All Aboard

This past Saturday was a beautiful fall day. My mom had called the day before to see if we would like to take Noah on the Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad. Noah loves trains and I was so excited to watch him experience another first. He was a little apprehensive when the train first pulled in. After that, he was in heaven. Not only was he on a train but he was with his grandma and grandpa for the day. We had a great time. We walked around the historic city of Peninsula, had lunch, learned about beavers and then got on the train to head home. It was a beautiful day. Here are some pictures of our day.

Hard to believe......

It is so hard to believe that one year has passed since our fundraiser. Last year at this time we had no idea what our son would look like. We had no idea how we would pay for his adoption. We were running around like crazy people trying to pull it off. We also had one child who had just recuperated from Swine Flu. It was a crazy but wonderful time.
Here I sit one year later having one of the cutest Ethiopian boys ever in our home and his adoption completely paid for. As a matter of fact, his adoption tax refund will pay for most of our second Ethiopian prince's adoption!! God has been so good!! Noah has been a perfect fit for our family. He is such a funny boy. The other night Doug was praying at dinner. A couple of seconds into the prayer, Noah begins to pretend like he was sleeping and starts snoring really loud. Needless to say we all lost it!
Noah also got to see snow for the first time yesterday. We didn't have much but he stood for probably a half an hour and watched it fall. I leave you with a picture of that shows his excitement.
One other thing. I will be updating my blog concerning our second adoption. Please pray. There is a little piece of paper that we need in order to have our home study update completed. It is taking four months as of now to get it. This is heartbreaking to us because it mean 9 months before our boy is home. Thanks so much!

Until I breathe my final breath........

Until I breathe my final breath, I will continue to bring awareness to the orphan crisis!!! November 7th is National Orphan Sunday. What are you doing to make a difference?? If you are a Christ-Follower, doing nothing is not an option! James 1:27 tells us this. Not all of us are called to adopt but all of us are called to act! If you need ideas on how you can make a difference, feel free to contact us and we will help you find a way to make a difference in the life of an orphan.

Do Something Now from Children's HopeChest on Vimeo.

Moving........

Several times in previous post I have talked about wanting to be closer to our church family. Well, God has provided a way for that to happen. This past weekend we moved into a home that we are renting for at least the next year! We are so excited about this new season of our life. This house is a perfect fit for our family. The move has been the hardest on Faith. She had a lot of great friends in our old neighborhood who she is going to miss so much. Noah has been a trooper. He is one of the most easy-going kids. As long as his family is with him, he is good!! We are looking forward to making an impact in our neighborhood and community. It is exciting anticipating what God has next for us.

So on to another way we are moving. We are moving forward and adding to our family again through adoption. We have officially accepted the referral of a little boy who was on our agency's waiting child list. This was not on the radar for us but we know that he is our boy. We saw him at the beginning of the month and took some time to pray before accepting. We will be starting a new blog that will be private at least until we get him home. We want to make sure to tell his story just as we did Noah. I will put a link to our new blog on here as soon as it is set up. In the meantime, please pray for our little guy. Please pray that he would remain healthy. Please pray for us and the children. Pray that God would prepare all of our hearts for our new addition. Also, please pray for the finances for this adoption. This is much earlier than we anticipated returning to Ethiopia. If it was up to me, I would have waited to adopt again until we had our tax return in our hands in March(we get back all the money we paid for Noah's adoption which is enough to pay for this adoption). The problem with that is that we take away the opportunity for God to show up. From the beginning of Noah's adoption, we said that this had to be God's story or we didn't want to be part of it. That is still true with this adoption. God MUST show up!! Thanks so much for all of your prayers and support. This blog will continue with updates on Noah. So here are a few new pictures of our cutie to enjoy:)

6 Months Home......Really??

Six months ago this week, we held Noah in our arms for the first time. Where has the time gone?? In some ways it seems like yesterday and in other ways it seems like he has been here with us forever! We have come such a long way since that time.

I have heard that the one month, two month and six month home marks are monumental in seeing changes with the children. I would have to agree. As we got close to the 6 month mark, Noah's language has exploded. He is understanding so much more but better than that is that he is communicating so much more. Some of that is because he knows more English but most of it is because he is more settled and feels safe. He is now expressing his feelings, wants and needs. He has quite the sense of humor and loves to make us all laugh. He is incredibly affectionate with us. At times I feel as if my heart might burst with how crazy in love I am with this kid! All I can say is that adoption ROCKS!!! The joy and laughter that has been added to our home because of Faith and Noah is worth every tear, every night of lost sleep and every penny spent!! Who knows......we may have to just do this again:)....to be continued...........

We are now in the process of moving. Two and a half years ago, God began knitting our hearts with a church community almost a hour away. I have written about our journey in other posts. In the beginning of September we had an awesome opportunity present itself concerning our housing. God opened some doors in order for us to move forward. As we have been studying what it means to be on "mission", we have begun to look at our lives in a completely different way. As hard as this is to move, I wouldn't want to be doing anything else. This season is a time a shedding for us and I feel more alive than I have in a long time. Please pray for us and especially our children. This transition is going to be hard especially for Faith but we are believing that God is at work in her heart and preparing her for the good works that He has planned for her.

So the crazy ride called life continues for us. I couldn't do any of this without the grace of God and the most wonderful husband and father I know!! I leave you with a couple of pictures.

Better Late than Never...........

I can't believe that it has almost been 2 months since I updated our blog. I am finding that since returning from Ethiopia, I have had a difficult time putting my thoughts into words that everyone can read. I have never been a writer so it is amazing that our journey was documented like it was.

So, I am sure that the question you all have is how is Noah doing. He is amazing, beautiful, a joy, and a delight. I really do not believe there are enough adjectives to describe him. All that to say that some days have been difficult but the good days far outweigh the bad. This past week we were in Chicago to meet up with some moms and friends of his from the IAN care center. We had a blast except for a trip to the local ER. As I watched all of the children, I was once again undone by how perfect Noah fits into our family. It also was cool to see how the other kids fit so well into their families. It reminded me that God is in the business of placing the lonely in families!!

