Necessities

When traveling to a third world country with a 6-year-old.

EMBASSY!!!

Great news!!! We're leaving Thursday to get our boys! We received a phone call Friday morning saying the embassy cleared us to travel. This is the news we've been waiting for since we came back from court. Our actual embassy appointment "Gotcha Day" is Monday, March 28 which is exactly 6 weeks from the day we passed court. And it's my niece's birthday which makes it even better. :)

Our house is CRAZY right now if you can imagine. In fact, when I received the phone call, I had just started painting my bathroom. So today, I guess I'll be finishing that up and then onto cleaning, laundry, and packing.

Friday afternoon, we were scrambling to arrange flights before the weekend. Saturday, Jack spent the day and night with his "Knoxville grandparents." :) He had a blast! They had a cookout in the mountains, played, laughed, collected rocks and sticks, and then went back for a sleepover. What a great way to finish up our Knoxville Spring Break Staycation.

While Jack was gone, Jon and I cleaned the garage, read books and magazines, had a date to Bonefish and Starbucks, did some birthday shopping for Jack, and went to a movie. What a great day!

Back to the trip, we'll be traveling over there with a five and returning with seven! Jack is going with us as well as both of our mothers. So Jon has assigned everyone duties on this trip.

Big Mama - Trip Tutor

Nana - Trip Nurse & Photographer

Jack - Director of Entertainment

Jon - Luggage carrier, security, chaplain, applier of sunscreen (since I am terrible at that, click here), carrier of the toilet paper

Angie - CEO

I think we're a little overwhelmed at this point, so making jokes and laughing about how much we have to do in the next few days is all we can do. :)

On a slightly more serious note, we can't even begin to say how thankful we are to be getting these boys, and getting them so quickly. Pray for the others who traveled with us. Some are waiting on a their MOWA letter, some are waiting for paperwork to be cleared, and some are just waiting on their phone call. There's so much uncertainty and emotional highs and lows through this. After we found out we had snags in our paperwork last week, we were clinging to Jesus. He really is the only constant. Ever. Yesterday, our pastor spoke about how God gives us open doors. Adoption is an open door. WIDE OPEN DOOR. Now that we know that, it's our responsibility to apply it. And we pray that the Lord receives ALL the glory for it. We just reap the benefits.

News

We got word yesterday that our case was submitted to the embassy. Good news! However, we were missing another piece of paperwork, so we'll just call that news. :) Jon, my hero, who would drive from here to Timbuktu if he knew he could get the boys faster, took care of the paperwork, and it's on it's way now. We're praying that they'll be able to receive the paperwork electronically and not have to wait on snail mail to process anything further.

In other news, spring break week has been fun and relaxing so far. Our activities have included the park, bowling, and hanging out with friends. I know a trip to Disneyworld or a cruise would have been more fun, but it's hard to plan anything right now. For a social 6-year-old, these around-town activities have suited him just fine. :) He's the best!

Pray and Be Thankful

"Be joyful always, pray continually, giving thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus." 1 Thess. 5:16-18

There's been lots of news lately regarding adoption in Ethiopia. The article, to sum up, says that Ethiopian adoptions will be decreased by 90% starting yesterday. Fortunately and only by God's divine timing, we don't think we'll be affected by these changes. However, we have SO many friends that could experience this slowdown. Pray for these decisions to be revised; nothing really appears to be concrete quite yet.

So, for today, I'm confidently choosing to be thankful for all circumstances, even as we're waiting on our Embassy appointment. I'll be thankful that God is in control. His way is perfect and His timing is precise.

And we know that God causes EVERYTHING to work together for the good of those who love Him and are called according to His purpose for them. If God is for us, who can ever be against us? For Christ Jesus died for us and was raised to life for us, and He is sitting in the place of honor at God’s right hand, PLEADING for us. And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, NEITHER OUR FEARS FOR TODAY NOR OUR WORRIES ABOUT TOMORROW—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Passage taken from Romans 8:28-40

And we have names!

We FINALLY have names! Who knew that naming children, who already have names, that nothing really flows with, would be so difficult? Please don't tell me your opinion on these names... unless you like them. :)

We absolutely LOVE their African names. They are also very difficult to say and really no way to shorten one of them. We wanted something really easy to pronounce and fairly short since they'll have double names for a while. Both of these names are pretty common names, but after meeting the boys and seeing their personalities, these names fit them, popular or not.

Please welcome to our family...

Benjamin Zekiyos and Elijah Zelalem

(Ben and Eli)

I'll just say them over and over in my head until I'm used to them. Jack, Ben, Eli, Jack, Ben, Eli, Jack, Ben, Eli, Jack, Ben, Eli, Jack, Ben, Eli, Jack, Ben, Eli, Jack, Ben, Eli, Jack, Ben, Eli, Jack, Ben, Eli.

Hurry. Wait. Hurry Wait.

Hurry. Wait. Hurry. Wait.

This pretty much describes the adoption process for the last 16 months. Now we're waiting again, and each waiting time is harder than the previous. I'm trying to finish last-minute projects around the house, while Jon is planning weeks ahead at work just in case we get that phone call and we have to drop everything and go. So many of you have asked us about prices of plane tickets, especially buying them last minute. At this point, we really don't care how much they are. :) But on the other hand, Ethiopia is not really a hot spot for vacationers, so the ticket prices, no matter when you buy them, are pretty consistent, give or take a few hundred dollars. I'm sure many of you would love to be a fly on the wall on that plane ride home. Two kids that don't know us, that don't speak English, on a plane for 20-something hours? I know you're jealous. ;)

I keep reminding God that Jack's and my mother-in-law's spring break is next week. And then I thought again of what my dad told me several months ago, "Aren't you glad you don't have to worry about the timing? It's His timing anyway!"

His timing is perfect.

“My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts,” says the Lord.

“And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine.

For just as the heavens are higher than the earth,

so my ways are higher than your ways

and my thoughts higher than your thoughts.

Isaiah 55:8-9

We're Making Progress

Yesterday, we got an email saying that we officially have birth certificates for the boys! All we're waiting on is their passports and then we'll be submitted to the Embassy for our appointment. Could be just a few more weeks. :)

Fresh Flowers

Let me preface this by saying, "Reading this post is a complete waste of your time."

With that said, I have made a decision that while tulips are in season, I will give up my one weekly Starbucks for fresh flowers.

Unless I have a Starbucks gift card. :)