Kernel Kustard

We were finally able to use our Kernel Kustard gift card that "The Kernel" gave us to celebrate our adoption. We actually waited until October 26th, since the 26th is our DTE day. We would have been 7 months DTE, but not this month..we can finally say we have our referral!! We took pictures of the boys with us and enjoyed some yummy frozen kustard. I can't wait to take Micah and Isaac there when they get home!The pictures are blurred out because we cannot show their faces on a public forum until after we pass court. Sorry, but trust me they are soooooo cute! My three other cuties didn't mind posing though with their dessert. Thanks again KK for the yummy treat!

A sweet update from Ethiopia

Here is an update from an adopting mom who is in Ethiopia for her court date:

"Jackie, all that I can say is that your wait was totally worth it! Your little guy is AMAZING!!! So, so adorable and sweet...crazy hair standing up on end and quick to smile! I actually went to find him at feeding time and got to give him his whole bottle...he burps really easily! (I know that may sound funny, but at least one of my kiddos took forever to get a burp out of)! He finished his whole bottle like a champ, and is just a charmer! You are one blessed momma!"

I am so ready to jump on an airplane and go get my baby and my big boy!

Time to Register!

Our church is giving baby Isaac a shower in November and now that we know how old he is, we thought that today would be a good day to register. I have NEVER registered for anything before. Not my wedding or all the kids, so this was a new (fun) experience for me. Abby was so much help and she loved beeping all the stuff she thought Isaac would need!

Here we are getting ready to go beeper crazy!So many bibs, so little time...I had to explain to her that babies that dont walk really dont need 25 pairs of shoes!Diapers on the other hand...we will need LOTS of!!!Greg met us at Target later with the E and N and Esther was able to beep some stuff with us. Nate on the other hand, he was about as thrilled as his daddy to be there "helping us"

I can't wait until the baby shower and see all the cute stuff Isaac gets.( I am also thankful I live in the south where you get baby showers no matter how many kids you have had!) It has been almost 10 years since I had a baby shower and so we are pretty stoked with all the baby cuteness around here! :)

care packages

We are blessed by families heading to Ethiopia soon to deliver care packages for our boys! Yay!! We had so much fun gather things up for them. Micah was a lot of fun to pick out toys and clothes for. Nathan realllllly wanted to give Micah one of his hats from his "collection". At first he put in his last years YMCA baseball hat and that is what is in the picture below. We later changed it to a W-S Dash hat. We also sent a disposable camera and hopefully he can take some pictures of his time in the Transition Home. A young man that just recently came home to the US from Ethiopia has offered to translate a letter for Micah and so we are working to compose that and will send it next. Its really hard though..what do you say to your 10 year old son for the very first time? I am struggle with wanting it to be just right and have decided to pray over it and just let the Lord lead.
Here is baby Isaac's stuff. Complete with a FL Gator onesie, some toys, some infant vitamins and Mr. Elephant. I have to say I was a little bit weepy sending off that stuffed elephant I have kept under my pillow for the whole summer. Hopefully it will smell like mama when Isaac cuddles it!One of the best things is that the families taking it to them are also going to take photos and maybe videos of the boys for us! Yay!! I cant wait to get more pictures you look at!

Referral Acceptance

We signed and mailed in our referral acceptance on Friday! We are sooo excited and still on cloud 9! Now we will wait for our court date and travel information!I have been waiting sooooo long to post this on our Yahoo group!! I had to take a picture to remember it!!

We got the Call!!!!

Its a Boy!!!! ....And a Boy!!!!

Today was the day! (Actually, it was yesterday as I just realized it is after midnight!) We were at our Thursday co-op and Greg was with us because he was needed to help out with basketball and we were talking to a couple of moms about our adoption and the wait and how hard it was getting. Well, they walked away and I grabbed my phone out of my purse and saw on the screen 1 missed call from AWAA, 1 voicemail from AWAA at 1:51pm!!

I am so thankful we were together! Greg calmly steered me out of the gym and to our van. We listened to Caitlin's voicemail asking us to call her and so we called Caitlin back and heard the long awaited words, "this is your referral call!" I really couldn't breathe for a few seconds!

She went on to give us details about a baby boy ( 4 months!) and then she said this is also your referral call for Micah, his paperwork came in today too! Whoooo Hooooo!

We have been praying so hard that we would get the referrals together and we did!

We decided to calmly go back into the gym, grab my laptop and sneak off to an empty classroom to look at the pictures. I cannot tell you how hard it was to walk by so many moms that had been praying for us and not shout at the top of my lungs, "We got the call!!"

We knew we wanted to tell the kids first so we went to a classroom to go online and we couldn't get online, so we ended up looking at the pictures on my phone. We then met Esther in the hallway, and I couldn't stand it anymore, I blurted it out to her and as she is squealing and jumping up and down, we go and get the other two from their classes and show them their new brothers! Nathan was just a shaking!

I did go back in and tell some of my friends at co -op before we sped home to open all the medical files and documents.

We will sign the referral acceptance letters in the morning and get them mailed out. We already have some care packages to send the boys and AWAA families willing to carry them for us next week!

We are soooo blessed and happy!! Next we will be submitted for court and then we will wait for a court date to travel and meet the boys!