Baxter Family Six!

No Embassy Submission this Week

2012-02-14T17:16:00.001-08:00

We found out late last week that the Embassy submission date we were hoping for on Valentine's Day isn't going to be possible. Ellie's passport has not yet been received. It took me a good day to get over that disappointment. We want so much for Ellie to be home with us and each week that passes by without her here is hard. It's hard knowing that you have a daughter that is not here. There's things we want to do, but I do not feel right doing them (as a family) without her. So, we will continue to wait.

We are praying that we can get submitted to the Embassy next week.

In the meantime, we've been busy preparing for Elliana's arrival (in between birthday parties, of course!).

Here are a few pictures of what we've been up to :)

Canvas pieces for the girls' room -- One for each :) Ellie's has her name in Amharic. I think they both turned out wonderful! We ordered them from Canvas Heart. She does an awesome job and will put anything you want on the prints. For Ellie, we put Jeremiah 29:11 and for Faith we put Psalm 139:14.

We are excited to hang them in their room. We also put their names above their cribs. These are removable decals that we had personalized. Very easy to put up, and I think they turned out great too, except Faith's is a little bigger because her name is longer... but they still look OK. Oh, and as you can see, we have crib #2 up and ready and waiting. Can you see Ellie's framed puzzle above her crib? (don't worry -- it's out of her reach for now and it's in a acrylic frame with plexiglass)

Faithlynn -- Our Little Miracle

Elliana -- Our Blessing From Above

We also were able to purchase a double-stroller, thanks to my awesome co-workers. Faith is all ready. Now all we need is "Sissy!"

Please continue to pray for Embassy submission next week. Then, it could maybe be 2 or 3 weeks until we hear back! Please pray for wisdom for the Embassy Officials reviewing our case as well.

Happy Birthday Faith!

2012-02-13T15:25:00.000-08:00

Miss Faithlynn was One Year Old on Friday! Wow, time flies when you are having fun!

Hospital Picture (February 11, 2011)

Faith has been such a blessing to our family full ofboys. We often catch ourselves wonderingwhat life was like without her. She is afunny and smart girl who is always entertaining us. She absolutely adores her big brothers, and Ithink the feelings are mutual!

Here a a few fun little facts about our little Faithlynn Grace:

She isquite the girly-girl and surprises us daily on how much she ‘knows how to be agirl.’
Anything that resembles a scarfis quickly tossed around her neck and off she goes! (I kid you not!!).
She also loves to carry anything with a handleover her arm like a purse.
She is very quick to give a cute little smile (or even a kiss) if she knows she’s doing something she’s not supposed to do!
She loves all animals and will give an “ahhhhlll” if she sees a cat, dog, bird, etc. If she sees a horse, she will rock back in forth, because she thinks all horses are 'rocking horses!'
Unfortunately, she's learned how to take her shirt off, and will do so often to see what is on the front. This is especially true if she has a kitty or birdie on the front of her shirt!
She is usually quite the social butterfly and is very loud!
Has recently started dancing in front of the TV when music comes on -- so cute~

She quickly mastered the art of walking at around 10 ½months and is now in to running and climbing. She has grown so quickly; it's almost sad. She didn't stay a baby very long.

She will be such a big help and blessing when we bring Elliehome. Although I’m anticipating someadjustment time between the two of them, I’m sure they will complement eachother very well. I pray that Faith’soutgoing personality will help ease Elliana into our busy life here at theBaxter house! I imagine they each willhave plenty of things to teach one another.

Even though I wondered what in the world God was up to 19months ago when I found out I was pregnant, I am totally in awe of how He can do immeasurably more than all weask or imagine (Eph 3:20). Remember –the day our pregnancy was confirmed was the same day Elliana was born! (July 23, 2010).

No one other than our Creator could haveorchestrated that!

Happy Birthday Sweet Girl!

Sitting on my new stool!

Silly Dylan

Yummy Sugar!

Sugar & Present Overload

Pretty Kitty Hat!

Strike-A-Pose

Loving my balloons

Kissing my dolly

Telling the boys I want a serious picture -- and this is what I get!
Ha! They crack me up sometimes!

Happy Birthday Miss Faith!

Teenagers & Toddlers

2012-02-08T05:53:00.000-08:00

Dylan's Heisman Trophy Pose at 3 months old

Today, Dylan officially joins the ranks as a TEENAGER! I have no idea where 13 years have gone. It just seems like yesterday he was born –looking like a little baby Elvis with his sideburns and all!

Dylan continues to amaze us with his compassionate heart forothers. His report card is plastered with comments from all of his teachers saying, "is a pleasure to have in class" or "courteous to others" . . . That's our Dylan for sure!

I would have loved to show you more pictures of Dylan's Birthday celebration, but taking a decent picture of a teenager has proven to be difficult, unless you want ones with eye-rolls, tongues stuck out and rabbit ears! One day I may just post those 'precious' pictures!

As soon as Ellie comes home, we will officially have 2 teenagers and 2 toddlers... hence the name of this blog title. I may just need to change the name of our blog!

Daddy & Dylan

Dylan's Shoulder Buddy

Birthday Pancakes! Courtesy of Daddy!!

Thanks for being YOU, buddy! Happy Birthday.

Birth Certificate Received!

2012-02-03T07:52:00.000-08:00

Yay! Just a quick update! We just found out that Elliana's Birth Certificate has been received, and the picture on her Birth Certificate is so darn cute! The good news (and neat thing) is that all of us that traveled together for court are on the same schedule. From what I understand, ALL of our children's BCs were received today!

Unfortunately, however, we will not be able to be submitted to the Embassy next week (February 7th) because Elliana will still need her passport and Embassy physical. They are aiming for Embassy submission for February 14th (a perfect V-day gift). {as a side-note -- our Agency can only submit Embassy documents on Tuesdays}.

So, please continue to pray for all of the families -- that our children's physicals and passports come quickly so that we can be submitted by February 14th. That could POSSIBLY mean travel by the beginning of March, if all goes well.

We were hoping to have Elliana home by the end of February, but hopefully it will be soon after that!

Soon Baby... soon!

A peek-a-boo while waiting

2012-01-31T05:55:00.000-08:00

We are still waiting patiently (sort of), but it certainly helps when we get photos like this! I checked my email on the way home from work last night and was so excited to find 29 pictures waiting. (don't worry... my hubby was driving!!). I carefully studied each picture... right down to the tiniest crumb on Elliana's face :) It makes my heart happy to see her smiling! Actually, it makes us miss her even more, but we will take all the photos we can get right now.

We also received a photo and message last week from our previous Case Manager, who is living at Acacia Village right now with his family. Here's part of what it said:

Here is the best picture we could get so far of Genemesmiling when she is eating lunch with her friends :) . She is really smiling alot more these days and even willingly gives out high fives when we ask her.She is still very quiet, but is saying more each week. We will keep the familyupdated if anything changes. We will try to get a better picture with hersmiling in the next few days :)

They totally got some better pictures of her smiling, as you can see below!

I also received an email last week from a friend who was over in Ethiopia picking up her precious little boy who was at Elliana's orphanage and at Acacia Village. Here's what she said:

I got to see yoursweet babe yesterday. She was sound asleep and so I didn't get to holdher but I did get to sneak over to her crib and peek in on her. Shelooked so peaceful and beautiful. I leaned over and gave her a kissbefore leaving and whispered that you were coming soon. She is even morebeautiful in person than your pictures convey :) Praying for you as youwait and that it will be over soon.

Many of you have asked how we are doing with the wait. Honestly, it's tough, but it's those little messages and words of encouragement that keep us going. It's the pictures, prayers and cards that we are receiving. It's reading other's blogs who are in the same spot and gaining strength from their words. We know the wait is nearly over and we are on the home stretch, but it still doesn't change our longing to have our little girl home now!

We are still waiting for her original birth certificate. Our Case Manager said that many times things continue to move behind the scenes and I know God can do wondrous miracles behind the scenes! We would LOVE to be submitted to the Embassy next week. So please continue to pray that we can return soon to bring our sweet girl home! Her family misses her.

Hanging out... waiting patiently!

What??? I didn't do it :)

Ellie looking at the photo album we left for her!

Ethiopia - Days 5 -7

2012-01-29T16:59:00.000-08:00

As I mentioned in a previous post, on Sunday, January 1, 2012, we rested our weary souls. We needed a day to process our thoughts, feelings and our first few days in Ethiopia. I even had a massage at the Guest Home. It was wonderful!

Day 6, January 2 - Court Day!

Just outside the court building after passing court

Our group was up early in anticipation of court. Our court appointments were at 9:00, so imagine our surprise when our driver didn't arrive until around 8:30. We all scurried into the van and were on our way. I nervously checked the time every couple of minutes as we were driving. We didn't arrive until about 9:15. Luckily, court in Ethiopia isn't as stringent as courts here. I don't really remember many details except that all 8 of our agency's families entered the building together. I suspect we looked like quite the entourage to bystanders. We went up several flights of stairs and entered into a waiting room lined with chairs. All the chairs were taken by other families waiting to adopt. We were told by our attorney that they would probably take us in 4 families at a time. We all nervously waited. Not long into our wait, they started calling for the parents of Geneme... Yay, that was us. We went into the court room (which is more like an office with a Judge sitting behind the desk), with 3 other families. The Judge asked a few questions that we all answered in unison, and that was it. Geneme was ours forever! It was pretty anti-climatic, but such a relief!

After court, our driver dropped us off at the Hilton where we met up with all of the other families from our agency. Because it was so early, the outside restaurant was not open yet, so we all hung out, checked our email and caught up with each other. We at lunch again out by the pools.

After lunch, many of us headed to the ALERT hospital (All Africa Leprosy, tuberculosis and Rehabilitation and Training Center) shop. This is a work group that trains members to engage in hand-craft activities instead of begging, as a means of income. Many of the members are disabled due to the toll that their leprosy has taken on them. Don’t be mistaken, however, because the smiles and joy on their faces told a different story. The old and young alike can be found at this compound. The children pictured here were children of the ladies who were embroidering beautiful tablecloths and such. They were so sweet and totally in awe of seeing the digital pictures of themselves! We bought a tablecloth for E for her wedding day and it was really neat to see the ladies who were making them. The hand-crafting here was out of this world!

After we arrived 'home' to our Guest Home, they prepared a traditional coffee ceremony for us. It's quite the ordeal, and the coffee was oh-so-good! I feel guilty using my Keurig now!

Day 7 - Tuesday, January 3 - Our last day in Addis :(

Because our flights were not until the late evening of January 3rd, we were given the opportunity to see our sweet children again. We were even allowed to go a little earlier in the morning. We were all excited, as we hadn't seen them since Friday.

After our Friday with Elliana, we weren't sure what to expect. Would she be happy to see us, or frightened again? Luckily, and with God's grace, she eagerly reached out to us when we arrived. She was still frightened, but at least she recognized us, and we could 'officially' say we were her mommy and daddy!

On this day, she seemed to be more comfortable with us and even played blocks with us. We fed her snack again, showed her out the windows and took her for a walk outside. We weren't sure how long we would be allowed to stay, so each time I saw the director walk into the room, I held my breath. We both had enormous knots in our stomachs that whole morning. As time seemed to be getting near, we both were able to pray over Elliana and tell her we would be coming back for her very soon. Her big brown eyes just looked at us -- it's hard to imagine what she was thinking.

Soon it was time to take her up stairs for lunch. I immediately started to cry because I knew that meant it was time to go. We took her up and gave her to her nanny who was ready to feed her. At that point, we weren't sure if we could stay while she ate, or if it was time. We poked our head out into the hallway, and Helen said it 'was time.' Tears were overflowing my eyes at this point, so we peaked back into the room, said a prayer for sweet Elliana, blew her a kiss, and started down the stairs. I knew if I went back in to hug and kiss her, it would alarm her (and luckily we had time before we took her up to say good-bye). That was, by far, one of the toughest things, we had ever had to do. I know she is in good hands, but not in 'our hands.' She needs to be home with her family now and we are praying that it will happen soon. It was a bittersweet day -- we were very distraught to leave our little angel, but we were also missing our kids back at home too!

The ride back to the guest home as a quiet one. We got back, had another coffee ceremony, packed our bags and headed to the airport.

The flight home was long and grueling. Brad started feeling bad before we even got to Rome. By the time we landed in Rome, he was very sick and pretty much incoherent. Luckily he was able to make it to the bathroom each time he was feeling sick, but it was a long and rough haul. By the time we landed in DC, he was feeling much better. Unfortunately, the bug reared its ugly head later that night, and he was down and out for 2 days!

At this point, we have our original Court Decree... but we are still waiting for the original Birth Certificate. We are praying that it comes this week. Then, Elliana will need her physical and passport. If all of that can get accomplished this week, we will be able to be submitted to the Embassy next Tuesday (our Agency can only submit cases on Tuesday). If not, it will be the next Tuesday (hopefully).

Please join me in praying that we can get this little girl home soon!

Ethiopia - Day 4

2012-01-21T19:49:00.000-08:00

(Some of the excerpts and pictures below were taken from my friend's blog. Since we were together all day, and she's already written much of our day beautifully on her blog, I borrowed a few of her paragraphs. This was especially handy for some of the historical things....I'm terrible at retaining history! (Thank you Melissa!)

Day 4 in Ethiopia was actually New Years Eve back here in the States. Since it was Saturday, and we were unable to visit our children at Acacia Village, we planned a day full of activities. We also wanted to experience as much of Ethiopia as we could.

Our friends Joseph & Melissa & Tom & Liz

We joined two other couples for a day of sightseeing in Addis Ababa. We hired a driver and a translator to assist us for the day. Our translator, Abee, chose our first destination -- Kaldi's Coffee (Ethiopia's version of Starbucks, without the Starbucks price!) We had breakfast and some delicious coffee. Below is a picture of my caramel macchiato.

caramel macchiato - yummy!

After our stop at Kaldi’s, we began making our ascent up Mount Entoto, the highest peak in Addis Ababa. The road was very curvy and there is no such thing as guardrails! There were also people (at some points) running along side of the van trying to see if we were giving things away. I also later read that Olympic runners train on this road!

Along the way, we noticed several women weighted down with enormous loads of eucalyptus branches which they had gathered high up on the mountain. We found out later that these women are known as fuel wood carriers. They strip the branches off trees, carry loads which are heavier than their own body weight down the mountain, and sell the branches for firewood to make a living. Whatthey do is actually illegal and it contributes to the degradation of theforests, but they have no other way of earning an income. I later read that they make $3.00 a week! The photo below shows one of the ladies carrying her load of branches. This picture was taken by our friends Joseph & Melissa. (Thanks guys!). Can you even consider complaining about your job??

