8 weeks

...to another mega-crazy garage sale! It just occurred to us that it is already almost March and we had been imagining another garage sale in May. That is only 8 weeks folks. If you missed out on garage sale fun last summer you can read all about it here.

We have about $1500 left to go to have all the funds we need to travel. Travel will run us about $7000 for plane tickets and hotel. We're not sure what to estimate as far as food goes - I still have more digging to do for that but am under the impression that for the two of us it won't be astronomical. We are financially very close and in that I will rejoice :)

So, garage sale. All proceeds go to the adoption. If we raise over and above what is needed for the adoption it will go directly to the Holt care center to benefit the orphans in Ethiopia. Any and ALL donations are appreciated. You would not believe the things that people are willing to fork their hard earned money for! We are willing to do all the work to get rid of your unwanted/unused stuff. We'll haul it, we'll sort it, we'll clean it, we'll price it. Now, don't count yourself out of the fun if you don't live in McCook. I may be heading to Omaha in March so I could pick up a load anywhere along the way. Donations are welcome anytime from now until May.

Am I ready for this again?

I truly am overwhelmed when I think about how much work it was, but am also excited as I remember being in tears so many times over how the Lord showed himself to be kind and my "enough" through the whole thing...while also giving me some laughs amidst the chaos!

Wanna help?

You've gotta love that tie. He was so excited that he looked like daddy!

We continue to wait so I suppose that a good use of my time now would be to get as much done as I can. I thought I would share my list with you all b/c I don't have a baby to share yet :)

• Schedule our fingerprinting with the State Patrol



• Get more decent pictures of the family and house for a photo book to send to Ethiopia as soon as we get a referral.



• Print out those pics and make a photo book. They say to go simple on this. Laminated cardstock tied with string. This way the mailing costs are cut way down and if it gets misplaced you don't lose anything terribly valuable.



• I have an idea to hopefully make being away from us for 10 days a little easier on Juliana and Evan. I want to get 20 little cheapo gift baggies - one for every day that we will be gone - and fill them with special notes from Craig and me and all those junky little toys that toddlers LOVE. I'd like to start planning and buying what to put into those now so that the cost is spread out over some time.



• Oh, that painting (?) for the silent auction in Omaha in March...haven't even been thinking on that at all!



• Search for travel tips.



• Praying, praying, praying for this little one, for financial provision, and that all of our major appliances and motor vehicles continue to work :)

Evan's thoughts

• When having ramen noodles for lunch he will pull out a really long noodle, stretch it out with both arms and say "WOW" at least 10 times.

• We were grocery shopping the other day and I was mumbling my grocery list quietly to myself, or so I thought. Evan was sitting in the front of the cart and blurted out, "shooop ai-aaal." 'Soup aisle' has since become his favorite phrase as it always gets a laugh out of us. It is still pretty rare that he puts two words together.

• We have a little laundry room/pantry between Evan's room and the kitchen. Since moving to his toddler bed he has discovered the joy of sneaking out of bed to remove things from my pantry shelves. Then he lines them all up on the floor.
  

I spy

We were out and about around town when I leaned close to Craig and said, "I think that little girl over there is from Ethiopia!" And she most certainly was! We ran into the family that lives in a neighboring town who has adopted two kiddos from Ethiopia, a boy and a girl around ages 6 and 7. It was such a struggle not to stare and even harder not to run over and hug them! I went over to the mom and introduced myself and we ended up having a very fun conversation. I was able to visit a bit with a few of the little girls in the family of 6. I don't think the Ethiopian kids have been home quite 6 months now. I asked her what she thought of the plane ride and she smiled and said it was fun but she didn't like the lunch. Her sister had a great time telling me that she herself was from southwestern China and that her new Ethiopian sister didn't use to like pizza, but now she does. What a fun surprise this has been! Just another glimpse at how the Lord is soveriegnly working behind the scenes. I so look forward to getting to know this family better in the future :)

A happy surprise

No baby yet...just so you know :) Craig and I did spend part of the evening watching a dvd we unexpectedly got in the mail today from Holt. It was of the Christmas party at the care center where our child will be/is going to be cared for. It was great to be able to see the center - it is beautiful, clean, and spacious! It is also nice to be able to see the staff and how they care for the children. One thing I found most interesting was to be able to listen to the Amharic language and to hear some of the songs. At one point it seems that a woman is reading to the children from the bible and I heard and recognized "Jesus Christos" a few times. I couldn't ask for more than for our little one to be loved on and introduced to our Lord from the beginning. Yay! It was strange to look at all the beautiful children and to realize that they don't have a family. There were so many...and this is only one care center. I am so glad the Lord is making a way for us to love on one of them.

