waving as the elevator doors close on you and the new guy. The new guy drives you to an airport and you follow him, not knowing what else to do. Sometimes you cry, but then the new guy tries to make you smile, so you grin back, wanting to "get along." You board a plane. The flight is long. You sleep a lot, wanting to mentally escape from the situation.
Hours later, the plane touches down. The new guy is very excited and leads you into the airport where dozens of people are there to greet you. Light bulbs flash as your photo is taken again and again. The new guy takes you to another guy who hugs you. Who is this one? You smile at him. Then you are taken to another man who pats your back and kisses your cheek. Then yet another fellow gives you a big hug and messes your hair.

Finally, someone (which guy is this?) pulls you into his arms with the biggest hug you've ever had. He kisses you all over your cheeks and croons to you in some language you've never heard before.

He leads you to a car and drives you to another location. Everything here looks different. The climate is not what you're used to. The smells are strange. Nothing tastes familiar, except for the black coffee. You wonder if someone told him that you like your coffee black.

You find it nearly impossible to sleep. Sometimes you lie in bed for hours, staring into the blackness, furious with your husband for leaving you, yet aching from the loss. The new guy checks on you. He seems concerned and tries to comfort you with soft words and a mug of warm milk. You turn away, pretending to go to sleep.

People come to the house. You can feel the anxiety start to bubble over as you look into the faces of all the new people. You tightly grasp the new guy's hand. He pulls you closer. People smile and nudge one other, marveling at how quickly you've fallen in love. Strangers reach for you, wanting to be a part of the happiness.

Each time a man hugs you, you wonder if he will be the one to take you away. Just in case, you keep your suitcase packed and ready. Although the man at this house is nice and you're hanging on for dear life, you've learned from experience that men come and go, so you just wait in expectation for the next one to come along.

Each morning, the new guy hands you a cup of coffee and looks at you expectantly. A couple of times the pain and anger for your husband is so great that you lash out, sending hot coffee across the room, causing the new guy to yelp in pain. He just looks at you, bewildered. But most of the time you calmly take the cup. You give him a smile. And wait. And wait. And wait.

--Written by Cynthia Hockman-Chupp

This just gives you a taste of the pain and trauma that adopted (and foster) children face during their transition.

Jacob is One!!!

I can't believe that we have seen Jacob's face for 10 months already. He was two months at the time of his referral, and now we have spent everyday for the last 8 months with him. He is the JOY of our lives and such a happy boy!!!
I am so thankful I get to be this sweet boys mama!!!

He is talking up a storm. Most of the time (I say that because a few times if I put him on the spot he won't do it, but on his own he will) he can say: hot, hat, go, up, dow (down), cat, ball, pop (for Hop on Pop book and for Poppa), dada, mooooom (when he cries for me), and I'm sure I am missing a few. :)
He continues to sign "more" and "all done" when eating and he puts his hands up for a touchdown and he puts one finger up if you ask him how old he is.
He has the greatest laugh and he loves to laugh all the time. He has started to try to wrestle a little bit. I'm not sure if this is coming from the sitters or just the boy in him. But he thinks wrestling is so much fun and he laughs the whole time you are playing with him.

We look forward to celebrating his birthday with friends and family this weekend!!

We have a Court Date!!!!!!

We are in shock-we have a court date!!!!! On December 21st we will be going before the judge to state our consent of wanting Isaiah and Kaleb in our family FOREVER!!! That’s right, we will be leaving in 5 ½ short weeks to hold these boys as our sons, to tell them we love them and we are their mommy and daddy!! Ahhhh! Time to start packing. I still have one suitcase that I haven’t unpacked from when we returned from Ethiopia in May (I’m not kidding).
We are so excited to spend Christmas with all THREE of our sons in Ethiopia!!!!
We are planning to stay in Ethiopia until we can bring the boys home. We once again have no idea how long this will be. Brad will be able to stay for the first month or so, then it will be me and three boys!! We are praying and hoping that we pass court the first time, so we aren't there without Brad for too long. Please pray for this!! Also please pray for us to figure out how we are going to fund the rest of this adoption. We figure we need $16,000-$20,000 to pay for flights, in-country expenses, guest house (hotel), food, drivers, and any other costs that may arise. We are looking into loans, etc now. Just please pray for wisdom and guidance as we do this. We will have to pay about $8,000 before we even leave. But if there is anything we we have learned in this process it is that God is bigger than anything we think might get in the way!

