Saturdays for me=Lifetime & LAZY!  I love sleeping late and lounging around.  It is the only day we can all just take our time starting the day.  Even the dogs sleep later on Saturday!  I did that today until about 2, then decided i needed to accomplish something.  I made my sweet husband wake up from his nap on the couch and go out into the cold.  We needed to work on some dossier paperwork.

We headed out with the possibilities of Starbucks, Paneras, Caribou, or Wegmans.  We decided on Caribou, excited about the prospect of sitting by the fireplace with a warm drink and making a dent in this paperwork.  It is freezing in Virginia!

I am going to back up a few weeks, so stay with me.  I have been filled with doubt lately and frustrated with the whole adoption process.  I have been asking God if overseas adoption is the direction we are suppose to be going.  If he could show me in some way if Africa is the current home of our little one(s).  It is so expensive and it is a ton of paperwork.  I am sure domestic adoption can be just as expensive and just as time consuming.  I just always need some direction, as the devil uses self doubt as a tool against me.

I got my first sign just the other day when i sat down to start a new book.  I read probably a book a week and usually pick a book by it’s cover.  I know that is horrible, but i do.  The book i chose showed no signs of being about far away places, not by the cover or the summary on the back.  On page one it tells of Africa and of course i brush it off as a coincidence not a sign.  Second sign, I have never in my life heard of Ethiopia mentioned in the bible and guess what our pastor reads at church a few Sundays ago.  Acts 8, where an angel of the Lord gives a command to Philip and the Ethiopian.

Now i am back in the present.  We get all settled by the fireplace with our paperwork and our yummy drinks.  Third sign,  I look up and there on the table across the way is a sign that says Ethiopia.  I guess Caribou just started a new campaign for Ethiopian coffee.  Okay God, i get the picture.  Ethiopia is the place where you are growing our sweet child or children.  Who knows if they have even been formed in a womb, if they are being held right now by their birth mother, or by a loving care giver?  All i know is that they are ours and that is God’s plan.  God does speak, we just sometimes have to change our way of listening.

We got word today that our AZ clearance came back and our social worker is finalizing the home study.  We are getting the dossier closer & closer to being complete. 

I hope to write more soon.  I have the blog police (Ashley Toohey) reminding me to write.  Love that girl!  She has me believing that people actually want to read what i write.  That’s what best friends are for!

J

We had our final home study meeting last Tuesday.  The social worker came to our home for the first time and meet the girls.  It was very short and sweet.  It was mostly questions about the safety of our home and just asking the girls how they felt about the adoption.  We gave her a tour of the house and the girls showed their rooms.  They also explained how the rooms would be arranged depending on the age & gender of the child.  Most of you already know this story, but it will always be one of my most precious in this adoption process.

This is the first house we have lived in where Isa & Audrey have had their own room.  It was a big deal to the both of them and they were very excited about it.  Fast forward to us discussing adding more children to this family.  Joel and I were hesitant on telling them they would most likely need to share a room if we adopted.  There were so many variables and why worry about it now when we had no clue what age or gender child(ren) God would bless us with.  One night the older girls came in to talk to me.  They had a sheet of paper with them.  They said they had been talking about which room would be for the baby when we adopted.  They had drawn a floor plan complete with all their furniture in one room.  What awesome girls i have!  We did not even need to ask, they were already willing to sacrifice their personal space for a new sibling.  Now i know that this will lead to much bickering in the future when they mess with each others stuff, but i will just gently remind them that this was just as much their idea. 

Back to the home study visit, the social worker asked each one of them what type of sibling they would want.  Carol Lee said a little sister, Audrey a little brother, and Isa said both.  We will see what God has in store for them and us, but i know they will love any child as their own blood.

We are now waiting on one final state clearance and the completed home study paperwork.  We are also working on our dossier paperwork.  One piece of paperwork at a time…….

j

I think one of my favorite parts of our adoption process thus far is the discovery of Ethiopian food.  We are blessed to have an Ethiopian restaurant a few miles from our house.  We have tried it multiple times and even got a long time friend to try it.  She also loved it, which is a miracle.  She would not even eat Mexican food when i met her 6 yrs ago.

