At Last!

This song was what Chris and I walked down the aisle to once we were pronounced husband and wife.  It fit, plus it was a super classy song and Chris wouldn't go for anything that wasn't classy.  :)
As I listen to the words, it seems to fit in our current situation just perfectly.  It is a love song that fits here in the adoption world as well.  It might be even more perfect when she is home at last, but none the less.

At last, our call came on Friday, July 5, 2013.  The last day it could have come on so as to not cross the 2 year wait mark, since July 7th, which is a Sunday this year is our Waitaversary.  This is how it went down----

Every year over the 4th of July we camp with our dearest friends, the Gerdel's and Missy's mom and family.  Most of the time it is miserably hot and yet we make it fun, plus we usually include a float trip on the Meremac River.  We've camped at least 6 years---floated at least 3.  A few months ago, Chris and I decided financially we just didn't want to float this year.   So we actually said it out loud so that we would stick to that decision.  However, the Gerdel kiddos were upset that our kids wouldn't be floating with them, so we let our two big kids go along and promised Tobe a day of hiking and one on one swim time.  He was a bit sad, but then was excited.  Of course on the 4th our agency was closed, so we had a peaceful, wonderful time watching fireworks and swimming, and yet in all of our minds was the possibility of a referral the next day (and thinking THAT's why we didn't float!)  So we sent off our floating friends and after a bit headed off to go on our hike---

However, we no sooner got out of the camp grounds and into a place where phone reception actually came in and we got the call!!!!  It was so great that the call came through, because service was sketchy.  I heard our agency give a few details, then the call was dropped, we try again, and the call was dropped, finally it rang once more and I just said loudly "We are coming in!!!!"  See we live near CHI's headquarters and the entire time since we are at STL family we thought we would be driving in to see our referral packet.  We were about another hour out, but we just knew we needed to drive in and get this packet today!!!!  I tried to text Missy before she got on the raft, but missed her.

So....we drive in---see the most beautiful pictures of our beautiful girl and are just thrilled!!!  We spent the afternoon oohing and awing over her and let some family and friends in on our news, but waited to show her pic to her big brother and sister first.  Once we showed Eden & Eli (of course Tobe got to be the first), we got to share with the Gerdel's (who if you recall Missy was the one who jumpstarted all of our fundraising efforts by giving up her bday gifts and running 30 miles for her 30th bday for Chloe)......so just because God likes to put the icing on the cake---guess who share the same bday?????  YEP.  One year after Missy's run, our little Chloe was born.  Another friend pointed out, our Chloe has been along with us in this wait the entire time!!!!  Chloe is 15 months old right now, if you add the 9 months during birth mom's pregnancy---you get our 24 month wait!  Chloe began life as we began our wait!!!!!  Just amazing.  All my adoptive mom friends continued to tell me, His perfect timing (which I believed), but man I couldn't even imagine some of the "coincidences" that God has orchestrated so that I know He had this in His hands the entire time.

So to finish off our Friday night we got to make our fun announcement video.  :)  We didn't get to post till the next day because of the sketchy service.  But we were so excited to share with our church family today what God has done and praise His name.  Like I've said many times before, the church (and not just our home church) but THE church has helped bring Chloe home via prayers and funds.  This has been a joint effort. 

<iframe src="https://www.facebook.com/video/embed?video_id=10201372703498032" width="226" height="400" frameborder="0"></iframe>

WHAT'S NEXT???
Court.  Adopting from Ethiopia is a two trip process.  First trip is court and second is embassy process.  So.....CHURCH here is the prayer need.  I've mentioned before Ethiopia has a rainy season, where courts just close down.  This usually happens mid August.  Now realistically we probably won't make it to court before then, which means we wouldn't make our first trip till mid October.  BUT, our God works miraculously and ALL THINGS ARE POSSIBLE with Him.  There have been some that have moved through this quickly and there are plenty that don't.  Would you please pray consistently that we could make it to court BEFORE it closes?

***Sidenote:  There are rules and regulations that prohibit us from sharing any identifiable info on Chloe until she is officially ours when we pass court.  So no pictures online and her Ethiopian name will not be posted online.  We will use her Ethiopian name as part of her name.....

We can't even begin to thank you all for the prayers and well wishes and prayers and so forth for our family and our daughter.  We will keep you updated!  Thanks for listening.

