Travel!

We get to travel in a couple of weeks and bring home our Sweet Baby!

  Wow! Wow! Wow! 

Praise the Lord! Right now I'm so excited I don't even know where to start. But I'm going to go start something...

Praise the Lord!

We are rejoicing here today! Sweet Baby's case passed court and we will be traveling for her in a few short weeks. We don't have an official travel date yet, but in the next few days we should be assigned a travel date. We hope to travel in January!

Praise the Lord for His protection and care of our little one. She is so far away from us, but so very near to Him. And praise Him for granting us peace during this wait for news. 

We are so excited! Gotta go jump up and down with the kids some more!

Praying for Good News

I woke up extra early this morning. I can't imagine why :)

Hopefully today is the day we get some good news about Sweet Baby's case clearing court! I'll post as soon as I hear. 

Sunday Scripture

"In everything give thanks:

 for this is the will of God

 in Christ Jesus concerning you."

 I Thessalonians 5:18

Court Date

It's 1:15 in the morning. I am finding sleep eludes me, even after a full and fun day of Christmas celebration with the kids. December 26th is a big day for us. Right now in Ethiopia, we hope that our Sweet Baby's case is being heard in the courts. We pray that today is the day that the Ethiopian courts will officially make us her family.

Because our agency in Oregon is closed for the Christmas holidays for several more days, we will not find out if her court case passed through court successfully until some time next week. Please pray for peace of mind and peace of heart for our family during this tough time. We have so much for which to be thankful, and we will use this time of extra waiting to give thanks in everything. 

Merry Christmas from Our Family!

Friday Funnies

We were sitting at the table eating chicken noodle soup and grilled cheese for lunch, when middle son noticed a cloud in the sky outside the window. He got so tickled because...
...the cloud looked exactly like Mr. Toad's car. Mr. Toad is the crazy, wild driver in Kenneth Graham's The Wind in the Willows. Mr. Toad races about and crashes all the motor cars he owns, then he "borrows" other cars he fancies and crashes them as well. While middle son laughed about Mr. Toad's perfectly formed cloud-car in the sky, the wind suddenly shifted and caused more wild laughter at the table because....
...Mr. Toad's car was smashed to smithereens right before our eyes, right there during our lunch! He just imagined Mr. Toad flying forth from the wreckage, eager to find another vehicle to push to its limits. He was so tickled by the whole thing I had to make him stop eating so he wouldn't choke. 

This the book in which Mr. Toad lives. The Wind in the Willows has been a blast to read aloud with the kids the past few weeks. 
I just love how God keeps us involved in our learning in such an exciting way. When we read Charlotte's Web a few years ago, He sent a beautiful argiope spider to build her giant web on the outside of our bathroom window. For months, the kids were able to stand at that window and press their noses one inch away from that beautiful spider and her amazing world. We fed her grasshoppers and watched her spin and catch prey and make her egg sack. And it all happened while we were reading about Charlotte. 

Those kinds of God "bonuses" seem to be all around me, if I just remember to keep my eyes open for them.  Mr. Toad's cloud-car surely put some extra fun into our latest read. 

Gotta Love It ~ December, Down South

The Laughing Children

I Would Gather Children

~author unknown

Some would gather money

Along the path of life,

Some would gather roses,

And rest from worldly strife.

But I would gather children

From among the thorns of sin,

I would seek a wayward curl,

And an awkward, silly grin.

For money cannot enter

In that land of endless day,

And roses that are gathered

Soon will wilt along the way.

But, oh, the laughing children,

As I cross the sunset sea,

And the gates swing wide to Heaven

I can take them in with me!

Wish You Could See This!

Wow. We got new photos of Sweet Baby. She looks so, so good. Her skin is clear and her eyes are bright and her cheeks are plump and kissable. She even has a tiny smile in one~ it completely melts my heart.

The kids gushed over her photos, then immediately signed up for child care duties. Eldest will be in charge of holding and cheek-kissing. Middle son started working on some jokes for the baby. And youngest son will be in charge of reading to her. I hope they can pencil me in on the schedule somewhere, because I have some loving of my own planned for this baby girl. 

Our court date is December 26th. This court appointment takes place in Ethiopia. We are represented in court by our agency. It is the last hurdle before we are allowed to travel to bring her home forever. Please join us in praying that her case will fly through court on December 26th,  and that we will be heading to Ethiopia in January, the Good Lord Willing. 

Thursday Funnies

We encourage the children to be very specific when they give thanks. So when we have a family chain prayer it can get pretty long as the kids thank God for their eyes, legos, chocolate frosting, chicks, clouds, plain white paper, rocks.... you get the picture. 

