What are you doing?????

Well, it has been so long since we blogged, because we were not sure what to write. Through some random events we have decided to move in the direction of Domestic Adoption instead of Ethiopia. We are VERY excited about this. It always amazes me how God works, but we really feel like this is what God wants for our family.

We will be using an agency in Michigan called Adoption Associates. The only reason we heard about this agency was from an Ethiopian blog I was reading,I did not go seeking it out or anything like that, so I really feel God lead us there. We decided to pray about it (I did not sleep for about 3 nights) and I asked God to slam the door in my face if this is not what he wanted for our family. About 2 days later we found out Ethiopia had changed some rules and those changes were deal breakers for us. We felt that was conformation in our decision and we were moving in the right direction.

We had our interview with the agency on Friday and it went really well. I was kind of nervous, because sometimes phone conversations can be hard to make a good first impression. But, all of my fears about Domestic adoption went out the window, it was like God knew just what we needed. Because there is such a need for adoptive families we could very realistically bring home a baby by this fall; which is exciting a scary all at the same time. So please pray along with us that the right birth mother will pick us. I pray we are exactly what some mother is looking for!!

We will keep you posted on this crazy journey!

So how are things going...?

That seems to be the question everyone keeps asking me. Well, things are fine. We are still in the process of paperwork, there is so much!!! Thank the Lord it is moving faster than we orginally had thought it would, but we still have a ways to go! Our homestudy should be done in a couple of weeks or less, and then it has to pass through a couple of different approvals. We are continuing to work on our Dossier (international paperwork) and that should hopefully be all done in less than a month, but then it has to go through a series of approvals too. So I say all of that to say, we are still working on paperwork; nothing to exciting!

I have been reading some people's blogs that have just gotten back or are in the process of waiting to go and it made me very excited! I cannot wait until all the paperwork is done and we can wait for our little boy and go get him!! Griffin thinks his name is going to be Jason, he will be disappointed when that is not what we name him. He also keeps laughing and saying "Mom there is going to be 4 boys and only 1 girl in our family.", a fact I am very well aware of!

Another Interview

Sometimes when our family coordinator comes over I wonder what she thinks of us as she leaves. I always say, she either loves us or thinks we are crazy; the verdict is still out. We have another inteview on Wednesday and we will have the rest of our paperwork done and be ready to turn in!!! So after Wednesday we will only have to wait for our homestudy to make it through all the clearances and then we will be pressing on with our Dossier. I am praying this all goes smoothly and we can make it through DCFS and immigration in a timely matter.

Another Step!

Yesterday we had our all day international adoption training class at the Baby Fold; it was kind of interesting to hear all about the particulars of the adoption process and some other new things I had not thought about. We got to meet another couple adopting from Ethiopia that lives here in town, so it is always nice to have another contact. I was really excited because we went ahead and made our next home visit appointments, which puts us one step closer to being done with our homestudy!!!

As I was reading America Worlds blog today they have changed the referral rate for boys to 3-6 months after dossier is submitted. That is even faster than it was a couple of months ago. It has been really cool to see how God moves around timelines!

Please keep praying for the Haitian people. We are praying that through all of us God is glorified and hearts our open. Also we are praying for Haitian adoption to someday open up. I have been waiting to see what God is going to do in Haiti, I know He has it all planned out!

Back to Normal

Everything is finally back to normal, well as normal as my house can get! After all of Tyler's media appearance (which I will never stop harrassing him for), and everyone getting home safe...the flu has made its way through our house. Last night both Ty and Griffin were sick! I am praying that I don't get it, because in the words of Tyler "Our world falls apart when I am sick."

It seems like everyday I am working on some part of our paperwork or getting something more to sign in the mail...does it ever end? Although, the more I do the more real it seems. I know we have a very long wait ahead, but just yesterday were all sitting together and Tyler made a comment about our little boy who was not here. Griffin said he is still in "opiapia" and I almost cried. I will tell you what I may not be pregnant, but sure cry like I am! We were talking about what it will be like to have 3 boys and I cried!! We try to talk about the baby everyday so Griffin can really understand what we are doing, but all he cares about is the fact that he will be getting a bunkbed to share with Drake.

Continue to pray for the Haitians!

PRAISE THE LORD!!!

We have received word that everyone is ok in Haiti!!! I cannot describe how nervous I was until I heard that. God is so good!!!! Please continue to pray until everyone makes is home. Tyler, Jim P., Jason, and Mark were already in the states when the earthquake hit so they will still be home on time. Thanks for those already praying!

What a Sunday!

I don't have much news about our adoption to share, but it has been a very funny morning!

First both boys woke up at 5:45am! Anywho Griffin was being whining because it was so early so I told him he could not talk to me until the long hand (he is learning time) is on the 1, which would have been 6:05. He started screaming "just talk to me, mommy please!!!" so I could not help myself, I gave in. Some other random things happened making almost seem not worth to walk out the door...does anyone else ever have those kind of Sunday mornings? So we get to church and my sweet little Griffin says "you are the nictest mommy ever." Was he not at my house this morning; apparently it does not take much to be the nictest mommy ?

I finally make it into big church and enjoyed the worship and sermom (great job Joel Craig), but I missed the annnouncement saying if someone drives a green van you left your lights on you may want to get someone to jump you. So I carry on like any other morning carrying both boys, all coats, and a diaper bag to get our donuts. While I am buying the donuts Drake hits his head on the table, awesome! Then as I am talking Drake decides he has too much donut in his mouth and starts to spit it out!!! Brenda had to walk away, because it was so gross and now everyone is staring at me. I proceed to go to Brenda & Kristie and say " Do you ever look at me and wonder what was God thinking giving me children?" Graciously they both said no, but they have to I am their friend.

So that takes us to the van...I get into the van turn the key and nothing! The van is dead I left my lights on. Awesome, after some phone calls I get ahold of Lanphears and Craig comes to my rescue. But, Griffin overheard me ask if Craig could come jump my car...and starts freaking out, because he thinks jump it means the car is going to flying into the air with him in it. So after he finally calms down we get the van moving and we make it home. What an awesome morning!