Finger Print appointments

We got our fingerprint appointments for January 13th!!!! YAY!!!! I emailed our Homestudy SW to see if we can move our final interview up one day since we will already be in Charlotte and then I can cross two big things off my list!

From our house to yours....

Melkam Yelidet Beaal

(Merry Christmas in Amharic)

Home Study papers in the mail!

34 days after getting all the documents in a whopping 13 attachment email, our home study paperwork was mailed today! Whoo Hoo! We have our three interviews on Jan 7 ,8 and 14 then our social worker will draft our home study. We are still not so patiently waiting for our fingerprint appointment. Hopefully it will be soon. Thanks so much for all you guys that filled out references and other important documents for us!

My birthday present

My present from Greg yesterday was this awesome necklace from junkposse. I love it soo much.!!

one more step!

Went today and had Abby's physical, Esther is tomorrow and Nathan is Wednesday THEN I get to mail all our paperwork to our social worker for our homestudy!!!! We have three interviews with her in Jan and then our homestudy will be complete. Still waiting for our fingerprint appointment to come in the mail. I am praying it is SOOON!!

Charitable giving

Dear Friends and Family,

As many of your know we are in the process of adopting a baby boy from Ethiopia. We are excitedly working through the mounds of paperwork to bring our son home!

The cost of adoption is overwhelming, around $25,000 to bring Isaac home. We know that providing love and a family of faith for a child that would otherwise be left in an institution is worth the financial sacrifice that is involved.

Our adoption agency, America World has a program called the Eternal Family program. It allows friends and family to to participate in charitable giving towards the adoption of our child. Of course, we present this to you as an opportunity and not an obligation.

Checks are made out to America World Adoption and sent directly to the office at 6723 Whittier Ave. Suite 202, McLean, VA 22101. On the memo line, please indicate "Eternal Family". We also have another form for you to fill out and if you are interested we will mail or email this form to you. That way America World can send you a receipt for tax purposes at the end of the fiscal year.

Our adoption is one of faith. We humbly ask you to join our hearts and hands with us in that journey and pray for this little one as he joins our family.

In Christ,

Greg and Jackie Mullis

Planning a nursery again

I know this might sound odd...but, I love baby BOY stuff. I always enjoyed the pink and lace with my girls but I love looking at little boy clothes and blankets and stuff!The baby (babies) will be sharing a room with Nathan. We had thought at one point about making Abby and Esther share a room, but 1. Abby would hate it. 2. Nathan really wants to share a room with other boys. So we are moving Abby to the guest room, Esther into Abby's old room and turning Nathan's room into a boys room/nursery. The problem is I want Nathans stuff and Isaac's stuff to match as much as an infant and a 10 year olds stuff can match.

I found this at Target and I think it is perfect! My baby crib is white and Nathan's bunks are white, but I love the whole sports theme. Nathan likes it too! He just wants to add some Wake Forest and West Virginia posters to his side of the room! Soooo...whatcha think?

Here is a the link if ya wanna see it up close @ Target.com

Update

Our week in review!!

My Birth Certificate and our Marriage Certificate came back Authenticated from the Commonwealth of Virgina.

Our Criminal check from Florida stated we are not criminals :)

Employment letter was written, notarized and given to me

Last Reference was given to me

My Doctors physical was filled out and notarized

We have proof of Medical and Life Insurance

We were Fingerprinted for our NC Criminal checks

We applied for passports

All the above plus some documents were scanned to our family coordinator and approved :)

Not too bad for a weeks worth of work!

All we have left in order to begin our 3 home study visits are:

Waiting for one more form in the mail

get Greg's doctors form completed.

Hopefully get the kids doctor forms completed

our criminal NC forms back

Our Dossier is coming along nice too. Homeland/Immigration cashed our check so hopefully that means we will be getting a fingerprint appointment in Charlotte soon.

Good for you!

