We are home!!

We have been home almost 2 months now... gosh do I neglect this blog!! Wonder if anyone will even read this...lol It's been a real time of transition and growth for us all!! The boys are sweet and want to integrate ...yet of course still miss Addis and all that they have ever known. Their English gets better all the time... and so does our Amharic. Our biggest struggle was food choices to begin with... everything tastes so different here and that's hard to get used to. We also have had issues with boundaries and rules and what it means to be in a family. Adoption related, new life related... hormonal pre-teen boy related things have led to many a Cha Cha... 2 steps forward 1 step back... 2 steps back 1 Step forward... it's always a dance. The boys are all integrating well and learning what it means to be brothers of many. E has had the hardest time because he isn't one to take crap from anyone. And the boys are so used to instigating and picking in usually a fun way!!... but still annoying to a little brother. So he just doesn't deal with them...lol N is learning that there are other kids to show off for... a bit overwhelming and hard to share for him some times. Over all the first month was one of those holy crap what did we do... kind of months. This second month has been much better...easing into a routine. A and B have made friends with the son of dear friends of ours and they spend afternoons with each other. Gives us all a bit of a breather and we are all happier when we come back together. It's been such an amazing blessing. I will try to post a bit more ... share more of what the adventures of older child adoption... it's sure been a ride :) I will also share pictures soon!! WE are having family pics done on Saturday... so excited about that! Many blessings y'all.... or whomever is still reading...lol

THEY ARE COMING HOME!!!

I am so sorry I have taken so long to update this thing... it would mostly have been whining and I do enough of that on FB...lol

But yep... you read that right... TWENTY ONE MONTHS after the beginning they are coming home!!!

I leave Friday morning to head to Ethiopia... my Embassy appointment is on the 17th and then... We are HOME on Sept 22!!

Hub's is staying home with the kiddos and holding down the fort while we are gone.... he's so amazing at that and such an awesome house husband!! :)

Thanks for all that have checked in and loved and prayed for us!
I will make every effort to come back and update much more after we are home with all our new family fun..


Until then......

Waiting...

Have I shared with you in the past that I am not a good waiter?

Well... I am not.

I feel like I need a WA meeting. Hello my name is Andrea and I am not a good waiter.

I miss my boys. Period. It's time for them to come home.

A has to go through a test to see if he has TB which will take another 6 weeks and then I am not sure what then happens with the Embassy.

B's paperwork is waiting because the person in the government office that's supposed to do it is 'out' ... who the heck know for how long. Seriously I am NOT in love with the fact that important government people can just be gone... when ever ... for as long as they want.

Ready to have them home!!!

We had to move our fundraiser to a blog instead of the Charity Site because it went down please visit here A Long Way Home to donate... and please share on your blog if you can!

Blessings!!

Help Us Bring them HOME!!

We are having a fundraiser to bring our new sons home... can you help? Or share on your blog if you feel so led? :)
B's Birthday is on June 7th and we can't think of a better birthday gift for him. Can you spare 13.00? To help him home?

Go here to see how!!

And then there were 2 More!!!

We are so excited to announce that we are now the proud new family for B and A ...!!!

A little back ground on our story….
We were a family of 4. Two parents, 2 kids and a dog…the kids were teens and life was comfortable.

Then God had other plans. He shared the story of adoption with us through Steven Curtis Chapman’s family. We decided to move forward…after many mountains were moved we were able to move forward with the first adoption of our N at the age of 2 years old in December of 2006.

While we were there we fell in love with the people and the country and decided we needed to go back.

Two years later we began the process of adopting our second son who had been a waiting child for more than a year. He became very ill while in the country and wasn’t expected to make it. Our pediatrician gave us the grim news after reading his charts from Ethiopia that he wouldn’t live. We gathered in the living room as a family to pray.

E survived but his road to health was hard and long. When we landed in the states after only knowing him for 5 days we spent the next 12 in isolation and then many others with Dr’s and surgeries. But he’s healthy and strong and hardly ever ill any more now.

Last year in January we decided to take the leap one more time…only this time we knew there were 2 more, and that they would be older kids. I, Andrea, had been to Ethiopia leading mission trips and I knew that the older kids were the ones that needed the love and homes…since the littles are usually scooped up first.
Through prayer God helped us choose A and B, not related boys through the agency that we had used for E’s adoption.

I went to meet the boys while on a mission trip in June 2011 with my daughter and mom, dad stayed home to take care of the other boys, cause he’s good like that. 
Final paperwork was filed to get the boys submitted to court in July …. Then ….. nothing.

November came and in a desperate plea I asked for a Christmas gift to go back to see the boys and see why our papers weren’t moving.

We were told in December that both boys needed to have their files completely redone which could take months.

Those months stretched to May 4th when we were given the rights to parent both boys in Ethiopian Court. Almost a year to the time I met them for the first time.
In the mean time we found that Dad, needed to have surgery … this has taken a huge toll on finances we had saved for our return trip to bring both boys home in July (our hopeful time frame) … so we are asking for help from those that cannot or choose not to adopt but want to help in some way to bring them home.
So that’s where we are… and why we are asking…

Thank you for reading! Thank you for sharing! Thank you for Giving!


