Thank You Africa ~ Our Ethiopian Adoption

2011...here we come!!

2010-12-31T19:11:00.002-07:00

Okay, so I think this is going to be a fabulous year for our family....here are our goals (that dang accountability thing again)

1. Related to debt again (check out Dave Ramsey). We will pay off $40k in debt, this includes our 2nd mortgage on our house!! :)

2. David will be speaking at his age level. ;)

4. I will have my soap recipe perfected. (check out my soap making here)

5. We will read the bible as a family at least 3 nights per week. :)

Help keep us accountable...these are all pretty big goals, but something we can accomplish as a famly.

Goodbye 2010...you won't be missed

2010-12-31T18:59:00.003-07:00

2010 has been a tough year...we won't be sad to see it go!! I remembered today that I did this post at the beginning of the year...in the spirit of seeing how well we did with meeting our goals...here goes:

1. Pay off all debt (student loans and cars) and only have our house mortgage left. (If you aren't convinced this is a good thing, check out Dave Ramsey)

We paid off over $20k in debt! This is outside of our regular monthly payments. :)

2. Simon will have a job, starting his new career as a Police Officer.

This was a VERY stressful one this year...God came through at the last minute and on the 29th Simon got an offer from the City of Boulder. He will be starting January 10th!!!!!!!

3. Jessica will work less. This means 40-45 hours a week outside of year end.

I did great at this one...even took two weeks off over Christmas. ;)

4. Bella will start school at Dayspring Christian Academy for 6th grade.

Yep, did this one too...she LOVES it.

5. David will talk!

David started 2010 with less than 10 words. He now has over 50 and is saying some three word sentences!! This has been such a great thing for him...

6. Nicky will start reading.

Not so much, but he can read and write his name. (In hindsight this might have been a little ambitious as he only turned 4 in Nov)

7. The entire family will spend more time worshiping our Savior together.

We have done a great job at attending church. Simon and Bella have started reading the bible together and made it through Genesis so far...

As for 2011...I will post those tomorrow....

Am so proud of my girl...

2010-12-12T22:02:00.001-07:00

http://bellasdigs.blogspot.com/2010/12/my-business.html

SALE!! Check it out...

2010-12-05T16:10:00.000-07:00

http://toomanyorphans.blogspot.com/2010/12/sale.html

Say Yes

2010-07-28T07:37:00.000-06:00

The latest from our fundraiser...

http://toomanyorphans.blogspot.com/2010/07/say-yes.html

Love My Soap

2010-07-26T07:35:00.001-06:00

My new hobby, check it out!

http://lovemysoap.blogspot.com/2010/07/cocoa-baby.html

One year ago today...

2010-07-25T07:33:00.000-06:00

We were on our way to Ethiopia!! Amazing how fast time goes. We have had an amazing year, filled with things we expected would happen and lots of things we did not.

Tonight we had the privilege of having some new friends over who are considering African adoption as well as spending time with some friends who got home 4 weeks ago with their two boys from Ethiopia.

Quick update on David, he has been in speech therapy for about 3 months now and is doing great, our therapist has been such a blessing and we have seen a significant decrease in tantrums and David's frustration level. :)

I have been a bad blogger lately, but we have been doing great!

Why I have been MIA....

2010-05-23T08:08:00.001-06:00

www.toomanyorphans.blogspot.com

Blessings,

Jessica

Our 5th Wedding Anniversary

2010-04-23T14:03:00.002-06:00

Today Simon and I have been married for 5 years! This was us then...

Our lives have been blessed in so many ways. God has gotten us through: a deployment to Iraq, move to Colorado, birth of Nicky, Simon's bachelors degree, my promotion to Finance Director, adoption of David, me starting grad school, and the latest of Simon attending the police academy. Wow...God is good!!

Referral Anniversary!!

2010-04-16T20:51:00.003-06:00

Happy 1 year referral anniversary to us! Today marks 1 year since we received our referral of David. His name was Abdulkidar and here is the first picture we saw of him

Wow, reflecting on all that has happened in a year is amazing. This adoption journey has taken many twists and turns and it was not over when we arrived home with him on American soil.

Every day has its challenges and rewards.

God has shown me what grace is through David.

God who has saved us and called us to a holy life - not because of anything we have
done but because of his own purpose and grace. 2Tim1:9

David is nearly 2 and only has 10 words. David is a child with a message for us that he just can’t get out. He knows what he wants to tell us, but doesn’t have the language to do it. Can you imagine how frustrating that is? He has a purpose but no way to express it. He is frustrated, sad, lonely, and scared and the only way he can tell us is screaming. Screaming all of the time, a thousand times a day. He wants something and we don’t understand and he screams. He has no other way to express his feelings.

All of the times I loose my patience with him, when I want to just go in my room and close the door where it is quite, the times I want to put him in his room and close the door…even after that, God has still saved me…only by his grace. I am just like David, God tells me to do something and I scream, I am angry and I scream, I am sad and I scream…but God still saves me by His own purpose AND grace.

Not only has David changed a lot in the last year

Jessica has changed as well. God has changed my heart for so many things…

African Boy Hair Care

2010-04-08T09:08:00.004-06:00

So, I have been wanting to do this post for ages but have not had time...well here it is. Inquiring minds want to know how to care for African boys hair. Yes, it is different than my hair, but not quite as hard to care for as African girls hair. Admittedly David has more hair products than I do! This is adapted from several tips I have received from friends with girls. I am of strong feelings that my little boy should have as beautiful hair as little African girls!! Here is our regimen for his hair care and I will even include a new pic so you can see how CUTE it really is.

1. We wash his hair once a week (this is important, I didn't believe it at first, but they really don't need there hair washed more than that). We wash it with Pantene for Women of Color (stupid name but it works great and in a brown bottle by the other Pantene). The other days he takes a bath we just wet it with water.

2. After bath days, we use a leave in conditioner. My two favorites (we just use what is closest) are Biolage Smoothing Shine Milk and Carol's Daughter - Khoret Amen Leave-in Conditioner. I absolutely LOVE Carol's Daughter, you can find the website here. You might get sticker shock, but with boys, it lasts a LONG time. Well worth the investment.

3. Every morning we wet it with a mixture of water and oil in a spray bottle. 10 parts water to 1 part oil. I use Africa's best Ultimate Herbal oil. It was less than $5 at Walmart and will last years.

4. After wetting it with the water oil mixture, we use Carol's Daughter - Hair Milk. I love this stuff, it smells great and makes it super shiny and defines the curls.

5. On non bath nights, I will wet it with the oil water mixture before bed.

I have not had any issues with dry scalp on David.

For skin care, we use a Vaseline Intensive Care cocoa butter lotion. I am sure any kind with cocoa butter lotion will work well. His skin does get drying than our other kiddos but this seems to work better than regular lotions.

That is it, a little more intense than Nicky's hair, but well worth the time. :)

New pics

2010-02-20T15:17:00.003-07:00

Here are a couple of new pictures I took today of David and I...he is so cute and looks so much different than he did 6 months ago!

6 months and our new life

2010-02-07T19:06:00.002-07:00

Well, I can't believe we have had David for 6 months now. We had our 6 month post placement visit today and it felt strange to summarize David in an hour meeting with our social worker. It has only been 3 months since we saw her last, but so much has changed!

First, we now know that David is around 2 years old. To be on the conservative side, we are setting his birthday to May 12th. That makes him 21 months old, much different than the 17 months he would be with his ET birthday. After a fabulous evaluation at Children's International Adoption Clinic in Denver, we found out it his delayed in his speech and only talking at about a 14 month level. This was our biggest issue and we are relived to now know that his constant "uh, uh" is not at his age level. We will start therapy soon. Other than that, he is doing terrific, attachment is going well and he is settling in very well. Don't get me wrong...toddler adoption is hard! Our social worker said something so true today, "nature made them cute and sweet as babies so you had already feel in love with them before they became toddlers!"

Simon started the police academy in Denver two weeks ago. He is loving every minute of it and I am so proud of him. It is a huge commitment with 6 days a week for 12-13 hours a day. We feel God has provided us with everything we needed to follow Him in Simon's career path over the last several months. We are trusting in Him that He will provide Simon with a job in June when he is done with school.

So, since Simon is gone most of the time now, you can imagine that has changed my life a tad bit...no more working 12 hour days. I am now a mommy from 5pm until 8am. It has been a huge transition for our family, but surprising to me, a very fulfilling one. I have managed to remain fairly calm, mostly due to my OCD when it comes to planning. Lots of lists and lots of reminders in my Blackberry.