I want to introduce you to a powerful product that we are going to use during our adoption process. I think this will be especially beneficial for traveling over to Ethiopia and when we are back home with a baby. It is called Living Fuel. It is a powerful shake that you mix with water, fruit juice, fruit..however you like it. When we lived in Florida, we used this and I could tell such a difference in our energy level, sleep patterns and even remembering things and having a clearer head. I also found that our immune system was much stronger. I think it is worth it to have all these benefits when travelling that far under such circumstances.

Here is a quote from the website about their Super Green Mix:

"LivingFuel SuperGreens Whole Meal Superfood is the most powerful food on Earth! It contains concentrated green superfoods, plant protein, vitamins, minerals, herbs, amino acids, antioxidants, essential fats, enzymes and probiotics."

Here is their website, if you want to check them out!

www.livingfuel.com

Bloggy Giveaway

Just last week I won a tee shirt over at Kari's Blog! She had a contest and you had to come up with a catchy saying for her Christmas cards and I won! Nathan was a bit put out that I did not get my prize in a youth size for him!

Soooo.... she is having another contest with lots of fun prizes and I thought I would enter again and see if I can win my boy a tee!

Go over to her blog and check out their story and all the fun and informative things she has on there about adoption.

Go here and check it out!

December progress

Its coming together! I received two of our notarized references in the mail this week and Greg's birth certificate now authenticated also came in the mail (less than a week!). We also had our doctor's physicals done on Thursday and Friday and we pick them up on Monday. Our passport appointment was postpone because Greg wasn't able to get out of the doctors office in time Thursday. So that is Tuesday. We go for fingerprinting Tuesday as well.

Our other letters we have needed to be signed or written should be back to us by the end of next week. After I get everything that had to be notarized in, it has to all be certified by NC, so I have to send it off for that.

THEN the kids will have doctors appointments and after that I think we can have our home study visits begin. By the time that is over hopefully we will have our fingerprint appointment with the FBI. I am still praying we can get this all done and turned in and be DTE by the end of February!

quote of the day

"If you debate for even one second when God has spoken, it is all over for you. Never start to say, "Well, I wonder if He really did speak to me?" Be reckless immediately---totally unrestrained and willing to risk everything---by casting your all upon Him. You do not know when His voice will come to you, but whenever the realization of God comes, even in the faintest way imaginable, be determined to recklessly abandon yourself, surrendering everything to Him. It is only through abandonment of yourself and your circumstances that you will recognize Him."

~ Oswald Chambers

Just keep swimming..

Just keep swimming swimming swimming....As I sing Dory's little song I am wading through the mounds of paperwork for our dossier and homestudy. My advice to anyone beginning this journey is when you get the mountain of documents, read them through and put them down. Do it again the next day and then the next. It seems like a little more of what we need to do sinks in each time I read them and I am not overwhelmed.

I spent a few hours each day over Thanksgiving drafting letters and writing my autobiography for our homestudy. I have our I600 application filled out and ready to send in and our birth certificates are waiting to go to the state they came from for authentication. My references and being filled out and sent in and I just need to make doctor and fingerprint stops this week!

It will come together...steps at a time!

Paper Pregnant

Paper pregnant. That is what they call it when you are chasing down all the documents needed for your Home study and Dossier ( that's all the paperwork that is sent to Ethiopia). I am feeling it. The morning sickness and fatigue has set in! ;). After our program fee was sent, we received and email with 12 attachments and another with10 attachments. All of which had to be downloaded and printed and then organized. I was so overwhelmed the first night looking at it all.

I have read through everything about 4 times and I am finally beginning to understand it all, put it in separate files and begin to dig my way out.

I do love checklists though and I have two whopper of checklists to work on. I have already started sending out the references and making copies of everything needed. This weekend I am taking my Mac with me to the cabin and will begin drafting the letters I need and also a 2-4 page autobiography.

This morning Greg and I got up and was talking about when we go and how many diapers we will need on the plane on the way back home and he mentioned that we are really going to need to look for some better ear buds for our ipods since the plane trip is so long. That is when it hit me....this is for real. All the paperwork and money seems so business like, but diapers and ear buds. Its a real trip we are taking to get real children. That totally made this whole paper pregnancy seem worth it!