We decided to stay home this Christmas and not to travel to NC.  Our family friend, Aunt Debb, drove up instead to spend the holiday with us.  We have much fun with Aunt Debb and discovering interesting eating establishments is always on the list of things to do with her.  We have eaten at numerous ethnic places with her.  Mexican, African, Cuban, Salvadorian, and Peruvian, to name a few.  This trip we decided to try an Ethiopian restaurant in DC.  We went down to show here the monuments on the National Mall.  Then headed over to another part of town that held a street of wonderful ethnic food establishments.   We got our normal sampler platter that has a little bit of everything.  We also got a beet salad that was awesome.  I do not normally like beets, but this dish was very tasty!

Now for the harder task…….how do i learn how to make these dishes at home. It is not cheap to eat out with a family of 5 and as our family grows the bill only gets larger.  So i was so excited when a wonderful friend showered me with gifts for my birthday, one being an awesome cookbook of African food.  I open the book to find an even bigger blessing……this book was written by an adopted Ethiopian.  Marcus Samuelsson and his older sister  were adopted by a Swedish couple when Marcus was very young.  It was amazing to read the preface of this book and hear a story of child who was thankful for his adoption.  It was a blessing to my heart to hear the love for both his adoptive country and his birth country.  He traveled all over the continent of Africa to study all the different types of food. I am sure he discovered as much about himself in the process.  What a blessing for him!

Now i just need to find all the ingredients to make these wonderful dishes.  I can see Gods hand at work in our lives.  It is not a coincidence that we live in one of our countries most diverse areas.  I will let you know when i have all the necessary ingredients to try my hand at cooking Ethiopian.  I may even post a few recipes & pics.

J

We returned “home” last week to spend a much needed week with our family.  The week prior to that was filled with preparing for our first craft show.  We had some awesome donations from friends and created some fun things as well.  It went very well!

Our week home was just as busy with 2 or more visits planned for each day.  We tried to get at least a little time with everyone.  It is never enough time for me and it makes me long for the days when i can live close to our family.  I wonder when that day comes if i will remember to cherish the time with them as much.

Some highlights from our trip were….. Joel riding a horse (much to my surprise!),  Audrey getting her foot stepped on by a horse (much drama), Luis & Courts wonderful Italian Thanksgiving,  my awesome grandparents, great food, lots of baby love (my adorable nieces & nephews), our amazing families (we love you all), a few hours with one of my very best friends, and last but not least our 9 1/2 hour trip home (that should have taken 6).  It was an adventure for sure!

During all this fun festivities I could not help but think of next year when our family may be a little larger.  We will need a trailer to carry all the “stuff”.  I do not want to wish any time away, because my girls are already growing way to fast.  I do, however, want us to be complete sooner rather than later.

So here we are home sweet home.  Joel and I spent the last day of his leave working on the dossier.  We made a little progress, but it is a ton of paperwork that has to be done in stages.  I have learned that the adopting process is a great way to learn patience, most of the time you spend waiting on some piece of paperwork.  It will all be worth it when that waiting results in a child that is home.

Today we had one of the last meetings of our home study.  Jennifer and I were interviewed separately by the same caseworker. The caseworker asked who would like to go first.  I jumped at the opportunity so I would not have to endure any cross examination and be asked to confirm or deny any issues.  I would leave that to Jennifer who has an much better memory and can handle multitasking due to the number of months she has had to take care of the homestead while I was deployed……….Okay, okay, calm down I am just kidding.  I did go first, but only because I just wanted to get it over with.  I did not really know what to expect, but feel like it went really well.  We both were pretty much asked about our individual family up bringing, things we liked and took away, and things that we did not like and have made adjustments within our family unit. Luckily Jennifer went last and anything I messed up she could smooth over I am sure, just like she always does.   I love her so much!

Now we are waiting for the last home study meeting.  We are pretty anxious about getting this part over and moving on, but we must wait on on the final background checks to be completed before we can proceed.  Oddly enough after hearing we had to wait Jennifer and I are at peace with it and it gives us more time to complete the dossier and come up with the funds.