At the top of Mount Entoto, we toured a museum and took a moment to enjoy the incredible view of Addis Ababa from where we stood at over 10,000 feet above sea level. I'm not sure about everyone else, but I was sure feeling the elevation while we were there. I felt very out of shape!

We also had a chance to see an early palace built by Menelik II who ruled Ethiopia at the end of the 19th century. Emperor Menelik and his wife founded Addis Ababa, which means “new flower”, in 1886.

Entoto Maryam Church, the site of Emperor Menelik’s coronation in 1889, is located next to the former palace, but we were not allowed to tour the inside.

One of the first eucalyptus trees planted by
Emperor Menelik

On our way back down the mountain, Abee chose another interesting stop, a weaving shop which benefits the women fuel wood carriers. Inside, the workers weave beautiful scarves on old-fashioned looms. They told us it takes one day for a weaver to complete one scarf.

The scarves are then sold at this room next door, and the profits are used to raise awareness of the working conditions of the wood carriers and to provide alternative sources of income for the women. The scarves were lovely, and we were thrilled to have the chance to purchase them knowing that our money was going to a valuable cause.

We made one more stop at a rather run-down little zoo that had some lions, monkeys, and different types of birds. The conditions the animals lived in was definitely low compared to most American zoos, but I couldn’t help thinking that the animals were far better off than millions of Ethiopians. The animals had adequate food and shelter, which sadly is more than can be said for many people in the country.

There wasn’t much to see at the zoo, but apparently some of the local Ethiopians thought the Americans appeared to be rather exotic creatures. We noticed some people snapping pictures of us instead of the animals!

After a full afternoon and a quick stop back at the guest house to relax for a bit, we hopped back in the van to head out to Yod Abysinnia, which is well-known for its traditional food and dance. I believe there were 24 of us, in total. It was quite an experience. It was loud, crowded, and a total blast! We personally loved the food, but we have eaten Ethiopian food before.

Popcorn & coffee -- an Ethiopian staple

Hand washing -- since you eat with your hands (no utensils),
hand washing is a MUST.

Our meal for five people. It was very good.

I keep asking my friends and family to go with us to our local Ethiopian restaurant, but no one seems to want to go with us .... we can't understand why?

Pepsi :)

We were so blessed that 7 out of the 8 CWA couples were able to attend dinner that evening. We also had a few others join us, as well. Here are some pictures of our new friends!

Mike and Richelle, WA

Joseph & Melissa, NC
Blog

Dawson & Alicia, MT
Blog

Joe & Sarah, IL
Blog

Greg & Amy, GA

Tom & Liz, NC

Brian, Jeanne & daughter Selah, SC
Blog

We were missing C.O & Ann Marie from Alaska at dinner. Their blog can be found here. They definitely won the award for farthest travel!!! All of these couples have amazing God-stories, amazing hearts and are just all around wonderful people! It was such a blessing to connect with each and every one of them and I look forward to keeping in contact with them! They are all in my prayers daily!

That pretty much wraps us our Day 4 in Ethiopia. After dinner, we went home, took some pepto, and headed to bed!

Day 5, Sunday (New Years Day) was a day of rest for us! We needed a day of rest to process everything that was in our hearts and mind.

Baxter Family SIX

2012-01-19T18:39:00.000-08:00

Wow! I was just able to change our blog title to BAXTER FAMILY SIX! It feels great [and a bit strange] to say that we are now a family of 6. Just one year ago, we were still a family of 4. Gaining 2 daughters in less than a year is a huge adjustment, but a wonderful blessing from our Creator. I cannot even begin to explain what a blessing it is to have 2 wonderful sons and 2 beautiful daughters. The boys have adjusted well to having one little sister, and I'm sure they will adjust well when Elliana comes home as well. Baby Faith, however, with probably have a slight adjustment issue, but she will be fine. She already loves her sissy and kisses and points to her pictures all of the time! I just cannot wait to have our family ALL home and under one roof.

I always say this, but I mean it . . . if you would have told me 5 years ago that I would have 4 children, I would have laughed at you. :)

I'm so glad God is in control of my life... not me. His plan is much better than I could have ever imagined. Don't ever close yourself off to what God has in store for You!

Father to the fatherless, defender of widows — this is God, whose dwelling is holy. God places the lonely in families.
Psalms 68:5-6

(Don't worry, our blog address is still baxterfamilyfive.blogspot.net -- I just changed the title on my page).

Ethiopia Day 3

2012-01-17T16:08:00.000-08:00

I actually have to pick up where I left off on Day 2. Trying to keep my 'try not to be a spoiled American' theme I have to mention the evening of Day 2. After dinner, chatting with our new friends, texting and trying to Skype with the boys, we decided to go upstairs, shower and go to bed. I was so looking forward to a nice hot shower, since my last run-in with the shower was quick and cold. We did plug in the hot water heater, and we had electric all day, so the water should be nice and toasty warm.

I quickly gathered my things and ran into the bathroom. As I turned on the light switch, the light bulb gave a loud 'pop.' Ok, so I'd take a shower in the dark. No big deal. I turned on the shower and hopped in, but there was one problem . . . there was no water coming out of the shower head. Oh no! We were out of water. {in Ethiopia, they do not have wells; they have large water containers that are filled up when needed. The water is then pumped into the house.} No water also means no toilet flushing. We washed up that night with some bottled water and some baby wipes! Gotta love it! As a side note -- after our first no-water experience, my genius husband decided he was going to start collecting water in our used one liter bottles in case we were out of water again. We can't drink the water, but he was stock piling it for flushing emergencies! I thought he was being ridiculous, but guess what.... his efforts paid off later in our trip -- two times, to be exact!

The next morning we heard the generator start up, which means we must not have had power either -- we hadn't really noticed. We still had no water. Shortly though, the power kicked back on, and we heard the water pump kick on. Luckily, we were never without power or water for a long period of time.

Today we would be meeting at the CWA office to complete our paperwork for court. The Director of CWA Ethiopia shared a lot of information with us. I had wished I brought a notebook to take notes. The meeting ran a little over, and all of us were very anxious to get to Acacia Village to visit with our little ones! We were hoping they'd allow us to stay later, since we would be getting there late.

When we came out of the CWA Office, our van was 'parked-in' by another vehicle. My heart sank. I didn't want to miss any more time with Elliana! I was amazed how our driver got out of that space! I would have certainly still been sitting there. So, soon we were on our way to Acacia Village.

When we arrived, Elliana was the first child they brought down. She came to us willingly! She looked so cute in her little jeans and pink shirt. This day, however, she was very reserved and cried a lot. She sat with us but didn't really want to engage. She was frightened and shy. The nurse came and talked to her a few times in Amharic, which seemed to help, for a little while. We also met with the Counselor, along with the nurse, to discuss Elliana's medical and social history. They basically said that she is very healthy (except she had recently had conjunctivitis and was treated with eye drops) and that she was reserved and shy. They were working on reassuring her and giving her extra hugs and kisses (this is why we need her home ASAP)!

Elliana liked the photo book

Eating for mommy

Safe in daddy's arms

We fed her snack and lunch again and then she fell asleep while Brad was holding her. We took her up to her crib and gave her kisses before we left. It would be 3 days until we could see her again! (Saturday, Sunday and Monday).

After we left Acacia Village, 3 other couples from CWA (as well as us) went to Island Breeze, which was a very nice place with a great menu. They make yummy stone-fire pizza. When I say stone fire, I mean, they went outside and made a fire in a stone pit or oven to bake the pizza. I didn't have any, but it looked delicious. Again, I cannot tell you what a blessing it was to share our experience with other adoptive couples. It was nice to chat about our visit and get to know each other a little better. After lunch, we all went to the Postal District shopping.

After Day 3, we were emotionally and physically exhausted! I continued to worry about Elliana's fragile state, but I knew in my heart that she would be just fine once we got her home and could give her the attention she so desires.

After we arrived back at the guest house, guess what I did.... got a hot, awesome shower!! We had a big day planned for Saturday, (Day 4).

Where are we in the process now?

2012-01-14T14:07:00.000-08:00

We found out on Friday that our Court Decree and Birth Certificate has been received and translated, so we were able to complete our I-600 Form (that gets submitted to the Embassy). Yay! We scrambled around today to get it notarized and sent it to our agency's office. They will receive it next week and will ship it over to Ethiopia in next Friday's package. I'm not exactly sure where this form fits into the breakdown below, but at least it's one step closer to bringing Elliana home! I'm assuming we are at the point of requesting a passport... but not sure.

If you are following the 10 steps of my previous post, I'll give you a little breakdown of where we are now: [it feels REALLY good to cross some of those things off] but, realistically, I'm trying not to get over-excited :)

~~An approval letter has to be received from MoWCY. (we need a positive recommendation) and hopefully this has already been received by our first court hearing.~~
~~The courts must give their consent~~
~~We must give our consent (which we will do while we are there).~~
~~After we have 1, 2 and 3, they can submit to get our court decrees and birth certificate. (This typically takes several weeks).~~
Then, after we have 1, 2, 3 and 4, we can request a Passport. (we are here!!)
Next is the Embassy Physical. Physical results must be back before we can proceed.
After 1 - 6 is all done, with no errors and no requests for additional information, etc., we can be submitted to the Embassy!
The Embassy may take a few weeks to review our documents. They may request more information, or they could approve the case right away. (if they request more information, we could be delayed significantly).
If we are approved right way, the Embassy will contact us for an appointment, in which we will travel back over to Ethiopia. I hear that sometimes we would only get a one week notice!!
Once we travel back over to Ethiopia, we will have our Embassy appointment and then it will take them 2 days (I think) to process E's Visa, then we are free to leave the country.

Please continue to pray for our quick return to bring Elliana home. Also pray for the wisdom of the Embassy officials reviewing all of our cases. We are praying that things continue to move along and are not delayed :)

And, just because she is so cute, here is another picture of Elliana enjoying her Ethiopian Christmas!

Ethiopia Day 2

2012-01-14T06:25:00.000-08:00

Day 2 was the day we would get to meet Elliana-Geneme. [as a side note, you may notice that I refer to her in some posts as Geneme -- this is her given Ethiopian name, and honestly, I have grown quite fond of it. When she comes home, there will likely be a transition period in which we will have to call her Ellie-Geneme for a while, and then eventually drop the Geneme. It is pronounced Ga - nim- E]

Finally after months of looking at pictures we would see her face to face. Would she like us? Would she cry? Would we cry? What if she screamed and hated us? We were both unbelievably nervous. I stressed over what to wear (silly, i know)...

At breakfast in the Guest Home, we met up with Joseph and Melissa again, and also met some new friends -- Tom and Liz from North Carolina and Mike and Rachele from Washington. Tom and Liz are with CWA and adopting an 8 year old boy. Mike and Rachelle were with another agency and adopting a 20 month old boy. We all chatted anxiously about our first meeting and quizzed Mike and Rachelle about their experience [since they had met their son a few days earlier]. Soon, our driver arrived and it was time to go. I had a huge lump in my throat and no matter how much I swallowed, it remained.

A picture of us as we were leaving the Guest Home to meet
Elliana for the first time!

The drive to her foster home was humbling. It took us through several villages. Addis had areas that look similar to some cities, but dotted all along the dirt roads, highways and streets are reminders of the poverty that surrounds Ethiopia. The people are so beautiful and such hard workers. There were cattle and goats all along the road right behind their shepherd, who was sometimes just a boy. The traffic is crazy and there are apparently no rules.

A shepherd and his goats on the road

We swung by another guest home and picked up another CWA family, Brian, Jeanne and their daughter, Sela. Together we chatted and rode to the care home where all of our kids were staying. All of our children were from the same orphanage. Finally, after about a 20 or 30 minute drive [I seemed to have lost track of time] we arrived at the Care Home called Acacia Village. [Acacia Village is owned and operated by our Agency. All of the children here are either in the court process, or waiting for their Embassy appointment]. As the gates opened to allow our van in and revealed the facility, we all fought back tears.

Acacia Village

The moment that we have dreamt about for so many months was about to happen! Surreal is the only way to describe it. We meet Helen, who is the manager of the home and the one who takes all of the pictures of Geneme. One by one the nannies brought out the babies to each family. It was so sweet to see the first introductions of these children with their forever families. I could not hold in my emotions. All of the families found a private spot to get to know their little ones. But, we remained at the bottom of the stairs. Helen said they were changing Geneme and finishing her hair. I could hear a faint cry up stairs, and I was praying it wasn't Geneme as they were doing her hair! I wondered if she was nervous too? It seemed like we waited a long time at the bottom of the steps, but I'm sure it was only a few minutes.

Then, we saw feet coming down the stairs. It was like anticipating a bride coming down the aisle. Guess who they were holding! Sweet Elliana Geneme Jayne. She was more beautiful than we imagined. We both choked back tears. Elliana probably thought we were a bunch of blubbering idiots. :) She was so scared and reserved. Eye contact was difficult at first but she began to warm up. She seems to hide her feelings. Occasionally, she would pucker her lip and a lonely tear would stream down her face. I just couldn't help but wonder what was going through her precious mind. She would sit on my lap and occasionally look up, but then quickly look away. We showed her the photo book we brought for her and she turned the pages and looked. She seemed intrigued with the pictures of herself. She's probably never looked at a picture of herself before.

Right after our first meeting. Elliana was very frightened

After being there for about an hour, they brought us her snack to feed to her. It was a thick oatmeal cereal with fruit. She wanted nothing to do with it at first, but then she allowed me to feed her. Yay! Success. I was surprised at the amount of food they fed her. It was a lot!

After snack and a little more time together, it was time for lunch. We took her up with the nanny and other toddlers, but I was still able to feed her. They had rice and beans for lunch. The nanny fed the other 5 toddlers, and let me tell you, they have a system! Each child has her own spoon and bowl. The nanny would continue going in the same order giving each child an over-sized bite of rice and beans (a huge spoonful). Then she would start back over at the beginning. I can see why they give them such a big bite -- it's to occupy them until they get back around for the next bite! Elliana seemed comfortable with her peers and she sat beside one little girl and they would almost hold hands and pat each other. So precious.

After lunch, all of the toddlers waddle down the hall and sit on their own potty. Some of the children are only 12 months old! I am amazed how they all just sit there... for a long time... The nanny sings songs that has arm and hand motions while they are sitting. The children were so proud when they would go! Elliana was successful {even with 2 strangers standing there watching -- probably creepy, now that I think about it!}

After potty time, all of the toddlers went down for their naps. We took Elliana with us downstairs where the staff prepared a coffee ceremony for us. She fell asleep in our arms. It was so precious. When it was time to leave, we took her upstairs and layed her in her crib. I was surprised how 'at peace' I felt when we left her. The staff at Acacia Village really love the children and it was a bright, clean and cheery place.