Necklace Love

I am loving these necklaces from Junk Posse. Go to the Bottomly's Blog and check them out!!

http://bottomlysandethiopia.blogspot.com/

Program acceptance form and program fee

Program acceptance form and fee...sent in!!! Yay!! Now we will get to start our online 8 hour Hague adoption course and begin our homestudy!

Our sweet Abigail

Our oldest daughter Abby is about to turn 12. She is a sweet girl, loves the Lord and her family. I have often said that if Abby was an only child, I would have been a very obnoxious parent! She did everything the baby books told us she would do at just the right time. Abby has been praying for us to adopt a baby for a long time and is excited about the prospect of babies in the house again.

Without us knowing, since August, she has been taking her $5 a week allowance and splitting it into two separate accounts in her room. One for her spending money and one for our adoption fund. Yesterday she presented her daddy and I with $52 of her own money she wants to contribute towards adoption.

I was so proud of her because she is one that keeps a pretty tight reign on her money and is not known to spend or share it! We were so proud of her and Greg told her to

keep it and keep saving it. When we get in a spot that we need it, we will let her know. I am so thankful the Lord has given me tenderhearted generous children!

Fall Festival at Auburn Baptist

This weekend , my family's home church in Virginia had a Fall Festival to raise money for their building program. My sister and mom bought us a table (thanks guys!) for us to sell tee shirts at. Nathan and I have been praying all week we would sell 10 tee shirts. Well, we sold 25! WE WERE SO EXCITED!! There were so many people who told us to keep the change off of a $20 or just gave us money as a donation. We had a good time meeting new people, eating yummy bake sale items and we were able to share our heart for adoption with many people. Here are some pics from the weekend. Thanks sooooo much to all who bought shirts and to my parents and sister who modeled their adoptions shirts Saturday!

November update

In just 22 more days we will be able to send in our first program fee!!! Then we can get rolling on the homestudy. God's timing is perfect even though I have to say I am not real thrilled about having a home visit during Christmas (CRAZY!!). Still hoping to be DTE by February, so I need to get the homestudy finished during the holidays. Just think by next Christmas we might have been to Ethiopia and back and they could be home with us!

Cool new website

Just wanted to pass along this cool website I found called Blastoff. You can make it your home page and then customize it with the news, games social networks that you like. There is also a "mall" where you can click on all these cute little flair buttons and go to the store of choice. If you go there from Blastoff you get a % off and if you invite friends and they sign up under you, then everything they buy, you get a % of that too in the form of a commission check each month. The best part is, its free! Check it out and watch the video and see what ya think:

BLASTOFF

Blessings

We had our Scentsy party last night and I still have a few orders coming in, but it looks like we will make over $100!! That was the total I had asked the Lord for when setting up this party. I am so thankful for all those who came to the party and who place orders. The party won't close until Nov.1, so if anyone else would like to order, please just click on the scentsy link and then click on my name!

Our tee shirt sales have been steady. I went to a fall festival Saturday that a friend of mine had a table at. I didn't sell any tees , but met a lot of people and we had fun. There is another fall festival in Virginia at my family's church the first Saturday in November and my sister has bought a table for us to sell tees at. I am praying we will sell some up there....every little bit is helps.

We are taking each step in baby steps and our first goal is $1100, we are at $750, so were getting there. We will be assigned a family coordinator then and can proceed with our homestudy. After our homestudy we will be able to apply for grants and such to help out too.

God will provide...., of this I am certain. :)

Usborne Books

Usborne Books are partnering with us in our fundraising efforts! Click on the link and shop for your children or for Christmas presents and 25% of all sales go towards our adoption!!

USBORNE BOOKS

Scentsy Party

I am having a Scentsy party on October 20th at 7:00 at my house. Scentsy's are wickless, lead free wax blocks that melt into warmers heated by a low watt bulb. They smell so yummy and they are great Christmas gifts. My consultant Jodi Pardue is donating 20% of all party sales to our adoption fund! If you can't come to my house ( and I am making caramel brownines, so you really should come!) then you can click on Jodi's webpage, click on Jackie Mullis' party and order online.

CLICK HERE AND SHOP SHOP SHOP!!