And we now need your help in a huge way! We are raising funds for the trip home. Please check out our fundraising site... we need 5500.00 to get them home... we know he will provide!!

Our Un-Shower ... Thank you for your help and for sharing this with your friends!!

COURT!!!

Wahoo!!

Finally got a court date!

After much back and forth and me and about the end of my rope... God knows huh?... we got a court date!!!

This is technically for A because miracles of miracles he was the one submitted. They are working very hard to get B's case done. There is a piece of paper that needs to get competed so that we can talk to the judge about both of them.... I am still not sure how that will work out.

I am leaving on April 23, our court date is May 4 and I am coming home on May 5. Twelve days ... still doesn't seem long enough, but I cannot wait to get there to see our boys and my A's and new friends to meet. :)

This court date means that if we pass we will be declared their parents... then we wait another 8-10 weeks to pass Embassy and can bring them home... in a perfect world we will have them home before the end of July. He can do it! He can move the mountain!

I am going alone for this trip... but D will come with me for the Embassy trip and to bring the boys home.

Please pray with us that we are able to get this piece of paper for B. The orphanage director for the place that needs to get this paper is apparently very ill... or recovering from an accident... I am not sure which. Either way he could sure use prayers for healing. He moved A's mountain... Lord we ask you to move B's mountain!!

Ethiopia... HERE I COME!!!

Random Catch up Stuff

Well, first news is that I am not going to Ethiopia at the end of March. That was a tough blow!! When I was in ET with the boys in November I felt for sure that we would be back there in February to get our court date done, as that dream started to fade, I made plans in my heart to go at the end of March. Hoping to go with the BEMM team and see the boys at the same time.

I was getting pretty anxious... and then madder than heck at our agency who could not seem to coordinate conversations so that I could make those plans and get the ball rolling.

It is extremely frustrating to be told you will hear something repeatedly and then not hear it. Or only get a partial answer. I was about at my wits end when finally we got the news that we could not schedule an appointment with the judge during the time that I had hoped to be there. I was heart broken... and the news came on the day that I think my hormones were at an all time out of wackiness... I think I could have crawled in a hole and stayed there. I did just go to bed and cry.

The next day though, I was feeling much better and a little annoyed at my drama...lol

We got further news though that we SHOULD have a court date in April!! Praise the LORD... now I have to be careful not to refresh my email too much. :)

There is a meeting Wednesday to see about that last piece of paper for B's case. Please pray with us that we hear good news about that... and we are able to get his case submitted too.

On another fun note. We went out Saturday night with the kiddos to the mall. D needed new shoes, we went to dinner and S needed some make up stuff. There is an indoor play place in the mall that the boys love, and it allows them to run off some steam.

D was looking for his shoes so I took the boys to the play place by myself. As I sat down, I noticed a 4some sitting down the way from me. I knew right away that they were Ethiopian. I was so excited... except I have this very odd shyness when it comes to asking people where they are from. No one believes me when I tell them that... but it's true. So I text D to hurry up... cause he doesn't share my shyness.

He came and sure enough... they were. Turns out that one couple pastor's an Ethiopian church here locally... WHO KNEW WE HAD ONE?! and the other couple is actually half Ethiopian half Philadelphian. The man is in the military and met his Ethiopian wife in Italy. We struck up a wonderful conversation and exchanged phone numbers. It was so so cool!!!

The young woman married to the military guy was so so sweet! She said she feels lonely sometimes and we chatted and talked about getting together. They all said they would help me learn Amharic, and we could help them with English. :) AND they have a social get together every 2nd Sunday of the month.

Yes... some day I will get over my shyness.

When we parted the young momma gave me the biggest hugs and kept saying "I am SO happy, I am SO happy" Thank you God!

On another cool note... remember these posts after my first mission trip to ET?

http://4blessed.blogspot.com/2010/04/friday-at-leper-colony.html

http://4blessed.blogspot.com/2010/07/gods-heart.html

We have been given the privilege of becoming a sponsor family for them. What a way God touches lives huh? I was talking to my brother T in ET and he said that the momma was very sick, and I asked him about a sponsor family through Adoption 1:27. We are so excited about this opportunity!

ok, I am the one excited because I feel so connected to them... this just makes my heart feel so full.

On home front news: S is preparing for graduation, prom and her senior trip to Disney... wow! She is a senior!

The boys are extra excited about Spring and Summer and cannot WAIT for their brothers...lol they talk about them all the time.

Well.. that's about it for the catch up. Praying for B's paper work and to hear something about our court date.... oh on a side funny... D mentioned to me the other day that perhaps he would go to Ethiopia this time and I could stay home.....??????............. To which I said "Have you not lived with me over the past several months?! Why would you even THINK such a thing?!"

Silly guy...

Hope to post good news soon.