Court Date

Today is our Ethiopian Court Date. We found out the night before Thanksgiving that December 14th was our day. I can hardly function as we await the results. Once we are approved we will be given an estimated travel date. It's all just TOO exciting!!!

Time seems to move faster around the Holidays, which is a blessing because waiting is so hard.

Last month my friends and sisters (who are also my friends) gathered in Nashville, TN to celebrate our adoption. It was amazing to be in a room with so many friends who have adopted or are in the process. If you are reading this blog, watch-out, this heart of adoption is contagious!!!

Here is a photo of two of my best friends. Missy (on my left) is also adopting a boy from the same orphanage in Ethiopia. We are praying that we will be able to travel to Ethiopia together to bring our sons home. Tina (on the right) is my friend who send the original email with the boys' photo that captured our hearts. Life is so much richer when sharing it with friends like these!

That's all for now - we now will wait anywhere from a day to a month for the news of our approval and estimated travel dates... we will keep you posted as soon as we hear any updates.

Handmade African Necklaces Make GREAT GIFTS!

These beautiful handmade necklaces come in three styles. "Style A" (pictured above LEFT)is a long necklace (or could be used as a bracelet) of colorful beads. It's approximately 48" in length, and it's one of those pieces that people always ask about. "Style B" (picture RIGHT) is the Metal Medallion (approx. 18-20"). "Style C" (pictured RIGHT - below) is similar to Style B, but is a handcrafted and hand-painted wooden medallion.

All 3 styles are available for $20 each, plus $5 shipping and handling. The same "Buy Now" link can be used that we set-up for T-SHIRTS - just please specify which Style Necklace you would like - OR what size T-SHIRT you want.

Again, Thank You so much for helping us bring our boys home, and for being a part of our miracle!

Wall of Faith

The last weekend in September was a special time for me as I co-hosted an annual women's conference in New York City called PureLife with Lynette Lewis. This was our seventh year producing the event together. My emotions were running high as I reflected on the conference last year which was only three weeks after my miscarriage.

Sorrow may last for the night, but joy comes in the morning!!!

It was such a joy to share the news of our adoption with the hundreds of women in attendance. The celebration was so sweet. It was fun to see all the beautiful ladies wearing our t-shirts to help support us to bring our boys home.

We took a moment at the Saturday morning session to write a statement of faith on a fabric covered wall that lined the front of the stage. I asked my mother to write my declaration for me. It was simply the word "Mommy." I can't wait to hear those words!

Our home study has been completed, so we are one step closer to our life changing voyage to Ethiopia.

waiting

There hasn’t been much to write about this past week. We are waiting for the first draft of our Home Study report. The visits went really well. The hardest part of the Home Study was to make sure that our social worker understood when David was joking. He made me nervous a couple of times, but I laughed extra loud to make sure she knew he was kidding. Fourteen years of marriage and I still laugh at all (well most) of his jokes.

We expect to have the report at the end of this week. It will then be sent to our agency in Oregon for final adjustments. Daily I am reminded of the bible verse in Philippians 4:6

Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.

While I’m praying that God will enable us to bring our boys home as soon as possible, I’m so thankful for Hannah’s Hope. As far as orphanages go, this place really loves-on the children and provides a wonderful environment for them to grow as they wait for their forever family.

Below is a link to a video on Hannah’s Hope.

**warning – the shoe part made me cry**

http://www.allgodschildren.org/ethiopia_hh.html

T-SHIRTS

Our dear friend Tanner Rollins designed this AMAZING shirt to help us raise funds for our Adoption and Travel. This shirt is a very high quality 100% pre-shrunk cotton, and the design is stunning. I'm really impressed by Tanner's artistry, and also by the overwhelming number of friends who agreed to buy one, even before we finished it.

Want to help us, AND wear the coolest shirt you've ever seen at the same time?

Here's the deal - Shirts are $20 if you pick them up, $25 if I ship them.

Send an email to notdave.david@gmail.com with your SIZE and address, I'll send you back a paypal invoice. Then I'll ship the shirt!

SIZES AVAILABLE:

Unisex/Men's S, M, L, XL and

Fashion Cut S, M, L, XL {Fashion Cut tends to run smaller & more girly}

THANK YOU FOR HELPING US WITH OUR ADOPTION!!!!

