Top of the List

Last Friday we were excited to find out we are tied at #1 for an infant boy!!!! There are four families that were all DTE on 7/9/10, so we are all sharing the #1 spot and we are all anxiously awaiting THE CALL!!! We also filled out an unrelated child application last week. So we might get a call for one baby and one child around 3 years old. We are #8 on the girls list, but we are assuming we will get a boy since we are on the top of that list. But nothing is for sure in the adoption world, so we will see!!
It's easy to worry and fret over when the call is coming, but I am constantly reminding myself that God already knows our children and He knows when is the perfect time for us to get The Call!!! And until then, we wait.

Exciting week

This past week has been so exciting!! Last Sunday Brad started talking about the possibility of me staying in Ethiopia by myself between the two trips. I obviously said, "I'd love to"!! I just didn't think we could work it out. I thought I only got 6 weeks for maternity leave if i have the sick days built up (which I do). We have both talked about how hard it will be to leave our child/ren after court and come back to IL for 4-5 weeks before we have US Embassy clearance to bring them home. So as the week started out we were trying to toss out as many possibilities as we could figure out. On Thursday we met with HR and she said we could use as many sick days as we have as long as the trip is adoption/parental related. She also said that Brad could come and stay with me too!! So we have decided that we will both be staying between trips and 'living' in Ethiopia for up to 12 weeks, but hoping for closer to 6weeks. Now we need to find a house/pet sitter...

On Friday we moved from number 7 for an infant boy to number 3!!!!! Ahhhhh!! It's getting so close!!! Then today we received our ON DECK email. This email gives us more information about what's to come when we get a referral and tells us that our referral is coming soon!!! We can't wait!!! It just gets more exciting everyday!!

Along this process I have been asked many time if I have a feeling our kids have been born yet or anything like that. I have also heard several adoptive mamas talk about a feeling when their child was born, etc. I keep saying no, and I feel bad that I don't, but you can't make a feeling happen. Then on Wednesday morning I woke up really early in the morning with this feeling of urgency to pray for our baby. I surely did pray and try to understand what the feeling was, but I have no idea what it means. I have continued to wake up each morning since then earlier than normal (like 1 1/2 hours earlier) with my first thought to hurry and pray for our child/ren. So these have been my first motherly feelings and it's weird that theres nothing else I can do except continue to pray and rest assured in that I do know that God has His protective arms around our child/ren until we can hold them ourselves!!

Adoption= an incredible faith journey

Our greatest fear in starting the adoption process was the finances. $30,000-$35,000 is a scary number. We finally decided to say YES to the stirring in our hearts to start the adoption process and clung to this verse, Ephesians 3:20-21.

“Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.”

And boy has God done immeasurably more than we ever imagined!!!

As we are getting closer and closer to our referral, I started getting worried about how we are going to pay for the rest of the expenses. One night as I was trying to figure it out, I realized there has not been one bill we haven't been able to pay yet. God has provided our every need, He has been with us every step of the way. Oh how I love knowing that!!! The next day after I realized there isn't anything that we need right now and God has been providing all along, I got a text from a dear friend asking how the fundraising was going. I told her "we have had everything we have needed when we needed it and that we receive different gifts or fundraising orders about each week". She said "Good, I have been praying specifically for the financial part of your adoption recently". How awesome is it that friends are specifically covering parts of our adoption in prayers??? I just thought how lucky we are that we have friends that choose to pray specifically for us, our needs, and our child/ren. Isn't also amazing how I became at peace with the finance portion while she was praying for us. God is awesome and I am glad that we can notice Him in these situations!!!

So many people have been willing to let God use them to bless us and help bring us one step closer to bringing our child/ren home. We had NO IDEA how many people would be willing to help us out. Some by praying for us and encouraging us, some helping with fundraisers, others have sacrificially given monetary gifts that have humbled us beyond words. It's been just amazing to see all the people that care about us and our adoption. God has allowed so many people to have a hand in helping our child come home. We will never be able to thank you enough for investing in our family and this child (or 2) that will be coming home to be part of our forever family soon!

