Monday, August 27, 2012

SUBMITTED!(and a little fair fun)

Last Friday when were at a local fair(as you’ll see in the pictures below), we received a call from our agency.  They let us know that all of our court paperwork was in order and that typically, the next step is to be submitted to Embassy.   We were informed there was a chance we would be submitted on 8/27, and we were elated!  This is because our agency can only submit cases on Mondays which means if we didn’t make the 27th our case would potentially be held up two more weeks because of Labor Day.  This morning I saw that a couple of other families from our agency had received e-mails that their cases had been submitted to Embassy.  Of course, it is wonderful when each family is moved one step further along in their process, but selfishly I was a little bummed because I knew we had not received an email saying we had been submitted.  I tried to focus on the fact that God’s timing has been perfect up to this point, and that He will be faithful to see this adoption through in the same manner.  Also, a friend had sent me 10 Bible verses for 10 days of encouragement and today’s verse was this:

“Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love.”  Ephesians 4:2

It was the perfect verse to dwell on throughout the day. BUT the story doesn’t end here.  Troy got home from work this afternoon and informed me that he just got off the phone with our caseworker.  She had called to inform him that we had in fact been submitted!  The reason we had not received the email was because they had the wrong email address for me.  We are elated that we are one step closer to bringing our baby girl home!  The US Embassy will now do their investigation, and we will be notified once we are cleared for travel.  Please join us in praying that our case will be clear cut, that any birth family members that need to be present will be, and that all documentation will be in order.  Thank you in advance!

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As I alluded to up above, we attended a local fair this past Friday.  It has become a bit of a tradition for our family to attend one night of this two week long fair each year.   Silas loves the rides and each year I am reminded of how quickly he is growing up.  He was able to ride quite a few more this year, but he would have gone on many more had he been just a few inches taller. 

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The swings were one of his favorites!

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He was also a fan of the rides with horns that he could beep over and over and over! (I felt sorry for the ride operators)

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It was then time to ride the ferris wheel that he begged to ride,but he was too short to ride alone so I got to join him for this one!

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The ferris wheel he and I braved together:)

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We planned to to quickly walk through the petting zoo, but Silas insisted we buy some carrots to feed the animals.  There is nothing like feeding a camel!

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The effect that too much fun at the fair will have on you!  We look forward to introducing Saylor to our fair tradition next year!

Monday, August 20, 2012

Ethiopia Trip 1 (highlights)

It is hard to fathom that we were in Ethiopia holding our precious daughter just one short week ago.  We miss her like crazy and we can’t wait to bring her home.  In the meantime, we are slowly getting caught up on sleep and adjusting back to our routine here. 

I took the journal that I have been doing for the past 2+ years on our first trip to Ethiopia with us.  I detailed the events of each day so that Saylor will be able to read about her story someday.  Since the specific details are for her, I am just going to share a few pictures and details of the highlights of our trip.

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Prior to leaving, we had to meet family that would be keeping Silas while we were gone.  Even though we knew he would be in good hands, it wasn’t easy because he had previously never been away from us for longer than two nights.

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Troy weighed our suitcases and totes with donations at a local shipping store to make sure we were under our limit.  We are set and ready to go!

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The plane that would be taking us to meet our daughter!

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Just prior to takeoff

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Flight map on our plane.  SOOO CLOSE!

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Hotel room at The Riviera

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The infamous black gate:)

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Saylor’s room

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FINALLY! Praise the Lord!

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Daddy’s girl!

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No words…

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Daddy giving lots of love

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Our breakfast staple each morning….porridge and coffee with milk

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Reunion with our friend, Ben, who traveled with the His Little Feet Orphaned Children’s choir during this past year

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Visiting Eyob & Yohannes.  We hosted these two amazing brothers in our home when they were on tour with His Little Feet

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This was a picture book that the director of Hannah’s Hope had in her office.  It was kind of fun to see Silas on the cover along with Elijah who lives very close to us.

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Court day and…..WE PASSED!  Saylor is officially our daughter!

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Last day with our sweet girl.  Saying goodbye was by far one of the most difficult things we have ever done.  We know in our hearts that God will continue to protect and watch over her until we return to bring her home forever.  Our first trip was a very blessed one, and we are thrilled that we are now a family of four! We would appreciate your continued prayers as we wait on God’s perfect timing for our US Embassy appointment.