6 Months

Today marks 6 months since our dossier was sent to Ethiopia. We are exactly halfway in between to 5-7 month waiting period expected for a boy referral.

Paul & I have been in the car all day driving up and back from Portland (about 4 hours each way). We had to renew our fingerprints with the USCIS (Immigration for our I-600 Orphan Petition). Needless to say, we are exhausted from the travel, but what I love is the quality time I got to spend with my husband today. I had a wonderful time talking and laughing with my best friend without the distractions of life around. :-)

I must admit, my stomach has been on edge all week. Even though we haven't waited as long as some, we know we are close so it is a little stressful. We are trusting in the Lord with all our heart and leaning not on our own understanding...Prov 3:5-6.

Adoption Updates

So there have been several exciting things happening in our adoption world over the last couple of weeks!

Last Friday we had a 2 hour conference call with all the families and our director from the agency. It was an exciting call about all the advancement our agency is making in Ethiopia. We were very encouraged by it.

We were told by a recent adoptive mom, who just recently returned home, that there were 9 children transfered to the Transition Home while she was there. Because there hasn't been any recent referrals, the buzz is that these children were moved with the anticipation of referral being given out. It is exciting and nervewracking all at the same time. One of these children could be our future son...

Would you contiue to pray with us as we wait for God's perfect timing? Thank you!

Hi, My Name Is Holly and I Am A Blog Slacker...

So I have been home from my Road trip for over a week, and yet this is my first blog entry. Please forgive my slacking bloggerness. :-)

So our Road Trip was fun and successful. There is nothing like driving a 22-foot diesel moving truck across the country with your best friend! We had a wonderful time!

Inserting pictures here: This is the monsterous truck we affectionatly named Obi-Wan Kenobi, or "Obi" for short.

Yes, that is 22-feet of moving truck craziness.

This was the AMAZING group of movers and shakers that loaded the truck for Melisma in Jackson, Mississippi. They really are more like family...

Our last stop, was Melisma's Great-Aunt's house in Garden Grove, CA. Melisma's Grandma was visiting from the Philippines and she hasn't seen her for years. (Left to right: Melisma, Grandma, Great-Aunt, Cousin Vivian).

So yes, this is me in the happiest place on earth! Melisma's Great Aunt retired from Disneyland and has a VIP pass to get up to 3 people in for FREE!!! We got to take a break from driving and spend the day at Disneyland, and then went back to the house for some yummy Filipino food!

It is so good to be home, but life has been crazier than ever since coming back. I am finally feeling like a human for the first time!

Congratulations to AWAA families!

Today has been an exciting day for 2 families from our agency! The Steigers and the Coles had successful courtdates today! Be sure to check out the Steiger's blog to see the pictures of their adorable little girl!

Also, last week the Harbaugh family received referrals of a 4 year old girl and 4 month old baby boy! They have been waiting 9 months for a referral (requests for 2 children take longer that 1). We are so excited for them!

Ok, and this Saturday, there are several families traveling to Ethiopia. I will link their blogs (if they have one) so be sure to check them out starting this weekend!

• The Treadwells
• The Treats (Must be invited to view blog)
• The Harpolds
• The Wegners
• The McIlraths
• The Rounces

It is so exciting to see how these families are coming together!

Hope you are all having a FABULOUS day!!!! :-)

To Alabama...and back...or BUST

So a couple posts back, do you remember I mentioned how excited I was that my bestest friend is moving to Rogue River? Well, it seems like time has past so quickly, and she will be here on Monday!

She will spend probably 1/2 a day getting details ironed, then she & I are driving up to Portland. We are flying out Wednesday morning 2/27 for Birmingham, Alabama. We will be meeting up with some friends who will helping us load the U-Haul in Mississippi. After taking a trip to Houston to visit Melisma's family, we will be leaving early Sunday morning 3/02 to drive back to Rogue River! We plan on being back either Wednesday evening or Thursday at the latest.

