A Little News Does a Mommy's Heart Good

Our friend who visited with Baby Girl this past week just sent me this message about her:

She is VERY smiley! I LOVED loving on her. She loves when you give her little "eskimo kisses" on her nose... :) She lights up when you smile at her.

My mommy heart is overflowing on this Monday morning!

August Update for Baby Girl

Woo hoo, today has brought us 8 new pics of Baby Girl! I can't quit staring at her pictures!

Her measurements were taken on August 19, 2009, so that is right after she was really sick and we were told that her weight had been dropping quickly. At referral, she was 8.6 lbs, and as of Aug. 19, she is 8 lbs. She has grown 1.1 inches longer!

She was described as happy and smiley. She doesn't cry a lot and loves it when people are around her and especially when they are playing with her. She loves to be held and cuddled - SO EXCITING!

She is reported to be doing very well and is growing and developing just fine. Some of the pictures we received are during her period of sickness and then the others were taken today and oh, what a difference! Her little cheeks are chubbier and oh my, she is going to be tall if her feet are any indication!

What a wonderful day this has turned out to be!

More News from Ethiopia

I had a great surprise when I got to work today - an e-mail from a friend who is in Ethiopia!  She is employed with a sister company to our agency and she has been working on a project to "spruce-up" our agency's transitional home (basically an orphanage ran by our agency) where our baby is waiting for us to come pick her up.  She has been loving on and praying over Baby Girl since this past Sunday!  It has been so wonderful to read her posts on Facebook as she loves on so many children for waiting families!

Today, her e-mail stated that she saw Baby Girl again today and that Baby Girl immediately smiled when she saw her.  She said that she has great social skills and reiterated how beautiful she is!  We also got 2 new pictures (and the video that the Holland family took will arrive any day now, so that will add to the joy).  My mommy heart is just about to explode with thankfulness!

Each month, we are allowed to submit 5 questions to our agency and they are forwarded to the staff in ET.  The staff answers our questions in addition to providing updated medical info like illnesses, height, weight, etc.  We also will receive at least 1 pic with the update.  We should get the monthly update any day now, so that would be a wonderful way to end this crazy week that I've had! 

Be sure to keep a close eye on the bar on the right side of the screen that lists blogs for other adoptive families.  This list is automatically updated whenever a family posts something new, and hopefully there will be lots of new posts this coming week as there is a HUGE travel group headed to Ethiopia RIGHT NOW!  Our baby girl will receive another care package on Tuesday.  Thank you, Carpenter family for loving on her for us!

I just have to say this, as cliche as it may be, ISN'T GOD GOOD!

We're Fingerprinted AGAIN

Well, Jason and I drove to Nashville today in hopes that our local field office of USCIS Homeland Security would allow us to go ahead and get fingerprinted (3rd time) ahead of schedule.  The people were absolutely wonderful and we didn't have to wait at all!  We are praising God for paving the way for us and softening their hearts! 

Hopefully now our paperwork will have plenty of time to be processed and sent to Ethiopia so we won't have any trouble when it comes time to travel.  Do you realize that when we pass court on October 7, that we will likely travel mid to end of October - that means that in 2 months we could be in Ethiopia holding our precious, adorable, loveable, and happy baby! 

Time is Ticking By

When we received our court date the first of this month, I thought that the next 2 months would draaaaaaaaag by.  Well, I looked at my ticker a few moments ago and saw this "1 Month, 1 Week and 6 Days" - amazing!  I have been so slammed at work with court that all my free time is spent doing paperwork, so the days are flying by.  Of course, it helps that we received lots of new pictures of Baby Girl last night from the Hollands who loved on her last week - thank you so much Dave and Gina!  There is a friend loving on her this week and then 2 families in the next travel groups will be taking her care packages, so she is definitely being loved on, and in turn, we are getting amazing pics of our growing little one!  I just pray that the rest of the time flies as quickly as these last weeks!

Prayer Request:

As you may recall, our fingerprints are expiring soon, so we've been waiting for about 2 weeks for an appointment and we finally received a notice yesterday that our appointment is September 16.  I'm so glad to hear from them but disappointed at the late date because we were hoping for something within the next week or so.  When we pass court on Oct. 7 (I've got total peace about this), we hope to travel mid to end of October, so it makes me nervous that we will only have a month to process our fingerprints and for the US gov't to send the right paperwork to Ethiopia.  Please pray that the processing will be quick so we don't experience delays with travel!

She's perfect...tiny..but perfect.

We just received a message from a friend who is in Ethiopia right now.  She stated that she met Baby Girl and that she is beautiful and that our friend fell in love with Baby Girl immediately!  She also stated, "She's perfect...tiny..but perfect."  My mommy heart is full of joy right now as I am so glad to know that God is sending wonderful Christian people to love on my baby!