We have been home four months and the changes in Noah are amazing. We have not had the huge growth changes that others have had. Since our referral in December, he has grown 7 inches and gained 8 pounds. He is in the 90th percentile for height and weight. We have had two appointments with the IA doctor. We do believe that he is about six months older than his paper birth date. We have decided to keep his birthdate the same because it will only help him in the long run to be older in school rather than younger. Plus it means that I get to keep him with me for two years:) He is doing great with his English. He is now speaking in three and four word sentences. His attachment is coming along great. We are still pretty limiting in what we do with him and I don't regret it for a minute. Our family and friends have been very helpful and understanding. Last night before bed Doug sat down on the floor. Noah got up from where he was sitting and moved so that he could sit next to his Ababa. This totally melted my heart. It has been fun to see Faith and Noah begin interacting as siblings. Faith is a great big sister but does get annoyed by her little brother at times. I remember being so excited the first time the argued.

One highlight from the past month is that we readopted Noah. We had the pleasure of sharing our journey with an amazing judge. After the hearing, we had to wait to get some paperwork from the clerk. She told us that she had never seen the judge so moved. She said that our boy stole a piece of the judge's heart. This was great to hear and we once again are humbled by how just taking the steps of obedience has brought God glory.

Here are a few pictures of what has been happening the past two months:

My Montage 6/10/10 at OneTrueMedia.com

Noah's new favorite song:)

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

My Montage 6/16/10 at OneTrueMedia.com

A New Video of Noah enjoying a grape.

Make video montages at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Dates that Only God Could Orchestrate

At the end of November last year, my son proposed to his childhood sweetheart. They set a date of June the 4th. At that time I spoke with my coordinator about time lines concerning the acceptance of a referral. She told us about a little boy that needed a family. He was older than what we expected. After counting out date possiblilities, we realized that it would be better to accept a referral sooner rather than later. You can read more here Here is a look at how the dates of the past year have played out.

August 20, 2009- We sign on with IAN as our agency
August 20, 2009- Noah arrives at Sele Enat(the orphanage our agency works with)
December 4, 2009- We were given info about Noah
December 9, 2009-We accepted Noah's referral
April 4, 2010- We met Noah for the first time
April 9, 2010- We arrived in the US with our son
June 4, 2010- Seth and Mallory were wed
June 9, 2010- We arrived back home after a wedding in Florida

As I look over all of this, I am amazed at God's kindness to me in particular. God knows that I can get very overwhelmed in details. He has continually reminded me through this adoption that He knows my frame. I am so grateful for how He carried our family through these past 6 months. Our boy has been home for two months now and none of us can remember life before him. He is such a joy! So here are some pictures of the wedding and Noah enjoying Florida!!

Unexpected Gifts Along the Journey

Back in August when we began this journey to bring our boy home, I had no idea how many good gifts God had in store for us. The first one being our amazing son. Not only is he the cutest boy from Ethiopia, he also has the sweetest little spirit! I can not wait to see how God uses him. The second biggest blessing would be all of the girlfriends I have gained through this. Our agency has a Yahoo group where you can gain support, information and encouragement. It really is hard to understand all of the emotions, pain and joy that you experience as an adoptive parent unless you have walked this road. These women got it!! This group actually became my church for a season. They let me scream, cry, laugh, swear, and rejoice:) The closer we got to bringing Noah home, the more concerned I got that these friendships would end. I am so grateful that that is not the case.

One of my closest friends actually lives about 40 miles away. She read my blog back in October and contacted me. We were so excited to realize that we were so close. We talked about the days that would come when our boys would be able to play together. She had her referral at this time but we did not. When we finally received our referral, I began to dream about our boys playing together. Well that dream became a reality last night!! Here are some of the pictures of our evening together and even a video of our dance party:)

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Girlfriends, I want to thank each one of you for your friendship. Thank you for every time you listened to me cry, whine, scream, laugh, and cheer. I couldn't have walked this road without you! Dardi, thanks for opening your home to us! I can't wait for the next visit!!

11 more days....

Eleven more days until these two are wed! Their relationship started off as a friendship between families. We knew that there was more to the story when Seth started to brush his teeth and shower more often, especially before Mallory would come over.

I remember seeing this picture from the CD-7 Christmas banquet and thinking there is definitely something more going on here.

Then they began to "study" together:)

I knew my boy was smitten and so were we!

Finally after 4 years of being together, Seth proposed and now in 11 days we will get to witness these two declare their love to one another before family, friends and our Lord! We rejoice with them and are so excited for them as they enter into this new season!!

They are gone:((

Let me preface this with my mother did not do this. Today I took Noah to get his curls trimmed. My mom is crazy busy with babysitting for my sister and then leaving for Seth's wedding so I went to a shop down the street to get his curls trimmed. Trimmed!! Did I say trimmed?? Yes!! Well unfortunately a trim is not what happened:( His beautiful curls are gone! I am so sad and cried the entire way home. Here is the before and after picture:

So much to say but..........

I am finding that since we got home, blogging is very difficult for me. I have always had a hard time putting my thoughts down on paper. This was not the case during our wait for Noah. I constantly had things that I knew had to be written down. I am so glad that I did because it has been amazing to go back to some of my old post and see how God has been faithful to answer all of our prayers.

Noah is doing great. We had his dedication this past weekend. It was so good to have our entire family together. We actually got the first picture of all of us since Noah arrived home. He has brought such joy and delight to our family! We find that we all do a lot more laughing now that he is here. That is about all that I have for now so I will leave you with some recent pictures! Enjoy!!

One Month Home:)

It is hard to believe that we have already been home a month. In some ways I can't remember life before Noah was added to our family. He is such a delight to my heart. People have said to me how blessed he is to have us. The truth is that we are blessed and better because of him. The transition has been easier than we could have ever imagined. We have had a few rough moments but the joy and happiness far outweighs those times. We have him on a pretty strict rountine which I think has helped him adjust better. He sleeps great at night and takes usually a 2-3 hour nap per day. We had his appointment with the international adoption doctor. All of his test came back negative. We were pleasantly surprised. We also did our first bike ride through the metroparks. The first ten minutes of the ride, Noah squeeled with glee. I almost wrecked my bike because of laughing with him. Faith has settled in to her role as big sister and is doing a great job with him. Again we are amazed by God's kindness to us!
Life continues to be busy as we get ready for Seth and Mallorys wedding! Mostly everything that can be done on this end is done! Next weekend, with friends and family joining us at our home, we will dedicate Noah to the Lord. We are continuing to pray about going back on the list to do this all over but for right now we are just going to enjoy the next several months. Happy Mother's Day to all my friends. I am a better mom because of your friendship.

I have a BIG mouth!!!!

Did I get your attention?? I hope so! I know that those of you who know me well are probably saying that you have known that for a long time. My husband actually calls my family the loud family. I remember reading in scripture that as a woman I was to have a quiet and gentle spirit. I remember laughing with God and wondering how that would ever be possible. I later found out that quiet meant to have a firm trust in God. Whew!!I also believe that God has redeemed all of me including my mouth. I now choose to use it for the purposes of God.

So here I go. Most of you who know me and have spent any time chatting with me are aware of a ministry that we support called Drawn From Water. You can click on the link and read more about what they are doing for tribal children in Africa. We had the privilege when we were picking up Noah to spend time with Levi, Jessie, and their children. We also got to love on three children that were considered "mingi" and had been rescued by this ministry. To say that this was one of the highlights of our trip would be an understatement. They are incredibly humble people who left everything here in the States to answer the call of God and participate in saving children's lives. Their family's sacrifice was provoking. The sacrifices continue and now they have an urgent need. There are several women that are now pregnant with mingi babies. They are trying to raise the funds in order to rent a vehicle to make another trip to the tribes in order to speak to the elders of the tribe and make a plea to them for the lives of these babies. Some one has purchased a vehicle for them but they have been waiting for two months to get it through customs. When we met with Levi, I told him that I would come home and use my BIG mouth to make people aware of this ministry. You have an opportunity to participate in the saving of children's lives. My request is that you would pray for Levi, Jessie and their family! I do not remember how long of a journey it is to the tribes but I know that it is long and difficult. Please pray for the elders of the tribes. Please pray that God would open their eyes to lies concerning mingi. Second that you would consider sponsoring one of these rescue trips. The cost for the trip is $800.

Two Weeks Home

I can hardly believe that we have already been home for 2 weeks! We have definitely gotten into a routine and life is good!! Noah's adjustment has been great. The first week was rough but for the most part he has adjusted so well. It has been so good to have Doug home with us. Next week will be Doug's last full week home with us. We have become very spoiled by having him here with us. It has been great for Noah to have this time to bond with Doug.

We have kept our boundaries very small with him. We have had entire week with no tantrums and very little crying. There was two days when he just has a very sad look in his eyes. It was so hard as his mom to see the sadness and not know what to do for him. After asking him many questions in Amharic, I finally just took him into my lap and prayed and cried out to the Lord for him. Later I came across this article. The grief of adoption is very real. We are believing for the Lord to use all of Noah's pain for His glory!

Noah's english is increasing every day. I can't believe how many new words he uses each day. He is quite the character and loves to make all of us laugh. He is responding very well to correction but we do realize that a time of testing will come. However, we are greatly enjoying this season.

We were able to take Noah to a park one morning this week. It is so fun to experience these things through the eyes of a child. He usually has a look of wonder in his eyes as he sees all the new things. As I am watching him, the Lord continues to speak to me about my adoption in Christ. The question that keeps coming to me is if I still look at the things of God with wonder and excitement. I have been praying for fresh vision as I look deeper into the Word of God. Doug will be taking over the blog to do some posting about our trip.

My Montage 4/20/10 at OneTrueMedia.com

We are having a blast bonding with our boy. Things have gotten so much better here. My abs are sore from laughing so much. He is such a character and loves to make everyone laugh. Last night he serenaded us from his bed for about 2 hours. I finally went up at 10 and told him beka(enough). Here is a taste of what we heard.

Make photo slide shows at www.OneTrueMedia.com

One Week Home

It is so hard to believe that we have already been home a week. I know that I said that I would be blogging about our trip but I am still finding it very hard to put our trip into words. So, I decided I would let you all know how our adjustment is going. Noah did great on the plane ride home. He slept most of the trip and when he wasn't sleeping, he was watching movies. The first few days home with Noah were rough. We did not have much jet lag. Thank God or else it would have been much more difficult. The first night that we put him to bed was horrible. We had decided to go ahead and let him sleep in our room for however long the adjustment would take. He did not want to go to bed and just cried. It was the most gut wrenching cry I have ever heard. We were able to get him settled down and he slept until about 5 am. Doug and I tag teamed the first couple of nights. After a couple of days, we had him nap in his own bedroom. Since that time he has been sleeping both a nap and night time in his own bed. We did have to limit his water in the evening and he now sleeps from about 8:30 pm until 7:30 am with a three hour nap. This alone makes for a happy mommy:)

Every report we got from traveling families was that our boy was so quiet. We have not found this to be the case. He has the greatest laugh and loves to be the clown. His giggle is one of my favorite sounds. The first few days, he really was rejecting me. This was hard. The one helpful thing was that I felt love for him from the moment I saw him. We used different strategies with food for him to begin to warm up to me. On Wednesday, Doug was gone for the day so I was his only option. That seemed to make a difference and we definitely had a breakthrough. We have seen the Ethiopian shrug and have been quickly letting him no that this is not acceptable. We are finding that he is a very good eater. He doesn't like much variety which is good because there is not much variety around here.

Once again we want to thank each of you for the part you played in our journey. Having our boy here is still amazing to us. I regularly say to Doug that we have an African boy in our home. We are humbled and amazed that God would give us the privilege to be the parents to these four kids. Please continue to pray for all of us as we adjust to our new normal. Also please pray as we continue to seek God in regards to what He has put in our hearts concerning Ethiopia and our future.