Thanks! Happy Shopping!!

baby steps!

Here are a few baby steps we will be taking soon....

ordering passports

ordering birth and marriage certificates online

begin our Hague training class online ( 8 hours on the ins and outs of foreign adoption)

Continue our tee shirt sales! ( we just got them in Monday and we have already sold 17!) Thank you to those who have bought!

I am having a Scensty party on Oct 20th and my consultant will contribute 20% of everything sold to our adoption fund!

My plan ( and I know God is in control and His plan may change my plan) is to have our home study complete by Jan and have our Dossier ( all the paperwork!) to Ethiopia by February. Then we wait for a referral. We have no idea how long that might be, but it seems that boy referrals are coming pretty quickly these days!

Since we were accepted, we have been able to become members on the AWAA Ethiopia Yahoo group. It has been interesting to hear all the opinions and experiences from this group. They are families in all different phases of the process and it has been a blessing to feel like a part of a group of people with the same ultimate goal... taking care of orphans.

Maroon shirts!

Here is a picture of the maroon shirts on two very beautiful models, if I do say so myself!

The answer is Us. The answer is You.

Ethiopian Orphans from Simon Scionka on Vimeo.

Tee Shirts!

We were able to get a proof of one of

our fundraiser tees tonight, I think they turned out really really well. We will have them in navy and also burgandy. They are $15 each and you can use paypal and I can ship them out to ya!

Sooo where does all the money go?

One of the first questions people that are new to international adoption want to know is,"Why does it cost so much money?" The money doesn't all go to one place, it is broken down, but it still is a lot of money! Our agency gives full time pastors a discount on the agencies program fees, so that will save us about $2500. We are thinking we will need to add about $5,000 to the total if we are selected for twins or siblings.

There are quite a few grants we can apply for once our home study is completed, so I am praying that some of those will come through. Someone said that an international adoption was about the same cost as having a baby in the US without insurance. That kinda puts it into perspective. I have linked our agency's price breakdown so that you can see where it all is going:

Adoption costs breakdown

We are Accepted!!!

I just got off the phone with AWAA and we are officially accepted into their Ethiopia program!! I felt somewhat sure that we would be, but it was so nice to hear someone congratulate me on it! Now we will have to save and hope hope hope that tee shirt sales go well! I will be going to proof them tomorrow and hopefully have them by the weekend. I am going to get a picture of them up on the blog too.

Our next step is to sign the agreement with them and pay our first program fee of $1,125. Then we will be assigned a family coordinator and we will start our home study paper chase!

Timeline

1. Apply to America World. 9-14-09
2. Wait for Approval. 9-29-09
3. Return Adoption Agreement and First Payment.
4. Wait for Homestudy Contact.
5. Dossier Documents arrive from AWAA.
6. Wait for Homestudy Documents to arrive.
7. LET THE PAPER CHASE BEGIN
8. Obtain Copies of Birth Certificates
9. Obtain Copy of Marriage License
10. Apply for Passports
11. Request and Notarize Letters of Employment
12. Home Study Application
13. Autobiographies Completed
14. Criminal Background Checks
15. Residential History
16. Statement of Faith
17. Medical Examinations for Each Member of the Family
18. Fire Protection Inspection
19. Environmental Health Inspection
20. Copies of Tax Returns
21. Pet Vaccination Verifications
22. Current Financial Statements
23. Create Floor Plan of the Home
24. Photo Session of the House
25. Home Study Reference Forms
26. Homestudy Interview 1
27. Homestudy Interview 2
28. Homestudy Interview 3
29. Jackie Hague Training
30. Greg Hague Training
31. Reference Letter A
32. Reference Letter B
33. Reference Letter C
34. Final Copy of Homestudy
35. Receive Passports
36. Criminal Background Check
37. Send USCIS I-600A Application
38. Receipt for I-600A arrives from USCIS office
39. Mail off for State Certification of Docs
40. Receive State Certification Documents
41. Receive Fingerprint Appointments
42. Complete Fingerprint Appointments
43. Receive I-171H
44. Mail Dossier to AWAA
45. OFFICIALLY DTE
46. Receive Referral
47. Accept Referral
48. Receive Schedule of Court Date
49. Pass Court
50. Receive Tentative Travel Dates (TTD)
51. Confirm Post Court Paperwork Complete
52. Receive Confirmed Travel Dates
53. Travel to Ethiopia
54. Pick up our Children
55. Arrive Home

I found this on someone's blog, but it was such a detailed timeline of how our adoption should progress I thought I would post it for you to see exactly why it takes so long" to get a baby". There is a lot of paper work that has to be filed and a lot of different forms to fill out . I thought it would be encouraging to add in our dates and see how we are progressing.