Baby Girl Sites I Can't Wait to Shop At

www.heelarious.com

www.rufflebutts.com

I am just ecstatic about having a baby girl! I loved dressing Ashton when he was little (complete with saddle oxfords and knee socks - much to Jason's dismay) but now all little boy clothes look the same. He doesn't like sweaters or sweater vests and adores all things with trucks and airplanes on it. Now, when I find something that is cute, Ash will say, "Mom, I don't do cute..I'm handsome. Maybe Sissy will like it." So frustrating!

There are two websites that I just can't wait to shop at - http://www.rufflebutts.com/ and http://www.heelarious.com/. I am going to have SO MUCH FUN dressing a little girl! If you have a girly girl, you MUST check-out these sites!

Baby Girl is going to wear lots of ruffled bloomers, headbands with big bows and flowers, stockings, earrings (Jason says I have to wait until she can say the word, so needless to say that will be a top priority for her vocabulary), poofy dresses, and lots of shoes (hence the heelarious website). I'm not going to buy anything from these sites right now because I don't know how big she will be when she gets home (hopefully the middle to end of October sometime) but the day is coming when that will change!

Yay - Baby Girl is Better

I am so excited! We just received an e-mail from our agency stating that Baby Girl is doing better and sucking away on her bottles! We've offered to send more meds or supplements or anything that she may need but we've been told that nothing is required as she is on the mend! Praise God!

Update on Baby Girl and Julianna Ashure

When I spoke with our family coordinator yesterday, she stated that she would call me back if Baby Girl had to go back on the feeding tube or got worse. I haven't heard from her at all today, so I'm taking that as a good sign. We certainly appreciate and covet your prayers. I will tell you that when I got out of court yesterday around 12:30 p.m. and heard the solemn voicemail requesting that I call our agency, my stomach went to my throat. I thought I was truly going to be sick until I was able to talk to our coordinator at 2:18. As hard as I tried not to worry, I kept thinking back to the dreaded call that we received on July 10th stating Ashure had died. I really did some heavy duty praying and appreciate those of you who were praying right along with me. Yesterday was one of those days when I REALLY needed my momma - she was an awesome prayer warrior!

On a positive note, we received a copy of Julianna Ashure's adoption papers, her statement of death, and 3 pictures of her with her birth mother on our court date of July 6! I was so excited to get this info! I never dreamed I would receive a picture of her birth mother and was ecstatic when I opened the files. Ashure looked just like her mother - absolutely beautiful! God is just so wonderful!

Please keep Baby Girl in your prayers. We are hoping that the days pass quickly until we can bring her home!

Baby Girl has thrush

I just got off the phone with our family coordinator and she reported that our baby girl has been sick. She has developed oral thrush and has not been able to eat. She was placed on a feeding tube and IV yesterday. This morning, she was able to suck on a bottle, so the feeding tube was removed but she is still on the IV to make sure that she is getting the proper medicine and fluids. Her formula has been changed as well and she is reported to be improving. Please continue to pray for our Baby Girl that she will be healthy and happy. We so want these next 2 1/2 months to pass so we can have court, pass, and go bring her home!

The family who was supposed to take pics for us this morning were not able to do that due to her health condition, so no pics this week - boo hoo. On a lighter note, thank you so much, America World, for taking extra time to keep us updated!

Today we were to have held Julianna Ashure

One month ago today, Julianna Ashure Deborah Reed entered Heaven. If she had lived, we would have kissed our precious girl for the first time today. I've not felt good all weekend and that carried over to today - it's my nerves, I know. My heart knows that we would have traveled over the weekend and today would have been our Metcha Day. It is a sad day for us but God keeps reminding me that she is with Him and so much better off. My mind knows this but my mommy heart is still breaking.

We will always love you, Baby Girl!

We have a court date - Oct. 7

This morning, I called our agency because I was REALLY FRUSTRATED with not knowing what happened on July 15th when our case was supposed to be appealed. I had to leave a message and while I was waiting for a return call, I received an e-mail about court closures. Courts are closing from Aug. 22 - Sept. 30 until possibly Oct. 6.

Well, right after I got the e-mail, my phone rang and it was the court person at America World. Finally, I got some answers! She said that the in-country staff has been appealing our case consistently since July 15 in an attempt to get a date but have been unsuccessful. The reasoning was that the court personnel have been trying to decide when they were going to close and needed to make sure that the staff had time to actually hear all the cases that have already been assigned dates. This morning, the courts confirmed with the in-country staff that they will be closing and also assigned our family a court date of October 7. Due to the nature of our case and all that our family has gone through, the courts have been gracious enough to recognize that and in turn assign us a date for as soon as they reopen. Our agency contact stated that due to the date that our family was assigned, that they are anticipating that the courts will not reopen until October 6. So maybe this info will help some of you out there are who are waiting for dates too.

As for us, I am breathing a sigh of relief. I am disappointed that we are not traveling soon but at the same time, I am glad to have some answers and a target date. In the meantime, I have requested that AWA keep us up-to-date on Baby Girl's health as we do not want to get a call out of the blue like we did with Ashure. I have been promised that the staff will keep us updated, so I hope that happens.