We are Home

Sorry dear friends for being absent for so long. The absence in the beginning was because it has been near impossible to put our trip into words. I plan on doing that over the next week. We truly felt the prayers of the Saints during our entire trip. When we left on Friday evening, I began to have a panic attack at the airport in New York. I took a Xanax and Doug prayed for me and on the plane we went. We loved flying on Emirates. Our stay in Dubai allowed us to be completely refreshed upon arriving in Ethiopia. Driving through the city to our guest house was surreal. People had told me of the poverty but there really are no words that can prepare you for what you see. This was very overwhelming for both Doug and I. When we arrived at the Yebsabi Guest House, we really began to question what we had done. I was not prepared for this reaction from Doug. We took time to pray and then we got ready to go and meet our boy. As soon as we arrived and saw our boy, our fears immediately dissipated. He was absolutely beautiful. We were only at the care center for about a half an hour before returning to the guest house. We then enjoyed a coffee ceremony. That was our first exposure to Ethiopian coffee and we were hooked:) We then brought Noah to our room and bathed him, played for awhile and then put him to bed for the night. Here are some pictures of our travel and first day with Noah. to be continued.........

Five Days Until....

So five days until we board a flight headed to Ethiopia and seven days until I get to kiss ........


Him!

Gensis 22:14 The Lord Will Provide

I was planning on writing a blog today about my son's love story. My desire is to honor him and Mallory and the way that they have walked out their relationship. Also to brag a little about what great kids they are. I will have to do that on another post. This next post is a long one but if you need encouragement concerning the financial aspect of adoption, please read this.

Today I want to brag on my God!! From the time that I accepted Christ back in 1994, God has continually blown me away with His provision for us. This started almost immediately. When we first began following Christ, we were so far in debt that we could barely pay the bills with both of us working full time. As we began to read the scriptures we realized that we needed to tithe on our income. I remember fighting this so strongly but Doug stepped in and said that this was what we were doing. At the time, our pastor told us that he really had no idea how it worked but he saw time and time again where people stepped out and tithed in faith and God provided. So we jumped right into the deep end of the pool. I would have started with 2 or 3% but Doug insisted on 10%. From that day forward, we never missed a bill. Not only that, I was able to quit my job and stay at home with my children. We got into military housing with only a 3 month wait. It normally was a 2-3 year wait. We also paid off all of our debt.

So you think that right there would have convinced me that God would provide. Unfortunately that was not the case. God had put on our hearts in 1994 the desire for more children. It was not a possibility for this to happen physically without a surgery. Through many tears and years of laying it down, God provided a way for us to add to our family. This came through the foster care system. There is so much to that story but right now I just want to focus on God's provision. When we were getting ready to finalize Faith's adoption, I had to go to a meeting through the county about receiving a subsidy. At the beginning of the meeting I raised my hand and explained that we probably did not qualify for a subsidy because we had a healthy , Caucasian baby. The leader asked me a few questions concerning Faith's birth family. Because of their history, Faith qualified as special needs. This totally blew my mind. We then found out that we would receive a monthly subsidy for her until she turns 18. This also just so happened to be the year that the adoption tax credit would be applied to special needs adoptions. Therefore, we didn't have to pay a dime to adopt Faith. We would get a monthly subsidy and we would also get a tax credit of around $12,000 spread out over about 4 years. Unbelievable!!

Fast forward to Noah's adoption. When we started this adoption, we only had enough money for the home study but we knew that God had called us to this. We knew that He would provide but had no idea how. He provided every single penny through so many different ways. People who hardly knew us helped in ways that blew us away. We are forever grateful for all of their sacrifices for us. God used a hail storm, a fund raiser, cookbooks and a grant from Show Hope. Now we just found out that the tax credit has been increased to $13,170 and instead of being spread over 5 years, we will get it all back when we file our 2010 taxes early next year. So all this to say! God is the one who came up with the idea of adoption. It cost Him the life of His son in order to adopt us! I can say with no hesitation that my God WILL Provide!!!

Single digits...9

Nine days until we are getting on the plane headed to Africa and our boy! Everyone has asked how we are doing and so far we are doing great. I think that we have everything that we need to take. Hopefully tomorrow we are going to pack everything that we will not be using so that we make sure that we can take everything we have. It has helped that we have had a ton of things going on. Last weekend was the shower for my future daughter-in-law. I am so grateful for her! She has been and will continue to be a great blessing to my son and our family! This weekend we will help her move into the apartment that they will be living in after they get married. A friend wrote to me last night that he couldn't wait to meet Seth's wife. As I read it, tears streamed my face. These past 21 years have flown by and now he is getting married. WOW!
Faith seems to be doing ok with the fact that we are leaving. Please pray for her as we prepare to leave. She is so excited for Noah to come home that I think that helps prepare her for our leaving. She has a rough time when Doug leaves for his 24 hour shift. My mom and sister will do a great job keeping her busy. She also gets to have a sleep over with Mallory the night before we come home so that gives her something else to look forward to. Plus I bought her a present to open for every day that we are gone.
Please continue to pray for us as we prepare to leave. Can't wait to share pictures of the newest Robinson in our arms. One last thing, we are picking Noah up on Easter! How appropriate is it that we will be starting our new life together on a day that we celebrate our new life in Christ! Once again I can say without a doubt that God's timing is perfect!!

13 Days but Who's Counting??

13 days until we leave on a jet plane. Some days I feel as though I am going to burst with excitement and then other days I am asking myself what in the world have we gotten ourselves into. This weekend is crazy with a fund raiser for some friends today and then a shower for my future daughter in law tomorrow. Things should slow down a little this week so that I can focus on getting all of our bags packed with the supplies we are bringing for Sele Enat and Drawn from Water.