{PS - you're going to look SO HOT in this shirt!}

Steps Forward

It has taken us several weeks to find a Notary Public who's commission is good for a year or-more, to meet us at our Doctor's office. After multiple phone calls to "mobile" notaries without success, we discovered that a friend from Church is a Notary! What a blessing! Today we are finally getting our "medical forms" checked off the list. Thank you Keller family!!!

This Thursday is our first Home Study visit. We aren't sure what to expect, but I can't wait to get started. The paper work required before they would meet with us took over a month to gather. Clearance letters from every state we have lived in since the age of 18 was a major pain, considering how much we have moved. Well... it's also been a while since we were 18.

This is a great week of moving closer to our boys coming home. We received a call that Chernet, the oldest, had chicken pox. It was going around the orphanage. It made my desire to be mothering him and caring for him so very real. They assured me that he is being well taken care of and everyone encouraged me that it's a good thing that he has gotten the chicken pox over with.

Now we're off to the Doctor's office, then the Police Station (more about that later). Thanks for riding this roller coaster with us!

Going “Green”

The adoption process has brought attention to the fact that my “Green” card needs to be renewed. You wouldn’t believe (unless you-too are an “alien”) what kind of intimidating and oppressive atmosphere they create at the USCIS Office (a.k.a. “Immigration”). While at the immigration office I met a lady who overheard me mentioning that I was in the process of an International adoption. She shared with me that she recently adopted a 4-year-old special-needs boy from China. She gushed as she talked about her son stating, ”This is the best thing my Husband and I have ever done.” Her child has Cerebral Palsy.

Her next statement was, “I have learned so much about what it means to be adopted by God.” Wow. The more I’ve thought about her statement the more God has shown me that He loves us just as we are. He adopted us with all our imperfections. He takes full responsibility for our care. He gladly becomes our source for all of our needs, both spiritual, as well as natural. His grace and His love give us hope for a future, just like this little boy from China!

I’m thankful to God for the divine appointment of meeting this woman while standing in line at the Immigration office. She was from Belfast, Northern Ireland, which is where most of my extended family lives. It was such an encouragement to me (and a really-cool “small-world” moment…) as we continue on this adventure of bringing our boys home.

It’s a small world after all

This week I received “royal” mail. I opened the package with great expectation to discover it was certified copies of my birth certificate that I had ordered from England. Getting copies of a birth certificate sounds like an easy request, but not when one of you was born in England and the other was born in Japan.

David’s parents were serving in the military when he was born, so he entered the world in Fukuoka, Japan. The two of us now live in the birthplace of America, Philadelphia, and are adopting two sons from Ethiopia.

Our lives are like the ride at DisneyWorld with the beautiful dolls singing in their native tongue, “It’s a small world after all”. I was going to try and write it in French, but all I’ve got is “ Un petit”.

I’m so thankful to call the Creator of the Universe, “Abba Father”. Nothing is impossible for Him. He brought David and I together from two different parts of the world and now he is connecting us with our sons. He’s got the whole world in His hands!!!

fingerprints

Part of the adoption paperwork is fingerprinting. I was so nervous getting my fingerprints taken. The woman kept telling me to relax, which didn’t help. I told her I’ve watched too many CSI episodes.

It still amazes me that God has given each of us a unique set of fingerprints, even identical twins! Our fingerprints are a small physical example of how He has stamped a unique identity and destiny on each and every life.

David and I can’t wait to begin discovering the talents and passions of Chernet & Misganaw. We are so excited about cultivating the seeds of destiny that God has planted in their hearts. We are praying daily for their emotions, their minds, and even their names – which we are trusting God to reveal.

Our fingerprint reports came back clean. I knew I had no reason to be nervous. Still I’m thankful that even if I had sordid past, in Christ, my record would be clean!

a picture says a thousand words

Has an image ever turned your world around?

On July 1st our lives were forever changed by an attachment to an email from a friend of mine. The photo was taken by our friend, Kelly Putty at an orphanage in Ethiopia. She is a professional photographer using her gift to help find forever families for the children in the waiting program at Hannah's Hope.

Words can't describe the emotions that ran through me when I first saw their little faces. I couldn't contain the tears as I tried to tell David to come and look at my computer. He pointed to the very children I was moved by and said "Let's get them".

Two weeks later our dining room table is covered with paper work. We have been approved by the Adoption Agency to pursue the adoption of these two precious brothers. We are discovering daily all that we need to learn about adoption and parenting, but we are not alone.

One of our dearest friends in Nashville received the same email and are adopting one of the other boys from Kelly's photos.

We are overjoyed to be walking through this process with such amazing family and friends!