Update on our boys

This past week Shannon DeVol and family have been in Ethiopia. They got to meet their precious son and she was kind enough to spend some time with our boys too! She gave them both a photo album that I sent her with photos of us and Jacob. She said that Isaiah looked closely at all the pictures and that Kaleb kept trying to take Isaiahs photo book from him. :) She also asked Isaiah if he liked the name Isaiah for his first name and his Ethiopian name as his middle name. He said he did and came back a few mintues later to ask what his name is again because he didn't want to forget it. Shannon also said that Kaleb was the life of the party and a really happy boy!! He has changed so much since we have been there. We can't wait to have them in our arms again- this time as our sons!!!!
Even though we have met the boys before, this is the first time they have had our picture and known that we are Mom and Dad. We can't show their faces, but here's a few pictures of them looking at their photo albums.

Thank you Shannon for loving on our boys and sending ALL the photos!!!!

Fingerprinting and lunch with Friends

After being fingerprinted by USCIS, we got to meet The Murray's for lunch!! These boys will be friends forever. Katie said the other day they could be future college roommates. How awesome would that be?? Whatever these boys do, we know that God has great plans for them. We are so thankful we get to see both of them grow up!!

Jacob and Samuel

Halloween

Jacob had fun this Halloween! He was the cutest little lion!

How to be the Village- post from Jen Hatmaker

Here is a post from Jen Hatmaker's blog today. It was too good not to share!

Our good friends just returned from Ethiopia last night with their two little boys. Ok, they've had their "airport" moment and we were right there with them. What are some things we can do now to support them in the "real life" journey without overstepping our boundaries? Thank you so much for your transparency and honesty. Everyone can benefit when you share from your heart.

I was so moved by this email. Having benefitted from a community that practically smothered us with support throughout our adoption journey, I am so grateful for all the other good friends out there, loving their people and asking how to help. Since reading this email, I’ve been marinating on her question, and I’ve decided to write this Field Guide to Supporting Adoptive Families. (And it will be brief because I will try to remember that this is a blog and not a manuscript and the rules of blogging include succinctness, so that is exactly how I’ll proceed today, except for the exact opposite of all that.)

Let’s break this down into two categories:

Supporting Families Before the Airport

Your friends are adopting. They’re in the middle of dossiers and home studies, and most of them are somewhere in the middle of Waiting Purgatory. Please let me explain something about WP: It sucks in every way. Oh sure, we try to make it sound better than it feels by using phrases like “We’re trusting in God’s plan” and “God is refining me” and “Sovereignty trumps my feelings” and crazy bidness like that. But we are crying and aching and getting angry and going bonkers when you’re not watching. It’s hard. It hurts. It feels like an eternity even though you can see that it is not. It is harder for us to see that, because many of us have pictures on our refrigerators of these beautiful darlings stuck in an orphanage somewhere while we’re bogged down in bureaucracy and delays.

How can you help? By not saying or doing these things:

1. “God’s timing is perfect!” (Could also insert: “This is all God’s plan!” “God is in charge!”) As exactly true as this may be, when you say it to a waiting parent, we want to scratch your eyebrows off and make you eat them with a spoon. Any trite answer that minimizes the struggle is as welcomed as a sack of dirty diapers. You are voicing something we probably already believe while not acknowledging that we are hurting and that somewhere a child is going to bed without a mother again. Please never say this again. Thank you.

2. “Are you going to have your own kids?” (Also in this category: “You’ll probably get pregnant the minute your adoption clears!” “Since this is so hard, why don’t you just try to have your own kids?” “Well, at least you have your own kids.”) The subtle message here is: You can always have legitimate biological kids if this thing tanks. It places adoption in the Back-up Plan Category, where it does not belong for us. When we flew to Ethiopia with our first travel group from our agency, out of 8 couples, we were the only parents with biological kids. The other 7 couples chose adoption first. Several of them were on birth control. Adoption counts as real parenting, and if you believe stuff Jesus said, it might even be closer to the heart of God than regular old procreation. (Not to mention the couples that grieved through infertility already. So when you say, “Are you going to have your own kids?” to a woman who tried for eight years, then don’t be surprised if she pulls your beating heart out like Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom.)