I LOVE ROAD TRIPS! There is nothing better than a Road Trip with your bestest friend!

P.S. I will probably not have access to email or blogs for these days, but I will make to sure to catch up as soon as I get back!

THIS IS SUCH A "5" DAY!!!

Ok, so I just looked at my counter, and as of today I have had 5,000 people look at my blog!!!!

This is TOTALLY keeping with my "5" theme!!! YEA!

Hello 5 Months ~ Here We Are!

As you can see, today, February 20th, 2008 is the 5 month mark for us. So I thought I would pay a tribute to the number 5:

My husband & I were married in the 5th month.

We started our dossier for Ethiopia in the 5th month.

We like Mexican Food and Cinco De Mayo is the 5th day of the 5th month.

I have 5 fingers on my each of my hands.

I have 5 toes on each of my feet.

You can get a great cup of coffee at Starbucks for under $5.

It is 5:55 PM right now.

The number "5" is a good one! It feels great to be at the 5 month mark. It lets us know, we could be getting closer. We are continuing to trust in the Lord for His perfect timing!

An amazing video made by one of the families who recently picked up their son!

Get your tissue box before you push play!
Levi Jeremiah's Journey Home

I must be dreaming!

I have to share something really exciting! My BESTEST friend in the WHOLE world just signed a 2 YEAR CONTRACT with the Providence Hospital 20 minutes away from me!!!!!!

I AM SO EXCITED!!!

Just had to share my excitement! :-)

A Busy Week for our Agency!

This week was INCREDIBLE for our agency!

First of all, 2 families had successful courtdates on Wednesday! One of these families, the Wegners, are adopting a sibling group of 3!!! The Harpolds are officially parents of a little baby girl!

Secondly, according to the AWAA Weekly Update, 2 families received referrals! What is even more exciting is that one of the families, the Coens, are right in front of us for a baby boy! In fact, their Dossier traveled with ours to Ethiopia! Be sure to check the Coens' blog and watch their journey.

Lastly, there were 5 families that had court dates on Friday, 2/8. 4 of the 5 families made is successfully through court! It is SOOO exciting, as these families have been waiting for a courtdate since October 19th! The Treats, Treadwells, Rounces and McIlraths will be traveling the end of this month to pick up their children. Please remember to pray for the Steiger family as they are hoping for resolution to a minor paperwork issue for their little girl. We are praying that they get through court quickly so they can travel with the rest of the group.

So that is the exciting week for our agency! It is so exciting to watch as God places children into loving families We are hoping for even more exciting weeks of referrals and successful courtdates! Bring it on!

The Week We Have Had...

Ok, so this was supposed to a relatively quiet, uneventful week. After the last 2 weeks of vacation and our conference, I needed a week of catch up at work and at home. Besides that, I had just over 2 weeks before the Annual Business meeting at the church. I am responsible for the Annual report, which, according to our Bylaws, must be available 2 weeks prior to the meeting. That meant they needed to be done by Sunday (2/10).

Monday started off like normal, until I got a frantic call from Paul (who works from home on Mondays). He accidently ran his foot into my suitcase (I still hadn't unpacked...oops). Normally this would be no big deal, but almost a year ago Paul broke his foot. It was bad enough that he had to have surgery, screwing plates into the bones to help them heal correctly. Needless to say, his foot has never been the same.

He was concerned that the excrusiating pain meant that he had rebroken his foot. I rushed him to the doctor who did the surgery Monday afternoon. X-rays proved that everything was ok, but the concern was the constant pain the Paul has on a daily basis. After all, his feet have to carry a 6"7' man! By the time we left, we had a next day appointment for surgery to remove the hardware from Paul's foot! I couldn't believe it was happening so fast.

So now for the pictures:

So this the "Before" picture. My favorite part is the pretty blue hat!

This is the famous left foot. The black writing is the signature of Paul and the surgeon. They do this to ensure that they perform surgery on the correct foot.

