Pink or Blue??

So we talked to our adoption agency Wednesday and told them that we would like to change our infant request to boy OR girl 0-10 months! The agency seemed to think back in Nov. we would get our baby referral in a few weeks and there was no worries about our Jan 24 court date. Then it was pushed back a few more weeks and now we are leaving for ET Jan 17th and still have no baby referral. It is really getting down to the wire now....

We can actually submit the paperwork up until Jan 19th , but if it goes that long there is no guarantee the judge will accept it. So we very well may be flying to ET not even knowing if a judge will accept the baby's paperwork or if we will even have a baby referral.

I am trying to rest in the Lord and be calm about it..but ....about 75% of the time I am freaking out! We have been on this adoption road for SO LONG and I am just so tired.

We changed to boy or girl because our whole family decided we were good either way and it would be fun to be surprised and we will increase our chances of getting a referral sooner. There have been 4 referrals for girls since the last boy one.

PLEASE PRAY with us that we will get our referral call next week and have time to submit the paperwork before we fly out!! There are a bunch of families flying out soon and they are all excited and packing and I just can't even get into it right now until I know there is a baby there for us. I KNOW God has a special one for us...I just cant wait to see who it will be!

I will let you all know a soon as I do if we are pink or blue! Thanks!

One month from today..

One month from today ( January 18th) I will meet my new baby boy that I have not even laid eyes on a picture of yet! So surreal. There has been a delay on our referral for a baby boy, but at the moment, AWAA is not worried about our court date. It will be 5 weeks away from this coming Monday and they seem to think since we have a court appointment and it is for two children, we can submit the paperwork still.

Still I am sooo desperate to know what my baby boy looks like and how old he is and his history. I feel like I know Micah so well. We have sent him care packages , we have tons of pictures and we have been given monthly updates from our agency on him, we have skyped with his sister. I just feel like he is my son and i am SOOOO anxious to meet him and give him hugs and kisses! But with Isaac, he just doesn't even seem real yet. I mean, who has a court date and no baby? The only thing I do know is that God timetable is sometimes early but NEVER late!

The babies in the TH are all sick and they will not refer one until he is getting better, so we "think" our baby boy is there and recovering from a upper respiratory infection. They have also mentioned babies there that are missing documentation for a referral. So I am thinking that it is kind of a race to see what happens first: Babies getting well or documents arriving. Kinda cool that God knows exactly which baby is Isaac and so He can allow the right baby to become referral ready when it is time. AND since there has not been a baby boy referral since NOV 13..I think it should be time pretty soon!

My birthday is Monday and then Christmas is Saturday, so I think this coming week would be a PERFECT time to see what our son is going to look like. :)

Christmas..showing some Africa love

Here are a few ways this Christmas looks a little bit different from the past ones....

We have Africa shaped gingerbread..And this is one of the African ornaments I painted so we have some Micah and Isaac love on our Christmas tree too! It will be so nice next Christmas to have us all together.We were also able to send Micah two Christmas care packages. One of the packages was given to him this week. All 3 kids wrote him a letter and we sent him a harmonica and a shirt and some other fun things. The mom that gave him the packagae said he loved the harmonica and all the kids were dancing while he played it! He came up to her and gave her a hug the next day. I love how he has his hands wrapped around her arm. Soon I will be able to give him a big hug too!

Isaac's quilt

My mother in law took some of my adoption shirts and made a baby quilt for Isaac. I loved how it turned out and cannot wait until he is home crawling around on it!

Adoption shower

Our church threw us an adoption shower in November. It was so nice. My mom and BFF, Amy came down for it. Isaac and Micah were showered with all kinds of cute things. I cannot wait for them to be home to use it all!

Merry Christmas

Tickets are booked

Yahoo! We have tickets! We will be flying out on Jan 17th. We fly to Washington DC and from there, we fly straight ( Yay for no layovers!) all the way to Addis. We will get there at 8:25 am Ethiopia time and stay until Jan. 24th. We fly out at 10:15pm and after a quick refuel in Rome, we will get back to DC at 7:25 am. Hang out in the Nation's Capital for a few hours and then fly back to Charlotte. We should be home on the 25th around 5:30.

I really wanted to fly out of Greensboro, but Charlotte was better times and cheaper. I think we will save the Gboro arrival and departure for the second trip so we will be closer to home when we have the boys and people can meet us at the airport easier. (Abby is planning a welcome home airport party) :)

It seems so real now that we have concrete dates and can plan our week out! Now to just have a baby boy to go with that court slot! (sigh)...maybe today.