Our Ethiopian Adventure

Happy 14th Abigail!

2011-11-27T13:42:00.000-08:00

My oldest turned 14 last week! Abigail , Esther and I went up to Virginia on the Thursday and Friday before her birthday. My BFF, Amy and I took her to Breaking Dawn and then we had lunch at O'charleys with Nana and Gramps. Then we drove home and Abby had a basketball game. Pawpaw and Grandma drove over from the cabin for the day and spent the weekend in Kernersville. Nana and Gramps got her a back sac she has wanted for a long time ( since her old one broke)
We went out to Outback with Grandma and Pawpaw and they also took her to the store and bought her a Carhart coat that she has been wanting. She has wanted a new pair of TOMS too and so that is what we got her. I told her you know you are getting old when you ask for shoes and a coat for your birthday!I am so proud to be your mom, Abby. I love you so much, but I really LIKE you too. You are one of my favorite people to hang out with! I can't wait to see how the Lord uses you as you follow Him through your teen years and watch your future unfold. Love you my sweet redhead!

2011-08-02T11:48:00.000-07:00

We have MOVED.... Please visit us here

Adjustments

2011-06-30T07:28:00.000-07:00

This blogpost is actually a plea for advice! Please comment here or on FB if you have any advice.

Waiting for the kids to come home I spent so much time reading, planning and seeking advice on how to make Micah coming into our family as easy as possible. We have had a really easy adjustment with him (so far) and I am very thankful for that. I really only thought of Sarah Faith as a baby to love and take care of. I have had three babies before..no problem, right?

Wrong.

For one she was afraid of every piece of baby equipment we have, except the bumbo seat because they have those in the TH. I have gradually worked her into the swing, playpen and exersaucer with 10 min increments daily. This morning she played in her playpen happy for 20 min. She still prefers me, but is getting better daily at being in the floor or swinging.

My issues now are with sleep. Naps, she wakes up 30 min in terrified. Screaming with huge tears rolling down her face. All I have to do is rub her back or head and she will fall asleep again, only to repeat this 30 min later. Her favorite way to sleep is on my chest with both of my arms wrapped tight around her.. so she cant hardly move. Her whole body will relax and she will fall asleep right away as long as I lay and hold her like that.

Night time is the same way. She sleeps about 4 hours ...8:00pm- midnight and then is into a 30 min crying out pattern the rest of the night.

Has anyone else had this problem? Tips on helping her get through it? How long will this last approximately? Any online articles I could research? I am sure there are but my sleep deprived brain isnt having a whole lot of luck researching this!

thanks.....

Jackie

** I wanted to add that it isnt that I mind holding her and rocking her! I LOVE doing that ( although I would enjoy a little more sleep at night). I waited 3 years for a baby to love on and I am enjoying it SOOOO MUCH! I am just trying to help her not be so afraid and terrified when she does wake up.**

Micah and Sarah Faith's Adoption video

2011-06-23T02:43:00.000-07:00

Here is a video of our adoption story. If you click on the white title on the video it will take you to the full screen version. :)

Embassy Date

2011-06-06T12:31:00.000-07:00

We have an embassy date of June 16th! We will arrive June 14th and have our Gotcha Day. We will spend a few days enjoying Ethiopia with the kids, have our embassy day on the 16th, get their visas on the 17th and leave the evening of the 18th.

We will fly 17 hours and land in DC Sunday morning. We will be in NC around 6:00 pm

how I am feeling...

2011-06-05T17:18:00.000-07:00

I can't even begin to describe how I am feeling this week. I honestly cannot believe it is finally time to go back to Ethiopia and bring Micah and Sarah Faith home! The best way I can describe my feelings is similar to the week leading up to when I got married

( Which ironically is 16 years ago to the WEEK! Our anniversary is this coming Friday!)

I am terrified and worried something will go wrong one minute and giddy with excitement the next! When I lay down to go to sleep my mind is SPINNING with all I need to do! I have lists for my lists right now and only 7 days to get it all done.

I am so very thankful to everyone that has prayed for us and encouraged us and supported this adoption. I am very thankful to have been able to share so much through this blog and face book. Someone said to me the other day that they feel like they have experienced this with me (even though they live miles away) because of the Internet. It has truly been a journey.

We should find out tomorrow our exact embassy date, but is should be within the week we are there. I will try to post pictures of our Gotcha Day on here from Ethiopia, but sometimes blogger is funny over there and I can only post on FB.

Ahhhhh. .....Only 8 more sleeps till we leave!!!

What I know..

2011-06-03T19:56:00.001-07:00

This post may a bit premature, but I am figuring after 27 hours of travel, a new baby, bonding, stretching from a 5 family household to a 7 family household. This may very well be the last time in a long while my thoughts are all clear and running in the same direction. :)

Adoption has taught me a lot over the last two years and I feel like there are some things I need to share.

1. You have to be called to do it. There are some people, even friends of mine, that believe all Christians are called to adopt. I disagree. I believe all Christians are to CARE for widows and orphans and that might mean praying for adoptions, giving to families trying to adopt, encouraging these families, but I think you have to feel that it is something God has called you to and on the darkest nights when you wish you had never even heard the word adoption, that is when His calling will get you through the valley.

2. Dont be afraid if your husband doesnt "get it". I have never ever (and I have heard alot) heard of an adoption story where the husband was on board first. I am sure there are some, but the majority is the wife is called first. I am not sure why...maybe the maternal instinct? The more I talked about it, the more Greg dismissed it, BUT the more I prayed about it, the more I saw the Lord use other people's testimony ( in real life, on the radio, in news articles) to speak to Greg and soften his heart. I did show him THIS video when I felt he was close and I am pretty sure that was what pushed him on over to the dark side :)

3 .The only expectation to have is the unexpected is going to happen! Oh my word is this true. We went in wanting a baby boy and to be home by the end of 2010 with him. Our Gotcha Day will be in JUNE 2011 for a 10 year old boy and a baby girl! We have hit every bump in the road! Referral loss, Ethiopia became a two trip country, court hold ups, embassy snafu's..you name it, it has happened. I kinda wish I would have NEVER set any type of timeline in my head and never been so age and gender specific. I think it would have saved me a lot of heart ache and a lot of questions. ( See tip #1)

4. If you feel called DONT let money stand in your way! There are so many resources out there and God has just amazed us with providing just what we needed when it was due. The Levites had to step in the water before the Lord rolled the sea back....sometime ya got step first and trust Him to provide it.

5. Select your agency careful and pray about it. Alot. I didn't do this and God blessed us with an amazing agency and when I think of how little research I really did on them, I shudder at what could have been. I have heard stories and we watched in Ethiopia other agencies handle families and America World is top notch. Not only that, the families that are with AWAA are amazing. There are at least 10 woman, some I have never met, that I could call any time, day or night and they would pray and cry with me over our children. We have stayed up all night praying, we have rejoiced at kids coming home, at referrals, at court success. AWAA is a family and I am so proud and so glad to belong with them.

6. Dont let all the adoption literature scare you. If you get into this paperchase and start reading books and cases..it can scare your socks off! I agree there needs to be some preparation, BUT you also have to A) use common sense. B) trust the Lord for guidance with the children He has given you. If I took every possible symptom of a institutionalized child and compared it to my three home grown, well balanced, much loved children...they would have some of the symptoms! Wanna know why? Because they are kids and kids act like kids..and act out. and explore. and push boundaries. I am by no means saying throw out all the valuable resources, but don't let it terrify you either. There are a lot of worse case scenarios in those books.

7. Be ready to be changed. You wont see people the same any more. Or Race. Or social standings. You wont laugh at racial remarks..in fact they might even offend you. You wont look at materialism the same way. America drama isn't exactly entertaining after you witness extreme poverty first hand. You will cry more, you will pray more, you will sleep less and hopefully think about yourself less. God becomes closer and the world becomes smaller.

I have asked myself now that I have been through one of the more difficult adoptions our agency has seen, would I do it again if I knew how much it would hurt and how much it would consume our lives??

The answer is yes. One hundred times over yes.

We are CLEARED FOR TRAVEL!!!!!

2011-06-03T09:52:00.000-07:00

We got the call this morning that we are cleared for Embassy! Less than 24 hours after we stepped out on faith and bought our plane tickets He opened the door and cleared us! Praise God! He really is amazing!

We leave on June 13 and our embassy appointment will be that week ( we should find out Monday what the actual date is.)

We will be back in Greensboro at 5:55 on Sunday June 19th. ( united flight 5690)... Father's Day. :) Anyone close by that would like to meet us at the airport is more than welcome to come meet the newest Mullis kids! :)

Isaiah 43: 1-2

Fear not, for I have redeemed you,

I have summoned you by name; you are mine.

When you pass through the waters,

I will be with you ;

And when you pass through the rivers,

They will not sweep over you.

When you walk through the fire,

You will not be burned;

The flames will not set you ablaze.

For I am the Lord, your God, the Holy One of Israel , your Saviour.

Stepping out of the boat

2011-06-01T11:01:00.000-07:00

After finding out that we needed more paperwork for embassy on Friday and pretty much reeling with the news all weekend ( seriously, Lord? Can't at least one part of this go smooth?) We made the decision to go ahead and make our plane reservations for June 12th -19th. We decided that it was time. Our kids have been over there waiting since meeting us in January and its just time. We decided that we would go on faith that God would provide the embassy appointment we need, when we need it.

Greg will fly home on June 19th and hopefully we will all be with him, but if the kids have not gotten their Visas, I will stay with them until they are cleared for travel. It may be another week or just a few days, but regardless they will have their mommy and daddy there in Ethiopia on June 14th for Gotcha Day.

I have had total peace about this... in spite of our agency giving us a worse case scenario ( stuck in country for longer) I still think we need to go. Greg does too and last night I began preparing a list of items needed for additional time in ET, thinking of ways to keep the kids entertained as we wait on embassy, imagining in my mind getting through a 17 hour flight and customs alone. I woke up feeling like, with God's help I can be brave and for the kids, I can do this. We called grandparents and airlines this morning and began planning to leave the 12th.

My phone rings around 11 and it is AWAA and I am thinking to myself they have gotten the email telling them we are going no matter what and here comes round 2 of worse case trying to talk me out of it. Instead she says, "Your family must have been praying hard last night because the document that should have taken until June 8th to be submitted was actually submitted last night!"

It is a faxed copy of it, but the original is on its way back to the city . Hopefully embassy will take the faxed copy and clear us tonight (PLEASE PRAY THEY DO!!) but either way the document is found and on its way to Addis so they can submit the original if need be! Please pray it is also what embassy needs to clear Micah. Sarah Faith is good it is just one document for Micah they are requesting.

Now, we still haven't cleared and we still don't have an embassy date, but the fact that the Lord allowed the document to be submitted a full week ahead of time is a big deal to me! We are still leaving on the 12th cleared or not, embassy date or not, but I am hoping and praying the Lord will allow us ( and our kids) to know we are cleared and with a solid date by the time we leave on 6/12/11.

If so, we will arrive home on June 19th on Father's Day. How cool is that!? Greg would have all 5 of his kids together for Father's Day and my dad and his dad will be at the airport to meet us. The first time we have all ever been together on Father's Day.

Stepping out of the boat is not an easy thing for me to do, but with God in charge we feel like it is the right thing to do.

Embassy News

2011-05-29T05:43:00.000-07:00

So we were hoping and praying that Friday was THE day we would clear Embassy. Well, instead I got an email saying that the Embassy wants more documentation on Micah. ( insert very large SIGH here)

Our agency thinks they have what embassy needs and are going to take it to them Tuesday when they open ( Blast you national holidays!) If so, they should clear us and we should get a date to leave in the next week or two. IF it is not enough then our agency will have to send someone to the region Micah is from to collect the document and since this will be on African time it could take a few weeks.

