A little glimmer of hope!

***I wrote this blog post on December 11, 2012 after talking to our case worker. ***


Here are parts of the e-mail I received from our case worker today:

  "We had two new little ones arrive at TC today and their documents are in translation.  I should be receiving pictures and at least an idea on their history or medicals tomorrow. You and a few others will be matched officially very soon. "

When I received this e-mail I ran into the other room and told Jeremiah to listen to the e-mail I received from Alicia. I was SO thrilled to tell him about this e-mail that I forgot to actually bring my computer to Jeremiah so he could hear me read the e-mail. You can't imagine me doing this, can you?:) 

Our little boy is there. He is at the Thomas Center. He has a name and he is OUR boy! We don't know who he is yet, but she implied that he is there. They still have to do a few tests on him before he can be referred to us. Our case worker said they should start these tests by the end of the week and then the results will take 10-15 days to come back. I assume we will be matched after the tests come back (praying they come back clear!) and we are willing to accept him. 

You have no idea (okay some of you do!) how great it was to read the words "You will be matched officially very soon." I know by now that "soon" may not mean what I think it does. Soon to me means tomorrow and I know that won't happen.:)

My heart is filled with joy as I think about adding him to our little family. My heart is also hurting for my boy and what he has gone through during his short little life. Like I've said from the beginning, my boy NEEDS his mommy!

I can't wait to update this blog to let you know that we have been matched.

Never far from our thoughts...

  When we first started this blog I said I was going to take pictures every month and obviously that didn't happen. I want our little guy to realize that even though he wasn't with us, we still thought of him during every special event (and actually multiple times every single day). I just found these pictures that I meant to post a few months ago.

*Olivia's first day of pre-school. She was thrilled to attend her first day with her little friend Ava.

 *Olivia and Daddy carved a big pumpkin together. Olivia bought a little pumpkin for brother and decorated it on her own. She was proud of herself! Olivia asked if we could keep the pumpkin until baby brother comes home. I had to tell her no and she was not happy about that!

 *We were number 2 when Olivia painted this pumpkin.

 *For many months we waited patiently for God to reveal our sweet little boy's face to us.

*Our Christmas season started with us being number 2 on the list....

 and on December 12, 2012 we saw our little boy's face for the first time. What a glorious day for our family!! I will post more about this day soon!

 *Olivia gave my parents and Jeremiah's parents a picture of baby brother for Christmas. This is a picture of my mom opening her gift.

NYC wedding

  Jeremiah's youngest brother got married in New York City a few weekends ago. We had a blast with the Cox family in NYC.  The wedding was extremely fancy and it was like we were in a movie! It was incredibly nice to hear that some of the inheritance from Jeremiah's G-ma Cox paid for our way out there. We were able to hang out with Jeremiah's extended family and it was just what G-ma Cox would have wanted!
  Olivia was the flower girl in the wedding and she was just precious. She ran down the aisle and forgot to throw the petals. Then I motioned for her to throw the petals and she threw a bunch right at the end of the aisle.
  We had an awesome time dancing, hanging out, and being goofy with Jeremiah's family. It is a memory that we will never forget.
Here are some pictures:

         *Olivia enjoyed doing goofy moves and "striking a pose" while we waited for the bridal party to change. 

          

                 *The Cox family at the wedding.

             *The amazing ceremony/reception!

Family Prayer Time

Jeremiah, Olivia, and I have started a nightly family prayer time before Olivia goes to bed. It's one of the highlights of my day. We always say something we are thankful for and then say someone we want to pray for that night. After we are all done praying we read a few Bible stories together. Here is Olivia's sweet prayer tonight...
 
   "God please wrap your arms around my baby brother and keep him safe and healthy."

