We're #12

Court dates have been flying like CRAZY!!! We're now #12 waiting for a court date....although they haven't been going in order - so it really could be ANY TIME!!! YYYYYEEEEEEAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!

I can't even believe it!!! I'm pinching myself!!!!

We got to send our first care package off! Of course I boo-hooed thinking she'll be touching the same things I've been touching.....I am SOOOOO pregnant!

Here's what we sent: a family photo album, a farm picture book, the first outfit I ever bought for her back in Nov 08 (!), an Elmo phone, and a greeting card where you can record a message :)
I had also bought the toddler banana puffs to go in it - but her big brother Caleb got into them!!!! A house full of food & he has to steal his poor little orphan sisters TODDLER food!!! I guess it's to be expected :)

Happy 12th Birthday Jack!!!

I can't BELIEVE I have a 12 year old!!! We celebrated with a trip to LASER QUEST - oohhh ahhh! It was pure boy heaven. Matt started jumping up & down when he found out he won the second round....so yah - pure boy heaven! Of course, we were so discombobbled that I left the camera in the car - so here's a pic of my wonderful boy on the day AFTER his birthday - sportin' his new birthday sweatshirt from Auntie Julie & Uncle Pete!



In honor of Jack's 12th birthday - here's 12 things I LOVE about Jack (in no special order)!!

1. I love that he can lose himself in a good book AND remember every detail AND share every detail with you so you feel like you've read the book too - this comes in handy for long road trips!

2. I love that he's always looking for new things to try - soccer, tae kwon do, baseball, swimming, wrestling, summer biology, basketball, boy scouts, youth group! He is definitely his mommy's son in that way!

3. I love that he adores donuts as much as I do!

4. I love that he's as excited about his sister from Ethiopia as I am! I can't wait to share this trip with you Jack!

5. I love that he loves a good worship service as much as I do! He sings at the top of his voice & doesn't care what anyone around him thinks.

6. I love that he is so sensitive to God's leading. He really felt like God told him that it would be ok if Ellie was HIV+ b/c she needs a home & people to love her too....oh I cried when he told me that one...and so did he!

7. I love how much fun he is to hang out with! He loves watching movies, eating out, going to book stores....pretty much everything I love - except shopping....we're praying Ellie will enjoy that like I do!

8. I love how friendly he is with everyone. He is so confident & can talk to anyone - pretty much about anything!

9. I love that when I was in my American Girl doll phase - he was excited to go to the store & help me pick them out!

10. I love how curious he is. He loves to read his science, history, and how to blow things up book - just for fun!

11. I love that he's always up for anything. Hey Jack - do you want to ________? And he'll say yes!

12. I love that of all the moms in the world - God chose ME to be his mom!!! I am so honored & grateful!

You're an AMAZING person Jack!!! I can't WAIT to see all that God has in store for you!!!

Love,
Mom

What now?

I can't believe it's been almost 3 WEEKS since we got Ellie's referral!!! It has been a mad dash scramble! I've been sewing up a storm, painting like crazy, shopping (!), decorating, ripping up carpet (!!), more painting, LOTS of jewelry shows.....and the WHOLE time daydreaming about my little angel!!! I'm just about worthless :) It REALLY is like being 9 months pregnant - or at least 7 months!

So now we wait for a court date. It looks like we're #17 in line (based on referral dates) just with people on our yahoo group. The good news is 2 weeks ago we were #23. So while we're moving up - it would be nice if the pace was a bit quicker! Meanwhile, I'm DESPERATELY trying to heed my own advice of wishing time away doesn't make it go any faster -or even slower. My to-do list is 3 miles long - although normally jewelry out numbers life 2 to 1. This is no longer the case. I think God knew I needed to get the referral during my absolute busiest time of year. I honestly don't have 5 minutes to rub together to spend worrying! November is going to go even faster.....I have 16 shows, a GIANT fundraiser, & best of all Ellie's shower is the 14th!

The shower - I can't wait!!! My dearest friends are all going to be there! Janice & Gina are flying in from San Fran & Sandy is coming from North Carolina. My mom & dad are even going to come in from Montana! Ellie is so loved ALREADY!!! Oh baby girl! I can't WAIT for you to meet all these AMAZING people that LOVE you soooooo very much!!!! I can't wait to share this amazing experience with all of them! Thanks so much for coming!

