Please Pray for Desta Monberg

Our friends, the Monbergs, are in ET right now picking-up their precious baby, Desta.  Desta hasn't been feeling too well over the last couple of weeks and her parents found out from the doctor at our agency's transitional home (our agency's orphanage) that last week, her condition was critical.  She still isn't feeling very well and her parents are very concerned.  They are scheduled to leave ET on Friday and make the arduous trip across the big pool (per Ashton) and they aren't sure whether or not she will be healthy enough to travel.  Please pray that God will heal this child and give her parents peace about her condition and the stamina to deal with the remaining days in ET.  She needs to get home and be seen by her doctors and start gaining weight and flourishing.  She has received the best care possible while in ET but reality is, the resources are limited - folks, you will never realize how spoiled we are in the US until you've experienced a third world country.  On top of the fact that last week she was on oxygen, IV, and medication, she now has chicken pox....Desta needs your prayers. 

Please click here to visit their blog and even though you may not know them, please let me know that you are praying for them.  I know firsthand that these parents need to know that people are lifting them up - won't you let God use you today but sending them a simple, yet life-changing message - we are praying.

Monbergs saw Baby Girl!

Melodie and Matthew Monberg saw Baby Girl today!  Here's what they wrote:

For the 2-1/2 hours I saw your baby, she was being held by the nannies. She's very long and lean, big brown eyes. She's just starting to get the chicken pox. Don't worry, all the babies had it (Desta was the only child in her room not to have them). She seems to be one of the "favorites" for the nannies.

The babies seem to greatly dislike bathtime, although the water is warm.

They are going to deliver our care package tomorrow and take pics (and possibly video).  Their e-mail just made my day!

Tentative Travel Dates and Reality Sinking In

Yesterday, we found out that if our case is successful on Oct. 7 and the Ethiopian judge approves our adoption, we will travel at the end of October. We are totally psyched about the upcoming travel! The week that we will travel is a great week for me to miss work because I have a very light caseload and have had several of my colleagues say that they will help cover my cases or do whatever needs to be done that week - thank you so much, friends!

Late last night I sent an e-mail to our travel agent to get the ball rolling with determining flight schedules. It's funny, we received our TTDs a month before our court date, but last time, we never did receive any official dates for picking-up Ashure. I look back and I think that was God's way of helping to shield us from even more heartache. I am so excited and planning away for the trip but I never really got to do that with Ashure and she was officially our daughter - weird how God works things out sometimes, isn't it - anyway, I think her death would have been even harder to accept if I was already in full-swing travel planning mode and her bag had been packed.

This morning, I was driving down the interstate heading to Nashville and planes started flying over my head and I started crying. I laughed at myself because I have grown-up around airports (my Dad was an air traffic controller) and planes are my child's world, so there's nothing new about my being around airplanes but today was different. Reality sank in as I drove down I-24W...in 47 days, I hope to be holding my baby girl!!!! How amazing is that!?!

Last night, Jason and I started "discussing" who would be the first to hold her on that day. We went back and forth (playfully) and I ended the conversation this way, "Now look, when Ashton was born, you were the first one who got to hold him and even brought him to the hallway to meet our family while I was on the operating table getting stapled, so it is my turn to hold this baby first." He grinned and added, "Well, it's not my fault you were sound asleep, snoring and missed the majority of the delivery." I said, "It was not my fault I was drugged!  So, it's settled, she's in my arms first." Jason just grinned.

Now, I was on bedrest the last 1.5 months of my pregnancy and had an infection within my uterus when I was in labor and ultimately ended-up with a C-section. I was VERY GROGGY during the C-section because I had been given so much medicine - some of which made me loo loo. Oh well, I will be wide awake for Baby Girl's "delivery"! This "pregnancy" has been the longest ever for me - 3 years!!

One Month Until Court!!

Woo hoo, 1 month from today is our court date!  October 7th is going to be a great day for our family - God has given me total peace about this!  As I type this message, the words are playing, "I surrender all to You" - that is truly my heart's desire.  Just as we prayed on the eve before Ashure's court date, we continue to pray today - "God, may Your will be done.  You are holding our child and we know that You will look after her all the days of her life and that Your timing is always perfect."  We are trusting that Baby Girl will legally become our daughter at just the right moment - which will hopefully be 1 month from today!!!!!!

To top today off, we received several new pics of Baby Girl from the Carpenters!  She has the most serious look on her face.  It is like she is saying,  "Who are you and why are you here?  Where are my parents, did you bring them with you?"  Oh, I can't wait to hold that little girl and kiss her all over! 

One thing that I noticed is that she is almost always wearing the same outfit!  We have sent her several outfits, and I know that realistically she may never wear any of them as it's not like she has a drawer marked with her name, but it does break my heart to see her wearing the same one over and over again.  The outfit does sorta look like something that they may put over another outfit, so maybe they put it on her whenever she comes outside for her photo session (which thanks to so many wonderful families traveling before us, she has had several of these!) to make sure that she doesn't cold?  Anyway, the pink and white striped hoodie outfit is going to be left in Ethiopia very soon because she's going to be in our arms in just a short time!

An Update from ET

The Carpenter family is in Ethiopia right now picking-up their beautiful daughter, and yesterday they took a care package to our baby girl. We were hoping that they would be able to trace her a hand and foot but they didn't have enough time. Here's what Jean wrote on their blog:

Erica - your angel is beautiful and is looking good ... they only let us see her for a few moments though, but I'll get the pics to you as soon as I can when we get home. I also tried to see if they'd allow me to get tracings for you ... but they wisked her away so fast I couldn't do this for you. I am SO sorry!! But I do hope you'll like the pics!

Well, we're bummed that we won't have tracings but at least we will have pics! Her feet and hands look big in pictures but up close folks say that she is very tiny, so I was really hoping for tracings but that's okay.  The travel group is HUGE (16 families), so I can only imagine how hectic the day was with everyone running around! 

Everyone who visits Baby Girl talks about how beautiful she is, and I can't wait to show you some pics - I know I may be biased, but she truly is gorgeous. She is going to look beautiful in blues and purples (as evidenced by the pics we have already seen)!