Such Sweet Words

The Garrisons were able to meet our little guy and take some pictures of him on Monday, which was Brad's birthday and Valentine's Day. I am so happy that Jacob got some love from us through Kathy Garrison on that special day!! This is what Kathy had to say about seeing Jacob:

"Tara - we saw your little cutie yesterday....he is PRECIOUS! He smiled easily
when I talked to him and seemed like such a happy little guy. Just darling.
I'll email pics when we get home!"

Ohhhhhh, that made me smile and warmed my heart. This was the first time that we have talked to anyone that has met him. We didn't know if he smiles much or if he was a happy baby or not. It was such a blessing to hear these words from this sweet family!!!

Thank you Kathy!!!

Happy Birthday Brad!!

Yes Brad's birthday is on Valentine's Day. He kinda gets jipped because we celebrate Valentine's Day and his birthday together, which pretty much only involves us going out to eat. We celebrated with his family a couple weeks ago too. Brad and I don't do a lot for gifts to each other, we usually try to just do something together or go somewhere. But this year I got him the game Quelf. Its sooooo funny, if you haven't played it- you should!! This morning Brad got a few books from Jacob too! :)
I am sure Brad will say that this next year will be the best of his life, since he is a Daddy and going to meet Jacob soon!! We can't wait to have him in our arms and start life as a family of 3!!!

First Care Package and Welcome to Travel Email

The day after we got out referral, we made contact with two families that will be traveling soon to Ethiopia. Both families offered to take a care package to our little guy and even more exciting they offered to take some more pictures of him!!!!! Since we received 3 referral pictures on Jan 27th, we only have a glimpse of what he looks like. And those pictures were taken almost a month ago. We are sure he has changed and we can't to see what he looks like this month!! This is such a precious gift that we are so thankful for.
The first family that will be taking this package to Jacob is the Garrison Family. They just found out earlier this week that they have been cleared by the embassy to come and pick up their 3 kiddos. So they will be leaving on Saturday to start their journey to Ethiopia and to come home as a family of 9!! The other really cool thing about this family is that they live in the same town as my mom. I'm really hoping we get to meet soon!!
Thank you Garrison's!!!!


Brad was excited that Jacob got his 1st Cubs outfit!! I also sent a pair of red pants, but I didn't have those when I took the picture.

On Monday we also received the Welcome to Travel email. We had many more papers to fill out and copies to be made, but I think we got it all done. Now we just have to apply for a tourist visa since we will be there for more than 2 weeks. We are really hoping this means that we will be traveling soon. We are waiting for a court date, then we can travel. Come on court dates!!!!!

Snow Day

This past week we spent 3 days snowed in and off school! Here is Brad getting started with our driveway on Day 2. It took him over 3 hours with a snow blower to finish our driveway and then he was brave enough to go help dig other people out too. What a guy!!

We enjoyed our lazy snow days, but did manage to get a few things done at home too. One thing we did was decorate 2 walls in our little guys room.

It's a Boy!

The day after we found out that IT'S A BOY!!!! Our co-workers suprised us with balloons, flowers, and decorations.

We are so blessed to work with wonderful people who are so supportive and so excited about each step. Thank you for celebrating with us!!

Little fingers

Aren't these precious little fingers??? Oh, we can't wait to get him in our arms!!!
We love you little guy!!! We are coming to get you as soon as we can!!!

REFERRAL!!!!!!

"I prayed for this child, and the Lord has granted me what I asked of him"
1 Samuel 1:27

Yesterday at 1:48pm we received THE CALL!!!! I was at work and Brad was at a training for work.
Caitlin from AWAA called and said "Tara this is an exciting call, we have your referral!!!"
I said "Ahhhhhh, oh my goodness!!" She asked if I wanted her to call Brad on three way, I said yes, but he might not be able to answer. As I was waiting for Brad to answer, I just kept thinking "Thank you Jesus!!" That's about all I could get out!!
Luckily he did answer, because I think he would have been upset if I found out the information without him, but there was no way I was hanging up without knowing some details. Once she got Brad on the phone, she told us:

ITS A 7 week old BOY!!!!!!

I was crying on my end and I could hear Brad crying too. The whole phone call lasted 3 mins and 23 secs. After we hung up with Caitlin, I called Brad right back and asked him to hurry over here so we can look at the picture together. He rushed over to my school, but the email wasn't there yet. About 30 mins after we hung up and Brad hitting refresh 100 times :) , the email showed up!!! AHHHHHHHHH!!!!

I ran down and got a friend of mine to videotape us seeing his picture. I thought we'd try to keep it a secret for a few hours until we told our families, but she was jumping around and telling everyone we passed in the hallway.

