to find you

moving back

2009-10-10T15:36:00.002-04:00

Well, see you later folks. I will post here only if it's something that directly involves our adoption process. Otherwise, recording our little life moments will resume over at mamalovesadeal!

the latest

2009-10-07T19:26:00.002-04:00

I know I have not been the best blogger these days! We've just had some very busy days, dr appts, and just life in general. I did want to give an update on Silas' health. I want other adoptive parents who read our blog to be best prepared for what they may encounter when they come home with their children.

Going one by one might be easiest!

-He is just finishing up his third antibiotic for his double ear infections and bronchitis. After a chest xray showed some nastiness in his lungs, it looks like it was either really bad bronchitis or pneumonia. We will have to go back for another xray in 2 weeks to make sure that it's clearing up. He seems to be feeling SO much better than he was though!

-They were worried that he had not been gaining weight. When we took him a little over a week ago, he had not gained anything since we left Ethiopia. And he eats like a mad man! So they wanted to closely monitor his weight. Thankfully when we went today he had finally gained! Last time he was 16 lbs 7 oz, and this time he was 17 lbs 2 oz! We will take all we can get! It will continue to be monitored, and we will keep giving him all the healthy calories he will take!

-He had a positive TB skin test. He had a BCG vaccine in Ethiopia, and doctors argue as to whether that can cause a false positive result. His chest xray was clear of any TB, so we are so thankful for that. Signs are pointing to it being the BCG. The plan for now is to just wait awhile and have him retested. We want to do all we can to avoid putting him on the 9 months of antibiotics if he truly doesn't need it.

-We found out he has giardia, which is a common parasite. He starts on medication for that tomorrow. Hopefully he can kick that with one round!

-His initial blood work came back showing very low white cell counts. We went back for more blood work this past weekend to make sure they were rebounding. Unfortunately they were either unchanged, or even under what they were. They are at critical levels. They think this is because he was just fighting what he had for a very long time and it just wiped him out. We will go back again on Saturday to have more blood drawn. Please pray his numbers have increased! If they haven't, they will do more in depth tests to check for genetic disorders or HIV. We are not concerned at this point, since all things point to him just being depleted by this illness. However, this means we are pretty much housebound! We just can't risk him catching something at this point since he has no reserves to fight it off.

Sooo...we go back on Saturday for more blood work, go get another chest xray in a few weeks, and then collect stool samples when he's done with his meds to make sure the parasite is gone. That is the game plan for now! In the mean time please pray with us that his white blood cell counts will increase!!!

wow

2009-09-24T18:44:00.003-04:00

I'm not even sure where to start since we last posted! We are home and doing well. We are all still adjusting and getting to know one another. Overall, it is going amazing! We definitely have some grieving and attachment issues with him, but I feel like I see improvement every day. His brother and sister could not be happier! They are a great help and somehow always know how to make him smile. He is eating like a champ, and I'm anxious to see what kind of weight he's gained when we go to the International Adoption Center on Monday. He's finally eating our formula and LOVES every single kind of table food we've given him. He is one happy camper with a full belly! He is also learning so much! Since we've had him he has learned to do the sign for "more", waves hi/bye, and claps his hands. He also will repeat after us and say "ma-ma" and "da-da", but doesn't call us that yet. He is also pulling himself all along the floor to get wherever he needs to go. His leg and arm strength are improving a ton, too. He has such an amazing smile, and on the other side of the coin has quite the scream! He has slept through the night the last 2 nights and then taken 2 long naps during the day. That's what I'm talkin about! I just hope we can keep this going and maybe we'll feel sane again! Time to go change a diaper that is stinking up the entire house...

I'll leave you with this cuteness taken while we were in Ethiopia:

Wednesday

2009-09-16T15:57:00.001-04:00

Today was a pretty relaxed day for the most part. We didn't have
anywhere we had to be until noon. Then we went to the Transition Home
to do our care packages/photos, donations, and gifts. I loved being
able to take pictures of the kids for other families! Coffmans- your
little girl is SO incredibly beautiful and sweet. She followed me
around the rest of the time I was there and just hugged me and kept
her arm around me. I loved it. :) Your son was gone to the dr.
getting a check up, so she opened up the care package and just lit up!
She loved everything you sent! We got some wonderful pictures and
video for you! Then your son came back and we got some pics of him as
well, but they had already put the care package away but said they
would give him his things. Both of your kids have such gorgeous eyes
and eyelashes! Setliffes- Your daughter is of course gorgeous! She
was giving me the stare down at first, but warmed up after awhile. I
finally got some smiles when I tickled her belly. She really liked
that! Later she saw me across the room and I just had to smile and
got one back. What a sweetheart she is! I read her your note and she
really loved the rattle you sent. I passed on lots of kisses for you!
We got video for you too! Butlers- Your little boy was also gone to
get his check up, so I only got a few moments to take his picture. He
was not happy to have a stranger in his face clicking away! But when
the nanny held him he was consoled quickly. He looked like he was
maybe feeling under the weather, and maybe had the chicken pox.
Almost all of the kids are sick with runny noses/coughs. He is such a
cutie! Those eyes of his, my goodness! He was very happy on our
first day there when we met our son. I sat on the floor and played
peek-a-boo with him and got some big, big smiles! We got video for
you today too, but he will be crying in some of it. I think we scared
him a little, sorry!
Today was a little rough at times with Silas. He is just not feeling
well. We could obviously tell that and have him on the antibiotic
that we brought. Today the TH dr. told us that he has a double ear
infection, bronchitis, and a severe diaper rash. Poor baby! Please
pray with us that the medication does it's work quickly or the plane
ride will be very hard on his little ears. He yanks on them all day.
I could also tell he was grieving today. Just looking around crying
with nothing to console him. His world has been turned upside down!
Most of the time though he is such a happy boy! Smiling, laughing,
being silly. All of the nannies there LOVED him! They all wanted
pictures with him and want us to send them all to them. They were so
sweet and just kissed him nonstop. :) It was a wonderful experience
there and the nannies were so happy to see him have a family.
After the TH visit we did some shopping. (We were told we'd have
lunch but never did. Future travelling families, always have snacks
in your bags just in case! You never know how your schedule might
change. So glad I had our CLIF bars.). It was fun to shop and find
neat things. It is hard to see all of the beggers and street kids.
One of the little boys followed us everywhere. We just loved him! He
is one of the boys that our guide, Robel, helps care for. He yelled
our names as we drove away on the bus. He had one of the best smiles
I've ever seen! I wish we could have stayed longer just to hang out
with him.
Tomorrow we will be visiting the orphanges and I think do some more
shopping. We are also praying to hear word from the Embassy tomorrow
about some of the families who are hung up with paperwork. Please
pray! They did find someone to help advocate for them and have seen
some progress.
Sorry we haven't posted pictures but our internet access has been very
spotty. I promise to post lots once we're home! Speaking of home, we
can't wait to be there!!! But we are LOVING Ethiopia...the sights,
sounds, people, food, etc. We are also so thankful that Phil and I
are still healthy. Praying that continues!
We have had power every day that we've been here! It did go out for a
few minutes tonight but came back on. We might have a no power day
tomororw so we'll just have to wait and see if we can update. Thank
you all for your prayers. Can't wait to be home in just a few days!!!

