Happy Birthday, Mom and "On Deck" E-mail from AWAA

We love you and miss you, Momma!

Today would have been Mom's 57th birthday. Earlier today, Daddy delivered one dozen beautiful pink roses to her grave. Leigh and I went this afternoon and put a new bouquet of mixed flowers in the vase on her headstone. It's been a hard day because we miss her so much.

On a lighter note, once I got back to the office we received an e-mail from America World stating that we are "on deck" for a referral to be received in April or May! How fitting for this e-mail to arrive today because this would have definitely been an event that Mom would have celebrated and have been so excited about. My heart hurts in that I would give anything to be able to share this news with her!

Another Referral Today

The Pickards also received a referral today! They were matched with a 5 mos. girl! We're moving right on up the list!!!

1. Bartley - 0-18 mos. girl
2. Foote - 0-12 mos. girl
3. Redd - 0-12 mos. girl
4. Kerby - 0-12 mos. girl
5. Clover - either boy or girl 0-9 mos.
6. Gomez - 0-12 mos. either boy or girl or siblings up to age of 3
7. REED - 0-9 mos. girl or twins with at least one being girl!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Julianna's Clock

I'm so excited because Julianna's clock arrived today! Thanks to a fellow adoptive parent I was able to order it CLEARANCED from Pottery Barn Kids. I ordered the clock on the left because it is in the shape of Africa. It is perfect for the nursery or playroom!

More Referrals....This is AMAZING

What a day! I just checked our agency's Yahoo chat board and 3 more referrals in the last 30 minutes! Just moments ago, I had been trying to reach our family coordinator about our homestudy and the receptionist stated that she was unavailable because she was "happily serving another family" - she certainly was because she was giving out referrals!

Congratulations to these families who have just seen their child's face for the 1st time!

Jackson Family - 8 mos. boy

Bushre Family - 1 mos. boy

Taylor Family - 1 mos. girl

We are we at on our list of families? This is SO exciting! Now, remember that there are likely some "mystery" families out there that we don't know about but this is all we have to work with right now...it's enough for me!

1. Pickard - 0-12 mos. girl

2. Bartley - 0-18 mos. girl

3. Foote - 0-12 mos. girl

4. Redd - 0-12 mos. girl

5. Kerby - 0-12 mos. girl

6. Clover - either boy or girl 0-9 mos.

7. Gomez - 0-12 mos. either boy or girl or siblings up to age of 3

8. REED - 0-9 mos. girl or twins with at least one being girl!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

More Families Pass Court

Several families had court in Ethiopia while we slept the night away. Congratulations to the following families who were successful in their adoptions today:

Dubose Family
Moffatt Family
Rovang Family
Watson Family

Two more families had glitches which can be overcome, so hopefully their cases will be reheard next week. Please keep praying for the Rutlands and VanDruffs!

8 Months Paper Pregnant

Wow, how amazing....our paperwork has been in Ethiopia for 8 months! It's so amazing to think that our baby girl is probably a newborn or maybe just about to be born!!!!!!!!

The last 2 1/2 years have been so overwhelming. We've laughed, we've cried, we've prayed and prayed and prayed and prayed. We know that God has our perfect child or children already picked-out for our family - I say, bring her/them on!

We just found out that a family whose paperwork has been in Ethiopia less time than ours has just received a referral for a 3 year old little girl! There are still families ahead of us waiting for infants, but hopefully our call will be coming soon. Our agency is sending e-mails out to the top waiting 15 or so families next week, and I certainly hope that we will receive one! If not April, then hopefully it will come in May!

Thank you for all your prayers and support!

Congratulations Forever Families

The following families had their adoptions approved in Ethiopian courts this morning. Their children are legally theirs! Check out their blogs for pictures and their individual stories.

Bartel Family
Crowell Family
Lunceford Family

Congratulations to the following families who recently received referrals:

Bayly Family - an adorable 6 mos. little boy

Portilla Family - a beautiful little 2 year old girl
Low Family - a precious 24 mos. little boy
Precopia Family - an adorable 2 mos. little boy
Delfosse Family - a sweet 17 mos. little girl

Ashton is lonely

You know, sometimes it is so hard to explain the complicated world of adoption. We have been officially in the adoption process for 2 1/2 years, and I must say that we are growing weary. Our hearts long for our daughter.

Yesterday, I was trying to get Ashton down for a nap when he dropped a bombshell. He said, "Mommy, when is God going to bring Julianna to America? I'm lonely." I asked him why he was lonely and the response that I got was this, "I love you and Daddy and I have fun with you, but I want another kid to play with...I'm lonely." I had to wipe the tears from my eyes. What I wouldn't give to be able to have another child - by adoption or birth!

Every day, several times a day Ashton prays for Julianna. We are getting very close to the top 10 families waiting for a referral. My mind knows that our time is coming, but that is so hard to explain to my heart and to my 4 year old son!

Two more families received referrals today, so we are so excited for them! Please pray that God will contine to unite families and also help us all financially prepare for the final costs associated with our adoption process. The economy is hard on everyone and costs just keep increasing all around, however we know that we are in the center of God's will and He will provide all our needs. It is so amazing to be able to travel down this adoption road!