After the surgery was done, the surgeon came out and handed me this bag containing the hardware that used to be in Paul's foot. It is not surprising that he was in pain! Oh, and the surgery only took about 20-30 minutes. Most of the time was spent going in and out of Anesthesia.

And here is the "After" picture. As you can see, he has been camped out on the couch since Tuesday afternoon. He is doing ok, but is getting pretty bored, especially since he isn't really supposed to do much for the next several days.

So that was my week! WOO-HOO crazy. Just thought I would share.

Love,

Holly

PS ~ Crazy enough, I actually did finish the Annual Report! Yea for me! :-)

Week of Prayer and Fasting

This week is set aside by our church as a week of Prayer and Fasting. This is also the week that my AWAA Ethiopia Yahoo group has set aside for prayer, specifically for the October 19th families whose courtdates are February 8th.

Will you join with us in prayer this week?

We're Baaaaccckkk!!

We came back to the "real world" last night about 10:30 PM. After a marathon day of getting a weeks worth of work done and trying to get our personal bills paid, etc.
I wanted to share some fun pictures of our trip. Enjoy! This is the view from our balcony! Amazing view, huh?

We were so blessed to have my mom visit us in Seaside! We always have a wonderful time with her, and we got to celebrate her birthday (a little early) with her!

Aren't they cute?! These are two of the most WONDERFUL people in the world!!! Ummm, well, don't ask... :-)

This is my Bagel smile, from the "Bagel By the Sea" in Seaside, Oregon!

This was my modeling picture with Mary (our Christian School principal) and Paul. We were walking out of our morning conference session and the wind was blowing so hard I couldn't resist.

Ok, this probably doesn't look like much, but this was one of the stops Paul & I made on our Honeymoon almost 9 years ago. I remember the place was a little *blah*, but it was the 2 and 3 nights that we spent together as husband and wife. It makes me feel warm and fuzzy just thinking about it.

At one of our many Starbucks stops, I read this on my cup. I thought is was well worth sharing.

The main speaker of our Conference was Jeff Lucas. Be sure to check out his website and learn more about his ministry.

We were also blessed to have Earl Creps with us as well.

There are many many more pictures that I took, but this is just kind of a highlight of our time. It was wonderful to have a couple of days just to ourselves before the conference began. There is nothing like a few days off to make you feel like you can face the world again!

Signing out for awhile...

Hey all my faithful readers! ;-)

My hubby and I are leaving today (Thursday) for some R&R, then next Monday-Wednesday, we have a Oregon District Conference for the A/G pastors. They call it "Network Intermission". The best part is we are staying in Seaside! It is beautiful there and there is a Starbucks within walking distance! :-) (Right now we have to drive to Medford - about 25 minutes. )

Because our everyday life is consumed with email, internet, my adoption and pastors' wives Yahoo groups, and reading everyones blogs, we have decided to NOT take our laptop on purpose.

I am looking forward to relaxing, spending QUALITY time with my husband, and my mom is coming to join us for a couple days over the weekend!!!

Anyway, I will be back in full force next weekend. TTYL!

Adoption Update

Happy Sunday! Did you notice our ticker says exactly 4 months today that we have been waiting for a referral?

There hasn't been a whole lot of adoption news for us personally, but I am so excited about the news for some other families!

This week, the Harpolds received a referral of a baby girl! It is so exciting to see that referrals are coming again! Congrats the Harpolds. Be sure to check out their blog and watch their progress as they wait for a courtdate.

There was also a special needs referral offered to the families who currently have a Dossier in Ethiopia of a 7 month old HIV+ baby girl. An HIV+ orphan in Ethiopia does not have much hope for a future. Bring this child into the US would literally save her life. Please remember to pray for this little girl as the perfect family chooses to pursue adopting her.

Also this week, the 5 families that received referrals on 10/19 received a courtdate in early February! You can check out the Treadwell's blog and the Steiger's blogs for continued updates as they are trying to find out if the courtdate can be expedited since the court paperword is completed.