In the meantime, we are going to get re-fingerprinted for the 3rd time. I have been getting antsy about our fingerprints because they expire the first week of September, so now we will have time to renew them as well as make sure that the renewal makes it to Ethiopia prior to our travel (paperwork is sent to ET by the US gov't and we all know how efficient our gov't can be at times). Several families have gotten to ET only to find that their fingerprint renewal paperwork hadn't arrived at the Embassy yet, so we have a plan worked-out with AWA to ensure that this doesn't happen to us and the extra wait time increases our chances of a smooth ride through the Embassy. It's all in God's timing.

Please continue to pray for Baby Girl's health. Families traveling in the weeks to come, we hope that some of you will agree to take pics and packages to our little angel!

Adopting, Divorce, Death, Sickness, Hard Times - You NEED this book

Let me tell you how I came to own this book - truly a "God thing"!

I received a copy last November as I stood at my mother's coffin during visitation. Now, I stood at the receiving line for over 3.5 hours and over 400 people signed the registry book, so needless to say it was a long evening and I was exhausted and my brain was very muddled, but this is what I remember occurring on that night:

About an hour or so into the visitation period, many family members (including my father and sister) were standing with me and a lady that I have never seen before came up to me and said, "I know you don't know who I am but I worship with your parents and although I don't know them personally, I had planned on bringing this to your mother until I heard that she had died unexpectedly. God told me that I needed to come here tonight and give this to Debbie's child because you are going to need to draw from His strength in the days and months to come." She said that she could feel the spirit leading her to me as she entered the room and asked if I was in fact her daughter. She then handed me the book and said that she would be praying for us and to rely on God and then she simply walked away.

To this day, no one can tell me who this woman was, but to me, she will always be God's messenger - maybe even an angel. Regardless, I will be forever grateful to her for following God’s will. This book has ministered to me time and time again.

If you don't own this book, buy it! The devotions are brief - only a single page - but there is scripture to go with each day. Oftentimes when I sit down to read, it is like the author is looking into my soul and God is speaking directly to me. Click here to be directed to Amazon and order your copy today!

Please Pray for the Setliffe Family

Please take a moment to pray for the Setliffe Family. You can read their adoption blog by clicking here. They are truly facing adoption hardships!

The Setliffe Family have a daughter, Jane, waiting for them in ET. The problem is that they cannot get the judges to approve their adoption due to the child initially being placed in the custody of a Belgium agency. Their case has been all the way to the ET Supreme Court and there is one final step that may be taken so that she can be placed with their family. Once again, their blog talks about what needs to happen, so please take the time to read their story. The are taking a very risky move but they are going to fight to the end to bring Jane home. They are tired, emotionally drained, and weary BUT they are relying on God to literally carry them through this next portion of their adoption journey. Please keep them in your prayers.

Adoption is hard but it is so rewarding. For us, many people thought and even encouraged us to give-up after our Ukraine journey and then again after Julianna Ashure died but we know that God is in control of each step of our journey and even more importantly, that He is on this journey with us. As crazy as people think we are, we are already looking forward to our next adoption in the years ahead! I know, we haven't gotten Baby Girl home yet but she is coming when the timing is right - God's timing, not ours.

Please pray that God will keep these children healthy, safe, and loved. Families need prayers to remember that even on the worst days, God is still in control. God's love is so amazing!

Baby Girl's Care Package

Our friends, the Hollands, will be traveling next week to go get their two beautiful daughters who are patiently waiting in Ethiopia. The Hollands are very special to us because we have shared our adoption heartaches and joys together since 2007 when each of our families were preparing to travel to Ukraine in search of the children that God has planned for our families. Like us, the Hollands traveled overseas and returned home without a child and were told to wait and wait and wait. Praise God that He has finally formed their Forever Family!

They are taking a care package to our Baby Girl and will love on her for us. We are so thankful for them and the other families who have or are taking pictures for us in the weeks to come!

Gina and Dave, please kiss all over our baby and try to take a peek at the tag in her sleeper to find-out what size she is wearing! We're praying for you guys!

Oh by the way, the photo album is turned over since you can't see our baby yet or her name. My pic is on the back and definitely not on the front!

Update - Not Much to Report

The big question of the day - "Any news on a court date yet?"

The answer - "Not a word."

As stated in a previous post, I requested that our family coordinator let us know what happened on July 15 when our agency was going to request a new court date. Last Thursday, she e-mailed me back and said that she didn't know but that she would forward our e-mail to the court coordinator. She did say not to request a new fingerprint appointment until we hear back from either the court coordinator or her. (Our fingerprints expire the first part of September, and the next renewal will cost $$$$). On Friday, I had to send a scanned document to our family coordinator and received an automatic reply that she is out of the office until August 10, so I don't expect to hear from her anytime soon.

Maybe this week will bring an e-mail or phone call from the court coordinator but who knows. Right now, we're trusting that God will bring our baby home in His time. I hope that the timing is sooner rather than later but even if it's not, I know that it will be the perfect time for Baby Girl to arrive in America!

Thank you for your continued prayers!