God Danced the Day You Were Born!!!

Yes, I know this picture is mean!  HA!  On the other side of this bear is a picture of our beautiful girl....but I can't show her to you yet!  But, I wanted to show you this bear.  Matt and I found this bear in a Hallmark store somewhere in Texas (can't remember where) before we were married.  I just loved it so much and knew I had to have it!!!  Of course, I got the pink one because I was absolutely certain I would have girls!  No boys.  Well, most of you know how that turned out!  Yes, all of my boys have played with this bear that I have kept in my trunk for 11 years when I've opened it for something, they have seen it and wanted to play with it, so I let them.  But every time one of my boys played with it, I thought "That was supposed to be for my girl!"  Please don't misunderstand me, I ADORE all my boys and wouldn't trade any of them! (most of the time! ha!)  

I just love the saying on it!!  "God danced the day you were born!"  I just think of our big heavenly Father rejoicing every time one of His precious creations, that he hand molded, comes to life!  Our baby girl is no different.  Just because she wasn't born in what we considered "normal" circumstances (actually, we have no idea what her story is right now) she was still NO accident to the Creator.  She was perfectly planned by Him.  And He danced the day she was born just like He danced the days my sons were born.  I wish I had some clue what I was doing on her birthday, but I don't.  I know I was thinking to call my best friend, Laura, the next day because that is her birthday!  Other than that, I'm sure it was just another regular day.  But, God was dancing!  He knew he had created this little girl just for our family.  I'm so thankful for that.  I never knew how much you could fall head over heals in love with someone you had never touched or talked to or kissed or loved on until now.  It's called grace....one of her middle names.  

Many times over the years I would see this bear and think I just needed to go ahead and get rid of it...it was just taking up space in my trunk.  Well, guess what!?!?  I get to take this bear to my DAUGHTER in just 5 short days and tell her about how happy I am that she was born!!  

Mommy is coming baby girl!  I love you!!!!

3 weeks from today!

So, in exactly three weeks from today we will be taking a little flight (HA!  26 hours of travel – from Amarillo to Houston, Houston to Frankfurt, Germany, and Frankfurt to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia) to meet the most beautiful baby girl I’ve ever seen!  Of course, I’ve only seen one picture of her, but I can definitely tell based off that one picture, she is perfection!  Trust me, after we meet her December 4^th, there will be TONS of pictures taken of her!  I can’t wait to get to show her to all of you!

All of the wondering about her and what she is like will come to an end, and I’m SO excited about that!  To finally meet the little girl I have known would be mine for so long.  I know to her we will just be funny looking strangers, but for us seeing her will be a LONG dream finally coming true.  We realize she may not like us at first and that she may be scared of us, but we hope to convince her that we are hers….we belong to her.  She finally has a family of her own.  She is rescuing us from our burden.  Oh my word, I’m so excited! Thank you Jesus for making this prayer of ours come true! 

I can’t say I feel very prepared for the trip.  Matt and I have never left the good ol’ USA, so this is quite a leap!  Matt is super pumped about the LONG travel…me, not so much.  Truth be told, I have bad flying anxiety.  Please pray for me about this.  There is just something unsettling about being roughly 35,000 feet in the air in a big tube with wings for 20 hours. I know thousands of people do it every day and it will be ok, but the thought of it just makes me so nervous.  I’ve been doing a lot of praying about this and working on giving my fears over to Him.

My thoughts lately, have been seriously scattered. I don’t feel like I am able to focus of things very well.  At night, the house chores have been somewhat neglected because I’m too busy reading the blogs of people who have recently either made their first trip to Ethiopia or have already brought their babies home.  I just want to try and get all the info I can, but I have a feeling none of that is going to prepare me for what we will see and experience while we are there.  I’ve read a lot about all the children that beg in the streets….I don’t think my heart is ready to see that.  I’m not ready to go to the orphanage and see all those babies just waiting on someone to take that leap of faith and adopt them….I KNOW my heart isn’t ready to see that.  Quite frankly, I’m afraid of being a crying, weak mess the entire time I’m there.  I’ve really got to find my game face.  I don’t have one of those at all.  I need waterproof mascara…any suggestions of a good brand?

Things to pray for….

1.    - Safe travels with smooth skies and on-time flights

2.     -Meeting our baby girl

3.     -Our court date on Dec. 7^th…that all will go well and we will officially be hers…and she will be ours!

4.     -Leaving our sweet baby on Dec. 8^th….pray that she will somehow feel we are coming back for her.

5.     -That our embassy date (second trip) will be sometime in mid January and we will be able to go back for her as quickly as possible

6.     -That we will have enough funds to make all this happen.

7.     -That our hearts will be ready to love on and show Jesus to as many of His little creations as we can.

8.     -That others may feel drawn toward loving orphans, adoption, and caring for them.

13.1 DONE!!!

Well, WE DID IT!  Matt, the amazing Mendy, myself and all three boys made the 9.5 hour trip to New Braunfels on Friday to run in the first ever Chosen: Marathon for Adoption on Saturday morning.  I think there were about 17 people on our team all together….my sister, long time best friends, our adoption coordinator, and people who were complete strangers ran for us….that was SO amazing!!!  I must say, 13.1 miles a LONG stinking way!!  After about mile 9, I was thinking why the world am I doing this of her beautiful face and that’s what got me through.  That, and some terrible singing that I did!  Poor Mendy!  It must have sounded like someone dying!   (b/c I thought I might die, so I thought praising Jesus would be a good idea just in case!)

I must admit, a half marathon was not on my bucket list.  And I must also admit, I never have acquired a love for running, but it was an amazing experience to see almost 1,500 people gathered at the starting line for one purpose….help orphans!  Does it get much better than that?  I don’t think so.  I saw a quote by Rick Warren the other day that I thought was great!  He said “Taking care of orphans is not a cause.  It’s a biblical mandate.  To do nothing is sin.”  WOW!  The runners on Saturday were definitely doing something.  There was one lady there who was going to run 52 marathons in 52 weeks for 52 orphans in the Ukraine.  That woman deserves a crazy jeweled up crown in heaven! 

Being with my sister and Mendy in the insane hills on River Road in New Braunfels was super fun.  The only flat spots were a couple of bridges.  Painful after a while, but fun.  At the finish line, was our families with pictures of Baby K cheering for us, my best friends (who were done and not sweating anymore), my beautiful husband (also already done) at the finish line, and my Caleb Preston joined me as I passed by him and finished with us.  It was a great moment! 

I sure hope that Baby K  realizes someday the love that so many people have for her and what they were willing to do to help us get her here.  The Aaron Ivey song “Amos Story” comes to mind where he says “I’ll find a way to get you here, if it take my fleeting breath…”  Oh that statement is so true!

Mommy loves you, sweet girl!!!  ….I hope somehow she can feel it.

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!