SKYPE TIME

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!

Christmas..showing some Africa love

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

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

care packages

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

A fun surprise

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!