Home

A place where the people are "for" you.


A place where you are able to find a haven of rest.


A place where you are loved.


A place where you are protected.


A place where you are free from condemnation... but not necessarily from loving correction.


A place you always feel welcome.



A place where I know what is true.

I am eager to get this beautiful Ethiopian baby home. Home to a momma, daddy, sister, and brother who want to lavish them with love. But isn't Ethiopia home? Is McCook home? I would venture to say that neither is. McCook certainly is "homey" to me, but it is far from where I consider my true home to be.

"For here we have no lasting city, but we seek a city that is to come." Heb 13:14

"Do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me (Jesus). In my Father's house are many rooms, If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you I will come again and will take you to myself that where I am you may be also. And you know the way to where I am going." John 14:1-4

"Brothers, join in imitation me (Paul), and keep your eyes on those who walk according to the example you have in us. For many, of whom I have often told you and now tell you even with tears, walk as enemies of the cross of Christ. Their end is destruction, their god is their belly, and they glory in their shame, with minds set on earthly things. But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Chirst, who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself. Phil 3:17-21

"But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he himself is our peace...and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility" "So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God..." Eph 2:13,16, 19

I was once a stranger and alien to the kingdom of God. In open rebellion to my creator, I was determined to live for my own desires. Praise be to God that He granted me a new heart that I might repent of my sins and joyfully follow my Savior in all things! I am now, as far as citizenship goes, an alien to this world. Though my citizenship is transferred, I remain as an ambassador of Christ until it is time for me to go home :)

Until then, I delight in the home-away-from-home in which we are growing our family. It is my favorite place to be and when we travel it is so wonderful to return to our home. I have been thinking on a verse in 2 Timothy where Paul is exhorting Timothy to be faithful to preach and teach the gospel though times will be tough and people will not listen. I was caught by verse 2:4 which says, "Share in suffering as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. No soldier gets entangled in civilian pursuits, since his aim is to please the one who enlisted him." Civilian pursuits, to me, seem to be things that are done that offer no benefit to the kingdom of God. It seems evident then that we must be very wise with our time and choice of pursuits. I happen to be a worker-at-home, so what does this mean for me to be avoiding the entaglement of civilian pursuits?

One afternoon as I was sitting on the couch reading books to my kiddos I wondered if this was a civilian pursuit or what a good momma-soldier should be doing...hmmm. Just then, I was reminded that the home that I am growing these kiddos up has been designed for a purpose. Family was imagined and created by the Lord. Our homes were meant to show forth the goodness of God and to help us understand who He is. It suddenly occurred to me that our earthly homes are such an awesome shadow of our heavenly home. Acceptance, truth, grace, a restful and peaceful place, protection, etc. Isn't it gracious of God to give us a shadow of what we look forward to in heaven! These things do not come naturally to me, mind you! I delight that as I seek after Him, all these things will be added to our home. Though sitting and reading toddler books for an hour may not feel very productive, I am convinced that it is going far in laying a foundation for my children to understand much bigger things.

More snow fun

Aunt Chandra had cherry snow cone flavoring - a perfect addtion to fresh fallen snow. This is Kai eating a "snow cone" in a cup

Juliana partaking of snow cone fun.

Forget the cup...just squirt the cherry stuff on the snow!



Our big girl

Snowy day

It usually isn't a good sign when the weather channel people are in the same city as you are. We were supposed to get lots of snow in Omaha on Friday, but when it was all said and done it was only about 5 or 6 inches I would guess. It was a pretty impressive blizzard when it was coming down and we enjoyed being snowed in for the day :) Later that day I learned how to make chicken noodle soup from scratch from my sister - Thanks ShannyAnnie!

