REFERRAL!!!!

I haven't written in our blog for some time now. I just felt it was better to wait on a referral before I wrote again. I was getting so frustrated that I just needed to step away for a bit. Guess what??

REFERRAL!!!!!!

Our social worker called me on Wednesday, October 26, 2011 for a 13 month old little boy!!! She asked, " What I was doing?" then she said "well, there is a little boy that is 13 months old." I was saying, "Yes, so?" then she said, "this is your referral." I just started crying!! I totally lost it with her on the phone. I was so happy, but still could not believe her that it was happening to US!!! Finally, it is happening to us. I dreamed of this day and it was SO much sweeter than I ever thought it would be.

We are so excited and in shock!! I have been so busy since the referral trying to make sure that he was healthy to adopt. Yes, he is. He is just really small, but he will gain the weight once he joins our family! Both sides of our family like to eat - so he will be fine. HAHA!!! I can't wait until I can post some pictures of Connor, but we have to pass court first.

Just when I could not go any long God showed up and gave us the referral of our little boy that we have been praying for SO long. God is SO good!!! I am so blessed to have a picture of his cute little face before the holidays. We will travel some where between 3-5 months. I am not going to rush this. I am just so happy to finally see what our son looks like!! He is so much better than I could have pictured!!
I can't wait to meet him and hold him for the first time!! What a great day that will be!!!

Maybe by the summertime we will be a family of FOUR!!!

Please keep praying for us while we wait to travel. Thanks

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Got our I-171H Approval Letter

Today Mark and I received our I-171H approval letter in the mail. I did not think we would get it this fast. We were just finger printed on Monday to get them renewed. I am so happy that we got the letter today. Tomorrow I am going to take it by Bethany's office and get them to fax it to the Ethiopian team.

Tomorrow we will be waiting six months since our dossier was sent to Ethiopia. I am not going to give up on this adoption. At times you just want to throw in the towel. Then there are other times where you get SO excited that you want to go to one of the biggest mountains and yell the good news to everyone!!! Today was one of those days. Maybe, later on I will be yelling we have a picture of our little prince!

Please keep praying for us while we wait for his picture.

"Every good and perfect gift is from above"- James 1:17



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Renewed Finger Prints

Today Mark and I had to renew our finger prints for the USCIS since it has been 18 months. Our finger prints expire after 18 months. I can't believe it has already been 18 months since our finger prints. It had been almost 26 months of waiting for a referral. I don't understand why it has to take so long before you can get a referral - picture of our little boy. I am SO ready to see his precious face!!! I really want to know how old he is going to be, his name, and see what he looks like. I am praying that we will find out soon about our son. I just want to know all about him. I will have to be more patient while I am waiting. Trying really hard too.

However, I am so glad we have Summer as my daughter. She is such a sweet girl who loves to dress up in anything that looks like a princess. So today Summer went with us to get finger printed and then we went to American Cafe. It was so good!! Mark and I have no more time off work until after the first of the year so I hope this is it with the adoption stuff until then.

We have been so busy lately with getting Summer back to school. She is in first grade this year. Here are a couple of pictures of Summer on the first day of school.











I am praying that we will get a referral of her little brother soon. The more we wait the older she gets and the more we question if this is what God really wanted us to do. I believe He does, but sometimes you doubt.

This past weekend was Mark's 39 birthday party at his parents house. Man, we are getting old!! HAHA!!







I am so blessed to have the family that God has given me. I am so truly blessed more than words can say. Sometimes, I get down and frustrated about the adoption, but that does not mean I am not thankful for what I do have. Everything that I have I know is a blessing from God. God is good!!!

Please keep praying for our family while we wait on a referral.
So ready to see our little prince.

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Day At the Zoo 2011

Mark and I decided to take Summer for a fun filled day at the zoo. We have not received a referral yet and we really do not know when we will. Mark is upset because we still have no concrete answers. I am upset because I want my Connor home with us. Summer just wants a little brother to do things with. She doesn't understand why it has to take so long before he joins our family. She says, " Lets go get him now!" We were all in a funk until we went to the zoo.

Here we are just inside of the zoo.







While we were at the zoo we saw about five or more families who had adopted transracial. The families looked so happy and the kids looked well adjusted. I did not go up to any of the families to ask questions. I did not want to interfere with their day with their kids. However, it made Mark and I feel better about our situation and it makes us want to wait for how ever long until we get Connor. I know it will happen. I just want it to hurry up and happen. Summer is getting older each day and Connor is out there somewhere waiting for us...

Here are some more pictures at the zoo.



Summer watching the penguins. She really liked to watch them swim. Please do not fall in!!!


The polar bears were cool too. Man they are so big!!!






Waiting on the sea lion show to start. Daddy was telling her all about them. I think?????