Our fun new shirts!

I found a lady in bloggy world that is making tee shirts in order to raise money for donations to an orphanage in Ethiopia that she will be visiting soon. Jennifer makes the coolest tee shirts and I wanted one so bad. Well, so did Abby and she was looking at all the colors you could get the tees in and picked one out she really liked. Well, I ordered her one for her birthday and one for me too. They came in the mail today and they were soooo cute! I couldn't wait until November to give it to her! So here we are modeling our Africa shirts. I'm not sure if you can see in the picture, but Jennifer even sewed a little heart on Ethiopia for us! Her etsy store is Lilbluebird. She has some darling baby clothes too! Now, Esther is bummed because we didn't get her one, so Abby said she would buy her one for her birthday gift.

Adoption Poster

Here is the poster that Abby made to set up at a table to sell tee shirts. We are going to seel tee shirts at the Belews Creek fall folly and the Auburn Baptist Fall festival. I think she did a really good job on explaining who we are and why we are raising money.

Where we will stay

When we travel to Ethiopia, more than likely we will be staying here. This is the place that the majority of AWAA families stay. Not too bad, if you ask me!

Shoes for a cause

I stumbled upon these cute sandals and the terrific cause behind them. The women that make these shoes live in Uganda and are making them to pay their way to school. They are super cute and I love that you can meet the women that make them via the blog world! They also make them for weddings to match bridesmaid dresses. Let me just say that I would love to wear these shoes as a bridesmaid because most wedding shoes are painful! Plus its like shoes, a bridemaid's gift and a good cause all rolled in one! They are trying to get the word out on college campuses throughout the states so that college age girls can meet and connect with the same age girls across the globe.

Here is the link!

Tee Shirts!

We are in the process of designing tee shirts to sell for our adoption costs. They will be $15 each. We are going with 2 different color shirts, Royal blue and maroon, with white ink. The kids and Greg , my mom, sister and friends have given me input on them and I think they are going to turn out really nice. Stay tuned!!

Getting organized

I made a file crate for all the documentation we are fixing to get into. I really want to be DTE (Dossier to Ethiopia) by Feb 2010. That is my goal so I need some organization! I have a file for AWAA, the home study, travel plans (can't wait to fill that one up!) and mementos. I am sure I will need to add folders a long the way, but its a start!

Step one

We signed and mailed our application today! AWAA has ten days to let us know if we are approved or not. If we are, then we start our "paper pregnancy". We have been holding on to the application for about 3 weeks since we filled it all out and prayed over it and now it's in the mail!!

Being an Example

I have never really liked to be an example. Usually as a kid if someone said they were going to " make an example out of you" it meant you were going to get in trouble and they were going to use the consequences to let other kids know they better not even think about doing anything such as you had just done. Or sometimes worse, if you did something right and you were made an example then there was a standard you had to live up to.

Maybe it is wrong or bad, but I like being average. I have always looked average. Never really turning heads walking in a room, but I don't think I have ever been called " a dog" either :) I have always been an average athlete, never MVP, but I was able to contribute to the team. I always hates softball though because of having to be up to bat and everyone watching just you.

Grades were the same way, a B average was okay with me. Don't get me wrong, I don't want to be invisible or hidden, but never really wanted to be the one people were whispering about either. Being the " Go To" girl was not my dream.