Tuesday in Addis

2009-09-15T15:48:00.001-04:00

Tuesday:
He is officially ours, forever!!!
Today was a great, but very long and dramatic day.
Early this morning, we went to the transition home to pick up our
children. Then we immediately drove to the Embassy to have all of our
official paperwork finalized and to get Silas' visa. Well, after
waiting about an hour, they told us that they simply weren't ready for
our group yet so we all had to come back later. Not that big of a
deal, but a little bit of a letdown. So, we had lunch at a local
place, the Zebra Grill, which was an interesting combination of
Italian & Mexican (as in, a burrito with marinara sauce on top),
pretty good though. Then, straight back to the Embassy. After
waiting in line for another hour or so, Amber and I were the first
from our group to be interviewed. It went great! It only took about 5
min and we were done and Silas' visa was approved. That meant that
everything was done for us to be able to bring him home...that's an
amazing amount of refreshing right there! Of our 8 families in the
group, 5 passed just fine. 3 are having some pretty big paperwork
issues - PLEASE PRAY FOR THEM! There were lots of tears and prayers
being said as those 3 families were told that they may not be able to
take their kids home with them. AGAIN, PLEASE PRAY FOR THEM!
Our day with Silas has been wonderful! He is the happiest child ever!
He is hugging and laughing and playing and...uh, just awesome! He
wasn't eating so well today as he didn't like our formula. So, after
only having 1 bottle at 9am, we had to go back to the transition home
to get the specific formula they gave him...we got that at about
6:30pm and he ate it around 8pm. So, yeah, not much food for him
today, but tomorrow looks to be better! Even with little food, he was
not grumpy at all. He didn't much care for the antibiotic we gave
him, but he was still able to take it.

We're missing Gibson & Maya terribly. We just wish they could meet
their new little brother...soon enough I guess. Please give them lots
of kisses and squeezes for us! (thankfully, Amber was able to talk to
them on the phone for a few minutes today!)

Now we are unbelievably exhausted and gonna try to turn in early (it's
about 9pm here). We love you guys and thank you so much for your
prayers. You guys are a huge part of getting us here and we will
never forget that!

Hopefully we'll get another update out tomorrow. G'night...or, for
those of you in the midwest, good afternoon. :)

phil (and Amber)

Monday in Addis

2009-09-15T15:46:00.001-04:00

{sorry for the delayed posts...internet connections in third world countries are apparently a little spotty...who would've guessed? :) }

Monday:
Our first full day in Addis has been amazing!
We started the day with a big breakfast with all of our travel group
(8 couples), then started the process of filling out paperwork.
After that, we headed out for a great lunch at a local restaraunt
called Lucy's. Amber played it safe with a penne & tomato sauce dish.
I went all out and got the pepper steak. It was amazing!
Then, we got in the bus and started on the drive we'd all been waiting
for...the trip to the Transition Home!
The process was surreal. We pulled in and were greeted by dozens of
kids running up the bus, giving us 5's, waving hello, etc. It was
wonderful. Then, they had us all line up out in front of the building
and started bringing our children out 1 at a time. It was alphabetical
order so that means we, the Wings, were last.
It was amazing to watch the other families just explode with joy at
the sight of their kids. Many of the kids did the same for their new
parents.
Finally, it was our turn. They brought Silas (Yegermal) to us and our
faces could not smile any bigger! This boy is incredible...he was so
cuddly...and he was kinda sleepy. We got to hang out with him for a
couple hours, feed him a bottle, play with him on the floor, and take
LOTS of pictures. I can't even express how great it was. It took him
a little while to warm up to us, but once he did, it was a great time
of fun and bonding.
There is no doubt at all that God has orchestrated
adoption...especially this one. It just felt so right. My words
cannot express how warm our hearts are and how excited we are for
tomorrow when we get to keep him FOREVER!

We love you all and can't wait for you to meet our new little man!

THANKS!

phil (and Amber)

2009-09-13T16:44:00.001-04:00

We are here!!! After a very long journey with a few delayed flights,
we made it. We haven't slept much so we are very tired and ready for
bed. We are on the third floor, so with the elevation you get to the
top winded! We also were expecting to have a kitchenette and suite in
our room, but we do not have a room like that. Just a bed and bath.
We will make it work, just different than expected. We will have to
come downstairs to the kitchen when we have to make bottles or heat
anything else. There are several other families here from our agency
with the Rwanda program with their kids. One couple here is the first
blog I ever followed from AWAA when they adopted their son from
Ethiopia two years ago. Now they were picking up girls from Rwanda.
Just a fun surprise!
We are off to bed! We have to get up early. We want to be rested and
ready to love on our sweet boy tomorrow!!!

tomorrow!!!!!!!!!

2009-09-11T14:52:00.000-04:00

We will be on a plane in 24 hrs...on our way to Silas! We are so excited, but still have plenty of things to keep us busy until we leave. Gibson and Maya will be spending the week by splitting their time with both of our parents. I know they will miss us, but I have a feeling they will be spoiled in a big way while we're gone. :)

I wanted to share the itinerary for our time in country:

Day 1/Sunday

Arrive at the airport. Check into guest house and try to get some sleep!

Day 2/Monday

Morning – Complete paperwork

Afternoon – Eat lunch. Go meet Silas Yegermal! Spend the rest of the day at the Transition Home with him.

Evening: Dinner at traditional Ethiopian dinner

Day 3/Tuesday

Morning- Shopping at the markets

Afternoon- Lunch and then back to Transition Home. Take Silas Yegermal with us for good! It's also my birthday! :)

Evening- Dinner on our own at hotel

Day 4 / Wednesday

Morning- on your own at hotel until we leave for the Embassy

Afternoon – Embassy appointment. Shopping.

Evening – dinner on your own at hotel

Day 5 / Thursday

Morning – Spend the morning visiting Kids Care Orphanage

Afternoon - Lunch and then visit Gelgela Orphanage

Evening – dinner on your own at hotel

Day 6 / Friday

Morning and Afternoon – whatever we want/need to do.

Evening- Airport!

We will be updating as much as possible while we are gone and however time/internet connection allows. You can check here, our facebooks, or Phil's twitter for updates!!!

(find me on fb: Amber Stenger Wing. phil's twitter: twitter.com/philwing)

only a few days away...

2009-09-08T22:17:00.000-04:00

It is Tuesday night and we are leaving on an airplane on Saturday afternoon. I can't believe it's so close! I am running around like a crazy lady doing house projects, laundry, phone calls, trips to the bank, lots of Target runs...the list goes on and on. I haven't started officially packing yet, and I probably won't until Thursday. I do have everything set aside and I know what I need to take.

It is so hard to believe that in one week, the 15th, it will be "Gotcha Day" and Silas will be ours forever! It also happens to be my 30th birthday. I can't imagine a better gift!!!

booked!

2009-08-26T23:28:00.001-04:00

Our flights are officially booked...and it feels GOOD baby! We leave on Sept. 12 and return on the 19th. I can't believe we will be boarding that plane in 2.5 weeks. After over 2 years, the moment is finally upon us. My arms are so ready to hold this little boy!