Then & NOW..........

THEN-----July 7, 2011.  We started on the wait list. I blogged about it HERE
 and actually said it could be "two weeks or two years"......I said that?????



NOW----July 7, 2013.  My kids around our referral packet, CELEBRATING
 finally having a face to the sister they have been praying for!

Keepin' It Real....

May has been a long month. I guess I did skip right over our 22 months and we are a week out from 23 months.  Today was the first referral in over a month and it was also the first referral for a family that was behind us on the list. (It was a boy referral and the  family had waited 22 months.)  I sure am hoping that there aren't too many referrals behind us....cause that is kind of a poopy feeling.  (Hence the title "Keepin' It Real").  So we remain at #10.

Here is some good news:  the process after referral seems to be moving along quicker.  Of course this can be one of the major variables.  The normal process is birth parent interview, then usually court date would be scheduled 4 weeks after (if everything was in place and the birth parent interview went well).......but I know of 3 families who had a birth parent interview and then were needing to be in Ethiopia within 5-10 days!!!!  {That is NOT much notice, people!}  But that is also so exciting because if we "hypothetically" get a referral at the beginning of June and have our birth parent interview 4-5 weeks later, that means if things move as quickly as they have been we could be in Africa at the end of July!!  THIS IS OUR PRAYER!  Please continue to pray on Chloe's behalf.

We have A LOT going on with our family. Baseball, baseball rain outs, rescheduled baseball and throw in some dance recitals, bible bowl trips, church camp, prepping for VBS (oh yeah, I am interim elementary children't minister for the summer!), swim lessons coming up, etc. So the business of summer will surely be a good distraction and keep me focused instead of a blubbering mess for whatever stage I'm in.  I now have a 5th grader, 2nd grader, and a Kindergartner.  Say WHAT???!!!

                    

We had a wonderful 3rd Annual Love 2 Run 4 Love on Mother's Day weekend.   Due to some amazing sponsors (especially jacobyco---who donated the tshirts), we made about $4200.  Three different families will benefit from this and 5 different orphans (The Kramel's, The Douglas', and us).  My friend, Dianna Kramel celebrated her first official Mother's Day (although in her heart she's been a mama for a long time).   God provided a gorgeous day with wonderful weather and amazing friends and supporters.  So grateful to each and everyone of you! 

 



I have been reminded in May to take nothing for granted, to hug your loved ones often, to say "I love you!" when telling your kiddos good bye, and that we must continue to pray.  I've attended 3 funerals in May (well one is this weekend--but he went to Jesus in May).  One was after a long battle of illness, one was a shock even in the midst of a continued storm (thinking things were turning around for the better) and one was so tragic there was no way you could even imagine it coming, ranging from a 77 year old to a 2 year old.  {Sidenote:  I was blessed to see the 2 year old's celebration of life memorial service via a live stream---which was just so moving.  Blessed by this family's testimony and faithfulness in the midst of brokenness and I haven't even met them in 'real' life. If possible, please watch this small segment where the pastor shares some thoughts on adoption, both literally and our adoption into Christ's family.  It is worth the watch!}  The entire service is long as you might expect so you can just skip to 1:19:20 or so and find it. His entire message starts around 1:10:10.  Click HERE to watch.

Ethiopian princess.

 

My jr high and high school BFF, Christy got to meet up at Nick's wedding.  :)





My best friend and I on a much needed R&R in downtown
 New Haven, MO on the river.  I highly recommend it!
Thanks Missy for loving on our kiddos!

But I have also had a few praises this month after praying for years for some of them.  We were able to witness 2 weddings (one renewal).  Chris got to be a groomsmen for a dear, dear friend who now works with some of our closest, bestest friends (a bit jealous, but trying to get over it and yes I know 'bestest' is not a word).  The three funerals were all people who loved Christ and are with the angels in heaven.  One family is on their way to Ghana right now to meet their 3 children and stand in court to say "yes" to being their forever family after 1 1/2 years of waiting.  Already mentioned my friend Dianna, who the day after Mother's Day learned about the day she would meet her son and has already been to Ethiopia and back, passed court and is waiting to go back to get her sweet son {seriously, people the lashes on this boy are breathtaking!}, one of my best friends that I have been praying for the last 5-6 years recieved a good prognosis on her reoccuring brain tumor.  It is so good for the heart when you see prayers answered, even after such long waits.  It reminds me of 1 Peter 4: 12-13 from the Message: "Friends, when life gets really difficult don't jump to the conclusion that God isn't on the job---instead be glad that you are in the very thick of what Christ experienced.  This is a spiritual refining process with glory just around the corner."  It is good to see God's answers.  It is good to see growth during the refining process (even though we don't like it) and I KNOW that God is on the job.  He always has been.  I'm just waiting to turn the corner!