So we sat down to open the email, and I opened the wrong attachment like 4 times, there are many attachments that come with a referral. The pictures were the last ones, haha. Finally, we saw his precious face!!!! He is so cute with beautiful brown eyes, perfect milk chocolate skin, chubby little cheeks, and a head full of hair. We are so overjoyed and can’t wait to get our hands on him and love on him!!!
After sitting and looking at his picture and Praising God, I went out into the hallway. I could hear people walking by saying, is it a boy or girl?? So my whole school knew within a few mins. But I was a proud mom ready to show off the pictures!!!

Brad took the medical file over to our pediatrician, our good friend is a nurse there and she helped us get the file reviewed in about 30 mins after we dropped it off!! Everything looks good and he is healthy!!!! Thanks Marie!!

Brads family lives close, so we got to show up at their house and surprise them with the news. We called my family, and NONE of them answered the first time I called. So much for them waiting by their phones this week. Once I called a second time they all answered. We are meeting them halfway tonight to show them the pictures!!

Everyone is asking us when we get to go meet him, but we won't know that for awhile still. We are really hoping for April. We are sending in the referral acceptance today and hoping to get our papers submitted for court soon!! We are so grateful that God choose us to be his parents!!!

Thank you to everyone that has helped us at some point during this process, this whole thing has been such a blessing and we can't wait until we can post pictures and share him with the world!!! Everyones excitement has been a blessing too!! Thank you!!!

"Delight in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart."

Psalm 37:4

I'm a MOMMA!!!!! Praise the Lord!!!

Wait Times

Yesterday we received an email from our family coordinator at AWAA. They let us know that the wait times have changed. Up until now the wait times for an infant boy was 4-6 months and infant girls was 7-11 months. They have changed to 5-8 months for an infant boy and stayed the same for infant girls. So its been 6 1/2 months now, so we are in the middle of this estimated wait time. We will be matched with our child soon!!!!

T-shirt Pre-Sale

We will be placing another T-shirt order on Friday, January 28th. Please let us know if you are interested in buying a shirt. It has been fun and such a blessing to see many family and friends in our shirts at different get togethers and fundraisers. THANK YOU!!!

If you are interested in buying a shirt, please go to the fundraiser tab to see more pictures and the link to order them. Short Sleeve shirts are only $15, Long Sleeve shirts are only $18.

Email me with any questions, tara_mowen@yahoo.com

Here is a picture of my good friend Angie's girls in their shirts!!

No, not yet...

Brad and I find ourselves answering that way a lot lately. We love that so many people care enough to ask us about our adoption and it seems that we have been getting asked if we got "the call" yet. I think its funny when people ask because its like they think we are keeping it a secret or something. Trust me you will know when we do!! Many friends and family are asking why we haven't heard anything yet, the only real reason we know is because God isn't ready for us to know yet. We also know that AWAA is waiting on some paper work to arrive, but we know that as soon as God is ready for it to appear, it will. That's the best part of having faith, knowing God will provide in HIS time.
So for now we get to keep answering, "No, not yet..." with a smile!!

I also really have been enjoying everyone answering their phones right away or calling back right away. My sister is terrible about answering her phone, but she sure has been better these last few months. Ever since we got the "on deck" email, people have been quick to answer phone calls from us. For the first two weeks my parents and a couple of my good friends would answer with "Do you have good news?" or "I hope you are calling as a mama!" After a couple weeks of disappointing them, I told them that I will be sure to start my conversation with the good news when we get it. For now, I will continue to enjoy the quick return calls!!

Stampin Retreat

On Jan 7th and 8th we had a total of 18 people come to stamp!!! Some stayed all day and all night and some came for 3-4 hours. I had so much fun!!! We had lots of stampin, talking, and laughing. Just some good old girl time. We also had a silent auction and my mom gave massages (thank you Mom). Thank you to everyone who donated something to make this day a success, it sure was!!! We made over $500 between everything (silent auction, massages, donations, yard sale table, and space rental) Thank you thank you thank you!!!
We used the fellowship hall at our church. Some people stopped in to see what we were up to, no one could believe all the stuff we had in there. For those of you who stamp or scrapbook, you will understand. Here are some pictures.

It was so much fun!! Thanks again to all those who helped, donated, and came to stamp!!

6 months DTE

So Sunday marked our 6 month being DTE. We have passed the suggested timeline of getting a referral in 4-6 months, but we know that AWAA is doing all they can to collect information about the children. There haven't been too many referrals lately, a couple infant girls were referred around Christmas. And unfortunately another family lost a referral. So we are #2 for a boy and #4 for a girl. I have really been praying for these families that have lost a referral. I can't imagine the heartache for the child and another delay in their journey. I am hoping AWAA gets the needed documentation SOON so these babies can be referred and these families will be one step closer to bringing their children home. We have been told by AWAA that there are several babies and children at the Transition Home waiting for documentation so their referral can be given out. I hate that these children are just sitting there waiting and families are sitting here waiting too. Please continue to pray for this situation and the Ethiopian government to give and collect all the needed information ASAP.
Tomorrow we will be getting our yellow fever and typhoid vaccinations in Peoria. We will be ready to travel as soon as they tell us we can go!