Christmas Reflections

The house is scattered with bows and boxes, toys and clothes - evidence of delights that were under the tree yesterday. Today is our day to sleep late, stay in jammies, play games, watch movies, assemble toys, eat cookies, and enjoy being just the five of us.

This morning, I laid awake under the warm blankets for awhile, just reflecting on the joy of these past few days. My mind played snapshots of all the little moments that made up the past couple of days. It is these moments collectively that make my heart overflow:

-Whispers between sisters - knowing they are up to something

-Kevin and the girls heading to the store together - just daddy and his girls

-Holding hands with grandma and grandpa, cousins, aunts and uncles, brothers and sisters, as the pastor prayed a Christmas blessing over our family

-Seeing my teenage daughter skipping through the house with joy

-Singing Silent Night by candle light and really thinking about the scene at the manger

-Watching the kids having so much fun decorating sugar cookies

-Precious homemade gifts from each of my girls that brought tears to my eyes

-A Christmas eve call from a friend saying I was one of the best gifts the Lord gave her this year

-The figurine from Kevin that said "hope" - knowing without speaking that we both were thinking of our little ones across the ocean

-Family members that handed us envelopes to go towards our adoption fund

-A sweet friend in Ethiopia, who posted a few comments about being with our children on Christmas Day

-Watching it all through the eyes of a three year old

None of these moments could be bought or wrapped. And yet they are the gifts that will stay with me the longest. They make me smile outloud, when I'm thinking about them silently. These are the blessings that represent the spirit of everything I love about Christmas.

And though my heart is filled with joy and I can't wrap my arms around how incredibly blessed I am, it has been a hard few days not having our children home with us. My heart and my arms ache, and tears are just barely tucked away, surfacing at the tiniest of things. We are so ready to be "just the 8 of us". When I read about Josiah trying to stow-away on the bus with the families leaving the transition home, and Lydia calling one of them mommy and becoming possesive of her lap - I know that my kids are ready to be part of our family too.

Isaiah, Josiah, and Lydia - We are so grateful that this is the last Christmas that you won't have a mommy and a daddy and a family to call your own. God has already woven you into our hearts and we pray daily that He will begin weaving us into yours. We miss you terribly, and will be on that plane to get you, as soon as God determines it is time. We trust His purposes and His plans. He is for you and our family.

Jeremiah 29:11 For I know that plans I have for you. Plans to prosper you and not to harm you. Plans for a hope and a future.

Traveling Families

Five families are in Ethiopia this week picking up their children, and three more families leave at the end of this week. These are the families we would have traveled with, if we had passed court. We rejoice with each of them, as they unite with their children and bring them home.



Burks - http://bringinghomeezra.blogspot.com/

Caldwells - http://www.faceoflove.blogspot.com/

Slonigers - http://www.beboldjen.blogspot.com/

Stagers - http://www.faceoflove.blogspot.com/

Witters - (no blog)



Tennants - http://ethiopianadoptionspot.blogspot.com/

Savages - http://matthewandnikki.blogspot.com/

Sparrs - http://thefifthsparr.blogspot.com




Pray specifically for Jen Sloniger who was sick with some heart issues right before they left for Ethiopia. And for the Stagers whose baby is in the hospital in Ethiopia.

Updates on Court & Kids

We received an email from our agency on Friday that they have changed their policy back to letting families know their exact court date. This is a welcome change. We were told that our next court date is January 20th, and if we pass, we will travel in early February. We covet your prayers for this date.

On the topic of our court hearing, we also read an update from another family in Ethiopia adopting from our same agency. Here's what Becky wrote: "While we were at lunch I asked Duni about E*** (the orphanage our children came from) and the Kulp's and Semlow's court cases. She told me that she actually sent some America World staff down to Awassa (the town where our children's orphanage is) and they are staying there to go through all of the paperwork with the orphanage to make sure that they have everything done properly by court!" This is great news too.

Becky also met our children today, and we are so incredibly blessed that she took time to post a note about them for us to read. She said: "Semlows – A*** is almost impossible to photograph, she's like a bee, buzzing everywhere nonstop. She is very loveable and wanted to be held and hugged but she's also quite independent. K***- while we were waiting for Ezra outside the front of the home he literally walked right up to me with his arms out for a hug! I immediately bent down and started loving on him. He LOVES to take pictures and see himself in them. He also loves to give kisses. He was smiling the WHOLE time and loved playing with Robel and his brother. I've got lots of really cute pics of them horsing around. F*** – also loves to take and be in pictures! He definitely needs a digital kids'camera! Robel loves these boys and rough houses with them a lot. F*** likes to hang out in the "guys' room" with the older kids. All of your kids were total hams and were VERY happy. You just say "cheese" and they immediately start waving and smiling!"

AND we received an update on our children from agency today. Here is what they said: "F***, K***, and A*** are all healthy and happy. F** is all smiles, all the time. During the day he is with the other older children, in the TH school. He is obedient most of the time! He is sweet and affectionate. He loves to have his picture taken. K*** is sometimes with the older children, and sometimes with the toddlers. K*** is always into something, and doing his own thing. He also loves to give hugs. A*** plays all day with the other children her age. She loves any kind of toy, and is content doing anything. Like the other toddlers, she always wants what everyone else has. She is affectionate and wants to be close, to be held. She will just attach herself around my legs. She has learned to kiss, and loves to kiss me right on the mouth when I come in."

It is so good to hear they are loved and happy. We are praying that during these next weeks of waiting that God will continue healing their hearts and preparing them for the transition to our home. We are so ready to have them HOME. :)

He Knows Me Best

My dear hubby came home with flowers and a card for me tonight. The card said it perfectly ...

What you don't need

is one more person

telling you

everything is going to be okay,

that all you really need

to feel better

is new shoes,

more chocolate,

or a bubble bath.

You and I are smart enough

to know that sometimes

there are no quick fixes,

and things like this happen.

.

Thank you Kevin for being the most amazing support I could have. You know me to my depths. I am so incredibly blessed that God called us to do this thing called life together! Keep holding my hand as we walk this out.

The Boys Room

Here are some pictures of the boy's room. It turned out perfect! Next we'll work on Lydia's room.

The Nativity

One of the items on my shopping list for Ethiopia was a wooden nativity. I was looking forward to bringing this home to memorialize the significance of picking up our children just before Christmas.