But I do have a very long to-do list to attend to before that can happen. :)

WE PASSED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2009-08-18T23:03:00.000-04:00

Introducing Silas Yegermal Wing:

The first photo we saw of him on June 5th:

Our latest photo of him:

Yes, he's cute!!! Our tentative travel dates are September 12-19. I cannot wait to go get this little guy!!!

*special thanks to the Clovers, Redds, and Zeunes who took photos/care package and loved on our little boy!

Closer to Me

2009-08-11T20:50:00.000-04:00

I LOVE the band Future of Forestry. LOVE. Their last album, "Twilight", is awesome. They just released an EP in the Spring titled, "Travel". I can't wait until September when the next EP, "Travel II" is released! This song from "Travel" is stuck in my head and in my heart right now. Just longing to be near to Jesus!

I wish I could feel all the strength of your peace
Inside me, building love endlessly
I wish I could fall in a sea of your light
While the brilliance around me, watch it chase away night

Closer to me
Oh, I want you to be
Even closer to me

I wish I could feel just the warmth of your breath
Around me as I lie on my bed
I wish I could taste of your sweet ruby wine
As you lift me to heaven, to the place where we shine

Closer to me
Oh, I want you to be
Just closer to me

For the day I await
'Cause my heart knows I've found you
And I'm still looking for you
For the day I await
'Cause my heart knows I've found you
And I'm still looking for you

Court Closures

2009-08-06T11:53:00.000-04:00

We just received confirmation today that the courts in Ethiopia will be closing on August 22nd. They will likely reopen sometime at the very end of September or beginning of October.

Just a reminder...our court date is August 19th. Please be in prayer with us that we PASS on this date! If we do not pass, we would not get another court date until October. And well...I just can't think about that right now!

Court Date!

2009-07-17T15:37:00.001-04:00

We have a new court date of August 19th!

100%!!!!!!!!!

2009-07-14T23:39:00.001-04:00

After some recent donations and CD sales...we are currently at 100%!!!!! Truly this is a miracle from Him! We started out with little to no money for our adoption, and He has provided EVERY SINGLE PENNY. I am sitting here humbled and amazed. We are a classic example that if you step out in faith, even if it makes no sense (Like, an adoption is how much?! We can't do that!), He is faithful to complete it!

Because we have met our goal, the price of the CDs will be going down to $5 each plus shipping to empty out the small stock we have left. However, we are headed out on vacation and will not be able to fill any new orders for the next week or so. We will get the paypal issues with the new price straightened out when we return.

We are anxiously awaiting news of our next court date. We will keep you all posted on when we hear. In the mean time we have a few new photos of Silas and even a video to keep us company! Seriously, this video is 30 seconds of adorableness. I can hardly stand it. We also have more families taking photos for us in the coming weeks, so I can't wait for that! My heart takes much comfort knowing that one of my best friends, Kate, will be there next week to love on him! They are going to pick up their son and will see Silas and take some pics for us. I just know that she is going to hug him, kiss him, and love him just as I would! She can pass on the message that we love him so much and can't wait to come for him.

A fellow adoptive mom, Kathy, recently posted on her blog about how her heart has changed through the course of their adoption. She talked about how when their adoption began, the focus was on an orphan. Here is an excerpt of what she said next:

"Our adoption is no longer about an orphan. It is about our child. Something has transformed in my heart....Elijah is no longer an orphan, he is just our child. He belongs to us. So, this adoption is now about bringing our child home...the child that was chosen for our family and planted in our hearts."

It's so true! I have another child and his name is Silas. And now I am advocating for him. He is our son, in the same way Gibson is our son. I feel like this is a concept that many people outside the adoption world have a hard time grasping. But let me tell you, this Momma's heart is full out in love with this boy that I've never even held.

It's the miracle of adoption. And it gives me just the tiniest glimpse of the way that my own Adoptive Father, in His sweet mercy, loves me.

we wait on...

2009-07-07T14:22:00.000-04:00

We got a call today that we did not pass court. There is something wrong with one of the documents for Silas. The judge closed our case while this is being fixed. We now will have to appeal and get a new court date. It could be two weeks or more before we receive a new court date. Please pray for a swift resolve and for us as we are sad today about the news. We do have great hope, however. We know this is not a surprise to God and He will bring Silas home exactly when he is supposed to be here!

edited to add: We now have found out that MOWA (the ministry of women and children's affairs) in Ethiopia is taking two weeks off for training. Seriously?! This means there will be no new court dates issued during that time, and when they do resume normal business, there will be quite a backlog of families waiting. This means it could push our case back even further. We are praying that the Ethiopian courts DO NOT close from August-October this year! If they do indeed close, there basically would be no chance for us to get a court date, pass, and get through in time. We need a miracle! Please pray for our sweet Silas, and all other families involved in these hang-ups. I'm not sure what I would do without the hope of Jesus today!!!

one week!!!

2009-06-30T16:10:00.000-04:00

We are just one week away from receiving the all important phone call that tells us if we passed court. We are praising the Lord today that our wonderful friends, the Zeunes, passed court! We are now PRAYING we are able to make it into the same travel group. This means if we pass court, our paperwork would need to move VERY quickly! Please pray with us! We would be sad if we travelled just one week apart. We completely trust that God's timing is perfect. It has been all along (and always is, right?!). So while we are sleeping on Monday the 6th the judge will be hearing our case. We covet your prayers that all things will be in place and that the judge will be favorable toward our case!

Court Date!

2009-06-18T15:56:00.001-04:00

I was so excited to open up my email and find our court date info waiting! The day is July 7th. Please pray with us that all of the details on the other side of the world will come together so we PASS! Once we pass, we can post a picture so you can see for yourself how cute he is! We are very excited that the court date is only 2.5 weeks away. Wow.

IT'S A BOY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2009-06-05T16:57:00.001-04:00

We are still in shock. We received a referral for a very adorable baby boy today! He is a little tiny 7 month old! We can't stop staring at his face...

PRAISE GOD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We are in awe of His goodness.

9 months

2009-05-29T13:48:00.000-04:00

Today marks 9 months waiting for our referral. Trust me, I am so ready to be done with this "paper pregnancy"! I want to see this baby's face! It has been hard not to become discouraged lately as things in Ethiopia have slowed down. Several things have come up that is effecting abandonment cases, as well as families passing court. It would take me a while to explain it all! Basically for us it just looks like the wait will be longer than we expected (not like that hasn't already happened!). However, we trust FULLY in His timing! It is a very real possibility that we might get caught in court closures and not be able to get our child until late fall/early winter. My heart can barely go there without breaking into pieces. We haven't lost all hope because we know our Savior can move mountains! We believe the time appointed for our child to join our family is nothing short of perfect! Today I NEED to rest in that.

little sweethearts

2009-05-17T17:31:00.000-04:00

Phil and I found out a few months ago that another family that attends the same church we do was adopting from Ethiopia. I was so excited! Our church is large, so we kept missing meeting one another. They recently returned home with their 3 new children and Phil got to meet the oldest, a beautiful girl, last week. Today we ran into them at Kohl's of all places. I was able to meet the mother, and the two youngest. They were two of the most handsome little boys I've ever seen. Oh my, they stole my heart. As soon as I saw them, I almost burst into tears. I didn't want to completely freak them out though! That emotion came out of nowhere and I was not expecting it! I had tears welled up in my eyes the whole time we spoke. I touched their beautiful brown skin, stroked their hair, and fought more tears. It brought so much joy to my heart to see them. They are from where our child is from and I can't tell you how much that meant to me. At the same time it was hard, because my arms ache to hold our child! I can't get those sweet little Ethiopian faces out of my mind...and I'm hoping to see the face of our own little baby SOON.

you MUST read this!