PLEASE PRAY with us that embassy will accepts AW documents and go ahead and clear us. I know a few weeks is not that long in the scheme of things, but my heart is breaking as Micah has had to wait since January for us to come back and so many of his friends have left the TH to be with their forever families and still he waits. It is hard for me to understand, I cant imagine how hard it is on a 10 year old little boy. And Miss Sarah Faith is growing like a weed and I am MISSING IT! She is 7 months now...I SOOOO want her home by her 8th month birthday.

I'll post what we hear back on Tuesday in the mean time THANK YOU for your prayers!

Sarah Faith through the months

2011-05-25T04:50:00.000-07:00

Here are pictures of my sweet baby girl through the last few months...Her referral picture that we saw in January. She was around 8 weeks

When we were in Ethiopia for court. Her 3 month birthday

At 4 months in February

5 months in her little baby bed at the Transition home

6 months old and so sweet

7 months old

Hopefully she will be home by June 21st when she turns 8 months old!!

She eats what??

2011-05-24T14:18:00.001-07:00

So I asked if it was possible to see a schedule of Sarah Faith's day and also if she was eating yet or just on a bottle. Oh boy!! Is she eating! Can you read this schedule? Fish Soup ? Barley? Pasta? Wow~ I bet those diapers are gonna be nice huh!?? The good news is she is sleeping through the night! :)

Our new Family Blog

2011-05-22T13:40:00.000-07:00

I would like to invite everyone over to our new family blog, The Mullis Life. I would love for you all to follow me and/or bookmark the new blog. Once we get home from Ethiopia all our bloggy adventures will be directed to here. Thanks!!!

EMBASSY!!

2011-05-18T18:05:00.000-07:00

We were submitted to EMBASSY today!!! Whooooo Hooooo! What this means is that AW was able to collect all our post court paperwork and they took it to the US Embassy in Ethiopia. The Embassy has 10 days to look it over and either clear us, request more information or do an investigation. There were families last week that were submitted on Wednesday and cleared on Monday! SOOO we could very well be looking at flying to Ethiopia by next weekend! Oh MY GOODNESS!!!!!! Please pray there will be no hangups and we will clear Embassy with no problem!

Here are some pictures of Micah and Sarah Faith that I havent shown on the blog before. I can not begin to tell you how much I am looking forward to loving on these kids SOON!

So whats next.(.when do we go get them??!!)

2011-05-11T06:06:00.000-07:00

A lot of people have asked us what is next with the adoption and when do we get to go get them.

Now that we have passed court ( I have to pinch myself that I actually get to write that!) we are waiting for the staff in Ethiopia to gather all the post court documents which include passports, birth certificates, health examinations and other things.

Once that is all completed they will take our documents to the US Embsaay. They can only submit documents on Wednesdays so whatever the next Wednesday it is they will submit us. (We are hoping this is next week May 18th)

The embassy take about a week to let you know that 1.) you are clear or 2.) we need to investigate a little more into your particular case and make sure everything is ok.

If we hear that we are cleared we can go ahead and book our flights. we will need to be in country about a week, but we get to go get the kids and bring them to the Guest House with us the very first day!

I will keep you posted, but we are really hoping and praying that we can leave the week of May 30th...but we will see.

Here is our latest update from AWAA. Love these babies!!

meetcha day video

2011-05-06T16:37:00.000-07:00

2011-05-03T08:13:00.001-07:00

We passed court for Micah!! Photos coming soon!!!

2011-05-03T08:07:00.001-07:00

Sarah Faith is officially a Mullis!

2011-04-26T10:55:00.000-07:00

We got a phone call this morning around 9:30 from Kristen to let us know we had passed court for Sarah Faith! Micah has a court date for this Thursday ( our Wednesday night) Please pray his file will be looked at by the judge and she will pass him too! If so we should be able to go get them bu the end of May!

Introducing Sarah Faith "Mulunesh" Mullis

Born October 21, 2010

THANK you all SO MUCH for the prayers and encouraging words. We are so excited to have her as a part of our family and CANNOT wait to share good news and pictures of Micah too!

SKYPE TIME

2011-04-18T10:42:00.000-07:00

We were able to skype with Micah and Sarah Faith last night! We heard that a family over in ET had an Internet stick that worked at the transition house and that they had been able to skype some of the families with older children. Well , they were going to be at the Transition House in the morning ET time and were hoping to pass court. If they did, this could be our last chance to skype.

We woke up at 3:30 AM and as soon as we logged in the Mowens sent us a message saying, "going to find your kids" My heart about beat out of my chest when our skype starting ringing a few minutes later and there was Micah! His eyes just lit up when he saw us and the first thing he said was , " I love you Mum , I love you Daddy"! We blew lots of kisses and waved. Then they brought Miss Sarah Faith out and Micah was holding her and giving her big hugs and kisses. He was holding her like a pro too! He is going to be such a big help on the embassy trip home.

We were able to see Tara Mowen get some big smiles out of Sarah and Micah's friend Josh translated for us that he misses us and wants to come home soon. Oh break my heart! Micah asked where his brother was and we said sleeping, but by then Abby has woke up and was able to say hello, then Greg woke Nathan and Esther up. Micah lit up like a Christmas tree when he saw Nathan. I have a feeling there is going to be some serious male bonding with Daddy and his boys!

We were able to talk to them for about 15 precious minutes and it was such an amazing gift! They seem "real" again to me! Oh, how I want to jump on a plane today and go get them.

We should hear some news on our case this week. Please pray that the judge will look at our file and that we will have a favorable letter from MOWA. I so want to move pass this waiting stage!

The Easter bunny

2011-04-17T18:48:00.001-07:00

Tonight, before I went to the grocery store to stock up for the week, I swung into Kohls to get a hat to wear to our Ladies Spring Luncheon Garden Party at church in May. While I was walking around, I also picked up this adorable little white stuffed bunny that was half off and thought that I would either stick it in Esther's Easter basket or save it for Sarah Faith.

I was in line to check out and I noticed this little redhead girl about 4 years old in line with her parents and grandmother, crying and saying over and over," I want my baby, I want my baby." Her parents were, for the most part, ignoring her, but she kept reaching out her hands to the shelf of bunnies ( just like the one I had in my hand)... Saying over and over, "I want my baby."

I could tell her mom loved her but she told her that no she couldn't get one tonight and I actually wondered while waiting to check out why her mom wouldn't get it for her. Did she think it would be spoiling her? Did they not have the money for a $4 bunny? Was she going to be getting a bunny in her Easter basket next week? She seemed like a sweet little girl...why not ?

She kinda reminded me of me in that I had a love for stuffed animals and a love language of gifts when I was a child. I paid for my things and walked out to the van. When I got to my van and got in, I heard the Lord speak to me as if He was right there beside me telling me to go and give that child the stuffed bunny in my bag.

Ok that was kinda weird...and not normal for me.

But I got out and started across the parking lot feeling a bit like an angel in disguise ready to bless this sweet little girl with a stuffed bunny.

Then it hit me why God was asking me to do this.

By the time I reached them I was sobbing...crying the ugly cry- the honey, call 911 if this crazy lady tries anything funny- kinda cry . I told the little girl's mom that I also had a little girl, but that she was in an orphanage in Ethiopia and even though I really wanted her home for Easter that wasn't to be this year. I told her that right now there was nothing I could do to get my baby home, but I wanted to give her little girl this "baby" to take care of. She hugged the crazy lady ( yes, that would be me) and I walked away.

As I got back in my van , I knew why the little girl reminded me of myself so much and why she touched my heart so deeply. I have been crying out to my heavenly Father for years "I want my baby." Through unexplained secondary infertility, through domestic adoptions that never worked out and now... as two of my five children are half a world away and we are waiting in the madness of a flawed system to bring them home. "I want my baby".

God taught me tonight that just like the parents of that little girl, He loves me, but He has not given me what I cried for. I cried for a biological baby and he said no. I cried for a domestic adoption and He said no. I cried for a baby boy from Ethiopia and He said no.

He has given me an amazing husband. He has given me three beautiful biological children. He has given me two Ethiopian children that I would have never thought to ask for... yet alone cry for. A 10 year old son? A baby daughter? In His plan, through the pain , He has brought to us the two children He has planned for our family.

Now, if He can orchestrate that.. I can trust Him with the timing to bring them home.

And He will.

In His time.

The short version

2011-04-15T08:18:00.000-07:00

In case you have fazed out ( and I wouldn't blame you if you did) Here is the short version of "our Saga":

Jan 24 ~ First court date. No MOWA letter. No Birth mom statement for Sarah Faith

Feb 8 ~ Second Court Date. unfavorable MOWA letter. need homestudy authenticated by state and US embassy. Birth mom statement there though.

March 14 ~ Third Court Date. No MOWA Letter no new court date..waiting on MOWA letter

~ One week of waiting on MOWA Letter to be written...(every single day) ~

March 21 ~ MOWA Letter written

Begin waiting on judge to review for 13 work DAYS! Every single day get a "maybe tomorrow" email. (That is two and a half work weeks of waking up EVERY single morning and waiting by the phone to get good or bad news) .AWAA Makes a formal appeal, judge will see case on April 8th.

April 8th ~ Fourth Court Date. Judge doesn't come to work. Will see case April 15th.

April 15th ~ Fifth Court Date. Judge doesn't get to case. AWAA will appeal on Monday, April 18th for a court date for the SIXTH TIME!!!

NOW there is a case that is very similar to ours that when the judge did pick the case up to review it, the MOWA letter was unfavorable AGAIN because MOWA wanted their embassy form authenticated in the US. Which will take at least 10 days to do and get back to Ethiopia.

I am not sure if that will be the same with our case or not...but probably.

Another week

2011-04-08T08:01:00.001-07:00

Play by play of my last 24 hours.....

Yesterday at 11:00 am: We received an email stating that the judge was going to FOR SURE review our case today..yipee! :)

Yesterday at 2:00pm: We received an email stating that if the US government shuts down then the embassy in Ethiopia will not be able to process visas and will stand still all adoptions until they are back up and running.... um.. boo hiss, Washington, quit acting like babies and get your act together. :(

Yesterday at 5:00pm: I check the mail and our renewed USCIS I171h form is there.. Yay no backlog for that! :)

This morning at 10:00am : We receive an email that the judge did not look at our file and will not until next Friday. Even after she said she would. Apparently, she took the day off...I know, right. :(

This morning at 10:30: We find out that the other three families waiting, their file is to be reviewed on Monday not Friday like ours. .. Way to turn that knife in my heart. :(

Seriously. That has been my roller coaster for the last 24 hours. And if one more person tells me it is all in God's timing, my head may spin around and I may spew a green substance.

Excuse me if I am cranky.

Blessed and Broken

2011-03-29T17:55:00.000-07:00

We are still waiting..... Our MOWA letter is written. It is suppose to be on the judges desk. It is suppose to be reviewed and passed. Every single day for the past 2 weeks!

So here is how my day goes...I wake up around 1 am and pray to around 3am..no alarm, I just wake up, count 7 hours ahead and know the judge is up and working. Then I fall back asleep until around 5am when I wake up again and get up. Do my quiet time and pray. Then I try to go about some normal routine with my phone in my hand and my heart in my throat. The poor girl assigned to communicate with me at AW should call by 9:30 or 10:00. So from about 9:15 until 10:00..I really am a bundle of crazy nerves.

BY 10am..I know. IT hasn't happened. No phone call means no passing court. Then by 10:30, I get the dreaded "not today, but soon very soon, maybe even tomorrow" email. This has happened for 2 weeks and 2 days.

I have run the gambit of emotions in dealing with this particular "bump". Everything. From anger to despair to checking flights in order to meet the judge one morning in her office for a little meeting..My will, my time table, my way has been utterly broken.

But... I am blessed. So blessed. Faithful friends who text, facebook and email me daily. Who listen to me whine and wail. My sweet homeschool five in a row family have set up a schedule again today. 12 moms have stepped up to take different hours and stand in the gap and pray my children home. I am reminded of who loves us, of our support system and I am broken, but oh so blessed

.....but aren't we all?