The 5 families from 10/03 are in Ethiopia NOW!! They get to meet their children tomorrow (technically, tonight while we sleep). Be sure to check out the Carpenters, the Davids or the Stums blog (username: stum; password: wondosen) as they are in Ethiopia. Starting tomorrow, they will probably be posting pictures of the children! I am so excited for them!

As for us personally, we are still waiting in line. We are getting closer, but because their is no "schedule" or when referrals come, there is no guarantee of a timeframe. We are truly placing it in the Lord's hands. His timing is perfect and He already knows the child that is a perfect fit for our family...whether or not he is born yet!

We will keep you updated as time goes on. Be sure to check out the blogs I linked for you! It is so exciting to see when God forms families together from different parts of the world!

A Beautiful Adoption Poem I Found

Legacy of an Adopted Child

Once there were two women,
Who never knew each other.
One you do not remember,
The other you call "Mother."

One gave you a nationality,
The other gave you a name.
One gave you the seed of talent,
The other gave you an aim.

Two different lives shaped
to make yours one;
One became your guiding star,
The other became your sun.

One gave you emotions,
The other calmed your fears.
One saw your first sweet smile,
The other dried your tears.

The first gave you life,
The second taught you to live it.
The first gave you a need for love,
And the second was there to give it.

One gave you up,
It was all she could do.
The other prayed for a child,
And God led her straight to you.

And now you ask me through your tears,
The age old question through the years;
Heredity or environment -
which are you a product of?
Neither my darling, neither;
Just two different kinds of love.

-Author unknown

3 Month, 3 Weeks and 3 Days....and 2 years

As you can see from the ticker at the top of my blog, today marks 3 months, 3 weeks and 3 days since our Dossier was accepted. We are still patiently waiting for a referral, but every day we realize we could be getting closer...I think it is starting to hit me what is happening!

There has been some movement with the Ethiopia program. This coming week, the 5 families that received referrals on Oct 3rd are traveling to pick up their children! If you want to follow their blogs during their trip, and see pictures of their precious children, check out the Carpenter's blog or the David's blog.

The other 5 families that received referral on Oct 19th and a family who accepted a sibling group of 3 should have court dates by the end of the month!


Today also marks the 2 year anniversary since we received our referral from Russia, Ilya. I pray for him everyday and will always think of him as my son...I will always love you, sweet Ilya.

African Children's Choir - The Pictures I Promised!

Let me begin by telling you how AMAZING the concert was! In the 1 1/2 hour service, I took 69 pictures. :-) We left with hearts full of excitement and anticipation for bringing the little boy home from Ethiopia that God has for us.

Enjoy to pictures!

*By the way ~ These children were the same ones that appeared on the American Idol - Idol Gives Back show. They sang with Josh Groban.

The concert began with lots of dancing and singing of African songs.

Probably the highlight of the show for both of us was when the children came out individually introduced themselves and said what they wanted to be when they grow up. To hear these young 7 - 9 year old children sharing their dreams brought tears to my eyes. Their were several children who wanted to be doctors, teachers and pilots. One said they wanted to be a Missionary and one said a Pastor. The sweetest little boy ended by saying he wanted to be a Plumber! Adorable!

They ended singing worship songs like Here I am to Worship, O Happy Day and This Little Light of Mine.

Paul & I bought a couple CD's, a DVD, a bandana and picture of the group. Paul really wanted to do something special with the bandana and picture for our little boy's room.

I am so thankful we set aside this special time to go to the concert. If they are ever in your area, don't miss it! Check out their website to find out their schedule. www.africanchildrenschoir.com

Love,
Holly

Have to share my excitement!

Tomorrow, January 4th, my husband & I have had a very special event on our calendar...The African Children's Choir is performing at a church a little over an hour from us!

I am so excited I can hardly stand it!!!!!!

I was gonna wait to post until I had pictures, but I wanted to share. Be sure to check back for pictures. I will try to post this weekend.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Wishing y'all a wonderful and blessed 2008!