WHOOOOO HOOOOOOOOO!!?!?!?&*$@^#!(!@!!!!!

My BESTEST friend in the WHOLE WIDE WORLD (next to Matt of course) is going to come to ET WITH us!!!! I can't even believe it!!!! God continues to ROCK MY WORLD!!! We asked my sister (a.k.a. bestest friend in the whole wide world) 3 days ago if she would come to ET with us.......she fell over dead & then told me that she's been thinking how fantastic it would be to go with us - but couldn't think of how to wrangle herself an invite!?!?!!!? CAN YOU BELIEVE IT????? I'm to the point where I'll believe ANYTHING!! She never breathed a word of it to me.....how can you say there is no God???? He laid it on our hearts to ask her!!! Of course the story gets better - her family said YES!!! You HAVE to go!!! Even when she told her husband how expensive the plane ticket was going to be....he paused just a half a second & said - if you're supposed to go we'll find the money!!! So needless to say we're going to do the worlds LARGEST jewelry fundraiser in November & pray prAY PRAY that we'll have a big enough show to buy her ticket!!! oh oh - AND use the free jewelry to pick out gifts for the nannies at the orphanage!?!?!?! I'm DYING here!!! God continuously overwhelms me!!!!!

So here's a GIGANTIC thank you to my FABULOUS sister....I love you so much!! I can't imagine my life without you in it! Thanks for putting up with all my craziness! all my kids! all my hairbrained ideas! my making fun of your undies! my non-horsie-ness and inability to buck a bale of hay!! You've loved me in it all & through it all!!! I ADORE YOU!!!!! I can't believe God chose YOU to be my sister - I'm so blessed!!! I can't wait for Ellie to meet the BEST AUNT EVER!!! and I'm secretly praying that God will bring an amazing sister someday into Ellie's life too ;)

I thought a few photos would be appropriate!!!

Post sailing- it was a VERY windy day!

Before I knew we'd live here too! At the top of the grade above Lewiston/Clarkston.

In mom & dad's front yard - saying good-bye :( thus the sad teary eyes!Eating the best pizza EVER in Brooklyn!!She loves me so much she went to my 10 year high school reunion when Matt couldn't make it! At the Jack & Gabe's birthday costume party!

On the ferry after seeing ALL the sights in NYC!Skiing (well eating lunch actually) on Mt Baker!

It was sooo much fun to share the Statue of Liberty & Ellis Island with you :)At the Spokane airport welcoming Justin back from overseas!!!

Elliana's Song

Can you even believe it!?!??!?! I "tripped" over this song. I put tripped in quotes because I know nothing is ever accidental! God knew I needed to hear this song right NOW!!! We love the name Ellianna because it means "God answers" - and Watermark wrote a song about her!!! WOW!!! Here are the words -but go down to my music player & listen to number 1!!!

ELLIANA"

Baby woman tiny in stature now
but your heart is a treasure
Little princess come follow behind me
now I am reaching for you,

(chorus)
Elliana
God has answered my prayers
Elliana
God will conquer my fears
To mother a daughter, To look you in the eye
To know that I had everything to walk with you in life
To give you to Jesus that he will impart
The wisdom that I'm longing for
to mother your heart
Elliana
God has answered my prayers

There will be others to lead and to guide, girl
But only one you'll call mother
The honor is all mine to show what a woman's like
I'm so glad your mine
Elliana

(Chorus)

Oh, the tenderness of God is twirling around in our living room tonight
Oh, lighten up your daddy's eyes
And know that he just wants to freeze you in time

Elliana
God will conquer our fears
To care for a daughter
To look you in the eye
To know that we did everything to walk with you in life
To give you to Jesus, that he will impart
The wisdom that we're longing for to love your little heart
Elliana
God has answered our prayers.

Happy 1 month DTEiversary!!!

I can't believe it's been 1 month since our paperwork got shipped to Ethiopia!!! Since we don't have any pictures of our physical pregnancy with Ellie we thought we'd still have pictures to show her of how we anticipated her arrival!!!

Auntie Julie & Uncle Pete - Colby & Macy, AND Auntie Lisa & Uncle Kirk - Annika & Erik - and of course all her real brothers & mom & dad. It was fun!!!