2009-05-05T09:24:00.000-04:00

America World and Children's Hope Chest are doing some amazing things to help severely malnourished babies in Ethiopia. Our agency's transition home has recently began to take on more malnourished babies and they need this special formula! Go here to read this!

*edited to add: PLEASE scroll down and also read about Tom's recent trip to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. It is POWERFUL. We will be walking those streets in just a few short months.

what a ride!

2009-05-04T08:59:00.000-04:00

Adoption is such a roller coaster ride in so many ways. Things change constantly, you never know what's going to happen, and most of all...the emotions! The last month or so has been that kind of ride to me. Last week I was feeling especially down. There really was no reason why, just feeling like, "This is never going to happen, is it?!". But I am happy to report that I'm coming into this new week filled with hope. I can see God's hand throughout our whole journey, and I know and have faith that He would never leave us now. I know His timing is perfect, even if it's not what I thought it might be (why do I think I can figure it out anyway?). I know I can trust Him. He is after all my own adoptive Father!

"he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will" Ephesians 1:5

follow-up on Monday night

2009-04-23T11:42:00.000-04:00

Amber and I just wanted to update you all on how the Chick-fil-A fundraiser went.

Well, it was awesome! The place was packed for 3 hrs straight and we got to have a lot of really good conversations about adoption, God's calling of a disciple, music, etc. I even got to talk with 2 families who were greatly considering adoption themselves. One other conversation was with a guy who just got back from a military deployment...IN ETHIOPIA!!! It was really encouraging to hear his stories about the wonderful community over there, the beautiful people, and the presence of God specifically in these orphanages.

As far as the funds go, we made $433 from the purchases, and $250 in our donation bucket. So, all total, we made almost $700 toward our adoption with this one day fundraiser!!! It was amazing!

Thanks so much to all of you who came out and bought food, helped serve guests, helped clean tables, stuck around to make me feel cool, etc. It really was a great night and I am so grateful for God's faithful provision of not only money, but great community as well!

2009-04-20T00:45:00.000-04:00

Click here to download a coupon for the Chick-fil-A fundraiser event.

A Challenge: anyone who is willing to eat all 3 meals there on the 20th (breakfast, lunch, and dinner - all with coupons) will get a free signed copy of my CD "To Find You" and a free To Find You T-shirt!!! No joke. (you will just need to show your receipts that night to claim your CD & T-shirt - shirt sizes limited)

For more detailed info on the event, check our facebook page.

THANKS SO MUCH for all the kind support!

fundraising

2009-04-14T16:12:00.000-04:00

We are so excited to let everyone local know about our fundraiser through the Centerville Chick-fil-A . If you present a coupon any time of day this Monday, April 20th, 20% of your purchase will go toward our adoption! You can pick up a coupon at any of the Apex gatherings this weekend, or we can email it to you to print out. You must have the coupon in order for it to work. Also, Phil will be there from 5pm-8pm playing music! We are so excited about this opportunity to share with people about our adoption and give them a glimpse of the One who brought us here. So if you like Chick-fil-A as much as we do, come out and see us!

We were so excited to hear of a few more families receiving their referrals today! So amazing for them, and we are thankful that each one brings us closer to ours! We are still praying for an April referral!

7 months!

2009-03-31T14:21:00.001-04:00

Well we have been waiting for our referral for a little over 7 months now. But we have been dreaming of this baby for much longer! It was the Summer of 2007 when we made the decision to adopt. It is hard to believe that by the time we get our little sweetheart home that 2 years will have passed. Also, this May will mark one year since we started the official paperchase! Time seriously flies.

Our yahoo group had tons of excitement last week. Families are traveling, passing court, and new referrals were given out. We are hoping and praying for an April referral. Also, please join us in praying that we pass court THE FIRST TIME. We will be cutting it close to the court closures in August with a June or July court date. But we have absolute peace and know that the Lord has the perfect time for this child to join our family. We are getting so anxious to see his/her face! I just can't imagine what it will actually be like to have a face and a name to this child we've prayed for for so long! Gibson and Maya are asking a lot about their little brother or sister. Whenever I'm looking at other adoption blogs, Gibson runs over and says, "Is that them? Is that our baby brother or sister?!" He has understood what was happening from day one, so I'm sure this really has seemed like a long wait to him!

When we sent in our dossier we were given an approximate wait time of 5-7 months. Obviously, that wait time has been lengthened as we are in our seventh month. But I have to say, God has given us so much grace. I have truly been able to have joy in the wait. I have not felt consumed by it. I have enjoyed the last year with our little family of four. Don't get me wrong, I still think about and pray for our baby every single day. But, I can look back and see clearly how God has been so good to us.

I know I have said this many times, but I think I could say it a million times and it still wouldn't be enough: THANK YOU to each and every one of you who has donated money, bought CD's, and said so many sweet prayers for us. It has meant the world. We feel so loved and supported. This child is loved by so many people that it's astonishing!!!

Sad News

2009-03-19T14:00:00.000-04:00

The book, "There Is No Me Without You", was the first piece of the puzzle God used to lead us to Ethiopia. Reading about this wonderful woman and the love she gave to orphaned children was truly amazing. I was so sad to hear of her passing. You can check out this article and read how you can help!

http://www.thereisnomewithoutyou.com/blog?op=view&id=63

Giveaway

2009-03-11T10:01:00.000-04:00

Everyone head on over to onceamonthmom and enter to win a copy of the CD!

six months!

2009-03-01T10:59:00.000-05:00

Wow, 6 months waiting. It has come so fast. It is very hard to believe that sooner than later, we will be seeing our sweet son or daughter's face! We do have a new development in our adoption journey. When we applied with our agency, we were told that Ethiopia liked to have a 2 year difference between your youngest child at home and your adopted child. So, since Maya is 2.5 right now, we thought we would have to be referred a baby 6-8 months old or younger. I asked our family coordinator this question again last week, and things seem to have changed! She said that Ethiopia is actually now very relaxed with the ages, and that our agency just prefers to keep the kids 12 months apart. So if you are still following me at all (I know it's confusing unless you are in it!), that means we could get referred up to an 18 month old! We are approved up to 18 months. A lot of families ahead of us are only approved up to 12 months, so if there is a little surge of toddlers coming into the the orphanages, this could mean we could get our referral sooner than we thought. We really are trying not to get our hopes up, though. I also am having to adjust my mind to a possible toddler! I have just been thinking tiny baby all of this time! We truly are filled with so much peace about it. We know that God has THE perfect child for our family. We are just beyond excited to meet him/her! I just can't imagine actually getting the call! Wow.
In other news, our CD sales are going very well. It is so wonderful to see the funds coming in for this last half of our expenses. We still have a large chunk left to raise, but we are building it with each CD sale. We have had a table set up at Apex the last few weeks (Apexers, we will have the tables out next week too!), and we have sold a lot there. The coolest thing is being able to talk to people about our adoption. So many people are interested in the process and what God is doing in our family. I feel amazingly blessed. This baby is so loved already! We have been so humbled by this journey. Whether people have given prayers, encouragement, or monetary gifts, the love is indescribable. God is so good! Last week Phil got to meet a family that actually attends our church that have 6 children and are adopting a sibling set of 3 from Ethiopia! So cool to make that connection.
In other random news, I ordered a sling and I LOVE it! I got it from a seller on etsy called SnuggleBugSlings. She is having a clearance sale for $9.99! I got a black one lined in khaki. I wore Maya around in the hip position (she is 26 pounds) and it was so comfy. She loved it. I am encouraged that no matter what age child we get, this will be very helpful. It would be so easy to fold this up and throw it in a diaper bag. And, I know it will definitely come in handy while we are traveling in Ethiopia and going through the airports on the way home. Since we won't have a stroller, this, along with the bjorn, will be a huge help! I also think it will be a wonderful aid in the attachment and bonding process.
OK, I think I'm done rambling now. I will keep updating here as soon as we have any new news!

so good

2009-02-17T16:36:00.000-05:00

awesome!