For Bella & Nicky, they are great. Nicky is such a fun 3 year old...we are soooo glad the 2's are gone. He has fallen into the big brother roll so quickly and actually was telling some kids at McDonald's to get away from his brother! Bella is growing to be such a wonderful big sister and sweet young woman. I am not sure how I would get through this time with Simon gone so much without her. Now, she just needs to learn her times tables!!

Well, that is the update for now...thanking God for his blessings and the grace He shows us everyday!

2010 Here We Come!

2010-01-02T08:11:00.007-07:00

I LOVE the new year. It brings on a whole new list of possibilities for the year. Simon and I (probably mostly me) thought it would be fun to list what we think will be happening in our lives in 2010. By posting them publicly, we are somewhat accountable for the things we can control...yikes!

1. Pay off all debt (student loans and cars) and only have our house mortgage left. (If you aren't convinced this is a good thing, check out Dave Ramsey)
2. Simon will have a job, starting his new career as a Police Officer.
3. Jessica will work less. This means 40-45 hours a week outside of year end.
4. Bella will start school at Dayspring Christian Academy for 6th grade.
5. David will talk!
6. Nicky will start reading.
7. The entire family will spend more time worshiping our Savior together.

Here are some fun pics from David's first Christmas

Calling All Prayer Warriors....

2009-12-21T09:48:00.002-07:00

It seems we may be having a new development in our lives (yes ANOTHER one). As some of you know, we received a referral for baby "T" about a year ago in November. Well, after 6 months of waiting for court, we were told there were lots of issues with his paperwork and he most likely would not be able to be adopted and we were told it would be best to accept another referral. This was incredibly heart breaking for us, but we felt God was leading us to accept the referral, fast forward to today - welcome David!

We have been adjusting well, although we did not know when we would be ready to adopt again...until last Thursday. Simon and I had both been thinking about baby "T", who by the way is 17 months old now, but did not say anything to each other. After a surprise email from another adoptive family asking if there was any chance we could still get him, we were feeling lead to contact our agency to get an update on him.

The email we received back this morning said they would check into it after Christmas. This is where all of you come in, we need your prayers like CRAZY right now. Please pray for God's will in this child's life, whether that is in our family or another, but that he will not have to live in the orphanage for another year!

Simon and I are following the opening that God has given us although we have no idea how we will 1. pay for it 2. take care of both David who is 19 months now and baby "T" who is 17 months.

More to come...

Update and Adoption Day #2

2009-12-11T21:54:00.005-07:00

So, it has been awhile since I last blogged. My class for my masters program combined with work has sucked the life out of me. The good news is my class is over as of 30 minutes ago and I am taking the next semester off. I really need a break. I have a stack of about 10 books I have been accumulating along with David's life book still has all the ET pictures sitting in the box.

Last Wednesday we had David's court date to "validate" his adoption in our county. This is just a formality and gives us the documentation to seal the deal on his citizenship. Here are some pics and I promise I will be a better blogger!!

Our Adoption Video

2009-11-01T18:03:00.001-07:00

We are finally done with our video from Ethiopia...enjoy. :)

God commands us to care for ophans and widows...

2009-10-24T13:25:00.002-06:00

As many of you know, God has given me a crazy, uncomfortable, bigger than life, sad, wonderful heart for the orphans of the world. I am still processing all of this, our trip to Ethiopia and all that we saw while there.

One thing that is very clear is that God COMMANDS us to care for widows and ORPHANS in the bible. He doesn't say it would be nice, or we should consider it if we don't have anything else going on...we MUST do it. There are lots of way, adoption is not the only one.

Check out this video...orphan Sunday is right around the corner. Won't you consider helping one of the 147 million kids without a forever family (or clean water, or food, or clothes, or safety)?

Orphan Sunday from Christian Alliance for Orphans on Vimeo.

12 weeks!!

2009-10-18T08:04:00.006-06:00

I can't believe we have had our sweet little boy for 12 weeks! It is so amazing how much God has changed him and us in that time. First for the changes in David...

First week we were home...

Now....

Isn't it amazing??

This was David when we brought him home, he was about 14 months:

Wearing size 2 diapers and 9 month clothes which were still too big in the waist.
Would not let you cradle him and cuddle.
Had to stay in the room/bed with him until he was totally asleep or he would get very scared.
Could only crawl, could not pull himself up.
Terrified of baths
Ate TONS of food, that is not an exaggeration, he ate more than Nicky.
Had many melt downs concerning food. Would go into a total tail spin if he was the slightest bit hungry.
Wanted to be around us always, would only play with toys if we were sitting there with him.
Totally terrified of our dogs...would get physically scared and shake when they came near.
Very reserved and would not let new people hold him.

David now:

Has gained over 3 pounds and is wearing size 3 diapers and 12 month clothes
Loves to be rocked to sleep at night, cuddles in for lots of body contact
Lays down in bed now and goes right to sleep, no crying or fear
Walking and running everywhere
Loves bath time, runs to the tub as soon as he hears the water running
Eats much less food now, appetite is like an average toddler now
Less meltdowns about food, now it is only when we are traveling or away from our normal schedule
Will play with the other kids for long periods of time without Simon or I sitting with them. Nicky and him wrestle together and both LOVE playing cars.
Loves the dogs, hugs and kisses them along with telling them no!
Staying at the church daycare during services and not crying when we leave him

Wow, it is pretty amazing when I list it all out! God has blessed us with this little boy.

Some of the time it is hard, most of the time it is rewarding, but ALL of this time we are thankful for David.

Soon I will share more about how my life has changed in the last 12 weeks...I am getting closer to being able to articulate it all...

Wonderful Sunday...

2009-09-13T14:57:00.006-06:00

I made it through my first week back at work...amazing. We are enjoying a relaxing weekend at home and while Bella and Simon went to play tennis, I got the boys to myself. Here are some cute as ever pics....

And yes, they are wearing matching shirts!! They are going to hate me when they grow up but it is the cutest thing!!!

It is time...

2009-09-07T21:42:00.003-06:00

It is time...tomorrow I am returning to work after 6 weeks leave. I was scheduled for 9 weeks, but things happen.

I have not blogged much about our trip...as many of you who have been on this journey know, it is just something that is hard to put out there for the world to read. God has done so many things in the last 6 weeks in my life, I will forever be thankful for this.

Simon and I feel we are at a cross roads in our family's journey and feel God is about to make some amazing changes, but need prayer for patience while this happens. Of course we want something to happen NOW, but we all know that is not His way, it is our way.

I was hoping our long trip back to Montana would provide some clarity, but we both feel it just muddied the waters more. Although, we can rest knowing that our lives are in Gods hands, not our own.

Until we have some direction, life continues for us and we are thankful for His blessings...

Week 3...how fun is this?

2009-08-17T19:00:00.004-06:00

2 weeks home

2009-08-15T13:38:00.005-06:00

Today marks the two week anniversary of being home with David. Bella is back as of last week and I am so enjoying her company. She is growing into a young lady and has seen the value (finally) of good behavior, for now at least. She started 5th grade on Thursday...it is amazing, every year I say, "I can't believe I am the mom of a ___ grader!". Before I know it I will be the mom of a high school graduate then a college grad and so on.

David is adjusting well, he is part of our family and it feels like he has always been with us. Gods design for adoption is amazing. It is interesting having two toddlers in the house...a little crazy to tell you the truth. We went shopping at my favorite store...Sam's Club last night with all of the kids. I decided then that I really do love having a big family. It is so fun and you never feel lonely. :)

We are waiting and praying for Simon's next move with his career. Although it has been nice being home together, he said he is ready to go back to work. Will you please consider praying for him? He is working on a pretty significant change, but has had some delays which are frustrating. We must remain strong knowing that God has a plan for our family and He will reveal it at the right time.

Until next time...here are some pictures...

Video of David walking!

2009-08-07T13:35:00.002-06:00

Enjoy!!

Name

2009-08-05T13:54:00.003-06:00

To change or not to change. We need your advice...David was abandoned and we believe he was given his name Abdulkadir by the police officer who found him. We wanted to use it as his middle name to preserve part of his Ethiopian heritage. We are now wondering if we should based on this: While we were in country, most every Ethiopian we told his name to said this - "His family must be Muslim." Well, obviously we have no idea and we (his forever family) are most definitely Christian.

What do you all think???

Day 3 at home

2009-08-04T12:01:00.003-06:00

We started out the day at 5:00 am. Whew...it is going to be a long one. Nicky is a little sick and woke up early complaining he did not feel good. That was the beginning...

