Moving Foreward ...

Well, a couple things to update on today but I first want to post part of an email from our dear friend and soldier who is in Iraq on his 2 tour.

Dear friends ...loss of a great soldier and personal friend of mine ... please uplift family and friends ... pray for our battalion and the soldiers who took direct action ... pushing foreword. Please remember our loves ones fighting still and pray for them daily!! Ben, We miss you much and love you lots!! Praying you home!!

This little post was from a friend of mine and I just had to share .. so very true!!

Natural Child: Any child who is not artificial.

Real Parent: Any parent who is not imaginary.

Your Own Child: Any child who is not someone else's child.

Adopted Child: A natural child, with a real parent, who is all my own.

--- Rita Laws, PhD

Alas ~ there were 3 more infant boy referrals (click on Slonigers or Stagers or Pridemore on the left) and we are all so happy !!! So good to see movement and to hear of more kiddos being united with their forever families!! God is so good!! Just a side note: This would have officially moved us up to the top 10 on the list!

We also we able to get a couple more photo's of our girls from families that were just there - our oldest is wearing the outfit we sent her! Such a blessing to see them in their culture and playing with the others kiddos waiting for all us parents to come get them!!! It does my heart good knowing they are being loved on and kept safe! We are still hoping and praying for court the end of October or early November and then travel about 3 weeks after that. Come on miracle October!! :):)

We have all made it through the first full week of school and nothing major yet!! Gotta love that! Pre-school starts next week - and piano- and I think basketball is just the week after. Hmmm ... more crazy-ness to pass the time 'cause you know once we get home this fall, we are home for awhile!!

Good Waiting Food ???

…Coca-Cola-flavored batter. He then drizzles Coke fountain syrup on it. The fried Coke is topped with whipped cream, cinnamon sugar and a cherry. Gonzales said the fried Coke came about just from thinking aloud.

...deep fried snickers and not to be out done ... deep fried Ore's!!!

Well, I am pretty sure none of these should be eaten they are good "prego" and "adopting" foods!! Assuming we don't die from them before we get our kiddos!! It has still been pretty emotional with our yahoo group (YG) lately as we are all feeling the court closures and the waiting for our referrals and court dates. Keep praying and we will "see" you all again soon!! In the meantime if you are headed to the fair ... enjoy!!! :):)

Changes ...

Well, I have been waiting to post till I am emotionally feeling better but hey, this seems to be where I am right now so this is it. Both of the girls started with new schools this week and I am thinking that may be some of this "bleak" feeling. They have been at the same school since kindergarten and so a big change for both of them and well, I think Savannah said it best so far. "Mom, I'm not to nervous about going to a new school it's just that I am afraid I will be forgotten at the old one." So new friends will come in and yet how does she hold on to the past ones that she is use to seeing everyday for the past 10 years? Life is changing so very much right now for all of us. My little guy will start pre-K school next week for about 3 hours 4 days a week - Hmmm ... more changes to come. (Mental note ~ I must get some work done and not blog all morning while I am alone! I will work, I will work, I will work! :))
I am also praying and waiting (not so patiently) for some families that were in ET last week to send us some photo's of our girls. I am still processing this "how can I miss someone I have never met/never touched/never talked to etc. so very much?! I am also trying to use the "Have they been tested for AIDS" question as a educational opportunity, thus I don't get offended when "they" ask. Like, I could just say yes they have and walk away - I want to some times - but I must tell them their are many with HIV in orphanages that are adoptable and will live just fine here with our medical care. I don't feel obligated to tell them the status of our girls and we are not even dealing with that issue - I just want for them ALL to be loved and so many people need to wake-up to that. I have now heard the "that is wonderful & there needs to be more people like you" phrase enough to now think about some responses to engage people in that conversation.
And I think I must mention that a family in our YG received a referral for a little girl the end of July and she became ill. She was admitted to the hospital in ET (so hard not to be with your child) and has since passed away. I can not even begin to imagine the pain and loss this family is going through so I will not try but I would ask for you to pray for them. (Our Lord knows them by name)
This being said I would also ask that you continue to pray for the many kiddos waiting for the courts to re-open in October so they may be joined with their forever families. Praying for health and food and safety. We are praying through these many changes in our lives and making arrangements for our girls to come home (who gets what rooms) and yet everyday we are missing them.

My "funny" God ...