2009-02-08T12:07:00.000-05:00

Our CD sale fundraiser is in full swing! So far we have sold just under 40 online. We have also sold quite a few in person, but we haven't counted that up yet. Don't worry, we still have A LOT to sell! But one of the coolest things so far has been addressing the envelopes. We have sent CD's to Ohio, Michigan, Tennessee, South Carolina, Texas, New Jersey, Kentucky, Nebraska, Florida, North Carolina, Illinois, Georgia, and Arkansas. Isn't that so cool?! I think it is so amazing that what God is doing in our family through adoption is going out across the country!!!

You can order at www.philwing.com!!!

2009-01-30T10:11:00.000-05:00

I am so excited to announce that the CD is now available for purchase! Every single cent will go toward bringing home our child. Just go to www.philwing.com!!!

2009-01-29T10:21:00.000-05:00

5 months waiting to see our new baby!!!

the sweetest

2009-01-28T14:07:00.001-05:00

I was just watching a little Beth Moore on TV. She was talking about our calling to reach the world, and not just the comfort of our own little selves. It was showing footage of her time in Africa. The children were dirty and lined up for food. Gibson said, "Don't worry Mom, you'll just go get our baby brother from Africa, brush him off, and he'll be so happy!". Then out of nowhere he began singing "Jesus Loves the Little Children".
I LOVE his little heart!
And now I need to go wipe my tears...

hooray!

2009-01-06T13:26:00.000-05:00

I am so happy to start seeing the referrals rolling in for families! There has been a bit of a "drought" lately, so it is so refreshing to hear the good news. It is very exciting to hear about these families being united. And also exciting that it means we move up the list with each one! Can't wait to see that baby face...

Merry Christmas!

2008-12-23T23:17:00.000-05:00

It is hard to believe we are coming upon 4 months of waiting. I have definitely been missing our sweet babe this Christmas. I can't help but wonder if he's having his first Christmas, or if we will experience that with him next year. All I know is that my arms ache to hold him! He has been on my mind so much, along with his birth family, and I've been praying for them so much. I have not been able to sing "O Holy Night" this season without thinking of our baby and Ethiopia. This is the verse that always brings the tears:

Truly he taught us to love one another
His law is love and his gospel is peace
Chains shall he break, for the slave is our brother
And in his name all oppression shall cease

All oppression shall cease! Sweet, sweet words.

Merry Christmas from the Wings! 2009 is going to be an exciting year!

3 months!

2008-11-29T11:02:00.001-05:00

Wow, 3 months waiting! I definitely have not intended to only post monthly, there just hasn't been too much to report on the adoption front. We do have some good news. There are only a few things to tweak and the CD goes to print! This has been a long process, with a lot of time and work poured into it. Everyone who has helped Phil pull this off has donated their time and services! We are so thankful for everyone who has helped, and we can't wait to hold the finished copy in our hands. We are also excited to see how God uses this to help bring our sweet baby home.
Thank you for your continued prayer and support!

2 months!

2008-10-29T18:50:00.000-04:00

I was so happy today when I visited our site and noticed we were at 2 months of waiting! Crazy!

We were so blessed last week when we were given an envelope with a very generous donation in it! The gift was anonymous, so if the person reads this blog, thank you so so much!!! It was a wonderfully sweet surprise.

We are also very excited that Phil's CD is almost done! Only a few more things and it will be ready to go to print. This is such a relief to us and we are just so excited to see our next fundraiser come into place. I am so proud of Phil and the work he has done on this project. He is so talented.

I am also excited to report that the first travel group after the reopening of courts is in Ethiopia right now picking up their children. I read their blogs and look at their pictures and just cry! It is so amazing to watch these families being united, and also to think that we will be in that same place in just a few months.

Wow. God is so good.

still here

2008-10-21T00:16:00.000-04:00

We get asked all of the time, "So what's up with the adoption?". Not a whole lot right now! We are just in the waiting phase. Our biggest challenges right now are trying to organize funding by the time that referral arrives! Phil is finishing up his CD and we are applying for grants. We also found out recently that there is an increase in the fees from Ethiopia. I am constantly reminding myself that God is going to provide for our family. He has amazed us and showed us miracle after miracle so far, so we don't doubt His provision.
The wait time really is flying by so far. I know other adoptive families could kill me for saying that! I am just enjoying my family of four right now before the craziness dials up as a family of five. Absolutely I cannot wait to see our sweet baby's face, but I am thankful for the grace that God is giving us to have joy in each day.
God has also been spurring my heart to be praying even more for our baby and the birth family. After the recent loss of several referred babies, I just am reminded how grave the situation truly is in Ethiopia. We are praying for a healthy pregnancy, delivery, and baby. I can't wait to hold my little sweetheart, look into his/her eyes, and give out more kisses than they can take! Oh what a day that will be.

prayer

2008-10-13T20:43:00.000-04:00

Please pray for the Forrest family. They are a family with our agency who had received a referral for two children and were waiting for a court date and travel. Their gorgeous little baby girl died in a hospital with pneumonia this weekend. They never got to hold their daughter, but we can have joy knowing that she is in Jesus' arms right now!
Please pray for them during this difficult time.

ONE MONTH!!!!

2008-09-29T09:31:00.001-04:00

That's all I have to say :)

later

2008-09-17T22:02:00.001-04:00

It is crazy that we are almost to 3 weeks waiting. This Fall is so busy for us, and I'm hoping that will make the time fly!
I haven't posted much on here, because there isn't much going on adoption-wise. You can keep up on our other family happenings over at my other blog.
I am leaving tomorrow afternoon for a trip to visit my good friend in Denver. I am excited! I am a little nervous, this will be the longest I've ever been away for the kids...5 days! I know I will have tons of fun though, and return to my family rested and ready to serve!
Now come on September referrals :)

one week

2008-09-05T11:12:00.000-04:00

See my cute little ticker up there? One week waiting for our referral, only 7-9 months to go! Haha. I am hoping and praying our program receives some referrals today!
In other news, everything with our fundraising has been put on the back burner for now because we have been terribly sick for a week. Next week I am hoping to get pictures of our tshirts up here (seriously!), that Phil can work more on his CD, and that we can make more progress on our grant applications. So much to do! I also need to get our fire inspection done again because our social worker can't find it anywhere. No big deal, it was one of the easier things to get done at least.
I find myself very excited for October. That is when the courts in Ethiopia will open again and there will be more referrals, court dates, and traveling families! There are some waiting families very anxious to go get their kids, I can't even imagine.
This is going to be a busy Fall!

something about this time of year...