Elliana sleeping during the Coffee Ceremony

Elliana's crib (and her sleeping in it)

After our visit, some of us went to the Hilton for lunch. The Hilton is a beautiful hotel with all the amenities of home! For a brief moment, we almost forgot we were in Africa. But, as soon as we drove out of the Hilton, it was back to the reality of where we were. Brad and I had a cheeseburger, fries and a coke. That was pretty normal food! Although, they did try to put a fried egg on our hamburger. We graciously said, no thanks." :)

After lunch, we went back to the guest house and crashed as we tried to process our first two days in Ethiopia!

Coke Light (aka - Diet Coke)

Lunch with some CWA families at the Hilton

One of the pools at the Hilton

Christmas Pictures from Ethiopia

2012-01-12T09:30:00.000-08:00

Imagine our delight when we received photos of our daughter opening gifts on her Ethiopian Christmas. Looks like they had quite a celebration! Here are a few of my favorite shots. She looks like she grew already!

Sticky lollipop goodness!

Don't even think about taking my lollipop!

~In her Christmas best~

Gifts from a donor!
Probably the first she's ever received

One of her nannies helping her open her gifts!
New Shoes!

She received a traditional Ethiopian Dress!

She doesn't look too happy about the head scarf!

A new doll!

Merry Christmas in Ethiopia

2012-01-07T10:24:00.000-08:00

Today is Christmas in Ethiopia. I'm pretty sure they do not run around crazy in holiday mode preparing for their Christmas like some of us do here in the states. In fact, I posted a little bit about the Ethiopian Christmas here last year. There was a private donor who brought gifts for all of the CWA Children at Acacia Village this year. Whoever you are, THANK YOU so much!

Wishing our Sweet Princess a Merry Christmas -- Peace, Joy and Love! We are coming for you soon!

Mommy, Daddy, Colton, Dylan & Faith

Ethiopia - Day 1

2012-01-07T07:53:00.001-08:00

Leaving was hard and I'm not sure why. Leaving our kids at home was tough even though we knew they were in good hands and were very blessed to be spending time with both sets of grandparents. It makes me think of the Parable of the lost sheep -- leaving the 99 to save one. I guess that's how we had to think about it to keep from missing them so much. On our way to the airport on Monday night we came upon a horrible accident that had happened only moments before. Traffic was stopped in both directions for nearly an hour. Funny thing is, as we were leaving home Brad discovered that he had forgotten our EZPass, so he had to turn around to go back and get it. Otherwise that could have easily been us. Another glimpse of how God truly protects us.

Almost there!!

We didn't sleep much at the hotel. We took the shuttle to the airport early then next morning. We were able to get our Five- 50 pound bags plus two carry-ons into the airport with little trouble. We had a waiver for our extra bag (saving us $150) which was much appreciated.(Thank you Susan Parr Travel)!

Once in the airport and at our gate, we anxiously awaited our flight, not knowing what to expect. Just before boarding, we met up with Amy and Greg from Georgia. We connected via email before making our travel arrangements. They were on our flight and were adopting a nine year old boy from CWA. It was nice to talk with them. They had adopted 2 children, only two years earlier from Ethiopia, so in my eyes, they were pros (they have also adopted two children from Russia) and have a few bio children as well.

Middle of the flight - when boredom struck

Our flight was long but uneventful. The plane was nice and had personal touch screens for each passenger. We watched a couple of movies. I think they fed us 3 times during the 14 hour flight. The countryside coming into ET was beautiful. Such rich and beautiful colors. Parts of it reminded me of the Grand Canyon.

Once we stepped out of the airplane, I quickly took a deep breath and inhaled the fragrance of Addis. I've heard that it has a very distinctive smell. The best way for me to describe it is that is smells similar to roasted chestnuts. You know, like the kind they roast on the streets of New York City in the winter-time. The smell is very similar. Of course, in the airport, that smell was mixed with jet fuel too.. so not exactly the best smell. I also had to blink back tears, as I was in shock that we were finally in Africa to meet our little girl. It was absolutely surreal. I really do not have any other way to describe it.

Strapping luggage to the top of the van

We breezed through customs with all of our luggage and donations and quickly met up with our guest house driver. [this part had me nervous because I have heard horror stories of getting donations through customs and trying to find the driver for the guest house but luckily we didn't have an issue].

On our way to the van, we met up with Joseph and Melissa from North Carolina, who were staying at the same guest house and adopting a 7 month old little girl from CWA as well. I cannot tell you what a blessing it was to share this journey with other adoptive families. (more on that later).

The van ride to our Guest House was interesting. Apparently there isn't really a right or wrong side of the road to drive on. Four way intersections have no signals or stop signs. Just a honk of the horn and passing right though. Funny thing is, it works! There are no obscene gestures or fender benders. It just all flows. I spent many-a-day on our trip semi-car sick and/or altitude sick. Nothing major but just not used to the rough and tumble roads and near collisions. My motto for the entire trip was "try not to be a spoiled American!!!" Unfortunately, I had to use this phrase several times during our stay :)

The Children's School across from our Guest House

Right across from our guest house, there was a private children's school. [children in Ethiopia do not attend school unless their parents are able to afford a private school. They all learn English while attending school]. We stepped out onto the balcony to catch a glimpse of the darling little ones. They quickly spied us and immediately began waving. They were so cute. Later in the day, they were singing jingle bells and yankee doodle. So cute, especially the jingle bells song -- I'm pretty sure they have no idea what 'dashing through the snow..." means. We tried not to be out on our balcony too often, as it drew their attention away from their teacher, but they were so darned precious it was hard to stay away.

After we got settled in to our guest house, we basically slept on and off the rest of the day. At dinnertime, in addition to Joesph and Melissa from CWA, we also met Richelle & Mike from Washington State, who were adopting a 20 month old boy from a different agency.

Richelle & Mike had already met their little boy, so we were eager to listen to their experience. We spent a part of the evening discussing our adoption journeys and anxiously awaiting the next morning -- the day we would finally get to meet Baby E!

Internet connection was spotty, but text messaging worked well. We were able to text the boys and even Skype that first night. Baby Faith tried to look behind the screen to see where we were! It made me miss them even more.

We went up to get showers that evening and discovered that apparently you have to plug in the hot water heater if you want a hot shower. So, keeping with my motto "try not to be a spoiled American," we both got a very cold and a very quick shower and then quickly climbed into bed. We were lulled to sleep that night by barking dogs and roosters crowing, with the hope of what tomorrow would bring.

View from our balcony

Another view from our balcony

A view from our window in the guest house

147 Million Minus ONE!

2012-01-06T10:14:00.000-08:00

Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world. James 1:27

147 Million Minus ONE!

Introducing Elliana Geneme Jayne Baxter

2012-01-04T14:21:00.000-08:00

After 26 months long months of being in process and waiting, it is our great honor to introduce you to our daughter,

Elliana Geneme Jayne Baxter

Elliana: "The Lord has Responded"

in Hebrew, it literally means, My God Has Answered Me!

It also means Sun Ray or Shining Light

Geneme: "In the morning"

Jayne: "God is gracious"

(more on her name later)

Our first meeting

Shy and Reserved, but coming around!

We are home from Ethiopia

2012-01-04T06:18:00.001-08:00

Hi everyone. We just landed in DC and are on our way home from our trip. It was amazing! We passed court and Elliana is officially a Baxter!! After we get some sleep and digest everything I will post more and pictures of Elliana and more about our trip.

Merry Christmas

2011-12-25T21:15:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas! As you can see, we've been celebrating for the past couple of days! More to follow later :)

Prayers Appreciated

2011-12-20T10:22:00.000-08:00

While we are all sleeping tonight, our case will go to court in Ethiopia. This is the first court hearing -- we do not have to be present for it. Hopefully we will hear sometime tomorrow if we passed this first hurdle. (yes, there is a chance that we may not pass!).

If we would not pass our first hearing they could postpone the court hearing we are traveling for. We will still travel, however. If they postpone our hearing, we will give consent while we are there, sign something else, and then we would not have to appear for the 2nd hearing. (The reason parents appear for the 2nd hearing is to say that they've met their prospective child(ren) and agree that they want to adopt them). We are praying that we pass this first hearing and our second one, of course.

Then, it ain't over yet! After we pass court (which may take a few tries, but hopefully not), it is an estimated wait time of 2 - 4 months until we return :(

Here's the breakdown of what happens after we go over:

An approval letter has to be received from MoWCY. (we need a positive recommendation) and hopefully this has already been received by our first court hearing.
The courts must give their consent
We must give our consent (which we will do while we are there).
After we have 1, 2 and 3, they can submit to get our court decrees and birth certificate. (This typically takes several weeks).
Then, after we have 1, 2, 3 and 4, we can request a Passport.
Next is the Embassy Physical. Physical results must be back before we can proceed.
After 1 - 6 is all done, with no errors and no requests for additional information, etc., we can be submitted to the Embassy!
The Embassy may take a few weeks to review our documents. They may request more information, or they could approve the case right away. (if they request more information, we could be delayed significantly).
If we are approved right way, the Embassy will contact us for an appointment, in which we will travel back over to Ethiopia. I hear that sometimes we would only get a one week notice!!
Once we travel back over to Ethiopia, we will have our Embassy appointment and then it will take them 2 days (I think) to process E's Visa, then we are free to leave the country.

Sounds simple, right? Those 10 steps take about 2 months+ to complete. Where the 4 months or longer comes in is if any of those steps require corrections, more information or if additional delays are encountered. So, you can see how quickly things can derail and pile up. I have no idea if we are kept abreast of what step we are in. I'm thinking not.

Please continue to pray for a clear path to bring E home. If additional information is requested, please pray that we can get it quickly. Please pray for the wisdom of those reviewing Elliana's case. Please pray that Elliana knows we are coming back as soon as we can to bring her home. Please also pray for our health, our safe travels and protection over our family at home!

We made it this far, and God's timing has always been perfect. Four months is a long time, but considering how long we've waited, and considering how much we've been stretched, molded and shown God's perfect plan, we can do it! It's going to really hard though, especially after we meet her, touch her and hold her.

Thank you to everyone for your continued support, prayers, emails, donations and love. I can't wait to post pictures of Elliana (once we pass court). You won't believe how beautiful she is!

Christmas Tree Pictures

2011-12-18T19:35:00.000-08:00

This is our attempt to get a picture of Faith by the Christmas tree. As the boys would say . . . epic fail!

She's still a cutie, just a fast-moving one! Plus, get a good look at her little piggy-tails, because you might never see them again! I did it while she was sleeping. They didn't last very long! Maybe we will have better luck next time.

Donation Pictures

2011-12-18T16:11:00.000-08:00

We are so grateful for everyone's generosity in bringing us donations (and funds to buy donations) for the orphanage our daughter is from and to the care home that she is currently in. We even had 2 suitcases donated, so we can just leave them there! We still have more stuff coming, so we will have to take those items on our next trip. It took up our entire counter and bar area in our basement. As you can see from the photos, we had a lot of stuff. Over 150 pounds of stuff, to be exact. We were able to squeeze it into 4 bags. Our travel agent said she may be able to get us a waiver for the extra bag fees. That would be awesome! If not, each bag is $150! If that is the case, we will probably squeeze them into 3 large bags and hopefully only need to pay for one bag. (Brad and I get 2 bags each for free, and I'm thinking we'll probably only need one suitcase each). So keep your fingers crossed!

Thanks again to our friends, family and friends-of-friends. Your donations will certainly be put to good use. Please pray that we are able to get all of these donations through customs without any issues. It would be a shame to carry them that far and then have them confiscated in customs. I am, however, armed with a detailed breakdown of exactly what is in each bag. Hopefully that will help.

Such cute little outfits of all sizes!

Some socks, blankets, towels and onsies

Diaper Rash Ointment and lots of wipes

Miscellaneous medicines, etc.

14 packs of diapers

Little God Moments

2011-12-15T06:08:00.000-08:00

We are still in shock that this is finally happening. Things honestly have been quite a whirlwind for the past 2 weeks. I mean, we knew this was coming, but most of the things we have to do couldn't be done until now! {if that makes sense} We have waited for thismoment for so long and with such anticipation, but I honestly haven't really had time tosit and think about what we are about to do! Plus, this is Faith's firstChristmas so I'm trying to do some of the same "firsts" that we didon the boys first Christmas and trying to make sure my big boys are ok too, all while preparing to go meet #4. Right now it's a juggling act, and we have a lot of balls up in the air. All of those things happening at once can be alittle overwhelming. I imagine once I get on that plane and have time to reallysit and breathe and think, tears will begin to flow.

My main concern is, I don't want to be sobusy in all of this, that I miss the little moments that may turn out to be bigmoments....like the God-moments...ya know?

I can't even begin to tell you about the God-moments that have occurred in just one week in our home. First of all, donations for the orphanage and care home have begun to flow infrom our church family and friends, and friends of friends. It's really awesome. We have a friend who works for a large grocery store chain bring us ahuge box full of formula, diapers, wipes, diaper rash ointments and all kindsof goodies. A few others took the list and literally bought every single itemon the list. We have many others who have items to bring as well and who have forwarded the list onto their list of friends! It's really amazing! And of course I couldn't resist the sales at the Carter's and the Osh Kosh outlets for some of the cutest onsies, tshirts and such! I willpost pictures soon! I just hope we can take it all on this trip! We are going to start packing it up and weighing it, etc. on Sunday!

We also received avery generous check from friends who organized a secret fundraiser selling gift wrap, candles, home goods, etc. They wereable to make a 50% profit from the items sold. So many people were involved in this endeavor,and we were completely oblivious to it. Again, such a God-thing and so amazing! I don't even think I have the words toexpress our gratitude right now. We are still in shock!

Then, we had a couple who visited our church for thevery first time come up and hand Brad a check. We didn't even know them, but they heard thatwe were traveling soon to meet our daughter, sought us out, and wanted tocontribute in some way. Again, that doesn't just happen.

All of this in one week! God has certainly beenfaithful in His provisions for us throughout our journey. We can't deny that! We have been very blessed with generosity from co-workers, friends,family and total strangers.

