Happy Birthday Saron

Today is your first birthday, sweet baby girl.
I pray that this will be the last birthday you'll spend in an orphanage.

Love,
Mommy, Daddy, Robby, Haley, Aubrey, Sammy, and Shay

COURT DATE!!!

I've gotten to the point where I never thought I would post those two words. I can't believe it! We have a court date. It's on December 8. Only three days after the one-year anniversary of our precious daughter's death.

October 31st, Halloween, marked the one-year anniversary of Josi officially becoming our daughter, and as December is approaching quickly, I was starting to get anxious knowing that I would be a rough time for me. But now... NOW... I have something so good and exciting to look forward too. (Thank you God for your perfect timing.) Saron's birth mother has to show up to court on that day to be available to speak and sign her name off one last time relinquishing herself as her mother. Saron's birth mother is ill with HIV Aids and as a result, has decided to make a plan for her daughter so that she will not be orphaned when she passes. (Saron's birth father has already died from HIV.) I just pray that she is healthy enough to make the trip. Please pray with me that we will pass court and that Saron's birth mother is healthy enough to make the trip to the Addis Ababa court house. My heart aches for this woman and the sadness she must feel. I hope she feels some joy in her heart as she learns that her daughter will be loved on and cared for her entire life and most importantly taught about Jesus and his wonderful plan for her.

Now... I can start preparing for a daughter, a baby girl, to join our family.

Long Overdue Photo Update on My Family

It's been so long since I've posted anything that's not adoption-related. I thought I'd at least post some photos of our summer and some of fall. I tried to make them in order, but some may not be.

Sammy and our friend Richie at a summer evening Dodger game.

Best Buds.

Shay with his women.

Haley and her friend, Anna.

Shay playing with the yucky green water.

Getting ready for a lot of dirty work.

Daddy, pooped out after hours and hours and days and days of preparing for our new swimming pool.

Having fun in the mud.

Yeah.... Mud

A little cold after the mud bath.

Aubrey with a little mud.

Sammy with a little mud.

Let the mud-fest begin.

Haley with a little mud.

This is too much fun!

Helping daddy on the Bobcat.

Shay is clean, (and adorable)! For the moment.

This is how deep our pool is.

Shay's not clean anymore. These boys LOVE the mud. This was probably the worst two weeks of my life. There was mud in every crack and crevice of these boys. Not to mention, the mud and dirt in my house.

Yea!!! It's FINALLY over. The pool took 3 weeks to the day from start to finish. Here it is filling up.

The boys in the cave.

All the kids on the cave.

So pretty at night.

Great pic of Robby, except for the background of the wheelbarrow and trash behind.

Sammy fell and hit his head on the fireplace hearth. No stitches, thankfully, just butterfly tape for a week to hold it together.

Aubrey doing her schoolwork.

Proof, that daddy likes Homie.

Halloween 2009

Sammy wearing his Full Armour of God.

A pic of Robby's new, (I hesitate to say "first,") tattoo.
It is called a Chi-Rho. The "P" and the "X" are the Greek letters which begin the name Jesus Christ. The "A" and the "O" represent the first and last letter of the Greek alphabet, and symbolize Christ as being the first and the last as He says in his Word.

Desert sunset.

Sammy doing his schoolwork.

Two resting Turkey Vultures perched on our Joshua Tree. They migrate to Mexico for the winter.

Another Dodger Game.

Referral

I am happy to announce that we have received and accepted a referral of a precious 11mo baby girl named Saron. Lord willing, Saron will make it home to our family. Each one of our children is a blessing to us; and we hope and pray that the Lord chooses to bless us once more with this precious child.

The rainy season is over and the Ethiopian courts have re-opened today after a six-week closure. Please join us in praying that our court date will come soon, and that we will pass court on the first try.

More info. to come as I get it.

Answered Prayer

Sammy and I got our confirmation that we are in the right place with our adoption. God so graciously answered our prayers Saturday evening, and revealed to us his providence. Our family was eating dinner at In-n-Out Burger when a man walked by with two children. I knew he was Ethiopian. I asked God for the courage to approach him, because I am NOT the type to ever do such a thing. God literally led me to that man and spoke through me asking if he was from Ethiopia. He said yes! We talked and all the while I was trembling inside; I knew this was not a chance meeting. I asked him if these were his children. He answered, "God is good. These are my children." I asked him what their names were and he said "This is my son. His name is Adonai. And this is my daughter, El Shaddai." I knew right then that God had led us to this man and his children. We exchanged numbers and we will be keeping in touch. Who would have thought that there would be an Ethiopian living in our small and un-cultured town. I would have never imagined.

Sammy and I, and our children, and my mom, went home praising and thanking God. We couldn't believe what had just happened.

What are the odds of us meeting an Ethiopian in our small town? What are the odds of me guessing that this man is Ethiopian? (For those of you who know me, you would already know the odds of me approaching a complete stranger and asking him if he's Ethiopian are pretty much zero to none.) Of all the countries in Africa, what are the odds of him being from Ethiopia? And what are the odds of his children's names being Adonai, meaning God Most High; and El Shaddai, meaning The All Sufficient One. Adonai occurs 434 times in the Old Testament, and Shaddai 48 times. It seems so silly now. How could I have doubted the All Sufficient One, the God Most High.