Braxton Hicks.....

I have never fully been in labor until after already being at the hospital.  Eden was two days overdue and I went in because I had a high leak and then went into labor after much walking in the hospital that day.  Eli was induced on his due date and by noon we all figured out we weren't getting anywhere and with his estimated weight we ended up having a c-section.  Tobe was a repeated c-section a week before his due date. So I never had the contractions or the false labor or the "should we go to the hospital now?" feeling.  I never even had serious braxton hicks contractions.

Well leave it to the non-pregnancy to have my first braxton hicks (metaphorically speaking).  Anyways, the two real life friend couples that we have visited with got their referral when they were #13.  Did I mention WE are #13?  I also know that after the most recent referrals we may be at #1 or #2 for a toddler.  Just can't really know for sure, several people in front of us want sibling groups or an infant baby.   So it literally could be any day, but it also could be several months.  (Of course, that is making it very different from a pregnancy b/c there is no official due date in sight----I posted about our "expectancy" a long time ago HERE). 

So I am super excited and yet super crazy all at the same time.  I had several daydream scenarios today playing out in my head about how it could/would go down {today, mind you}.  And yet it did not.  I'm afraid I could have these scenarios daily....so I NEED prayer.

I really have no clue how to stop my brain....besides my friends covering me in prayer.  I can't imagine doing this for several months.  So here are a few specific prayer requests:

1.  Continue to pray for our hearts, minds, and patience as we continue to wait for our referral day and see her sweet face for the first time.  (From any day to still several months)

2.  Pray for a QUICK referral.  Ethiopia courts close from mid August thru October due to rainy season. In essence, the court process just stops.  Referrals can still be made and those that made it to court can still be processed on thru embassy....SO my prayer is that if a referral is coming soon that it would come in time that we could make it to court at beginning of August.  (this would be somewhat miraculous at this point---to put things in perspective our friends who got their referral on Feb. 27th probably will go to court at the beginning to mid June---so we are running out of time).  The downfall???  Well it just means when we do get that referral we will have a 2 month longer wait period before we ever get to see her in person because court at the earliest will be late October.

3.  Continue to pray for our hearts, minds, and patience as we continue to wait for our referral day and see her sweet face for the first time. (From any day to still several months)  {Oh wait, I already said that didn't I?  :)  Well I truly mean it.)

Thank you for following along on our journey. 

21 Month Waitaversary

We have reached 21 Months.....

We have REACHED 21 Months......

We have reached 21 MONTHS.......

WE have reached 21 Months.......

We HAVE reached 21 Months......

I guess any way you say it---it means the same thing.  We are still waiting.  The last family that moved us up to #14 was actually #11 on the list.  So I am having heart palpitations these days.  :)
Of course the good kind.  So please pray.  It can literally be any day to still several months away.  It would be miraculous to not have a post with 22 months???  Am I right???

One reason is because on May 11th--(Saturday before Mother's Day) we are having our 3rd Annual Love 2 Run 4 Love....I would love to show her picture off.  (Cause unfortunately all you non-local peeps that are following our story will not get to see her picture till after our first trip to Africa and we pass court). 

So if you are in the Franklin County area at all please come join us for this 5K run/walk....It will benefit TWO sweet Ethiopians.....(us and the Krammel family).  Message me for a registration form.  Deadline for our fun t-shirt is April 25th!!! So sign up today. 

Dear Precious Daughter,

We are waiting for you.  We cannot wait until God puts you in our lap and we get to see your face.  We are praying for your health, your caregivers, your country, and your birth family.  Your brothers and sister are praying for you too.  They cannot wait to add you to our crazy family.  You are worth the wait---we already know that.  God has big plans for your life and I cannot wait to see how you are going to bloom.   His love is amazing and I can't quite understand how He loves you more than we do.....but He DOES!!!!

Love,
Your Mommy-to-Be