Has anyone heard?

For all you out there adopting from Ethiopia or through Gladney, have the courts reopen? All I have heard this whole time is the 25th or 27th of September. Has anyone gotten an official word? For those who are waiting for a court date you should be hearing soon right? Okay, just curious if things are moving again.

Productive Delay

I was on a blog http://girltalk.blogs.com and came upon this post. I thought it was encouraging and wanted to share.

What are you waiting for today?
May these thoughts encourage you to make it a “Productive Delay:”
"Waiting on God isn't about the suspension of meaning and purpose. It's part of the meaning and purpose that God has brought into my life. Waiting on God isn't to be viewed as an obstruction in the way of the plan. Waiting is an essential part of the plan. For the child of God, waiting isn't simply about what I'll receive at the end of my wait. No, waiting is much more purposeful, efficient, and practical than that. Waiting is fundamentally about what I'll become as I wait. God is using the wait to do in and through me exactly what He's promised. Through the wait He's changing me. By means of the wait He's altering the fabric of my thoughts and desires. Through the wait He's causing me to see and experience new things about Him and His kingdom. And all of this sharpens me, enabling me to be a more useful tool in His redemptive hands."
Instead of focusing on what we’re waiting to receive, let’s turn our gaze to God and ask Him to make us “a more useful tool in His redemptive hands.”

Preschool Here We Come!!!

I am happy to say that we recieved notice that Micah was accepted into preschool. We also recieved a significant scholarship...Thank you Jesus! We were praying that if this is what God wanted that all things would fall into place and they have. We are so happy for Micah. We go tomorrow night for Open House then he will go for a full day orientation on Thurs and he will begin his first week starting on Monday. We couldn't be more thrilled! Nor could he...he couldn't wait to tell all his little friends.

For those wondering no new news on the adoption front, just waiting. We are week 8 tomorrow! But I am hopeful the flood gates will open soon and we will get our call.

Grand Finale

Here it is in it's completion. I want to say a huge thank you to my friend Jamie who came over today with her beautiful children and helped me put Micah and Isaac room back together. I had taken everything down that was in there plus added a few new things and she lent me her Interior Design expertise. I must say I think it looks great. Now we just have to add one more little boy and it will be finito.

Come on Natalie (Gladney Ethiopia Coordinator) any day now.

UNC Football, Bunkbeds and Dentist

Trevor and Micah got to go to their first UNC football game this weekend. They had a lot of fun. Thank you Pastor JD for the tickets. If you want to give us some basketball tickets we will forever be in your debt ( ;

Well, the bunk beds finally arrived yesterday. I am so happy with them. It took us about 5 hours to put them together. They are much bigger than I thought they were going to be, but love them none the less. Oh, and Micah loves them too. He was so excited about sleeping in his new bed. He actually slept on the top bunk. Sometimes he has and idea of how something will be and how fun it will be then it becomes a reality and he chickens out, but not last night. He did great.

Okay now time to pray. Here is a little back story; Micah fell of his bike a month ago and planted his face in the asphalt and had some bruising on his upper gums and sensitivity while eating with his top front two teeth. But after a week + he began to have less sensitivity and went back to eating with his front teeth again. Well, after three weeks his teeth began to discolor and we went in today to have them checked and the dentist was not optimistic that they would hang in there until 7ish. She said watch for infection, more discoloring or him saying they hurt. If this occurs we have to take him in and have them pulled. So, please pray that they hang in there (they are slightly loose already from the trauma) and fall out on there own when he is 6 or 7. Like I said she was not optimistic that this would be the case, but gave us the, "It could happen." She said she could not see if there was any damage done to his permanent teeth, but that if infection does occur that that could cause damage. So, again please pray his permanent teeth are okay and will be okay down the road.

Friday came and went...

