Ahhhhhhh!!!!

The jumping up and down hasn't stopped all day!!!! Craig and Caylene Knox have a court date!!!!!! April 5th!!!!!! You'll definitely want to follow their story at knoxfamilyheartcandy.blogspot.com

Woooooo hoooooooooo!!!!! (that's sanguine talk for praise Jesus!!!!!!)


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I surrender all.....

We sang "Arms Open Wide" during worship yesterday.... The chorus says "My whole life is Yours I give it all, Surrendered to Your Name, And forever I will pray, have Your way, have Your way." I can't stop thinking about what "surrendered" means for me....

So far, I feel like God's telling me surrendered means -
*giving up my timeline! For this adoption, for the sale of our NY house, for everything!
*giving up my idea of a suitable home to raise 7 children in!

I've been almost overwhelmed with both of these.

God keeps telling me to wait - and I keep telling Him about my next great idea. I get almost nauseous when I think of how many hours I've spent thinking, worrying, contemplating, brainstorming, talking about, praying about, writing down ideas about - those 2 specific topics.

I've mapped out just about every time line imaginable - if we pass court the first time, if we don't, when we'll get a court date, how soon it will be, what if it's during "________", what if I miss this, what if I miss that......if we're going to move we have to do it after we pass court, but before we move....but when will that be?!?!?! If we're going to do an addition we needed to start last fall - what if we're not finished before the kids get home. Does Matt have time to be the general contractor, do we have the money for him not to be.....AHHHHHHHHH!!!!!

I'm a planner.

God knows this. He created me this way.

He also knows how much trust I put into MY plan.....trust that is taken from HIM and put down on a list in my calendar.

God I DO trust you.

I just want to do what YOU want me to do....nothing more....nothing less.

So WHY is it so hard to just WAIT?!?!?! If I REALLY want to do what you want me to do - and you're telling me to wait - then WHY CAN'T I DO IT?!?!?!?!

I thought being pregnant was one of the hardest things I'd ever had to do. Aside from feeling like my body had been taken over by aliens - I never knew where the finish line was....but at least I had an IDEA! Sometime in the month of ______ I'd be having a baby & bringing HIM (it was always a him coming home ;) home.

This adoption stuff has stretched me so much...I look like gumby! And it's been painful. Honestly, it's the hardest thing I've ever had to do. Even going through 8 weeks of boot camp was easier - because there was an END!!!! and I knew where that end was!

So please pray for me. Pray for my family - I caught my husband researching psycho wards yesterday....apparently there's a whole wing just for adopting mothers! but there was no vacancy!!!

So while I WAIT....with a BIG FAT SMILE ON MY FACE....and PRAYING that ONE DAY I'll get better at waiting - here's what's been consuming the few hours left after I spent worrying - I mean - thinking about those other 2 things that I'm not thinking about any more...



Caleb found the 2 batman costumes himself & even got Ellie dressed in her's....The picture is a bit fuzzy because I was laughing so hard!

DOSSIER is OFF!!!

We got the FINAL piece of paperwork we needed today to submit our DOSSIER! It arrived about 2pm and we were off to the post office to overnight it to Virginia by 2:30pm!

It's headed to The Assistant Stork in Stafford, VA. They're a couple that loves adoption & started this business to help people hurry along the "getting your dossier approved" stage. They'll hand walk it in to the US State Department for their approval and then it's off to the Ethiopian Embassy for their's!

I'm guessing it'll be done by the end of next week and then they'll overnight it (with the express mail envelope I enclosed!) to CCI in Florida. CCI will then have it translated & sent to ADDIS ABABA, ETHIOPIA.

For there they'll submit all of our paperwork & that of the kids to the court. IF everything the court needs is there (PLEASE pray that it is) they'll give us a court date (usually you know your date about 2 months in advance)....so I'm guesstimating a court date the beginning of May.....AHAHAHAHAAH!!!!!!

It still doesn't seem real to me. Our house is covered with the kids pictures - they're on my cell phone, my computer, my iPad...the kids have taken them to school for show & tell...I talk about them ALL THE TIME....I'm not sure WHY it doesn't seem real. Maybe it's a subconscious defense mechanism?!?!? With Ellie we found out about her on October 6th - by Jan 13th we were on a plane to bring her home - barely 3 months. We're almost at 3 months for B & B with another solid 5 to 6 months before they're home....

I've never been good at waiting....well, actually, not good doesn't BEGIN to describe it! I'm the girl who reads the end of a book first....I'm sorry if you've had to experience the pregnant Jill - oy! my marriage barely survived! I don't wait well!!!! So I hope I don't FREAK OUT when we've got a court date and then time starts to FLY with everything we have to get ready!!! ha ha ha!!!

Cloth Diapers Anyone?!?!?!

Calling all user's & past user's of cloth diapers!!!!

We're on a MASSIVE campaign to bring as many as we can with us to Ethiopia!!! Few orphanages have diapers for the babies.....they just keep them on a plastic SHEET!!!

We'd LOVE LOVE LOVE to take as many as we can with us!!!!

Send them to me -

2041 Prune Orchard Rd
Colfax, WA 99111

The babies of Ethiopia THANK YOU!!!