That's why thisblog is near and dear to me. When we started our journey, we had no idea (and still do not) how things would turn out or how we would make the 2 trips and so many other uncertainties (not to mention a bio pregnancy in the midst of it all!). We just knew we were following the path that God told us to take. I know a lot of posts are just my randomthoughts and ramblings, but I do not ever want to forget (after life gets evenbusier) the generosity, prayers, help and blessings of so manypeople throughout this journey. I want E to know this too. She needs to know how many people cared for her, without even knowing herface, and to what lengths they went to, to help bring her home.

Everyone keeps sayinghow we are going to change her life forever, but it's really the opposite --she's already changed us forever! [I know this is similar to the quotefrom "The Blind Side"... but it's true!]

It's really happening

2011-12-11T18:48:00.001-08:00

Wow. Time is flying by since we were assigned our court date. So many little things to think about, not to mention ... It's Christmas. Good thing I typically work well under pressure. As I previously mentioned, we already have our flights, our accommodations, and this past week we were able to get our visas. (there was literally no line both times we went to the Ethiopian embassy....so that was great).

I've come to the realization last week that, this is really happening! I've tried for 2 years to guard my heart in case things didn't happen as expected, but now, I'm releasing my heart to this little girl who totally stole it the moment I laid eyes on her. It's almost like seeing my 3 bio babies for the first time on ultrasound. All signs may say you are pregnant, but you don't really believe it, until you see them bouncing around like little peanuts on the screen. It's at that point that you realize this is REAL and I'm going to be a mom! That's where I'm at right now!

Last week we received an email announcing that she arrived at our Agency's care home. No more orphanage for her. While I'm sad for her and for her nanny, I know she will be well cared for at this new facility. This is a brand new facility that is bright, and cherry and clean. She will have excellent care here until we bring her home. I do worry about how she is adjusting, but it's reassuring to know that many of her orphanage buddies were moved at the same time, so at least she will have some familiar faces. We are now waiting on some new photos of her in her new home. Her next move is HOME with us!

Please continue to pray for her transition, our upcoming trip, and our 3 kids that we will be leaving home for a week. It's going to be harder for me, probably more so, than for them!

I have lots more info and answers to some questions you all of been asking. Promise to post more soon!

Leaving on a Jet Plane

2011-12-01T19:40:00.001-08:00

Yay! We finally received our court date. We will be leaving fews days after Christmas to meet our little girl for the first time. There is so much to do and time will go quickly! Luckily, we've already secured our flights, so that is done. Now we are working on accommodations in Ethiopia.

After that, Visas. This will require us to visit the Ethiopian Embassy in DC again. Heck, they are probably tired of seeing us! At least we know where it is and we know to get there early before the huge line wraps around the building.

We finished up our travel immunizations last month, so that's done... but there is so much yet to do, especially with Christmas coming. We are thankful that we can spend Christmas at home with the kids this year and keep things semi-normal for them. I know they are a bit anxious about our travels too.

As always, God has been faithful and has orchestrated this trip beautifully. We will have 2 days of down time in Ethiopia before our court date (and we won't be able to see Baby E on those days), so that will give us time to explore her country, buy presents, sight see, and take in EVERYTHING. I think if our court date fell on another day, we would probably spend minimal time there... due to our kids at home, time off from work, etc., so this worked out great (although we are going to miss our kids at home terribly!!). We've also connected with 3 other families from our agency who are traveling the same time as us, so it will be nice to meet and spend some time with them.

Please keep us in and Baby E in your prayers. They should be moving her to Acacia Village in a few weeks, and I'm sure it will be difficult for her. Also, keep December 21st in your prayers. This is our first court date (that we do not have to be present for). Praying that all goes well there.

Our heads are swirling with excitement! We are going to meet our little girl.... finally!

October Pictures

2011-11-23T15:07:00.000-08:00

I'm a little bit behind in posting pictures, etc., but thought you might enjoy some pictures from the month of October. Yes, it snowed here in October, complete with power outages and cancellation of events. It was still very pretty. Faith is like her mommy -- not a big fan of the snow!

Umm.. what's all of that white stuff?

It was hard to get a shot without a snowflake on the lens!

A "Dylan" Angel

We didn't actually do Halloween, but we found the cutest little lady bug costume and dressed Faith up for fun. She was the cutest BUG ever!

Tired little bug!

Another Coincidence?

2011-11-18T18:52:00.001-08:00

I forgot tomention this when I did my post about non-coincidences. . . . The Tuesdaybefore we received our referral, a package arrived in the mail. It was clothing that I had ordered for Faithfor the fall season. Everything waspackaged nicely inside a bag, which was then inside the box. I noticed when I opened the box, there weretwo pair of little leggings outside of the bag, just sitting on top ofeverything, even on top of the packing slip. I put them to the side and began looking over my purchases, thinking Imust have ordered them by mistake.

Oneby one I went through the packing slip and compared it to what I had in thebox. No sign of the leggings on thepacking slip… That’s weird, I thought. Then I looked at the size. Theywere 24 months. I thought, wow, it willbe a long time until Baby Faith can wear those. Everything else in the box was 9 months.

It wasn’tuntil after we received our referral, a few days later, that it hit me. Those leggings were a little gift for BabyE. She will most likely be in 18-24month clothing by the time we bring her home.

It made me giggle and think about how God brings theunexpected into our lives. Sometimes good things; and sometimes bad things. But sometimes, it’s those unexpected giftsthat surprise and delight us. It’s those small things that can make us smile. Theyare tiny reminders from God that He loves us, that He's there, that He’slistening. Today when I opened thecloset and saw those little leggings, I was reminded again that He cares and that Hispromises are true.

Faith's Dedication

2011-11-18T05:31:00.001-08:00

Ok, so I know I am way behind in posting this, but better late than never, right?

Faith's dedication was on September 11, 2011. What an awesome day. This was also 2 days after we received our referral of sweet Baby E, so we were able to rejoice and celebrate God's goodness on this day for BOTH of our girls.

We were blessed to have so many wonderful friends and family join us for church and for our little party afterwards. They came from near and far. She even had 3 great aunts attend the festivities, as well as Nana and Pop, and Mee-Maw and Pappy, of course! We had friends who traveled for hours and even stayed overnight so that they could witness our little girl being dedicated to God.

Somewhere along the line, Pastor Ken gave the mic to Brad, who ended up telling his entire testimony of his experience with 9/11. Such a humbling moment to realize that Faith wouldn't even be here if there wasn't divine intervention that day. It was also an awesome moment to realize that the last time we were before our congregation, it was to tell about our heart for adoption, and how we could welcome ONE more into our family. Only God knew that we would soon welcome TWO and how these two little girls would forever be entwined and connected through a journey of faith and redemption.

We know God has BIG plans for both Faith and Baby E. It's going to be our privilege to watch and help fulfill those plans!

For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Jeremiah 29:11

Pastor Ken

Faith's Yummy Cake

The teens enjoyed the moon bounce more than the younger kids!

Big Brothers are the best!

Submitted to Court!

2011-11-17T05:00:00.001-08:00

Our documents were submitted and accepted by the court on November 15th. Yay!! This is a very big step forward.

What does this mean? It means that we now will wait for be assigned a court date, which may take 2 - 3 weeks (hopefully not any longer). Once we know our date, we can begin making travel arrangements. There are actually 2 court hearings on our case. One will take place without us; we must appear for the second one. We are still praying that we could squeeze in the last week of December. If not, it will most likely be January, unless there has been a large number of cases submitted this week. Once we have a court date assigned, they will move Baby E from her orphanage to Acacia Village, where we will meet her for the first time. This is going to be very scary for her, I am sure. Right now, believe it or not, her orphanage is a very safe place for her. She's going to be taken away from that safe place of sounds, smells and faces.

We also received 6 new photos this week for our November update. She is more and more beautiful every time we see her. Those lips and big brown eyes! It also looks like they are letting her hair grow a bit. I cannot wait to put a big bow in it!! She looks very healthy, but please pray for her little heart. She is looking very sad lately. I am hoping her December pictures will show her smiling.

We've also sent her October and November updates and pictures to her adoption specialist doctors. They are very pleased with her overall growth and motor skills! She still looks petite to me... so I'm thinking her and Baby Faith are going to be pretty close in height and weight. We cannot wait to actually see her in person!

A few prayer requests:

* that we can get a speedy court date assigned -- hopefully in 2011.
* that Baby E's heart is comforted and that she hears a whisper that "I will not leave you as Orphans.. I will come to you... "
* that Baby E will do well in her transition to Acacia Village.
* that our 3 children at home will do well with us going away and the transition to come!

As soon as I hear anything, I will let everyone know!

Gratitude

2011-11-05T05:17:00.000-07:00

Gratitude – letting others know you see how they’ve helped you. This is what we are teaching our kids this month at church. Sometimes I think I get more out of the lessons than the kids.

“Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” 1 Thessalonians 5:18, NIV
Hmmm.. in all circumstances . . . How many of us really praise God when we are in the midst of a storm, even if it is His will for us? We are quick to say thank you when things are going well, but not too many of us say 'geee, thanks,' when things aren't going as planned. I know I’m guilty of that. I’m trying to be better and know that He has the master plan and can see things we cannot. I tried to think of that this week as we were waiting and waiting for one test result, which was holding up our court submission. This one test has tied us up for 8 weeks.

I had come to the conclusion that if God wants our test results to be stuck in a machine that is broken down, then that is what He wants. The test is run, the results are done, but the machine is unable to spit the results out. [seriously, I don't make this stuff up!] But, there must be a reason for it. Maybe He wanted to see if we would take E without knowing the final results of this test? Maybe He needed to delay our travel to avoid a situation that He knows is going to happen (like my husband’s 9/11 “non-coincidence”). Maybe He needs E to stay at the orphanage a few more weeks …. Whatever it is, He knows and we do not.

BUT, Gratitude is exactly what came to mind Thursday, when we were able to approve Baby E’s 2nd medicals!! Finally! This happened all by God’s grace, I’m sure of that!!

We were permitted to approve her 2nd medicals ‘as is’ without this ONE required test. It was our decision if we wanted to wait for the test results or approve her 2nd medicals without it. You know what we decided! So, we were able to give our consent to have our case prepared for court submission on Thursday. This, I am certain, is not an Agency standard, but an exception which was based on Baby E’s age and the age requirement of this ONE required test. {Plus I’m sure that the fact that we waited 4 weeks for the reagent to come in, and then 4 additional weeks for the results of this test, had some influence on their decision}. On Friday, we received an email that the lab machine was repaired and we had the test results anyway! Yipee… so now we are back on track.

The process of getting the documents translated and authenticated over in Ethiopia to go to court can take a couple of weeks. Not sure how ‘a couple of weeks’ is translated in Ethiopian time, but at least we are moving again. After we are officially submitted to court, it looks like it takes a few more weeks to hear back with a court date, unless there is a problem with one of our documents. We are praying that everything is in order for our little girl and that we can get a speedy court date. I’m still praying that we can get a court date by the end of the year, but I know it may not be possible. I'm also praying that we can travel with other families in our Agency whose children's test results were stuck in the same machine! We should all be back on track now.

My goal is to continue to show gratitude in all circumstances. I know this is just one of MANY hills and valleys that we are yet to go through in this adoption process. Still, I feel like we are coming down the home stretch, sort of. Of course, this can change quickly with the next detour or road block we come to, but today, I am certainly full of gratitude for a God that cares, and a God that can move mountains and make exceptions to bring His children home.

I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you. John 14:18

Still Waiting

2011-10-28T21:16:00.000-07:00

Nope. Nothing again this week. Apparently there is an issue at the lab. Uggh. There are so many roads my mind can go down right now, but I’m trying to remain calm. I'll be honest. It's not easy. I'm so afraid that her original sample is no longer useable so they will have to draw it again, which could take a few more weeks. Or what if they run out of the reagent again ... See here I go again. It's a constant battle for me to stay out of panic mode. That's not cool. I have keep my mind on things that I know as truth:

Philippians 4:6-7. Don't fret or worry. Instead of worrying, pray. Let petitions and praises shape your worries into prayers, letting God know your concerns. Before you know it, a sense of God's wholeness, everything coming together for good, will come and settle you down. It's wonderful what happens when Christ displaces worry at the center of your life.

8-9Summing it all up, friends, I'd say you'll do best by filling your minds and meditating on things true, noble, reputable, authentic, compelling, gracious—the best, not the worst; the beautiful, not the ugly; things to praise, not things to curse. Put into practice what you learned from me, what you heard and saw and realized. Do that, and God, who makes everything work together, will work you into his most excellent harmonies.

Please pray that these issues get resolved. We need ONE test result to be entered onto her medical report in order to approve her medicals and be submitted for court. ONE. Everything else is complete. My heart hurts for our little girl who has spent most of her life waiting… and stuck in a process that she had no control over.

We are almost 2 years in the adoption process. Granted, we were pregnant and had a baby in there too, but it just seems like we have been waiting for this little girl forever. This summer, I was hesitant to plan anything for November or December, thinking we would be traveling. Now, November is almost here, and we are nowhere close to traveling. Booh. This is to be expected in an international adoption, I know, but knowing it and living in it are 2 different things. I still know, however, that waiting is part of God's plan for us. I don't fully understand it, but I know the waiting is continuing to draw us closer to Him. That's not a coincidence. It's part of the plan.

But, it’s still hard… knowing her face…and knowing a little about her personality. She’s there and we are here. It just stinks.

Orphans are easier to ignore before you know their names.

They are easier to ignore before you see their faces.

It is easier to pretend they're not real before you hold them in your arms.

But once you do, everything changes.

Radical by David Platt

Even Baby Faith is being changed and molded in this process. Here she is giving ‘kiss-kiss’ to Sissy. She loves looking at Baby E 's pictures.

Not Yet

2011-10-23T15:22:00.000-07:00

Nope, notta, nuttin -- That's the official word from our Agency -- the remaining lab test and corresponding report are not yet completed for Baby E. Total bummer. We had thought 'for sure' that it would be done this past week. But, in adoption world, 'for sure' is never a 'for sure' thing. Her one test result needs to come in before the doctor can write the final report. As we continue to wait, I am trying to keep my mind from going into 'panic' mode. It's hard.

Sadly, we have already surrendered the idea of traveling this year. I'm not saying God cannot perform a miracle here... but the reality is, it will most likely be January if not February, until we travel for the FIRST TIME. (and that's if the rest of the medicals come in next week). That does not sit well in my heart, but there is not a whole lot I can do about it except trust that this is the path and the plan for Baby E. Not traveling this year equates to no adoption tax credit for us. Double-bummer.