Our July has pretty much consisted of swim practice, swim meets, and washing towels so we can take them to said practice or meets....so I thought I'd include a few pictures of that too!!!

This is Jack's relay team.
This is Ben's relay team.

This is Gabe's relay team.
And not to be left out - Caleb..."surfing" or something at the Asotin Water Park!! I promise he wasn't the one who caused the "code brown" in the wave pool!!!

Don't FREAK out!!!

I'm taking deep breaths here & trying not to read tooo much into this....but I think we're #2 in line for a girl between 18-24 months!!!!

Let me explain - Our agency has a yahoo group that they encourage all their families to be a part of. While our agency can't share who's where in line - we've taken it upon ourselves to share with each other!!! So it looks like there's 21 families in front of us....of which 10 are asking for boys...of the 11 asking for girls all but 1 of them are asking for girls under 18 months old!!?!??!!? Can YOU BELIEVE IT???? So lots of deep breathing...and prayer (we need to send in $5000 when we get our referral)....and more breathing and more prayer!!!!

Now of course there could be families in line that we don't know about....and it seems that there are more infant referrals (0-18mo) than toddler referrals (19mo - 4 yrs)....YET through all of it we know WHO is in charge & WHO's timeline this is all on!!! Isn't that refreshing!!!?!?!??!?

Needless to say - We can't wait to meet you little one!!!!!!!!! Tomorrow is 1 month DTE!!!! YEAH!!!

Update & Prayer request

Well...we're almost 1 month since DTE!!! I think we're going to celebrate each month with candles on a cake - really any excuse to eat cake is a good one around here!!!

I have been feeling very led to pray for Ellie's transition....I can't even imagine how hard it would/will be for a 2 year old to leave all that she's ever known & leave with these people she's never met. She has no idea how long we've loved her!!! Please, please, please, join us in praying for an easy transition for our little one - and all the other little ones out there!!

Here's an excerpt from the blog of one of our Agency's families that is in ET right now picking up their 2 year old daughter....
A short while later it was time to go back to the guest home [where they're staying]. As soon as we began loading up the van [to leave the transition home], Berhanesh began to cry. We totally expected this. For the entire 30 minutes van ride back to the guest home, she cried and wailed the most pitiful cry. She said the same word over and over. Our guide said she was crying out for her nanny. As you can imagine, Tulio and I were both in tears, joining our daughter in the grieving process. Our hearts were breaking for her, not knowing exactly all she has lost. When we got to our room, we pulled out every toy and piece of food we could to help distract and begin to build some trust. Playing worked for awhile, then the grieving would began again. A deep, wounded cry…none I have ever seen or heard. After about an hour, Tulio and I just continued praying over her and we put her in between us and just hugged. She fought and cried as we told her over and over that we loved her and we would never leave her. We made a major breakthrough! Praise the Lord!

In the midst of this we can only lift Berhanesh & our little one up to THE healer, THE comforter, THE dryer of all tears!

O Lord, please just lay your hands on our little Ellie right now. Help her to know that you have amazing plans for her! Plans to prosper her and not to harm her - plans to give her HOPE and a FUTURE! We long for the day when we can dry her tears & hold her close. Please, help her to know who we are. Help her to know how much she is loved by us - but even more by YOU!!! Please keep her safe, and warm, and healthy!!! Please protect her little heart through all these changes....hold her close to you dear Lord!!!

Some tough statistics

As you might know I'm a math major and while statistics was never my strong point....these are VERY telling....and while I FIRMLY believe that we "do it for the one!", these numbers don't lie. There's a SERIOUS need!!! PLEASE just consider the possibility of making a difference in the lives of one of these children.....

The numbers are....

50,000 orphans in China
370,000 orphans in Guatemala
500,000 children in U.S. foster care
970,000 orphans in Nepal
5 MILLION orphans in Ethiopia

The truth is that...

34% Of Christian Families Consider Adopting
1% Of Christian Families Actually Do

Why so long???

We've been getting a lot of questions about why the wait is so long.....and I didn't know either - so I asked our Family Coordinator. Here's what Nicole said...