2008-08-29T15:02:00.001-04:00

8/30/01- Phil proposed

9/2/04- Found out we were pregnant with Gibson

8/30/06- Maya made her debut into the world

8/29/08- We are paper-pregnant, the wait is on!

What is it with our family and this time of year? It is wonderfully sweet. We found out today that we are officially "DTE"...sort of. The woman who is in charge of collecting the dossiers in Ethiopia is currently here, in the States. So, our dossier will be sent out once she returns there. The good news is that they will use today's date as our official date. They use these dates for the order in which referrals are given. So our wait officially begins today, even though this child has been in our hearts for a long time. The current wait time given is 5-7 months for a referral. It is hard to believe that we could see our baby's face in a few short months. Please join us as we pray for joy in the wait. It can be a hard time, but we are trusting that the Lord has the perfect timing worked out. All I can think of right now is that HE is good!!! WOOHOO :)

good news?

2008-08-26T18:14:00.000-04:00

Well, we did not receive an email from our family coordinator today...which is a good thing! She said if there was a problem with our dossier that she would contact us Tuesday afternoon. I am so happy to report that we didn't hear from her. So, it looks like we will be receiving a tracking number on Friday, because our dossier will be on it's way to Ethiopia!

out of our hands

2008-08-19T22:25:00.000-04:00

This morning I was up bright and early to get the kids ready for our trip to Columbus. Thankfully, we made the trip with only minor glitches. After I got back into town, I headed to make the copies. I set up my little system and it went quickly. My husband was sweet enough to go take care of the money part for us. Before I left his office, we gathered around our stack o' papers, put our hands on it, and prayed. We prayed for our papers' travels, and for our precious baby. Of course, I was a blubbering mess! It was such a sweet time knowing that this leg of the race was over. After I got a little crying out, I was just overjoyed. Before I knew it, we were at the post office and I was handing it off. It is surreal. I will now be stalking my tracking number and making sure it is there by noon tomorrow! Hopefully all of our papers will be in order and we will be DTE (dossier to Ethiopia) soon! We now have a wait of approximately 5-7 months to see our baby's face!!! I get goosebumps just thinking about it.
PRAISE THE LORD!!!! We are on cloud nine :)

Phil was rushing off to a meeting so we didn't get a chance to take pictures. So I took one myself in the post office parking lot. Cheesy? Yes. Wow, and scary. You can see my puffy eyes from my happy tears through my sunglasses. Agh, I almost can't believe I'm posting it! But it's my only picture with my "paper baby"! :)

WE GOT IT!!!

2008-08-18T14:29:00.000-04:00

That precious little I171H came in the mail today!!! Amber will be headed to downtown Columbus tomorrow to have the last stamp put on our papers. We are hoping to get everything off in the mail tomorrow. Pray for us :)
We are overjoyed!

"to find you"

2008-08-17T21:42:00.000-04:00

Some people have been asking about the song that I wrote about our adoption so I figured I'd post the lyrics here.

This song was written from our anxiousness during this time of waiting. For those of you who have adopted before, you know that the tension between wanting your child so badly and having to wait to meet them, almost drives you crazy at times. That's where this song came from.

To Find You

There's a mother with a burden, she carries down deep
For a child across the ocean that she's yet to meet
And though for now she's left here waiting
In her heart anticipating
With all she has she begins to sing

I'm coming soon

To find you

There's a father who is trying to walk in belief
To love the lost and lonely and the "least of these"
And though his walking has him waiting
In his heart anticipating
With all he has he begins to sing

I'm coming soon

To find you

And a light will shine on you
And we will see the same light too
And we will know it's true
That we've been waiting all this time
Just for you

I'm coming soon

To find you

The recording of this song will be on the acoustic CD coming out this fall. More info on that soon...

Just waitin'

2008-08-01T00:32:00.000-04:00

We are now officially only waiting on our I171H. We finally received our life insurance letter ("5 business days" turned into a couple of weeks), so we faxed our documents to be approved by our family coordinator today. That means our side of things is completely done! Our goal was August, so I am glad we squeezed it into July, it makes me feel more accomplished, ha! So now we just wait for that magical little letter to come in the mail any day now. Once it is here we take our documents to be county and state certified. We are still praying that our dossier will be sent to Ethiopia in August! The other great news that our agency put out today is that the wait times for referrals have changed. It was 7-9 months for a baby boy or girl, but the wait time for boys has gone down to 5-7 months! Since we are open to either gender, it looks like a boy could be coming our way. Obviously, God can do ANYTHING in a matter of months! But, we are excited to know that a couple months of our wait might be shaved off. I try not to count on any of these estimations though, because we always have to know that international adoption can be very unpredictable!

there are no words

2008-07-25T09:01:00.000-04:00

Wow. That is all I have to say. We have been so blessed by people's generosity and willingness to help bring our child home. We continue to get random checks and money, whether from friends or anonymous donors. I can't tell people enough how much we appreciate it. We have raised half of our funds! We feel like God is continually confirming our path, and using so many people to do so! We are so humbled and grateful.
We are continuing with our fundraisers. We are still selling our t shirts and Phil is working on his CD. Hopefully that will be done soon, I can't wait to hear it! Also, now that our homestudy is done, we can apply for some grants. I hate to talk "numbers", but people are constantly asking us how much more we need. The costs of an adoption are all estimated, so at this point we still need to raise about $10,000+ more.
Thank you all for your prayers through this process. God is so faithful, and is certainly our Provider!!!

YES!

2008-07-19T08:18:00.001-04:00

Our homestudy was sent to USCIS yesterday!!! We are very excited since we weren't expecting that until next week. Just wanted to share!

a new plan

2008-07-17T18:52:00.000-04:00

Well, today went much different than planned. The original plan was for Phil to go to work this morning, and then we would meet our social worker in the afternoon to sign the completed homestudy. She was going to be in the area for another meeting, and it worked perfectly for us so we didn't have to travel too far. Well, this morning Phil woke up sick. So sick he couldn't get out of bed. Oh no! We started praying of course because we wanted him to feel better, but also so we could somehow make our meeting. As the time inched closer, we knew it just wasn't going to happen. He was feeling awful. So I called up our social worker and shared my disappointing news. She felt bad that we wouldn't be able to get it done, since we are so close. She offered to call us later today after her other meeting in the area to see if Phil was feeling any better. Thankfully, he was! He is by no means at 100 percent, but at least he could be out of bed and sitting on the couch for the meeting. It was so sweet of her to come to our home so that we could get it done today and we are grateful that the Lord worked out each detail. She wasn't here long at all, and now we're done! AWAA is currently reviewing it and will let us know if it is O K to send off. We are hoping that it will be sent early next week to USCIS. (once it is at USCIS and processed, we will then wait for our I171H that you have heard me talk about) Also, our dossier is almost finished! Basically I have done everything, and I'm just waiting for a few things to come in the mail. The goal is to have all of that done by the time our I171H comes back, which will hopefully be soon. We have heard many families who wait a long time for it, and others that get it quickly. Please pray with us that we are one of the quick ones! I can't believe we are so close to being completed with our dossier. I just keep thinking how each of these things brings us one step closer to meeting our sweet baby!