The second medical delays continue to push all of our court-travel-embassy date projections further into the future. I keep figuring and re-figuring weeks, dates, times, etc. that we MIGHT go. I need to stop. It's driving me crazy. I just need to TRUST, but to be honest with you, it's really hard. Being a mom of 3 kids at home and trying to figure out when we might go, or not go, trying to plan things for 2 or 3 months out.. not knowing... is really hard. I know this is part of my 'control' thing, so I am continuing to learn and receive grace in this area.

But, I'm still happy and praising God that the PCR reagent came in 4 weeks, instead of 8 weeks. After all, we could still be waiting for it come in and medicals could have not been started yet. Luckily, we are not there.. all of her medicals are done.. we just need ONE test result and ONE doctor's report... AND, we need good internet connections so that they can be sent to our agency and then onto us for approval. I'm also grateful that our Agency and the Orphanage is keeping us posted on what is going on -- even if it's not the best of news.

Still praying for good news this week! Will you join us?

Celebrating Small Stuff

2011-10-17T09:51:00.000-07:00

We are still making some small sort of progress while we are waiting. We received E’s October update on Friday with her weight, height, head and chest circumference and a little bit about her personality. She is growing and seems very smart! We also received 3 new photos. She is so sweet. We were happy to see in at least 2 of the photos she had ‘girls’ clothing on… not that it matters, but it was nice to see her in pink [now she just needs a bow…ha ha] She also had her hair in little knots for one of the photos – too cute. Her eyes are so big, eyelashes so long, and lips so kissable.

We are currently waiting for one test result, and then the doctor will write up her medical assessment. After that is written up and sent to us, we can approve her medicals and then move on and wait to be submitted to court. Our Case Manager said she hopes to have the medical report to us by the end of this week. Internet connections have been very bad over in that region lately, so that has been some of the delay. [it’s hard for us to imagine here in the U.S. when we have it on our phones, but it is, nevertheless, the reality over there! ] Once we approve her medicals, and get submitted to court, we will wait to hear from the courts about our official court date. I looks like it is taking about 8 weeks after submission to get a court date, and from what I understand, it will take a few weeks to get our paperwork together and ready to submit to court. [sigh]

So, judging on the date today, I’m still not sure if we will be able to make a trip this year, but that’s what we are hoping and praying for! Honestly, I’m just happy that the reagent came in and they were able to get her sample, because we could still be waiting on that! We are just happing things are moving and we can see some sort of progress.

So, instead of focusing on things that are not yet accomplished, I’m choosing to celebrate each little milestone, no matter how small, because that's what is going to bring us one step closer to bringing E home.

Please keep your prayers coming. We can feel them, and we can see their impact!

Coincidence

2011-10-09T18:23:00.000-07:00

I don't believe in coincidences. A few weeks ago I posted this :

We don’t yet see things clearly. We’re squinting in a fog, peering through a mist. But it won’t be long before the weather clears and the sun shines bright! We’ll see it all then, see it all as clearly as God sees us, knowing him directly just as he knows us!

Can I just say that I can already see the weather clearing. Don't get me wrong, I know we still have a long haul ahead of us (average time to bring E home is 4 - 8 months), but I can already see part of God's plan unfolding. Some things I can't share yet until we pass court, but there are a few "non-coincidences" I can tell you about.

Non-coincidence #1: we applied and were officially accepted with CWA on 11/09/09; we received our referral on 09/09/11. Hmmm...those numbers look familiar. Wow it's our acceptance date in reverse.

Non-Coincidence #2: This is a funny one -- sort of. You know how we have the "Alphabet" Family?? Angie, Brad, Colton, Dylan . . . then we planned on E, and then we had Faith. After we had Faith, we thought that E would be out of age-order... since we just assumed she would be younger than Faith. Again, in non-coincidental style, E fits right into our silly alphabet name game. She is 7 months older than Faith, so her E name is right in sync!

Non-coincidence #3: I think I posted before that we were hoping to have our referral by 9/11 (and we did!!). Why 9/11? Well, first of all, it was the Ethiopian New Year. Secondly, it was the day we had Faithlynn dedicated at church, and thirdly, 9/11 is a special day in America, as well as in our household. On 9/11/01 my husband got up for work, reminded me of an off-site meeting he had that day, kissed me and the boys goodbye, and headed off to work. Once he arrived at work, he and a few other co-workers were preparing for the high-level briefing 'downtown.' There were so many of them going that the had to take 2 government vans. They headed to the parking garage to pick up the vans. As they were checking in, there was a problem with the paperwork. They waited, and waited, shuffled paper around and still waited. It was getting late. Finally, one van was cleared to go and those guys quickly pulled out. The second van (the one Brad was going in) was still having paperwork problems. By this time, they were sure they would miss their meeting. DC traffic is not always so kind! As they were waiting for their van, they got the news of the Twin Towers.... as they continued to wait, they got the news of the Pentagon being hit. Guess where Brad's meeting was??? The Pentagon . Do you think it was a coincidence that there was paperwork problems that day? I think not.

Non-coincidence #3: the day we had our pregnancy with baby Faith confirmed was the same day baby E was born! Only God could have orchestrated that so beautifully. I remember that day so vividly. We were so surprised and happy to see a little peanut squirming and dancing around on the ultrasound, but I also remember feeling overwhelming sad too..because I felt like I was letting down a little girl in Ethiopia who was waiting for us. I had a really hard time with that. It was a bittersweet day for us, but now that I see the plan, I can see God's perfect timing at work. As Faith was growing in my tummy, E was growing in our hearts. (that's one reason we would have NEVER considered discontinuation of the adoption).

There are a few other things about E's adoption that are remarkable (not coincidence), but we can't reveal them yet until we pass court. It's just amazing to see the path so clearly marked, now that we have a few things to look back on. Although we don't always see it at the time, God's plan is always perfect and never a day off.

We cannot wait to see what He reveals next.

Happy Fall Ya'all

2011-10-09T17:05:00.000-07:00

Happy Fall, Ya'all! Yeah, I know I'm not from the south, but it sounded good! The weather is turning crisp, the leaves are full of color (and falling), and the pumpkin patches are ready to go. Here are a couple of pics from our neighbors pumpkin party. They grow these big pumpkins in their back yard!

I want THIS one, Dad!

Say "Pumpkin!"

This is my 'stink' eye!

It's very bright out here!

Pat the pumpkin!

A Timely Gift

2011-10-09T14:20:00.000-07:00

A week or so ago we received a package in the mail from our agency. It was while we were waiting for E's lab work to get started. I knew that they typically send gifts to families during their wait, so it wasn't a huge surprise. We opened it and found a beautiful Ethiopian scarf, a bracelet, and a small piece of Ethiopian art.

It was accompanied by a letter reminding us of God's promises and the following verse:

But these things I plan won't happen right away. Slowly, steadily, surely, the time approaches when the vision will be fulfilled. If it seems slow, be patient! For it will surely take place. It will not be late by a single day. Habakkuk 2:3

What I didn't realize is how much I needed a gentle reminder that we are still In the midst of God's plan, and as much as we need and want E home now, God has the perfect plan and is busy orchestrating it, even if we can't see it. It still doesn't change my human emotion of wanting E home now, but it was certainly a timely gift with a message of hope attached to it.

We did receive good news on Friday! We received the first 2 of 4 of E's second medicals. Yay! We are now waiting on one test that needs another blood draw, and her chest xrays and doctor's summary report (ok that was 3 things). Her labs are currently with the doctors at Children's Hospital in Philadelphia for review, but we don't anticipate any issues there.

After we get the remaining medicals and approve them, our agency can begin the paperwork process of submitting us to court! The good news there is that the courts and ministry of women's affairs are all caught up on their back log, so we could get a date before the end of the year.... Maybe...! And, we recently found out that if we can get through court in 2011 we may still be eligible for the adoption tax credit (thanks April!). We didn't know that.

In the meantime, we have taken our agency-required travel webinar, and we are heading to an international travel clinic this week to make sure we are up to date on all of our vaccinations.

Please continue to keep all of us and especially E in your prayers. We've heard that she is extremely fond of her one nanny. It breaks my heart that she will be getting moved away from her soon to a brand new place. It's a good move but will be tough on her poor little heart.

Thanks for all of your prayers!!

Answered Prayers!

2011-10-05T09:22:00.000-07:00

Yay! Just received word that the reagent that is needed for a certain blood test is back in stock in Addis (the capital city)! It may be a while until it makes it way to Baby E's orphanage, but nevertheless, it is available. Or, they may consider taking her blood from the orphanage to Addis for this test. Hopefully they will be able to get blood from Baby E again. Her 2nd Medicals (so I hear) are beginning to come in, so they must have been successful in getting something from her on Friday. Depending on Internet connections over there, we may start getting them this week.

Thanks so much for your continued prayers. Keep praying! It's working!

Hopefully things will start to get back on track soon and we can be submitted for a court date! Please continue to keep Baby E in your prayers while we are waiting for more tests and more labs!!!

(can you tell I am excited because of all of my exclaimation points??!!!!)

No 2nd Medicals Yet

2011-10-03T12:52:00.000-07:00

No 2nd medicals yet. They are still having problems finding Baby E's vein. They were going to try again on Friday, but our Case Manager hasn't heard yet if they were successful. We did hear that it's not due to dehydration. In fact, the email from the orphanage indicated that it was because she was so 'chubby' it was difficult for them to locate her vein... I guess that's better than being dehydrated :)   The reagent needed for the other type of blood test is not in yet either. Sigh.... keep us in your prayers. It's been 3 weeks since our referral and they haven't been able to even start her 2nd medicals yet.

I'm not sure what the next plan will be.  They mentioned maybe moving her to Acacia Village early to see if the doctors or nurses there are able to draw her blood, but I'm sure that will be a last resort.  Once they do get her blood, we will have to do this all over again when the reagent comes in! Uggh.. this poor little girl is going to hate needles.

Keep Baby E in your prayers! Hoping they can get her medicals started (and completed) soon! Pray that the reagent comes soon too!

Football Season is Upon Us!

2011-09-27T16:16:00.000-07:00

Ahhh... football season is upon us, and although it keeps us super busy going to 3 games a week, we wouldn't trade it for the world. Here are a few pics of our big boys and their little Sis.

One of my favorite pictures of the team!

My BIG boy on Meet the Team Night. Isn't he a cutie?

Miss Faith enjoying the game! She loves the cheerleaders.

P-U Brother -- You are stinky!

Umm.. Is it time to go home yet? I'm missing the Backyardigans

I love my guys. They are such good boys and big brothers. We can't wait to bring E home to our household of football, baseball, dirtbikes and mud! But once she gets here, I'm sure there will be lots of tea parties, picnics and PINK. I'm pretty sure the BOYS won't mind one bit!

What's Next?

2011-09-25T15:27:00.000-07:00

It's been two weeks since our referral and it still feels surreal. I look at Es face a million times a day and it feels like I've known her forever! Baby Faith squeals and kisses her picture every time she sees it. The boys are really excited to meet their little sister too. We are still in awe to how God works and answers prayers (I'm working on another post about that).

We had a very extensive conference call with Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. They did an awesome job of helping us decipher Es medical records, her growth charts and other information received. They were impressed with all the information we received and the 32 pictures we received with her referral. They said that was the most pictures they had ever received with a referral! We will follow up with them when she arrives home (and with any additional medicals and photos we receive).

So what's next? Right now, they are working on getting her second medicals run. These tests are required to be run and approved before our agency can submit us to court. The hang up right now is that a reactive agent that is required for one of the tests is out of stock. It is expected to take 4 to 8 weeks to come in!!! I'm told this happens all of the time but it still has my heart in a knot right now. In the meantime, they are going to try to get the rest of the tests started. We did hear that they tried to get some of her bloodwork done last week, but they were unable to find a vein. Poor baby!! So, they are going to try again next week and if that doesn't work, they will try a different lab.

So right now, "her lack of vein" isn't really holding things up since we are waiting for the reactive agent for the other test. After all of her medicals are done and approved by us, our agency can submit our info for a court date. This will take several more weeks until we get a court date. Then, we will travel for court which means we will get to meet our precious angel! After court we will return home and await our embassy appointment.

Time seems to be standing still and waiting is STILL hard, but we knew it would be. We were and ARE STILL praying to have her home by the end of the year, but realistically, it will most likely be in the January to March time frame. But I know God has this under control so we just have to trust in Him and His timing right now. Not having her home by December 31 means we will miss out on the adoption tax credit, but we have to know that there's a plan in that also.

Truthfully, I have poured over blogs looking at timelines of those who have gone before us trying to figure out what our scenario might look like, but it's really out of our hands, so I need to stop trying to 'figure it out.'.

Things you can help pray with us would be:

For protection of little Es heart and mind as she goes through some of the coming transitions from the orphanage to the care home, and the big scary needles that might have her frightened.
For the reactive agent to come back in stock SOON or NOW...
For her next attempt of giving blood to be a success so that her other medicals can get started and she doesn't have to go through multiple jabs.
For her health during the next few months -- pray that she can remain healthy!
For our airfare to be reasonable.... Depending when we go, airfare can be almost double...especially around the holidays.
To have her home before 2012! The tax credit would help us pay off our adoption loan and help pay for our second trip over!
For our 3 kids at home.. That they adjust well and that their hearts and minds are at ease during our travels.

So that's about it for now. We are hoping to get some new pictures sometime in October so we can see how she is growing. My mind is crazy right now with questions and to-do lists....but it's a happy crazy.

Happy Birthday to Me!

2011-09-18T05:12:00.000-07:00

My big birthday is this weekend (I’ll be 40.. but shhhssh… don’t tell anyone) and my hubby has asked me over and over what I wanted for my birthday since this is a special one (yeah, it’s special alright – I will officially be “over-the-hill”). My reply for the last 3 months has been the same – I want a referral! I want to know the face of our daughter! That’s all I want, selfish or not….a referral! Thankfully, I received an early birthday present (thank you Jesus).

But, it made me think …how simple, yet wonderful, my life has become.

When I was younger (like in my 20’s :) ) I swore, and probably vowed to my friends at some point, that when I turned 40 we would all be celebrating with a lavish, crazy vacation somewhere – like maybe Vegas or a tropical paradise. We were going to save money, spare no expense, live-it-up, etc.

You know what, I’ve been to Vegas a couple of times and I’ve been to several tropical paradises and it was fun and all, but the only wonderful, crazy and humbling trip I’m interested in taking in the near future, is one to meet our daughter (and believe me, it's not going to be a 'vacation' or a paradise!). And, God’s been pretty good at making me save money and spare no expense. . . to go and get His daughter and bring her home.