3. For those of you in Christian community, it is extremely frustrating to hear: “Don’t give up on God!” or “Don’t lose faith!” It implies that we are one nanosecond away from tossing our entire belief system in the compost pile because we are acting sad or discouraged. It’s condescending and misses the crux of our emotions. I can assure you, at no point in our story did we think about kicking Jesus to the curb, but we still get to cry tears and feel our feelings, folks. Jesus did. And I’m pretty sure he went to heaven when he died.

4. We’re happy to field your questions about becoming a transracial family or adopting a child of another race, but please don’t use this moment to trot out your bigotry. (Cluelessness is a different thing, and we try to shrug that off. Like when someone asked about our Ethiopian kids, “Will they be black?” Aw, sweet little dum-dum.) The most hurtful thing we heard during our wait was from a black pastor who said, “Whatever you do, don’t change their last name to Hatmaker, because they are NOT Hatmakers. They’ll never be Hatmakers. They are African.” What the??? I wonder if he’d launch the same grenade if we adopted white kids from Russia? If you’d like to know what we’re learning about raising children of another race or ask respectful, legitimate questions, by all means, do so. We care about this and take it seriously, and we realize we will traverse racial landmines with our family. You don’t need to point out that we are adopting black kids and we are, in fact, white. We’ve actually already thought of that.

5. Saying nothing is the opposite bad. I realize with blogs like this one, you can get skittish on how to talk to a crazed adopting Mama without getting under her paper-thin skin or inadvertently offending her. I get it. (We try hard not to act so hypersensitive. Just imagine that we are paper-pregnant with similar hormones surging through our bodies making us cry at Subaru commercials just like the 7-month preggo sitting next to us. And look at all this weight we’ve gained. See?) But acting like we’re not adopting or struggling or waiting or hoping or grieving is not helpful either. If I was pregnant with a baby in my belly, and no one ever asked how I was feeling or how much longer or is his nursery ready or can we plan a shower, I would have to audition new friend candidates immediately.

Here’s what we would love to hear Before the Airport:

1. Just kind, normal words of encouragement. Not the kind that assume we are one breath away from atheism. Not the kind that attempt to minimize the difficulties and tidy it all up with catchphrases. We don’t actually need for you to fix our wait. We just want you to be our friend and acknowledge that the process is hard and you care about us while we’re hurting. That is GOLD. I was once having lunch with my friend Lynde when AWAA called with more bad news about Ben’s case, and I laid my head down on the table in the middle of Galaxy Café and bawled. Having no idea what to do with such a hot mess, she just cried with me. Thank you for being perfect that day, Lynde.

2. Your questions are welcomed! We don’t mind telling you about the court system in Ethiopia or the in-country requirements in Nicaragua or the rules of the foster system. We’re glad to talk about adoption, and we’re thankful you care. I assure you we didn’t enter adoption lightly, so sharing details of this HUGE PIECE OF OUR LIVES is cathartic. Plus, we want you to know more because we’re all secretly hoping you’ll adopt later. (This is not true.) (Yes it is.)

3. When you say you’re praying for us and our waiting children, and you actually really are, not only does that soothe our troubled souls, but according to Scripture, it activates the heavens. So pray on, dear friends. Pray on. That is always the right thing to say. And please actually do it. We need people to stand in the gap for us when we are too tired and discouraged to keep praying the same words another day.

4. If you can, please become telepathic to determine which days we want to talk about adoption and which days we’d rather you just show up on our doorstep with fresh figs from the Farmer’s Market (thanks, Katie) or kidnap us away in the middle of the day to go see Bridesmaids. Sometimes we need you to make us laugh and remember what it feels like to be carefree for a few hours. If you’re not sure which day we’re having, just pre-buy movie tickets and show up with the figs, and when we answer the door, hold them all up and ask, “Would you like to talk for an hour uninterrupted about waiting for a court date?” We’ll respond to whichever one fits.

Supporting Families After the Airport

You went to the airport. The baby came down the escalator to cheers and balloons. The long adoption journey is over and your friends are home with their new baby / toddler / twins / siblings / teenager. Everyone is happy. Maybe Fox News even came out and filmed the big moment and “your friend” babbled like an idiot and didn’t say one constructive word about adoption and also she looked really sweaty during her interview. (Really? That happened to me too. Weird.)

How can you help? By not saying or doing these things:

1. I mean this nicely, but don’t come over for awhile. Most of us are going to hole up in our homes with our little tribe and attempt to create a stable routine without a lot of moving parts. This is not because we hate you; it’s because we are trying to establish the concept of “home” with our newbies, and lots of strangers coming and going makes them super nervous and unsure, especially strangers who are talking crazy language to them and trying to touch their hair.