a mixed bag

2008-07-07T13:44:00.000-04:00

We got our USCIS fingerprints done today. Hooray! It was mostly painless, except for a few cranky outbursts from the kids. We were out quickly, and even ran into a couple that attend our church there getting fingerprinted too. So that was a fun little surprise. After that it was lunch time and we headed to IHOP because we figured that would be a kid-pleaser. Oh. My. Goodness. We had the worst experience we have ever had while out to eat with our children. There was much discipline and threat-whispering going on. I ended up taking them out to the van, leaving their half-eaten lunch still on the table. Yes, it was that bad. Our kids love to eat at restaurants, but we told them it is going to be a long time before they have that special treat again. I think my blood pressure is rising just thinking about it.
But then I came home to a good email from our social worker. She hopes to have a rough draft of our homestudy to us this week, and then meet on the 17th for our last visit and just to finalize it all. I am so glad to get this on the calendar, we are ready for this phase to be over.
I think that is all the adoption news we have for today, hopefully there will be more good news to come!

early is a good thing

2008-07-06T00:30:00.001-04:00

We got our passports today!

another praise!

2008-07-03T18:18:00.001-04:00

Our passports are another thing that we have been trying to get done and were wondering how long they would take. We were told 4-6 weeks. We sent them less than a week ago. I had been tracking them online, even though it said it could take 7-10 days to even show up in the system. As of Tuesday (yes we sent them Friday and I started checking on Monday...because I'm crazy like that), they weren't in the system. I couldn't check yesterday because something was wrong with their website. Well, I just pulled it up, and not only had they arrived, but they were done processing and had been sent out! They should be here by Monday! Wow. God is certainly in every detail's timing! Passports in a week, not bad!

praise praise praise

2008-07-02T15:56:00.000-04:00

I am so overwhelmed right now...in a good way! God's grace and provision is so amazing. This process is making that even more real to me. Recently we received two very generous donations that will completely cover the costs that will be due at dossier submission. Praise the Lord! That is so huge. We will still have our very large chunk at the end, but God has provided every cent so far, and we know he is more than capable to do that! The other huge praise today was concerning our life insurance. I believe I mentioned that all we were waiting for was the verification so we could complete our financial info, and that we were told it could take 4-6 weeks, and the shortest they had seen was 2 weeks. Well I faxed our paper work just over a week ago. I called the underwriter today, and she still hadn't received it. She said that was not uncommon. So I told her about our adoption, and she gasped. She said she would just have to pull some strings for us! So she asked for my phone number to keep me updated. I am not kidding when I say, 15-20 minutes later I got a call. She said she called them, had them send it to her immediately, she worked on it, and it is done! Our coverage starts today. I thanked her profusely, hung up the phone, and then started crying and praising God! I just couldn't stop saying how good He is. So I was able to fill in that little line on our financial and that is the last piece of our homestudy paperwork, and also one more thing crossed off the dossier list. I have the biggest smile on my face right now! :)

hoo-ray!

2008-06-28T21:42:00.000-04:00

I was so excited when I got the mail today! We received our USCIS fingerprinting appointment! It is set for Monday, July 7th. So we will head down to Cincinnati for our "biometrics". It is great timing, because our homestudy should be done soon and it can join up there and then we will begin the wait for our I171H paper. I was jumping up and down when I got the mail today. It is just so nice to have another part of the puzzle in the works! We also got our passport applications sent out Friday, so we are hoping and praying those don't take a sweet forever. So yeah, hooray for fingerprints!

Our little sweethearts...

2008-06-24T21:48:00.000-04:00

home visit...part two

2008-06-23T13:52:00.000-04:00

Today was the final visit to our home from the social worker. Actually, she is still here, I am just in the other room! I already did my one-on-one with her and now it's Phil's turn! Things are going great. Really and truly, nothing to be nervous over. I can hear her laughing out there, so Phil is on his game, haha. I am excited to say we are done with all of our homestudy paperwork...except for one little paper. Our financial info can't be completed because we are still waiting for finalization of our life insurance. We faxed it all last week and I talked to a guy who said it can take as long as six weeks, or as short as two, so to maybe plan for four. Please join us in praying it is two!!! Everything is done except for those two little blank lines...taunting me. It would just be so wonderful to have this phase complete. I was looking at our dossier sheet today, and there really isn't that much to be done. We are waiting for our fingerprinting appointment, and I really hope we get that letter with our appointment date this week. It looks like we should be able to make our August deadline that we made for ourselves. But as many know, we certainly can't count on it! Who knows what the pesky I171H will decided to do.

two down, two to go

2008-06-17T21:26:00.000-04:00

Today we had our first home visit from our social worker. I really wasn't stressed or nervous at all, and now I'm glad I didn't work myself up, because it really was great! Our social worker is so easy to talk to, and it was like talking to an old friend in our living room. She did a great job of asking us all of the questions in an easy, conversational manner. I also really liked just talking through everything. It was nice to revisit why we decided to adopt, and just how God has worked in our hearts to bring us where we are. We were also so excited to schedule our next visit for Monday! I only have a few stray papers that I hope to get by Monday, and our part will be done! Then we will just wait for her to write it all up. She said our fourth and final visit would be to look over everything and just tie up loose ends. Now that our homestudy papers are almost done, we can really focus on gathering more for the dossier!

clearing things up

2008-06-13T21:18:00.001-04:00

I have had several people come to me confused. Apparently, we tripped a few people up when we started this blog! So to clear it up, we do still have our own personal blogs up and running. We will just be posting here regarding our adoption. So please check here for the latest details, and for the every day stuff, you can still find us at:

www.mamalovesadeal.blogspot.com

www.philwing.com/blog

Thanks for keeping up with us!

onward

2008-06-11T00:24:00.000-04:00

It looks like our first home visit from our social worker will be on Tuesday! We are so glad to have this scheduled and have the ball rolling.
Today we went and had our BCI fingerprinting done and got our police clearance letters. I am thoroughly enjoying crossing things off of our list of to-do's. It feels great! Of course, there is still a lot to be done, but we're moving along. Hopefully we will hear from USCIS soon and get our fingerprinting appointment. Our next goal to tackle is passports. I have our applications, so we need to get our photos and get over to the post office. Hopefully I can say that is done by the end of the week!
It is easy to keep pressing on when you read about other families who are further along. Here are some people that are in Ethiopia as we speak, getting ready to bring their sweet children home!