I was able to go for a long walk/jog with our lab this morning. My hubby is the best and I really need this time every morning to prepare for day and burn off some stress. Then it was off to the doctor for David's TB test. They inject a little bit of liquid under the skin in his arm and evaluate how he reacts to it to determine if he has TB or not. We will go back on Thursday to have them look at it. Ohhhh, how could I forget the stool sample collection. Whew...I am glad that is over, Simon of course was MIA as he won't have anything to do with his diapers until we get whatever he has cleared up. We should know in a couple of days if he has any parasites or guardia. Our doc thinks he is between 15-18 months old, not the 11 months the orphanage reported. We will know more in the next couple of months as he adjusts and stabilizes.

He is making such huge progress physically, just in the week and a half we have had him. When we picked him up at the orphanage, he could barely walk with you holding just one hand. Now he is standing by himself for a few seconds! That is huge progress and we are excited so far!

I just put David down for a nap and he did not scream his head off! (I didn't either!) We have been struggling with the nap time thing and today was a success!

He is adjusting incredibly well, God continues to bless us and this little guy. :)

Bath Time

2009-08-03T20:02:00.004-06:00

David is adjusting well. We had his first doctor visit today and so far everything looks fine. Obviously we have some catching up to do on the nutrition side, but nothing our doctor thought wouldn't be taken care of soon. He had a blood draw for routine tests...it was horrible to see him cry so hard! He HATES baths. Bring back memories of a certain 2 year old still taking baths in a baby tub? :) (Nicky) Tonight I tried the bathroom sink. That seemed a little less tramatic, but don't know how long he will be able to fit in there!

Who could resist that face?

We're Back!!

2009-08-02T08:21:00.006-06:00

We made it back last night. Baby David is doing fantastic, slept thruogh the night last night! We have so much to tell, need some time for it all to sink in. I am going to post a few pics today...

Baby shower for David's Orphanage

2009-07-19T08:35:00.007-06:00

We were very blessed last weekend by all of our friends and family. My awesome friends, Andrea and Loni held a shower for the orphange! We will be able to take over 120 pounds of donations to the them when we travel to get baby David. This will be an incredible blessing for those kiddos. Thank you to everyone!!

Camping in Beuna Vista

2009-07-19T08:23:00.008-06:00

We were able to sneak away for a couple of days to go camping. What a great state we live in!! Much to our suprise while we were gone, we got a call from out adoption coordinator, there is a chance we may be able to leave next weekend for ET as originally planned!

Adoption Decree and Delirium??

2009-07-14T20:38:00.002-06:00

So we received the adoption decree today:

"Examining the application and detail evidences presented to it in verifying the
law; as the adopting have enough and sufficient capacity to take and grow up the
adopted child and there is no other condition to take and grow up the child, the
court has certified that approving the contract agreement of adoption is the
necessary and the best condition for the better growing up of child _________."

This is all such a God thing. We are so thankful for His guidance and mercy during this process. When I opened the blog today, I noticed our counter says "1 year and 1 week since we started this process". Although it seems like every day of 1 year and 1 week, God worked His patience into our lives through this process.

So...wonder why I titled this post Adoption Decree and Delirium? I am pretty sure Adoption Delirium is setting in. After over a year of this process, I am looking at my life through a totally different frame. Maybe it is through the eyes of Jesus? We bought our plane tickets (see last post) to leave in a couple of weeks, well since everything was postponed, we are probably not going to get an embassy date until two weeks after the date we were going to leave. I keep thinking that since we already have our tickets, why don't I go have two more weeks with baby David? Simon can still join me, but we could get a jump start on our life with our baby. One problem, we still don't have a confirmed embassy date. I could be there for anywhere from two weeks without Simon to four weeks. Crazy you may think, but maybe God is whispering in my ear. None the less, a decision does not need to be made for a week or more so we will be praying about it. I am curious as to what my fellow adoption mommas would do?

Travel Update

2009-07-11T14:13:00.002-06:00

I haven't blogged in awhile, mostly because I have been so busy. Anyway, we found out last Tuesday that the Ethiopian government agency that issues the letter we need to confirm our embassy date has closed for 2 weeks. So frustrating!! We were finally so close we could taste it, then this.

We are trying to be patient, please pray for this for us. Also pray that whatever the reason the agency closed down, everything will be back on track when they resume work.

The shock has warn off...

2009-06-24T19:09:00.003-06:00

now the panic is setting in...I have so much to do!! I am praying that after this week my job slows down and no more 50-55 hour weeks for awhile. My class is a lot of work but will be done right before we leave so that is good. Anyway, we have a lot of awesome people in our lives who have offered to help us which is a true blessing!! We have friends who are going to take Nicky and some other friends who are taking the dogs...what a relief to have that figured out! Simon's last day at the bank is next Tuesday so he will be home with Nicky and has a lot of projects around the house to knock out.

Praying for peace as we wait for travel dates!!

We PASSED!!

2009-06-23T09:38:00.001-06:00

We are parents again...baby David is ours. We are praising God right now...thank you for all of the prayers!!

My new strategy...

2009-06-21T11:59:00.005-06:00

I have it figured out, I am going to proceed with our life as if we are leaving to go get baby David on July 25th. Our coordinator did say that if we passed last week that would be the most likely travel date. I am packing and buying the last things we need for him: car seat, double stroller, diapers, and crib sheets. I think this will work to get things moving and hear next week that the adoption is final. I am actually really busy with work (Lord help me we go live with our new finance software July 6th) and my class for grad school. We are reading over 250 pages a week! Somehow with all of that, I still find time to obsess over the boys. I am also focusing my time on Nicky. He is missing Bella terribly and this will be his last summer as an "only child".

Please pray that God will move mountains (again!) and get the last paperwork early this week so we can get our embassy date scheduled.

Happy father's day to all of the daddy's out there. I am blessed with a great dad and miss him a lot.

Here are some photos of the dad's in my life:

My Dad, Bella & Nicky

No news....

2009-06-20T14:05:00.002-06:00

No news on baby David's case but we did receive this cute picture of Bella today. We miss her so much...

Yes, that is a real Tiger cub!!

Court update

2009-06-17T17:49:00.002-06:00

Well, we did not technically pass court today. The letter of recommendation from the government agency that approves the adoptions was missing. The good news is that they did not schedule another court date because they will be able to finish the adoption once they receive the letter. Our agency coordinator thought it may be in a couple of days. Still waiting, but we are closer than we were yesterday! God is so good to us!

We have a court date!

2009-06-15T09:03:00.002-06:00

We just found out that our court date for baby David is Wednesday!!! Yes, this Wednesday and since ET is 9 hours ahead of us we should know Wednsday morning if we passed or not. Please pray for our court date over the next couple of days.

Discouraged: how much longer must we wait??

2009-06-13T20:25:00.003-06:00

Simon and I were talking last night and decided that Friday is the hardest day of the week for us...you are asking, "Why, you guys are crazy, who doesn't LOVE Friday?"

To us, it means another week has gone by with no court date; our baby boys are another week old; we have missed out on another week of our babies lives; our babies have had to go to sleep another 7 more times without hearing their mommy and daddy tell them they love them. That's why we hate Fridays.

Pretty depressing isn't it? Well, as only God can do, He brought me out of the dumps through the message of our wonderful Pastor Alan tonight.

Jesus Feeds the Five Thousand
When Jesus looked up and saw a great crowd coming toward him, he said to Philip, "Where shall we buy bread for those people to eat?" He asked this only
to test him, for he already had in mind what he was going to do. Philip answered
him, "Eight months' wages would not buy enough bread for each one to have
a bite!" Another of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, spoke up. Here
is a boy with five small barley loaves and two small fish, but how far will they
go among so many?" John 6:5-9

We all know the rest of the story...Jesus takes the five loaves of bread and two small fish and feeds the entire group of 5,000. What about that little boy who gave
his food to Jesus, he may have given his entire families food for the day to
Jesus.

Do we give Jesus all of our resources so that He can multiply in ministering to
others?

This message reminded me of how Simon and I gave our resources (our money, our hearts, the hearts of our kids) to Jesus in order to step out in faith to adopt a baby from Africa. We have seen how our choice has allowed us to minister to others about adoption. I feel more a peace now after the gentle reminder from our loving Father that He will deliver our baby boy to us. We gave Jesus our resources and we will see Him use them to multiply!!!

Is this MY kid or what?

2009-06-03T06:00:00.000-06:00

We asked Nicky to pick up his toys in the kitchen and this is what we got...

He lined them all up perfectly!! I never remember Bella being that organized. I think we have an engineer or an accountant on our hands!!

Flowers and Adoption Update

2009-06-02T06:04:00.003-06:00

I received some Iris bulbs from a friend a few years ago. She gave me two bags, one labeled white and the other purple. Well, we planted them with the thought that they would be the front row in our flower bed in front of our house. The third summer is here and this is what they look like:

They are GIANT and not purple or white, but yellow! I love them but they have taken over the entire flower bed!!