Last night middle son was leader of our Family Time. He asked his little brother to close our devotional with a prayer. The six-year-old was rubbing his eyes already and was pretty ready for bed, but he agreed to lead the prayer. We bowed our heads and listened.

"Dear God,

Thank you for our baby sister.

 Thank you for your Son who died for our sins.

 Thank you for your Word in our hearts.

 Thank you for our family.

Thank you for our warm house,

and all those other odds and ends.

 In Jesus name we pray,

 Amen."

Super Sandwich Maker

In line at Subway, I concentrated on the most economical combination for getting 4 subs and drinks. The kids talked among themselves, then went ahead and starting looking through the glass at the veggies while I told the Super Sandwich Maker our order. Eldest had to lift youngest up to see through the glass, and then they all three talked and laughed over some silliness while they waited at the end of the counter by the cashier.

I went through the long list of veggies needed for each child's sub, and Super Sandwich Maker seemed amused that they wanted just about everything but jalapenos.  She piled the toppings high, then smashed the subs down. Then she looked over and grinned at youngest.

"Do you really eat all those veggies?" she asked.

"Yes, ma'am."

Super Sandwich Maker looked over at me and asked, "These aren't your kids, are they?"

"Yes, these are my children," I answered, smiling. I assumed that this was about to become one of those teaching moments where I would have to educate this poor woman about adoption and multicultural families. I got my speech all ready to go. But I didn't need it.

"Wow," she said. "I never would have guessed they are brothers and sister. They're so nice to each other and they're having so much fun." 

I smiled all the way through lunch, and I still smile when I think about it. As a mother, my greatest desire is that my children love their Lord Jesus Christ and live their lives for Him. My second greatest desire is that they love each other and be thankful for each other, because family is the context in which children learn how to treat other people with love and compassion.   Now don't get me wrong. We are a work in progress and the kids get on each other's nerves sometimes. But overall they genuinely like to be together and they know how to enjoy each other. And they really do love each other to pieces. 

So thank you for reminding me how blessed I am, Super Sandwich Maker. You totally made my day. 

Cousins

These are some more pictures from our trip to west Texas last week. We all enjoyed our time together, and the cousins really had a lot of fun. They spent their days digging in the sand, watching for wildlife, and exploring. After the sun went down it was time to roast hot dogs and marshmallows and play some mean hands of Uno. 

Must Read

An adult adoptee wrote a great piece for the Great Wall Gazette. She has a wonderful outlook. It's especially exciting since I've been email buddies for years with the sweet family and handsome little guy featured at the end of her article. 

We adoptive families are so incredibly blessed when our children come into our lives. Kerry's article shares the many ways adoption has blessed her life, as well. Enjoy!

Chopping Wood

After weeks of trouble with everything electronic, we finally have both our camera and our computer working at the same time. Hallelujah! 

We had a great time at our family farm in west Texas last week. The weather was great the first few days, then turned colder and was perfect for roasting hot dogs and marshmallows. The kids enjoyed learning how to chop mesquite wood chips for my uncle to take back to use in his smoker. Eldest started out with some instruction from Daddy Don. She kept forgetting to keep the safety glasses on her face, so we ribbed her about them being on top of her head in most of the pictures. 

My nephew got the hang of it really quickly.

Then the little guys helped out. They feel so big when they help Daddy with a job.

If you look at those pictures you'll notice that our kids are NOT wearing the footwear you should be wearing when using a hatchet or an ax. In the past few months they've all outgrown their good work boots. So, the grandparents treated them to a trip to the boot store to get outfitted for another year with sturdy, tough boots. Thanks so much, Gram and Daddy Don!!

Monday Funnies

We've had the pleasure of teaching Bible class to a great group of 3rd and 4th graders for the past few months. They are sweet and eager to learn, and we've enjoyed sharing their excitement while learning right along with them. Now we are taking a break from teaching until we get our Sweet Baby home and settled in. We will miss spending those Sunday mornings with our special students!

To express our love and appreciation for our class, I spent a long Saturday cutting out my special recipe sugar cookies into hearts. Then I lovingly iced and sprinkled each one. They turned out like this:

We printed up notes to remind the kids why we'd drilled them so hard on scripture memory and basic Bible knowledge. I bundled them up carefully, with enough extras for any visitors we might have that Sunday.

 
When the students came into the classroom I had a big, pretty platter of the cookie bundles in the back of the room, ready to pass out at the end of class. The children exclaimed about the pretty tray of treats. Then one burst my bubble.

"Wow! Are these Pop Tarts?"