A happy letter, a sad development

It is not everyday that you can say you got a letter from the Bureau of Consular Affairs! It looks as though our Orphan Petition Visa paperwork has been forwarded to and will be waiting for us at the U.S. Embassy in Addis Ababa where our adoption interview will take place. Ooooh! What a fun day that will be!

The big change that I blogged about last week looks as though it will end up not happening. Holt had notified the waiting Ethiopia families that they had a 5 year old boy in their care who had been waiting for some time for a family. We would be more than willing to be his family, however, to our disappointment it looks as though we will not be considered. bummer. I have lots of thoughts on that though I will let myself be quiet for now and wait to see how things pan out. I made one last plea that we be included in the interested families and that is all we can do. I am praying for the Lord's will and these are the times when the rubber meets the road and I find out if I am truly resting on the Lord's plans and His sovereignty, particularly in the Lord's care of this little boy. Lord set this boy in a family where he will be given the hope of the gospel. He has gone through more than any 5 year old ever should have to and he desperately needs the hope that you have to offer in Christ. Care for him as he waits for a family in way that no earthly momma or daddy could ever do. Lord, bring him a family soon please.

"A father to the fatherless, a defender of widows, is God in His holy dwelling." Psalm 68:5

On the road again

Being on the road with Juliana is always a challenge...er, i mean treat :) Imagine the most social girl you could ever think of, strap her down in a seat looking at the back of two other people, and put her next to a little boy who knows like 3 words. I'm not making this up. This is a very close reenactment of one particular 30 minute conversation on the way up to Omaha.

Juliana: Cows!lookoutyourwindowevan!Mooooom,doyouseethecows?Whyaretherefences?Whatisagate?Isthereagatedownthere?Oooooh,thereisalake.Mooooom,wherearetheducks?Whatdoduckseat?Doducksliketoeatcereal? (grin) Doduckiesliketoeatpickles? Noooooooo!Arewethereyet?Mom,IamAndreaSchmick.

Craig and I: (busting out laughing) Juliana, did you say that you are Andrea Schmick.

Juliana: Yeah, I am Andrea Schmick. Daddy is Ethan, Mommy you are Makayla, and Evan is my husband Jason.

Craig: Hey Andrea, your husband sure drools alot. Why does your husband drool alot?

Juliana: I am Andrea Schmick. (if you don't start every sentence with Andrea, she makes sure that you remember who she is) Ummmm...he just likes to.

Craig: Yeah, but why does he like to drool so much Andrea.

Juliana: He likes to make syrup.

another fun road game goes a little like this:

Juliana: Evan! Say farm.
Evan: maaahhhhh
Juliana: (clapping) good job Evan!

Juliana: Evan! Say horse.
Evan: mmoooooohhh
Juliana: (clapping) good job Evan!

Juliana: Evan! Say cup.
Evan: guuuuuhhh
Juliana: (clapping) good job Evan!

A timely word of encouragement.

Prayer and Providence

“Coming events cast their shadows before them, and when God is about to bless his people his coming favour casts the shadow of prayer over the church. When he is about to favour an individual he casts the shadow of hopeful expectation over his soul. Our prayers, let men laugh at them as they will, and say there is no power in them, are the indicators of the movement of the wheels of Providence. Believing supplications are forecasts of the future, He who prayeth in faith is like the seer of old, he sees that which is to be: his holy expectancy, like a telescope, brings distant objects near to him.”

- Charles Spurgeon, The Holy Spirit’s Intercession

This has especially blessed me tonight as I am contemplating God's will in this adoption. It is certainly a timely word of encouragement to my heart. So timely, in fact, that it makes me smile and wonder if the Lord caused it to be on the "Of first importance" blog specifically for the good of MY soul! Lord make this adoption full of your glory! Proclaim Your goodness, faithfulness, grace, mercy, provision, and power in this adoption to our little family, to the child you have for us, and to our church family. Cause us to walk closely in your footsteps and let our hearts, which can be decietful, not pull us away from the good work which you have prepared for us. Never before have we needed to see your will more clearly. I remember my favorite hymn "Be still my soul" where we sing:

"Be still my soul, the Lord is on your side...Cling to thy God to order and provide. In every change, He faithful will remain."

It's about time!

It's about time for another blog entry! We surprisingly received a welcome piece of mail last Saturday. The precious I-171H form that is the result of the government processing our I-600 Orphan Petition form. The government has this to say about us:

"It has been determined that you are able to furnish proper care to an orphan"

Yay! In other news there is a very small chance that there could be a BIG change in plans regarding the adoption. I don't feel we are at liberty to share the details right now as they are pretty sketchy. I'm sure that I will eventually blog about it, in the meantime please be praying for heaping amounts of wisdom and some CLEAR and LOUD direction from the Lord. Hopefully within the next week we will be able to share more. We are for sure adopting still, it just might be a different picture than we had in mind.