This morning I woke up to something that increased my excitement to get to Africa. Here is a short video of the cutest little boy in Africa.


http://sharing.theflip.com/session/ea43e9e37868909d3e5cccc42c49270d/video/11762192

Humbled by People's Prayers for Us

I saw this message today in an email for a church's prayer requests:

Please pray for Doug and Monica. In about a month, they will travel to Ethopia to bring home their child Noah. Pray for safe travels. More importantly, pray for Noah, that he falls madly in love with his new mommy and daddy, that his life will be of service to God, that he will flourish and grow with his new family. Pray for Monica and Doug as they see their child for the first time. May there be an undeniable bond between them, that all the legal stuff will go smoothly, and that they will raise Noah to fully know Christ.

It was incredibly humbling to know that people are praying this way for us!! Can't believe that we leave in 15 days!!

My Love

The past week has been a rough one. The stress of the upcoming trip and all the ups and downs of waiting for our embassy date has taken a toll on our marriage. This morning I decided to start my date with being grateful for the man God has given me. I took some time to rehearse all that we have been through in the past 24 years. Here is the list:

1.A 3 week courtship. Yes we were crazy and yes it is an act of God that we are still together:)
2. A long-distance engagement.
3. The death of my grandmother a week before our wedding.
4. Wedding (enough said)
5. Purchased a home
6. 6 month Mediterranean cruise
7. Pregnancy
8.Birth
9.Pregnancy
10. Birth
11.Several surgeries
12.Dive school
13. lots of dive jobs
14. near divorce. This happened a lot but we were in the process in 1994 until God intervened
15. Becoming Christ followers
16. Homeschooling
17. The death of my beloved Grandma
18. Move to Ohio
19. Unemployment
20. Job as a firefighter
21. Foster care
22. Paramedic school
23. adoption of Faith
24. putting our oldest daughter in public school
25. Starting our international adoption
26. Both of our older children moving out
27. Planning a trip to Africa

Add in a number of health problems, changing of churches, loss of friendships and I am amazed that at the end of it all, we love each more today than yesterday. Please enjoy this picture montage of us through the years. I am amazed once again by God's mercy and kindness to us through the years!

Make an on-line slideshow at www.OneTrueMedia.com

So Much Happening

There has been so much going on the past week that my head has been spinning. At the beginning of this process I had determined that at the end of it I wanted to reflect Christ more. When I asked for that I knew that would mean that the fire would have to be hotter in order to burn off the dross. I was essentially asking for trials. They have come so that my faith, of greater worth than gold may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. I do believe that this has happened. My God is worthy of all praise, honor and glory! He has answered the prayers of this momma's heart. When I became a believer someone was praying for our family. She said she saw a little boy who looked nothing like us and he was one of our children. I have never know how that would play out until this past December when I saw our boy's face. We now have a son who looks nothing like us but I do believe that as he grows up, he will reflect our heavenly father. I hope that as he sees Christ in us, he desires to look like him!

So here is what is happening. We have a confirmed embassy date. We will be together with our son in a little over 3 weeks. We have every dime that we need to travel. We got an amazing deal on tickets. We are flying Emirates and that makes this girl who is afraid to fly feel a lot better. We are hoping while we are there that we will be able to meet with Noah's birthmom. Please pray that this happens. We would love to be able to thank her for her selfless sacrifice.

Here is how you can be praying for us:
1. Please pray for us as we prepare to travel. Please pray for Faith that her heart would be prepared for us to leave. Pray for me. I am not to fond of flying and flying over the ocean just scares the poo out of me! Please pray that we would be able to get everything done that needs to be done in order to make our homecoming less stressful.
2. Please pray for all of our friends who are in the process of adopting from Ethiopia. There are big changes happening right now in the country. They now are requiring two visits to Ethiopia. This is an added expense but also takes a toll on the families and children emotionally.

Thanks again for all of your support and care. I have to give a shout out to all my girls in our Yahoo Group. Ladies you are the best!! I never could have done this without you! I really hope someday to meet each of you and your beautiful children. For those of you waiting for court, embassy dates, etc... I will love on your children and whisper to them that they have families who love them and are coming soon. I must say that this is the best agency and the best support group ever!

We have confirmation!!

We have an appointment with the Us Embassy of Ethiopia on April 7th, 2010. We are so excited and cannot wait to travel. I will write more later but for now we are getting ready to celebrate!!!

I have to Believe

I have so much to say today but no idea where to begin. So here are a few things that are happening. The first thing is that we got to see the video of our boy finding out about us! It was precious. He just has such a sweet spirit. We can not wait to get him into our arms. We are believing God for the perfect timing of this. That leads me to the next thing that is happening. The Department of State is making some changes to the process after court and before our embassy date. We really do not know what this means for us right now. Our travel could be delayed. We are praying that that is not the case but are trusting that God knows best! You can read more about what is happening here.
Also today was my shower. I will devote a separate post to that but it was amazing. The support from my family and friends during this process has been amazing. This is going to be one loved little boy. So please pray for us as we continue walking this journey. Please pray for us to hear soon about our embassy date.