The good news and the bad news

2011-03-23T12:33:00.000-07:00

The Good News:

Well, it looks like our MOWA letter is written ( cue loud applause and dancing!) :o

The Bad News:

The judge was too swamped with other cases to review and write off on ours....seriously?? ( cue lots of eye rolling)

We have been told that they should review/approve us tomorrow. We have been told that before though.

Here is hoping and praying that my next blog post is a big fat "we have passed court" post.

Lessons I am learning...

2011-03-23T07:20:00.000-07:00

Disclaimer: If you are looking for a sweet story that will give you warm fuzzies about adoption and one you can show your husband in an attempt to get him on board, then just keep on blog surfing , cause this ain't it!

We have been on this adoption road about 16 months..by the time the kids get home it will have been long enough for 2 pregnancies! I am tired. Very tired, like worn down to the nubbins tired. God has used this process to stretch me so dang much I feel a bit like Stretch Armstrong.

It has been a refining process like I have never experienced. Ever. He has exposed sin in me that I would have told you 2 years ago did not exist in me. A few of the UGLY things I have had to learn about myself through adoption... OR to say it nicely, A few of the lessons adoption is teaching me.

My Joy is in circumstances ~ I cannot tell you how many time the phone has NOT rang and my entire day has been blown to shreds. I am depressed, cranky and testy with anyone who crosses my path..all because of a circumstance that doesn't go my way.... for days on in. Adoption has taught me that my joy needs to be in the Lord and not on what is or is not happening in my day.

My Belief in God ~ When I prayed for God to move an obstacle. I mean really ( fasting, begging, praying on my face all night) praying for something and God doesn't move I had to make a decision. Do I either 1. Think God isn't big enough to move. 2. God doesn't care enough to help or 3. God is big, He does care, but He is working something out I cannot see but it is for my good. Now, the "church answer" is 3..I KNOW that, but do I believe it? Yes. Yes, I do, but not after many early morning soul searching prayer times.

Bitterness is always ready to raise its ugly head ~ There are families that traveled with us in January that are already home with their children, some are in Ethiopia right now. Others are going very soon. Some visited after us and now are going back..And here we sit not even passing court yet. I AM truly happy for these families. Well..about 80% happy. The other 20% doesn't understand. Why us? Why do our kids have to wait longer...why? ( See lesson 2..My belief in God) I have to be aware of this bitter root and not let it grow in me. Praying for these families have helped. I do love them and I am happy for them..and when I am not happy, I see my selfishness/bitterness.

My ways are not His ways~ There always seems to be "that family" within our Yahoo adoption group. The one that is having particularly difficult circumstances that are out of their control or the agency's control. The ones every one is praying for while in the back of their mind think "Man, I am so glad I am not that family!" We became "that family " back in November when our baby boy referral was lost..and it took so long to get another referral, right before we traveled. Now we are "that family" again because we cant pass court. I don't want to be "that family" anymore. I have wrestled with this so much. Why would God do this? We are adopting not just a baby, but a 10 year old too..why make us be the ones to wait and wait and have no control. Someone told me yesterday I don't have to understand the mystery, just need to trust the One who wrote it. His ways are not my ways. His ways are not my ways..repeat about 50 times a day.

It is not about what I NEED ~ I know that we don't need anymore kids. I want more kids, but I also realize all we have and what we could be doing with our time, finances and love instead of just continuing to "better ourselves". I know this is true and as long as I can focus on this bigger picture... that God is at work in me, in my children, in our church, then I am able to see just a glimpse of the bigger picture and just the tiniest bit of the gold being refined in my life.

I want to say that when I am tried I shall come forth as gold. I really want to, but the thing is this refining hurts and takes a long time. I can say that I am so thankful He is in control and not me. If that is the only thing I learn..that He is GOD and I am NOT...then it will be worth it. The cool things is...that is not all I get out of this experience. Not by a long shot. The blessings totally outweigh the grief. Already. And they are not even home yet!

No letter :(

2011-03-16T06:41:00.000-07:00

No MOWA letter for us yesterday. :( The US Embassy is meeting with MOWA about the current situation in Ethiopia and so no letters have been written for the past few days. The good news is the judge did NOT set a new court date for us. This means our agency can continue to ask MOWA for the letter and doesn't have to wait until our court date. It also means when the coveted letter appears , the judge will sign off on our case and they will be legally ours.

A few people have asked me what happens next when we pass court. Once the children are legally ours, AWAA will begin collecting after court documents which includes the kids new birth certificates with Mullis as their last name. This usually take a week or two. After that the US Embassy will look over everything and that takes about a week. They will then let our agency know that:

A. Everything looks good, make an appointment to obtain the kids Visa and call us to make our travel plans/book our flights OR

B. Something is missing/doesn't look right and they will request more documentation OR

C. Something really looks amiss and they want to launch their own investigation.

Depending on A, B or C is how long this part takes. We are, of course praying for A and that we can go pick the kids up within a month of passing court. This is when I am SO thankful to be working with an agency the US Embassy respects and works well with.

So for now, we are waiting and praying for that darn MOWA letter. Once it reaches the judge and she signs off, I will be plastering this blog with photos and videos of the newest Mullis kids.

Tonight is the night!!

2011-03-14T09:45:00.000-07:00

Idaho, Minnesota, Missouri, Indiana, South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia, Wisconsin, Arizona, New Hampshire, Maryland, Florida, Pennsylvania, Delaware, New York, Georgia, Michigan, Colorado, Tennessee, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Alaska, California, West Virginia, Kansas, Mississippi, Illinois, New Jersey, Alabama, Texas, Utah, Massachusetts, Kentucky, Washington, Maine and Wyoming

AND

Ethiopia, Malaysia, Brazil, Canada, India, Slovakia, China, Thailand , Indonesia & Niger

1o countries and 36 states in the US. All have people that have told us they are praying for our court date tonight. My sweet "home on the internet" the Five in A Row message board has a sign up sheet and are praying on the hour around the clock until morning.

Thank you. We are truly touched and humbled by so much love and prayers. Tonight's the NIGHT! Let's pray these babies home!

not today..

2011-03-14T07:10:00.001-07:00

No MOWA letters written today. :( The good news is the judge is going to hear Sarah's case tomorrow with Micah's. Soooo praying for GREAT news tomorrow morning!

Tonight while you sleep..

2011-03-13T19:15:00.000-07:00

While you are sleeping an Ethiopian judge will review Sarah Faith's case. If our MOWA letter is there we should pass court and she will be legally ours. Would you please join me in praying for this. I am so ready to get my kids home and I soooo dont want a 4th court date! Micah's court date will be tomorrow night ( Tuesday in ET) I would ask that you pray for that one as well. Thank you so much. Here is a sneak peak at Miss Sarah Faith! Once we pass court I can show her face.

Please pray with us

2011-03-09T15:47:00.000-08:00

A government agency in Ethiopia that writes the letters the court need for children to legally adopted are planning to drastically cut the number of letters they write each day. From 50 to 5. That is a 90% decrease. We have NO IDEA how this is going to affect our adoption, but it probably will.
Our third court dates are March 14 and 15 and if this agency (MOWA) doesn't write our letter we wont pass again!
The families waiting for referrals may see much longer wait times..It is so so so sad.
Here is the information.

We received some pictures of Micah and Sarah from a family that was in ET last week and there was one of Micah looking at the new photo album I sent him with great big tears in his eyes. That boy NEEDS to be home!

PLEASE join me in prayer for our court date , for the court system and MOWA, and for all the panic families in the process are feeling.

Also there is a petition circulating that will be presented in Ethiopia. You can find and sign that here

__________________

Check us out!

2011-03-09T10:16:00.000-08:00

Check us out..we are in the news!!

4H Nutrition Fair and Mullis Adoption

11 more days!

2011-03-03T08:44:00.001-08:00

We will have our final ( hopefully) court date for Sarah on March 14 and Micah on March 15. If all goes well, we will be able to post their pictures on here! Yay!! Also we will then be submitted for our embassy appointment and hopefully travel the middle of April to bring them HOME!!! Thanks so much for the prayers and support as we come to the finish line of this adoption journey.

A quick update on our situation

2011-02-11T05:36:00.001-08:00

So a quick update....We were told on our court date last Monday that MOWA wanted an authenticated homestudy amendment instead of just a copy in order for us to pass court.

SO my sweet hubby got up Wednesday and drove to Raleigh to have it done and overnighted it to AWAA. Today they will take it into DC to the embassy for the required seal ( just like with our dossier) It takes some time to get it to ET..at least a week. Well, there is an AW family going through DC this weekend and if the timing works out they are going to carry our document to Ethiopia ( Whoever you are THANK YOU!!) It should get there MONDAY! Yay!!

Now, the judge was suppose to wait until she heard from AW as to how quickly the HS would arrive, but instead she went ahead and gave us a March 14 court date. AW is going to try to talk to her about moving that up since the HS will be there Monday..a whole month sooner that our court date.

If your still following...please PRAY with us that she will accept the document and give us an earlier date ( or even better, just go ahead and pass us!)

Thanks so much! Love you guys!!

Minus One

2011-02-09T06:32:00.001-08:00

Check out this blog and her very cute shirts! Love them!! They are for all adoptions , not just Ethiopia. Great Mother's Day gift..( hint hint!)

MINUS ONE PROJECT

Created for Care Retreat

2011-02-09T04:51:00.001-08:00

The Legacy Lodge on Lake Lanier, Ga

I was able to go to Georgia to the Created for Care Retreat this past weekend and it was so wonderful. I really wasn't sure if I was going to be able to go. We were not sure about being in Ethiopia and then being home only 12 days before the retreat, I wasn't sure I was up for it, but Andrea was so sweet to squeeze me in and I have to tell you, I am SO GLAD she did. It was such a good thing for me. So timely right between my two trips to Ethiopia. I told someone there that I felt like there has been a junk drawer in my mind throughout our whole adoption and every hard thing I have just shoved in this drawer. Then we went on the first trip and I took all those images and feelings and shoved them in the drawer too and after 16 months, the drawer was getting pretty crowded and stuff was starting to hang out. God allowed me to get away this weekend and "clean the drawer out." To see what needs to be kept and pondered over and to see what needed to be thrown away and not be dwelt upon. Such a blessing to have the time to do that and in a secure and supportive environment.

With Anna...my sweet Alabama friend

Besides the great location, awesome food, amazing speakers and worship time, I was able to meet some of my America World friends. Such a lovely group of crazy women!

Here are my roomies for the weekend, Erica and Debb

My new friend, Aimee Powell

And KJ....aka Lucy Lane's mom. Just as sweet in person as on her blog!

I am already excited about next years retreat! Thanks so much Andrea for your obedience to the Lord and for going all out in thinking of all the things that would make this weekend so special.

Court Date #2

2011-02-08T08:17:00.001-08:00

Last night while we were sleeping, Sarah Faith's birth mom made a 14 hour trip to the city of Addis Ababa to consent that she is indeed relinquishing her baby girl. I will be forever grateful for her sacrifice and her determination to follow through and give her consent.

It was my most earnest prayer that she would come. Even if we did not have all of the required letters there, I was praying she would be there and that part of the process would be over. Thank God she was and now that concern is no more.

A letter the judge requested from Micah's case was also there and accepted. Another big praise.

MOWA has now decided though that if you have an amended home study ( like we had to do because Sarah is a girl and our HS said two boys) that the family needed to have this paper authenticated not just a copy.

SOOOOO in the morning my sweet husband will get up and drive to Raleigh to the Secretary of State of NC office for authentication, take it to be overnighted to AWAA, they will then take it to DC to the Embassy and from there it will ( hopefully quickly!) travel to Ethiopia. Once it is there MOWA should write that coveted release letter and we will pass court.

Thanks so much for sticking with us through this journey. We appreciate all the prayers and thank you in advance for all the prayers lifted for us in the coming weeks as we sprint toward the finish line of bringing these sweet children HOME!

The Lord reminded me this morning to "Count it all Joy." We have come so far and are so close to completing this adoption. I will not let the enemy steal my joy or discourage me..not when the Lord has brought us so far and taught us so much the last 16 months.