Wednesday night we went to pick out our Christmas tree. As Kevin was tying it to the van, I wandered through the Christmas items in the shop and thought ruefully about my nativity. *sigh*

On Friday, when my friends kidnapped me for breakfast, one of them had a gift bag with her. She told me that she didn’t know why, but the Lord had pressed on her heart that she was to give this to me. She felt a little odd and wasn’t sure what I would think of it, or why she was supposed to give it, but she knew she was supposed to. She told me it was something her mom had bought for her a long time ago in Africa. I told her I felt bad taking something her mom had brought her from Africa, but she insisted that it was meant for me. I opened the bag and just started crying. Yes, it was an African nativity. Can you even believe it?! My friend had NO idea that this was something I had wanted.

It blows my mind to think that those many years ago when my friend’s mom was buying this nativity, God knew it was actually for me. He cares about EVERY detail of our lives. I LOVE when He works HUGE miracles that you know are Him alone. But I think I LOVE it even more, when He works in such details, that I know it was for me alone. He is too good to me. This is ALL for HIS GLORY!!!

Isaiah 9
The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned. You have enlarged the nation and increased their joy; they rejoice before you as people rejoice at the harvest, as men rejoice when dividing the plunder.
For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
Of the increase of his government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David's throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever. The zeal of the LORD Almighty will accomplish this.

God is SO Faithful!

God has been so incredibly faithful this past week to show Himself to me through His Word and through circumstances. Each day I have felt His presence and His “kisses” that have spoken to me that He is with me and to keep running this race.

The very afternoon that we found out about court, I was on the phone crying with my mom. A friend pulled into our driveway and I asked Kevin to answer the door, because I was on the phone (and I was a mess!) After she left, he came up to our bedroom and handed me a bag of formula she had brought for us to take to the orphanage and a check for $1,000 to help with our adoption. I just sobbed at how good God was to give me this confirmation in the midst of our pain.

Just minutes after that, another friend stopped by to bring a card and gift, as she had not been able to come to the shower for the kids. Neither of these friends knew about our court hearing.

The next day, Wednesday, we received a phone call that we had been awarded a grant we had been waiting weeks to hear back on.

We also had appointments on Wednesday to get our yellow fever shots, which were going to cost around $500 out of pocket. Due to the delay in travel, we were able to reschedule these shots for January 2nd, which means we will be on a new calendar year for insurance, and these will be covered in full.

Thursday I received news from our travel agency, that we would receive a refund on the difference between the air tickets we had booked to travel the week before Christmas and those we will book when we get new travel dates. I wasn’t expecting this either. I thought we would just have a credit with Ethiopian Airlines.

Friday, three of my friends “kidnapped” me for breakfast. I was in the shower and heard banging on my bathroom door that was too obnoxious to be my children (hahaha). And when I peeked out, there were three of my friends, complete with a Santa hat, coming to whisk me a way. What a blessing!

Saturday I helped give a shower for another friend who just came back from Ethiopia two weeks ago with her baby. (Who happened to be in the same home as our children in Ethiopia.) I had such a delightful time decorating our house in pink and leopard. And I was able to decorate a little African Christmas tree that was definitely “therapy” for my soul.

On Saturday we received a reimbursement check from that State that I wasn’t expecting. (Can you see a pattern here with God’s provision?!)

And on Sunday I was able to “run away” for an overnight of refreshing in Chicago. Kevin was up there for a four day conference from Saturday until Tuesday. And I was able to just spend some time processing through these last few days of our journey.

God is so faithful to have covered me with kisses from heaven this week. I feel my strength growing. And I am so thankful we have this joyful holiday season (my FAVORITE time of the year) as a great focus for the next several weeks. God is SO faithful and I am so humble that He cares so deeply for me.

Lamentations 3
19I remember my affliction and my wandering, the bitterness and the gall.
20 I well remember them, and my soul is downcast within me.
21 Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope:
22 Because of the LORD's great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail.
23 They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.
24 I say to myself, "The LORD is my portion; therefore I will wait for him."
25 The LORD is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him;
26 it is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the LORD

Aarons & Hurs

Exodus 17 tells of the story where the Israelites were in a battle with the Amalekites. “As long as Moses held up his hands, the Israelites were winning, but whenever he lowered his hands, the Amalekites were winning. When Moses’ hands grew tired, they took a stone and put it under him and he sat on it. Aaron and Hur held his hands up – one on one side, one on the other – so that his hands remained steady till sunset. So Joshua overcame the Amalekite army with the sword.”

In my weariness this past week, I called out to my friends to be my “Aarons & Hurs”. I know that God has already won the victory in this battle, but I was so tired!

I just want to say thank you to each of you who blessed me this past week with emails, calls, cards, soup, chocolate, scriptures, breakfast, prayers, and hugs. You have strengthened me!!! I am so blessed to call you my friends.

What Does This Mean?

A number of people have asked what it means that we didn’t pass court and what happens next.

Court is the process in Ethiopia where a judge legally finalizes our adoption. All of the required paperwork for us, our adoption agency, the children, and the orphanage must be complete and accurate at the court hearing. It is our understanding that all of the paperwork for us, the kids and our agency was good. Unfortunately, the orphanage where the kids came from did not have all of the paperwork they needed to prove that are a true and legitimate orphanage.

The partnership between our agency and this particular orphanage is new, and our children and one other baby are the first ones to come to court from this orphanage. At this point we do not have a feel for whether it’s just a matter of papers that orphanage has but didn’t bring to court, because they are new to the process and weren’t well versed in what to bring. Or it could be that the orphanage needs to go through some steps and procedures to get the required papers. And if it is the later, we have no idea if we are looking at days, weeks, or months for them to get the necessary paperwork together.

A HUGE blessing in all this is that Duni, the Director of our agency’s Africa program, is Ethiopian and her last day working in the US was the day we failed court. She has moved back to Ethiopia to continue working with our agency, but from Ethiopia. Duni knows the language, the court system, the process, and she is the one who set up the relationship with our agency and this new orphanage. She has promised that her first priority will be to petition the orphanage as to what paperwork is needed and to help them in every way she can to get these papers. She is a tiger and we know she will be fighting to get our kids home as soon as possible. We are praying that this week or next, we will get some type of communication as to what realistic time frames are.

We KNOW our God is the God of the impossible. We are praying for a miracle to get our kids home and into our arms! He is faithful and He WILL complete this good work He has started.

Genesis 28:15 “I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go, and I will bring you back to this land (Ethiopia). I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.”

We Didn't Pass ...

We received news today that we did NOT pass court. Best estimates at this point are that we will travel in February to pick up our three.

We are so thankful to our God for showing Himself faithful to us today in very tangible ways. Even in the midst of tears, we know that He will carry this work out to completion. We covet your prayers as we are emotionally and physically weary. This journey is certainly not for the faint of heart! (As many of you know from first-hand experience.)


We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal. - 2 Cor 4:8,16-18

Prayers for Court

We believe our court hearing will be in Ethiopia tomorrow (while we are sleeping tonight). This hearing will be the legal adoption of our three children to us as their forever family. We wait anxiously, and yet with full hope and belief, to hear the outcome. Would you please petition the throne on behalf of our family and these three children during these next 18 or so hours, until we hear the outcome? Our God is so good to us and we trust Him with the details of this proceeding. We are praying that tomorrow will be the day that we can officially call these children our own.

Psalm 33:21,22 In him our hearts rejoice, for we trust in his holy name. May your unfailing love rest upon us, O LORD, even as we put our hope in you.

Shower of Blessings

We were blessed today to have our friends give us a shower! What a joy to have such sweet friends walking this journey with us. The decorations were perfect - the Ethiopian flag colors of red, yellow, and green! A highlight were display boards made with beautiful pictures of each of our children. (I SO wish I could post pictures of these!)

The shower was an Open House, so the group picture unfortunately does not show everyone who stopped by. But thank you to each of you for delighting in this journey with us. We could not do this without our army of prayer warriors and encouragers!

We were BEYOND blessed by each of you today!!!!

"Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us. " I John 4:7-12

All I want for Christmas ....

All I want for Christmas is to have my three ET kids home. Well .... today we got an email that our tentative travel dates are December 13th!!! That's right - in just 3 weeks! AAAAHHHHH!!!!!

I had been specifically told by our director that we would not have the kids home before Christmas and that we should expect to travel in January. Which means I thought I had 7 more weeks to get ready for our trip and Christmas, rather than three! I am SO excited, but it does throw me a little behind. I'm taking LOTS of deep breaths and making LOTS of lists! I am confident it will all come together just fine! (That's my mantra and I'm sticking to it!) :))))

A couple of specifics you all can pray for:

1) Based on these travel dates, I am feeling very strongly that our court date is December 2nd. We have to pass court for the kids to be legally ours. If we don't pass, our travel will be pushed back until January. Pray that every necessary piece of paper will be there for the judge to approve our case!!

2) The travel agency is working on holding air tickets for us. They are having troubles finding a return flight home for us, which means we will have to stay a couple of extra days in ET. I would like to be home as soon as possible to give the kids some adjustment before the chaos (and joy) of Christmas day.

Psalm 37: 4, 5 "Delight yourself in the LORD and he will give you the desires of your heart."

Do You Have Spring Break Plans?

With just weeks before we travel, we are trying to get creative on ways to come up with the rest of the funds we need for our adoption. And so we've decided to "sell" a week at our timeshare at Big Cedar in Ridgedale, Mo. If you can help us out and would like a Spring Break get-away, we have an idea for you.

We have reserved a 2 bedroom, 2 full bath condo for Sunday March 22 through Friday March 27th. The condo is 1350 sq feet and sleeps 8 people. It has a full kithen and living room area. There is a fireplace and a spa-sized tub in the unit. We are hoping to get $800 for the 5 nights.

Big Cedar is owned by BassPro. It is a 40 acre resort, on Table Rock Lake, just 10 miles south of Branson, Mo. Big Cedar has its own full service marina, with a variety of boats for rent. There are lots of outdoors opportunities for biking, fishing, and hiking. There is also great shopping at the Branson Landing and several outlet malls. And course there is the regular fare that Branson has to offer as far as shows, go-carts, putt-putt, etc. You can relax or be as busy as you want.

Here are some pictures of the resort, condo, and our Spring Break trip there last year.

Note: It may be possible for us to book a different week, if your Spring Break does not coincide with these dates. It may also be possible for us to book a second (or even third) condo, if you are interested in going with another family or larger group. Feel free to ask questions!

We are praying the Lord prompts someone to enjoy Spring Break at Big Cedar! :)

More Families Bringing Their Babes Home

There are 7 more AWAA families traveling to ET this week to pick up their children. Five of them have blogs listed below if you want to see their stories.

Armstrongs - http://armstrongs2ethiopia.blogspot.com/
Juvinalls - http://www.bearla.com/talk/
Gambles - http://www.bjgamble.blogspot.com/
Pridemores - http://www.pridemore5.blogspot.com/
VanWettens - http://yellowblackandwhite.blogspot.com/ (traveled two weeks ago to pick
up their baby and are now going back to get their older daughter)


One of the families are our good friends Melissa and Pete Juvinall. I cannot wait to see pictures of them of holding their new baby Iona. She is absolutely BEAUTIFUL!!!

Melissa and I talked this morning while they were waiting for a delayed flight at the airport. It will be weird not talking to her this week, since we talk several times a week about the details that have gotten us both this far. It is also hard for me to wrap my mind around the concept that my good friend will be meeting my children before I do. What a blessing, but not the natural order of how a mommy's mind and heart thinks! I will definitely be stalking their blog for frequent updates! :)

Say Cheese!

We have gotten new photos over the past few days from several of the families who traveled to Ethiopia last week. We now have over 40 pictures of our three ET children! What an amazing blessing to have these. Oh how I wish I could post them!!!! But not until we pass court...

We study each photo at great lengths to pick up the littlest details. Here is a little of what we have gleaned:

F - He is a little ham. He runs into other people's pictures and grins at the camera. We also have a funny one of him sitting in a group of children who are singing and clapping. Everyone is looking towards the song leader, except our little guy, who you guessed it, is looking at the camera. Too funny!

K - He looks so sweet in his pictures. Most of them involve someone carrying him, swinging him, or throwing him up in the air. We are told he loves all three of these. One of my favorite details is that it looks like he has a dimple in one of the pictures. All three of my bio-kids have dimples. This was a sweet "happy" for me.

A - We only have a few of her. She looks very serious in all the pictures. I think the lack of pictures might point to the fact that she hangs back from the group a little bit. At least she isn't jumping into pictures like her big brother.

Well, that's the best I can do without being able to post pictures. Any of you who live close by can feel free to stop over for a little slide show anytime you would like. We run it, oh.... about every 5 minutes or so. LOL! We love looking at their sweet faces. :)

We Had a Happy Halloween

The cutest cow on the block!

(Corinne did an amazing job making Kaden's costume.)

Can you say Chocolate?

Thinking of our three ET kiddos. :)

(picture courtesy of the Gibsons blog)

Roller Coaster

This week has been a roller coaster of a ride with the adoption:

Highs:

-Getting a little snippet of information about our oldest son from one of the families in ET this week.

-We finally got the answers to the questions we have been waiting for since we accepted our referral. These involved some basic information on sleeping, eating, pottying, personalities, and relationships with each other. In all, the consensus seems to be that ALL three of our children are VERY full of life. We are pleased to know that they are not withdrawn or showing depression. We are trusting the Lord to equip us with everything these little ones will need from us.

Lows:

-We found out today that we will NOT have the kids home by Christmas. It was a tearful conversation I had with our director this morning, but I am processing through it ok. God is sovereign and I trust His plan. It's just so amazing how he creates a longing and an ache in your heart for children you have never met.

UpHill Climbs:

-K's birthday is January 9th. As of right now, it looks like the earliest we will travel is January 9th. We are praying that arrangements can be made for us to travel early and be with K on his birthday.

Next Week:

I am anticipating that we will receive more pictures of the kids this week, as the families who traveled last week get settled back in at home and get their pictures downloaded to share. We also were able to send care packages to the kids with a family that left today for ET, so we know they will getting those on Tuesday.

Here are the blogs of all the families traveling this week:

Laughners: http//laughners. blogspot. com/

Brittons: http://www.brittonadoptionjourney.blogspot.com/

Hammonds: http://thewait4you.blogspot.com/

Nunez: http://nunezstory.blogspot.com/

Terwilleger: http://isaacandkathee.blogspot.com/

Water to My Soul

For those of you who have checked in over the past few days to ask about the update we have been waiting for – thank you so much for asking!! It means so much to know you are thinking of us. As for the update … STILL waiting. We've been told multiple times over the past two weeks that the answers to our question are on there way, but then the day comes and goes, and I get a new estimate on when they think they will get answers to us. Ugh! I think it's getting my hopes up each day and the related disappointment that's a killer. I trust God must have a reason why I need to wait for this information. I’m setting my eyes and hope on him alone, but that doesn’t mean my heart is not aching for a little news on our children.

And knowing yesterday that there were traveling families (see post below) in ET hugging and holding our children, just made me ache all the more. And so when I read the Lusse’s blog this morning, and saw a little update on our oldest boy, I just sobbed.

http://lusseadoptionjourney.blogspot.com/2008/10/thoughts-at-6am-in-addis.html

It was like water to a thirsty soul. But LOL – a mother doesn’t usually look for the words “intense” and “mischief” to describe her son. What does the Lord have in store for us!? All I can do is laugh!!!! Anyhow, hopefully we’ll get some more information on all of the kids later yet this week.

Other exciting news on the adoption front:

Our friends the Juvinalls passed court today. http://www.bearla.com/talk/ Their precious baby girl is now officially and legally theirs. They leave in two weeks to go pick her up. She is in the Transition Home with our children.

Our friends the Shaws leave for Korea on Thursday to pick up their new baby girl. http://alaynacharis.blogspot.com/

And our friends the Lipics just got their referral from Korea. http://thelipicbunch.blogspot.com/

Lord, I love seeing you move on behalf of these little ones! Thank you for watering my soul today.

Isaiah 58:11 "The LORD will guide you always; he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land and will strengthen your frame. You will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail."

Families in Ethiopia this Week

There are 5 families from our agency picking up their children in Ethiopia this week. Here are the blogs for 4 of them. It's always wonderful to watch families being united with their little ones.

http://www.schmidtcafe.blogspot.com/

http://markredfern.blogspot.com/

http://lusseadoptionjourney.blogspot.com/

http://www.yellowblackandwhite.blogspot.com/

"Instead of ... Replacement"

When we received the names of our three Ethiopian children, we asked what each of them meant. F means "Easter". A means "beautiful flower". And K means "instead of/replacement". His name was a little puzzling to our agency director who is Ethiopian. She said you would usually see this name if an older child or father had died. But since F is a year older than K, there are no other birth children, and their father is still alive, she wasn't quite sure why this name would have been given.

Well over the weekend, I was thinking back to the baby I miscarried the year before I had Kaden. I wondered if it was a boy or girl and how he or she would have fit into this whole mix of little ones we'll have in our home. And then I realized that K's birth date is just days after when my due date for this baby was. And with this realization, I had a new perspective on "instead of/replacement". I don't know what K was replacing in his birth family's life, but in mine he is replacing a blessing I wasn't prepared for over 4 1/2 years ago.

Something I recently heard and have been processing through is that our calling in life is to become fully mature in Christ. And the reason He wants us to become fully mature, is so that we are ready to receive the inheritance and blessing He has for us here on earth, so that we might bless the nations. I am humbled that He has prepared and tested and matured my heart over these past years. What was once a blessing I cried over is now a blessing I am rejoicing over.

And so, in yet another way, God has confirmed beyond a doubt that these three children are all mine. A, the toddler girl he wrote on our hearts two years ago. F, the wild boy I began sensing would join our family, as soon as we opened our hearts to bringing home two. And K, my replacement blessing - the mark that my heart is maturing in Him.

He didn't say this road or calling would be easy, convenient, or pain free. But He has shown us that it is about getting our hearts slowly, but surely a little more like His. Thank you Lord for the joy of these three blessings that you now feel I am ready to receive.

For you are great and do marvelous deeds;
you alone are God.
Teach me your way, O LORD,
and I will walk in your truth;
give me an undivided heart,
that I may fear your name.
I will praise you, O Lord my God, with all my heart;
I will glorify your name forever.
~Psalm 86:10-12

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CORINNE!

Happy Birthday to the girl who made me a mommy! I CANNOT believe that you are 17 today! I think of the first time I held you. So tiny and precious. And now you are 6 inches taller than me. :) I am so blessed by what a beautiful girl you are both inside and out. It was a little scary going to the college fair with you on Tuesday and thinking that you could be heading off this fall. But I am excited to see where the Lord takes you. I know he has great plans for your incredible heart for little ones. Hold on to the dreams He has spoken into you. Keep seeking Him with ALL your heart!! There is nothing greater than being TOTALLY in love with Him! We love you dearly!!!!

What's Next?

So now that we have our referral, some of you are wondering what's next and when will we get to bring our children home.

-The next step is for us to get a court date.

-At this court date, a judge will review the case and all of the documentation, and if everything is in order, they will legally declare the children as ours.

-Our agency will notify us that we have "passed" court.

-At that point, we can post pictures. :)

-We will travel about three weeks after we pass court.

-Our trip will be about 8 days long.

-The 8 days involve 30 hours travel each way, meeting our children, visiting their orphanage, and getting visas to bring them home. They will be legally ours before we travel.

As far as timing, our agency is hoping that by early next week they will have a court date secured for us. This date will likely be some time in mid to late November. Our agency will not notify us of the specific date. They will just call to let us know when we have "passed". (Some families have been to court 5+ times due to various paperwork that is missing or needs adjusted. Others pass the first time.)

Our agency has indicated that it is possible we could travel the week before Christmas. If not, there will be several weeks of no travel groups due to the holidays and then Ethiopian Christmas which is on January 7th. So it could be mid-January before we travel. Again, those estimates are assuming we pass court the first time.

We are trusting God's perfect timing for our travel. There are reasons why traveling before Christmas would be better and reasons why traveling in January would be better. So join us in praying for God's perfect timing and for us to have perfect peace in the waiting. We don't want our children in the orphanage one day longer than He has planned.

THE CALL

Even though it's been 10 days since we got our referral, I thought I'd write a post about when we got "THE CALL". I have loved reading "the call" posts on other people's blogs, and I wanted to be sure to write about it as part of the story for our kiddos.

First of all, the girls had some guesses going as to when they thought we would get the call. Corinne had scientifically calculated October 7th, based on the timing each month of when other families had gotten sibling referrals. Hollie was guessing October 13th. And my guess was ummm sometime in December. So needless to say, the call took me by surprise.

I was at work on Tuesday 9/30 trying to wrap things up, so that we could leave on a week's vacation the following day. I had one last status update meeting with my boss at 2:30, and then I hoped to close up shop by 4:00. At 2:27 my cell phone range, and I immediately recognized the 703 area code that is so infamous for us AWAA folks, but I just figured Terra had a question on our paperwork we had just updated a couple of weeks before. So here's how the conversation went:

Me: Hello

Terra: Hi Sherry. How are you doing?

Me: I'm good. How are you?

Terra: I'm doing REALLY good! (At this point my heart started beating faster. Could it be?)

Me: You are making me REALLY nervous.

Terra: I have your referral.

Me: Oh my goodness!!! Are you kidding? (At this point I'm shaking and holding back tears.)

Terra: Are you at home and is Kevin there?

Me: No, I'm at work. (I type an email to my boss that I am going to be late for our 2:30 meeting)

Terra: Should we conference Kevin in?

Me: Um, I don't know. What do most people do? Should you just tell me and then I'll tell him? I don't know how to conference call? Do you? What do you think? (Yes, I know I wasn't making any sense.)

Terra: Why don't we call him?

Me: Ok.

Terra: Ummm, can you give me his phone #?

Me: Oh yeah.

So we call Kevin, and he was dead silent during the call. I could tell he was totally surprised and overwhelmed! I kept saying "Are you ok honey?" She gave us the basic information and said she would email pictures and all the detailed information to our home email. Kevin and I both needed to finish out our day at work before we could head home, but I didn't want to say anything at work before we got home to tell the kids. I am sure that was an interesting staff meeting, since I have no idea what I said to my boss for the next hour.

We finally both made it home around 4:15. We played it cool and had some general conversation with the girls about their day. And then I asked Corinne if anyone had gotten any referrals while I was at work. She said no. Corinne is a list keeper of who's next in line and who's waiting for boys and girls, and who is DTE when, etc. So I asked her how many referrals there had been in September, since it was the last day of the month. She told me what she thought the count was and I said "Does that count our 3?" And the girls said "What??? Did we get a referral?!" Then we told them, and we all spent the next hour looking over pictures and their information.

Kevin then gathered us all together to pray and he read Jeremiah 29:11 "For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord. Plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." This is our family verse for our adoption.

By then it was 5:30 and I knew there was no way I was going to be able to cook dinner. So we ran and grabbed some pizza at Sams. And then headed with pictures over to my parents house. After a short visit with them, we made phone calls to the rest of our family and then started calling friends. It was a FUN night of people stopping by to see our pictures and celebrate with us all the way until 10:30ish.

My plans had been to pack for our trip Tuesday night and obviously that didn't happen. I threw things together in the suitcases before we left on Wednesday. What awesome timing that we had a whole week away to rejoice together as a family.

A Magical Week

We have been incredibly blessed by a trip to Disney this week. Here are some of the highlights:

Hollie: Riding Everest Expedition 4 times and getting to be in the front row; Rockin Roller Coaster; SpectroMagic Parade

Corinne: Epcot Laser Show; SpectroMagic Parade

Kaden: Meeting Mickey; riding the Steam Engine (Walt Disney RR); FINALLY finding Daisy Duck; meeting Lightning McQueen

Sherry: The Lion King Show; the guy at Disney Studios who told Hollie her shoelaces were tied -(they had been untied ALL week); rocking Kaden during Beauty & the Beast and having him sweetly sing their love song on my shoulder all the way out of the show; NO lines over 10 minutes

Kevin: Having fun with his family

Everyone: The new Toy Story Mania ride; being awarded one of the Million Dreams Come True - a badge with fastpasses to every ride in Animal Kingdom with no time limits; the closing Fireworks at Magic Kingdom; beautiful weather, lots of laughter, and great memories!

How Great is Our God!!

Today I woke up and spent some time just sobbing before God about how incredibly good and amazing He is. As I have begun to process through the details of yesterday, I cannot even begin to tell you how overwhelmed I am with how my God is a God of details! His love for me is so overwhelming that tears just pour down my face as I type this.

I have 10 million things I have to get done this morning, but I couldn't think of one more important than taking time to tell of the goodness of my Savior. I want this praise to be written down forever while it is fresh and alive.

So here are just a few of the "little" things that make me know these children have been sent straight from His heart to mine:

1. We were approved for 3 children ages 0-8, but we did have some thoughts on what we hoped it would look like. I struggled with how to communicate with our agency what we were hoping for without feeling like my personal preferences were putting God in a box. And so we told them we would certainly consider any sibling group within the 0-8 range, but our "hope for" was a little girl under Kaden's age and siblings under five. And with all the crazy combinations there could have been, God did just that! Our sweet little girl is under Kaden's age and both her brothers are under five.

2. I have been saying for several months that Kaden needs a brother and that I felt God preparing our relatively quiet crew for a little wildness. So Kaden gets TWO brothers, and I almost laughed out loud when our agency coordinator told us that our oldest little boy has a reputation of being a wild one. Whew - what are we in for!?

3. Last night as I lay in bed squeezing my hubby's hand and we were both saying how CRAZY this is, I remembered something that I can't believe didn't register earlier, but I'll write it off to being in a state of shock all evening. A few weeks ago, we had agreed on a second girls name Alannah. Well guess what our little girls name is - A. Our plan was to keep their ET names as their middle names. And so the second girls name we picked, will in fact be her second name.

4. We will end up being just 5-6 months past what we had thought our original dates would be for El Salvador. How incredible is that, that God wrote this story to have us wait 14 months for ES, change countries, re-do paperwork, and come out with triple the children in just a little longer wait time.

