Love for our orphans is contagious

I love when the love for adoption is passed around the world and we all support one another.  OUR orphan crisis is REAL and it's BIG.  And to be able to pass the goodness on to our fellow adopting families is such an amazing thing.  Most people know who Steven Curtis Chapman is.....a Godly man with a GREAT voice.  Well, he began Show Hope many years ago and has adopted himself from China.  This organization provides grants for families who want to bring a child into their home (among many other things), but may be struggling financially to do so.  Well, a couple of weeks ago we were surprised with a letter from them that we have been awarded one of their grants.  What a blessing!!  So we now have the money to purchase our first two tickets to Ethiopia....hopefully within the next couple of days.  Some of the burden has been lifted and we are sooooo very grateful. 

And a couple of weeks ago I was approached when I set up a table in front of my favorite coffee shop in our downtown region.  The woman quickly noticed the poster-sized adoption fliers and told me how she has also adopted....eight children. :0)  She and her husband have many biological children as well.  Anyway, she proceeded to tell me that she and 40-some friends from her church are going on a trip to Israel in October and she would like to see how many people she can get to donate their air miles to us.  She asked "That should buy you a few tickets, right?".  I was teary-eyed and shocked that someone would put forth the efforts for us.  It was definitely a God-thing.  T-shirt sale weren't great that day, but I realized that I had been touched by a woman of God who loves the orphans and that is truly all I cared about.  I am sooo blessed to find the people I have on this journey.  More to come on that later....

In the almost eight months that we have been in this process we have encountered many people we may not have known otherwise.  My husband found out he does business with a driller who builds water wells in Africa to provide clean drinking water. WOW!!  (I REALLY want to be a part of that someday soon).  We have also been in contact with people who live right here in our town, but we may never see--also great thanks to Face Book for this. :0)  And it's crazy how many people have stepped forward to support us while we wait for our sweet baby girl.  T-shirt orders have come in beyond our expectations, donations big and small have been sent and handed to us, and prayers being thrown our way at every turn. We have been blessed. And we are grateful.  And we will pass on that love for the orphans forever.  Because this love is contagious..... 

Court date assignment!

Today is a GOOD day!!  We received an email stating that the high courts in Ethiopia request our presence for our official hearing on November 24th!!!  We thought all of the dates for November had been given out, and low and behold......there were more!  Halleluiah!!  We are soo excited--I may be the only one jumping up and down screaming but I do believe there is excitement throughout the house today!  We only need to be in Addis for three days, but considering the cost of travel I think we'll be staying a little while longer than that. :0)  And because our visits with our daughter will be limited this time we may do our extra shopping, sightseeing, etc on this trip.  But we WILL be meeting our beautiful babe!!  I can't even stand it!!  NOW I am thinking about all of those things that I have kept myself from thinking because we know it will be happening sooooo soon!  I always say....after Halloween, it's all downhill from there!  Sorry to ramble and I could sit here and vent my thoughts for hours!!! 

Very soon our Ethiopian babe.....very soon. 

Your mama loves you so.

HER words...but my thoughts

These are my thoughts...spoken from another woman's mouth--

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 these poor kids
out.” I adopt because God commands me to care for the orphans and the widows in their distress. I adopt because to who...m much has been given, much will be demanded. I adopt because whoever finds his life will lose it but whoever loses his life for HIS sake will find it.  ~"Katy"~

 

If you haven't ever read about Katy.....you should.  She is one of the reasons we are adopting.  I followed her blog for at least two years before we made the final decision.  If you'd like to be inspired, amazed, broken, and humbled, you can go HERE to read her story.   

Hold Her in My Arms

Last night, extremely exhausted and never getting enough sleep, I allowed myself to imagine holding HER in my arms for the first time.  I know, you must think I'm crazy....but I have told myself from the time of referral acceptance that I wasn't gonna go there.  I can't be HERE while she's over THERE and wonder what it would be like to touch her for the first time, to smell her for the first time, to kiss her for the first time.  I know, sounds like a love affair, doesn't it?  Well, it is.  And I could very well make myself crazy.  So for the last (almost) two months since we found out who she was I have looked at her pictures a thousand twenty-two times and talked about her non-stop, and replayed the trip to Ethiopia over-and-over.  But I have never (until now) let myself get to that emotional place of meeting her.  Some people may think I just don't care....I just can't.  It could be another 6 months (no, God, please) and I can't bare to be so tied up in my feelings for this beautiful child of mine who I am longing for.  I can't wait to see how she responds to me....will she smile and hug me back, or will she run away screaming? :0) It doesn't matter either way....soon she will be in my arms forever.  Now I am going back to my "place".....it's safest there.

A Beautiful Summer

This summer has, thankfully, been filled with lots of fun times.  We got a chance to host my brother's oldest son for a week and we made the best of it.  We took him camping with us for the weekend.  What a great kid--we LOVE him!!

(Jacob)

Here's the infamous sand castle in the sand box in our backyard......the boys always do this when he comes to visit.  Can you believe THIS?  They amaze me just a little. ;0)  

Camping

Then last week we went to our favorite campground in the Black Hills and stayed for 5 days....thanks to our sweet friends.  It was a beautiful weekend with a day at a nearby lake....

some campfire fun with some of our best buddies.....

and a hike on a trail....always my favorite.....

This time we brought along my other brother's little boy, Jace.  Eat'n his PB&J...always eating.

And then my husband spotted something (big hunter guy) that we always wonder about but never think we'll see....... just a little bit freaky.  These big cats are soo numerous in our hills now that there is a hunting season for them.  They have been found in quiet little neighborhoods.  Made us surely think twice about letting our kids play out of sight.  A first time for all of us--viewing one in the wild--YES, it's a mountain lion!!!  And he was watching us.  Yikes!

After the shock wore off we did some wild-rasberry-pick'n.

 Our hills are such a great place to live...there are soo many beautiful places like this.....

Taking some time to kiss an owie......

Finding horses that were longing to be petted.......

Just a fantastic way to end the week.  
Our last camping trip of the summer. 
I can't wait to do it all again next year with another little one tagging along! 
Blessings are everywhere!

Court case submitted!

Today we found out our case was submitted to the high courts in Ethiopia---now we wait for the courts to open back up in late September to find out when we go for our court-date!!  Is this exciting?  Yes, I should say so.  Hang on baby....it won't be long!!

20 year class reunion--good times

2 weekends ago was my 20 year class reunion....i know, i certainly don't LOOK that old, huh?  tee hee.  here are some of my favorite picts from the weekend with a VERY successful outcome--everyone seemed to have a great time...myself included.

 This is my life-long, Pee Wee Herman-lov'n, Violent Femms jamm'n girlfriend, Jill. We have been friends since 6th grade, stood up for each other in our weddings and have been through so much together.  LOVE HER!!!

and our friend, Jeff, that we have been buds with from Junior High times. 

  
some great friends from long-ago times, all chums from grade-school and digg'n their time together.

Five out of seven girls who "hung" together 7th grade thru graduation--
i cherished this time with my girls!. 

   We had a great time while we could--it took 20 YEARS to get us all back together!

 there was some picnic-ing.......

a little boogy-ing....

and the whole class (those who made it) together again!!

20 Years....
it's a long time.