Court Date

We have our court date! It is set for April 20 - only 2 1/2 weeks away!
"What is a court date?" - you may be asking. This is the day where our "case" goes before a judge in Ethiopia (we don't have to be there) and he decides if little "EM" becomes our daughter legally or not. It is very common in Ethiopia for the initial court date to be postponed or to not "pass" the first time, in which case we would be assigned another court date. But even though it is uncommon to pass the first time, we are praying and hoping for it anyway, and ask that you do too! We cannot wait to have "EM" hope with us! She is just beautiful and I cannot wait to meet her.
Once we pass court, there is some other paperwork that has to be filed to get an Embassy date - and that is the date we have to be in Ethiopia and get to bring her home. Usually one to two months after passing court date. Although, there are suddenly some changes in the processing of that particular paperwork (urgh), that could make the wait between court date and embassy date longer.
We are filling the time with decorating her room - pink and black ballet theme. Oh yes, I am going totally girly. And of course she will probably end up being a total tom-boy with two big brothers! But for now, pink, pink, pink ( and purple of course).

Drum Roll, Please...

It's here! Finally here! Our referral! And I am on cloud nine. We have been matched with a beautiful little 18 month old girl. I am already in love with her. Can we go get her, now? Please?

I cannot share any pictures online yet, since she is not "legally" ours yet, but I will as soon as we pass court. Which should take 2 or 3 months. So we are still looking at 3-6 months before we can go bring her home, but I am just so thrilled to finally see her precious face and know her beautiful name.

Just last week I was in tears and so tired of waiting for our referral... and now, here she is. I really don't know what else to say except, Thank you Lord Jesus. You make all things beautiful in your time.

And another amazing thing is that in my husband's words, "She looks like a Medina!" And you know, she does! I really think she and my youngest son, Jeremiah quite possibly look more alike than my two biological sons! Only God could orchestrate that - from all the way around the world!

Albertine

Check out this song I just discovered by Brooke Fraser, of Hillsong United. It's beautiful. It's called "Albertine", after a child she met when visiting Rwanda.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WGx-xU6TnU8

I've Decided I Love Her

Here is such a sweet story. But to understand the fullness of its sweetness, you have to first understand that my son, Gavin, has not been too excited about the idea of adopting a "sister" for him. Oh, from time to time when we talk about what toys she might like, he gets a little excited, but for the most part he stays a bit weary. And really, this is normal for him; it fits his personality, so it doesn't worry me too much. He, in general, in a very cautious little boy and resitant to change and new people.

Last night, he was drawing pictures. One for each person in our family and bringing them one by one to me to show me and then displaying them around the house. He then brought one to me on pink paper and said, "And this one is for our sister... because I've decided I love her." And then he proceeded back to the table to draw her more, "because she doesn't have much stuff."

I couldn't be prouder of my little firstborn sweetheart. Thank you, Lord.

Still Waiting, but staying connected

Well, I am finally updating my blog - it's only been about 3 months, and I just accidentally erased two paragraphs, so I am not getting off to a very good start.

Anyway, we are still waiting - no news at all. Which is why I havent updated my blog lately - nothing exciting to report. Well, actually my two little boys are always exciting. I am potty training Jeremiah. Yesterday he decided to poop on the stairs. So that was exciting. Today, during dinner, they repeated "stinky diaper" over and over and laughed hystarically each and every time, for about 20 minutes. So when I say "nothing exciting," that is technically not true - it always exciting around here.

But I am staying connected: I have cooked two Ethiopian meals in the past couple months and am very proud of myself, if I am allowed to be proud of myself. Thankfully my friend Cyndi (read her blog - it's awesome) has a pretty easy one on her website for Spicy Fish Stew. Yum. That was a week ago and my house still smells like Ethiopia -well Ethiopian spice anyway. The picture above is a meat and veggie dish- Alicha Yetakilit Wet Besiga.

Here is another great picture of my two very exciting and adorable sons. Okay, not here, at the top: I cannot figure out how to get the picture HERE. Can someone please comment and tell me how to get pictures where I want them?

By the way...

By the way, for those interested, our dossier is in Washington D.C. right now visiting the Secretary of State (that's right - Ms. Hilary Clinton herself - or someone representing her anyway), and the Ethiopian Embassy.

Waiting, Waiting, Waiting...

Waiting, waiting, waiting...

Can I just say I am getting tired of waiting? I want my child... or children. And I really want to know just that - is it a child or children? When I pray for her/ them, I want to pray specifically. I am tired of saying, "Lord protect my daughter, or my two daughters, or my daughter and son..." Waiting is hard!! Let's see, its been 9 mos. since we started the process ... and I am used to getting my child after 9 months - I guess I have been spoiled. Well, technically, its been longer than that, because we started adopting from another country a year before we started Ethiopia, and then it fell through as quickly as it started, and then we prayed for a year. So really its been more like a year and a half since I wanted this more than anything.

So tonight I am reminded of something I learned recently in my Beth Moore study on Esther. I wrote down the following:
"If God tells us to wait - we have to trust Him that His will is working - things in the heavens are coming in line with His will. If we wait on the Lord, we will renew our strength (Isaiah 40:31). If we are waiting on the person/event; our strength will be depleted."

Amen... but it's still hard.