Why I cant make mommy friends clip ;)

Definatly got me laughing out loud...maybe because of a few mommy conversations I've had myself...too funny!


http://youtu.be/OSpFIlEz3Mc

Impact time

check this out- be moved- and make a move

http://vimeo.com/13831236

School Days

School:  One month down...8 more to go. 
This past month we did a unit study on India, Mozart, and Van Gough.  India was the fave.

 we did mapping

 learned about the art of Henna painting, read many Indian Chilren's Classic Tales,

 learned about their holidays and then decieded to celebrate one of them :)

 Diwali is in October and the most favored holiday in India- celebrating light overcoming darkness.  We celebrated w/ an Indian meal including a delicious Diwali rice pudding :)

 Last month Sova -Grace started Piano lessons, Jacob is continuing on w/ violin.  We took a year off of dance to try soccer-and Sova and Caleb are on the same team.

 Nature Club has started back up...Jacob is working on a picture study of a mushroom :)

Here's my little kindergarten'er!  He's doing great!  Im so happy w/ our start to the year- I feel like we already did so much...what to do next- hmmm. 

'Rainy Season' : closed till October

August is the beginning of the "rainy season" in Ethiopia and the courts actually close and will stay closed for about 2 months.  At the end of September the courts re-open but they are typically a bit back logged from their break.  This isn't effecting us too much seeing how we don't even have a child referral....once you have a child referral you wait for a court date.  

We are still #4...and I'm feeling like how Caleb felt in the picture above- he wanted something really bad  - but he had to wait.

This wait is very hard.  It's hard to explain but it truly feels like someone is missing from our family.  Even when we are out and about w/ the kids and doing a quick 'kid count' making sure everyone really left the park and got in the car - I'm Always feeling like someone's missing- it's really weird.  

As I start preparing for this new school year w/ the kids I'm sad that there will not be a 4th 'student' at the kitchen table this fall. 

It's very frustrating to be on the waiting end when we know there are millions of children in need of a family.  Getting their paperwork ready is a very long and detailed process (and apparently quite slow.)  And like I mentioned before, our agency works w/ small orphanages- one question I Never thought of asking them when it came down to choosing an agency!  (lesson learned)

Normally while we wait I would be putting all of this stressful energy into organizing/ simplifying/ streamlining our home BUT the fact that we hope to move this fall is actually making me Not want to do anything in the house!  (my thought- why rearrange and organize it if it's hopefully going to be packed up in boxes this fall- correct?) 

It's time to remind myself that God's timing is best...and to rest in knowing that He is ultimately the one in control of these things.  In the mean time I plan on doing an in depth country study on Ethiopia w/ the kids for geography.  I'm excited to learn more about Ethiopia, practice cooking some food (spicy stews- lots of onions & turmeric) buy a hair braiding book, learn some Amharic phrases, and then hmmm well maybe GO!!!  (note the few bonus's of homeschooling...Im choosing to cover what I need to learn all while teaching the kids, having fun and preparing for their little sister's arrival...I love it!)

#4 ?!?! :)

Got some exciting news :)
We jumped about 25 numbers and there are now only 3 families in front of us waiting to be matched w/ a child!
How is this possible?  Well...we just didnt want to wait!
 Ya see, if we stayed on the 'baby' list then we were told we could possibly have to wait another year for a refferal.  There is a whole new system going on in Ethiopia now and they are slower than ever...this is all new to the ethiopian adoption world and so w/ these new regulations and all the agencies have no trends so go by to give us realistic timeframes. 
It's all new.  Soooo...we didnt feel to good about that. 
We started to think about increasing our age request- and the more we thought about it...the better it sounded!  It's funny- we had that baby 'itch' but yet we were very much enjoying our new found freedom of having 'older' kids.  (think:  reading a book on the beach...for the 1st time in several years!)  Then we thought of 'starting all over' and the big difference in ages the kids will have (it's really nice having them being so close in age now- they are all into the same stuff!)

So like I said, the more we thought about increasing our age request- the more excited we got...
 There are only 3 other families (w/ our agency) open to a child over 3 right now.
Our new age request is:  0-3
It's possible to still get matched w/ a baby but way more likely now to be matched w/ a 2 or 3 year old. 
And we couldnt be happier!!! 

Now the new timeline:  with only 3 families before us open to children that age it sounds like it wouldnt take any time BUT  the courts in ethiopia take a 2 MONTH summer recess in August and September = there wont be much going on.
  Also, alot of other families who are in front of us on the list may also change their mind and increase their age range too...bumping us back a bit (and there are 30 families in front of us.)
  The orpahanges that our agency works w/ are kind of small too.

So again- they have no idea what to tell us...hopefully this fall, most likely by Christmas, possible to go into the new year. 

Before, the wait was annoying because we were so far up the list.
Now, the wait is exciting because we have no idea when we can get the infamous phone call.
I am preparing myself emotionaly that this too can take long...but giddy w/ excitement that if really may not be much longer! 

Now this seems more real to us and we are praying like crazy for this little girl across the ocean, for her safety & protection, for the healing of her broken little heart & spirit, and for Jesus to hold her in His arms until He brings us to her.

Faith...this is our Word of the Year and the word for this adoption journey and most likely our daughter's middle name :)

I am writing in awe of God's provision for us.  Exactly one year ago is when we decieded to adopt again- knowing very well that we do not have more than a few bucks to put to what God has told us to do! 
It was a leap of faith that we had no idea what would look like.

Sooo we started w/ lowly tagsale- that took on a whole life of it's own.  Once we got the word out- that we were collecting items for an adoption benefit tagsale, we ended up w/ our basement and garage stacked full to the brim- walking aisles only!  We had to do 2 weekends for the tagsale because of the mass quantity.  Yes, I have already written on how insane those weeks were but hey- $3,500 for a tagsale!  (initial fee paid)
6 months later- a Pasta Dinner Benefit at church.  This was actually fun.  It was pretty easy with not even too much planning involved. We had some good raffles donated.  Yes, we had several people helping us but it did'nt take a whole army.  One night of fun raised $3,500...scored the 2nd fee's.

There are tons of adoption grants that you can find.  We only applied to one of them...and we recieved a $3,500 grant from Steven Curtis Chapmans Ministry 'Show Hope.'  (http://www.showhope.org/)

An awesome friend of ours wanted to do something for us, so her small group at her church held an Artsy type of talent show/coffee house one night and raised $1,000!

We sent letters to friends and family making them aware of our adoption journey and we recieved donations through this as well.

When possible, Michael took on certain jobs at work that he would claim ahead of time in his head as, 'adoption money.'  We also 'ebayed' some of the better items from the tagsale and set up a really simple shirt and coffee fundraiser online.

So recap:  tagsale, pasta dinner, grant, donations from friends and family= yeah, a bit of work, some time and planning, stepping outside our comfort zone but... 

it is so worth it!
This process has greatly increased our Faith, it has brought more awareness to the need of adoption, it served as life lessons to our children- they have different mind sets. 

Most importanly, I love how this is a real testimony from God that he truly does provide.  He takes care of the details.  I cant believe that one year ago we set off on this journey with nothing and here we are...the adoption is almost paid for.  We only need $5,000.  I smile even writing this...
I follow so many others adoption blogs and journeys and there really is a miraculous thread that runs through financing adoptions.  Adoption is God's heart,  if you partner with God's heart do you not think that he will provide? 

Amy say's it in a moving way here...
http://buildingtheblocks.blogspot.com/2010/07/id-choose-you_30.html