Tomorrow!

Our official in home visit is tomorrow afternoon! The house is presentable. . .yep, just presentable. It is cleaner than normal, but with end of the school year stuff and packing, I've become content with presentable. They have stressed over and over that the house isn't supposed to be perfect. They want the house to look lived in. Mission Accomplished! According to our social worker the in home visit is really a piece of cake. The Home Study itself is already being typed up at the agency and is almost ready. A few notes will be plugged in from this visit and then it will be ready to go! Woohoo!

Thank you all for your prayers. We have felt them this week. For all that we had on our plate, it really has gone quite smooth. I expected this week to be absolute chaos, and it hasn't been--yeah!

Rubeinna

Home Study Almost Finished!!!

Our home visit for our home study is going to be next Thursday, the 27th!!! We talked to our social worker yesterday and she said our home study was almost completely finished! The visit is really just a formality and to finalize everything. We are so excited to be getting so close to finishing this paperchase marathon! Things have been going so smooth. It's so wonderful!

The next 10 days are going to be absolutely crazy! Please pray for us as we have so many things to accomplish. This Thursday evening we are headed to Kansas City to attend an international adoption seminar on Friday. This is a requirement for our home study agency. School is coming to a close and getting my classroom ready for summer can be quite a task. Usually I take a week or so after school is out to get it done, but we are leaving for vacation next Friday (the day after school gets out). So, my goal is to have it done in record time this year. Thankfully, my amazing husband has offered to help! He's so great! We also need to pack, keep the house Home Study inspection worthy, attend graduation parties and ceremonies, etc.! It's going to be quite a week and a half!

Rubeinna

Puzzled!

How would you like to help bring our son home AND be a permanent part of his nursery decor?

We have purchased a 1000 piece puzzle of an African Oasis. Want to help us put it together? Not only can you help us put the puzzle together, but you can help bring our son home at the same time!

Want to know how? It's easy! When you make a donation to one of our fundraisers, we will add a piece to the puzzle. A piece with your name on it. That's right-we will write the name of each person who helps bring our little one home on the back of each puzzle piece. When the puzzle is complete, we will hang it in the nursery. It will be a tangible reminder of all those who love him and helped bring him to his forever family!

As of right now, our only fundraiser is our Just Love Coffee store. Click on the link at the top left of our blog to order. For every bag of coffee you order, you will "sponsor" a puzzle piece. We have ordered some ourselves, and it amazing! Our favorites are African Skies and the Rwandan blend.

We are also diligently working on our fundraiser cookbook. We have some wonderful recipes and I am so excited to get it completed. Once they are ready, each book purchased will also "sponsor" a puzzle piece. We are hoping to keep the price under $15. If you want to "pre-order," shoot me an email or comment on this post.

Just to let you know, this idea is not original to us. We did "borrow" it. We wish we were this creative, but thankfully there are other adopting families that are!

As our puzzle grows, we will be sure to take pictures and post them so that you can see the progress. We can't wait to see how many different people and families God will use to be a part of our son's journey home!

Rubeinna

Another Video!

I just saw this video and had to share it!

Evyn's Gotcha Day + Adoption story from emily Vogeltanz on Vimeo.

Beyond Imagination

The last two days have been a whirlwind of activity coming out of our agency! It is been such a thrill to rejoice with those have received referrals and court dates. Someone from our agency posted that the following has happened just in the last 7 days:

• 3 children came home!!
• 7 families are on their way to Ethiopia to bring their children home!!
• 12 families were given a court date!!
• 7 families received a referral!!
• 4 more families are DTE (or will be very very soon)!!

That is with just AWAA alone! It is so amazing to see what God is doing in the adoption world!

It has been such an encouragement to me, since my emotions have been a roller coaster ride the last few days. Since sending off our home study paperwork on Wednesday, I had been feeling somewhat discouragement. I really don't know why, but I guess the process started getting to me. We are so early in the journey and it seems so long already. I have never been very good with paperwork anyway, so I knew this part of the process would probably get to me.

On top of that discouragement, feelings of fear have been attacking me. What if I can't parent an infant? What if our son won't bond with us? What if we really can't afford it? What if, What if, What if. . . .? I know it sounds silly, but these are the things that go through my head.

But then the joyous news started coming in, and it didn't seem to stop. With each new referral or news of a court date being set, I got more and more excited. Then I read a blog yesterday that put me over the top. If you have a chance, go to this blog, please do it. Her name is Amy and her blog, Filled With Praise, is also listed under our blog list. A few weeks ago, on April 21st, she wrote a letter to her son on her blog. People had been approaching her and saying her son was on their heart. It happened five times, with different people, so she and her husband decided to document it for future reference-April 21st. On Thursday, they received their referral call: A 4 month old baby boy who was brought to their agency's care facility on, wouldn't you know it, April 21st! Wow! I get chills just thinking about it. Isn't God amazing? This is just one example of how God's hand is in every part of the journey. A family isn't matched with a child just because they are next in line. God orchestrates it all! Every delay in paperwork, government hang-up, court closure and anything else that seems so frustrating is all part of the journey to the child God has for us.

What will our journey be? Will we feel a tug in our hearts when our son is born? Will people we love be praying for him the moment he is taken from the arms of his birth mother and placed in the orphanage? Will he feel God's loving arms around him when is is all alone? I have no doubt He will do all of that and so much more! Matt found a verse in his quiet time yesterday that spoke to this very thing. 1 Corinthians 2:9 says “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no mind has imagined what God has prepared for those who love him.” I love that! No mind has imagined what God has prepared! That truly makes every frustration and every fear wash away in the light of knowing that this is what God has planned for us. May we glorify Him in it all.

Thank you, again, to all those praying for us. We feel your prayers and we know we could not take this journey without them.

Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen. Ephesians 3: 20-21

Rubeinna

Wow!

So many things are happening with our agency--it is so exciting to watch! Two families recieved referrals today for baby girls. Congrats to the Belote and Jay families! Six families are traveling this weekend to Ethiopia to pick up their children. In fact, two families were notified just today that they were cleared for travel THIS weekend! Can you imagine having only 2 days to prepare and pack to fly half way around the world. I think I would completely panic! Please pray for these families as the prepare to meet their cuties for the first time. Also, several families have recieved court dates for the end of May and the beginning of June! Since these were put on the schedule before the May 9th deadline, they do not have to travel for court.

All this wonderful news isexciting! All this movement makes me antsy to get all this paperwork done so that we can be part of all the fun! All in God's perfect timing, right?

Rubeinna

A Small Milestone!

We finished all our home study paperwork!! It is all organized and ready to mail first thing in the morning! It is such a relief to have this done. Now, we wait for our in-home visit. We are praying for it to be as soon as possible. I guess I better start cleaning!

Happiness or Holiness?

I ran across this post about a month before we officially began the adoption process and it has never really left my heart or mind. It is such a poinient and real look at my hope for my children. Please follow the link and read this mother's letter to her children. Her name is Missy and her blog is one that I love to follow.

http://itsalmostnaptime.blogspot.com/2010/02/i-dont-want-my-children-to-be-happy.html

Enjoy!

Rubeinna