Three Months DTE!

Nothing new to report, but we are officially three months into the official wait time!

Please continue to send up prayers for those working diligently on the process itself – for our agency (workers in the U.S. and in Ethiopia), for the Ministry of Women, Children and Youth Affairs (MOWCYA) in Ethiopia, and for the various governmental agencies that provide clearances.

As always, let’s keep the calendar rolling…

Two Months DTE (a little late)!

Well, in case any followers are still out there --  we certainly did not forget that we were two months DTE on December 7^th, but I did forget to post something on the blog! There has been so little to say, but things are continuing to move along as expected. AWAA reports that all families are continuing to fall within the 10 – 16 month range on their wait times, but the overall trend is moving more and more towards the longer end of that range.

We continue to pray that God’s hand be all over this process – giving us patience, our adoption agency wisdom, and our child peace while they wait for a forever family. Thank you to everyone who continues to pray for our family. Let’s keep the calendar rolling!!

One Month DTE!

Today marks one month checked off of our official wait time for this adoption! We now have 9 – 15 months remaining until we should expect a referral. Keep the calendar rolling…

Practice Makes...Better

Jonathan and I got to keep our youngest nephew, Bode, at our house this past weekend. He is eleven months old and we were not quite sure how it would go since he does not see us too often (he lives in the Indianapolis area). It went very well, though! He is a very content little boy and seemed to enjoy his time here with us.

We made a point to get out and do a few things with him (i.e. grocery shop) so we could experience how doing some of our typical weekend ‘chores’ will change with a little one in tow. It was good practice, but he set the bar pretty high for our little one : ) We did learn several things though…

·         When feeding a baby, watch where his hands are or you may end up with squash in your eye! 

·         Wipes are a parent’s best friend.

·         Why bother buying baby toys when you have a set of coasters?

·         Babies eat a lot!

·         Kizzie does not like people no matter how cute they are (okay, so this wasn’t a new lesson)!

·         Even adults can enjoy a two hour nap on a Sunday afternoon!

Thanks, again, Brian & Sarah for letting us share this time with Bode! He is a very special little boy and we had a wonderful weekend with him : )

Fun Together as we Prepare to be Parents

Jonathan and I had a blast from the past moment this evening on our way home from WalMart:

First of all, you need to understand that EVERY TIME we are in WalMart, I somehow find my way to the baby department, where I inevitably buy something for our baby-to-be. Since we know virtually nothing about our baby at this moment, our options are rather limited, but we have quite the supply of wipes, baby lotion, and bath toys filling the nursery closet : )

Well, tonight I found the music section of the baby department so we ended up purchasing a lullaby c.d. (for part of that nighttime routine) and also found a c.d. put out by Fisher Price for Sunday School songs. It had many that we remember from our childhood, so we thought it may be a fun purchase.

On our drive home, I started looking at the back cover more closely and Jonathan and I began to reminisce about these songs – trying our hardest to remember the correct tune and the right lyrics. We had a good time laughing and singing our old favorites together; including these timeless ones…

·         Peace Like a River

·         Deep and Wide

·         Father Abraham

·         Arky Arky

·         This Little Light of Mine

Hopefully these titles bring back some good memories for you all as well : )

Enjoyed an Evening of Fellowship

We feel so blessed to be a part of Chosen - our church’s adoption & orphan care ministry!

We attended a bonfire this evening and met more families in our local community who are thinking about, are in the process of, or who have completed the adoption process. It is always such an encouragement to be around other families who understand the process and who can help us prepare for what the coming months may bring. 

Spaghetti Dinner Success!

As many of you know, we had our spaghetti dinner fundraiser last night and we feel like it was a great success! We hosted exactly 100 people and made a significant profit to help offset upcoming adoption expenses. Thank you to everyone who participated. It seemed as though everyone enjoyed the evening – food, fellowship, raffle prizes, and a rousing game of heads and tails : )

We would like to thank many people for the significant help that they provided in putting this evening together –

* Dan & Gloria DeNeal – setup, food prep, running sound, clean up
                * Jane Priest - setup, food prep, clean up, raffle prize donation
                * Rachel Haste – sign language special, food prep, clean up
                * Josh & Caleb Haste – setup, food prep, poem reading, clean up
                * Kathy Garrison – setup, adoption awareness talk, clean up
                * Lee Woods - setup, food prep, several last minute "odds & ends"
                * E.C. & Susie Gupton – setup and sign in table
                * Rachel Morgan – setup
                * Haley Garrison, Amie Bott, and friends – serving the meal, clean up
                * Joyce Jones – raffle prize donations
                * Jessie Swinderman - raffle prize donation

You are all a huge blessing to us and a part of our child’s coming home story. Thank you, thank you, thank you!

Coinciding with the fundraiser, which was unexpected, was the official release of our dossier to Ethiopia. It was approved by our agency this week and submitted. Our dossier to Ethiopia (DTE) date, which you may hear us refer to later in the blog, is officially 10/7/11.