This was the first time Evan was out in a significant amount of snow. He wasn't too crazy about it.

On this trip we found out that Cousin Kade is a masterful dancer :)

Happy cousins - Kai, Blake, Juliana and Kade in the background.

Me looking out the door and praying that we would be able to drive home in the near future!

books and buttercream

Story hour at the local library is one of Juliana's favorites. I took a picture last week b/c it was the first time Evan went picked out a seat on the rug and sat for any length of time to listen to the story. He usually is be-bopping around in my lap. Hmmmm....maybe this is one of the reasons I have been wanting a little one at home again - I had an empty lap! You can find Evan in the gray shirt in the front row :) Juliana is in a blue shirt in the back next to the girl in a pink shirt.

I learned to decorate cupcakes at a workshop at one of the local churches. We got to practice with all the decorating tips and then got to work on our cupcakes. I was having so much fun practicing and dreaming of all the fun I would have decorating cakes when I remembered that I hate frosting - espcially buttercream! Nevertheless, I have added decorating tips to my list of wants that is waiting patiently for the day that we have the adoption paid for :) My kids have no qualms about buttercream frosting as you can tell below.
He is seriously into that cupcake folks!
Yes, Evan is eating a cupcake very early in the morning, and yes, he ate his breakfast first :)

Getting excited

Now I am getting excited. To officially know where we are at on the list has been so fun! It has been very sweet to watch Craig lately. He is sooooo excited to be a daddy again, or shall I say an ah-by-ay (dad in Amharic). While I was gone with the kids to Omaha Craig found a bunch of Amharic phrases with which he surprised us at the door. So far we have learned mom, dad, sister, brother, and I love you. He looked at me the other day out of the blue and said "You're about to become the mama of a little Ethiopian baby" and it made my heart crazy happy. What a sweet time this is of expectation! I will be most happy when we get that phone call to know who it is the Lord has for us, but to be completely honest this place of expectation is a place that I am delighting in. One of my reasons for going to Omaha was to bring back a mattress for Juliana so that she could have a "big girl" bed. We moved the toddler bed into Evan's room just this afternoon and he is napping on it as we speak. Now we have an empty crib just waiting. Ooooh! We are so ready for this little one!

#5

We found out that officially we are #5 on the list today. Yay! That is so very close!

I attended the open house at our agency in Omaha yesterday with the kids. It was a looong drive in the morning, but we are enjoying a visit with my sister and her family :) I was able to talk with several families there and found out about a fundraiser that Holt will be holding in Omaha which will be benefitting the Ethiopia care center specifically. One of the social workers asked if I was crafty and would be able to make something to be sold at the silent auction. My wheels have been turning as I am trying to come up with ideas for a painting or two. That is about the only talent I could muster enough time for in the next month that might be auction-worthy.

A summary of our trip so far is as follows:

• found some awesome deals on clothes at a local thrift store - my fave!
• learned to play Settlers of Catan - super fun!
  
• got lots of snow and had a blast playing in it with the kids today - pics to come.

Little Ava Grace

I am finally getting around to this post. I asked my friend Lori if she would let me share part of their Christmas letter on my blog. I introduced you to Lori here and I feel as though I must finish little Ava's story with the words of her loving mama.

"I usually send this Christmas letter out with a report of all the silly things my children have done lately and how they are growing up too fast . . . but this year is a little different and I wanted to write about some recent events that have happened to us.