I feel pretty good right now and am looking forward to being a mommy of 4 …over-the-hill or not! Honestly, I can’t imagine doing anything else or being anyone else than who I am now. (and it only took 40 years and lots of mistakes along the way to figure that out). I’m certainly not perfect, but I strive every day to live the life God has laid out before me and seek Him to show me the next step.

As far as extravagant trips . . . I think the next extravagant trip our family will probably be taking will be to Disney World! And you know what . . . I’m perfectly content and OK with that.

REFERRAL DAY!!!!!

2011-09-13T06:34:00.000-07:00

I have waited so long to type those words!! REFERRAL DAY!!!

All I can say is He did it! No, God’s not our personal Genie, but HE has come through in a big way here at the Baxter home. We have been praying for a referral by September 11th, and HE DID IT. Why September 11th you ask? September 11th is the Ethiopian New Year, and Faithlynn’s Dedication date at church. We really wanted to celebrate both of these events knowing the face of our Baby E while surrounded by friends and family, even though it's such a somber day in America.

Just when Brad and I were at one of our weariest moments, God showed up to remind us who is in control! (There is so much depth behind this story, but I will save that for another post!)

We received our REFERRAL for Baby E at 2:51 p.m. on Friday, September 9, 2011. We will never forget it!

The call when a little something like this:

I was upstairs rocking and resting with Faithlynn dreaming about our sweet little E and losing hope that we'd have a referral anytime soon…Brad was outside getting things set up for her Dedication after-party having his own heart-to-heart with God. . . My cell phone rings and startles me from a peaceful rest. It was my mom to go over some Dedication party details. After speaking with her for a few minutes, my call-waiting beeps. I thought it was one of our boys calling to say that football practice was cancelled. I hit ‘answer’ on my phone, and then looked at the number . . . AREA CODE 828…

Surprisingly, I didn’t get too excited, because this couldn’t be THE CALL. Referrals were at a standstill! I answered and our Case Manager said hello.. and there was an odd silence on the phone. She said, I want to tell you about a little girl. . .

Time literally stopped… I don’t exactly remember how I made it out of a rocking recliner, down 2 flights of stairs and outside to find Brad, all while holding a sleeping baby and a cell phone, but I took one look at Brad, he looked at me as I pointed frantically to the phone (still while holding a sleeping baby), and we both lost it. God heard us. He really heard us, our cries, our weariness! It was totally surreal, and we will both never forget it. Brad later told me he asked for a miracle at 2:45 pm that day… the call came at 2:51 pm.

Our Case Manager told us about a sweet little girl who is 14 months old who needs a forever family. She thought perhaps she might be ‘too old’ for us and said we didn’t need to look at her information, if we wanted to wait for a younger child. Are you kidding me?? God hand-picked this little girl for us… I can’t imagine saying no.

Here’s what we can share publically -- A little girl – 14 months old – sweetest – face – ever! Biggest eyes and longest eyelashes ever! She is 7 months older than Faith. We can’t post pictures of her until after we would pass court, but I have plenty of them, and can show you in person and let me warn you… she will melt your heart!

We are still in awe and time still seems to be standing still. All I can say is that the wait has been hard, but it has also prepared our hearts for the next journey of waiting again…for paperwork…for court…for travel and for the embassy appointment. We were told to protect our hearts because sometimes referrals fall through, children become sick, adoptions stop, etc., but it is so hard. We are trying to look at this like a pregnancy – it’s hard to wait and things are uncertain, but the reward is so worth it in the end!

I will post later about the events leading up to our referral and about our first delay (post-referral). Please continue to keep us and Baby E in your prayers. We need to get her home quickly… she needs a forever family now!

Celebrating and praising God in a big way!!

Faith

2011-09-07T17:37:00.000-07:00

I didn't do it.. HONEST!

While we are waiting, I thought I'd update you on what's going in Faith's world. She is growing bigger by the minute and doing things very quickly. At 6 months old (almost 7 months), she is crawling, sitting and starting to pull herself up to stand! After she is standing, she doesn't take any steps yet, but I'm sure she will soon!

She weighs about 16 pounds; Is about 28 inches tall

Has 3 teeth (2 bottom and 1 top) -- so precious!

Is beginning to patty-cake and wave bye-bye

Loves Cats and tries to make a meow sound

Loves other babies – kisses the mirror when she sees herself in it (she's a baby!)

Is a VERY BUSY baby and beginning to get into everything

Doesn’t like baby food very much – prefers to eat what we are eating

Adores her brothers and loves when they chase her – she crawls as fast as she can to get away

We call her “bulldozer” because she’ll crawl right overtop of you and down the other side.

Loves bath time

Plays peek-a-boo and tries to look under my hands when I cover my face

Loves the Backyardigians

She is a very happy baby who strives to get everyone's attention (oh boy!!). We can't wait for her to meet her sissy... hopefully soon!

Waiting . . .

2011-09-06T16:44:00.000-07:00

Still no news on the referral end of our adoption. There haven’t been any new referrals for weeks. It's a little frustrating, but we are handling it fairly well. I think the toughest part is planning and not knowing when we will get a referral and when we might travel, etc. I know it's part of the process and part of our being obedient, but that's been one of the toughest things for us. (not to mention that there's a little girl on the other side of the world waiting for a family!!!)
There is hope though! Three representatives from our Agency are currently over in Ethiopia right now helping to sort out some of the problems and complete paperwork for children who have not yet been referred. (which could include our "E"). The main delay, it seems, is a shift in focus on reviews and the placement of children from the orphanages that have recently closed. They are trying to determine the status of these children, which has resulted in the delay of new referrals. Please keep these children in your prayers -- they've been ripped out of one orphanage and put into another. Some have already been referred to families -- so it has to be a confusing situation over there.

We typically get emails every Thursday from our Case Manager. I wait, very patiently, for those emails to come every week just for a glimmer of hope that things are picking up. I know I could call our Case Manager or email her for a status update, but I really want her to concentrate on moving things along for those who are in process, not tend to a whiny parent to is tired of waiting :) I do wonder, however, if they know how I hang on every word of those updates? Our last email said that one representative remains encouraged and hopeful that things will get moving again “soon.” Yay!.. but ummm, what exactly does ‘soon’ mean? Webster describes it as “within a short period after this or that time, event, etc.; before long; within the near future.” (Great, that doesn’t really help me).

I guess to us, soon means in God’s timing. I must admit, it’s getting harder and harder to wait and I feel like I’m getting older and older (ha ha)… but I know that after everything is final and when we look back, we will see God’s perfect timing in our referral, our trips, and finally bringing E home. It’s hard for us to understand now, but it will all make perfect sense some day.

For those of you who know me, you know I am not very good at plucking the perfect scripture out of the Bible – but yet I always seem to find them. God always has a way of bringing them to me. It’s no coincidence that I was looking at something else (in reference to 9/11) and found this scripture. It spoke volumes of encouragement to me.

We don’t yet see things clearly. We’re squinting in a fog, peering through a mist. But it won’t be long before the weather clears and the sun shines bright! We’ll see it all then, see it all as clearly as God sees us, knowing him directly just as he knows us!

But for right now, until that completeness, we have three things to do to lead us toward that consummation: Trust steadily in God, hope unswervingly, love extravagantly. And the best of the three is love. 1 Corinthians 13:12-13 ( Msg)

Then, that same day, as I drove in my car, another revelation through a song (God likes to speak to me in the car – usually through a song!).

John Waller – Yes

Ask, it shall be given to you
Seek, and you will find
Knock and the door will open
and that's a promise

He said He'll finish the work He started in you
Your needs He will supply
He'll never leave you
nor forsake you
and that's a promise

It's a guarantee
it's a beautiful thing
He delights to keep His word

God says YES to His promises
Take Him at His word
Yea, you can believe it
God says YES
to a child-like faith
when we claim
everything He died to give
God says YES

I'll keep you all posted IF we hear anything this week.

Our Journey So Far!!

2011-08-19T05:55:00.001-07:00

Make a video - it's fun, easy and free!
www.onetruemedia.com

Update

2011-08-19T05:36:00.000-07:00

No news is good news.. right? Well, not necessarily. Spoke with our Case Manager yesterday and referrals are at a complete standstill. There are plenty of children waiting, and plenty of adoptive parents waiting...it's the paperwork that's holding things up. A representative from our Agency is heading over to Ethiopia next week to see if she can figure out what's going on. Please pray for her safe travels and that she can get to the bottom of why the paperwork is moving so slow. Please also pray for the precious babies that are growing up in an orphanage because of 'paperwork problems.' At this point, we know our "E" is in an orphanage waiting ... God has a plan for all of these children. I just hope it includes some of them coming to forever families in the U.S.

Also, they have recently closed 14 orphanages in Ethiopia (none of them were affiliated with our Agency). It does, however, effect some of the orphanages our Agency works with because the displaced children have been moved to other orphanages. So, now the nannies and staff are overwhelmed with children . . .all while the paperwork has stopped. These little babies (some of whom have already been matched with families) continue to wait.

On a happy note, we did received word that all of our paperwork is ready and waiting at the Embassy in Ethiopia. Now all we need is a referral!

Regarding our referral, our Case Manager seems to think Baby E may be an infant vs. a toddler. She said there have been many infants admitted to the orphanages lately. She said if we get our referral soon we may go to court at the end of October/November. If the referral comes later, it would be November/December for our first trip.

In Angie's perfect world :)   I would LOVE to get a referral soon, travel in October and then in December to have E home for Christmas. I know, silly me, but a girl can dream, right?

Seriously though, please join us in praying for the waiting families and waiting children -- that we all can get matched up and get things moving, get submitted to court, etc.   We, (I mean HE) can do this!!

Trip to DC

2011-08-09T16:11:00.000-07:00

We hit DC this weekend to check out the Smithsonian -- specifically the Air and Space Museum and the Natural History Museum. We also hit the Air and Space Museum at Dulles International Airport. Despite the heat and the down metro system (yay), we had an awesome time. Here are a few pics. Faith did so well. We took her from bus to metro in the heat and then the stormy rain, and she did nothing but smile. What a trooper. The boys dedcided on Monday that we could do whatever, as long as it didn't involve a bus or the Metro! Can't blame them there!

The Butterfly Pavilion at Natural History Museum

Faith loved all the butterflies!

And some of the Butterflies liked us too!

Space Shuttle Enterprise

We have been re-activated!

2011-08-05T05:05:00.000-07:00

Yay! We have been reactivated... meaning we are now up for a referral! We saw the phone come up with an area code that began with "8" yesterday, and Brad said it must have been a sales call... THEN I remembered that CWA area code begins with 8! I said "It's a North Carolina number... Answer it!!!!" We both dove for the phone! HA!

Oh how my heart is happy. We have a phone call today with our case manager to find out more and what to expect. I think there are a few familes still ahead of us, but we are close to the top for a referral, since our paperwork was submitted in January of 2010. We did get an email yesterday saying that referrals are S-L-O-W... so I'm not sure that means time-wise. But honestly, after being in this process for almost 2 years, I think I will be able to wait a few more weeks for a referral. Praying that it's not a few MONTHS.

But those who wait on the LORD shall renew their strength; They shall mount up with wings like eagles, They shall run and not be weary, They shall walk and not faint. Isaiah 40:31

Some Beach Pics

2011-07-28T05:36:00.000-07:00

Here are some beach pics from our trip to the Outer Banks & Great Wolf Lodge. My sister-in-law is an awesome photographer, so I'm sure she'll have much better pictures than these... but here's my amateur ones for now :)

Big Brothers showing Faith the fountains

Colton on the surf-rider

Dylan on the surf-rider

"I think I like the beach!"

Relaxing with Bro

Daddy and his girl on their early morning beach stroll

Faith cheering on her brothers at the skatepark

Taking a break

3 boys on the jetski

Pappy and his girl

Our best attempt at getting a 5 month old to sit in the sand without falling face-first and without eating the sand. We were unsuccessful!

I think the boys sometimes use their little sis as a chic-magnet :)

Love this pic -- little baby sandy toes!

We Offically have a Crawler and a New Tooth

2011-07-22T07:55:00.000-07:00

all in the same week! Such a big accomplishment for a little one, don'tcha think?

Horray!

heading to the pool!

Our Case is going before the "Board"

2011-07-22T06:54:00.000-07:00

Now that we've completed our 72-question Support System Plan and turned it into our Case Manager, our case will now go before our agency's "Board" for consideration of when we can become "active" again. The norm is 6 months after a baby is born. Faithlynn will be 24 weeks (a.k.a. - 6 months) next week, or officially 6-months via a calendar on August 10th. Our case should be going to the board within the next 2 weeks. Keep us in your prayers as we are hoping to become active again by August 10th.

I'm not exactly sure what the "Board" does, except maybe just review our case, maybe look at some of our answers and makes sure that we are ready to move ahead with another little one. Our Case Manager said this is just normal procedure when a person is on-hold and becomes active again.

After we are on the active list again, next will be our referral. Last time we spoke to our Case Manager, he said we'd go to the top of the list for Referrals, since our original dossier date in country is February of 2010. So, as soon as a little girl comes up that matches our information or age request ... that will be our little "E". We have no idea how long that could take. Maybe days... weeks or months... praying it's sooner than later! We are getting so excited!

We just got back from the beach and it was really hard to look out into the ocean knowing that there's a little girl, across that ocean, waiting for us!

Soon!

And, in all of my 30+ years going to the beach, I have never witnessed a rainbow on the beach. This year we did! I was actually a double-rainbow...but you can't really see that in this pic. It was awesome!

God's Promise

I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.

John 14:18

Our documents are in Ethiopia (again)

2011-07-07T14:05:00.000-07:00

Received word from our Case Manager on Monday that our dossier is in Ethiopia (again). It will now be translated and await our court date after our referral! Yay!

We are currently working on a 12 page, 73 question Support System Plan Worksheet for our agency. It brings up a lot of good points that are good for us as parents to discuss. Hope to have it done soon, then we will just wait for our referral!

To the end of the world and back...almost

2011-07-01T10:20:00.000-07:00

Sorry, this is long, but I really wanted to capute these moments, because we can't make this stuff up!!

We’ve often said that we’d go to the end of the world to bring “E” home. We surely would! On our way to get our last 2 authentications, I was thinking that’s what we were doing. Obviously, I’m joking, but we had quite an interesting 2 days.

We work within 45 minutes of the U.S. State Department and the Ethiopian Embassy, so last time, we hand-carried our dossier in lieu of hiring a courier. When we had our first dossier authenticated, it was a very quick and easy process. We were in and out of each office within 30 minutes. So, we had no reason to expect anything different. (that’s the problem with expectations!!).