I have mentioned several times before that our faith has been stretched in new ways too. There have been many times that the only option we have is to rely on God and watch Him move the mountains in our way. We have continually prayed for God to break our hearts for what breaks His and our eyes have been opened up to all the needs of orphans and the sacrifices their birthmothers make. We want to make sure this journey is about what God wants and not about what we want.

Another awesome part of this journey is all the new adoptive friends we have made. There are many families in our area that have adopted from Ethiopia and other places. We have also gotten to know other families with AWAA through emailing and blogging. The bond that adoptive families have is a fabulous reason to keep in contact! We can share our experiences and encourage each other each step of the way!! I can't wait to travel to Ethiopia with other families and get to know even more people through this journey!

We are so happy and thankful that we choose to say YES to God when He was tugging on our hearts to start our family through adoption. Just think, we could have missed this incredible journey if we wouldn't have been willing to take the step of faith needed to begin this process without knowing how every detail of how it would play out. But luckily we know that God knew BEFORE it began just how perfect and awesome it would be!!

Matthew West's new song, One Less

Here is Matthew West telling the story about his new song, One Less.

I saw this on a few other peoples blogs and posted on Facebook, but I didn't watch it until a friend emailed me because she saw it and thought of me. I just love to hear the way that different people are affected by adoption and how they react to adopting.

One Less by Matthew West (The Story Behind The Song) from emicmg on Vimeo.

Three Months Waiting

Today marks 3 months of being DTE!!!! We are thankful that time continues to fly by and we are now another month closer to meeting our child/ren. Since the Ethiopian courts have reopened a few families have been scheduled their court dates, but there are many families still awaiting their dates and there haven't been many referrals given out recently. Our unofficial numbers are still 11 for a boy, 14 for a girl, and 7 for siblings. Please continue to pray for the Ethiopian courts to get things moving so all these children can get home with their forever families!!!

One thing I have been squeezing into my already busy schedule is trying to get some sewing done. Now, let me say that I am not really a sewer. My mom taught me and my sister the basics when we were younger, but that was a long time ago. So I've just thought it would be fun to start again. I figured moms need to know how to sew, right? I got a sewing machine for Christmas 2008. This summer (2010) I had to ask my wonderful mother-in-law to come over and help me figure out how to thread it. Then it took me about 2 months to go by some fabric. Now I have made a few baby blankets and a couple shirts for my nieces 1st birthday. I am by no means a professional, but I don't think they look too bad. A baby surely won't complain about them at least.

Kylie in her Africa shirt. She is ready to meet her cousins!!

Here is Kylie eating her cake on her 1st Birthday!! She had a blast until mean Aunt Tara and Mommy took it away.

Ethiopian Courts Reopen today!

The Ethiopian courts will reopen today after being closed for 7 weeks (for rainy season). There are over 45 children that have been referred out to forever families and they are waiting for court dates. We are praying all these families pass court on their 1st try!!! We are thinking that once these children all pass court and then US embassy clearance, there will be many new children in the Transition Home and hopefully one or two of those children will be ours!! We are currently 11 for a boy, 14 for a girl, and 8 for siblings.

Premier Designs Jewelry Fundraiser

A friend is Premier Designs Consultant and has offered to have a jewelry show and give us all the proceeds. WOW!!!! We are so appreciative of the way that everyone has offered to help in their own way. So now we get to have a jewelry party and some fun girl time!!!

We would love for you to come and say hi and check out the new jewelry that Premier Designs has to offer!!!

Sunday, September 19th at 2pm
at our house

Now would be a great time to start your Christmas shopping and help bring our child home at the same time!!! Let me know if you have any questions!!

Two Months DTE!!

Today marks 2 months since we were DTE!!!! We are two months closer to our child(ren)!!!

I can't believe its our midterm for 1st quarter at school already. We have both been so busy with school and coaching. But the referral world hasn't been that busy. The courts have been closed in Ethiopia since the beginning of August and won't reopen until the end of this month. This means there are several AWAA families that have received a referral but are waiting for the courts to reopen so they can receive their court date. We heard that there won't be too many referrals for the next month or so because the Transition House is full of children waiting for their forever families to be able to come and bring them home. But there were 2 referrals for baby girls this week. Our unofficial updated numbers are 15 for a boy and 14 for a girl and 6 for siblings. Hopefully after the courts reopen the referrals will pour out and we will move up on the list!!!