His annointed one

2011-02-07T13:07:00.000-08:00

¹ This is what the Lord says to Cyrus, his anointed one,
whose right hand he will empower.
Before him, mighty kings will be paralyzed with fear.
Their fortress gates will be opened,
never to shut again.
² This is what the Lord says:

“I will go before you, Cyrus,
and level the mountains.
I will smash down gates of bronze
and cut through bars of iron.
³ And I will give you treasures hidden in the darkness—
secret riches.
I will do this so you may know that I am the Lord,
the God of Israel, the one who calls you by name.

Isaiah 45: 1-3

I have read and claimed verses 2 and 3 many times before in my life especially when my life is hard, but this weekend God allowed me to look at them with fresh eyes. Especially verse 1. A few months ago in history, the kids and I were actually studying Cyrus the Great..the king mentioned in verse 1 and we were able to learn about his backstory.

Cyrus was the grandson of a Median King. His grandfather decided that he did not want his grandson to take over the throne ever so when he was a baby he ordered a servant to take Cyrus out and kill him. The servant took the baby out away from the castle, but could not kill the baby. Instead he gave him to a shepherd and told the shepherd to kill him. Then the servant left. The shepherd promptly ran home to his wife and gave her the baby to raise. Cyrus the Great was raised in a poor shepherd's home by two people that were not his biological parents.

When he grew older he was taller and stronger and smarter than all the other shepherd children. On the way to town one day he was seen by the king and the king knew that this was no ordinary shepherd boy, this was his grandson that he thought was dead.The servant that disobeyed the king fled into hiding and Cyrus was allowed to live and did eventually take the throne. He was the king that allowed The children of Israel to go back to their own land after so many years of captivity in Babylon ( remember Daniel, Shadrach, the fiery furnace, the lions den?)

In verse 1 of Isaiah 45, Cyrus is called the anointed one. This is the ONLY time in the entire OT that a gentile is called anointed. God used Cyrus. An orphan boy that was thrown out and should have been murdered. God used him in so many ways and Isaiah prophesied about him MANY many years before he was even born.

Read verse 2 and 3 again:

This is what the Lord says

“I will go before you, Cyrus, and level the mountains I will smash down gates of bronze and cut through bars of iron ³ And I will give you treasures hidden in the darkness— secret riches. I will do this so you may know that I am the Lord, the God of Israel, the one who calls you by name.

It shines new life on these verses. They were prophesied over an orphan boy raised by people that were not his parents. God smashed the gates of bronze for him and cut through the bars of iron. He went before him. He calls him by name.

Makes me rejoice in how much God cares and loves my little orphan boy. How He is going before him, how He knows his name and How He will smash down the gates for Him too.

Our second court date is tonight while we are all sleeping and as much as I desire to hear we have passed court, my greatest desire is that my children know that the God of Israel is going before them, that HE knows their name and that He is giving them treasure. Even in the darkness.

Being Brave

2011-02-02T04:47:00.000-08:00

Someone said to me the other day that we were so very brave to be adopting 2 children..one being an older child. Can I just tell you that I am SO not brave. I went from my parents house to college to being married and have never lived by myself. I can probably count on my hands the times I have spent the night at home alone ( and that was with much whining and complaining!)

I am one of the most cautious drivers ever. I will choose a route based on the lack of left hand turns I have to make. I really hate to drive somewhere I have never been before. In fact, I am driving alone to Georgia this weekend to a retreat and have woke up every morning this week reciting the route and my plan of attack to get there..just so I am prepared.

I also HATE to speak in public. In fact I break out in hives all over my neck and face and look terrible. Greg is most assuredly the speaker in our family!

Adoption kinda chose us. God laid it on my heart and I could not stop thinking about it. I just KNEW we would eventually adopt. He planted the seed so long ago that by the time we were able to begin the paperwork, it was as if it was just naturally the next step.

Now, Micah was not at all in the plan, but when I saw his picture for the first time and heard his story, I knew. I just knew that he needed to be part of our family.

Greg, who was less enthusiastic about adoption in the beginning was completely on board for Micah and even has "talked me off the ledge" quite a few times when the doubts and fears of an older child adoption crept in.

In fact, back in July, we received an email from our family coordinator saying that we needed to decide if we wanted to wait for Micah's paperwork or go ahead and take a sibling group under five IF they came up. Greg and I discussed and prayed about it on a 5 hour trip to the mountains. By the time we got there, we knew there was no way we could accept two other children and even go meet them and bring them home and see Micah there at the transition home. He was our son and we would wait on him. So we emailed our FC and told her we would wait. A few hours later a family posted on our Yahoo Group they had received a referral for a sibling group under 5 years. That would have been us, but I tell ya, God had given us such a strong desire and peace about Micah it was ok that we then had to wait through the rainy season to get our referral. Actually it was better than OK because Sarah Faith wasn't even born until after the rainy season. :)

I write all this to say that I am not brave at all. We are letting God lead us and He has showed up in some BIG ways. With Micah. With Sarah Faith's crazy referral circumstance. With providing for the cost of adoption. God has shown Himself so mighty to us that I almost feel guilty when people call us brave. It would be like riding your favorite roller coaster as many time as you want and then people telling you how awesome and brave you are. Not really..all you did was jump on and enjoy the ride.

I want to say that if anyone is feeling God pulling at your heart to adopt or maybe to adopt an older child, I say walk straight forward. He will bless your socks off!

Please don't let age ( I met a couple in there 50's adopting and they were SO Happy!)

or money ( there are SO many resources and hey, we have a BIG GOD!)

or doubts ( just click on the blog links to the side of my blog and read about other families and the blessing adoption had brought to their lives)

or maybe you think you will put it off until you "have your own kids". Can I say I am seeing an increasing number of couples choose to adopt FIRST and I think that is AMAZING! When else do you have more resources and time than before you have other children in the home? The travel part isn't as much of an issue and I just think that it would be an awesome way to START a family.

I have met (on the adoption journey) rich and poor, single moms, couples with no children battling infertility, couples who have chose to begin their family with adoption, couples with many children at home, couples from 20 somethings to 50 somethings. ALL TYPES of people who have been BLESSED by adoption!

Lastly ( man, this post is long!) if you have any questions, please feel free to email me or FB inbox me. I would be more than happy to share more of our story or answer any questions you might have. I will also commit to pray for you and your decision.

I have prayed since the beginning that our adoption would have a ripple affect. I would LOVE to know that our story had been a spark used to lead others to adopt, so if I can help you in any way..please let me know! :)

~ Jackie

What I am missing

2011-01-30T18:07:00.000-08:00

I miss Ethiopia. I miss the warm sunshine and the smell of frankincense. I miss the sounds of the city and our sweet guides and their smiling faces. I miss the gentle calmness of the Ethiopian people. But most of all I miss a little boy and baby girl that have taken over a part of my heart.

I have a blanket that smells like Sarah Faith and every night I take time to hold it and think of her and it physically hurts to smell that blanket and think of her so far away.

I have looked at the 500+ pictures we took so many times and each time I see Micah's smiling face I count 8 hours ahead and wonder what he is doing and if he is smiling still. Does he understand how we so very much want him home with us? Does he understand why we had to leave and that we will come back. I hope and pray he does. I ache to feel those skinny little arms around my neck again.

I told someone before we left that it was a good thing two of my children were still in the states or I would have sent Greg on back without me. That is still true. If it wasn't for the desperate need to see Nathan and Esther, I would have been happy to just stay on in Ethiopia until Embassy.

Our next court date is one week and two days away. I am praying God will allow us to pass and that we will be able to return soon to bring our children home.

The thing is....I think Ethiopia has already taken a piece of my heart and will keep it, long after all five of my babies are under the same roof.

So what's next??

2011-01-30T02:57:00.000-08:00

Now that we are back from Ethiopia, we have had a few people ask what the next step in the process is. We knew going into our court appointment that all our paperwork would not be there since Sarah Faith's referral was so recent. We were able to give our consent that we had met the kids and that we did want to adopt them. The judge set a date for a second court appointment..on FEB 8th, 2011.

There are 4 documents missing from our file. Two of them AWAA has somewhat control of and should be there. The other two are our MOWA letters. The Ministry of Woman's Affairs has to write a letter basically giving their sign off on our case. Out of the 11 families in Ethiopia the week we were there, only one family had a MOWA letter...(big, frustrated sigh!)

So IF all 4 documents are there, we pass and everything is sent to the US Embassy and we wait for word that the kids Visa's are ready and we go get them! Probably the beginning of March. If all the documents are not in the file, the judge will issue another date ( about 2 weeks off) and we try again.

So please pray all our missing documents find their way to our file. After meeting Micah and Sarah and giving hugs and kisses. We ARE SOOOO READY to bring them home!

A very funny ( but not at the time) Africa story

2011-01-28T05:16:00.001-08:00

On the third morning we were in Ethiopia, I was still waking up pretty early..around 4am. I decided to go ahead and get up and shower. The guest house was full and I was concerned about the supply of hot water for showers. I tiptoed in the bathroom, shut the door and turned on the light and water for my shower. I decided to brush my teeth first and when I stuck my toothbrush in my mouth. I discovered something very alarming. My tongue was black. Coated in a black substance. With my heart racing I tried to think back to the night before..Did I fall asleep with a grape throat drop in my mouth? Did I have any grape soda? Mmmmm no.

I not so calmly got in the shower, on the verge of a full blown, 4am panic attack. I must have contracted some African black tongue disease. They are never going to let me adopt these babies. They are never going to ever let me back in the United States. Did our travel insurance cover black tongue disease? What on earth was an Ethiopian hospital going to be like? Total freak out..Dear God, why me??

So I get out of the shower, brush my teeth and tongue again. This time I really brush my tongue and the nasty black stuff scraped off. OK, so maybe its not as bad as I am thinking. I get dressed and log into my computer. Thank the Lord, I had Internet and googled "black tongue".

It turns out that Pepto Bismal had a key ingredient called bismuth sulfide and a side effect of too much is that it will turn your tongue black. I had read on someones travel tip page that taking a pepto tablet every morning while in country will help keep your stomach settled. Well, overachiever that I am, I was taking one every morning AND night. :)

That morning I was thanking the good Lord for my health and Web MD!

Court Trip Tips from Jan 2011

2011-01-27T04:36:00.000-08:00

Courts trip Tips from Jan 2011

We brought a lot of snacks and did not really need them. We were full from most of our meals..they were nice for the airplane though.

You end up taking your shoes off a lot at the orphanages and TH, so it is nice to have on socks for that. On the orphanage visit day, I didn't wear socks and I wished that I would have.

The laundry service at the guest house is awesome. 39 cents to wash a tee shirt and they use the same laundry detergent as the TH so my clothes smelled like baby Sarah’s :)

I wish I would have taken chocolate for the nannies at Kids Care and KVI

Kingdom Vision said that they needed clothes for kids ages 4 -13. They had lots of baby clothes.

They have Kids Care tee shirts when you go visit there. They are $20. We bought two because that is where our son was at.

Island Breeze was my favorite place to eat. The chicken quesadillas are yum.

Bring a blanket to spread out on the grass at the TH. Our group was big so there was not a lot of room on the porch.

The reason they want you to take the nanny gifts to the back is that the night shift nannies were getting upset that they were never given gifts. So now they have a “store” and do a lottery and every nanny gets to chose things from all the gifts.

I love the Guest House workers. They are all so sweet. Abby would take a bag of chocolate down with her every morning and pass them out to all the staff. They loved her. :)

The coffee is so good, but the creamer is boiled milk. It would have been nice to bring my own creamer ( like the individual coffee mates)

There is also hot water all the time and I brought caffeine free tea bags for evening. It was a nice touch of home.

There are no wash clothes in the Guest House, so pack some. They only last about 2 days and start to smell funny. I just threw them in with my laundry.

Take earplugs and sleep meds for sure! The dogs are crazy loud!