The Fundraiser - YEAH!!! Julie & I have invited 100 people! She's passing TONS of catalogs around at work. My goal is a $2000 show!!! We'll be able to add $1000 to our travel fund AND have $1100 worth of FREE JEWELRY to bring to the nannies at the transition home!!!! WOO HOOO!!!! PLUS, November 5th (the date of the fundraiser) is Premier's 25th anniversary. They're offering those hostesses an EXTRA $25 in free jewelry just for having a show on that day - so we'd end up with $1125 in FREE JEWELRY!!!! YEAH!!!!

16 shows - I know, it's pure crazy. But God promises not to give us more than we can handle....right?!?!?! It's so hard to turn down a hostess when she gives you the ol' "sad eyes" routine of "PLEASE! I need a show during the 50% bonus time!".....I have a terrible time saying NO.....better stressed with money than stressed without, I guess!

Last but not least -
I've really wanted to talk with the boys about Ellie's transition. Right now we're all dreamy romantic about what adding a new member of the family will be like. I wanted to make sure they were ready in case it was a bit rough for her. So we were all out sitting in the hot tub & I told them that it might be hard for Ellie when she first gets here. Everything will be new & different. She might miss her nanny & Ethiopia. She might cry a lot. My dear sweet Gabe pipes in with - what if we don't like her? and I was reminded of how my now 9 year old screamed for the first 6 months of his life....non stop. I told them that there were times when Ben was crying that I wondered the same thing about Ben! but that I was SOOOO glad God had given him to us - he's a perfect fit for our family. Ben smiled & giggled and said - I know, I cried a lot! So Ellie - even if you cry A LOT - we promise to still love you!!!!

IT'S A GIRL!!!!

I can't even believe this day is FINALLY here!!! We received "the call" (it was an email actually) on Tuesday morning & sent in our acceptance paperwork on Thursday!!!! Now we wait for a court date & then travel to pick her up!!!!!

Now the long story of how that all came about!

So Monday night, October 5th, the stress of all of it REALLY hit me. I honestly think it's because we put a date for the shower on the calendar....now I have to produce a baby!!! I know, I know, my husband doesn't think I make sense either! So that night I started praying like I haven't in a long time - for grace, wisdom, mercy, protection over Ellie, strength for this journey, and even PATIENCE. YUP, I even prayed for that!!! I fell asleep praying. The next morning I had one of those SUPER real dreams - the kind were you honestly think you did what you were dreaming about. Well in my dream I had sent an email to Nicole (our family coordinator). When I realized I had only dreamed it I went ahead & did it b/c it seemed like such a great idea. So at 7:24am I sent it off - here it is:

Nicole,

We were wondering if you could shed any light on our timeline for us? Do you know how long it typically takes to get the paperwork done on a child before they can be referred out? I guess what I'm asking is if we're looking at a few more months wait for an HIV+ referral - or should we be expecting it any time now?

I'm sorry to keep bothering you! I'm just trying to get a little more realistic expectations....rather than sitting all day waiting for the phone to ring. Honestly, I breathe a sigh everyday at 2pm (when you guys close) that today won't be the day......pathetic, I know, but we're so crazy excited!!!

As always, thanks so much for all of your help!!!

God bless you!

Jill Ross

So at 7:35am here's the reply I get.

Jill,

I was going to contact you today regarding a possible referral/question. We currently do have an HIV positive girl who is 9 months old. However, she is also positive for Hepatitis B. My assumption is that you are only looking for an HIV positive child, which is FINE. But I wanted to run this by you before posting her on the waiting child list. Please let me know at your earliest convenience regarding this child.

Regarding the timeline, unfortunately we just do not know when our orphanages will be seeing another HIV positive child within your age range. Please do know I am constantly emailing our staff to keep an eye out, which is why we just received the information about the above child

Feel free to call me with any questions or let me know by email.

In Him,

Nicole Wiegold

Well OFF MY CHAIR I fell!!!! Of COURSE we called her right back...and it went to voice mail. So we then jumped on the computer to do some Hep B research. It was hysterical! Both Matt & I are still in our pajamas, on 2 different computers seeing who can find out what the fastest. It doesn't matter who won - but I found the best site first - but not that it matters ;) It's a great site www.hepb.org there was even a phone number to call if you had questions - and in 30 seconds we were talking to a human being!!! She told us that it won't lower her quality of life, it's not an issue during early childhood, but if it goes chronic (happens in 90% of pediatric hep B cases) it'll start acting up in her late teens/early twenties. It's spread the same was as HIV - but everyone in America is now vaccinated against it. There is medication that can slow down & drastically reduce any damage the virus does to the liver. But while we were on the phone with her....