Travel Detour

I am taking this post to detour for a short time from our travel plans. Last spring we went to visit my in-laws in Florida. On the way down we had the great pleasure to stay with some dear friends in Charlotte. While visiting with them I felt the Lord spoke to me that we were to mobilize for movement. When we left Charlotte, we had what turned into 13 more hours in the car. Doug and I began to talk about just what that might mean for us. The first thing that I started with asking was what would keep us from movement. One of the most glaring things was our consumer debt. The second thing was our mortgage on our house. During our stay in Florida we began to pray about what steps we needed to make to make mobilization a reality. We knew that getting out of debt was the first priority. Not only is being in debt unbiblical, it is also unwise. So we determined that all of Doug's second income from mowing was to go to paying off debt. We made a ton of progress and then God put a halt to it for a season while we pursued Noah's adoption. As soon as mowing starts up again in the spring, we will be able to continue with paying it off and be debt free by the fall. Praise God!!
We also have been praying as to what God would have us moving towards. Since we came to the Lord in 1994 God has placed in us a desire to walk out our faith in fellowship with other like-minded believers. Over the past several years of really not being in a church God has clearly shown us what that is to look like. We have experienced this is in small ways throughout our years of walking with Christ but over the past year the conviction for this has grown even stronger.
In February of 2008 some dear friends asked us to visit a church about 45 minutes away. They told us it was a safe place that we could go and just worship and hear the Word preached. Isn't it sad that we had to look for a "safe place"? Shouldn't all churches be that?? Sorry, I digressed. Over the past several years Doug has developed a great friendship with the pastor of this church. We love him and his family. As we have seen and heard all that is going on here, a hunger has grown in us to be a part of this body.
So you maybe asking why I am sharing all of this. Well, the reason is because we would covet your prayers as we move forward in this direction. When we began the process of adopting Noah, God said for us not to look at the entire financial picture but to do the next thing. Each time we just did the next thing, God showed up. So that is what we are doing. We are doing the next thing. We have 4 weeks until we go to get our sweet boy. During this time we are going to be getting our house ready as if we are putting it on the market when we get home from Africa. We have decided that if the transition home goes well and we still feel the Lord pushing us forward, we will put the house on the market. If for some reason God closes the door, I will just have a really clean and organized house which will be a blessing. So please pray that we would:
1. Have wisdom to know exactly what money to spend and not to spend to get the house prepared.
2. For us to be able to have joy in the process. If at any time this detracts from our family life, we will put things on hold. We have decided that we do not want to miss out on anything this season has for our family. We want to enjoy Noah's homecoming and Seth's wedding. That is our priority right now.
3. Please pray for us to continue to hear the clear voice of the Lord.
Thanks so much and I will update the next post with more about our journey to get our son.

1st Posting of Travel Plans

I thought that while I am waiting to travel I would take some time to update you on what we plan to do while in Ethiopia. When we first began this journey we came across a ministry called Drawn from Water. This is a ministry that is working to rescue mingi(cursed) children from culturally mandated infanticide. We have loved hearing what God is doing in through the families that are committed to this purpose. We began supporting them financially and now have the opportunity to share a meal with Levi and his family when we are picking up Noah. I sent an email to Levi asking if there was anything that they needed us to bring with us that would bless them. He explained that since they have grown by another ten children, they have a need for clothing and shoes. I then sent back and asked if there was anything that would bless him and his wife. I was hoping that he would give me an idea of something for them. I have a great desire to honor these two for the sacrifices that they have made for the Gospel of Jesus Christ. They are walking out what they believe and that is provoking! So he once again sends back an answer to my question and again the answer is concerning his children. You see they are unable to get ranch dressing in Ethiopia. He wondered if I would bring packets of the dry ranch dressing to mix with mayo for his children. I was undo upon reading the email. I am daily confronted with my selfishness. I daily struggle with dying to myself just to care for the ones right here in my home let alone anyone outside these walls. I began this adoption journey desiring to be more like Christ. I am so grateful for God's mercy and grace that makes that a reality. So as we spend time with Levi and his family, I do hope that we are able to bless them. I also hope that through this visit I am able to come back to the states and reflect more of Christ to those around me. Please read their story and prayerfully consider committing financially to what they are doing for these children. They need 76 people to commit to $25 a month to cover their monthly expenses. As of now I think they still need 31 more people to commit. I can't wait to share more with you when we get home!

Not for the Faint Hearted

I have come to the conclusion that adoption is not for the faint-hearted. It can be quite the emotional rollercoaster. Throughout this process I have been continually challenged to walk this out in a way that honors God. From the beginning I knew that God wanted to grow me in how I respond to life and circumstances. I have really grown in this area but the past several days have been very difficult. Part of the challenge has come from my desire for control. I am in the midst of doing Beth Moore's most recent version of Breaking Free. She uses Isaiah 30:15. In quietness and trust is your strength. The original word for quietness is shaqat meaning "to lie quietly, be undisturbed, to calm." The phrase that concludes this scripture is: "But you would have none of it" I unfortunately can relate to that. My hearts desire is to be totally submitted to God's timing and plan for bringing our son home unfortunately my flesh fights that regularly. So I am making a choice to surrender this to Christ. I think that I might have to do this every minute or so but I am determined to do it with the help of the one who already has won the battle for me!!! Please continue to pray for us and the timing of all of this. Pray that our son would continue to be healthy. Pray that he would know in his heart that a family is here so excited to add him to our craziness!!

Noah knows about Us!

I was so excited to get news this morning from my friend who is in Ethiopia picking up her daughter. Here is what she posted:

Nuguisse-Monica, I fell in love with him! We were so thrilled to be able to give him the gifts from you! We got it all on video. He liked the picture that Faith drew-Sister explained to him who it was from. Then we looked at the photo book and the book with voices. He really liked it. I gave him some hugs and kisses. Then we put the book away and he started to cry...really cry. Sister took him on her lap and he just wanted the book back out!!! It melted my heart, he really liked it and she went through it with him again listening to your voices. He also liked the picture of your dog. He was a little heavier than I thought he would be.

So he knows that we are his family! There have been lots of tears shed today as we celebrate one more milestone on our journey to bring our son home. As soon as I get the video I will post it for all of you to see!

My Montage 2/18/10 at OneTrueMedia.com

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Introducing.......

Noah Nigussie Robinson


Needless to say we are jumping for joy!! God is so good! There are so many thoughts and emotions going through my head right now that I will post at a later date. The next step is to receive confirmation of our embassy date. We are hoping for April 7th. After we receive that we will make final arrangements. The timing is perfect because Faith will be on spring break so she will not miss any school and be able to stay with people instead of finding people to stay at our home.
Thanks again for all of your prayers, financial and emotional support! We never could have walked this journey without you!

2nd Try at Court

While we sleep tonight a judge in Ethiopia will once again be hearing our case! A myriad of thoughts and emotions are happening here in the Robinson house! Please pray that we pass this time. A dear friend of mine is leaving in the morning to go and pick up her daughter. Yea!! She is taking with her a photo album of our home and family. If we pass court she will be able to give this to Noah and let him know that he has a family who loves him dearly! I will post as soon as we hear something. Every day is just one step closer to bringing our boy home.