Tomorrow we head to Omaha again for our second and last set of adoption classes to be held at the Holt Midwest Office Saturday. I look forward to them and hope to learn much more country specific information. I especially look forward to spending time with my sister and her family :) Juliana's birthday was almost a month ago, yet I just realized I hadn't put any pics up from it. The last picture I love as it so captures the essence of special birthday treatment!

A grant update

We have been notified that our Shaohannah's Hope grant application is being reviewed Yay! and have been given an update form to fill out and a few more essay type questions to answer. Though the Lord has kept my heart at peace about financial aspects of adoption as of late, it will be really nice to have an answer as far as whether we get a grant to help out.

Twenty five

The Holt office in Eugene notified us today that we are #25 on the list to receive a referral of a child. It is nice to know where we are at in the wait, though it is already a battle not to dwell on this seemingly oh, so important number. Though my brain keeps trying, it is nearly impossible to pin down wait times based on this bit of information. I looked back and some months there were no referrals and some months there were 6 referrals. It also depends on whether the parents in front of us specified one gender or another, which could bump us up on the list say if they specified boys and the care center kept getting girls. This is honestly the first time I am battling my thoughts as far as waiting has gone. Hmmm...I just had to ask about the numbers, didn't I? :) Well, we continue reading books, going to the park, and practicing the letter A until further notice when we can plan a trip to Ethiopia!

Twenty five.

The Lord is working His sovereign will so that the precious little twenty fifth child from today to be given parents will be given us as a mommy and daddy. This little one is already chosen for us and his or her days have been written by the author of life so that there will be no surprises for the Lord. He knows that they will be fatherless for a time. "A father to the fatherless, a defender of widows, is God in His holy dwelling." Psalm 68:5 Thank you that our care is but a shadow of the love you have for your children...as our love is tainted by sin and yours is perfect in holiness. Thank you that when this child is without a worldly mother and father to care for them, you will be with them. I trust you to take care of our child. Thank you Lord for restoring a family to this precious little one. Even now, be preparing Craig and I to be parents to this child. I know that there will be challenges unique to raising an adopted child. Some I have been told to expect and surely others that we will not be expecting. I know that Christ is sufficient and that we have been called to this good work. Following the example of a brother in Christ, Jim Elliot, help us to "be all here" and be "living to the hilt" this time of waiting to the glory of God!

I LOVE being not-prego...for a time.

So, I am loving not being prego while still knowing that we will get a new baby soon. Essentially right now, in the timeline of waiting for our new child, I would be well into prego-world getting sick to my stomach daily. Oh, the glories of adoption! When I am pregnant I do NOT sleep well. It is crazy strange b/c I am tired, but rarely can fall asleep before 2 am. This has been the same for both Juliana and Evan's pregnancies, so I assume it is just the way it is for me. I am still sleeping well. Oh, the glories of adoption! Bear with me, for the sake of posterity I wanted to remember some specific funny things about each of my kids pregnancies b/c I have always meant to write them down but never have.

Juliana: Everything was wonderfully fun b/c I didn't have any other kiddos to take care of. Even the sleeplessness was amusing to me. I craved fruit and chicken patties (the frozen kind). I remember Craig having to listen to me rave about my breakfast cereal as it had NEVER tasted so good. One time for a snack I ate an entire can of corn and it was delicious. I got sick every morning for about 15 weeks but always felt better after 10 am or so. I remember my nose being stuffy (a prego thing) and having a lot more drool than normal. No kidding! I had totally forgotten about this until a friend mentioned recently that she has the same thing. Ha ha! Juliana's little rear end would always be pushing out one side or the other of my belly. The picture above is from the day before I went into the hospital for Juliana to be born. Yeah, I'd like to say it is from the day before she was born, but I was in labor with her for over 20 hours. No hard feelings.

Evan: Everything was not so wonderfully fun b/c I had my sweet little Juliana to take care of. Don't get me wrong, I was crazy excited to be prego, but oh man is it harder when you have another to chase around. The sleeplessness was the same, but not amusing this time. Along with being sick to my stomach in the mornings, evenings were added into the mix. With Evan I craved ice cream and sweet stuff big time! Evan must have had some mad soccer skills in my belly b/c he would kick so hard and quick that it would make me jump in my seat. I played with his little feet alot b/c they were always sticking around out in the front of my belly. When Evan was born his nose was crooked for two weeks. He must have been smooshed in their pretty tightly. Ha!

The Lord is writing a story unique to Merrihew #3 and we eagerly await to hear more about this new little one! Though being prego is definitely something I have been thankful for and hope to be again someday, there is definitely a glory to adoption which I am thoroughly enjoying right now :)