5. Earlier this month, we became aware of a different sibling group of three that we were praying over and wanting to pursue. For reasons I can't disclose, we found out last week that these children were not adoptable to us. I thought after praying so hard for them and envisioning them in our family, that I would be heart-broken, but I wasn't. I was sad for the situation, but yet at complete peace and trust that God had something different planned. I even said at the time that it felt weird that I was so ok with it. Thank you God for how you have taught me so much about trusting you with open hands over these past months!

6. From the beginning of our adoption journey, we thought a toddler girl would be perfect. We didn't necessarily want to do the infant stage again. And with El Salvador, there weren't infant girls available. But when we switched over to Ethiopia, the girls being referred have been tiny babies. And so mentally we began to prepare and think about having an infant. Last night after we got our referral, I kind of let my breath out and thought, ok we won't be doing infant stage. And I'll admit, I felt relieved. (Not that I wouldn't have loved an infant.) But God knew perfectly from the start of this journey what He had planned, and I think he wrote toddler girl on our hearts.

For many of you, these details may not seem significant, but to me they are HUGE! They are such clear evidence to me that God is an incredible author of my life. Each chapter He writes gets better than the last. And I can hardly stand how good the story is!!!!!


Psalm 135:1-5

Praise the LORD. Praise the name of the LORD;
praise him, you servants of the LORD,
you who minister in the house of the LORD,
in the courts of the house of our God.
Praise the LORD, for the LORD is good;
sing praise to his name, for that is pleasant.
For the LORD has chosen Jacob to be his own,
Israel to be his treasured possession.
I know that the LORD is great,
that our Lord is greater than all gods.

Today is the Day!

Today was FINALLY the day we have been waiting for since we started our adoption process 20 months ago. The Lord saw fit to bring us a referral for three beautiful children. F (boy) is 4, K (boy) is 3, and A (girl) is 2. WOW!!! We have NO doubt that they are God's perfect plan for our family.

We cannot post their pictures until after they legally become ours. But we have had a crazy fun whirl-wind of a night with lots of people stopping by to celebrate and see their pictures.

We were TOTALLY surprised to get our referral this soon! (I was thinking maybe a couple of more months.) And it definitely feels surreal! My adrenaline has been pumping as if I have had WAY too much caffeine. There is no high like those from the Lord Most High!!!

The Lord is so incredibly perfect with His timing. We are leaving tomorrow on vacation and that will give us some great time as a family of 5 to process through becoming a family of 8. And hopefully by the time we get back next week, we'll have some names picked out. I will post more details when we get back, but for now I need to get packing and figure out the logistics of what paperwork HAS to be completed before we leave.

Thank you for all of your prayers and encouragement. Keep them coming!!!!


Psalm 126:2,3

Our mouths were filled with laughter,
our tongues with songs of joy.
Then it was said among the nations,
"The LORD has done great things for them."

The LORD has done great things for us,
and we are filled with joy.

While I'm Waiting

Found this song, which is my new favorite: While I'm Waiting by John Waller from the CD "The Blessing". The words say it all!

The Number is Three

Do you remember that song from Sesame Street? "Three, three, three, the number is three!"

Well that is the official number at the Semlow household this week. Kaden turned 3 on Monday. And today we received our amended 171H, with approval to adopt up to 3 children. WooHoo!

I called our agency coordinator and she was REALLY excited to hear we got official approval. She also told me that we are the ONLY ones with our agency currently approved for three. Kevin's response to this was "WOW!" What more can we say?!

We are praying expectantly about the GREAT things the Lord has planned for us! We have been blessed this week with some glimpses of what it might look like. We are praying for what we feel the Lord is laying on our hearts, and we'll see what the coming weeks bring.

We're hanging on tight, because this is the ride of a lifetime!!!!

Psalm 130:5,6 "I wait for the LORD, my soul waits, and in his word I put my hope. My soul waits for the Lord more than watchmen wait for the morning, more than watchmen wait for the morning. "

Happy Birthday Kaden!

Happy 3rd Birthday Kaden! I had a delightful day playing Thomas the Train (of course), meeting daddy to eat french fries at McDonald's for lunch, and having supper, presents, and cake with our family tonight. I knew you were truly growing up when for the first time at dinner you said "Skooz me, may I have more sauce please?" What a sweet, polite boy you are growing up to be. You bring such joy to my life! :)

Bye Bye Baby

Kaden is turning 3 on Monday. With both the girls, this marked the end of baby-hood in my mind. I had similar emotions on each of their 3rd birthdays as I had on their first day of kindergarten. Excited for what was ahead, but sad for what was over. So on Monday, I will accept that Kaden's baby days are over.

To add to the emotion of this mile marker, I've been going through Kaden's baby clothes in preparation for a garage sale. Not good planning on my part to do this so close to his birthday. Bye bye baby clothes! Bye bye paci! Bye bye crib! Bye bye baby! It seems like just yesterday we were preparing for his birth. Where does the time go?!

In honor of his moving on to big boy days, I thought I would post a few "Kaden-isms", also known as baby talk that I have found endearing, and a few pictures from his baby days.

Kaden-isms:
Wash Car: car wash
Dina-horse: a dinasaur
Neigh: what a dina-horse says
Moo: what a cowboy says
Elvin: elephant
Lot-a-some: lots!
Sissy: Just Corinne, not Hollie
Buckle me out: unbuckle me
Caca-copter: helicopter
Bo-bozer: bull dozer
Oger: Yogurt
Ba-boose: Caboose

Getting Closer!!!!!

Based on the history of recent referrals, our Agency has reduced the estimated wait times for referrals of sibling groups to 5 to 7 months from when your dossier is submitted. As of Tuesday, our dossier will have been in Ethiopia 4 months. That means we could be getting a referral as soon as next month!! Wow, we've been telling ourselves February, since that would go along with the 9 month time frame that is typical for infant girls. This news, along with some "spy" news from several families who have recently traveled has us getting a little excited. We've been playing a few "what if" games, but balancing that with trusting that the Lord has the perfect plan of timing and number and ages of children for our family. We dream about delighting in the day we finally receive our big news!

.

Also, please join us in praying as we are still waiting on one more document from USCIS for the changes we made to bring home siblings. We need to have this paper before we can receive our referral.

We wait in hope for the LORD;

he is our help and our shield.

In him our hearts rejoice,

for we trust in his holy name.

Psalm 33:20-21

Family & Friends

Psalm 133:1 "How wonderful it is, how pleasant, when brothers live in harmony."

This verse was from some time I spent with God today. My study time had to do with family and friendships and how God uses them to chip off our rough edges. Here are some thoughts that were good:

-We form most friendships out of personal preferences.
-Many of us have distanced ourselves from extended family because we've replaced them with people we prefer.
-We can drop friends more easily when the relationship becomes inconvenient.
-The challenges that God give us in our family pose to be an effective motivation to seek His throne, His help, His healing.
-If we only choose to be around those who require virtualy nothing hard from us, what will prompt us to change?
-God often uses other people as the chisel to carve true integrity into our rough personalities.


I also got this in an email today, which was both thought provoking and timely:

People come into your life for a reason, a season or a lifetime.
When you know which one it is, you will know what to do for that person.

When someone is in your life for a REASON, it is usually to meet a need you have expressed.
They have come to assist you through a difficulty, to provide you with guidance and support, to aid you physically, emotionally or spiritually. They may seem like a godsend and they are.They are there for the reason you need them to be. Then, without any wrongdoing on your part or at an inconvenient time, this person will say or do something to bring the relationship to an end. Sometimes they die. Sometimes they walk away. Sometimes they act up and force you to take a stand. What we must realize is that our need has been met, our desire fulfilled, their work is done.The prayer you sent up has been answered and now it is time to move on.

Some people come into your life for a SEASON, because your turn has come to share, grow or learn. They bring you an experience of peace or make you laugh. They may teach you something you have never done. They usually give you an unbelievable amount of joy. Believe it, it is real. But only for a season.

LIFETIME relationships teach you lifetime lessons, things you must build upon in order to have a solid emotional foundation. Your job is to accept the lesson, love the person and put what you have learned to use in all other relationships and areas of your life.

There have been many who have been in my life for a reason or a season. Thank you for serving the purpose God had for you in my life. Thank you to those have committed to be with me for the long haul. To help shape me, chisel me, and mold me into what the Lord wants me to be. Regardless of whether your friend or family, for a reason, season or a lifetime, your prayers over my life have been coveted and appreciated. May the Lord Bless you much!

Olympics Addict

Is anyone else staying up too late watching the Olympics?! Every night, I promise myself not to stay up so late the next night, and then I get sucked in again. It is so fun and entertaining!!!

For a little fun, leave me a comment on your favorite Olympic moment so far. I think this will leave a memorable "journal" for our child(ren) of what we did the year we were waiting for them to come home.

Great Verse!

LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this verse in the Message:

"As you learn more and more how God works, you will learn how to do your work. We pray that you'll have the strength to stick it out over the long haul--not the grim strength of gritting your teeth but the glory-strength God gives. It is strength that endures the unendurable and spills over into joy, thanking the Father who makes us strong enough to take part in everything bright and beautiful that he has for us" (Col. 1:11–12 MSG).

Vacation Pictures - Big Cedar

Noah - A Man Who Trusted God

One of the highlights of our Branson trip was going to see Noah the Musical. This is such a beautiful story of God’s faithfulness to keep His promises. Watching Noah’s faith and trust brought tears to my eyes at several points in the play. My absolute favorite line was when Noah returned broken and beaten from a journey to get supplies and he says “Well it didn’t turn out like we thought it would, but our faith has grown.”

I don’t know one family that has gone through the adoption process that couldn’t use that phrase to describe at least one phase of their journey. I know I can personally say that my faith has grown incredibly in the past year and a half. I have been stretched to the point I thought I would break (but didn’t). I trust God to depths I never have before.

I spent some time today reading Genesis 5-9 detailing the full Biblical account of Noah. What a hero of faith He was. I can so relate to him, in my own adoption journey, although obviously on a much smaller scale.

-I know without a doubt that God called us to adopt, just as Noah knew without a doubt that God called him to build a boat.

-I don’t know how long the process will take, although it’s taking longer than I could have imagined. Did you know it took Noah 70 or 80 years to build the ark? And he was on the ark a full year, even though he was only told that it would rain for 40 days and nights. Do you think he imagined it would take another 300+ days for the land to dry out?

-Noah did not know how things were going to look when he got to the other side of the storm. I don’t know how this thing will look when we receive our child(ren). I don’t know when we’ll get our referral call. I don’t know how many children we will have. I don’t know how old or young they will be. I don’t know if they will be boys or girls. I don’t know if their hearts will be happy or broken. I don’t know …

But when I ponder what has been at the root of my faith growing so much this past year, it has been about letting God control EVERY detail without me knowing any of it. I have had to open my hands wide (although there have been moments He was prying fingers). I trust Him.

As I meditated on this today, an old hymn came to mind:

’Tis so sweet to trust in Jesus,

Just to take Him at His word;

Just to rest upon His promise,

Just to know “Thus saith the Lord!”

Refrain: Jesus, Jesus, how I trust Him!

How I’ve proved Him o’er and o’erJesus,

Jesus, precious Jesus!

O for grace to trust Him more!
.

Psalm 31:14 “But I trust in you, O LORD; I say, "You are my God."

Soooo Hot!

The past few days have continued to be VERY hot. On Monday, we tried to stay cool by spending the day at a water park. At the end of the day, we were all beat, especially Kaden. As we were leaving the water park, we had to walk through the gift shop. Kaden looked up at me and in a small, sweet voice said "I want to buy something for my baby sister." My heart melted instantly and I knelt down to his level and asked him what he would like to buy for his baby sister. He said "A snowsuit, a snow hat, and a snow shirt." I think his plans for cooling down involved visions of snow. LOL! What a sweet boy!

On Vacation :)

Well we left on Friday for a 8-9 day vacation on Table Rock Lake. I did not get "update blog" crossed off my to-do list before we left. I even had the post all typed, and just needed to cut and paste it in. Of course that post is on the home PC, so it will have to wait until we return.

We started our trip with a morning at the St. Louis Zoo. It was 89 degrees when we arrived there at 8:30 am. By 10:00 we started wilting and called it a day before noon. Despite the heat, we had a good time and enjoyed watching Kaden see "big" animals for the first time (that he can remember). The chimpanzee's had a big fight that brought even groundskeepers and zoo volunteers to watch. No monkeys were injured, but it was very noisy and fascinating to watch. Kaden declared that they needed a time out.

We then drove the rest of the way to our destination. It was still 96 degrees out at 9:00 pm when we went for some ice cream. We're planning to hang out at the pool and lazy river all day today.

As for the rest of the week, we're looking forward to seeing the musical Noah at the Sights and Sound theater. We're going to a water park. We are meeting up with several families adopting from Ethiopia through our same agency that live in the Branson area. We've got some boating planned. And the girls favorite - outlet mall shopping. Other than that we'll be relaxing, relaxing, relaxing.

I'll try to post pictures as the week progresses.

Peace in Ethiopia

Below is a CNN news article that prompts me to pray for peace in Ethiopia. We're asking that you join us in prayer for this nation and people are hearts are bonding with. Returning to war with Eritrea would bring further devastation to this already impoverished nation.


UNITED NATIONS (AP) -- The United Nations Security Council voted unanimously Wednesday to end its eight-year peacekeeping mission between Eritrea and Ethiopia.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has warned that failure of the mission could lead to a new war between the Horn of Africa neighbors.

Council members and other diplomats said the U.N. had little choice but to withdraw its 1,700-strong force, which has been monitoring a 15-mile-wide, 620-mile-long buffer zone between the two nations.

The vote means the entire mission will be terminated Thursday, said Vietnam's U.N. ambassador, Le Luong Minh.

Belgian Ambassador Jan Grauls told the council that the mission, known as UNMEE, "had become impossible to implement" because Eritreans progressively limited peacekeepers' movements -- including restricting night patrols, supply routes and diesel fuel -- and Ethiopians refused to accept an independent boundary commission's 2002 decision to award the key town of Badme to Eritrea.

"The border dispute between Ethiopia and Eritrea remains total, and the United Nations is withdrawing without having been able to assist the two countries in finding a common ground, in spite of having tried all to achieve it," Grauls said.

Eritrea and Ethiopia have been feuding over their border since Eritrea gained independence in 1993 after a 30-year guerrilla war. The U.N. entered under a 2000 peace agreement that ended the 2½-year border war.

In a resolution drafted by Belgium, a former colonial power in Africa, the council said it regretted that Eritrea's "obstructions ... reached a level so as to undermine the basis of the mission's mandate" and forced peacekeepers to temporarily relocate, mainly on the Ethiopian side.
The resolution also called on Ethiopia to respect the boundary commission's decision and demanded that both nations comply with their agreement "to show maximum restraint and refrain from any threat or use of force against each other, and to avoid provocative military activities."

Ban warned in April that a war could break out if peacekeepers were to withdraw entirely from along the disputed border and urged Eritrea to restore the U.N.'s ability to patrol its side of the border.

Troops from both countries also exchanged gunfire several times in recent months, Ban said.
But the $113 million annual peacekeeping mission had pulled most of its personnel from the Eritrean side; fewer than 200 peacekeepers had remained there, mainly to guard U.N. equipment until it could be removed.

In 2005, Eritrea banned U.N. helicopter flights in its airspace.

Fingerprints - ALWAYS an Adventure

Our fingerprints with the US Citizens and Immigration Services (USCIS) expired this month. Oddly enough, Kevin's expired three days before mine, even though we had them taken on the same day in February of 2007. So we got up at 4:45 this morning to drive up to Naperville for our 8:00 am appointment. (I think with some States you can request a time for your appt. In Illilnois, you take what they give you.)

We were feeling good about not hitting any traffic and were about 10th in line outside the office before they even opened. That good feeling ended when the line started moving, and the couple in front of us handed the processor one appointment letter for the husband and one for the wife. We only had ONE letter. Since we only had one 171H form with both of our fingerprint expiration dates on the same letter, I didn't question that we had only received one letter for our appointment. Yikes. Sure enough when it was our turn, she said we were supposed to each have our own letter. She then put it aside in a tray for the supervisor to reivew, told us to have a seat, and then continued checking everyone else in line in, which was very long at this point. I told Kevin "we just need to pray".

After a few more people, there was someone else in line with an issue. His appointment wasn't scheduled until this Friday, but he was leaving for China on Thursday. They were not very nice to him (in fact I think you need special training to be this rude) and put his letter in the same pile as ours. Hmmm - pray more. After awhile I saw someone take our letter in to the supervisor's office. More waiting. Then the supervisor came out and had a rude argument with the man going to China. Not looking like they are in a good mood - pray harder.

Then the supervisor came out and called our name. She asked where our receipt was. I said we only got the letter. And she asked again where our receipt was. And then I told her I sent a money order, but we were eligible for one free update, so they returned the money order. She then asked why I had brought the 171H. I said to show that both of our fingerprints had expired. But we only got one letter? Yes that is correct. Have a seat. Back into her office. More praying!

While we were waiting they yelled at the China man somemore about NEVER being able to come in BEFORE your appointment date, but you could always reschedule AFTER your appointment date. After an hour, she finally called us again and said the reason I didn't get a letter was because my appointment wasn't until next Friday on August 1st, which is why they hadn't mailed my letter yet. Great - we're here BEFORE my appointment date. I made a comment (VERY nicely!) that it didn't make sense that they made our appointments on separate days. (I guess it related back to our original prints expiring on different days). She said "No it doesn't make sense, but it's not a problem. I printed your sheet so you can get your prints done today." Yeah, no second trip to make! Prayers answered! Exhale slowly ...

Prov 84:11 For the LORD God is a sun and shield; the LORD bestows favor and honor; no good thing does he withhold from those whose walk upright.

The Power of Words

So this weekend we received our first negative comments about our adoption. We knew they would come, but I must say I still wasn’t prepared with an answer.

• First were the eyes as big as saucers when I said we were planning to adopt a sibling group.


• Second came the question of will they be “dark skinned”? (The girls and I later had fun laughing over sarcastic responses we could have given like “Oh my we hadn’t considered that.” - But those of you who know me, know I would never in reality make such a comment.)


• Third was the unsolicited advice of why we should only adopt children under two years old. (Like children over this age shouldn’t be given a family because they might have emotional scars by no choice or fault of their own.)

I guess I didn’t realize how much these comments would bother me.

And then came the words of encouragement that I posted about yesterday. Words like these spur us to keep on going, even though it’s long and it’s hard. I have really appreciated not just the words, but how they were given and when they were received.

• First, they came just about 24 hours after the negative comments. This timing was not by accident.
  
• Second, they were straight from the word of God.
  
• Third, was how these words were given to us. My friend read the words over me. And then her husband read them over my husband. There is something powerful about having another man of God read scripture as a blessing and encouragement over your husband!


• Fourth – These friends didn’t know where we were specifically in our process. They didn’t know if we needed encouragement or were doing ok. They just heard from the Lord and passed it on to us.

And so I’ve been pondering on the power of the spoken word. It can be a curse or a blessing. How often have I failed to speak encouragement over someone who needs it? Do I only encourage when I sense someone is down and out? How often have I spoken careless words that have left a sting in someone else’s spirit? How often have I tried to encourage someone with my own words, when the Lord’s words would be so much better?

So I encourage first myself and then you – speak blessing and encouragement over those you encounter today. Ask the Lord to give you a word for someone who needs to hear from Him. Your words are more powerful than you know!

Proverbs 12:18 "Reckless words pierce like a sword, but the tongue of the wise brings healing."