Praise the Lord!

We just received our adoption education certificates, so now we should be set for getting our homestudy approved once the final changes are made. Hopefully we'll hear something on that soon! We are still praying that is going to require much time will be needed! As for the rest of our dossier, it's all copied & ready to be sent to AGCI tomorrow! That way Kate can go ahead & look it over to see if any changes need to be made while we wait for the homestudy update. Woohoo! Today marks one month since we definately decided to switch countries. Wow...it seems like that was forever ago! We are so excited to almost be back to the waiting stage!

Great Little Book

Last night I read this great little book put out by Shaohannah's Hope. It was like a breath of fresh air & a welcomed source of peace amidst the adoption rollercoaster! It reminded me of how blessed we are to be on this journey. When we struggled with infertility, I wish I had fully realized the wonderful & life-changing experience of Adoption. It definately is not just a good back-up plan, like society tells us! Of all the mountain-top experiences that I have had in my Christian life, Adoption is the ultimate one! It has also been the toughest one. However, every bump in the road has opened our eyes up so much more to God's glory!

Prayer Requests

Sweet friends...please pray for us in these specific ways....
1. That we won't have to redo our FBI clearance (or do anything else huge) in order to have our homestudy updated (our homestudy social worker received feedback today from AGCI about the draft of our updated homestudy & she's getting ready to work on it)
2. That we will get our certificate for our adoption education course so that our homestudy can be approved once it's ready
3. Pray that we will have peace & remember that God's timing is all that really matters in the grand scheme of things

Of course, I can't post without telling about some cute things that the boys said today. R was playing in our daughter's room & said, "I can't wait to see our little sister's face. I bet she will be smiling". How cute is that! Then, L prayed that our dossier would go fast so we can get our little sister home faster! How many 6 year olds are talking about dossiers???? These boys are ready for their sister to come home!

Thank you for all of your support & prayers!

Our Switch to Ethiopia

It's been nearly 2 months since the Lord started changing our hearts from Vietnam to Ethiopia, but I realized that I never shared much about what led us to change countries. It all started on the night we took the kids to the mountains to spend the night in hopes of waking up to a blanket of fresh snow. (Every year, when we realize that the TN valley probably isn't going to get a good snow, we head to the mountains in search of some snow to play in. This year we decided to make it an overnight adventure.) That night, I had the most vivid dream. At the beginning of the dream, we were in Vietnam & totally loving it. Then, all of the sudden, we were in Ethiopia. When I woke up & was thinking about the dream, I thought that God may have been showing us a good "back-up" for if things in Vietnam didn't work out. Before then, our hearts would ache at the thought of Vietnam closing & we wondered if that would be the end of the adoption road for us b/c there was no other country on our hearts. I waited a few weeks to share my thoughts with Nathan & during that time the song, "We are the World", kept playing in my head. I definately grew up in the 80s, but I don't think I had heard that song since the 80s. Hearing the song made me think back to that time in my life & remember the way the song touched my life & opened my eyes to the needs in Africa. When I finally shared my thoughts with Nathan, I really thought he would say I was crazy or agree that Ethiopia would be a good "back-up" for us. That wasn't his response though. Instead he said, "Let's do it...now". That was a Saturday morning & on Sunday afternoon I emailed Kate at AGCI to see find out more information about changing countries. Then, on Monday morning, I woke up to Nathan calling me from work to say that one of the first songs he heard that morning on the"Muzak" channel (the music that plays in all the Home Depot stores around the country) was "Africa" (another blast from the past...not exactly about adoption...but part of the chorus is "Africa...hurry boy she's waiting there for you"). So, there you have it. Not a burning bush, but a few of the many things that God used to point us to Ethiopia!

Chugging Right Along

We've had our dossier packet for a little more than 48 hours & we're totally plowing right throw it. I'm about pooped though...I feel like I'm running a marathon (actually, I can't say that, I've never ran more than a mile or two at one time)...I am a little worn out though. I'm a girl who needs my sleep & I've been up until 1:00 a.m. the past two nights....I don't do good on 5 hours of sleep. Anyways, poor me :-). I think we'll have it done by next Wednesday (sending the power of attorney off for state certification tomorrow & I have my tb test Monday)....the only other thing we are waiting is our updated homestudy. Remember, our social worker is good though. She's already sent the draft into AGCI for approval, as soon as she gets a response from them I know she'll have it in the mail to us! Can't wait to post that we're finished with the dossier!

Name Change

For the past year or so, we thought that our daughter's name was going to be Emily Grace. L had thought of that name & it seemed to fit. Then, on Sunday afternoon, L mentioned a girl on his baseball team whose name I have always loved & considered as a name possibility during each of my pregnancies. It reminded me that when I was pregnant the first time, I loved the name, but everytime I thought of giving our little girl the name, I envisioned the name being for a darker skinned child. All of the sudden, it was like, "O is her name & God placed her on my heart & gave her that name nearly 8 years ago!". Wow! I thought N would think I was crazy when I told him that I had thought of new name, but he said he had always loved that name &, in fact, agreed that her name is actually not supposed to be Emily Grace. The boys love the new name, as well! However, C, in all his sweetness, wants her name to be "Pink Treat". We told him that could be his nickname for her...after all, she is going to be our little Pink Treat! Lol!

Let the running begin!

Our dossier packet just arrived in the mail, so we can now start putting our Ethiopia dossier together. Woohoo! We were outside playing when the mailman came & announced that we had a package! Connor asked if it was our baby sister. I said, "Yes", thinking that he meant something related to her adoption. He grabbed the box & started kissing it all over. We aren't sure if he really thought she was arriving in a box via the mailman or if he was just being silly. He has a funny sense of humor!

Meet the Robinsons

I was thinking today about how far we've come since this time last year, when we were trying to discern if now was the time to begin our dream of international adoption. At first I was the one who was ready to start the journey, but N was not convinced. He is definately the more realistic one of the two of us. We already have busy lives with our three boys...did we really need another one in the bunch? I had talked & talked & tried to convince him that we should do it. Then, I realized that God should be the one to convince him, not me. A couple of days later, we decided to go see "Meet the Robinsons". Neither of us knew what it was about, but our movie loving kids convinced us that we should go. So, on a rainy afternoon (much like it is here today), we headed to the theatre. We all loved the movie. If you haven't seen it, it's about a little boy who lives in an orphanage & dreams of his forever family & evenutally finds the family that is just right for him. Now, remember neither of us knew what it was about, so we were a little shocked that it spoke directly about adoption! By the end of the movie, I looked over to N & saw the tears in his eyes. He looked at me & said, "I've been duped!". He definately thought I knew what the movie was about ahead of time & had planned it all! Isn't God good....nope, I didn't plan it...I just gave it over to Him & knew that He could do a better job of convincing N than I could!