JUNE 3

JUNE 3. This is the day we have been looking forward to for 6 months now. It is the day that we can go pick up our boys and hold them in our arms! We received word today that our embassy date will be June 3. Now we are busy trying to book flights and reservations. Kenneth and I would love to be able to make a short stop in Rome on the way. Just last week the tickets were as low as $2300 per person, and now they have shot up to $5000. We are praying that somehow the tickets prices go down again and we can make one last short trip together before being a house full of children! I have always, always wanted to see Rome, and it would just be an overflow of blessing for me to be able to do that before bringing our sons home. We will see...
For now, I cannot wait for June 3!

Coming Home

I just got on our agency's website. This picture of our boys is on the welcome home page! I was so excited to finally see our sons there. I have been waiting for that since the day we began the adoption process. We are getting so close to having them home now! We hope to be able to go to Ethiopia to pick them up in June.

They are OURS

Asa Charles Merga

Adoniram Andrew Abdi

We got a phone call this morning that both boys passed court! They are officially OURS. We hope to travel to Ethiopia in about 3-6 weeks to bring them home!

Suprise!

We were so blessed this weekend with a suprise shower from our church family and friends to celebrate the three new blessings in our life! I thought we were going to a baby fair with the Dillow family, but when I walked in the conference room at the Hilton hotel I saw lots of familiar faces..and no baby fair. What a nice suprise! We received so many things that we are going to need and lots of gift cards to buy diapers!

Words cannot describe how loved and blessed we feel by the people in our life. We have received so much support, encouragement and prayer throughout this whole adoption process. I cannot imagine going through this without our church family, family and friends. God has truly given us way more than we could have dreamed.

In addition to the suprise shower, we have also heard back from two grant agencies this week. CARI granted us $1,000 toward our in-country fees, and the Oath Ministry from a church in Alabama gave us $400. What a blessing. We were also to meet our goal for the Lifesong matching grant, which was $3,000! God assured us that He would take care of this adoption if we would only be obedient, and it is amazing to see Him keep His Word!

The court date is two days away....please keep us in your prayers!

Ahhh...

The excitement/anticipation for our court date is about to give me a stomach ulcer. We are less than 1 week away! Although we are trying to guard our hearts because so much can still happen, it feels like we fall more and more in love with the boys each day. Our hearts are starting to really ache to have them home with us. I keep having dreams about them coming home, and us going to pick them up. Noah is also starting to become more impatient. He had two total melt-downs at school this week because he wanted his brothers to be home.

When we found out that I was pregnant, it really threw my plans for a loop as far as the house is concerned. We have decided to switch some furniture and rooms around to make room for everyone. Last night we moved Noah's big boy bed into a different room and set up an identical bed for Abdi/Aiden in the same room. Noah is very excited. We also set up a bed for Merga/Asa in a new room so that he will have a big boy room once the baby arrives. We have lots more to do, but we finally got started. Once we pass court and the boys are legally ours we have a list of things that we want to do. I am trying to refrain from doing too much until then.

Please continue to pray for us and for our court date. We are praying that God will miraculously allow us to pass court the first time around with both boys.

Getting Closer...

Our court date is less than two weeks away. Kenneth and I are so excited, and we are just praying that we pass the first time with both boys.
On Monday we received a video with both boys. What a precious thing our adoption agency does for us. I think I have watched it at least 4 times now. It is wonderful to see our boys on video and witness their beautiful smiles in action. It makes us want to bring them home more and more. Noah gets really excited to see them on TV too. He always says, "That's my brother!" And then he wants to know when they are coming to live with us, when Mommy and Daddy are going on a plane to bring them home, etc.
We also received word this week on how much our boys weigh. This gives us a good idea of sizes, etc. Abdi is currently 29.9 lbs and Merga is 17.6 lbs. Noah is already 37 lbs, so they both seem tiny to me!

Abdi is Healthy!

We received the wonderful news last night that Abdi did get his medical exam, and he is a healthy boy. He tested negative for HIV and non-reactive for HEP-B. Praise the Lord! We were prepared to look at our options for help if he came back positive for either, but thank God we do not have to go down that road. God has been so very good to us throughout this whole process. One big step closer....
Now to pass court!