Taking it all in!

Well, it has been 3 days since we first laid eyes on our precious Elijah. I can't stop staring at his beautiful baby face! The longing for him is intensifying every moment. It has been a long and winding road for Brian, Baylee and I to grow our family. But let me tell you, looking at our little guy, it is well worth the wait! I just finished reading this awesome book called "Wild Goose Chase". It came highly recommended by both a fellow blogger, and our pastor. It is about pursuing God and how sometimes it seems he's leading us on a wild goose chase! This is so true, but it's really how we grow as Christians on the chase. Here are a few excerpts from this awesome book:

"Getting where God wants me to go, isn't nearly as important as becoming who God wants me to be." I love that part! It's so true. I look back at our 8 year quest to become parents again and it's amazing how much I have grown in my faith and patience. Don't get me wrong........I still have a long ways to go in my walk with God, but I feel stronger and more at peace than ever before. It is pretty freeing and a relief to let go and know that God is in control. I know that I will continue to try to control things at times. That's in our human nature, but I think I am more quick to realize when I am doing that now.

This part of the story, I read the day before we received our "CALL" :
"Divine Delays - The longer the wait, the more you appreciate. We take for granted things we don't have to work for or wait for.
Sometimes the most spiritual thing you can do is just hang in there. Unfulfilled dreams are downright depressing, but nothing builds emotional and spiritual endurance like divine delays."

Wow! I recommend this book. It spoke to me!

Many have asked what's next. When will we get to go pick up Eli? Well, here goes another divine delay!! We have to wait for a court date. Hopefully, that will be next month. If we pass through court, then we travel 2-4 weeks later! We pray that we will pass through court the 1st time. 40% of families don't. We hope to be in the 60%! Please pray specifically for a quick and successful court date! We will keep you posted when we find out our court date. Once we pass through court, we can share pictures of Elijah on the blog, until then keep us in your prayers.

We have a baby boy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We received our referral for an absolutely beautiful baby boy today! He is 3 months old and just amazing! We can't wait to hold him in our arms and love all over him!!!!! Praise God for this miracle!!!

Soooo Close, but yet it seems so far away!

Baylee and I are going bonkers I believe, waiting for the CALL! I never dreamed being in the number 1 slot would be so nerve wracking! I almost wish school was still going so that I would have more to occupy my time! We are trying to not think too hard about it, but we just can't seem to help it! Brian is way better at this kind of thing. He never frets about much at all! Today I took my mom-in-law to the eye dr., ran a couple of errands, and then did some craft projects. Tomorrow I need to clean the house, focusing mostly on our back(family) room. It constantly needs attention. On Thursday I will take Baylee to golf lessons, run some more errands, get Baylee's haircut, and then I am going to school to get all my books to bring home. I am trying to get more organized at school. I am going to try to implement a new classroom library plan. I am going to code my 100's of books with sticker dots according to author's first letter of the last name. This should take quite a bit of time! Yeah! See, I am trying to stay busy and productive. I have already cleaned out closets, the frig, the garage, planted tons of flowers, among other things, but I still have quite a lot of idle time. I know that in less than 2 short months, school will be back in session, hopefully things will be progressing with the adoption, and I will miss these days of idle time! I really do enjoy my summers, because with school, things are always busy, but right now these lazy days of summer are just the thing to give my mind too much of an opening to think about ............that CAAAAALLLLLL!! Just think, next summer I won't have any time to think, because I will be chasing a little one again! Oh, I can't wait! Please pray for us!

Jason's wedding!

Brian's nephew got married a couple of weeks ago. It's hard to believe! He and his new little wife will be graduating soon with teaching degrees.

9 months

Well, no referral news yet! The investigation in Ethiopia is still ongoing which is probably playing a role in the slowdown. April was such a big month of referrals and successful court dates, but May has been just the opposite. There was a referral yesterday........the day that marked exactly 9 months since we officially began the WAIT. It went to another couple with our same DTE date: 8/29/08. This is pretty exciting! It means that we and another couple are tied for number 1 in line for a little boy! Our agency numbers the dossiers as they come into their office, though we have no idea who exactly is next between us, but I hope we get our referral the same day along with many others! We so want to beat the court closures, but each day that goes on without our referral slims our chances even more. We pray for our referral soon along with successful court dates for all those with court dates scheduled and those of us yet to be! It is all in God's timing.............haven't I said that many times before?? I know it to be true, as hard as it is to accept sometimes and understand. One day we will hold that baby in our arms and oh what a glorious day it will be!

Still waiting.......................!

Yes, we are still waiting!! :( They did say within 1 to 2 months! I am the eternal optimist, so all I heard was the "within the 1" part!!!! Oh well, it will be soon though, I can feel it!

We walk by faith, not by sight!

We have been praying for a situation that has arisen in Ethiopia regarding adoptions. They are suspecting some corruption in abandonment issues and are doing an investigation which in turn is holding some adoptions up. We are so thankful they are protecting their children like this, and we pray for a swift correction to this situation. We pray for all families in the middle of it. We suspect this may be holding some of our referrals up as well. We keep going back to the knowledge that it is all in God's timing. It will happen when it is supposed to!

All else is going well. This is the last week of school for Baylee and I. We are happy for summer, but it's always hard to end a chapter of your life. We have a lot of changes coming up this year! Brian and I are turning 40 (yuk), Baylee is going to middle school (yuk), we are traveling to another country halfway across the world (exciting and scary), and we are becoming parents again (at 40!!)(exciting, scary, wonderful)! Life is like a rollercoaster..........you just got to enjoy the ride! One of my favorite sayings (my mom's too) is "Happiness is journey, not a destination."

Hopefully, the next time I post will be with REFERRAL NEWS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Update!

We got our "on deck" email today from our adoption agency! This email basically states that our referral will be soon! We are now in the top 10 waiting for referrals! There are 4 families, that we know of, ahead of us in line for a baby boy. It is so hard to believe that this is really happening! We have been in the China line so long that it seems unreal that Africa is so fast! Our paperwork was just submitted August 29th. So hopefully within the next 1 to 2 months, we will get our call that we have a baby boy! I'm busy right now contacting our social worker about a homestudy update, getting background checks again, getting travel vaccinations, filing to renew fingerprints, and renewing our I-171H(government approval for a foreign adoption)!! Waiting, waiting, waiting, waiting, and then BAM, it hits you all at once!!! I am glad that I have school to teach because it keeps me too busy to fret over the phone waiting for "THE CALL"! I, normally don't keep my phone with me or even charged up, but lately I have been keeping it charged and close by! Say a prayer that we will get that CALL soon and that we will have a successful court date so that we can beat court closures!