We had a slightly different experience this time. . . let me just give a little scene setting… it was about 95 degrees with about 98% humidity. It was like a sauna, even at 8:30 in the morning. The metro was overwhelmingly crowded this day.. and of course, we were right in the mix of morning commuters. We left our home very early (like we do most days), made our way into the office by 6:00 a.m., worked until about 7:15 a.m., and then hopped on the metro to our first destination, the U.S. State Department, Office of Authentications. It would be about a 40 minute ride on the metro.

When we arrived at the State Department, our first sign of trouble was that the waiting room was completely packed. We quickly took our ‘number’ and waited for it to be called. Soon, our number was called and we surrendered our beloved documents, hoping they knew what to do with them (like they haven’t done authentication of adoption documents before! Ha ha…) We waitied… and waited… and waited . . . After about 1.5 hours, they called our number again and our documents were complete! Yay! That wasn’t too bad.. at least we were sitting in a nice comfy air-conditioned office. This is what we needed:

Next, we made our way back to Metro Center to switch metro lines and go onto the Embassy. Thank goodness my hubby can navigate well in the metro. I am definitely not a city girl (even though we work down there). If it were up to me to use the metro to get from point A to point B, I’d end up somewhere around Point Z in the opposite direction! Anyway, if any of you were ever personally to the Ethiopian Embassy, you know it is located on International Drive in DC. It’s really neat to see all of the other Embassies… but, if you were ever there.. you also know about the HUGE hill that you have to walk up to get to the Ethiopian Embassy. As we trekked up the hill towards the Embassy, we took time to look at the beautiful plants and flowers along the way. We were happy.. this was our last step then we could mail off our documents and be done plus, last time we did this, it was January and about 25 degrees… this was a much nicer trip, despite the thick, summer air.

As we walked thru the gates to the Embassy, we saw people standing in what resembled a line, that was stretched out into the courtyard. Certainly, we thought, this couldn’t be the line WE needed. Ummm.. yep, sure was! NICE! We took our place in line (dripping with sweat) among mostly Ethiopians waiting for their visas or passport updates. Everyone was very nice and considerate. They were all speaking Amharic, and oh how I wish I knew what they were saying. Unfortunately, there was no air, and we were still standing outside in the sun. Fun times! As we inched closer to the window, I notice a sign on the window that says “WE ONLY ACCEPT CERTIFIED MONEY ORDERS”… oh boy, my heart sank. I had a Certified Bank Check (which is what the information on the website said to bring). We were torn as to if we should get out of line and scramble to find a post office or drug store that we could get a new MONEY ORDER, or if we should pretend we didn’t see the sign and beg for forgiveness when we got to the window, after all, I took a Certified Check last time we went.

We decided to pretend like we didn’t see the sign… as our turn came, (after about 1.25 hours) we approached the service window. We smiled and slid our documents through the slot in the window and told him what we needed.

He said, "ok, that’s $189.60."

I took the check and slid it into the window and said, “you take Certified Checks, right?”

He said, “Hmmm… let me see it.” (oh boy, here we go.. we’ve waited this whole time in line and we are going to have to leave, get a new check and come back, and their office closes at 2:00 – we’d never make it!).

The man said, “Yes, it is fine”.. (whewww…. Thank you Jesus!)…

then he said, “YOU COME BACK TOMORROW.”

(uh.. what did he just say?? I stood there for what seemed like hours staring at him.. he couldn’t have just said we have to come back tomorrow, right? I must have heard him incorrectly… then I blinked back into reality…Brad, on the other hand, almost threw up on the plexi-glass.. ha ha..)

I said, “you mean come back to pick up our documents tomorrow?”

He said, “YES, tomorrow, between 10 and 2.”

I said, “we can’t wait for them today?”

He said, "no, too busy," as he pointed towards the line.

OH MY WORD.. you mean we have to do this all again tomorrow?? What’s worse is that we typically do not "do DC" or commuting on Fridays. Traffic down there is horrible on Fridays with daily commuters plus sightseers and people heading to the beach, etc. Plus, I was terribly anxious to let my original documents with them overnight! Can you imagine if they were lost?

On the way home we devised a plan of attack for the next day. The boys would go to our cabin with my parents and we would bring baby Faith along with us. Everyone at work wanted to see baby Faith anyway, so we’d swing in, let them meet Faith, and then head to the Embassy, get our documents and overnight them to our Agency. Maybe we’d even stop for Ethiopian food on the way home. Life is good.

Everything would work out… we were back on our path and were determined to get this done! Until . . . . Dylan woke up at 2:30 a.m. SICK. (are you serious – we can clearly see that the enemy doesn’t want us to get these documents back over to Ethiopia!!)

Ok, DETOUR… so, long story short, I stayed home with Dylan and Faith. Brad made the trip by himself, hoping that both of us didn’t have to be there to pick up the documents… Anyway, after another 7 hour round-trip (along with waiting in a huge line again and a possible scare that they'd lost our documents), Brad returned with this:

Yay! Even through detours and unmet expectations, God is always faithful!

Our documents headed over to Ethiopia today to get translated and filed in court until our Court Date!

One thing we learned in this journey is patience!!! I can honestly say that "us" Americans are in way too much of a hurry. Just spending a few hours in the Embassy, we can tell that most other cultures are not in a hurry :) I say that with respect. No one else waiting in line at the Ethiopian Embassy (besides Americans) seemed to be bothered by the wait. People would get up to the window, need a form, get out of line to get the form, fill the form out, and then go back up to the front of the line to submit their form. Try doing that at the DMV...haha... I think it was Pastor Perry Noble that said we are the only culture that tells a microwave to hurry up . . . I'm sure we will learn much more as we travel to Ethiopia.

One down... two more to go!

2011-06-22T12:44:00.000-07:00

One Authentication down . . . two more to go. We hope to get both of those done tomorrow! DC here we come.....

We are getting closer!

2011-06-20T05:16:00.000-07:00

Just returned from a few relaxing days at the beach. Pictures to follow soon.

Heading to our State Department and then on to the US Department of State and the Ethiopian Embassy this week for our final Authentications! Hoping to stop at a little Ethiopian Restaurant to celebrate on the way home.

Our upcoming week in a few words: (B.U.S.Y.)

*Visit and dinner with out-of-town friends

*Sports Physicals for both boys

*Visit Extreme Home Makeover Site (Our builder and friend is spearheading the construction of a new EXTREME home for a local family – we received VIP passes etc. to visit the site, so I guess we’ll go see Ty Pennington and the crew one evening this week)!

*Baseball Game (yep, we’re still playing, and made it to playoffs too)

*40^th Birthday Party

*Help Friends Move

*Graduation Party

PLUS all of our notarization and authentication appointments. . . . Hope I’m not forgetting anything! I’m ready for vacation again!

Only 50 days until our case becomes active again… but who’s counting J

Oh, and word came out of Ethiopia that they are lifting the 5 case per day limit on reviewing adoption cases! Yay!

No Way!

2011-06-10T12:16:00.000-07:00

Guess what we got in the mail today?? Yep, our new I-171H - NOTICE OF FAVORABLE DETERMINATION CONCERNING APPLICATION FOR ADVANCE PROCESSING OF ORPHAN PETITION.

I cannot believe this. We tracked our extension request package, and they received it on June 3rd. According to the envelope, our new I-171H was mailed out on June 6th. The whole process took 1 week! Praise God! We were fully prepared for it to take 45 days or more!

So now, we can stick this puppy in our Dossier package, get a few more notarizations, and head onto get our authentications.

Yay! I'm so excited!

Dossier Update - Update :)

2011-06-08T07:40:00.000-07:00

As mentioned in a previous post, we had to redo our dossier because the documents contained in our original dossier are approaching 2 years old -- they expire in November! [when we go to court in Ethiopia, documents cannot be more than 2 years old] Plus, with the addition of Baby Faith, we had to do a Home Study Update, which then becomes part of our dossier update as well.

We submitted a copy of our updated dossier to our agency for a quick review. In between the UPS man picking up our package and our agency receiving our package, a new Dossier requirement was established.....(seriously??)

MoWCY is now asking for a notarized copy of I-171H form to be included into new dossier packages. That is the form from USCIS approving us for adoption. Cool! We have that form... BUT, oh yeah, it expires in August and we have requested an extension. (the I-171H approval notice is only valid for 18 months, so if you do not complete your adoption within 18 months, you have to request an extension). The extension request and new form could take 30 to 45 days to arrive. We would have requested it earlier, but you cannot ask for an extension EARLIER than 90 days prior to expiration. Geshz....

ARE YOU CONFUSED YET?? Yeah, me too. It took me the weekend to wrap my head around what we need to do!

So, long story short (sort of), we have to wait to receive our new I-171H form to put into our dossier package before continuing the process. The addition of this form into the package changes a few other documents...so we will have to re-do, re-sign and re-notarize about 4 other documents too. [sigh]
Again, I truly believe God is in control of this adoption, and He's probably beginning to see that we are serious about this little girl coming home. A little bit of paperwork confusion isn't going to deter us!

Praying that our I-171H approval arrives sooner than later! I want to get this package off of my desk before something happens to it!!!

Where have we been?

2011-05-31T19:27:00.000-07:00

{sorry -- this is a long post} :)
Hi All. Sorry to those of you who keep checking for updates. I cannot believe 4 weeks have gone by so quickly! We’re here, just been crazy busy with school events, getting our dossier update together and baseball… and more baseball! With all of the rain, we have had a lot of rescheduled games so now we are jammed packed with something like 6 games in 5 days. . . all with baby in tow!

Faith is doing extremely well with our busy schedule! She just smiles and goes with the flow of things. She’s rolling now, trying to pull her knees up under her, and is getting quite the cute personality. The boys still adore her! She is quite the little princess.

Where are we with the adoption?

Glad you asked! Honestly, the last 4 weeks have been tough with our schedules and getting our paperwork together for our dossier. All minor things, but just general pain-in-the-rear-end things that kept delaying the progress. I look at it as a little test from God to see if we are still really serious about the adoption, because seriously, some people would have said "forget it"... "it's too hard." But, we're not giving up that easy!
Here's what we've accomplished:

• We completed our home study update and have that document in hand.

• We completed our dossier update to include the addition of Faith and update all of our documents. Our draft dossier is on its way to our Agency. Once they give us the go-ahead, we’ll head to our State Department for Authentication and then onto the U.S. Department of State and the Ethiopian Embassy again for the final Authentications. After that, it will go back over to Ethiopia to replace our original dossier.

• We had our one-time, no fee fingerprint updates for the USCIS (our previous ones expired).

• We submitted a request and our new home study update to the USCIS for a one-time no fee extension to our I600A, Application for Advance Processing or Orphan Petition (ours will expire in August).

The no fee USCIS request and fingerprint updates are a blessing because to re-do them, it would cost about $850. Hopefully, the USCIS will approve our I-600A request. (**This document needs to be current in order for us to go to court).

I talked to our Case Manager as well. Once baby Faith is 6 months old in August, we will become ‘active’ again. Before we become ‘active’ status, our case will go before the CWA review board. This is normal procedure, and we do not anticipate any issues. So, we are hoping and praying for a referral in August or September… but, it just depends what children are available at that time, and if they match our criteria – which is pretty much wide open – female, 0-60 months. A little girl around Faith’s age would be awesome! I admit, we’d have our hands full, but it would be great for them to grow up together and have each other as playmates.

After our referral, we’d have to wait for the courts to reopen from the rainy season and then get a court date. After that (and a bunch more paperwork that I’ll blog about closer to the time), we wait for our Embassy appointment. So, in a nutshell, it might still be 2012 until E comes home. We are praying for her to be home by the end of 2011, but not sure if that will happen.

So, wheeww, it’s been busy. Looking forward to school being done for the year and to relax and play in the sun. I’ll leave you with a bunch of pictures over the past month!

Faith -- the baseball princess!

Dylan - getting ready to hit!

Mommy & Faith on Mother's Day

Dylan in an All Star Game

Colton pitching for his team

Happy Memorial Day!

2011-05-31T18:44:00.000-07:00

Happy Easter!

2011-04-28T08:25:00.000-07:00

C, D & F (We are just missing our "E")

Even the BIG kids enjoyed the Easter Egg hunt at MeeMaws

2011-04-28T04:38:00.000-07:00

2 Certified Birth Certificates-(with updated issue date)
1 Certified Marriage Certificate -(with updated issue date)
2 updated passport-size photos -(not very attractive!)

3 steps closer to our dossier-update, and we picked a beautiful day to do it! Yay

The Girls' Nursery

2011-04-22T13:39:00.000-07:00

I found these pictures as I was going through a memory card that was in our camera bag. I took these photos a few days before I went into labor with Faith. We haven't brought everything into the nursery that we originally got for "E", but her presence is known in that room for sure! We have her crib and matching quilt set ready and waiting.

I have two favorite things in the nursery that remind me of "E" .

The first is my belly picture: the pendant says, "Expecting from Ethiopia." Some people think it's wierd that I got that picture taken. In fact, one photographer I was going to use wouldn't do it for me. I think this picture shows 2 miracles in-one and it's really special to us.

My second favorite picture thing that reminds me of "E" is her puzzle. We decided to get it framed and hang it now. I cannot tell you how much Faith loves that puzzle! I KNOW she sees something in it. Every time we lay her down to change her, she looks up at the puzzle and smiles and babbles and talks.... she can be in the middle of a full-out crying spell, and when she looks up at the puzzle, she stops, smiles and talks. I'll have to try to get it on video! It was hard to get a good picture of it because of the lighting in the nursery, but you get the idea!

A keepsake box with things from my shower.

Our little "Tree of Hope"

Our picture corner of the room.

4 days before delivery... Uggh.

We were packed and ready to go!

Busy Weeks!

2011-04-22T12:51:00.000-07:00

It's been a busy 2 weeks in the Baxter family. In the last two weeks, we've

had our adoption physicals, along with our 'booster' travel shots (ouch!) which took care of our home study and dossier needs;
met with our NEW home study provider;
procured our bank letter for our dossier;
received our fingerprint update appointments for USCIS;
received most of our reference letters for our dossier;
had a 15th Birthday party for our son!
began the craziness of 'baseball' season
Faith had her 1st round of immunizations (double-ouch!)

oh yeah.... and I go back to work in 1 week! (where did 12 weeks go??)

Our new home study provider was awesome. Did I mention that she is an adoptive mom of 2 kiddos from Russia, so she is very helpful and sweet. She is redoing our home study/update for 1/2 the cost of what our original social worker wanted just for the update! SWEET! Plus, she seems to be pretty speedy, so hopefully we'll have our draft home study back in a week or so, then we will be almost ready to submit our 2nd dossier to CWA for a quick once-over. Then it's off for authentication and back over to Ethiopia with Baby Faith added to our paperwork! After that, all we will need to do is submit our home study update to the USCIS for our I600A extension... then we'll just be on wait status again.