Many of you have been asking and praying (thank you so much) for our adoption and the boys. I talked to our coordinator yesterday and although she did not have a court date for baby David, she did say they were confident they would get all kids referred so far this year through court before the closure in August & September. What wonderful news!!! We have been discouraged the last week or so because it has been 4 weeks now since we officially accepted the referral and no court date. We were told they anticipated the date would come faster for us this time because we had already been through the process with baby "T". "Faster" to us meant 2 weeks, tops!! Anyway we are praising God as it seems that we will still be able to go get baby David yet this summer. No news on baby "T".

Paperbead Necklaces from Uganda

2009-05-26T07:57:00.000-06:00

My wonderful Blogging friend and fellow Africa adoptive momma brought back some fabulous paperbead necklaces from Uganda. She is selling them and all of the profit is going to back to Africa. Please check them out...

http://www.brandisthoughts.com/2009/05/ugandan-paper-bead-necklaces.html

Africa Bags needs your VOTE

2009-05-25T07:45:00.002-06:00

Africa Bags needs your help! They have been competing in a grant competition through Turbo Tax / Intuit. Out of thousands of applications Africa Bags has been selected as one of the top 50 finalists! As finalists they are competing for the grand prize grant of $25,000! They have submitted a video about the Africa Bags project on the Intuit website. They are asking everyone to go to the Intuit website and veiw the Africa Bags video and then vote for their project as both "inspiring" and "useful." 40% of the judges decision is based on how many votes we get! So by voting you truly will make a difference for them!

http://community.intuit.com/contests/aFVdokwWWqllvkab8P4pmk

It would be awesome if you were so inspired to go to the web site and purchase a couple, we use them and love them!!

http://www.africabags.org

Lifestyle Change for our Family

2009-05-24T08:35:00.002-06:00

We have made a huge change in our family's diet. I don't know if huge is even a big enough word for it!!!

I have been following Jill's blog for a few months now and love reading her posts filled with her love of the Lord and love for her children. Anyway, she had a post a couple of weeks ago which peaked my interest, you can read it here. It peaked my interest enough to watch the video. Simon and I watched it together and were blown away! We were totally overwhelmed at the evidence presented about how toxic animal proteins (meat & dairy) are on our bodies! Please, take the time to watch this incredibly powerful video. Now, I have to qualify this post with the fact that I was NOT open to the possibility of cutting all animal protein out of our diet when I watched this video. We ate meat nearly every night at our house and Nicky and Bella would frequently carry around a cup of chocolate milk. I have been struggling with the things we eat and wanted to provide a healthier lifestyle for our family...I really feel the Lord put this video in our lives at the perfect time to inspire Simon and I to make this significant change. If you are curious at all, check out the video A Delicate balance - the Truth.

Jill quoted this scripture:

I AM the vine, and My Father is the gardener: He cuts off every branch that doesn't produce fruit, and He prunes the branches that do bear fruit so they will produce even more. John 15:12

I have to say this change has not been very hard for us...it has to be from the Lord. I am not craving chocolate (which I was addicted to) or having a desire to eat meat. Simon is fully committted to this and loves trying new recipes and experimenting with cooking with Tofu. I do have to say Nicky is not too thrilled with the tofu, but I am sure he will get used to it.

Blessings,

Family

2009-05-24T08:27:00.003-06:00

We put Bella on the plane to her dad's in Illinois yesterday. She is such a great traveler. Simon decided she has probably flown more than he has now and he was in the Army and flew a lot. We are praying she has an AWESOME summer with her daddy as last year was a little bumpy. Nicky is going to miss her a lot but we are also praying we will be bringing home a little brother for him still this summer!!

We had the opportunity to have dinner with my sis and her fiance in Colorado Springs last night. They were recently engaged and we are so happy for them. We had a wonderful vegan meal, thank you so much Nicole!! The fellowship was wonderful and we love the Springs and will be looking for more opportunities to visit.

Blessings,

Saturday - Fire Trucks

2009-05-10T08:08:00.005-06:00

As some of you know, I work for the City in which we live. I absolutely love it and try to participate in most of the community activities. Living far from our families, we have found many good friends in our community and strive to instill the sense of responsibility for our world in our kiddos. Saturday was our annual Fire Department pancake breakfast. Nicky is absolutely in love with trucks, any size or kind. He carries one with him most of the time and has the ALL over the house. Here are some pictures, we were testing out the still camera on our new camcorder (which we aren't too impress with).

Mothers Day = Stomach Flu

2009-05-09T20:28:00.002-06:00

ImageChef.com Flower Text

Happy Mothers Day to all of you mom's and grandma's!!

God had an interesting way this year of reminding me of how blessed I am to have my mom. Nicky got the stomach flu today...full on with dry heaves. It reminded me of all of the times I was sick growing up and how my mom was at my side holding my hair for every violent heave. I was a particularly needy stomach flu sufferer needing my mom there every time, I remember screaming like crazy for her. I knew she would be and I could count on her. She was a fantastic mom and taught me how to be a great mom to my kids.

My heart is breaking thinking of all of the kids in the world without mom's there for them when they are sick. Also for the mom's who can't be there for their kids, knowing they will be sick and need their comforting.

A great friend (who happens to be my personal trainer) reminded me this week that kids without parents are never alone, Jesus is there for them, they never feel lonely. We wondered at what age kids stopped hearing Jesus and feel comforted by him?

I am not alone, because the Father is with me. John 16:32

My goal as a mother: To follow the Lord's direction and provide as many children as He sees fit a safe, loving, and God-fearing home.

Referral Update

2009-05-05T10:06:00.003-06:00

We have offically accepted the referral of another baby boy!! We are not sure on his name yet, but will call him David for now.

He is about 8 months old (two less than baby "T") and was found abandoned so we don't know his exact birth date. He is adorable and we are so looking forward to having him home with us. We are now waiting for a court date of which our agency coordinator said should be faster since we have already been approved as parents.

So...the current status is that we are now matched with two (yes 2) baby boys which are two (yes 2) months apart!! God really has a plan for us, which amazingly is different than our own plan! ;) We don't have any update on baby "T" but would ask for continued prayer in his case and that God would put everything in place for him to get through court soon. We hope to be able to get baby David home yet this summer and baby "T" as soon as possible.

We are so grateful for all of the prayer that has been coming our way, God has shown us the direction He wants us to take and feel at ease with our decision. THANK YOU!!!

Future

2009-05-03T20:06:00.003-06:00

"I say this because I know what I am planning for you," says the Lord. "I have good plans for you, not plans to hurt you. I will give you hope and a good future." Jeremiah 29:11

We are waiting for God to show us the way on a couple huge things in our life:

The first being Simon's job. Yes, he is still working for the "new" bank but we do not know how long that will last. It could be a week or six months until they get all of the loans sold off. He is considering a career change but will need to return to school for about 4 months. We were hoping he would be on unemployment while he was doing the school, but the school starts in July and he in now thinking he will still be at the bank. The school only starts two times a year.

The second, of which is the reason for this blog, our adoption. Our baby "T" did not go to court as planned a few weeks ago and we were told the wait could be VERY long. We have been presented with another referral but it has come in pieces (first a picture, then on Friday the medical) and we still don't have it all to make the decision to accept. After much prayer, we feel God it leading us to stay with baby "T" while considering the new referral. If things move forward with both little boys, we will have two babies who are about two months apart! We were pretty sure we would adopt another after baby "T" but it would have been a couple of years. It looks like God has a different timeline for us bringing two little boys home from Ethiopia.

We know God has a plan for our family...but boy is it hard waiting for him to reveal it!!

Happy Anniversary

2009-04-23T20:36:00.003-06:00

Today is our 4th wedding anniversary. Time has gone so fast it is amazing and God has blessed our marriage and family!

I really felt I need to post this again...

All things are possible for the one who believes.Mark 9:23

We knew the adoption would be difficult and that God was calling us to do this, but I don't think we knew the depth of the potential heartbreak. We are putting our faith in God that His will be done, not ours. We are believing that all things are possible in Jesus.

Thank you to everyone who has been praying for us, we could not get through this without you!

Court Outcome

2009-04-17T19:42:00.002-06:00

Well, unfortunately we have bad news, our case was not able to go to court yesterday. Our agency is having issues getting the director of the orphanage to complete her portion of the paperwork. There is some question when/if she will do it and we are not sure if we will be able to proceed with the adoption of baby "T". This was devastating news for us. We are praying for God to clearly show us the next step.

Thank you so much for all of the prayers and good thoughts you all have been sending our way, we are very grateful!! Please keep us in your prayers over the next couple of weeks as we work with our agency to come up with a plan.

Today is the Day

2009-04-16T06:00:00.000-06:00

Since Ethiopia is 9 hours ahead of us, we are praying we will know the outcome of the hearing this morning. We will post as soon as we hear anything!