And those of you who know Your name will put their trust in You,

For you, O Lord, have not forsaken those who seek You
~Psalm 9:10

Thank you, Heavenly Father, for so blatantly answering our prayers. Thank you for your never-ending love and your faithfulness... no matter how thick-headed we are in our earthliness.

~~~~~~~~~

Our agency director will be arriving in Ethiopia on Saturday. She will be checking on the children and the open cases as well as dropping off donations. But we wait in great anticipation as she will be bringing home with her, Lord willing, our referral. Please pray that the Lord be with her in her travels and that she can accomplish everything that she has set out to do while she is there.

On the Verge of Giving Up...

I don't even know how to start this post besides just getting right to the point. I am on verge of giving up on the adoption. I just don't feel any family support. Our friends support us half-heartily. I can tell they want to support us, but don't want to see us get hurt again. Of course, my online, adoptive-mom friends, Christian and non-Christian, support me 100 percent. That's just not enough, and it leaves me feeling like I'm the only one wanting a child that no one else wants or wants to work for. I guess I am the only one who wants this and most everyone else I know is just appeasing me.

While in the process with Shay, I became very close to God and my faith grew immensely. (We began the process to adopt Shay so that little Sammy could have a sibling close in age.) Months later, I felt a tug in my heart, a Holy nudge, to adopt purely for no other reason at all then to glorify God. Sammy did not share the desire to have more children, so I started praying. A year later, Sammy's heart changed when we saw Josi's pic.

So here we are... Josi has been gone for almost nine months. Soon after Josi died, we started on another adoption as we did not want things to end this way. Two agencies and seven months later, we are back to square one. Is it that we are not meant to adopt again? Was us being led to Josi not really God's leading? Was all of this in vain? Waisted time? Waisted money? Waisted love?

I have never considered myself a strong person, and I don't know if losing Josi has made me any stronger. I feel very weak. I feel like I am at God's mercy, which is a good thing and right where I would want to be; but I just don't feel any of the support in my own home anymore. Sammy is done with adopting. He has told me multiple times that he is fed up with it all. Who can blame him. Not only have we suffered greatly with losing our daughter, but we have lost tens of thousands of dollars. We do believe that our money, like everything else, is not our own but God's. But I can see how this can put a horrible taste in one's mouth with regard to adoption and the risks involved. I mean, why would anyone in their right mind want to do this again!?!? My husband didn't at first, but had agreed, I believe mostly because he knew it would break my heart not to. After all, he understands, that children are a gift from God. He is not fed up with children, let me make that clear. He is fed up with the process, with agencies, and foreign-country-adoption red tape. Even the girls have expressed to me recently that they really don't want to adopt again. I know that they don't want to see mommy sad anymore, but it makes my heart break knowing that my family has been so wounded by Josi's adoption and death, that they don't see God in it anymore.

So many people are asking if we are still going to continue down this road now after losing the Ethiopian girls. They want to know why we don't see this as a sign that we are not supposed to have any more children. I am tired. Lord knows Sammy is tired. We are all tired. There are times, a lot of times, when I want to quit. But then, what do I do with this burning desire, whom I believe is from God, to have more children. What do I do with this knowledge that there is a child in this world that is meant to be ours. I guess I can just tuck it all under the rug and move on with my life.

I just don't know what I will do with myself if I give up. Will I ever get over it? I do know that I will forever not feel complete. I will feel like I had a mission that I didn't accomplish. I know if it is meant to be, then it will happen. But I believe it isn't going to happen if we give up. If we forgo God's will, then we will miss out on the abundant blessings that God so graciously supplies us when we obey his will.

Please pray with me that this adoption will move forward soon. I know that God leads us out of our comfort zones. He wants to stretch us and guide us down the road less traveled. I want to go the distance, but I want my family to be behind me.

Please, I am desperately asking for prayer...

Sad News...

We lost our referral last week. The girls' birth mother came to the orphanage and came and got them. While I rejoice that they have been reunited with their birth mother, I am also heartbroken that they won't be our children. As much as we all tried not to get too attached to them, it was still difficult to accept. I have spent many hours daydreaming of them in our home, calling me mommy, running around our house like the other kids. I know that God's ways and reasons are beyond our understanding, and I actually take comfort in that with the knowledge that all things are done by him for the good and growth of God's kingdom.

...and we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose ~Romans 8:28

We are waiting for a new referral...

More Pics and Video of Josi

My girls were looking through my photo albums online, when they came across this video. I completely forgot about it. You can imagine my joy, (and heartbreak,) when they showed it to me. It was from one of our many Skype video calls.

Here is Josi singing the Dora song.

This is a Skype snapshot of Josi.

She was telling me that when she comes home, she wants her ears pierced.

A video snapshot of Josi and her foster sister having fun together.

Her foster family gave her so much love.

Josi dancing for us.

My dancing girl...
no longer dancing for us, but dancing for Jesus.

the treasure of Jesus... Freed to visit orphans

Jesus has visited us in our affliction . . .

He has freed us to visit orphans in theirs...



I took this from lifesong's blog.