I think that there are a lot of girls like me out there and that is why the Twilight series by Stephenie Meyer has been such a huge hit. The heroine , Bella was like that, just wanting to make it through high school and not cause any ripples and when she falls in love with a vampire and he loves her back, it puts her right in harms way of much more than she could ever imagine. When, by the fourth book, she has become so much more than she thought she could be and she ends up being very special, almost destined to greatness, even though she was unwilling to step up to the plate. This theme resonated with every girl who longs to only be average because deep down inside she is afraid that she really is just average and if she is made an example she will eventually fail.

What does this have to do with an adoption and on an adoption blog?

As much as I long to adopt a baby and as much as I feel God has called us to do it, that its not just a whim or a phase, I don't want to be an example. To those who think we shouldn't adopt a baby of another color. To those who think three children are enough. To those who don't understand why we would even want to. I don't even want to be a biblical example of a christian who follow James 1:27 and looks after orphans. Why? Why if God has called us to it wouldn't I want others to look and to learn of His Love and how He made all colors of skin and loves us all the same. To witness His provision to care for more children and that they are a heritage unto Him. To teach others that when we care for the least of these we are caring for Him . Shouldn't I be excited for that? Why do I shy away from that part of adoption?

Because I'm scared.

Scared that I might fail as a mother to a child that doesn't have the same heritage as my own. Scared that our extended family wont except him and that I will feel defensive and hateful to them. Scared we won't have enough money to get through this process and raise more children.

Then He whispers something so simple yet so profound to me....I can't, but He can.

He brings back verses to my mind that I learned as a child like,"The one who calls you is faithful and He will do it" and "Cast your cares upon Him for He careth for you." The one that sealed the deal on my questioning was "For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do."

See, I'm not average.I am victorious. My life doesn't belong to myself. I gave it to Jesus as a little girl and it wasn't just a ticket to heaven, it should encompass every part of my being.

We teach our children to be "a sermon in shoes", we tell them to let their " little lights shine". Well, then I am not going to shirk my responsibilities and calling just because it might make me uncomfortable to be the topic of conversation or the reason for debate.

So, if you think we are crazy or you have negative things to say, I am sorry. My life is not my own...I am bought with a price. So yeah...I'm an example.

New friends

We invited the Raymer family (www.raymeradoption.blogspot.com) over for dinner last night. We had such a good time of fellowship and fun talking about ministry (he is a pastor too) and adoption. Nathan and Esther had a blast playing with their kids. I am so thankful for the opportunity to meet others who are passionate about the Lord and adoption. I am a bad blogger though because I took no pictures of the kids together...what was i thinking? (or not thinking!)

Two Children

We have been praying about the possibility of adopting two children instead of one. There is a part of me that has always dreamed about having twin boys. I know that is would be a major adjustment to our family and double the diapers, bottles etc, but I am praying that if God wills to give us twins that He would and we would be given what is needed to take care of them through HIM.

We did say on our application that we would like two children, both boys. I feel like they need to be able to have each other to lean on and love on and share a heritage together. I am not sure if we will be able to send in our application this month or not...I sure hope so, I am ready to get this ball rolling!!

Tonight

We are meeting with a college friend who is involved with the Abba fund. He has such a heart for orphans and orphan care. I feel very led to meet with him and his wife and have dinner with them. I am praying that the Lord will use this visit to give us a clearer understanding of international adoption and give us the direction He would have us go in. Greg feels led to adoption as well, but because he doesn't stalk blogs as I do, I think it is still somewhat abstract to him. I am praying this meeting tonight will give him a more concrete idea of what we are doing and get him even more excited.

My sweet baby boy

Nathan has wanted a baby brother for as long as I can remember. He has been so excited about us going to Ethiopia and getting him and brother or two or three. He came to me the other day crying with all of his birthday money. $113 in small bills. He said he wanted to give it all to me for us to fly to Ethiopia. He had looked at the paperwork and the financial breakdown and saw that a plane ticket was about $1130.