Count Down: 1 Day

2009-04-15T06:00:00.001-06:00

“I say this because I know what I am planning for you,” says the Lord. “I have good plans for you, not plans to hurt you. I will give you hope and a good future.”
Jeremiah 20:11

Prayer for Today:
Lord, give us the strength to trust in You and Your plans for us. Give the judge wisdom in the court proceeding tomorrow to allow the adoption and for baby "T" to join his forever family. Amen

Count Down: 2 Days

2009-04-14T06:00:00.000-06:00

Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.
Lamentations 3:22-23

Prayer for Today:
Lord, consume us in YOUR love as we are 2 days from the court date and anxious for the outcome. Remind us of YOUR faithfulness as you have called us to adopt. Amen

Count Down: 3 Days

2009-04-13T06:00:00.000-06:00

All things are possible for the one who believes.
Mark 9:23

Prayer for Today:
Lord, continue to give the IAN staff in Ethiopia the guidance to prepare for all court dates on Thursday and we thank you for your blessings and faithful love through this process. Amen

Count Down: 4 Days

2009-04-12T11:51:00.002-06:00

So I say to you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.

Luke 11:9-10

Today's Prayer:

Lord please give wisdom to all of the people involved in preparing the paperwork for baby "T"'s court date. Help them to ensure everything is in order and that this will not be a barrier to the adoption being finalized on Thursday. Amen

Job

2009-04-12T10:28:00.002-06:00

On friday the FDIC took over the bank where I (simon) work, so I have a job for maybe a month but probably not any longer. I have applied for another job and am waiting to hear back on that so just keep my employment in your prayers. Also Court for the baby is this thursday please keep praying that we will pass court.

1 week

2009-04-09T19:48:00.002-06:00

That is 7 days until our court date!!!

We would like everyone to pray for us starting the evening of next Wednesday (4/15) specifically. Ethiopia is nine hours ahead of us and cases are normally heard in the morning so we need as many people as possible to pray for our little baby to pass court so we can bring him HOME. If we pass, we should be traveling near the end of May.

Thank you everyone who has been praying for our adoption!!

Piano Recital

2009-03-29T19:05:00.002-06:00

Here is Bella's piano recital from this afternoon. We are so proud of her, she has learned so much, it is amazing this is her 3rd year!

Material Possessions

2009-03-28T21:50:00.004-06:00

If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has not pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth. 1 John 3:17-18

I have felt God whispering in my ear recently about the material possessions he has blessed my family with. I have been struggling with how much we should keep for ourselves and what we should give away to others. I feel guilty when we buy something new that seems like a luxury. Looking back to this post where our Pastor told us:

If you have these four things, you are more wealthy than 75% of the people on
this planet.
A roof over your head
A bed to sleep in
Food in your fridge
Clothes in a closet

Considering that...we are very wealthy and God has blessed us incredibly! God wants action, not lip service, as 1 John 3:17-18 says above. But how much action? Does he call us all to give it all away? If not all, then how much? Is it okay for me to spend as much on a new car (one of many I will have in my lifetime) as an Ethiopian would earn in 150 years? What about the children, mine compared to the ones living in an orphanage in Africa? Is it okay for my two to have more toys than an entire African village of children? What about our food, we throw away more in a day than some children around the world get to eat?

I don't know the answer. I feel we have followed God when he has asked us and feel if He took everything away tomorrow, we would continue to follow Him where He leads us.

My prayer for today:

Lord, we will continue to faithfully follow You. We are thankful for all You have blessed us with, our health, relationships, children and material things. We pray You will show us wisdom how to use Your gifts to expand Your Kingdom. Please help us to see Your love for each and every person in our lives and forgive us our judgements of them. Amen

Court Date Moved UP!!!!!

2009-03-21T11:16:00.002-06:00

Praise God, our court date was moved up to April 16th!!

8 Month Birthday

2009-03-18T20:18:00.003-06:00

Today is baby T's 8 month birthday. We wish he was in here with us and are praying he will be soon.

I had a great big God moment a couple of nights ago. We went to our hair dresser who has been cutting our hair for a couple of years now and told her about the adoption. Nothing unusual there....the God moment came when she told us she had chosen adoption for her daughter 22 years ago and she had, just a few days earlier, finally connected with her for the first time!!!! How huge is that? We had no idea she had chosen adoption for her child. We had so much to talk about over the next hour. She wanted to know my perspective as the adoptive mother and I was so open to hearing about her perspective as a birth mother. We were both open and God was working in that place to help us both along in our journey. I have not been able to stop thinking about the things she said. This conversation reminded me of the letter I need to write to baby T's birth mother. Although I may never meet her and have the opportunity to give it to her, it will be important for me as I prepare to become his mother. God is so great and puts the right people in our lives just when we need them!

New Pictures

2009-03-14T15:20:00.003-06:00

We received two more pictures yesterday. What a blessing, Baby "T" is almost 8 months old now and he was sleeping with a stuffed animal in the pictures, what a precious baby boy. We are counting down and I have started going through baby clothes and picking up things we will need as we do our weekly shopping. Also bought a new set of luggage for the trip. We are continuing to pray that our court date will be moved up, but no news yet.

1,128 Hours

2009-03-08T12:28:00.002-06:00

1 month, 2 weeks, 2 days until our court date. Boy is this waiting hard. We HAVE to pass court on the 24th. We need our little baby 'T' to be home with us. I have a list as long as my arm of stuff to do today, including a test for my class but I am obsessed with the baby. I started a "to do" list of things I need to get done before we go, of which I am convinced we will be leaving May 23rd, although we don't know yet. We are almost done with the room moving. Now I just have to put together Nicky's new dresser and start going through the millions of boxes of baby clothes.

We have heard a rumor, well I am not sure if it is a rumor because someone knows someone else that it happened to, anyway that court dates are being moved UP! Although we hope this happens to us, we have to remember all of this is in God's perfect timing.

I am waiting for information from our agency on the time of our court appointment. I would like to organize a prayer vigil for that day. More to come....

Please keep praying for our patience...and for the health of baby "T".

Seeing Green

2009-02-22T18:33:00.003-07:00

It think it has finally sunk in that we are going to see our baby soon. It seems like we waited so long for a court date that it was never going to happen. I added a new ticker, 2 months and 2 days until the court date! We spent the weekend getting Bella's room ready. She is moving to the basement to make room for the boy's playroom upstairs. She wanted her room painted green, it is really green, granny apple green. We will post a picture when it is done. The next thing is painting her pink (very pink) old room blue for the play room. I don't think I can take one more day of toys all over my living room!

We went shopping today for a few things for the house and bought several new outfits for baby "T". I had no idea what size to get. He will be 11 months when we get him so I bought 9 months. Does anyone know if this is about how small they are? He was really small when we got our referral, not even on the growth charts but seems to have gained weight and filled out in the latest pictures. I am so excited to dress him and Nicky in matching outfits!!

My class for grad school is keeping me VERY busy. I guess I picked one of the hardest classes in the program to take first. Figures...

We have made so many great friends through this process, God has worked in so many ways in our lives since we took the step of faith and followed Him. Our friends here in Greeley offered to keep Nicky while we travel to ET. Bella will most likely be with her dad so it will be hard for him to be away from all of us, but our friends have two 2 year olds of their own and a 3 year old. This will make Nicky so much more comfortable.

I will try to post more often, I have been a bad blogger...

We have a court date!

2009-02-05T07:56:00.001-07:00

Finally, we received our court date...April 24th. It is a way out there, but we are so thankful we have one. Praise God!

Finally, some news

2009-01-02T20:34:00.002-07:00

On December 23rd we received more photo's of baby "T". He looks great, seems to have gained some weight which he really needed to do! He has his hands open in all of the photos. Praise God as that was one thing the international doctor noticed when she was reviewing the photos. We still don't have any word on his brother or a court date, but as Stacy reminded me, everything is in His time. Thank you Stacy!

We had a great Xmas, although I was thankful for our family and friends, it seemed like something was missing...we need to get our baby home with us!

We have had many blessings in the last month as I was accepted into Grad school and will be working on my Master in Public Administration. I was also officially promoted to the Finance Director at the City I have been working at for 2 years now. Simon also finished up those two pesky credits he need for his Bachelor's and is also seriously considering Grad school. Bella's dad is planning on moving to Montana, which will allow him to be closer and see her more often. Nicky will be starting a new daycare in February. It is a wonderful center where he will be starting pre pre school (how funny is that). We are looking forward to 2009 as we have many things to be thankful for!!