Wifi is so slow! We had a full guest house and that could have been part of the problem. I woke up at 3am one morning and was able to upload photos pretty quick. After midnight until about 6am is your best time to be online. If you are a Mac user download firefox. It supposedly works better than safari

We took outfits to try on Sarah Faith and snapped pictures of her every day. It was a fun thing to do with our time. We brought a lot of bubbles, balls, rocket balloons..fun toys for Micah. I didn't bring any art supplies or books and I wish I would have, He needed a little down time during the day when he got tired.

They LOVE electronics! A leapster would have been great. Micah played games on my phone and borrowed a DS one day.

Go to the spa!! A lot in our group chickened out but the massage was wonderful and was only $10! A pedicure was only $7 ..Only be aware if you do not get massages regularly, it will make you feel kinda flu- like the next day. :(

If there is anything you want or need just ask! We didn't have time to go to the coffee factory so Job took up a coffee order for us. Same with Amharic Bibles. They found them for us and we paid in advance and they dropped them off.

The airport has shops that you can buy last minute souvenirs at. They are more expensive than the market, but not by much. So if you forgot to get some things, you can always pick it up there.

Court is really no big deal. You go in a room and wait with a bunch of other people for your name to be called. The judge called our group in by 2 or 3 families at a time. You even answer the questions at the same time. Mostly yes or no and she doesn't even give you time to elaborate. The hardest part was not knowing the outcome. Did we pass? Did we not pass? What was missing? We pretty much knew nothing after court, but we received an email the very next day letting us know what was missing and when our next court date was. Apparently if you pass the judge will say,” He/She is yours.” Thats about all the knowledge you get!

Get some Cipro from you Dr before you go! we didn't need it over in ET, but I got a stomach bug the day I got home ( airplane food?) I am so glad I could start taking it right away and didn't have to go to the doctor as soon as I got home.

We took a day and went out of the city to Trees of Glory ( Children’s Hope Chest) We hired a driver with another family and spent the afternoon there. It was so nice to get out of the city and to see the work going on there. We stopped and bought a TON of bananas and Mangos for only $21! They were very thankful for fresh fruit. If you sponsor a child at TOG you can email them and they will try to make sure she is present. It is just an amazing work the director is doing there with very little. I promise you will be blessed if you go!

If you have any questions about the court trip feel free to email me!

Court day and goodbye

2011-01-27T04:15:00.000-08:00

On Monday we got up early and had to be in the lobby at 8:30 in order to get word that our court time was morning or afternoon. Thankfully we didn't have to wait long and soon found out the judge was ready for us. We loaded up and went to the court house. There is a big room you stand in with other families and birth family members. We were able to see Micah's aunt and cousin there. AWAA gave us a DVD the evening before court with history of our child and she was on the DVD, that is how we recognized her. We waited awhile and were finally called in with another family. The questions the judge asked were very straightforward Yes or No answers and she addressed us and the other family as a group not individuals. We were pretty sure that all our paperwork was not there, but we were thankful she accepted the appeal our agency gave to submit Sarah's paperwork on the day of court. I was trying very hard to NOT think about the fact that she could have said no and we would not have been able to give our consent for both children at the same time.

it was a bit hard to understand what was going on and what the outcome was, but our group no one passed because MOWA had not written any ones letter. We all found out the next day when our second court date was. Ours is Feb. 8th.

After court we went back to the guest house and if your child's birth family was there and wanted to, you could have time to meet and take pictures. Micah's aunt and cousin was there and so we were able to meet her and ask a few questions. It was not nearly as emotional as a birth mother meeting would be, but I am glad that we had the opportunity to meet her and take pictures of her for Micah.

After that, we went to lunch at the Amsterdam ( do NOT get the stir fry chicken and noodles..YUCK!) we then went to the TH for our last day with the kids. It was hard. So hard to know that was the last time we would see them for at least a month..more than likely longer. Micah was in very good spirits though. I think going to court, meeting his aunt again and being a part of our "Jan 24th court group picture" solidified in his mind that this is real and he really does have a family. When we said goodbye, he tried hard not to cry. I could tell he did not like seeing me and Abby cry.

We came back to the guest house, packed up and went to the airport for our long flight home. What an amazing week. I am so thankful for this time with our kids.

Day 6

2011-01-26T12:31:00.001-08:00

We went to church yesterday morning to an International church. It was a great service with many many nations representing. The pastor is from NC and has pastored in Winston-Salem and also in West Virginia! His name was Gary Threatt. That made my world seem just a little smaller yesterday. :) For lunch we went to the Island Breeze to eat. My favorite place this week. They have homemade salsa an guacamole that was amazing. They also deep fry their own tortilla chips. After lunch we made our way to the TH. Micah was in pretty good spirits, but he had moments of pouts and seriousness. I think he is realizing we are leaving soon. It is going to be VERY hard for him when Greg leaves. He has seriously attached himself to Greg's arm this week. The only time he plays with me is if Greg is feeding Sarah a bottle and as soon as he is done..mum is forgotten! He even gave Greg a silly band that said I love you on it and pointed to himself and said I love dad. So sweet!
After the TH visit Abby and I were able to go to the spa. She got a pedicure and I got a hour long swedish massage for the grand total of $10! Abbys pedi was only $7..crazy..but so relaxing!

Today is court and we will have to make an appeal in order to present Sarah's paperwork to the judge. Please pray she is understanding. We will then give our consent. We may or may not meet Micah's aunt and Sarah's mom. We will find out right before they arrive. There is a good possibility we will pass court for Micah and not Sarah simply because MOWA has not had Sarah's paperwork even a week yet. I am ok with knowing that and that it shouldnt take to long to get the paperwork finished. So please pray that the appeal is accepted and everything falls into place for us today.

We will then go to lunch and to the TH for a few hours to say goodbye. I am reallllly dreading that part. Then we come back, pack up and fly out tonight. We will be in the plane 17 hours and land in DC Tues. morning at 9AM, we will fly out of DC and be at Charlotte by 3PM. Please pray we can sleep on the plane! That is a long time in the air!

Thanks so much for all the support and prayer!

Day 4 and 5

2011-01-23T07:50:00.000-08:00

Yesterday we were able to go in the morning to the two orphanages that Micah and Sarah were at before they went to the transition house. We found out that most agencies leave the kids in the orphanages until the parents come to get them. I cannot say enough good things about America World and the level of confidence I have in them. They take wonderful care of the children and the professional side is very competent as well. We first went to Kingdom Vision( where Sarah Faith was at for 4 days). we were able to visit with the babies, toddlers and school children. They have newborn up to 13 years old. Thanks to some adoptive families that bought them items like mattresses on all the cribs and diapers on all the babies. :)

We passed out snacks and toys and it was so sweet to see the children and love on them. Then we went to Kids Care (where Micah was located), it was smaller orphanage that we toured. They had a coffee ceremony for us complete with popcorn again! We left there and went to lunch and then spent the afternoon at the TH. Micah is sooooo attached to Greg. He wants to keep him in his sight at all times and is very affectionate. He is affectionate to me as well, but is happy to go play with Greg and the other boys. He will not speak very much to me, but he says things like, "Lets go play dad" and "Lets go see mum" to Greg. He also can count to 10, say his days of the week and his ABC's. Every day he is coming a little more out of his shell. This makes me happy and also sad because we leave soon.

On day 5 ( Saturday) We got up and went to tour the Holy Trinity Cathedral in Addis. It is a huge orthodox church with beautiful paintings. Behind it is a museum with all kinds of Ethiopian artifacts. After there it was lunch and TH. The weather is beautiful here..50's at nights and sunny and 70's during the day. I am going to hate to leave and say goodbye to Micah and Sarah, but I am missing Esther and Nathan a lot and will be so glad to see them.

Abby is doing great. She has taken up with one of the drivers, David, and he lets her ride shotgun in his van and they play the punch bug game while driving crazy through the crazy traffic. She has just been a wonderful traveller.

We will not pass court on Monday because there has simply not been enough time to have all Sarah's paperwork turned in AND a letter from MOWA written. Hopefully the judge will give us another court date sometime the first of February and since we will have already given our consent, once the paperwork is turned in, we will be notified we have passed and everything can be sent to embassy.

After our court appointment, we will meet with Micah's aunt and Sarah's mother if the are here and wish to meet with us, then we will go to the TH and say our good bye's. I am not looking forward to that. We will leave Addis at 10:15 Monday night and should be in DC by morning, but because of the time difference and head wind it is a 17 hour flight back to the states ( yuck!) We will then leave for Charlotte and should be back in NC by 3:00 on Tuesday.

Thanks so much for the prayers. We so appreciate them!

Day 3 in Ethiopia

2011-01-20T21:18:00.000-08:00

Day 3 has been so many words...amazing, scary, exhausting, unforgettable! We got up early around 4:30am and couldn't sleep and went to breakfast and then off to the Transition Home. There were only us and one other family, the Herwhe's there and it was so nice and peaceful. Sarah was in a happy mood so we changed her clothes and put on a headband, we also stamped her little feet and took a ton of pictures. We got lots of smiles! Micah was in class, but was able to get out when we arrived. He was pretty happy about that! He ran up and gave us hugs and played for a few minutes while Abby was in the toddler room. Micah looked around and said, "where is sister?" When we showed him, he motioned for her to come out and get a hug. So sweet!

He walked us over to the next building where the older children stay and showed us his room, and his bed and all his toys that we had sent him in his care package. He also had an art book he had gotten for Christmas that he had already filled up with drawings. Lots of spiderman drawings! He also had a paper Bible he keeps under his pillow in Amharic. Another little boy, "J" and Micah read there Bible together every night.

We also got to go to his class and the kids sang a song for us and then the teacher ask us ( me, Greg and Abby) to sing a song. So we sang Amazing Grace and Jesus Loves Me and then they sang Jesus loves me back to us in Amharic. They were also learning the days of the week and their letters.

Our time FLEW by today, but we had to leave at 12 and go back to the guest house where we had lunch and then met our driver and a rep from Children's Hope Chest to take us to Trees of Glory Carepoint Center. It is about 2 hours out of the city and it was such beautiful countryside. Abby took a ton of pictures I will post when I get home. Just beautiful! We stopped and Abby bought a TON of fruit with the money she had saved and had been given... just bags and bags of bananas and mangos. The total cost was $21 us dollars! We split the cost with the Herwhes and were just amazed at how much fruit! We plan to buy more for both orphanages we are visiting tomorrow.

The roads though were CRAZY! Between dodging goats and power-sliding the van around one lane blind curves, I finally decided I was better off not watching the road!

When we arrived at TOG, we met the director there. A sweet lady that has given up her job to come and live at the carepoint center full time and take care of the children. We had a Coffee Ceremony, gave her our donations we had taken up at Vacation Bible School this summer and then met the kids. They were so sweet. We gave them suckers, granola bars, and silly bands and were able to paint the little girls finger nails. They loved that. When we got out of the van our driver realized that the van was leaking oil. Lots of oil. So while we were inside, the men were trying to fix the van. They finally decided the driver would walk to get some oil and a gasket that had broken. I was getting a little uneasy as there was no electric, no running water and no bathroom other than a hole, no Holiday Inn....and we had no transportation. And the city was 2 hours away. And it was getting kinda late. But we walked around and took lots of pictures and played with the kids and learned more about the vision for TOG. After about an hour ( and a very memorable trip to the potty) our driver showed up with a gasket and a bag of oil! Yes, a bag..like a doubled Walmart bag. Of oil...too funny.

Praise God he fixed the van and we quickly said goodbye and headed back to Addis. We got back with only about 15 min to spare ( around 7:15) before we took off for our traditional Ethiopian dinner!

It was a really nice restaurant and they had all the tables together sitting family style. There was a stage and musicians and dancers and they brought out big round trays of Ethiopian food. We ate while the performers put on an amazing show. Dancing like I have never seen! It was a great show and great food, but by 10:00 Abby and I were about to fall over! We made it back to the guest home for bed and was so happy to see it!

