I still have to pinch myself sometimes- the story will never
get old for me.
I think of waiting 2 years for a 'little one'- I think of
being #4 on the list when God told me to pray- I knew he was up to something
that day.
That's the day I
opened up my email to find their photos on a waiting child page- I was defiantly
drawn to them-
I thought they were beautiful and I thought how fun-
'twins.' Then I clicked off.
Never in a million
years would I have believed you if you told me that those girls would be giggling upstairs as I type- when it's way past bed-time and I just told you to stop talking for the 4th time...
The story of our kids- with tears in their eyes- telling us
that they were their sisters- Jacob sleeping w/ their photo and Sova writing
them notes....
Here's a page from jacob's Journal
"May 15, 2012 Pray for H and J"
There is another page in there that I completely forgot about until recently- He wrote a letter to God asking for Mike to say 'yes' to adopting the twins...
I can still feel the chills going down my spine when recall a friend telling me that God told her that Jacob will not be going to Ethiopia with us because we will need his plane ticket to bring home a 2nd child.
That was the day after we found out abour the twins and asked God to speak loud and clear to us!
We were hugging them within 2 months after we saw their
picture in that email that day.
They are now speaking English, reading to us cuddled up
on our laps, building forts w/ the kids, wrestling Mike, teaching me how to
make Ethiopian food the right way, begging for 1 more hug and kiss at bedtime,
and 2,002 more things that I am daily amazed at.
Helen-Talia and Jerusalem-Faith-
you two are truly amazing.
We are blown
away at your strength and courage.
Sometimes I hear you take a deep breathe and exhale when you are talking about your
past in Ethiopia or trying to take in something new here and are a bit overwhelmed.
Like I tell you
often- this is hard...this is really hard.
You girls are our heroes- I don't know anyone stronger.
You are beautiful,
you are bright, you are talented.
You are so trusting and loving.
Your hugs and kisses mean the world to us.
Thank you for
allowing us into your hearts.
Thank you for receiving our family with open arms.
Thank you for telling us about Ethiopia-
we love your stories- we will never get tired of hearing about them!
From funny tales of running through the legs of the camal caravans walking down your street - to really hard things- like telling us about the day you had to go to the orphanage and ran away.
You make us laugh and you make us cry.
Thank you for your sense of humor and your laughter-
One of the most vivid memories that I have last
fall is when I felt a bit overwhelmed (to put it nicely) at
the task before me and I wanted to cry (or scream...whatever was gonna come out 1st)
- but God helped me to just laugh instead-
Id
laugh at this crazy situation that God put me in...and then you both walked in
the room and saw me laughing alone on the floor-
you stared for a second wondering if you should run but instead you sat down next to me and
started laughing w/ me (or at me, whatever, it helped!)
I was laughing so hard that I was crying and could not
stop...You thought I was crazy but kept laughing w/ me...thank you!
Let's keep doing that girls.
Life is hard....you know that for sure.
God put us together because He knows we can not only handle
this together- we can do great things together.
I am so excited for the future- but we will never forget
your past!
God has a plan, a
purpose and a mighty calling on your lives.
We are blessed to call you our daughters and walk hand in
hand with you on this journey here on earth.
We got 1/2 a year down...we got this girls!
I love this picture of day 1 in the USA- beacause it captures the
stunned look of the twins so scared they just might pee-
along with Mike and my fake smiles of, 'God, you got this right?!"
No doubt.
