It's been a month...

This month has felt both long and short.  We see her face all over our house…in a frame, on our computer screens, on our phones…but she is still not here.  Her presence is both felt and absent.  Strange, I know.  I’m not sure if I’ve ever missed someone I’ve never even met so terribly bad! 

We did get news on Tuesday that the courts have reopened after the rainy season in Addis Ababa.  From what we understand, it’s earlier than usual.  The email said that our dossier (paperwork) is now in the court system and we are just waiting (ugh. waiting.) for a court date.  Oh Jesus, please let it be soon! 

I always think about what time of day it is where she is (8 hrs ahead) and wonder what she is doing.  When I go to bed, I wonder if she is waking up and if she slept good. When I fix breakfast, I wonder what she is having for dinner and hope whoever is feeding her is making sweet faces at her.  When I put my babies to bed, I long to be the one who puts her to bed.  When you are pregnant, you know you can’t do all these things for your baby because they aren’t “done” yet…but she is done!

Oh Jesus, please let it be soon!

On a different adoption note....I know a girl.  A very brave girl.  That I love so much.  I'm lucky to know her.  She was unexpectedly pregnant.  She then found out about another woman.  A woman who couldn't have children, although she had been pregnant many time and lost them.  This girl listened to God and held tight to Him.  He told her it was all going to be ok and He blessed both her and the other woman with a baby girl the other day.  I was privileged enough to get to hold that baby, kiss her head, shed a few tears over her beautiful face, and thank God that she is such a blessing to both the 1st and 2nd moms and to me.  I think she may have known my voice after all the conversations I've had with her 1st mom about her.  Oh how I thank the Lord for getting to see this side of adoption.  Today, that baby girl went home with her adoptive parents.  Someday soon, Matt and I are going to be leaving with another woman's baby.  I can only hope and pray that she knows how much I respect her, just like the young girl here that I know, and how much I know she loved my baby girl, just like the young girl here that I know.  Thank you Jesus, for adoption!  For adopting us!  First moms are truly my heros!

We've seen her and she's ours!!!

On August 17th at about 4:30pm, we saw her face!  What a moment that was for our family!  All the wondering if she was even born, what do her eyes look like, does she have hair (that answer is no!), how old is she....those were all answered!  She has the most captivating dark brown eyes we've ever seen!  We wish we could post a picture of her, but since she is not legally ours yet, we can not post one.  But as soon as we can, WE WILL!  We are ready to show her to the world!  Another awesome God thing about her is her name means peace in Amharic.  We think this is so fitting because adoption is a burden placed on our hearts and this little girl will finally bring us peace….I love her even more for that!

If all goes as planned, she will be home by Christmas!  Oh my word, this has gone SO incredibly fast!  We sent in our application to the adoption agency February 24th....so we got all the LONG paperwork done and had a referral in just under 6 months.  Amazing!  We feel so blessed and know it's all perfect in God's timing.  Are we financially ready?  NO WAY!  We didn't think we would have a referral until January or so, which left us about 5 more months of saving and planning.  This is God's calling on our lives, so we know it will work out somehow. Adoption is insanely expensive, but the end result will be so worth it!  ....and we are ready for that end result!

Please pray for us in these next few months of travel, being away from the boys, being away from work, and the fact that I do NOT like flying!  We will keep you posted as to when the first trip over to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia will be.  The first trip will be for our court date when we say yes, she is ours!  ....and then we will have to leave her there.  Oh my goodness, I can't imagine the leaving her part.  Anyway, then about 4-6 weeks after that, we will have our embassy date, where we go and she is ours and we will bring her HOME!  ...hope she's ready for these 3 crazy boys!