I'm just so thankful for this family God has blessed me with. And..to think that one more will be added soon just makes me want to squeal with delight. :)

10:00 on the dot

    Every day my class goes to recess at 10:00a.m. and every day at that time I check my phone just to make sure that my sitter doesn't need me. At this time every single day I think about our little boy because I know it's 8:00a.m. in Washington where our case worker resides. I know she's about to start her day and I think that maybe I will hear something from her about our little boy.
    Ya'll I am tired of waiting. There..I said it. We started this journey 19-20 months ago and I am just ready to see my little boy's face. I was explaining to my friend that I have a knot in my stomach every day. I check my e-mail frequently and every time my phone rings I check to see if it's our agency's number. We are so close to the end and it really could be any day that we receive a referral (or it could be months).
    When you are pregnant you have a due date and I have no idea when I will be able to hold my little boy. I never thought it would be this hard to wait. I know that I'm not even in the extremely hard waiting part yet which occurs after I actually meet my son (and have to leave him in Ethiopia for a few months).
     I was reading Jen Hatmaker's story about how one day she felt that she needed to pray intensely for the children she was adopting from Africa. She remembered that date and then was surprised to see that something amazing happened with her two kids (the children she adopted) on that very date. I had this experience back on September 26, 2012. I was praying in the morning and I had an overwhelming feeling that my son needed my prayers. I'm really interested to see how this date plays into his story or if it means anything at all. All I know is that on that day I was having my morning quiet time and just dropped to my knees in prayer (and many tears).
    I promise you that I realize it will be worth it. I know God has this perfect kid for us. But..at times it just stinks. I feel like every morning I wake up and it's Christmas Eve. You know the feeling that you got when you were a little kid and woke up knowing that Santa was coming that night or that you were going to get surprises that next day? Well..I feel like that every day. I'm not complaining because I picked this route. I have an amazing life and I'm incredibly blessed by my hubs and sweet little Olivia. However, I am a little grumpy sometimes because I just want to hear something positive about our adoption.

 On a higher note, I'm praising God today for the multiple blessings he has blessed me with this week. Here are just a few:
 1. My amazing husband who just makes me happy. I'm so thankful that I get to be married to him.
 2. Olivia-dancing, singing, making goofy voices, asking deep questions about God, and just her overall delightful personality.
3. I'm thankful for our health.
4. Fabulous family members who make our life wonderful.
5. My students are collecting money for a local charity. One parent told her son that she would match however much he wanted to put in to the collection. He got out his wallet and emptied it for our collection. What a sweet boy!
6. Encouraging e-mails from parents.
7. Hearing Olivia pray
8. Kind words from numerous students
9. A lazy evening at home
10. Receiving Christmas cards and thanking God for each family/friend.

  

Two (a very belated post:))

   After talking to people over the holiday week I realized that I never posted about us being moved to number 2 on the list. In my last post I wrote that our case worker told us we would be number 1 within a week. Obviously, that didn't happen. One family accepted their referral, but the other family did not accept the second referral. The second child was too old for us to accept. Therefore, we are now number 2 and not number 1.We moved to number 2 in September.

  We hear news that there could be a few little ones at the orphanage but that it could take up to 3 months for their paperwork to be ready. This makes me think that our son is at an orphanage and I just pray that his nannies are loving on him. I would really like to pray that God reveals our son to us by Christmas, but I know I can't do this. As tough as it is to wait, I know that God is in control. But..wouldn't it be just wonderful for us to hear this news by Christmas!?:) Ha! I am really not getting my hopes up (okay..just a little bit!:)).

 Please keep praying for our journey. We appreciate your support prayers!

THREE!

Two weeks ago we talked with our case worker and she said that we were number 5 on the list. The two referrals that were supposed to go out in July fell through. Today we got news that we are finally the glorious number 3!:) That wasn't even the best news we heard. She went on to tell us that she hopes to send out two more referrals within the week which means we will be number 1!!!!! We know that it may take awhile to move to number 1, but we are still thrilled with the idea that it could be very soon.

Please pray for...
-Our little boy wherever he is right now.
-Pray for his birth mother. Pray that she feels peace when she hands our baby over to the nannies. I've been crying tonight just thinking about his birth mom and the sacrifice she is making to give our baby a better life.