1 month and 2 days

2008-12-20T20:21:00.003-07:00

Since we accepted our referral and still NO court date. In case you don't know the process, we have been matched with our little baby, but must wait to pass court before we can go get him. In order to pass court, we need to get a court date!! This is so hard, please pray for us. I can't help but think God seems to have forgotten us and baby "T". Everything moved so quickly for us to get the referral and now time seems to have stopped. I know God wants us to have him and for him to have us for his parents, but every day that goes by is one more that we are not with him. He turned 5 months old last week, we missed it. He will not be with our family for Christmas, we will miss that as well. Please pray for us to get a court date soon and for our strength as we wait and wait and wait....

Happy Birthday(s)

2008-11-23T20:07:00.008-07:00

Nicky turned 2 last week....

Bella turned 10 this weekend...

We are partied out!!! Thank goodness baby "T"'s birthday is in the summer!

We accepted our referral today

2008-11-18T21:50:00.002-07:00

So today, November 18th, 2008 we officially accepted our referral of our little baby boy. We are parents again! We are now a family of 5...wow.

Sorry, we can't show photos or share any info until we pass court in Ethiopia. Please be praying for our quick court date so we can travel soon to get him.

Donations Needed

2008-11-12T20:16:00.004-07:00

We have been very thankful for the teaching of Tom Davis, he truly opened our eyes to the heart of Jesus and how God commands us to care for orphans. We had the great privilege of hearing Tom speak a couple of weeks ago. We also got to meet him and chat a bit about his work in Ethiopia with Children's HopeChest. Tom and Children's HopeChest have opened our eyes to something much larger than an adoption of one child.

The Mission:

Children’s HopeChest believes that every orphan has the right to know God, experience the blessing of family, and have the opportunity to develop independent living skills.

Now they need our help, lets show them what we can do and how we are COMMITTED to helping the orphans and widows of the world.

Click on the link on the right of our blog to log your donation now.

Referral!!!

2008-11-08T20:22:00.003-07:00

We got it!!

We were presented with our referral on Thursday. We are still processing it all, we did not think it would happen this soon!

We can not say much about the baby, only that he is a boy, about 4 months old, and is HEALTHY!

Praise the LORD!!!

Thank you so much to everyone who has been praying for us. :) We still have a ways to go before he is home, so keep them coming.

We're At The TOP!!

2008-11-05T18:45:00.001-07:00

We just found out today that we are at the top of the list for a baby boy! Wow, I can't believe it, the call could come any day now. It is amazing how quickly this process has gone for us! GOD is great!!

Movin on up

2008-10-28T21:22:00.002-06:00

Two very exciting things on the Adoption, finally I have something to update!

Our dossier is on its way to Ethiopia!
We are #2 on the list and the #1 family has been presented with a referral, if they accept we will be the "new #1"!!

With the changes in the process in Ethiopia, Simon and I thought it would be at least until January before we received a referral. It looks like we were wrong! We have not really been doing any planning because we thought we had 6 months or more to wait. Well, after today we have put the planning back in gear. We also need to be ready to right a large check for the country fee, we need your prayers for that!

Adoption Expo

2008-10-19T15:01:00.004-06:00

Our church held its annual Adoption Expo this weekend. We had a great time talking with all of the families interested in Adoption. God is moving in a lot of ways to help the orphans of the world. Several of the families in our Forever Families ministry have received children. Others are jumping through the hoops as quickly as possible. Pastor Alan had a very moving message this weekend, that stirred a lot of people to stop with the "yeah, buts" and open their hearts to the possibility of adoption. We had the opportunity to pass out lots of cards for the Red Letters Campaign and hopefully increase God's work through that channel.

We found out this week that some of our new friends through church (and 4-H) have decided to adopt from Ethiopia as well! Praise God as they are interested in a sibling group!

We do not have any update on our adoption...entering week 3 of waiting...

Keeping It In Perspective

2008-10-12T13:50:00.003-06:00

Last weekend our wonderful Pastor Alan gave one of those sermons you think about all week. You can see it here if you would like to watch the whole thing for yourself, but I wanted all of us to think of something he said. He was referring to all of the emails he has received asking him to pray for our country in the midst of this "financial crisis". He said he never gets emails asking for prayer vigils for the 2.9 million people who died of AIDS in Africa in 2006, or the 15 million orphans in Africa who do not have either parent to care for them. Wow...that really hit home. Now, understand that I have NOT been worried about this crisis. I believe these things happen, and it is just a matter for riding out the storm, but God is trying to tell us something. This passage may be telling us what is happening:

Jonah 4:10: But the LORD said, "You have been concerned about this vine,
though you did not tend it or make it grow. It sprang up overnight and died
overnight. But Nineveh has more than a hundred and twenty thousand people who cannot tell their right hand from their left, and many cattle as well. Should I
not be concerned about that great city?"

Could our financial success be the same as Jonah's "vine"? Are we more worried
about our selves than showing mercy to other countries, such as Africa and the
AIDS crisis? Are we sitting back like Jonah and waiting for God to punish them? Probably not consciously, but do we really care? AIDS/HIV seems to have just disappeared in the US. You don't hear anything about it in the media anymore, the antiviral drugs have made it a "condition" rather than a death sentence. This is NOT the case the Africa. The drug therapy is very expensive and nearly impossible to get to most people in Africa. As Christians we all live by the saying, "What would Jesus do?". Think about that, he would do something for these people, ask yourself, what are you doing for them?

Another reality check Paston Alan gave us was this:

If you have these four things, you are more wealthy than 75% of the
people on this planet.
A roof over your head
A bed to sleep in
Food in your fridge
Clothes in a closet

Something to ponder as we worry about our portfolio or the outcome of the presidential election...

We're on the list!!!

2008-10-04T07:48:00.003-06:00

As of yesterday, October 3rd, we are officially on the waiting list. We are so excited! We are #5 for a boy and #10 for a girl. Our agency has not had very many referrals the last couple of months, but they are anticipaing more really really soon.

We are getting ready for our Adoption Expo at our church, and I am trying to catch up around here after the crazy 6 weeks I have just had at work. I should have kept track of my hours...I am sure it was 50 + every week. Our budget is going to the City Council for approval on Tuesday, that will signify a slow down for me for a month or so. It has been really hard, but I can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel.

We are going to start the process of moving our office to the workout room and moving Bella into the office. She says she is ready to move into the basement, but we are going to take it slow. We really don't need her room until the baby comes home, but we have painting and a lot of work to do to get it ready. That should keep us busy while we are officially "waiting".

Our Sweet Babies

2008-09-27T20:43:00.002-06:00

Nicky refused to wear his "footy" pajamas until tonight. His big sister got him to put them on...both mommy & daddy tried several nights without any luck. These two have such a great relationship!!

Adoption Update

2008-09-27T12:57:00.004-06:00

I haven't posted for awhile, mostly because there has not been much happening on the adoption front. Well, we do have some news. We sent our dossier off to our agency last week, upon review, it looks like we were missing one thing...a copy of Simon's passport. Darn it...I tried so hard to get everything in the first try, but I guess it was perfect otherwise. I sent off the copy on Thursday to the State for certification and hopefully they will get it to the agency early next week. We can't go on the list until then. I was kind of disappointed, but it is not a big deal considering we will be #3 on the list for a boy and #6 on the list for a girl. Our agency has not had any referrals lately, so things are not moving right now. We don't think a few days will make that big of a difference, so we are still being patient. We also have to apply with Homeland Security to bring the baby into the Country (I 600A). We did that last week and received the letter stating we can go have our finger prints done for the background check. We will have to do that in Denver at their offices so we will do it when we are down there on the 11th for our adoption training. This does not need to be done to get on the referral list, but needs to be completed by the time we travel.

On another adoption note, our Church is hosting an Adoption Expo the weekend of October 18th & 19th. Simon and I are having an Ethiopian Adoption booth along with a book table. We have contacted Red Letters and Russell Weir has graciously offered to send us some cards along with other materials they use to hand out. Thank you Russell, if you are out there!!! Also, if any of you have traveled and have pictures of the orphanages we can use, please email them to me at jess_adams24@hotmail.com. We really feel God is leading us to use this opportunity to get the word out about the need for orphan relief in Africa. If you are interested in ways you can help, read this post from a few weeks ago. Well, that is all for now, God willing, we will post next week that we are officially "waiting".

On it's way back

2008-09-18T20:43:00.002-06:00

I just checked the Fed Ex tracker and it looks like our dossier is on its way back from the Secretary of State. Hopefully it will get here tomorrow and I will get it off to our agency. Could Monday be the day we are offically "waiting"??

EvansFest 2008

2008-09-13T13:35:00.005-06:00

We were in a parade today! Our City has what we call "EvansFest" every year. Last year we started having a City float (one the staff of the City makes and rides on). I was not too excited about doing one this year, but it was fun. Our theme was "We'll Go To Bat For You!". It turned out pretty cool. Here are some pics....

