Mother's Day Gifts

Bella's self portrait

We all love havving Andrew home!

We sent in our i600a on April 20th.  Saturday, April 7,  we received our fingerprinting appt for May 18th!!!  Truly resting in His timing.  It actually occurred to me that maybe I should be a little nervous about the timing of those fingerprints because Andrew is in school in NC.  (He needs to be fingerprinted because he is 19.)  I wasn't though.  Resting in His timing...and the appt came the same day that Andrew came home....for the following week.  

Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and petition with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.  Philippians 4:6-7 (This scripture will always be a favorite.)

Special day, busy weekend, and adoption update

8 years ago I got a call that rocked my world.  That moment plays like a slow motion movie.  The sound warbled.  The information came in bits and pieces.  The result still the same.

I remember the initial call came in as "Mom's been in an accident."  I am even embarrassed to admit but I thought that my mom would have been at fault.  I use to tease her about being an airhead.  She use to zip around in her convertible, playing music, with a smile on her face.  I could see her getting in a fender bender.  My first prayers were please don't let her have hurt someone.  My prayers were answered but not in the way I expected.  As more news came she had been hit by a car walking across the street with my adopted 8 year old brother. They were walking from the parking lot to the church for a special service.  She managed to push Chris out of the way.  She died at the scene or in the ambulance, the detail never seemed important to me.  She was 62.  The mother of 6 children, two of which were adopted.  The man who hit her just did not see her.  He was a father of 4.  About ten years older than she was.  He was changing stations on his radio and turning onto a busy street.  To this day I am so thankful for the God's grace in allowing me to forgive him immediately.  My sisters have had a harder time.  They were so angry with him.  That anger is so heavy.  Something my mom would have never wanted.  By the time I flew down and got to the house, it was too late.  But just seeing her recipe box open and the recipe of what she had been cooking out, the message she left on my machine that day, or the letter that she had thrown in the mail that morning...such gifts!  I will always miss her.  But she knows that.

The only child of mine she did not meet was Bella.  I know that she would have loved Bella, and Bella would ahve adored her.  She was fun, kind, and gentle.  So today we talked and prayed for Grammy.  We went to the beach before church.  Grammy loved the beach and Grammy loved little kids:)  So she would have loved how we celebrated her life.

So now onto a lighter subject.  We had so much fun at R and A's birthday party.  Bella loves these girls. Followed up by a Fasika celebration planned by this amazing mom.  By Saturday night, we were exhausted.  But you have to laugh at the way of a 4 year old.  This was Bella on the way to the Fasika celebration:

Two minutes later:

And maybe a minute later:

On the adoption front...we are home study approved, waiting for the hard copy so we can submit to CIS.  Yeah!!!!  I am loving CHI/Ywam.  I wish I could have gone to the Mom's night out that they had in WA.  But as you can see this weekend could not have fit in one more activity:)

News!

We received news yesterday. All confusion cleared up. Now we move towards obtaining a court date and bringing little B home. As frustrating as the "weight of the wait" is, there are blessings that come from it. I truly believe that. I just want to get this beautiful child home. She is being loved and so well cared for. I do know that. She has an upper respiratory and ear infections and I think she needs to snuggle in bed, reading books, eating home-made chicken soup with her very own mommy.

Waiting for documents to be resubmitted for a court date :)

Fourteen

Yeah!  Gladney got our addendum.  We are filling out our new service plan.  I think that we may be the only people waiting for a child over 18m.  Unofficially, of course.  So what does that mean?  I don't know and have stopped trying to figure it out.  No wait, I do know what it means.  It means that it could happen any day...really any day, or in four months.  It means that we have no idea how old of a child Little M is.  She could be an infant or 48m.  It means Little M could actually be an M&M.  It means we surrender to God's plan and His timing.  

Off to visit colleges this next week.  Catholic University, Georgetown, Loyola of Maryland (Jesuit colleges - For the greater Glory of God... you have to love the mission), American University, Trinity, and Muhlenberg) are on the agenda.  I will try and sneak away to show Eliza John Hopkins (where she wants to go).  

Have a Wonderful Valentines Day!

Learning patience

I am not even on the wait list yet and I am learning how to wait.  Do we ever get good at it?  Gladney has our home study.  It takes 10  business days to review it.  Meanwhile, we keep imagining who or how many we are missing from our dinner table.  Reading the blogs of the families who have recently brought home their babies has been a tylenol for the waiting headache.  I am normally a type A personality that has more than enough to do... now put that on Red Bull.  I signed up for my Anatomy and Physiology class and lab.  I signed up for a bible study (had my first class and love it).  I am working at Williams-Sonoma.  Sit on the steering committee for a fund raising for my junior's school.  Trying to fit in yoga, time with my friends, cleaning the house, and cooking.  By the way, I get all this done while the kids are at school because I am a stay at home mom.  Do you see a pattern?  It is a form of nesting for me.  Get everything done before our sweet pea gets to us.  Most of those items have an end date.  An end date that will be before we will travel.  So meanwhile, I get my comfort from seeing other families made and competed.  

This weekend we are going to the Ethiopian New Years Celebration close to Boston.  We are bringing two of our kids (Andrew has a game in Maine), one of their friends, and a good friend of mine.  We will see new friends there.

Love does not make the world go around; Love is what makes the ride worthwhile. 

-Franklin Jones

Homestudy!

The hard copy came today so that we could proofread it.  YEAH!  We need to look it over to catch any errors (Zach's age, my sister's age, etc).  I can't believe that we are closing in on the end of paperwork.  I have one more document to send KSB other than the homestudy.  The homestudy will be sent to CIS, Gladney, and KSB (for the dossier). 

I remember when we first started the paperwork (June) how overwhelming it was.  I did not think that it could possibly be finished in a year let alone three months.  there is alot of hurry up and wait.  I see the finish line!