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.