Currently the wait time for an infant male is 6-8 months and an infant female is 9-11 months, in comparison to other International adoption programs, this is a significantly short wait. Although there is a great need in Ethiopia, and other countries that may have longer waits, the nature of international adoption is, as you are familiar with, full of paperwork, and dealing with other governmental structures.

A piece that goes into the wait time is the paperwork that has to be gathered on the children to be sure they are true orphans, adoptable, healthy, etc. While prospective parents are able to complete their dossier paperwork on their own, these children have to have others complete it for them. If this is not a priority in a country, or if there is a lack of resources to complete this process- it can take awhile to gain this information.

Another piece, is dealing with other governmental structures and countries in general. America’s processes are very different than, especially Ethiopia. “Time” is a completely different concept between our two cultures, and so is the structure of processes, etc. Paperwork needs to be done with orphanage directors, the government, etc. to get agreements/licenses to work with certain orphanages, etc. These orphanages need to complete some work themselves to be licensed to work with international adoption agencies. If they do not complete this work- this will cause a slow down/delay in referral from that orphanage.

Finally, in combination with the above, the program is growing and blossoming- which is a great thing – but puts a higher “demand” on the process. The growth of the program is more of a blessing as there is such a great need, but also makes the wait slightly longer.

I hope the above information is helpful when trying to explain some of the reasons the wait time and the nature of international adoption! Unfortunately the paperwork/”red tape” regulations all add to this wait. Please let me know if you have any other questions.

In Him,

Nicole Wiegold
Africa/Asia Family Coordinator

Hankie warning!!!

I read this on another blog...but it's everything that keeps floating around in my heart for our little Ellie! The new mom wrote this on the eve of leaving for Ethiopia to pick up their daughter (they're in Addis right now!!! getting her).

Ten things I want you to know: (for our Jane-Grace)
1. You were loved before we met you, before we saw your sweet face and there is nothing you can do that will make us love you less.
2. Yes, I have received children out of my natural body…and I love them with an astonishingly strong love. I have birthed you with no less tears, no less longing, and no less joy.
3. Adoption was not a second-choice for us. We had this purposed in our hearts from long ago…you, my dear, are the answer to a fourteen year old girl’s prayer.
4. I will say it again. You were not our second choice. You are the princess that your daddy slayed dragons and fought for.
5. Sometimes you will feel lonely and sad for your birth-family and land, and that is okay. We are happy to listen, cry with you, and dry your tears. Your sadness will not break you, and it will not break us either.
6. We will never give you up. We will never give you away. Never. Even if you beg us.
7. Your skin may not look like mine, or daddy’s, or your brothers’….it is the most perfect shade of brown! You were painted by an artist who is more brilliant than Monet. You are an impression of your Father’s glory. (this is my FAVORITE part!!!)
8. Your mommy & daddy are not perfect. I eat anchovies on my pizza, and daddy’s feet stink. We do not expect you to be perfect either.
9. I pray that you will live a life full of joy, full of love, full of faith. Life may not go as you would have planned, but I hope that you can sing along to the melody of God’s song for you.
10. We want to see your face soon. We want to hold you close, gaze into your eyes, to smell your hair, to see you smile. We will wait patiently.

I want to, but.....

I can't even tell you how many people have said to me "I've always thought about adoption...it's just so expensive." Look what I found posted on another blog that I "stalk!!"

We also want to report that the LORD has PROVIDED EVERY PENNY we need to get Addy home. Please let that be encouragement in whatever situation you are in today, especially if you have been thinking about adoption. No one loves orphans more than God and He will blow you away in the ways He provides for them.

WOW!!! Please don't let money be what stops you.....

"We've" ARRIVED!!!

The Dossier made it to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia this morning!!!! Four days to get from Virginia to New Jersey - and 3 to get from Jersey to Ethiopia!!!!! YEAH!!!!

In the event our story isn't enough to move you - check this one out!!!
http://www.puttyfamily.blogspot.com/

She's a professional photographer - her pictures from ET are AMAZING!!!

Our DEAR friends from California - Rick & Gina McCarthy were in town with their 4 great kids - so off we went to celebrate at the dunes!!! It's tradition to race down the sand dunes into the water :)

We're flyin' now!!!

We're in DUBAI!!!! Next stop - ETHIOPIA!!!!! YEAH!!!!!