Tomorrow we go to the orphanages Micah and Sarah lived in before moving to the TH, we have a meeting with the ET director about what to expect at court and the an afternoon with Micah and Sarah. We are all having an amazing time and are so thankful for your prayers for us.

~ Greg , Jackie and Abby

Day 2

2011-01-19T05:25:00.000-08:00

After an amazing night sleep...(bring ear plugs and sleep meds!) I felt like a new woman! Abby had 12 hours of sleep and Greg was the only one that had trouble. He woke up at 2am and went downstairs to the lobby until 4am. He said he read his Bible while listening to the Muslim chants outside. He came back up and slept from 5-8:30

We had breakfast at the guest house and are now waiting to go to the TH at 11:30. Tomorrow we will go to the Transition House in the morning and go to Trees of Glory Carepoint center in the afternoon. It is about 2 hours away from the city and I am looking forward to seeing the African countryside away from the city. I also cant wait to meet our sponsor child, Kiddist. We will spend an hour or two there playing with the kids and passing out fruit, suckers, granola bars and silly bands. Once we get back to the city we are going to a traditional Ethiopian dinner complete with dancing and music.

Two things I forgot to write about yesterday was that we had the Traditional Coffee ceremony where they will roast, grind and brew coffee beans right in front of you. It was REALLY strong coffee, but I loved it. In fact I think it was what kept me upright most of the afternoon! Ethiopia smells like coffee and popcorn ( they serve popcorn with coffee).( I think my mom would like that..two of her favorite smells!)

I was able to Skype with the kids a few minutes last night and they are happy and seem to be doing well. I was glad to talk to them, even if it was kinda sketchy service.

The other thing was about Micah. When we first started talking to him, Greg ask him two different ways to pronounce his Ethiopian name and said which one is it? Micah shook his head and said , "My name is Micah". :)

That was about the only complete sentence he said to us yesterday. He can understand english pretty good and will shake his head yes or no, but he wont talk a lot. I think he is afraid he will say something wrong. He is pretty popular with the other kids and has lots of friends. We brought him a batman yoyo and he knew how to say yoyo and batman! :)

Everyone is so nice. At the guest house and even on the streets, people smile and say hello. The nannies are wonderful with the kids. They give lots of hugs and kisses to the children there.

I will check back in later. Love from Ethiopia!

We made it!!

2011-01-18T15:32:00.000-08:00

Greetings from Ethiopia!!! After a mechanical delay in Charlotte that put us an hour off schedule, we arrived in DC at the Ethiopian Air gate with about 20 min to spare. We met another couple, the Jurrens from Minnasota at the airport, so it was cool to see a somewhat familiar face on the plane. We boarded the very nice Boeing 777 and settled in for a long winters nap...NOT!
We had a uneventfull flight but there wasn't a lot of sleep involved. Abby did great and even though I think she was about to go stir crazy she didn't complain. We landed at 7:45am ET time, made it quickly through immigrations and customs. We then met our travel buddies and the driver from AWAA. I am going to try to post about our day, but I am not sure I am making sense ( 33 hours with no sleep will do that to ya!)

Addis Ababa is beautiful! The temps feel a lot like Florida in the winter..comfortable with just a long sleeve shirt. There are lots of people everywhere right now because of a Holiday celebrating the baptism of Jesus. We went to the guest house after the airport, went over our itinerary for the week, unloaded our bags and left again for lunch.
We went to a place called Metro pizza. It was a really nice pizza place and we laughed that our first Ethiopian meal was going to be pizza! :) It was a little bit of Ethiopia mixed throughout because they placed some bread sticks on the table with a little dish of what looked like guacamole. We cautiously dipped our bread in it and WOW! It was soo hot. Totally burnt my mouth! We were all laughing because the Ethiopian kids that were there with us, who were getting ready to go home, were spooning it up like jello! They were loving that hot mess!

The pizza was very good and really cheap, like $4 a person. After we finished up, we loaded in the van and began our trip to the Transition Home. I was going on about 26 hours with no sleep and the overwhelmingness of it all, I felt like I couldn't breathe. It took us forever ( really about 15 min) to finally pull up to that famous America World gate. The other couple was told that there baby would be brought out first. We videoed them seeing their little boy for the first time..he was so sweet.
After a quick switch of camera, it was our turn. They were suppose to be bringing Micah and Sarah Faith out together. There was a long hall they were bringing them down and we were at the porch/front door. As soon as Micah saw us he took off running and threw himself in my arms! That was the sweetest bear hug and I will never forget that feeling. He hugged Greg next and just jumped up onto him to be held. He was so sweet and not shy at all. He was wearing his Florida Gator shirt we had sent him in his care package. He gave Abby a hug and while he was getting acquainted with his big sister, I turned my attention to the sweetest bundle of pink in the nanny's arms. She looked at me with those big brown eyes and didnt cry at all! She just snuggled in like, "Well, I have been waiting for you to get here".

Greg and Micah went over to the playground to play while Abby and I took Sarah Faith up to a couch on the porch to snuggle. And snuggle we did..all afternoon! She would track our eyes really well and smile and coo and she has a bit of thrush and kept sticking her tongue out so I would be able to see it.

We had an amazing amazing day! Tomorrow is more of the same. More good food and more time with the kids. We are so blessed!

Your blog has been hacked!!!

2011-01-15T16:33:00.001-08:00

While my sister, Jackie, is heading over the seas to Ethiopia, I will be helping her post some pictures on here. It's been a very long time since I've blogged, so I thought I would try before she left. Cheese!!!!

Ready for Takeoff!!

2011-01-15T14:27:00.000-08:00

We are so excited to be leaving on Monday morning Jan, 17th! We leave out of Charlotte at 7:35am for DC and then DC to Addis at noon! We will be in the air 12 hours and 25 min, but we will land in Addis at 8:25 am! We will be 8 hours ahead of our time. According to our travel director ,we will land, get our visa's, check in at the guest house and then go meet our children!!! Wow what a Tuesday that will be!

My sister is going to try to keep my blog up, but I will more than likely be able to update from facebook too.

We will spend the week in Addis doing some shopping and site-seeing in the mornings and then visiting the transition home in the afternoons.

Our court date will be Monday, Jan 24th. This is not a court date to decide if we are good parents ( that was what our home study was for) , but a court hearing to see if all requirements of our case are fulfilled. One of the requirements is our testimony that we do indeed want to adopt and we have been given our children's history, have met them etc. Once we have given this, our part is completed.

The biggest reason most people do not pass court is that MOWA ( Ministry of Women and Children) have to write a recommendation letter that all documents are there and they are basically signing off on the case. For some reason, they are very random in getting letters there on the proper day. They are sometimes late or not at all. Not to be pessimistic, but I do not think we will pass court on the 24th. MOWA will have only had our paperwork on the baby for less than a week AND they have to write two letters for us because our kids are not siblings.

God could work a miracle on our behalf, but I am prepared to go, give our testimony and then come home and wait for all the documents to fall into place later on in the next few weeks. The only big bummer about not passing court is that we are not allowed to post pictures of our kids until we pass court and they are legally ours.

Once we have been given word we have passed court, all our files are gathered again for the US embassy. It takes a few more weeks for that to happen and then the US Embassy gives us an embassy date where the kids will get there Visas. They give our agency 10 slots every other Wednesday for embassy dates. So.. We are looking at Feb 16, March 2, 16 or 30th as to when our embassy appointment might be.

If you would like to pray with us, here are some specifics..

Safe travels ~ Greg has been out of the country before, but this will be mine and Abby's first time. We are excited, but scared too. Also pray we have good flying weather to Addis and coming home.

For Nathan and Esther ~ They are really excited to go to Nana and Gramp's house for a whole week and it does my heart good that they are nor homesick about us leaving. Please pray that they keep this attitude! :) And for my parents as they watch them all week.

For Micah and Sarah Faith~ That we have a good bonding experience with them

For our Health ~ Illness is common when traveling overseas with the strange food and also Addis is a very high altitude. I have a whole pharmacy packed, but I am praying I wont need any of it!

For Abby ~ I can't imagine what a trip like this will be like for a 13 year old girl. I am praying God uses this trip in many ways to mold her heart and life for HIM.

We arrive back in the US early Tuesday morning Jan 25th and then will eventually land in Charlotte around 3:15pm.

Thanks so much for joining us on this journey! I will check in next time from ADDIS ABABA, ETHIOPIA!!

PINK!!!!!

2011-01-14T22:59:00.000-08:00

We received the call today at 11:51. The first thing Caitlin said was, "I have some good news for you.." Right then and there I just prayed a big Thank you JESUS! Then after we got Greg on the speaker phone she told us that she had a referral for a 5 month old baby GIRL!!!!! I was so shocked! I really thought that it was going to be a boy! We are so excited! I honestly didn't hear much she said after that! She did say she was very healthy. :)

All three kids, ( but especially the girls) were just running around the kitchen yelling and screaming ," a sister..we have a new sister!!!" :) They all three told me after the call they had all been secretly hoping for a girl..even my mom said that!

We got off the phone and we all five very impatiently waited for the email to come with pictures and when it FINALLY popped up in my inbox we all squealed! We opened the email and oh my..she is just beautiful! So SO SO pretty! She has big brown eyes and the prettiest bow tie lips. Oh I cannot wait to scoop her up and love on her!

We finished up on the paperwork and then went to Target to buys some PINK clothes! All I have is blue! I have some old clothes that I had saved from Abby and Esther, but when I pulled them out to wash them Abby said, "Mom, those clothes are so late 1990's. " LOL :) I really don't think the baby will care nearly as much as big sister.

We are naming her Sarah Faith and my, has this been a faith walk for us, but we are sooo very thankful for God blessing us with this special sweet baby girl.

AND we get to meet her and her big brother Micah in just 4 days!!! Whoo Hoo!!

Conference Call Today

2011-01-06T09:28:00.000-08:00

We had a conference call with the director of African adoptions and our family coordinator this morning. They assured us that they were doing everything they possibly could to get us our referral as soon as possible and that they are speaking with the Ethiopian director daily about our case.

So here's the deal..there are babies in the Transition Home that meet our request. They are missing a "clearance paper" from the government office of the region they came from in order to be adopted. Until this paper is obtained their file cannot go to court. So really AWAA goes everyday and tries to get this paper... to no avail. We don't know if it is political or backlog paperwork or what, but that is where we are at.

They are very hopeful it will come in next week and everything will go off as planned. If not, we are going to talk again next Thursday and decide if we should not attend our court hearing. Then on the 24th, the judge will hear our case ( without us there) and AWAA will ask for an appeal and a second court date and we will then go and attend that one for two children. She said that more than likely the second court date would be only a week or two later and not into March or April.

Soooo we are still PRAYING HARD that a referral will come in this coming week ( like MONDAY!!) and all will go as planned. If not, it looks like we may be going to ET in February instead in January. (I keep telling myself that...the worst part of this is that we have to wait..the baby is there. Micah is there and ready..we just have to wait...I can do this.)

Thanks for the prayers and the encouragement you guys have given to us as we go through this.

No News..Prayer Rally!!

2011-01-05T02:15:00.000-08:00

No news yet! I have been up since 2AM praying about all this. We leave in 12 days. I just am struggling with do we call our agency, demand answers and fight for this baby we don't even know or do we just rest in the Lord and wait for Him to work it all out for us?

I cant even think about flying to Ethiopia and not having a baby there Or going into the baby room at the Transition House and not knowing which one is ours. Our agency isn't really even addressing this yet and so I don't know which way to even think.

I guess we could just not show up for court in Jan, get a later court date and hope we get a referral soon. OR go and try to sign some sort of power of attorney when we get there for a baby we have never met? But then this leaves Micah in Ethiopia longer too and he is so anxious to start his new life here with us. Oh if we would just get that phone call today everything could fall into place!

Y'all please please please keep praying! I KNOW God has called us to this and I KNOW He wants these children to be rescued and I KNOW the enemy would like nothing better than for this to be a testimony for others to see how hard and not worth it adoption can be. I so want to show others that it is worth it and it is God's heart!

I am clinging to Psalms 37:5 this morning.

