Testing

Just testing out blogging from my email. Only 6 days left before we will be on our way!!

Leaving Soon

We are excited to announce our travel to Ethiopia will begin next Thursday! After over 2 years of being in the process of adoption we will meet our little boy.
Yesterday we confirmed our flight arrangements and guest house reservation. Now for more paperwork to get in order and more packing.
Since our son is going we can take 6 pieces of luggage. Two are stuffed with donations and at least two more have some donations and gifts in them. Another piece my mother-in-law and her friend are filling with donations. The last one will carry our clothes, which I will split up a bit in case something got lost.
We have several people who are taking care of things while we are gone, plowing the driveway, checking the furnace, taking care of our fish, getting groceries, cleaning our house, taking us to the airport, making meals etc, watering plants etc...
Thankful for everyone who is praying for us and supporting us through our journey!!

Passed Court!

We are excited to announce we passed court on January 1st. Here is what Bethany is telling us will be done now...

The next step for this family is to again….wait. Our staff in Ethiopia now
will work to get a new birth certificate (5 days minimum), passport (5 days
minimum) and other required medical tests, vaccinations, etc. Once these
documents are all in order, an application is made to the U.S. Embassy for
an appointment on the family’s behalf. A response from the Embassy for an
appointment takes a minimum of 14 days. Thus, your family can expect to
hear from us about their Embassy date (and an invitation to travel) in the
next 1-2 months. Family’s typically get 2 weeks notice of their Embassy
appointment (although there is no guarantee and notice times may be shorter
or longer).

Thanks for all your prayers. We will be first getting our donations together along with our gifts. It is a busy and fun time!

Updates are a Blessing

We were very blessed today to find 16 new pictures of our little Isaiah in our email. He is progressing well and in good health.
I can't believe how cute he is!! We are really hoping to travel in January/February to bring him home. No court date yet, but at least we have an update about him.

I realized how bad of a blogger I am too. I do check other people's blogs occasionally but with not feeling well the past few weeks due to pregnancy stuff i have been MIA. I am taking some anti-nausea medication which takes the edge off.
Hope I can keep things more up to date from now on.
Now back to enjoying my new pictures!!

We Have News!!

Friday night we received a call from our agency telling us we have a 2 year old little boy!!!! He is so cute. We are very blessed and thankful for him. I can hardly stop thinking of him and staring at his picture.
We just found out last week we are expecting a baby in June. Double blessing!!
I wish I could put up his picture but we are not allowed too. I am sure I will send out something to show him off in our Christmas cards!
Thank you for all your prayers. We meet with our adoption worker on Tuesday to go over paperwork. I want to get it all in as soon as possible so we can get a court date. After we pass court they will call us to travel when the paperwork is complete and an embassy date is scheduled. Not sure of the exact time line yet.
Now to pick a name...we are keeping his Ethiopian name as a middle name. For some reason Matt and Isaac just don't agree with me?!

Very Soon

Matt's Birthday Pie



Strawberry Mice by Grandma


We are still next in line for a baby, so very close. Yesterday several families found out they either passed court or were scheduled a court date in November. It is exciting to see things moving again. We will have wonderful news to share with everyone soon.
Until then I am loving fall and all of God's blessings.

Waiting...

Isaac visiting a local dairy farm!


"My soul, wait silently for God alone, For my expectation is from Him. He only is my rock and my salvation; He is my defense; In God is my salvation and my glory; The rock of my strength, and my refuge, is in God." Psalm 62:5-8
This was a verse a found today. I just love it. I really have to focus on quieting my soul and those negative voices. Instead, teaching my soul what the word of God says! This is something we are learning in our bible school classes.

We continue to wait for a referral, just hanging in first place. Guess that is not a bad thing! Soon, very soon...