As most of you probably know, we were expecting our fourth baby in April. Unfortunately, my water broke early, and by the end of the weekend before Thanksgiving I knew something was going very wrong. A frantic trip to the doctor Monday morning confirmed my worst fears; my water had broken and there was nothing that could be done. I spent the rest of the day on bedrest, with the tiny chance that the baby could still pull through and might survive. But that evening I went in to labor and the next morning our daughter, Ava Grace was born at just over 19 weeks; too early to survive. Miraculously, with all she had been through, she was born alive, and I held her in my arms as she died. She was tiny and beautiful, looking very much like her sisters. We marveled at how perfect she was - just like Psalm 139:13 'For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb.' She truly was fearfully and wonderfully made.
As the same Psalm continues later, 'All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.' The only reason why I am even trying to share this very painful experience is because even though we could never have imagined such pain, we also eperienced the grace and presence of God like never before. Even though this was very hard, He carried us through it. He was completely there in the timing and the way that everything came about; there was no doubt that we saw His hand in everything. I would never have wanted to give my Ava up, but with the tender and loving way that He took her home, there is no way I can doubt the goodness of my heavenly Father. I do not know why He chose this path for us, but we can rest in knowing that He is in control and has planned this to work for good, somehow.
I cannot describe to you how amazingly sufficient God's grace has been through this! Please do not think I have in any way been strong, any strength I have had in this has been in Christ alone. I know if my life had not been built on that foundation, this would have destroyed me inside. I cannot explain itk, but somehow, as the old hymn says "it is well with my sould." This can only be because of Him. A friend recently reminded me in a letter of the verse James 1:17 "Every good and perfect gift is from above coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows." This brought tears to my eyes; because it is the same verse we have used on all of our babies' birth announcements. But it is no less true in this case. Ava truly was a good and perfect gift from God, and we will always be thankful for the short time we had with her. . . I know many of you wanted to know the story of our Ava Grace, and how she changed our hearts forever."

It has been a priveledge to continue to carry Lori and her family to the Lord in prayer as she has explained that there is a great emptiness that will never be filled until that day she sees little Ava again. If you think of her, please do the same.

As I type this I remember that I have heard news of the impending change regarding the freedom of choice act in the past few days. Please take the time to be informed about this. The changes made will lift many restrictions on abortion in this country. It breaks my heart that in our world there are doctors every day making it their life purpose to either save lives of babies just like Ava or kill babies (aka blobs of tissue) just like Ava. It makes no sense. God be merciful to us.

flashback

I can joyfully say that it has been a while since we have been in the paperchasing mode :) I spent some time on the phone scheduling appointments and such for some unexpected paperwork. No baby yet :) This might be helpful info if any of you reading are researching/in process with adoption. We received a big old packet in the mail yesterday from our agency and excitedly opened it to find that there is a handful of paperwork that needs updated annually until the adoption is finalized. Well, not what we were hoping, but we will gladly do it to get to our child! I spent a chunk of this morning scheduling another physical for each of us and talking with Craig about when we will travel again to re-do our fingerprints at the nearest State Patrol office. Unfortunately these updates to our file mean added expense that we were completely unaware of, but it simply increases my fervency in prayer to a God who knows our needs! In fact, He is even sending us money from Australia by way of a fellow sister-in-Christ! (You know who you are and thank you immensely if you are reading this!!!) What an encouragement it was that the same day we get notice of more expense, we also get an encouraging note and a financial gift for the adoption from accross the world.

Whenever I call Craig at work now, I always start the conversation with "no baby" so that he knows I haven't gotten THE call. It has become a source of much laughter as I have, a few times, not made that clear at the outset of the call and unintentionally led him to believe that I had "exciting news" about a baby rather than "exciting news" that Juliana had cleaned her room without me asking. Hey, any mama would be super excited about that, right? So to avoid the let down of the century again, until I get THE call I will faithfully let Craig know from the outset what he is to expect of the ensuing conversation. Ha Ha!

The park in February

We have had beautiful weather in February. Seriously, like 60's and 70's! We have enjoyed lots of playtime outside and I have squeezed in a few (very slow) runs :) I used to run often and far...not since college though. Even though it is painful I enjoy every step and look forward to spring when I will be able to hit the pavement more often.

Our little guy is almost 2 years old!

"No more pictures, Mom."

My favorite portrait

It hit me recently that Juliana will be four this year. What a joy and priviledge the last 3 years have been, beginning to introduce this little girl to the workings of the world. I have gotten to enjoy her creativity this week and thought I would share it with you. Her first chalk work is a portrait entitled, "Mommy". That's right, folks, it's me :)

I have caught them reading together more often lately. Isn't it sweet?

Juliana working on her letter A. If I could only get her to do it right side up :)


A cat!

Could be soon

We just got an email update from Holt and they gave out a good number of referrals in January so we have good reason to hope that we are getting very close to being matched with a child! Oooh, how cool would that be to get a call this month!