Next Court Date

I heard from our coordinator this afternoon that they were unable to get the paper that was needed for us to pass court. They hopefully will have it for our court date which is now set for February 17th. I was fine with the news on Monday but today was a different story. I held it together pretty well until I saw a friends Facebook status. She has been advocating for a 2.5 year old boy from Ghana. He actually was on quite a few peoples blogs with people trying to get a family for him. Unfortunately I just found out that he passed away. This news broke me! This past week with Faith being so sick has made me very aware of how much I take simple medical care for granted. When she had a high fever, I had access to clean water, medicine and a doctor's bill that I have insurance to cover. There really was no fear of her dying of dehydration. Right now, that is not the case with my son. He is in an orphanage. He does have access to water and limited medical care but it is nothing like he will have here. This is another part of the surrendering that has to happen in my heart through this adoption. I have to remember whose child he is first. Please continue to pray for us as we walk this journey of faith. Please pray that every piece of paperwork for our court date will be there. As crazy as this sounds, please pray that the judge would be there also. One last thing is please pray for the orphanage where Sampson lived. Please pray for comfort for his caregivers and also all of the children as the mourn the loss of their little friend.

We did not pass......

Well friends we did not pass court today! It was a moment of sadness and then just a reminder that God has orchestrated all of our moments. We found out that our son's birthmother did make it to court today but one paper from the Ministry of Womens Affairs did not. Our facilitator feels hopeful that he will get the paper to court wither Tuesday or Wednesday. Please pray for this to happen. If not, our next court date is the 17th of February. In checking flights, we found out that to travel 2 weeks later causes our tickets to go up $1000. We will let you know as soon as we hear anything.

Court Tomorrow

Tonight as we sleep a judge in Ethiopia will hear our case and decide if we pass court or not. Not passing court does not mean that we can't adopt, it just means another delay in getting our boy home. Court in Ethiopia is nothing like it is here in the states. A number of different things can happen so please just pray that we pass.
Lord willing, if we pass, we will probably be leaving for Ethiopia on the 20th of March and returning on the 27th. Please pray for me in particular concerning the travel end of things. I do not like to fly let alone fly for this long of a period of time. I also have never been gone from Faith for more than 4 days so 7 days sounds so long right now.
Thanks so much for all of your prayers and support! Hopefully tomorrow I will be posting a picture of our boy for the world to see!!

One Week Till Court

We have one more week until our court date! God willing we will pass the first time and then hopefully travel around the 20th of March. Please pray that all of our paperwork would be there and also pray for our son's birthmom. Here is a video to enjoy. It makes me cry every time I watch it.

Have a Heart for International Adoption??

Please read this blog and act!



My heart breaks for this little boy and his family. Even though the media has left please continue to pray for the people of Haiti.

We Are Overwhelmed

I will go before you and make the
rough places smooth:
I will shatter the doors of bronze,
and cut through their iron bars.
And I will give you the treasures of darkness,
and hidden wealth of secret places,
in order that you may know that it is I,
the LORD, the God of Israel, who calls you by your name.

Isaiah 45:2-3

This is the scripture that Lord gave us back in August concerning our adoption. I am so happy to say that He truly has given us the hidden wealth of secret places!! We are overwhelmed by God's grace and favor upon our lives and this adoption. Because of a grant from Show Hope we now have everything that we need financially to pick our son up!! WOW! From the beginning we said that this had to be a story where God is very big and we are very small. That is exactly what has happened. This adoption has the fingerprints of God all over it from beginning to end! What a great story we have to share with our son about God being intimately involved in every detail of his story. As I spent last night rereading my blog post I am once again humbled by God's provision for us. I have asked for ears to hear and eyes to see and I am so thankful that He has answered those prayers. So if any of you are considering adoption but don't know how you can pay for it, BELIEVE BIG!! God loves these orphans far more than any of us do and He is in the business of placing the lonely in families! Step out and watch Him provide. We also are so thankful to our friends and family who have joined us on this journey and supported us both financially, emotionally and spiritually. Thanks for being sensitive to the Lord. You have made a difference in an orphans life and there will be eternal rewards for that! We have desired to continue to sow the seeds of adoption into our families that are moving forward with the process. For that reason, we are passing on the remaining cookbooks to another couple who is just beginning their journey. I still have some left so if you would like one, please know that the proceeds go to another family who we are honored to help get started:)

Please continue to pray for our court date on the 8th of February. Please pray that God's hand would be on every detail of this next step. Please continue to lift up our little guy. Pray that he would be protected and comforted. Thanks again!

Africa Necklaces

This is a charm that my girlfriend made for me our fundraiser. She has agreed to make 3 more for me to sell as a fundraiser for our adoption. The price for each charm is $50. If you would be interested in purchasing one please email me at robbiesfam@yahoo.com. The piece is sterling silver and includes a black pearl. The black pearl represents our child who is of great value not only to us but His heavenly father.

In a Pit

Psalm 40

For the director of music. Of David. A psalm.

¹ I waited patiently for the LORD;
he turned to me and heard my cry.

² He lifted me out of the slimy pit,
out of the mud and mire;
he set my feet on a rock
and gave me a firm place to stand.

³ He put a new song in my mouth,
a hymn of praise to our God.
Many will see and fear
and put their trust in the LORD.

⁴ Blessed is the man
who makes the LORD his trust,
who does not look to the proud,
to those who turn aside to false gods.

⁵ Many, O LORD my God,
are the wonders you have done.
The things you planned for us
no one can recount to you;
were I to speak and tell of them,
they would be too many to declare.

⁶ Sacrifice and offering you did not desire,
but my ears you have pierced
burnt offerings and sin offerings
you did not require.

⁷ Then I said, "Here I am, I have come—
it is written about me in the scroll.

⁸ I desire to do your will, O my God;
your law is within my heart."

⁹ I proclaim righteousness in the great assembly;
I do not seal my lips,
as you know, O LORD.

¹⁰ I do not hide your righteousness in my heart;
I speak of your faithfulness and salvation.
I do not conceal your love and your truth
from the great assembly.

¹¹ Do not withhold your mercy from me, O LORD;
may your love and your truth always protect me.

