The Wall Bloggers

As you may have guessed, we're overflowing with joyful anticipation for our journey.  If you would like to join with us in praying, here are some of the things we are praying for.   - For God's power, love, and sound mind to fill us for our journey.   (2 Timothy 1:7 For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.) - For us to be a light of God's grace and faithfulness throughout our journey - Smooth travels to and from Ethiopia -- no motion sickness for me, much rest for all of us, contentment for Abel -  Smooth transition of Abel into our care -- for healthy attachment and bonding, for his peace of heart and mind as he parts with his loving nannies - For Scott and me to adjust to parenting two, balancing new demands with grace and patience - For Adrianna to have a blessed time with grandparents, for grandparents to have strength to keep up with her, and for her peace while we are gone for many days.  Also for her to adjust well to

Praise be to God!  He has brought us through many, many months of waiting, and this morning, we received news that we are confirmed with the U.S. Embassy in Ethiopia to travel!  Now we are just working on our final preparations before we take off to meet our son!  :) We also received the special blessing of new photos of Abel today.  Thank you, Davis family, for sending these our way!  It seemed to the Davis's and to us that Abel was looking a little tired (nap time?), but handsome as ever (no, I am not biased!).

Many families who travel to Ethiopia to pick up their child bring donations for their child's orphanage (clothes, toys, etc.).  Scott and I knew we wanted to do this, too.  As we discussed it over the months, we decided we wanted the donations to "cost" us something.  We wanted some kind of sacrifice to be involved.  And so we decided to host a yard sale.  We knew that the time and energy involved would be a small sacrifice to bring orphanage donations into being. For the last three weeks, we have been a little consumed with the planning and completion of our fundraiser yard sale.  We asked our church to send out an email asking for donations.  And the people responded!  Calls and emails poured in.  "I have a sofa..."  "I have some baby clothes."  "I have a garage full of things I need to donate."  And so on!   Yet again, as we have found all along this adoption journey, God showed us that He is willing to bless His people more than we can

Memorial day is a week past, but I figured it was better late than never to post the pictures of our fun times.  We met my dad and Debbie at their condo in Frisco for the long weekend. My dad taught Adrianna the basics of Chess.  (He won, of course.)   We had hoped to go on a few hikes, but between picking up a few things for our trip to Ethiopia and "spring cleaning" the condo, we only ended up with time for a short hike. Adrianna tried out Abel's new Ergo carrier.  It was very comfortable for both of us. The weather was beautiful, and of course, Adrianna enjoyed the swimming pool and the park.  From the moment we got there, we heard, "Can we go to the pool yet??"  That theme continued throughout the weekend. By the Monday at noon, it was time to return home, and I told Scott I would take the first driving shift.  Not ten miles out of Frisco, Scott was talking with Adrianna, and didn't realize that I needed him to tell me to turn off on the highwa

If you have read my blog at all, you know that we believe that adoption is a beautiful gift.  But, as with natural childbirth, it comes with pain.  Part of the pain that comes with adoption is the time missed… the days our child has lived not even knowing of our love – of our arms that ache to hold him, or our hearts that are filled with him as our precious second child. While we waited to pass court, we had one of the hardest days of our adoption journey... And we could not even tell you about it.  I had hoped with all my heart that we would have passed court by then, but it was not to be so. March 23.  The day our son turned one.  I have a folder full of photos from this day... and not one includes a picture of him. I have a sense that Abel will not be frustrated over not celebrating his first birthday at our house.  But I was.  Isn't celebrating a child's first birthday a landmark for a mother?  Isn't celebrating the first birthday a mother's celebration that a