Update- Numbers and Chads Wedding

Brad and I were sitting on the couch the other night and we were like, Oh shoot we forgot to celebrate one month waiting on the waiting list, haha! Luckily this month has flown by and we have been busy, it makes it go quicker! Our unofficial list was updated the other day. Some families have joined our Yahoo Group since we were DTE, so our number haven't changed much. We are #16 for a boy, #17 for a girl, and #7 for siblings. Some of the sibling requests are for 2 of the same sex, so who knows what will happen!! We rest assured God already has it all figured out, so we don't need to!! (I have to type that for a reminder for me too!)

One of the main reasons we have had such a busy month is that my little brother Chad married a wonderful girl Emily. We are so excited to have her in our family. Emily is always so sweet, kind, and positive. Emily's maid of honor described her as a person who is a great example of a person who loves people just like Jesus loves us. What a compliment and so true at the same time! Chad is a lucky guy to have a great wife! She is from the Philly area so they had a Philly wedding and a reception in IL for our friends and family. Both were beautiful and fun weekends! Here are a few pictures:

Bride and Groom eating and dancing

My sister Amy, brother Chad, and me

Brad and I

Amy and Kylie
Amy, Emily, and me

Chad and Em in IL

Aunt Tara with Kylie

Africa Cards

As most of you know, our largest fundraiser has been making and selling hand-stamped cards. So far we have sold over $3,000 of cards. This AMAZES me!!!!! When we started this, I thought I'd be thrilled to sell a couple hundred dollars worth of cards. So many people have offered to sell cards to their friends and family. Thank you to everyone who has helped!! God hasn't stopped amazing us throughout this whole process, I just didn't know how big to dream. Brad and I assumed we'd be taking out a loan for a big part of the adoption expenses, but so far God has provided just what we needed just when we needed it. Don't ever doubt how BIG our God is!!!



I wanted to share a new set of cards I have for sale. I just got a new Africa stamp, so I've begun to stamp some new cards with it. For now, I am making a simple card:

Since this card is simple, using only white cardstock, I will be selling a pack of 16 cards for $15. I have been using these thank you cards as thank you to people that have helped us in some way and the blank ones I have sent to other Africa adopting families.

If you would like to order any, please email me at tara_mowen@yahoo.com. We can work out all the details then!!

Thank you again to everyone that has helped us in any way along this process. God has used you to help bring our children home!!!

Like Dandelion Dust

This week our church showed a screening of the movie Like Dandelion Dust (based on Karen Kingsbury's book). This book/movie tells the story of a domestic adoption and the sacrificial love the birth mother had to give her son a better life. It really made my heart ache for these birth mothers who love their child enough to give them up so they may have a better life. Another adoptive family told me that if times were tough they would live in a cardboard box with their kids before giving them up. Which is so true, I would do the same thing. The decision to give a child up would be so hard and something most of us are fortunate enough that we don't even have to consider.

When I started thinking about adopting a child I assumed that these birth parents didn't want their children or the birth parents had died. I wondered how this would effect the children in the future. But as I have talked to more and more adoptive families, almost all their children's birth parents sacrificially gave their children up so they could have a better life. WOW! What love! God did the same thing for us, He gave His Son so we ALL could have a better life. There aren't many people in the world that have had to sacrifice something so special, but boy are we glad that God was willing to sacrifice His Son so we have the chance to be forgiven and live our eternal life in heaven!!!!! Believe it and embrace HIS wonderful gift!!

DTE!!!

Today our paperwork got sent by FedEx over to Ethiopia!!! Praise God!!! WOOO HOOO!!! So today is our DTE (Dossier to Ethiopia) date!!! Our yahoo group keeps an unofficial waiting list, so I think we are something like number 17 for a boy, 19 for a girl, and 5 for siblings. The average wait time is 4-6 months. We are obviously hoping for the shorter end of that. So if all goes well we will have a referral by the middle of November and maybe meeting our child(ren) by Christmas!!!! I feel like we have been talking about one day it will happen and now there is an end in sight!!! AHHHH!!!
Our official request is either gender for all- one 0-6months, twins 0-12months, or siblings 0-12months and 0-4 years!!
Let the real wait begin......