Regarding the wait -- our agency's policy is that Baby Faith needs to be 6 months old before we can get a referral... so that would be on August 10th. We are going to ask, however, if (under the current circumstances) we still have to wait the 6 months, since it will probably take at least another 6 months or more before we'd have E home. But, worst case... we'll have another 3-4 months of waiting...so either way.. it's getting close.

I guess time flies when you're having fun... and we are having plenty of FUN!

You go back to work WHEN??

Colton practicing his pitching techniques.

Tummy Time

Dylan trying his luck at hitting the ball!

Happy 15th birthday to Colton!

Back in the Fast Lane

2011-04-06T10:22:00.000-07:00

Do you see Africa in the clouds?

Well, things are beginning to take off again on the adoption front. (Ethiopia, however, is still predicting adoption paperwork and approval to slow WAY down). But most of our road blocks are beginning to be cleared.

We've sent our request to the USCIS for a fingerprint extension appointment. Waiting for that to come back; This will be at no cost to us! Praise God!
We've contacted another home study provider who is coming on Tuesday to redo our home study at HALF the cost of what our other provider was charging for our update! Praise God!
We have our physicals on Tuesday, which will knock out our home study requirements and our dossier update requirements.
We have most of our references back for our dossier update.
We resubmitted our state clearances and received our local police clearance letters for our dossier.
Touched based with our notary so she knows all the stuff that's going to be coming her way!

So, things are moving along again. I did touch base with our case manager to get his thoughts on Ethiopia adoptions and asked if he thought they might stop completely. Of course, he doesn't have a crystal ball, and said it was up to us, but he thought things were going to continue... just at a slower pace.

So, as we knew when we started the process, International Adoptions are always risky and unpredictable. I know some people are bailing out of the Ethiopia program and moving their paperwork to adopt from another country. We're staying In..... we think E is worth the risk. The fat lady hasn't sung yet!!

Thank Heaven for Little Girls . . .

2011-04-06T09:27:00.000-07:00

because this momma's nerves might not be able to handle another dare-devil boy!!! Gotta love them though!

Baby Faith thinks her brothers are crazy!

A few more road blocks and update of where we are in the process

2011-03-23T06:51:00.000-07:00

We are used to them... Road Blocks... and we usually come out on the other side with a better view of things. It's just the scenic view... right?

In addition to the possible cutting back of adoptions in Ethiopia (the buzz is that they are cutting back by maybe 50%... not 90%), we have a few specific road blocks in connection with our adoption. Many of you have asked "what's next" now that Faith is here.

1. Re-do entire Dossier. Why?? When we go to court in Ethiopia, all documents must not be more than 2 years old. All of our documents were created and/or notarized in November/December of 2009. Therefore, it's suggested that we redo all of our documents. While this is going to be a total pain, we can do it. We have a good copy to go from! It's just going to be a lot of work to get certified copies of everything again.

2. Apply to the USCIS (Immigration) for an extension of our fingerprints and I600A (Orphan Petition paperwork). If an extension is granted, it will save us from spending another $1000 and 4 months of waiting for the proper paperwork to come thru.

3. Home Study Amendment - because we have a 3rd child, and because our USCIS I600A expires in August, we must submit an amended Home Study (which is quite expensive). Not a huge deal. EXCEPT, our social worker informed us a few weeks back that they are working from a temporary license. International adoptions and Immigration, as well as our Dossier, may not accept a temporary license. (and, judging on how often things change in international adoptions, I'm not taking a chance!) They are not sure how long it will be until the new license will be received. The problem is, we have to apply for our immigration extension by May. So, we have 2 options:

a. Wait it out and pray that the new license comes and the social worker can do our amendment in time; or

b. Get a new home study from another social worker (which can take 6 - 8 weeks)... so we still may not have it in time to apply for our extension, not to mention we would have to redo all of THAT paperwork too (references, tax receipts, employment and bank records, new clearances, etc.). . . and we'd have to pay for a whole new home study. . .

My gut tells me to get a whole new home study because I'm a little concerned about the current status of our home study agency. I'd hate to get the whole way to Ethiopian court and then there be an issue with the home study license or paperwork. But, because I am a control-freak (and I'm trying to be better), I'm going to wait it out a bit and see what happens. I do have some 'feelers' out to a few social workers to see if they can expedite a new home study, just in case.

If you could, would you please pray for a resolution to our paperwork issues? Thanks so much!

Faith's Birth Announcement

2011-03-19T17:40:00.000-07:00

Many Memories Pink Birth Announcement

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Guess who's 4 weeks old?

2011-03-11T15:54:00.000-08:00

Baby Faithlynn is 4 weeks old already. . . boy, time flies when you are having fun! She's a precious girl who is already showing her girl tendencies -- going from smiling to crying in 4 seconds flat!

As you can see from the pictures, the poor girl gets no attention at all! :) Let's just say she's got her whole family wrapped around her itty-bitty finger already :)

Department of State - Ethiopia Adoption Notice

2011-03-11T05:56:00.000-08:00

Darn it. Here's the latest from the DOS Website. Still hoping and praying that this decision is reversed. What's going to happen to the 5 million orphans in Ethiopia? What could be more important?

Ethiopia Adoption Alert

Adoption Alert
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE
Bureau of Consular Affairs
Office of Children’s Issues
_______________________________________________________________________

Government of Ethiopia Plans Major Slow-Down in Adoption Processing

March 9, 2011

Citing the need to work on quality and focus on more important strategic issues, the Government of Ethiopia’s Ministry of Women, Children, and Youth Affairs (MOWCYA) will reduce to a maximum of five the number of adoption cases it processes per day, effective March 10, 2011. Under Ethiopian adoption procedures, MOWCYA approves every match between prospective adoptive parents and an Ethiopian child before that case can be forwarded for a court hearing. The U.S. Embassy is working with Ethiopian government officials and adoption agencies to learn more about this change in procedures. We will continue to share information as it becomes available.

Given MOWCYA's current caseload, the U.S. Embassy anticipates that this change could result in an overall decline in case processing of some 90 percent. If this change is implemented as proposed, we expect, that parents who have begun the process of adopting from Ethiopia but have not yet been matched with a child could experience significant delays. It is not clear if this change in procedures would have any significant impact on cases in which MOWCYA has already approved matches.

Prospective adoptive parents should remain in close contact with their adoption service provider to obtain updates on individual cases.

The Embassy's Adoptions Unit can be reached at consadoptionaddis@state.gov.

Please continue to monitor http://adoption.state.gov/ for updated information as it becomes available.

Call for Action!

2011-03-09T07:22:00.000-08:00

We received the following message from our Agency, as is posted on the Joint Council on International Children's Services (JCICS). They have started a petition to the Ethiopian Ministry of Women, Children, and Youth (MoWCY) to reconsider their position on the reduction of Ethiopian adoptions. Please consider visiting the site or signing the petition.
-------------------------------------------------

March 8, 2011

Joint Council: Campaign for Ethiopian Children

What You Can Do:

1) Sign the petition to the Prime Minister of Ethiopia, Meles Zenawi – and pass it on!

http://www.gopetition.com/petition/43714.html

2) Have you adopted from Ethiopia? Please send us up to 3 photos and 50 words or less with what you would like the Ministry to know about your child – we’ll compile the information and send a book to the Ministry of Woman’s Affairs. Send your photos and stories to advocate@jointcouncil.org by Sunday, March 12, 2011 to be included. Please note that sending photos and stories gives Joint Council unrestricted right to use the information you provide.

3) Share…Please send this Call to Action to family members, other adoptive parents, and everyone you know! Post, forward and share your adoption stories via Facebook, Twitter, and blogs.

Pray for Ethiopia

2011-03-08T16:29:00.000-08:00

As some of you may have heard, there are some BIG changes being talked about in the Ethiopia adoption world that will drastically change international adoptions in Ethiopia. They are talking about cutting back by as much as 90 percent the number of inter-country adoptions it will allow, as part of an effort to clean up a system rife with fraud and corruption. This would have a devestating effect on those children and families waiting to be united. They are talking of making 5 court referrals per day instead of 50, which will make the process of getting to court a painstakingly long one! This will also effect so many children in Ethiopia. While I agree with the fact that international adoption is not the only answer to the poverty, disease, and orphans of Ethiopia, it is an option when there are no relatives or other in-country options available. Many of these kids who are not adopted out of the orphanges get released and become street children or prostitues. It's a child trafficers playground -- waiting for these innocent children to be relinquished to the street. We cannot allow this to happen! I also agree that we need to come in and help familes of Ethiopia before they get into the situation of poverty, disease and death. But, cutting out international adoptions by 90% doesn't seem to be the answer right now.

At this point, nothing has been officially posted on the Department of States website. We are unsure as to how this could affect us and where we are in the process. I'm trying not to get too excited since nothing is official yet, but it makes me very nervous.

So, without speculating any more, may I ask that you join in prayer for Ethiopia and it's families and children? Following are some great prayer reminders from Tom Davis' blog (Children's Hope Chest):

1. For God's will to be done on earth as it is in heaven. God is in control. For those of you who are facing being stuck, remember that God is in control.

2. For God to breakdown strongholds of the enemy. Every child deserves the right to grow up in a health family, and adoptive families provide that for thousands of children each year. Pray that God would demolish the strongholds that are set up against adoption.

3. For God to fulfill His promises. God defines Himself as the Father to the Fatherless. He declares He will set the lonely in families. He warns those who would interfere with His plan to bring justice and mercy that is due to them. Find the orphan scriptures, pray them to God, and ask Him to fulfill those promises to the children of Ethiopia now.

4. For the courts and judges and government officials making this decision. Ask the Holy Spirit to permeate the courtroom and convict the hearts of the judges and other government officials. Bring the power of the Holy Spirit into these discussions and proceedings--not that we would get our way--but that God's perfect will would be fulfilled in these decisions.

5. For the children and families That God would shorten their wait times. Fortunately, God is bigger than these obstacles. Pray that waiting children would receive comfort. And pray that waiting families would experience peace, grace, and love from those around them.

A few more pics of baby Faith

2011-02-17T09:38:00.000-08:00

Add caption

Guess who's here!!!

2011-02-17T09:02:00.000-08:00

Welcome Baby Girl!!

Faithlynn Grace

Born February 10, 2011 @ 4:32 a.m.

7 lbs 8.6 oz 20.5 in long

Sleeping Beauty

Well worth the wait!

Proud Big Bros!

Daddy's Little Girl

UV Therapy at home for jaundice.

First Family Picture of 5

Pretty Girl

No Baby Faith Yet

2011-02-03T09:40:00.000-08:00

For those of you who are wondering and afraid to call me again. . . I am STILL HERE. No baby Faith yet. I am 39 1/2 weeks prego.. and it doens't appear that Faith is going to make her entrance anytime soon. I even battled an ice storm to get to my doctor appointment yesterday, only to find out I'm no where near giving birth.. Uggh. I'm 'officially' due on Monday. I go back next Wednesday and IF my body seems to have progressed they MAY consider inducing me. If not, we will wait some more. All of baby Faith's tests and checks are good, so she is quite content in there. They are also no longer worried about her weight. Looks like she's at least 8 pounds now (for those of you praying for her to gain weight... YOU CAN STOP NOW :)

We are all excited to meet her, but I know she will come when it's her time. Her birthday has already been picked by God and nothing I'm going to do is going to change that. Dylan's birthday is Tuesday... could it be that little sister wants to share the day with Big Bro? Only time will tell.

We will keep all of you posted.

Thanks for your prayers

One Year Ago

2011-01-27T12:39:00.000-08:00

One year ago, we went for our USCIS fingerprints and had been on the “official” wait list for 5 whole days. We were so excited and things were moving so fast. We fully expected to have our little one from Ethiopia by Christmas of 2010.
Fast forward one year. Wow. If you would have told us last year that in January of 2011 we’d be awaiting the arrival of a baby (not from Ethiopia but from my tummy), I would have thought you were crazy! Never, Never, Never in a million years would I have thought this was possible. Never would I have thought we’d be getting a nursery ready for 2 babies (one from my tummy and one from Ethiopia). If you would have told me 5 years ago that we would have 4 children, I would have laughed at you! You know when you go for a job interview and they ask you what your goals are and where you think you’ll be in 5 years…??? Well, I never saw any of this coming. I would have said you had the wrong chick! Ha!

I can’t explain the changes that have taken place in our life over the last 5 years, and specifically, the last 18 months. Well, yes I can. It’s all God’s doing. A good friend always tells me that if you can logically explain things, then it wasn’t a God thing. So many things in our life today are God things. Honestly, it’s pretty neat to look at our life over the last 5 years and see how God has stepped in and taken over the reins (mostly because we got out of His way and allowed it). I honestly do not know where we’d be today if our path didn’t drastically change a few years ago. (well, yes I do.. let’s just say, broken home, broken marriage, broken-hearted kids and lots of heartache… which is why we are so passionate about marriages too.. but that’s a different blog and different story)

Everything still seems surreal. Waiting has been hard, especially knowing that we have at least another 6 months until we can get a referral for Baby E. Waiting for Baby Faith has been hard too. Oddly hard. I don’t remember being so anxious and impatient when our boys were born, but I think we were in a different spot. We were busy.. trying to make a name and life for ourselves and just getting by. Things are different now. Priorities are different; we are older and wiser; we don’t really care what people think anymore and we are ready to slow down and embrace this little girl. One good thing is with Baby Faith, I know where she is (in my tummy), I can feel her move, see her move and know she is nearby. I can talk to her and she can hear me and she’s part of my daily world, and, I have a ‘general’ idea when she will arrive.

I can’t imagine how hard it is going to be after we know Baby E’s face, but have to wait to meet her and then wait to bring her home. She won’t be a part (physically) of our everyday world. We won’t be able to tell what she’s doing, how she’s doing, won’t be able to talk to her and she won’t be able to hear us. It’s going to be very hard, and I empathize with everyone out there currently waiting for your child(ren) to come home!

So again, as much as I’d like to have it all figured out and have a perfect plan and explanation for everything that’s coming in our future, I revert back to 2 verses in Proverbs (since I love Proverbs):

In his heart a man plans his course, but the LORD determines his steps. Proverbs 16:9 (NIV)

Many are the plans in a man's heart, but it is the LORD's purpose that prevails. Proverbs 19:21 (NIV)

Can’t argue with that!