He made me cry he was so sweet and sincere about it. I explained to him that his grandparents gave him that money for his birthday and they wanted him to use it for him. He told me he didnt want anything more in the whole world than a baby brother or two or three.:)

I told him I would let him use some of his money on a gift, but I couldnt take it all and I came away with two things:

1. My son has a tender heart and I am so thankful for it.

2. We really need to work on place value beacuse he honestly thought he had enough to pay for a whole plane ticket!

Lesson of the week

Some of the ladies at church and I are doing a summer Bible Study by Beth Moore based on the Book of Esther. I have been privileged to do several of Beth's video based studies and every single one the Lord used to teach me and this particular Bible study seems to relate so well with what is going on on my life.

Last night was on chapter 5 of Esther when she has Haman and the king come to a banquet and when the King asks her what she wants, she tells them she wants them to come back tomorrow for another banquet and most of the Bible lesson was on timing and waiting on the Lord. Beth ended with a verse that was very familiar to me, Isaiah 40:31But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.

Honestly, until last night when Beth shed new light on it, I could not think of this verse without thinking of cheesy early 1990's posters of eagles flying over the Colorado mountains that every girl in Bible college seemed to have on their wall and the matching bookmark in their Bible. I think it was the mantra verse of those looking for a husband!

Waiting to me doesn't seem very strengthening..it seems exhausting! I hate to wait on anything...anything! Our adoption journey and anyone else who has went through it will tell you it is all about waiting. Waiting on paperwork, on lawyers, on birth moms to decide, on babies to be born, on rights to be terminated.....lots and lots of waiting. Let me tell ya, it has not been very strengthening to me I feel just the opposite, winded and ready to quit. I have shed many tears cause I am tired of waiting.

My problem is, I have been waiting on the baby not on the Lord. My aha moment last night was when she said, "When we wait upon the event, not on God we lose our strength..... never in our wait is God inactive"

The verse says that they that wait on the Lord will renew their strength. I have been waiting on this precious baby I feel like God is calling us to adopt and I have been so wrapped up in the goal of adoption that I have missed the blessing and lesson of waiting on God. The expectancy of anticipation and the blessing of God's moving has been lost on me with my tunnel vision for the goal.

There have been a few broken roads and many closed doors, but the call has not changed for us to adopt. God has called us to make a difference in the life of a child. To live out the pure religion spoken of in James 1 :27. I am excited to know that He who called us to it will see us through it. I am eagerly waiting on HIM to answer our prayers and bless our home.

My secret blog

So far this blog is a secret. I think 2 other people know I have this blog. I have told lots of people that we are looking to adopt from Ethiopia and that we are excited, but I have had some feelings and issues that I am not ready to share with the world right now.

I feel like the Lord is working out the bitterness I have over some issues that are not really the fault of those I am in contact with. I think I am just not real good at communicating how important adoption is to me and I feel like that if I open myself up and let people know this passion and then they still nay say, it will be like it is directed at me not at adoption in general....make sense??

A friend of mine and I were talking about adoption this week and she said something that is exactly how I feel. She told her husband that it feels like she has a 4th child out there waiting for her to come and get him. That is how strongly she feels about adoption. ditto.

The cost thing seems to be what most people are hung up on and I know its alot, believe me, I know. Here's the thing:

A 2009 ford explorer costs approx $42,000 and last how long?? 5 years?

a 7 day cruise to the Caribbean for a family of 5 costs around $6,000 and last exactly 7 days.

A Harley Davidson fat boy used is around $15,000

Your looking at around 20 grand for a speed boat

In 2006 the average cost of a 2br timeshare was $15,000

The average family spends $3900 eating out a year

So see, people spend a ton of money on stuff and then question me for wanting to adopt an orphan because it costs money?? I'm not getting that. Maybe its because I don't want to go on a no money down- apr financing- put me in debt for years to come kinda easy payment plan.

The video that inspired us to Ethiopia

All God's Children picnic in Kernersville, NC

Even though we are only in the beginning stages of adopting, when we filled out our preapp with AGCI they called and invited us to come to one of their summer picnics. Apparently, they only have about 6 of these each summer all over the country and one happened to be 10 mim. down the road from us! We had such a good time! The kids had a blast on the bouncy houses and Esther met a new friend, Caroline, that lives close to us. We also was able to meet Doug Frazier of AGCI and talked to him some about the Ethiopia program and also about mission trips.