The Kidds
The Wests
The Cordells
The Gardners

Still here

2008-06-04T23:29:00.000-04:00

So I have just been bad in general about updating my blog, and here as well. We are staying busy though. I will also try to update the timeline in our sidebar soon since we have made progress! We are waiting to hear from our social worker right now to schedule our first home visit. We only have a few stray papers until we have everything collected on our end for our homestudy. Yay! That is victory. I can't wait until we can say that part is done! I went downtown to get a few things today and it was frustrating to say the least! Finding parking was a nightmare, the kids were just totally acting out-of-control, and I got a $15 parking ticket. Seriously?! At least I got a few things crossed off my list, so I am trying to look at the positive instead of the dent in our wallet and my sanity. We are hoping to get our BCI fingerprinting and the police letter done this week, and our physicals will be completed next week. Other than that, I am just waiting for other people to get things to me.
We have had some major storms and flooding around the area last night and today. Since we were trapped at home, Gibson got a long-awaited hair cut from Daddy. It was his first big boy buzz cut, and I'm still getting used to it. He just looks old and it makes me a little sad. Before we took it off we left it in this mohawk...and I'll be honest, I kind of wish we would have left it because he looked so darn cute:

He really wasn't sad in the picture, he was just concentrating on his Wiggles DVD.
On another note, I am researching preschool homeschooling material. Any suggestions?

chuggin' along

2008-05-28T23:09:00.000-04:00

I can't help but think of Gibson when I write that title! Man, that boy loves some trains.
So anyway! Not a whole lot to report here. We have busily been gathering papers and making phone calls. We had a small setback on our I600A because of some miscommunication. It is all straightened out now, thankfully. I sent it back out today and was also able to send off a good chunk of paperwork to our social worker as part of our home study. Hopefully in the weeks to come we will be scheduling our home visits. I am ready!
I also wanted to update people on the tshirt situation. Very soon we will be ordering smaller sizes. We have not forgotten! We are finally bouncing back after vacation, and after we get some things together, we will be ordering them! So the status is: tshirts coming soon! That said, if you are interest in a L, XL, or XXL, please let us know and we can get it to you asap.

How you can pray for us:

Our house has been for sale for quite a while. We are praying it sells soon, but are also considering whether or not to leave it on the market since our home study is beginning soon.
Peace while paperchasing (that is mostly for me, ha!).
Future fundraising, grants, donations, etc. that will make our adoption possible.
Our future child who is probably in his/hers mommy's belly right now! So pray for a healthy pregnancy, their development, and also for their family who must be facing great hardship. Please pray for our child's mother. My heart hurts for her.
Pray for rain! Ethiopia is experiencing a drought right now. You can imagine how hard that is for the people. Also, because of conservation, it slows down all communication which directly effects adoptive families and their children. Rain, rain, rain!

of progress and blessing

2008-05-20T20:31:00.000-04:00

Vacation was truly wonderful! It was such a great rest for our family. We were in need of that possibly more than we ever have been! Phil and I had so much fun together, and Gibson and Maya had a blast. They had been fighting so much before we left and they just had a great time together and really became closer friends.
Now that we are back we are diving right in. I sent in our I600-A today. Tomorrow we will be traveling to do our orientation meeting with our social worker. This will count as one of our face-to-face meetings. We will also pay for our home study meetings tomorrow night. I am hoping later in the week to cross a few other small things off the list like birth certificates, marriage license, etc. There is a lot on the list! If I just look at it as one thing at a time, it is not so overwhelming. I hope that along the process that I can just keep the right perspective that each step will bring us closer to our child. Now that gets me really excited!!!
I just have to put out a big thank you to all of our friends and family out there! The support and prayer that has been poured upon us is amazing. We have been so humbled by the checks and donations that keep popping up along the way. The 10 dollar check means just as much to us as the 200 dollar one. We know people are giving sacrificially and that is truly humbling. So thank you everyone!!!

another step

2008-05-07T23:39:00.000-04:00

Today we sent in our signed agreements and paid our first program fee. We are in this, y'all!!! We are leaving for vacation with my family tomorrow morning (that makes me twitch a little), so while we are gone things can be processed and we will be hooked up with our family coordinator. That means that when we get back from Florida we can hit the ground running collecting papers and begin the home study process. I can't wait! But I am ready to relax a little on the beach first. :)

warning: post contains many exclamation points :)

2008-05-03T22:16:00.000-04:00

Last night was awesome! Oh my, it was so great. Not only was there amazing music by Charis, Blackburn, and Phil Wing, but we just truly felt so loved and supported by the body of Christ. So many people helped us out and served selflessly to help pull it all off. We had about 250 people come out to celebrate with us. It was great to hear another family come and share a little bit about their own adoption from Ethiopia. It was a joy to watch their little children run around with ours. A little glimpse into the future that got us so excited! We also had a friend come share about the World Vision Experience. It sounds like something you will not want to miss.
Now I have to brag on my husband, because he would never do it himself. His band sounded so great last night! Definitely the best that I've ever heard from them. Their new stuff is great, and the song he wrote about our adoption, To Find You, made me cry for sure. Wonderful. I am so excited for his CD to come out now! I have a feeling it will be my favorite, not just because he's my husband, but because the songs are so good.
Our tshirts were flying off of the shelf! We are going to be ordering more (all you small and medium people out there!) so look for those to be coming to our website soon. We are going to set it up with paypal so you can just buy them right off of here.
People were just so generous. We are humbled. In only one night we were able to raise about 20% of our total costs!!! Wow. We were blown away and moved beyond words. Thank you to everyone who so generously gave! It means so much to us for you to be a part of bringing home our baby! We are overcome with joy.
God is good, good, good!!!

Wow

2008-04-29T00:49:00.000-04:00

Friday is approaching quickly, and I can't wait!!! I also just wanted to let people know that we are going to have tshirts at the concert as well. I would post a picture but we don't have them back from the printers yet. But let me tell you, they are going to be SWEET!!! Whatever we have left over after the concert we will make available here for purchase. It will be just one of the many ways we will be fundraising for our adoption.
I will see some of you on Friday, agh! (I'm freaking out a little)

CONCERT

2008-04-18T10:56:00.000-04:00

Please mark your calendars for Friday, May 2nd - 7pm. We'll be having a benefit concert for our upcoming adoption. It will feature my band, charis, and the debut performance of blackburn. It'll be a night to hear some good music, how God has led Amber and I to adopt, and how you can possibly help. Please come!!!!!!!

WE'RE SO EXCITED!!!

yeah baby

2008-04-15T19:19:00.000-04:00

We are officially accepted into America World's Ethiopia program! I got the call this afternoon. As soon as I hung up the phone I cried. Wow, we are only at the beginning and I'm already a mess! It is just crazy that it is finally here...and He is doing this! We truly cannot wait for this adventure in bringing home our next child. I am already dreaming of him/her.

Don't forget to mark your calendars for May 2nd. at 7 p.m. Join us!

anticipation

2008-04-12T23:53:00.000-04:00

We are eagerly awaiting hearing from AWAA sometime this week. We are hoping and praying that there will be no problem with our application. It will just feel good to "officially" be in the Ethiopia program. If we find out we are accepted, we will then get our info packet that gives us the details of all we need to get started on. I do know one thing, it will be a lot! But we are ready and can't wait to jump right in.
One more thing, Friday May 2nd at 7:00 p.m...save the date!!! This is the night of our concert fundraiser! More details to come this week.

...to find you...

2008-04-01T00:19:00.000-04:00

We're the Wing family: Amber, Gibson, Maya, and Phil (left to right)

God has led us to adopt a child from Ethiopia and this blog will serve as our journal through the whole adoption process.

We can't even speak the words to express how excited we are...nervous as all get out, but so excited! We'd love your prayers.

though for now we're left here waiting

with our hearts anticipating
with all we have, we begin to sing...
I'm coming soon, I'm coming soon

I'm coming soon

to find you