¹² For troubles without number surround me;
my sins have overtaken me, and I cannot see.
They are more than the hairs of my head,
and my heart fails within me.

¹³ Be pleased, O LORD, to save me;
O LORD, come quickly to help me.

¹⁴ May all who seek to take my life
be put to shame and confusion;
may all who desire my ruin
be turned back in disgrace.

¹⁵ May those who say to me, "Aha! Aha!"
be appalled at their own shame.

¹⁶ But may all who seek you
rejoice and be glad in you;
may those who love your salvation always say,
"The LORD be exalted!"

¹⁷ Yet I am poor and needy;
may the Lord think of me.
You are my help and my deliverer;
O my God, do not delay.

COURT DATE

Just wanted to let everyone know that we got a court date for the 8th of February. What that means is that a representative from the orphanage will go to court that day in Ethiopia on our behalf. Most families have not been passing court on the first try. We are hoping that that is not the case for us. If we pass, we will travel to Ethiopia about 6 weeks later to pick Noah up. We are so elated and it is starting to really sink in that we are adding to our family. Sometimes as I look at his pictures it still feels like a child that we are sponsoring but today it feels very real.

To make today even more fun, I went to Target to purchase sheets to go with his new bedding. While I was there, I was able to get some clothes really cheap for him! Nothing like a court date and a great deal all in one day!! Please continue to pray for the finances to finish out our adoption. We will need about $6000 but I know that God will provide! We already have $2500 of it. Please pray for our boy! Pray for a hedge of protection to be around him. Please pray for his birth mom. She will have to come to court on the 8th of February. She will forever be one of my heroes. Please pray that God's hand would be personally on every piece of paper necessary to complete our adoption. We can't wait to announce our son as an official Robinson. Thanks so much for all of your continued support. If you would like to make a tax deductible contribution please do so to Lifesong for Orphans. Their address is in the previous post.

Eighteen Days until Court

An Update on our Adoption

We just wanted to give everyone an update as to how things are going and how you can continue to pray for our upcoming adoption. We have continuously been amazed by God's provision for us with this adoption. When we started this journey back in August we had no idea how we were going to pay for this adoption but God knew. One of the first things He had orchestrated for us was to be in a church that came along side of us in our adventure. Without them, we realize that this adoption would not have been possible. We have been blown away by their support. God calls us to fulfill James 1:27, "care for orphans in their distress..."but not all are called to adopt. Some are called to pray, some to give financially, and some to adopt. Please know that your support has been the hands and feet of Jesus to this little boy in Africa who still has know idea that he has a family waiting for him here in the states.

So this is where things stand as of now. We are still waiting for a court date. We are hoping to hear that we have one scheduled soon. It normally takes 4-8 weeks to get a court date. The court date is normally scheduled for about 3 weeks later. If we pass court the first time which has not been the norm lately, we would travel about 6 weeks later. Right now we are probably going to be traveling some time in April. Please pray for the timing of all of this. Seth's wedding is June 4 so we would love to have him home and settled for a month or so before traveling to Florida. Also, Doug is off for almost the entire month of April so that would be perfect. As I type this though my heart cry is not my will but thy will be done!! God's plans are always so much better than mine anyways:)

Now onto the financial part of our journey. We will need about $6000 in order to travel. Right now we have about $1500 of that amount. I still have about 125 cookbooks to sell. If you would like to sell some or purchase one, please let me know. Also Lifesong for Orphans is a non profit ministry that has come alongside of us and set up an account where people can make tax-deductible donations to help cover our adoption cost. I am posting the letter here so that if you are interested in making a donation you will have the information. Doug is teaching as much as possible at the Cleveland Clinic Paramedic program in order to make extra money. I am also continuing to babysit. All of the money that I make from that goes straight to our adoption fund.

So here is how to pray:
1. Pray for our boy. Pray that he continue to stay healthy. Pray that God would comfort him for his remaining time in the orphanage. Pray for all of my "adoption" friends who will be traveling to pick up their children in the coming weeks. They will get to love on him for us and bring us back lots of pictures:)
2. Pray for financial provision.
3. Pray for peace and endurance for us through this process. We truly want to honor God in how we walk this out.

If you would like to participate financially please mail your tax-deductible contribution to the following and write Robinson #1092 adoption in the memo with check made out to Lifesong. The address is:

Lifesong for Orphans
PO Box 40/202 N Ford St
Gridley, IL 61744

Welcome to 2010

Has not my hand made all these things,
and so they came into being?"
declares the LORD.
"This is the one I esteem:
he who is humble and contrite in spirit,
and trembles at my word. Isaiah 66:2

I was listening to a teaching from Frances Chan at Passion 2010. He really challenged us to look at our lives and see if we really tremble at the Word of God. I must say that for many years, tremble would not be a word that I use to describe what I felt when I read the Bible. These past two years I have experienced an increase in my hunger for the Word!! I think that is why I have enjoyed listening to men like Frances Chan, Matt Chandler and John Piper. I have seen that as I have grown and been eating meat(spiritual), milk no longer satisfies. But even taking all of that into consideration, I still have not trembled at God's word. Yet God's word says that this is who He esteems.

So this year I am not starting out with a bunch of resolutions. I do have just a few:

1. I am crying out to the Lord that I would tremble at His word. Not only tremble at it but really do it!! I am tired of hearing great messages, reading great books, and reading the Bible and not really walking boldly then in what the Word says! This year will be different.
2. God's word says that we are to take up our cross daily. I want to daily do this. Taking up my cross means dying daily to my desires, my flesh, my comfort and anything else that I can put the word my in front of. This year I am choosing to focus on daily doing this. I tremble as I write this because I know that dying is not easy.
3. I am no longer going to make apologies for my passion for God, for His Word, and my passion to see what is declared in scripture to be lived out in His church. I have asked myself continuously, "Do I really believe all of God's word?" His challenge back to me is to then walk it what I believe. So this year I am going to do just that!

On the adoption side of things, we are just waiting to hear about a court date. Once we receive a court date we will have a better idea of when we will travel. I have been busy getting stuff ready to get his room ready. Can't wait to get him home!!