Dossier off to Secretary of State

2008-09-11T20:54:00.004-06:00

Well, the first of the last few steps....I am Fed Exing (is that a word?) our Dossier off to the Secretary of State of Colorado for the Certification! This is one of the final steps that we much complete before it goes to the Agency. I got a little tingle tonight when I realized we could be getting a referral as soon as next week! Stay posted....

Last Couple of Weeks in Pictures

2008-09-08T21:01:00.016-06:00

We have been so busy the last couple of weeks, I haven't been able to get a second to update the blog...here we go:

We spent Labor Day at my parents in Montana. My parents have 5 horses right now. Simon rode one for the very first time!

Here is an action photo, too funny...

A couple of Bella

Nicky even got to ride!

Nicky & Grandpa talking about whether Nicky was ready to ride. He would not have anything to do with the horses until Grandpa took him out to the middle of the corral and he decided he wanted to do it and did!

We spend a few hours at a beautiful lake, the dogs loved it and swam and swam...
My uncle Terry & Nicky throwing rocks

So that was Labor Day, this last weekend we went up to Wheatland, Wyoming to see Simon's parents, grandma visiting from Australia and his brother and his family. We went to a Dachshund event and watched them race..it was so cute

There was also a High School Rodeo going on and Bella got to see the barrel racing. She really is into horses now. We are joining 4-H and she is going to learn all she can about them. I am not sure when (if ever!) we will be able to get her a horse, but for now she can learn about them.

On the adoption front, we have seen the draft of our Home Study and sent it back to the case worker. We are waiting on the short version of it to submit with our dossier to the state for certification. Once we get that done (hopefully back to us by the beginning of next week) we can send it all to our agency. At that point we will go on the list for a referral! We will keep you posted....

Bad to the Bone

2008-08-25T20:30:00.003-06:00

We are not fans of tattoo's, but Bella and her friend put this on Nicky this weekend. (I can't believe he stood still for it) The expression on his face is perfect!

Our baby is getting closer....

2008-08-24T09:12:00.005-06:00

We will be having our caseworker here on Wednesday for the final meeting on the home study. She will be looking over our house...we have been cleaning and organizing like crazy for the last week. The house looks great, the challenge now is keeping it clean for 3 days.

We had out first adoption related training in Denver yesterday. The state of Colorado requires 24 hours of training in order to adopt a child internationally. The teacher was great and gave us a lot of great tools to use with our kids now. The focus was on parenting a child with special needs. As we have found in Twenty Things Adopted Kids Wish Their Adoptive Parents Knew , all adopted children experience trauma when they are relinquished (given up for adoption). Children who experience trauma are considered special needs. Although we don't know what other needs our children (any of them) will have as the grow, this class gave us an idea of some of the symptoms we should be looking for. Nicholas is going through the phase again where he is terrified of the bath tub. We were really struggling with how to deal with this...the kids HAS to have a bath. Learning about sensory integration disorder yesterday taught us that when children have this, the therapy involves slowly introducing the "scary" thing to this child. We are going to try this technique with Nicky and the bath and see how it works. We will start with the tub with no water in it. He might not be squeaky clean for a couple of months, but we need to do what is best to reduce the terror he experiences with bath time. We thought it was a great class and we got to meet other families adopting from Ethiopia with our agency who are in about the same phase we are.

We also had the opportunity to meet and talk to our agency Representative yesterday. Aneata is wonderful and we would recommend our agency, International Adoption Network, to everyone! She said we will probably have all of our paperwork in by the end of September. Our agency will do a referral once the paperwork is on the way to Washington D.C. All agencies have different processes, but ours will do the referral before the paperwork is in Ethiopia. Currently there are five families waiting for a baby girl and only 2 waiting for a baby boy. Since we are open to either, we will probably be getting a baby boy. They are expecting more children to come available in the next couple of months. If everything moves quickly, we could have our baby home by Christmas at the earliest! Wow, we are going to be ready for that, but things have slowed down in Ethiopia, so we are anticipating it will be sometime after the New Year.

We made the decision last week to leave our kids here. It was a tough decision, but there are so many things unknown about how the trip will go, that we want to be able to focus on the new baby and know our kids are safe here at home. Simon's wonderful brother and sister in law, Jonathan and Jenny have so graciously agreed to keep them while we are gone. We are very blessed to have them in our lives...THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!!!

Jessica's Baptism

2008-08-17T20:54:00.004-06:00

I had the wonderful experience of being baptized tonight! God is great and I am so blessed to be part of His kingdom!!!!

Five For 50

2008-08-17T13:21:00.002-06:00

Did you know that:

$5 a Month Can:

Feed 1 orphan for a month (100 meals)
Educate 1 orphan for a year
Buy new clothes for 1 orphan

$25 a Month Can:

Feed 5 orphans for a month (500 meals)
Educate 5 orphans for a year
Buy new clothes for 5 orphans

$50 a Month Can:

Feed 10 orphans for a month (1000 meals)
Educate 10 orphans for a year
Buy new clothes for 10 orphans

Please check out 5 for 50. Simon and I feel it is very important we instill a sense of selflessness in our children. It must start with us. Our kids need to see us making sacrifices for others. Brandi is such an inspiration for selflessness. Thank you so much Brandi, you have shown me how what seems to be a small sacrifice for us, can make such a huge difference in someones life. We are going to follow your example for giving.

Bella has committed her allowance to 5 for 50 each month. We have committed to match her gift. We are also starting the process to sponsor a child by monthly giving.

If you can not help financially, 5 for 50 has other things you can do. Please check it out!

RLC Blog Buzz: To Suffer With

2008-08-13T20:24:00.002-06:00

If compassion means, “to suffer with”. How do we attach ourselves to the suffering of the poor? What does that look like and how do we implement in our lives?

When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them and healed their sick. Matthew 14:14

Jesus called his disciples to him and said, "I have compassion for these people; they have already been with me three days and have nothing to eat. I do not want to send they sway hungry, or they may collapse on the way.
Matthew 15:32

A man with leprosy came to him and begged him on his knees, "If you are willing, you can make me clean." Filled with compassion, Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. "I am willing," he said. "Be clean!" Immediately the leprosy left him and he was cured.
Mark 1:40-42

These are just a few examples from scripture of Jesus' compassion for others. Nearly every passage I could find related to compassion, specifically Jesus having compassion, told of him helping the people he felt compassion for. This tells me we are on the right track! When Simon and I feel compassion, we do what we can to help those people. This weeks blog buzz is related to suffering of the poor and how we deal with it. Simon and I have a special place in our hearts for the poor of Ethiopia. The poverty experienced there is something most people in America can not even grasp. We feel lead to do something and we are actually doing it! I have had millions of times in my life were I have said to myself, "I should donate money to this or that because I believe in the charity." Or, "We should volunteer to help with this or that outreach program our church is doing." But I have rarely done anything the help. It seems to me, Jesus' example of compassion shows us that you not only have to feel "deep sympathy or pain" (Webster's definition), but you have to do something to help the people you feel the compassion for.

Getting Close

2008-08-13T20:14:00.003-06:00

We are getting so close to having all of our paperwork gathered up. We are missing two things for the dossier and have everything for the home study done! We met with our caseworker on Sunday again and that all went well. She shared some very valuable in site into adoption. She is learning about us while we are learning about adoption from her. What a great experience! We have our last meeting with her on the 27th. This is when she will be touring our house...yikes! We have a few things to get done before she gets here. It seems the home study is moving along rather quickly. It also looks like we will be able to have our dossier down at the same time as the home study. This is all very good!!

Leadership Retreat

2008-08-07T16:26:00.008-06:00

I am home now after a 6 day leadership retreat in Breckenridge Colorado. It was a long time away from home, but worth it. I was in desperate need of a renewal in my job. This provided some clarity, but more importantly it seemed to have stirred some things in me. I will post more about these later as I still feel the paint is wet and am not sure where God is leading me right now.

On the adoption front, we received our passports. It is very exciting and it only took a couple of weeks for them to get here. I think the first two pages are so inspiring and make me very proud to be an American! We still have not applied for the kids passports. We were waiting to (hopefully) do them both at the same time. No word from Bella's dad, but he has not said no again since this last time we have asked. We are praying the Lord will move in him and soften his heart so we can take her with us. We are taking the majority of the paperwork for the dossier to be notarized tomorrow. This will put me at about 95% of the way to being ready to send everything to each state to be certified. Yippee

We have out second meeting with our case worker on Sunday...I will update on that after the meeting.

Simon and the kids were able to join me for one night in Breckenridge last weekend. Here are some photos...