Latest Happenings

Boy have things been crazy lately. I am working until late evening and generally haven't even been getting time for lunch....one good thing is that the wait time for our referral is passing quickly!

This has been a rather stressful week. I had a rather complicated and dangerous situation occurred with a case that I am working but thankfully God provided protection for me. There was a bomb threat on the Square linked to a high profile drug case, so that shot most of Thursday. There have been medical issues to deal with in my family but we are confident that God will provide and protect there too. Also, we are learning to juggle t-ball practice and getting ready for the games to begin. The list could go on but the jist of it is, life is fast paced, but we are so blessed!

Last night, I made a birthday cake for a friend's little boy. I know I have a blog set-up just for my cakes, but I just had to share this one with you here as well. Ashton was so cute when he woke-up this morning and saw the finished project. He ran to get his toy Monster Mutt truck and with bulging eyes he said, "You're good, Momma." He went on to state that this was "totally a boy's cake" and that "Julianna won't like this because she'll be scared." He was so cute!

Anyway, I finished this cake at 2:30 this morning and was up again at 6:30 a.m. to get ready to deliver it. I hope Taylor is excited about his cake as Ashton was!

Now, on to the adoption. Our clock is really ticking! We are hoping to receive a referral in about 2-3 more months. We are hoping for 2 months but it seems like the referrals have slowed down a little bit over the last couple of weeks, so we are trying to be realistic. Our agency has a new policy in place now that when a family reaches the top 10 list, we will be notified. So, be looking for a post coming up very soon that states that we are in the top 10! We've been on this adoption journey for over 2 1/2 years, and boy is it good to know that we are almost there! Please keep praying!

There's a conference call for the agency this Wednesday, so I'll be sure to share any news that you might find interesting!

Now, some of you may think this is totally tacky but due to the large number of people who have asked about Mom's headstone, I am posting this picture specifically for you. Daddy picked it out, and we are very happy with his decision. For those of you who don't personally know us, we have lived in Arizona, Georgia, Tennessee, Kentucky, and Mississippi so a lot of our friends will never get to see Mom's headstone unless it is posted here. Sorry if this offends you, however we are very happy with this and understand and appreciate the compassion and love that family and friends have expressed.

Is God Calling YOU to Adopt

Busy Weekend

First of all, Saturday was my sister's birthday....Happy Belated Birthday Leigh! This is her last official birthday (or so she says because she is now 29 years old). We went to Marina's for supper and then back to Dad's house for strawberry cake with cream cheese icing and ice cream...yummy. I made her a very basic but cute purse cake, which she seemed to like very much. Next year, she's getting a 3-D high heel shoe (I can't wait to make that one)!

On Saturday morning, I attended a cake show hosted by Sweet Wise in Nashville. It was an absolutely amazing day! The show featured 2 Saturday sessions with Michelle Bommarito who has participated in 8 cake challenges hosted by the Food Network. She was so down to earth and the sessions were very informal with lots of questions from the audience. I learned so much from her! She was just absolutely amazing! Also featured was Clint Redwine, a DJ from our local 92.9 FM station. He demonstrated how to make a guitar cake. He was hilarious but very informative as well. I also learned how to make sugar beer bottles from another speaker. I don't drink beer and won't be making this cake but the technique was very good and can be adapted for other ideas, so that was a pretty good session as well. Here are some pictures from the day along with some of the cakes by various individuals that were entered in the show:

I will tell you that the morning started with my crying all the way to Nashville. I was having a tough time dealing with Mom's death. Basically, since Mom started feeling rotten in September, I haven't done much at all on the weekends outside of laundry and grocery shopping. On the weekends, Mom and I would generally go shopping or at least window shopping. It is so lonely without her. Leigh does her own thing generally, and Jason and Dad don't really share the same interests as me, so that just leaves me and Ash together. All the way to Nashville, I kept thinking that if Mom were still alive and healthy, she would be in the seat next to me cheering me on in my cake creations. She would have been bored with a lot of the sessions but she would have gone with me without a doubt. When I arrived, I struggled even more because all around me were moms and daughters...I had to get up and go clear my mind so that I could focus (not to mention see through the tears). I thought about how Mom must have felt years ago when our family initially moved from Georgia and Mom didn't have her mother around on the weekends. She would load us up and off we would go together...I will pick up and do the same with my children. Those days and adventures led to a wonderful relationship and friendship with my Mom. It's hard but with God's help, I'll take each day as it comes and will make it through until either I join her in eternity or Christ returns. I can't tell you how many times a day that I pray that today will be the day when Christ comes again.

On Sunday, we awoke to almost 7 inches of snow! We were expecting a mere dusting but were pleasantly surprised. For TN, this is a lot of snow, and was by far the most snow that Ashton has ever seen. We did go out and play for a very short period of time (I'm still trying to get over bronchitis and Ashton is just getting over strep). The snow wasn't very wet, so it didn't stick together well but Ashton loved making his first snow angels. Here are some pics of our day: