Schools out!

Summer is here! Now starts the process of adjusting to having all the kids home everyday! We are forced to be organized during school but we have to figure out a new plan in summer. The best part is no more alarms in the morning!!! This is the first summer that I have not worked since the kids were little. Hopefully it will make life go a little smoother..and a little more fun! Hopefully we will have more days to do fun things such as the beach and the park. It goes by fast so we need to enjoy every sunny day!

Onto the adoption...Our Family Coordinator called on Tuesday to introduce herself. She will be helping us to compile our Dossier. This is the massive pile of paperwork that has to be sent to Ethiopia. This paperwork is key! This is what is used in the courts and what is used to get our referral. Our referral will be pictures and info about the children they chose for us. Once we receive the referrals we have the option to accept or decline the referral. If we approve this is when we start the final stage of the adoption. After this stage it is only a matter of months before we can officially meet our children. Now this is a long way off..but the quicker we can get together our paperwork the better! It is considered our "Paper Pregnancy".

I have to say I am just as excited as I was when I found out I was pregnant with my 3 kids. Every phone call or email brings such joy. I know every piece of paper or phone call brings me that much closer to meeting my children. This process brings many different emotions but most of all joy and excitement. You normally spend nine months imagining what your child will look like or what their personality will be like, this will be longer but it is still the same. I may not be carrying them but I know God has already chosen our children and I can't wait to meet them. In my heart I am already a mother of five. We are so blessed to be able to go through this experience. Even with the ups and the downs the end will be well worth it! We know that some people do not share our views or agree with our choice to adopt. Many people can't imagine why we would want more kids when we already have three. The best way I can explain it is..The Lord has put this on our hearts. We have such a love for our children they are a blessing to us everyday. We can only imagine how these other two children will bless our family. My prayer is many hearts and minds will be opened through our experience. You can not hide the goodness of God.

Father's Day

Today is a special day to honor the wonderful father that my husband is but also a sad day because my father is not here with us. Its hard to believe he has been gone so long. It makes me sad when I think of all that he missed with my kids. Even sadder to know they will never know him, Francesca loved her Papa and I know the others kids would've loved him too. When we are young we don't appreciate our parents like we should. My hope is my children treasure every memory they have with their Dad. I know Anthony makes his kids a priority above everything else. He is a "fun" Dad always playing with the kids and making them laugh. Above all he makes sure they know that they are loved..

Today I ponder what our children will be like....

Some future Father's day he will have two more children to love and two more children whose lives will be changed forever by a wonderful father!

I got It!

OK! It took me all day but I finally got the music up and running..I will figure this stuff out yet! Received an email today, they received our agreement today. we should get a call in the next week or so from our America World coordinator and our social worker! For now I can stop stressing..everything is in order so far.. This will be a long process but an exciting one!

The Beginning..

In May of 09 my husband and I decided to attend an America world seminar, although it didn't start then, we had been praying about how to expand our family for years. I found America World when my youngest was about 1. I have held onto the application and DVD for years. Only in Gods time..

We noticed there was a local seminar and decided to attend. Walking to the car after the seminar, we knew immediately this is what we wanted to do! The next step would be deciding which country. There are so many orphans all around the world..how would we choose?? When we first discussed adoption I was leaning towards China but after the seminar we realized there were so many options. Adoption tends to be a lengthy process, and being the impatient person that I am, that ruled out China, the wait tends to be 3-5 years. Other determining factors would be travel time. I have 3 kids at home that I would not want to leave for very long times, and of course the cost. It is an unfortunate reality.

This is where the Lord comes in... we felt we were being led towards Ethiopia for a few different reasons. First the wait time was less than other countries and the cost, but what we were really praying over was..how many??

We had never discussed adopting more than one but the Lord was leading us in that direction.
What a blessing it would be to not only help one child but two! What if we could adopt siblings? They would be able to stay together and our family would be doubly blessed!

Now to talk to our kids! After all they would be sharing their hearts and their home and quite possibly their rooms! Some people might of made the decision without consulting their kids first but we love and support each other and value each others opinions. Our kids have been our world for the last 11 years we want them to be comfortable with our decision and reassure them that we will love them no less! Our oldest was quite excited, she has a very big heart, Marianna offered up her new trundle bed! Our youngest just wanted to know when "the kids were coming?" So over all it went well!

On Friday, May 29th we mailed our application. Knowing how I am my husband 2 day mailed it so I could track its arrival at America World! It would take up to 10 days to find out whether or not we were accepted...this is where I struggle..Patience!!

I knew when they received it so I was waiting for some sort of confirmation from them..It came in form of an email..They were reviewing it!!

After days and nights of praying and waiting I received the phone call on June 17th! They said YES! Now onto the next step signing our agreement and sending our first payment! Now we have officially begun! Next step will be the home study and lots of paperwork but in the end we hope to have Our Ethiopian Blessings...