"Commit your way to the LORD, Trust also in Him, and He will do it."

__________________

Pink or Blue??

2010-12-31T10:56:00.000-08:00

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..

2010-12-18T06:15:00.000-08:00

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

2010-12-16T18:43:00.001-08:00

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

2010-12-16T18:40:00.001-08:00

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

2010-12-14T19:57:00.001-08:00

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

2010-12-08T04:27:00.000-08:00

Tickets are booked

2010-12-01T05:12:00.001-08:00

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.

Court Date

2010-11-27T16:05:00.000-08:00

We received our court date phone call last Tuesday. We were in Virginia getting ready to have an early Thanksgiving with my parents and were so happy to finally have a concrete date. Our court date is January 24th, 2011. The best part is there are two slots for TWO CHILDREN!

AWAA does not seem to think it will be a problem at all to submit the baby's paperwork once our referral has been received and accepted. I am praying and hoping it will be this week that we finally get to see Isaac's face.

I will be working with travel agents on Monday , but our plan is to leave on Monday, January 17 and arrive in Addis on the 18th. We will meet the kids on the 19th and then be able to spend a bunch of time with them as well as go to Trees Of Glory and see our sponsored child there and love on those sweet sweet kids.

One of the biggest blessings in the adoption process is seeing how God works and the people He puts in your path. One of the families that sent in their dossier and became DTE on March 26th was the Herwehe family. Laura and I have texted and called and emailed and inboxed ourselves into a great friendship! ( Dont tell Greg, but I texted Laura about our court date before I even called him!) :)

My DTE buddy and me have been praying we would get to go to ET together....well, her court date is Jan 18 and they are leaving ET on the 21st so we will be there together for 3 whole days! We are sooo excited!! They also sponsor a child at TOG, so we will get to go there together too. God is so cool to give us this experience along side each other!

So sorry for the lack of blogging. I have just not felt like much of anything since our referral being taken away, but I know God is good and He has given me so much peace over this. I know when it is the right time He will give us our baby Isaac too.

Happy Thanksgiving to you all

Love ~

Jackie

A hard phone call....

2010-11-17T12:05:00.001-08:00

We received a phone call that AWAA is needing to withdraw the referral of our baby boy. We cannot go into the details as to why, but it is for a good reason and we do understand that it is better for the baby. We are, of course sad, but feel God's peace in the situation as well.

We are now waiting for another referral for an infant male. The good news is that if the referral comes soon then we will be able to swap paperwork in court and it should not delay bringing the baby and our 10 year old son home together still.

Thanks for the prayers for our family as we process this information.

Kernel Kustard

2010-10-30T18:09:00.000-07:00

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

2010-10-27T08:50:00.000-07:00

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!

2010-10-23T15:42:00.001-07:00

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

2010-10-19T17:41:00.001-07:00

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

2010-10-19T17:24:00.000-07:00

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!!!!

2010-10-14T21:26:00.000-07:00

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!

Trees of Glory Update

2010-09-30T04:31:00.000-07:00

We have the privledge of sponsoring a little girl named Kidist that lives in a village not too far from the capital city of Addis Ababa , Ethiopia. She is able to go to the care point center, Trees of Glory for food , clothing, medical supplies and this fall... schooling. Children's Hope Chest is doing some amazing work in Ethiopia right now and we are so thankful to be a small part of that work. For $34 a month you can sponsor a child and know that your money is going directly for supplies for that child.

A team is going to be visiting Trees of Glory in Novemeber and taking every child there a care package. We were able to fix a care package for our little girl and send it to her with pictures of our family. The cool thing is, depending on our adoption timeline, we will get to visit with Kidist in person too! We are planning on going to TOG on our trip to Ethiopia to meet the boys and go to court. Abby will get to go with us to TOG and see all the children, play and love on them too! It is going to be amazing!

A fun surprise

2010-09-29T12:56:00.000-07:00

Today I was able to Skype with Mikias' little sister that lives in California. We were on the computer for about 30 min and she was able to meet our whole family. She is the cutest thing ever!

She told me some fun facts about Mikias ( pronounced MeKeyas):

He likes baseball, basketball and Foosball

She thinks he would like a baseball cap and a little car in his care package and also pictures of our family.

He likes chicken tibs and eggs

He likes brothers, sisters and babies :)

He laughs everyday and is happy

He is sometimes shy

She doesn't think he will be afraid of our dog, Mac, but maybe he will.

I promised to send her a recent picture of him when AWAA sends us one. She also thanked me for taking care and adopting her brother. I am so excited that they will be able to skype and send letters and cards to each other!

I forgot to ask her if she thought he would liked to be called Micah when he moves to the US..I hope he will since that is what we all call him already!

Manna

2010-09-27T16:38:00.001-07:00

I have been thinking a lot lately about the manna that the Israelites were given in the wilderness. How it was sweet and filling and straight from the Provider. Also, how there was just enough each day to meet their needs. Any more and it would spoil. Each and everyday they rose, went out, expectant for God to provide this life-sustaining food for them. After all those years, do you think it became second nature for them to look to Him to provide? Do you think it increased their faith?And every day He did. It is such a picture for us.

As Christians, God wants to provide our needs, He desires to give us what we want, but we have to become in the habit of looking to HIM to provide it. I think our minds are too small, (as well as our expectations) for Him to give us everything we need for this life in one swoop. He knows that part of this faith walk is to be able to look expectantly into His face and believe that HE has everything we need. Everything.

Our adoption is the reason I have been thinking about manna and those Israelites. If He would have given us all we needed to financially back this adoption, I know I would not have looked to Him with the fervency that I am looking at Him now. Nor would I appreciate when He allows the blessing to flow at the exact time we need them to.

You know what..I don't think I would have the confidence that adoption is exactly what He has called us to either. There is something about God calling AND providing that makes the call even more sacred.

Another thing that the children of Israel did, was they went. They put feet to their faith and when it was time to pack up and leave Egypt. They went. They gave God the chance to provide. Could He have provided for them in Egypt..well, yes, but would they have recognized Him for who He is....Jehovah Jirah. The God who provides.

Sometimes it takes a call. A step of faith to really really see God as our provider. Sometimes it takes the simple act of just picking up the manna and having the faith to not doubt it will be there tomorrow too.

We joke about how many stares we will get when our homeschooling family increases to 7 with two Ethiopian children, but it is my prayer that we will be a living testimony of God's provision. How HE alone can take simple Israelite slaves and turn them into a mighty banner of His love, grace and yes, His provision.

The Number game

2010-09-26T18:02:00.000-07:00

Soooo Today we reached our 6 month DTE anniversary! Crazy I actually thought at one point we might have our baby home by now! we haven't even seen his face yet! Still I am thankful to be this far along. I am hoping and praying that we will get our referral call this coming week!

AND courts open tomorrow!!!! We have made it through the two long months of rainy season! Yay!!! This means when we do get our

referral, we will be submitted to court and eventually get a court date to travel to Ethiopia. So I am happy to be 6 Month DTE, but even happier to be sitting number one for a baby boy.

(We share this spot with two other families, so I am hoping and praying we all get our phone calls soon!!)

Number 1 baby!

2010-09-24T20:08:00.000-07:00

We are now number 1 for a baby boy! We have sat at number 2 for 7 long weeks and I was sooooo happy to hear of a baby boy referral today! We will celebrate our 6 months DTE on Sunday and hopefully next week get a call and see our sweet Isaac's face! YAY!!

Life Song for Orphans!

2010-09-20T08:02:00.000-07:00

We received a a phone call this morning that we have been given a matching grant from Lifesong for Orphans! The grant is for $2500 and if we can raise $2500 by November 15, Lifesong will give us $2500! That is $5000 for our adoption!! We cannot use our own funds for this, it needs to be money that we have raised. We are sooo excited because the extra money that Mikias was....you guessed it...$5000!

We will be working on a fundraising letter to send out, but if you have been thinking and praying about giving to our adoption, now would be a great time to give and to give to our account at Lifesong!

We are so excited that God has provided for us in this way!

If you are ready to give today just go to Lifesong for Orphans and Donate to: Mullis Family #1552

Here is the letter from Lifesong:

September 20, 2010

Dear church, family, and friends of Greg and Jackie Mullis,

Lifesong for Orphans (www.lifesongfororphans.org) is a non-profit Christian ministry dedicated to help meet the needs of orphan children around the world, and obey God’s call to “visit the fatherless…in their affliction” (James 1:27).

The number of children worldwide without families to love and care for them is astounding… there are over 5 million orphans in Ethiopia alone!

God tells us in His word He has heard the cry of the orphaned and abandoned children (Psalm 10:17, 18) and He has made a way for them to be cared for – through adoption. As believers, He adopted us into His family through Jesus Christ, and did not leave us as spiritual orphans!

We believe adoption at its core is evangelism--a vital part of the Great Commission is bringing the mission field home. God desires orphans from all nations to be adopted into Christ-honoring families so they may ultimately be adopted into His eternal family through Jesus Christ. God calls us to fulfill James 1:27, “visit the fatherless…” but not all are called to adopt. Some are called to pray, some to give financially, some to go on mission trips, and some to adopt.

Greg and Jackie have sensed God’s call . . . and have joyfully stepped out in faith and obedience to adopt 2 boys from Ethiopia. As you may already know, international adoption can cost around $30,000 and prevents many godly families from adopting. Lifesong believes God has raised up the Mullis family “for such a time as this…” and we have committed an Adoption Matching Grant of $2,500 to help raise the funds necessary to complete the adoption of this child. This means Lifesong for Orphans will match “dollar-for-dollar” everything the Mullis’ raise from their church, family, and friends between now and November 15, 2010, up to $2,500. We invite you to support them financially to make this adoption possible. Your gift is tax deductible and you will receive a tax-deductible receipt. *100% of all funds raised will go directly to cover adoption costs--nothing will be taken out for Lifesong for Orphans administrative costs.

Will you invest financially in the life of these boys? . . . It will be an investment with eternal return.

God bless you for laying your treasures up in Heaven,

Andy Lehman

Vice President

p.s. I trust God will do great and mighty things through this, and all for His Glory!

PO Box 40 202 N Ford St Gridley, IL 61744

phone 309 747 3556 fax 309 747 4647 www.lifesongfororphans.org

bringing joy and purpose to orphans

Update

2010-09-17T09:57:00.000-07:00

We were sent an email today that said that "M", the little boy we would like to adopt, should have all his paperwork in his file in the next 4 to 4 1/2 weeks. Then we will be able to receive his referral. We still dont know when we will get a baby boy referral, but it should be in that timeframe too. This means we can go to court for both of them and adopt them together. Even though 4 and a half weeks seems like an ETERNITY right not..it is happy news that his case is progressing and it seems to be great timing in regards to Isaac's case!

Sooooo not a referral yet, but we are getting close!

Why Ethiopia

2010-09-17T07:25:00.000-07:00

*There are more than 5 million orphans in Ethiopia.

*One-tenth of Ethiopian orphans will die before their first birthday. One-sixth will die before their 5th birthday.

*Malnutrition is the cause of more than half of all child deaths.

*60-150 million Ethiopian children live on the streets.

*Half of Ethiopian children will never go to school. 88% never attend secondary school.

*Only 24% of households in Ethiopia have access to safe drinking water.

*The average life expectancy for men in Ethiopia is 48; for women it's 50.

*One out of every four women die in childbirth.

*There is only one physician for every 34,988 people.

*In the US there are approximately 65,000 domestic adoptions each year. 14,000 of those are private infant adoptions. Yet in 2009, there were less than 13,000 international adoptions in the US, and less than 2,500 children adopted from Ethiopia.

Our adoption video

2010-09-13T05:30:00.000-07:00

I Just Haven't Met You Yet By Michael Bublé Lyrics

2010-09-04T04:48:00.000-07:00

My Isaac song... :)

The Words I Would Say - Sidewalk Prophets [lyrics]

2010-09-04T04:46:00.000-07:00

My song to Micah..

So another month, huh?