We also went on a 9 mile bike ride. It was so fun, Bella rode her own bike the entire way. She is so awesome! Nicky rode in the trailer with Crissy and screamed half of the way. We are not sure why, but he did not like it!

1st Meeting with our Caseworker

2008-07-28T14:26:00.004-06:00

Yesterday was our first meeting with our case worker, she is great. She has two adopted children and it is evident she has a passion for adoption. She made us feel very comfortable. The first meeting as well as the second meeting will be in Denver and the third and final meeting will be at our house. She asked pretty basic questions this time and she said they get harder as we progress. She said she thinks we can get this all done in about a month and a half. Now I have a deadline for getting our dossier (package for Ethiopia) completed. My goal is to have both of them finished at the same time. Once these are done, our agency will start looking for a match. This whole process could move along rather quickly if everything falls into place. It is all very exciting but scary at the same time. I am a HUGE planner and I have to accept the fact that I won't be able to plan too far ahead on this one. It is much different than having a baby...you know the due date and can plan everything around that. I am pretty nervous about how my leave from work will go...but I know that God has a plan and will take care of it for me. Simon has started looking at plane tickets...it looks like that will be his duty in our travel plans. Bella's dad still has not giving us permission to take her. We (and her) will be heartbroken if he does not agree and we have to leave her behind. We are racking our brains for ways to convince him, my last attempt was to write him a letter. I have not heard from him so I am not sure it was received very well. If you all have any ideas...let us know!!!
I would say I am about 80% done with all of the paperwork. I have been very committed and hopefully it will pay off. I hope to be ready to send all of our documents to be certified by the states (Montana & Colorado) in the next two weeks.
I will be going to Breckenridge, CO for a week for leadership training. I will post when I return!

Our last week

2008-07-23T20:58:00.004-06:00

Well, we did it...we bought a new car. We have been talking about it for about 2 years...what kind of car we would get when Simon got out of school. It took Simon about 6 months to convince me we should get a mini van. I know, all of you who have known me for awhile know I swore I would never drive a mini van. Well, lets just say 2 kids with one more coming and 2 dogs convinced me. Also those long trips to Montana to see my family and Nebraska to see Simon's family seemed a lot more comfortable in a van.

We had decided on either a Honda Odyssey, or a Toyota Sienna and started looking awhile ago. We had a horrible experience with the Toyota dealer this weekend and decided to drive an Odyssey. Well, we fell in love with the Honda. It is fabulous!!! I can't believe how much room it has and how nice it drives. The dealership was great and gave us free oil changes for as long as we own the car! We are now loyal Honda owners. We still like our Toyota...but the Honda is great. It did not come with a DVD player so we still need to get that installed, but we love it.

Bella will be coming home this Saturday. She was too homesick at her Dad's and wanted to come home a couple of weeks early. We are so excited to see her. She has been bugging us to buy a van for awhile now. She actually thinks they are cool (I am sure that will change in a few years) and Simon said he will call it "Bella's Van". He is so sweet.

We have our first appointment with our caseworker for the Home study on Sunday. We are excited to meet her and start this part of the process.

More exciting news...we have now reached

visitors to our Blog!! We are thankful for you all and happy you are sharing this journey with us.

I will post more after our meeting on Sunday with the caseworker...

Paper, Paper, Paper

2008-07-12T21:10:00.003-06:00

The update for this week is PAPER. I am sure we will kill at least a few trees in this adoption process. I received all of the paperwork for the home study and the list of things we need to start doing for the dossier. Admittedly, and this is coming from a linear thinking accountant who lives for organization and process, all of this is a "tad" overwhelming. I am pretty sure this part of the process weeds out the weak of heart. I think I have put a dent in the home study stuff. I am attempting to do both (home study & dossier) simultaneously to speed up the process. I often think of myself as a "sprinter" when I actually need to be a "distance runner" and pace myself. Simon has drill for the Guard this weekend, in my mind it is the perfect time to work on it while he is gone.

I will send off the package to our adoption agency on Monday, along with our finger print cards to the state for the background checks. We will be writing a check to the agency for $3,510 ($1,360 for the home study and $2,150 for the first half of the agency fee). We will also have small fees ($10 here and there) for ordering copies of birth certificates etc. God continues to provide for us financially through this adoption!!

One Life!!

2008-07-12T06:50:00.003-06:00

I love reading Lisa's blog, she posted this and I thought I would share it.

Exciting News!!

2008-07-06T12:55:00.005-06:00

Well, we have decided it is time to officially start the adoption. We have not reached our original savings goal, but feel the time is right. We have saved enough to pay the first half of the agency fee and for the home study. These are the first things on the list and it will take us about three months to get those things done before we have to pay for anything else. With Simon working now, we will be able to save very quickly. We have been tempted by many things, including a new car (Simon's Toyota is a 1992!) and other luxuries we have done without while Simon was in school. We decided we needed to start now to commit ourselves to saving and sacrificing. We will then have some deadlines to meet financially. God has supported our decision and will continue to provide for us financially as we move along with the process.

First step: Our application with our agency International Adoption Network along with our application fee ($250) will go in the mail tomorrow.

I guess after they receive it, we will be approved and the incredible paper chase will begin. I will be sharing the costs of everything as I am hoping it will help some of you reading this plan your own adoption. The cost seemed very overwhelming to us when we made this decision, but after much research (and prayer) we now realize it is obtainable for most people.

We are very excited to get our baby home. We originally thought we would request a boy specifically, but now feel God is leading us to specify "either". We feel strongly God has already chosen our child for us and we need to leave the door open for him to bring our baby home!!

Now unto Him who is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us
Ephesians 3:20

Adoption Inspiration

2008-07-02T20:11:00.002-06:00

We are so blessed by our church, Christ Community. We belong to a small group focused on adoption. The group includes people who have been through adoption as well as ones in the process. Every time we meet, I am motived and God confirms we are on the right path with the adoption. We meet once a month on Saturday nights. We spend some of our time on a book study, we are currently reading Twenty Things Adopted Kids Wish Their Adoptive Parents Knew. This is a great book, offering much incite to how adopted children feel and the loss they experience, even if they are adopted as an infant. I never would have thought a three day old baby would experience loss and grief. Much of the book is based on thoughts and feelings of adult adoptees. This book will help us be better parents to our baby boy from Ethiopia!

We also had a luncheon this weekend featuring a testimony. The lady sharing has gone though the challenges of infertility, leading the international adoption. The adopted two beautiful kids from Haiti. I am very thankful for her story and willingness to share with honesty. God continues to provide these inspiring moments.

Our Prayers Have Been Answered

2008-06-19T21:09:00.003-06:00

Simon got the job at the bank!! He will be a Credit Analyist. He is very excited about the position and the opportunity. We have been praying (and asking others to pray for us) that God would help provide the finances we needed to adopt our baby boy. This is the answer to our prayers, just getting the job in this tight job market is a blessing, but they offered him $10k/year more than we were expecting. GOD IS GREAT!!! We are thinking we may be able to start the adoption sooner, possibly August. Thank you everyone who has been praying for us on this journey.

Happy Fathers Day!

2008-06-15T20:21:00.003-06:00

Happy Father's Day to all of the dad's out there. We had a relaxing day. Nicky helped me make a special dinner for Simon.

Simon, Bella, & Nicky

Simon's Job Status & Ethiopia Thoughts

2008-06-15T13:00:00.003-06:00

Simon's Job
Well, we have good news on the job front for Simon. He has a second interview with the bank he interviewed with a month or so ago. This is the one that told him that they wanted to hire him, but couldn't fill the position at that time. His interview is Wed...we are on pins and needles waiting for it. I just calculated what I think he will be making and how much of that we can dedicate to the adoption, and if he starts in July, we will have our $10,000 goal by October! That means we will be able to start the adoption process then. Things have been moving pretty quickly with Ethiopia, so we may have our baby boy home by next summer!

Ethiopia
With all of the news lately about the famine in Ethiopia (admittedly I have not watched much of it, as it is too heart breaking for me right now) and the research I have been doing on the country, I can't help but think there has to be something more we can do. Realizing I make as much in one day as some Ethiopians make in an entire year. Also, the famine...we eat more during one meal then some Ethiopians have in an entire day. Our church recently sent several groups to Africa on a missions trip. We are going to connect with them to see how we can help while we are there. From what I have heard of others trips to pick up their children, we may have time to do some work while we are there. Not one day passes that I do not think about this country and the people there.

Adoption Journaler for RLC

2008-06-10T20:22:00.002-06:00

I am officially an adoption blogger for RLC. I am really excited to be part of this powerful movement. I have felt God has been behind our adoption every step of the way so far. I hope that being part of the adoption journaling for RLC will help other people on this journey as well.