I awoke this morning to the thought of maybe to day will be the day, it is a Friday after all and good news seems to come on Fridays, from Natalie anyway. At 5pm, I thought enjoy the weekend and start another week on Monday. And I was tracking the boys bunkbeds that we have been waiting to get for a week and half and found that they arrived in Raleigh/Durham(40mins away) this morning at 8am, so I was thinking they would arrive sometime today, but at about 6pm I gave up hope on them as well. Praise the Lord that my hope is not in Natalie or in the delivery men, but in Christ, with whom nothing is impossible. In that I am encouraged and ready to wait for however long He sees fit. I pray in that wait He will refine me to be more like HImself.

For those who want to know, our shots went well. I had myself so worked up over these things and they really were not THAT bad. We went with, Yellow Fever, HepA Booster(had the first one when we traveled to China), Meningococcal, Polio, Typhoid(oral) and Malaria (oral). Let's hope we are covered.

I received from our agency the list of humanitarian aid supplies we have to take over with us. Things like;diapers, formula, wipes, purell and clothes. We have to collect clothing for sizes 0-8, lightly used or new. For those who live near me, if you want to make a donation of any lightly used clothes you may be getting rid of please let me know. Let the hunt for a bargain begin.

KidFest

We enjoyed a day out at Kidfest in Raleigh. It was an event for vendors(geared at children) to come out and promote their stuff. They had bounce houses, huge blow-up slides, tatoos, chick-fil-a and so much more. They sold tickets for .25 cents and each thing cost about five tickets. We had a blast. Micah got to meet Spider-Man, which he was over the moon about. I think I was just as excited as he was, for him.

Well, we are off tomorrow to begin our series of shots for international travel to Ethiopia. I am not looking forward to this. I don't mind having my blood taken, but I do mind being jabbed with medicine and the soreness that comes after. Oh, and Trevor nearly passes out at the site of a needle, you think I am kidding, I am NOT. And we have to take Micah with us, the poor thing. He will probably be traumatized by it. Please pray for us.

Happy Birthday, Cousin

Trevor made a video of Micah riding his bike for Micah's cousin Zethan's birthday. Here is the fruit of his labor (this one took a while).

Thank you!

3 post in one day this has to be a record, but I had to say a much needed THANK YOU!

I want to thank a very special family, I think you you know who you are. We recieved a package today and inside was our chair cover for Isaac (as you can see in the pictures. The red one, Micah has had since he came home 3yrs. ago.) I was blown away to see who it was from. It brought tears to my eyes and I thanked God for the friends I am fortunate and so grateful to make along the way through the journey of adoption. Thank you very special family. I can't wait until we have our children at home with us.

Isaac's Letters...

My sitster, Micah and I completed Isaac's letters. I really like them.
Scroll down to see/compare Micah's.

A visit from my sister

Auntie Heather and Micah

Micah in his Pirate gear that Auntie Heather bought him. TOOOO cute!

My older sister Heather, who lives unfortunately in TX, came for a vist over Labor Day weekend. This is her first visit to see us in NC, but not her first trip to NC. You see she lived here four years ago, but moved back to TX. Now we live here and she doesn't. Argggg! Hopefully one of these days we can live in or near the same city.

We had a great time, just hanging out. We ate a lot and drank a lot of coffee. What more could you ask for. Thank you sister for coming to visit. See you in December.

Well, we have finally ordered the bunkbeds for the boys. They should be here in 7-10 days. I can't wait. Auntie Heather and Uncle KJ bought them the quilt for the bottom bunk, we got it yesterday. I will post pictures when it all gets here and is somewhat together. Now all we need is the other little boy for the room....come on Natalie, call!!!

We have also got Micah enrolled in Preschool. I am so excited for him. This will be the year before he heads off to Kindergarten. We have been on a waiting list at a couple of preschools in the area, but there has been no movement. So, I was persistent and just kept looking and found that one of the best in town offers an afternoon program, because of the demand. So, he will be starting at 1:00pm. This took me a while to wrap my brain around, but I hope it works. My little boy, going to preschool. Oh, it will be so good for him to know he is not the only one on the planet.

And, last but not least...no news yet. Still waiting (for a referral that is)!