2. Please do not touch, hug, kiss, or use physical affection with our kids for a few months. We absolutely know your intentions are good, but attachment is super tricky with abandoned kids, and they have had many caregivers, so when multiple adults (including extended family) continue to touch and hold them in their new environment, they become confused about who to bond with. This actually delays healthy attachment egregiously. It also teaches them that any adult or stranger can touch them without their permission, and believe me, many adoptive families are working HARD to undo the damage already done by this position. Thank you so much for respecting these physical boundaries.

3. For the next few months, do not assume the transition is easy. For 95% of us, it so is not. And this isn’t because our family is dysfunctional or our kids are lemons, but because this phase is so very hard on everyone. I can’t tell you how difficult it was to constantly hear: “You must be so happy!” and “Is life just so awesome now that they’re here??” and “Your family seems just perfect now!” I wanted that to be true so deeply, but I had no idea how to tell you that our home was actually a Trauma Center. (I did this in a passive aggressive way by writing this blog, which was more like “An Open Letter to Everyone Who Knows Us and Keeps Asking Us How Happy We Are.”) Starting with the right posture with your friends – this is hard right now – will totally help you become a safe friend to confide in / break down in front of / draw strength from.

4. Do not act shocked if we tell you how hard the early stages are. Do not assume adoption was a mistake. Do not worry we have ruined our lives. Do not talk behind our backs about how terribly we’re doing and how you’re worried that we are suicidal. Do not ask thinly veiled questions implying that we are obviously doing something very, very wrong. Do not say things like, “I was so afraid it was going to be like this” or “Our other friends didn’t seem to have these issues at all.” Just let us struggle. Be our friends in the mess of it. We’ll get better.

5. If we’ve adopted older kids, please do not ask them if they “love America so much” or are “so happy to live in Texas.” It’s this simple: adoption is born from horrible loss. In an ideal world, there would be no adoption, because our children would be with their birth families, the way God intended. I’ll not win any points here, but I bristle when people say, “Our adopted child was chosen for us by God before the beginning of time.” No he wasn’t. He was destined for his birth family. God did not create these kids to belong to us. He didn’t decide that they should be born into poverty or disease or abandonment or abuse and despair aaaaaaaall so they could finally make it into our homes, where God intended them to be. No. We are a very distant Plan B. Children are meant for their birth families, same as my biological kids were meant for mine. Adoption is one possible answer to a very real tragedy… after it has already happened, not before as the impetus for abandonment. There is genuine grief and sorrow when your biological family is disrupted by death and poverty, and our kids have endured all this and more. So when you ask my 8-year-old if he is thrilled to be in Texas, please understand that he is not. He misses his country, his language, his food, his family. Our kids came to us in the throes of grief, as well they should. Please don’t make them smile and lie to you about how happy they are to be here.

6. Please do not disappear. If I thought the waiting stage was hard, it does not even hold the barest candle to what comes after the airport. Not. The. Barest. Candle. Never have I felt so isolated and petrified. Never have I been so overwhelmed and exhausted. We need you after the airport way more than we ever needed you before. I know you’re scared of us, what with our dirty hair and wild eyes and mystery children we’re keeping behind closed doors so they don’t freak out more than they already have, but please find ways to stick around. Call. Email. Check in. Post on our Facebook walls. Send us funny cards. Keep this behavior up for longer than six days.

Here’s what we would love to hear or experience After the Airport:

1. Cook for your friends. Put together a meal calendar and recruit every person who even remotely cares about them. We didn’t cook dinners for one solid month, and folks, that may have single handedly saved my sanity. There simply are not words to describe how exhausting and overwhelming those first few weeks are, not to mention the lovely jetlag everyone came home with. And if your friends adopted domestically right up the street, this is all still true, minus the jetlag.

2. If we have them, offer to take our biological kids for an adventure or sleepover. Please believe me: their lives just got WHACKED OUT, and they need a break, but their parents can’t give them one because they are 1.) cleaning up pee and poop all day, 2.) holding screaming children, 3.) spending all their time at doctors’ offices, and 4.) falling asleep in their clothes at 8:15pm. Plus, they are in lockdown mode with the recently adopted, trying to shield them from the trauma that is Walmart.

