ONE MONTH!!!!

That's all I have to say :)

later

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

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...

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?

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

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!!!

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!