2010-09-04T04:26:00.000-07:00

Well, we found out yesterday , based on what our family coordinator says, we wont get our referral phone call until end of Sept/ beginning of October. This is just what she foresees...not certain ( meaning it COULD come earlier..or later) So bummed! Now, I know that doesn't sound like a very long time, but when you spend most of your waking hours staring at a cell phone , willing it to ring...days and weeks can really begin to wear at ya!

Thankfully we are beginning my favorite time of the year..I love fall! The crisp air, football season, the change of leaves, the anticipation of the holidays. I am so excited that now I will be able to add the memory of seeing our new children's faces to this wonderful season.

I know God's timing is perfect and if court had not closed and if baby boy referrals had not slowed down like they have, we may not be able to be referred Mikias ( Micah) as well. So it is all in HIS perfect will. Here are a few prayer requests concerning our adoption, if you would like to pray with us:

1. That they are home by Christmas (and that is still a possibility) :)

2. We receive one or more grants that we are waiting to hear from

3. That we can raise $5,000 more for Micah's adoption

4. That I can wait on the Lord and not stress out as I stare at my phone obsessively

5. For Micah and Isaac's health. We are unsure if they are at AWAA's transition home or in orphanages right now, but I know the TH is battling illnesses right now with a lot of the kids and I am sure the orphanages are too.

Thanks so much for joining us on this journey. I have to keep thinking back to last September when I was waiting to see if AWAA would even approve our application to adopt...Oh how far we have came!

Thanks Kernel Kustard!!

2010-08-30T16:03:00.000-07:00

I have shared on here how we have celebrated milestones in our adoption with ice cream, like when we became DTE and every month anniversary that followed. If we EVER get a referral call , we plan on going out for ice cream to celebrate that too! Well, the owners of a fabulous local custard shop, Kernel Kustard heard about our celebrations and sent me a note and $20 gift card to celebrate on them!! We are waiting for that referral call and then we will go to the Kernel for a yummy celebration! Thanks so much Mckie family!

DTE number 5

2010-08-26T09:23:00.000-07:00

We are DTE 5 months now.I am really not excited to be posting this post. My "cup is always half full" brain never thought I would have to wait 4 months let alone 5. We are also researching grants and fundraising possibilities because adopting Mikias will add about $5,000 to our expenses. He is totally worth it...still not a lot of fun trying to figure out the expense side of adoption.

So I am kinda blah today. It would be an awesome day for a referral..but who knows...we may be waiting another 6 weeks. I may have no hair left on my head by then, but still...we wait.

While we are waiting we had to celebrate our 5 months with ice cream, so we went to Kernel Kustard last night with friends to enjoy another friend of ours play at a "local flavor" concert. It was a nice time, even though I have to admit I would have much rather been there celebrating a referral call not a 5 month DTE!

On Deck

2010-08-24T12:38:00.000-07:00

We received our On Deck email today! That basically is just the official you are reallllly close to getting a referral email. We kinda knew this already, but it feels much more real now that we have read the email! I actually starting making a list of baby items we have and baby items we still need to get!

Now, we could get the call tomorrow or weeks from now, BUT that email was the last step before seeing our sweet baby's face!! And that is exciting!!

Homeschooled????

2010-08-13T17:56:00.000-07:00

Yeah this cracked me up and yes my kids are HomeschoolED!

Abby's contest

2010-08-04T15:46:00.000-07:00

If you wouldn't mind would you please go over to HERE and vote for Abby in this contest. It only takes a minute to do. It wont send you spam either. The only reason you have to register is they want to make sure it is legitimate emails. Thanks soooo much!!!

SHE WON!!! THANKS TO ALL WHO VOTED!!!!!!!

Come on and RING already!

2010-08-03T11:16:00.000-07:00

OK... We were told back when we began paperwork that baby boy referrals were about a 4-6 month wait, THEN it changed in January to 3-5 month wait. By the time we submitted our dossier in March it was back up to 4-6 months, but I held out hope that MAYBE three months and we would have a referral...Well, then it became four months...now it is 4 months and 8 days.... and all I have to say is RING ALREADY!!

This and that...

2010-07-31T16:51:00.000-07:00

I wanted to share with you about a little girl named Samantha whose family is adopting a little boy from Ethiopia. They also sponsor a child through Children's Hope Chest. Samantha came up with the idea of making bottle cap necklaces and selling them for just $5 each to raise money for the care point center in Ethiopia. As of right now she is over $640!! How awesome is that! I ordered three necklaces for my kids and they are just so cute! Here is a link to her blog....Go check it out!And by the way....Check out the picture below......
We are # 6 on the overall list right now! Whooo Hooo!! We were number one for siblings and we prayed about it and decided to change our request in order to wait and see if Mikias' paperwork will be finished soon. We are still on the list though and number 4 for a baby boy! :)

Praying this will be a busy referral week coming up!!

VBS Donations

2010-07-31T06:45:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago the kids and I made this video to show at church and on Sunday and then the first night of Bible school

We asked for donations for Ethiopia as our VBS offering this past week. The kids did an amazing job filling up the chest full and overflowing with donations! We also had a man donate money to cover the extra baggage expense to get it to ET AND we have had money donated to buy more supplies too! What a blessing! We will ba able to take donations to the AWAA transition house and to Trees of Glory ! God is good!!

This is how much stuff we had collected by the last night!

A favor...PLEASE

2010-07-30T05:21:00.000-07:00

Hi ya'll! My daughter Abby is in a contest that her orthodontist is sponsoring. She can win an Ipad ( Which would be AWESOME to take on that loooong plane ride to Ethiopia this fall!) If you wouldnt mind, would you please take a minute to go to the site and vote for her? You can actually vote once a day all week! Thanks SOOOO much!

CLICK HERE TO VOTE!!!!!

Our monthly celebrations

2010-07-28T07:46:00.000-07:00

We had decided when we were close to being DTE, we would celebrate each month with ice cream. It has been a fun way to mark each passing month as we wait on our referral call. The day we found out we were DTE ( March 26) we went to Kernel Kustard with Amy....I Loooove the Kernel!!

On month number one (April 26) we had Root Beer floats at home...one month down..how many more to go??Month number two (May 26) Our friend Deana had her wisdom teeth out so we picked up some Zacks Yogurt to go and took it to her house and shared our month number 2 with her. Month #3...the kids were in Virginia with Nana and Gramps, so Greg and I had Bill and Leah's ice cream and Abby assured me they had ice cream in Va too. ;)Month number 4 ( Could this be our last month!!???) Greg had to have three teeth cut out and so it was Zack's again ( I am sensing a theme with Zacks and oral surgery!)

It has been fun to celebrate this way, but let me tell you I am hoping and praying not to make it to month number 5! Maybe we will celebrate our REFERRAL DAY (SOOOON PLEASE!!) with Kernel Kustard just like we started out back in March!

DTE Month number 4

2010-07-25T18:41:00.000-07:00

Being DTE for month number 4 feels kinda like I imagine turning 40 will feel like..thankful we made it, but not real thrilled to be here either! I do expect we should be getting a phone call any day! Now, thats exciting!! We actually heard that the paperwork on the little boy Mikias is progressing and it is possible we might be able to adopt him as well as a baby. Thats exciting for us as we have been praying for Mikias for months now. If we are able to adopt Mikias, then we will change our baby request to either boy or girl.

I am beginning to feel a bit weary of the waiting and I realize it is only begun. We will now have to wait for a court date ( October will be the earliest) and then an Embassy date ( praying its November!) and then we finally will bring them home! I read this quote the other day an I am trying to cling to it.

Worry does not empty tomorrow of its sorrow, it empties today of its strength." - Corrie Ten Boom

Tee shirt give a way

2010-07-19T04:49:00.000-07:00

My AWAA friend Debb and her hubby just created the coolest adoption shirts! You can win it before you buy it if you go HERE

Our official request

2010-07-18T05:40:00.000-07:00

On the AWAA waiting list we went ahead this week and confirmed our request. Here is how it reads:

2 children, siblings or non related, male-male or male-female, one being between 0 and 10 months and the 2nd one being between 0 and 6 years.

I think this means we are first on the waiting list for 1 boy and 1 girl now! I know we are first for the age range we have chosen!! Now this could mean we get a phone call tomorrow or months! BUT, be sure my phone is with me all the time! I am so excited to see the faces of the children God has chosen for our family!

Yard Sale

2010-07-17T11:19:00.001-07:00

Well, we had our adoption fund raiser Yard Sale this weekend. We had about 6 families donate stuff and we had a TON of stuff for sure! Friday was an awesome day and we ended up making about $340!

There were so many nice people that gave more than they bought and said to put it towards our adoption. Saturday started out nice, but around 10:30 the dark clouds began rolling in and soon we were scrambling to get everything picked up before the rain started.

I had thoughts of waiting it out and setting everything back up, but it was still raining by 2:00 that afternoon, I knew our day was up! We still ended up making around $500 and that was the amount I was praying for! Here are some pictures from Friday:

A BIG THANKS to all who donated and a HUGE thanks to Deana for bringing Bojangles each morning and coming to help at the crack of dawn on her summer break!

TEE SHIRT BLITZ!!

2010-07-15T05:55:00.000-07:00

We are having our big adoption fund raising garage sale this weekend! I have had 6 families donate stuff, so we have a lot! At the same time we are doing a final push on tee shirts with a TEE SHIRT BLITZ! We are lowering the price of our adoption shirts to $12 and that includes shipping! We only have about 25 shirts left so ACT NOW! ( said in my best Billy Mays voice)

You can use the paypal button , but you may want to email me first to make sure I still have the size you need or email me about mailing a check. We will also have them for sale at our garage sale so if you are close by stop by and pick one up! Here are a few photos of them. (I only have XL and 2XL left in the navy, but all sizes in maroon)

The maroon shirts on the cutest models ever!The frontClose up of the frontThe backClose up of the back

Wow! Thanks for the quick response!! Here is what I have left:

4 navy XL's

2 Maroon XL's

10 Maroon L's

1 Maroon M

2 Maroon Youth M's

Isaac's elephant

2010-07-12T05:45:00.000-07:00

Once we get our referral we will be able to send over a care package with a travelling family. I have not bought a lot to go in a care package yet because I am waiting to see what size he is before I buy clothes. I did buy this elephant.

Actually, I bought 2 elephants. Every morning when I get up and make my bed, I put one of the elephants under mine and Greg's pillows. There is stays all day and so hopefully when we send him to Ethiopia, he will smell like mommy and daddy! Once we have sent the first elephant in the care package, I will do the same thing with elephant number 2 . When we go to bring him home, it is not certain that we will get the elephant back, so we will have #2 ready with us. That way he will have a smell, sound ( you pull his tail and it makes music) and feel that is familiar to him with us.

We are kind of at that point of waiting to where there is not much to do but wait. I cant buy clothes because I don't know what size or what season I need, his crib is up, I have no pictures yet to start a scrapbook..all we are doing is waiting. Mr. Elephant is something small I can do to start the bonding process with my baby boy!

Hoping for that phone call SOON!

Ethiopia Donations

2010-07-07T09:38:00.000-07:00

This is the video we made for Vacation Bible School at our church. We are collecting donations to take with us when we go to Ethiopia.

* If you click on the middle of the video screen TWICE , it will take you to Youtube and you can watch the full screen video.*

Cool giveaway

2010-07-04T19:15:00.001-07:00

Here is a link to The Dixon family's blog. They have some pretty awesome adoption gear they are selling! I LOVE the pink and brown baseball shirt and hat! LOVE IT! They are also doing a give away sooo check them out!

Month Number 3

2010-06-26T04:01:00.000-07:00

We are three months DTE today!! On the unofficial list we are 7th in line for a baby boy and 12th overall!! Every month on our DTE day, we have celebrated with ice cream!! Month 1 we went to Kernel Kustard, month 2 we had Zack's yogurt and to celebrate tonight, we are gonna have us some Bill and Leah's ice cream. Yum!! Here is hoping for a referral by month #4!!