3. Thank you for getting excited with us over our little victories. I realize it sounds like a very small deal when we tell you our kindergartener is now staying in the same room as the dog, but if you could’ve seen the epic level of freakoutedness this dog caused her for three weeks, you would understand that this is really something. When you encourage us over our incremental progress, it helps. You remind us that we ARE moving forward and these little moments are worth celebrating. If we come to you spazzing out, please remind us where we were a month ago. Force us to acknowledge their gains. Be a cheerleader for the healing process.

4. Come over one night after our kids are asleep and sit with us on our porch. Let me tell you: we are all lonely in those early weeks. We are home, home, home, home, home. Good-bye, date nights. Good-bye, GNO’s. Good-bye, spontaneous anything. Good-bye, church. Good-bye, big public outings. Good-bye, community group. Good-bye, nightlife. So please bring some community to our doorstep. Bring friendship back into our lives. Bring adult conversation and laughter. And bring an expensive bottle of wine.

5. If the shoe fits, tell adopting families how their story is affecting yours. If God has moved in you over the course of our adoption, whether before the airport or after, if you’ve made a change or a decision, if somewhere deep inside a fire was lit, tell us, because it is spiritual water on dry souls. There is nothing more encouraging than finding out God is using our families for greater kingdom work, beautiful things we would never know or see. We gather the holy moments in our hands every day, praying for eyes to see God’s presence, his purposes realized in our story. When you put more holy moments in our hands to meditate on, we are drawn deeper into the Jesus who led us here.

Here’s one last thing: As you watch us struggle and celebrate and cry and flail, we also want you to know that adoption is beautiful, and a thousand times we’ve looked at each other and said, “What if we would’ve said no?” God invited us into something monumental and lovely, and we would’ve missed endless moments of glory had we walked away. We need you during these difficult months of waiting and transitioning, but we also hope you see that we serve a faithful God who heals and actually sets the lonely in families, just like He said He would. And even through the tears and tantrums (ours), we look at our children and marvel that God counted us worthy to raise them. We are humbled. We’ve been gifted with a very holy task, and when you help us rise to the occasion, you have an inheritance in their story; your name will be counted in their legacy.

Because that day you brought us pulled pork tacos was the exact day I needed to skip dinner prep and hold my son on the couch for an hour, talking about Africa and beginning to bind up his emotional wounds. When you kidnapped me for two hours and took me to breakfast, I was at the very, very, absolute end that morning, but I came home renewed, able to greet my children after school with fresh love and patience. When you loved on my big kids and offered them sanctuary for a night, you kept the family rhythm in sync at the end of a hard week.

Thank you for being the village. You are so important.


Thank you Jen for sharing your heart once again!!

more Kisses from Katie-the book

My last post I talked about how I just finished the book Kisses from Katie by Katie Davis. I talked about some of my favorite and challenging parts of the book. Katie has 13 daughters in Uganda, so naturally part of the book was about her adopting these girls. She writes:
"Adoption is wonderful and beautiful and the greatest blessing I have ever experienced. Adoption is also difficult and painful. Adoption is a beautiful picture of redemption. It is the Gospel in my living room. And sometimes, it's just hard. ...Adoption is a redemptive response to tragedy that happens in this broken world. And every single day, it is worth it, because adoption is God's heart."
"My family, adopting these children, it is not optional. It is not my good deed for the day; it is not what I am doing to 'help out these poor kid.' I adopt because God commands me to care for the orphans and the widows in their distress. I adopt because Jesus says that to whom much has been given, much will be demanded (Luke 12:48) and because whoever finds his life will lose it but whoever loses his life for His sake will find it (Matthew 10:39)."

People often tell us our kids are lucky or we are so great for adopting. I often find myself without anything to say. Sometimes its just awkward. Sometimes I say "we are the lucky ones" because its true. We are so thankful and lucky to have Jacob in our lives and we can't wait to have Kaleb and Isaiah home and a part of our family too. We don't think we are doing this great thing. We are following God's plan for our lives. We are so lucky that God choose us to walk this path with Him and so thankful that we said yes to building our family through adoption.