NICOLE CALLED!!!!! We told her we were very interested in seeing Z* (her ET name) profile. Nicole said she'd email it right to us. So we got off the phone with her & started praying praying praying....well trying to pray as we kept hitting the "check mail" button!!!! It was a long 3 minutes before her BEAUTIFUL picture & profile got to us :) We can't share her picture until we pass court & she's ours!! But I can tell you she's GORGEOUS!!! Chubby little legs, big cheeks, high forehead, milk chocolate BEAUTIFUL skin, a good amount of curly black hair....and the saddest expression ever :( She NEEDS a family to love her up GOOD!!!!

I pulled the boys out of class to show them her picture. Caleb wouldn't give it back to me. He wanted to "hold" Ellie! It was so cute!!!

We met with our family doctor that afternoon & got his opinion -which was go for it!!!

More prayer, more research, more prayer, Ben going to the ER & almost getting his appendix removed the next day (!!!!) turns out it was a virus that surrounds your appendix & makes it hurt! who knew! Matt said it was so hard watching Ben tear up as they gave him an IV. It made him think how hard it's going to be to watch Ellie get all her blood work done - every 3 months :( but we realized that with us or without us this is the life she'll live. The question is - are we wanting to be the ones that step up to the plate? Needless to say - we gave a RESOUNDING YES!!!!

I spent $200 (don't tell Matt) on baby clothes at Old Navy today - and YES, they're all pink. Well, 2 are white with pink polka dots :) AND I made the lady at Ross cry! I was returning a bunch of babies clothes that were going to be too small (our little chub is already 19 lbs!!!). I bought them a few weeks ago to help ease the wait ;) I was telling her how we were adopting & had gotten our referral on Tuesday - and she was way bigger than I thought she'd be! She told me that 3 of her dear friends have kids from ET and then said one of their names. I told her I didn't recognize that name, as we're still pretty new to the adoption community - but I'd been talking with a woman named Signe.....well, what do you know! That's one of her dear friends!!! Signe also adopted an HIV+ child. I told the "Ross Lady" (I never got her name) that I'd really appreciated Signe's advice b/c we were adopting HIV+ as well. She started full on crying right on the spot! Which quickly sent me over the edge as well!!! So the 2 of us stood there while she tried to see enough to finish up the return :) She begged me to bring her shopping at Ross (DUH!) as soon as I could so she could meet her!!!

So needless to say, I'm walking on sunshine!!!! I feel like we've been trying to get pregnant for a year & we've finally "popped positive"!!! I want to shout it from the mountain tops!!! It worked!!! We're gonna have a baby!!!! So hopefully it's not a 9 month gestation! ha! I promised Matt - no freak outs!!! I told him the only thing that helps me not to freak out is PRAYER....but he can't wait until I'm freaking out to suggest it! Then it's too late. So he promised to help me stop lots & pray. pray. pray.

I'm giving up on mamby pamby prayers....I'm going to for the big guns now - no holding back, specifics!!!

Here's my prayer list:
1. Our court date. We need a quick one - like in the next 4 weeks. The courts have been closed for the last 6 weeks b/c of the rainy season. They have a lot of catching up to do. Even if we weren't coming off a 6 week closure we'd be looking at 4 weeks away at least. So a court date within 4 weeks would be a MIRACLE! and we need to PASS court - 40% of people don't pass the first time & have to wait (sometime another month) before their next court date.
2. The TB sputum test. It takes 8 weeks & we can't take her home until it's done & she's negative!!! If she tests positive for TB she'll have to stay in ET for 6 months for treatment....that would be BAD!
3. Reasonable plane tickets. While the thought of spending $6000 on 4 plane tickets doesn't delight me....spending $10,000 would REALLY be bad!
4. Her hep B goes away!!! I know our God is a God of 0% - so a 10% chance of getting cured won't daunt him!
5. Travel. LOTS of planets are going to have to line up. Childcare for the 3 staying, animal care/house sitter, etc. I don't even know what to ask for concerning this....well I do - I'd LOVE to be getting back before Christmas! Which would mean we'd need to travel in 9 weeks.....God could do it! I know it!!! How awesome would it be to spend Christmas all together?!?!?!?
6. And MOST importantly. That Ellie have an amazingly quick & easy transition into our family! It's so hard to think that she has NO IDEA who we are & how much we already LOVE HER!!! But God can tell her, He can whisper it into her heart :)

I'm sure the list will continue to grow & grow!!! Just like our sweet little angel :) oh I can't even WAIT to give her a giant squeeze & jump up and down!!!!

YEAH GOD!!! THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!!!