Well, I just have to share a little incite from my week. On Monday was registration for Saubi at a new school and so while there I decided no time like the present to ask about school for our girl coming that will speak Amharic. I give them the low-down and get sent to the "special" table and tell them ... Um, we have ESL classes. They would place her by her age and what grade she should be in and she would go to ESL classes for 1/2 the day and then regular classroom for the rest of the day. OK, I at least have some information to process at this point. (Our little school is actually pretty well graded for one-on-one basis.)
We then are heading out to the pool for some family fun and guess who is there? A young lady with 4 black children. Now, I know she is really to young to have adopted them and yet I could not help but to ask how they fit together. (I know, I know. Curiosity killed the cat:):)) Her mother is the ESL teacher at another elementary school close by and this family lives only a couple doors down from her house. She said they all just fell in love with these kids and she is getting her Masters for ESL training as well. WHAT??? How can all this be happening right now? The entire family was sponsored and brought over from Swaziland by a local church. They have been here just over a year and spoke English very well and all attend school. Now, I just had to finally ask What is ESL? (Well, I couldn't just keep going on if this is something that I obviously need to know about!:)) English as a Second Language. OK, makes since now.
Then, go home and to bed. Tuesday morning we are running to town and my oldest has a Christmas present (yes, I said Christmas) she needs to deliver. It is a older lady (wonderful mentor) that took to my daughter while helping her in school and she has a husband with pretty bad Alzheimer's. So, I have alot to do, hurry up and I will wait in the car with your sister and brother. She goes in and out comes the husband ... you can't sit in the car, come on in and have some ice cream. Great, You know it was a no brain-er now that the kids heard ice cream. In we all go and start to visit. I really am just trying to be polite and hurry things along when she asks how the adoption is going? Now, the Lord is just telling to be still and sit with them. OK, we start to talk about our girls and she says: ya know, my daughter teaches ESL. WHAT?? OK, OK I am sitting and listening Lord. It is her daughter that her grand daughter was talking with me about at the pool the night before. Can this really be? This present was suppose to be delivered 8 months ago and yet again, we were just were God wanted us to be in His timing. She was wonderful and said to call when we get home with the girls and she and her daughter will come visit with them and she can help me with some communication stuff. She even said, there are going to be bad days and honey you call me and I will come and you can just cry and we will work through it.
I am, yet again, amazed at the Lords timing in my life!! I am also trying to "be still and listen" more. Keeping talking Lord, I am learning!!

Settling In ...

Well, the close family knows and we are working on telling everyone else we see now! I ran into 2 people in town today that I know and when they asked the infamous "how is the adoption going" question ... I was so excited to tell them ~ We have 2 daughters!! Very, very amazing!

I also just wanted to give a shout out to "my" wonderful YG. They are the most awesome people! It was so so good to talk with a few of you this week and share with you. Some are still waiting and some have kiddos but we are all in this together and it is just such an awesome feeling to actually "hear" that support and encouragement on the other end of the line. You all rock!! This inspired the sign posted at the beginning of this post ~ I love you guys! Thanks for sharing in this journey with me and keeping me sane with the "daily chats"! ( I know we only admit to about half of our stalking !!) :):)

There are many families waiting right now and many kid's at the transitional home in ET waiting for them ~ The ET courts are now officially closed for the next 60 days and so I would ask that you continue to pray for all that are just looking at pictures and kiddos that are just waiting for us. Hopefully MUCH will be accomplished in October when the courts re-open and then we are outta here to go get our girls!! Thank you so much for keeping up with us and joining us along this journey!!

Grieving With Hope

If you missed the interview with Steven Curtis Chapman (I did) I just wanted to share this link to watch it here. Be sure to grab a tissue ~ You will need it. Please continue to pray for them through their healing. http://abcnews.go.com/Video/playerIndex?id=5524419

TODAYS THE DAY!! :):) WE ARE 7!!!

At 7:55 this morning ~ I was so not prepared ~ It was Duni's voice I heard on the other end of the line!!

Hello?

Hi, is this Jori?

Yes.

This is Duni.

Hi Duni. Welcome home!

Thanks! I think I might have a referral for you.

What?

A 2 year old and a 7 year old sisters.

What?

You get the idea! I was thinking we are not even in the top 10! I was so not expecting this! How can it be that I was not even thinking about this happening right now! Now you must know that Tracy and I were just talking about 2 weeks ago ~while Duni was in ET (I was emailing her just to touch base about our desire for 2) ~ that she could be seeing and loving on our kiddos right now! It was the first and only time that our Lord has laid it on my heart and was such a calming feeling!! I just can not believe how amazing and wonderful HE is right now! So many things that line up together and yet again, I was not even ready for it to be Duni's voice on the other end! Why am I amazed at HIS sense of humor?!

So, OK. I did remember to say: Now this is the time that everyone says OK in shock and then has a million questions when they hang up. So can you tell me what I need to know? I then had to say I will call you back after I call my husband. OK? OK. Called my hubby and then tried to call Duni back ~ alot of times. Well, she was by then giving out the Juvinalls referral and then on to stuff for conference call and then by the time that was over it something was up with her computer so, needless to say, we officially got photos and info. about 2 hours ago!!! 2 girls!!! I went shopping last night and just got home from UPS to overnight to the Cox's so that they can take our girls a package on Friday when they fly to ET to pick up their Wesley!! A crazy busy day!!! Thank you Lord!!! So I am sure I will think of more later but for now ... we are 7!!!!