Kisses from Katie-the book

I just finished reading Katie Davis' book, Kisses from Katie. It's so good! And so challenging. I am amazed by how she lives her love for Christ EVERYDAY. I highly encourage you to go read it!! Here are a few of my favorite parts of the book:
" 'Remember, God will never give you more than you can handle'. People repeat this frequently; I heard it when I was growing up and I hear it now. It is meant to be a source of encouragement, and it would be if I believed it were true.
But I don't.
I believe that God totally, absolutely, intentionally gives us more than we can handle. Because this is when we surrender to Him and He takes over, proving Himself by doing the impossible in our lives."
She goes on "...I have learned to accept it, even ask for it, this 'more than I can handle.' Because in these times, God shows Himself victorious. He reminds me that all of this life requires more of Him and less of me. God does give us more than we can handle. Not maliciously, but intentionally, in love, that His glory may be displayed, that we may have no doubt of who is in control, that people may see His grace and faithfulness shining through our lives."

WOW! How many times have I thought or said "God won't give us more than we can handle"? Many. I love the way Katie explains the reason for tough things to happen in our life. She has tough situations that arise daily in her life in Uganda. During the tough times is the only time we have to constantly rely on our Heavenly Father to pick up where we think we can't make it anymore. It takes such faith and courage to ask for the tough times so you can remain close to God and rely fully on Him. Wow. I think my prayers for my life need to change.

Here's another part of the book: "Here is the thing: I want big things from God. We want big things from God and then think its strange when He asks us to build an ark, or feed five thousand or march around a building for seven days with seven priests blowing trumpets made from rams' horns. I am asking for big things from God. Big things like a van I can take my whole family to church in and a house with ten showers. Bigger things like 147 million orphaned children in the world to each have a mommy who knows what they like for dinner. So really, I am not surprised at the craziness of my life. Every morning , as I wake up with some impossible task in front of me, I know that God will meet it with impossible strength and love. I serve a God who uses Moses, a murdered, to part the Red Sea; a God who let Peter, who would deny Him, walk on water. A God who looks at me, in my fallen weakness and says, 'You can do the impossible.' "
What a great reminder that when we ask for big things from God we need to remember that He asks us to do big things. I want to approach the big things in life like they are gifts from God.
Thank you Katie Davis for challenging my life!

Amazed, Humbled, in Awe...

This is how I am feeling about this adoption. I am amazed at how God is building our family and at how many people God is using to help support us through this adoption. We have received so many calls, emails, and FB messages from friends-some long-time friends and tons of new friends through adoption. People are so full of encouragement and excitement for us!! We are so thankful for each person that is sharing this journey with us!!! We are so humbled by financial support that has been given to us. Some people have repaid gifts that were given to them when they adopted, some friends got together and decided not to give each other gifts and instead give that money to our adoption, some people have just given us money before we even knew we needed it. Receiving financial gifts is so humbling and often hard to receive, but we KNOW that we will be paying it forward to others in the adoption process in the future. These are all gifts from God that we are being blessed with now and plan to bless others in the future!!

We are also IN AWE of God's perfect timing in bringing our family together. Not only was God's timing perfect to get our papers ready the same week our newest sons papers were ready, but we sold our house at the perfect time. We we started the adoption process we knew we needed to do something drastic to come up with the money needed. Because we all know that adoption is expensive, but it is also SOOOO worth it!! So we ended up selling our house, cutting our house payments in almost half and get this-had an extra $10,000 in equity that we could use to pay the referral fees. We sold our house the day after we got the referral. We told our Family Coordinator we would have the money to accept the referral the next week, but we weren't sure how. We were going to beg for a quick loan or something. We knew these were our boys and we were going to fight for them! We knew we would have about $5,000 in equity, but the loan officer calculated wrong and we actually had $10,000. I'm positive that God knew this miscalculation was going to happen at the perfect time! So we were able to accept the referral right away!!! Praise God!

Then we were told that we could submit our Dossier in the next couple of weeks (we orginally thought we would be submitting it around Christmas time). This also means that we need another $7,700 to pay international fees, etc. Yikes! That's almost $18,000 in a matter of 3 weeks. BUT our God is bigger!! We have received numerous gifts through people donating to Lifesong and sending gifts in the mail and we have been selling some t-shirts and African bead necklaces.

To all of you walking this journey with us- Thank You just isn't enough!

T-shirt order

Here's our little cutie in our shirts!!

We will be placing another t-shirt order on Monday, October 24th. We have toddler, youth, and adult sizes. All short sleeve shirts are $15 and long sleeve shirts are $18.

All of the info is on the side or under the fundraising tab.




Thank you for helping us bring our boys HOME!!!!!!