Summer is posing for this picture. She is getting ready to go.



We had a great family day at the zoo. I am so happy that we all had fun. We got some ice cream while walking around, we had some lunch, then it was time to go. It was a good day to spend as a family. I am so blessed to have the family that God gave me. I am blessed to have a love in my heart for Connor who is somewhere on the other side of the world being prepared just for our family. I can not wait for the day that I get to see his precious face for the first time. What a blessing that will be!!!!


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Our 10th Anniversary

Mark and I just had our 10th wedding anniversary!!! It was like any other day.. I got up at 3:45am to go to work and load packages on the UPS trucks. I even loaded my own husband's truck. Mark came to work at UPS and drove all day. Then Summer and I swam, played around the house, and even cut the grass. We both were thinking he would be home kind of early so we could spend some time together on our anniversary night... Well, no that did not happen. Mark got home around 9:30.. Summer was asleep on couch while I was asleep on the other couch. So it was just another day. However, we are going to celebrate it on Saturday. We might go out to eat and then Mimi is coming over to spend the night and play with Summer. Normally, we always go back to Pensacola for our anniversary, but this year we decided to stay home and save our money just in case we get "the call" a possible referral. I hope next year we will have a referral or even our little boy here with us. I am praying!!

I can't believe it has been ten years since we walked barefoot on the beach in Pensacola and got married. Mark's dad did the ceremony for us. We only had about nine family members come to watch us get married. It was so a great day. Towards the end of the ceremony it started to rain. Then right after it started to come down so bad that we all got wet!! We all went back to the hotel in the dining room for a small reception. It was great. Then the next day Mark and I flew off to Jamaica for a week. I will never forget our beautiful wedding day and our honeymoon.

I am so blessed to have married this man. He is such a great husband, an amazing daddy to Summer ( and one day to Connor), and my best friend. He is such a great man that loves God. He takes care of us like nobody else could. When I get upset about the adoption or ask how much longer is it going to take he is there for me. He gets upset when I get upset. He hurts when I hurt. He laughs when I laugh. He is always there for me no matter what.

Lately, I have been having to deal with my dad being against us adopting from Ethiopia. He has made it clear that we are messing up as he would say. He was not against us adopting from Taiwan when we first started this journey. The wait was just too long for us to stay with that country so we had to switch to another country and we picked Ethiopia. I don't care what ethnic group our child is from. I will love him just like we do Summer. I want for our family to grow through adoption. So our family might not look like what other families look like, or in that case what my dad thinks it should look like. It is our family and we want it to resemble what heaven is going to look like. With all kinds of people that are different!


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The Roller Coaster Ride

Yesterday I had a conference call with my social worker and another lady from our agency. It was one of the unhappiest day so far. I was so excited before the call thinking that they would tell me it could happen anytime since we our dossier has been DTE four months now. I was hoping that we would be getting a referral soon. It might take up to 4 more months before we get a referral or could take longer. I think it is going to be on the longer side. I guess because nothing has happened as we thought it was going too. Our age range is from 12m-3.5 years old. So if we want a boy who is 2 it could take up to 8 months before referral. However, everything on the profile sheet has what the needs we can meet of that child. So I guess if you want a child kind of healthy you could be waiting a LONG time. It doesn't matter if we have the money in the bank, bedroom done, clothes in the closet, and bags ready to be packed!!! We are ready for a picture of our little boy; so we thought?? Who knows?? We have been going on this roller coaster ride now for two years!!! I just want the ride to stop and to get on another ride. I am stressed out all the time because we think it is about to happen then it doesn't! Just more waiting!!! So I am not going to get my hopes up anymore. I really was going to adopt again after this adoption was finalized, but after all of this- No way!!! I just don't have what it takes to keep my emotions going up and down. Sometimes I wonder what is wrong with us?? Why can't we be the next family to get a referral? I don't know. I guess I just have to keep waiting......

Please keep praying for us to have the strength to keep sitting on this roller coaster because it is starting to freak me out!!!!!


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Home Visit Updated

We had our home visit yesterday with our social worker to update everything. That was FUN!!!

Mark and I asked her tons of questions to when we might get a referral. We are at our fourth month of waiting so it looks good for us. BCSI sent out an email stating that if you are wanting a child between the age of 0-2 it could take up to 6-12 months after your dossier is in Ethiopia. Then if you want a child 2 and up it could take up to 4-8 months after your dossier is in Ethiopia. Our age range is 12-3.5 years old. She said it could happen at any time because we are at our fourth month of waiting. I really hope so. We told her we are SO ready for a picture!!! That would be closure for us knowing that he will soon be our son. I know it will be hard once we see his precious face and have to wait to travel. I think this is the hardest is not knowing when we will get his picture!!!! If I have a picture and get updates I can live with that until we bring him home. It will be a different type of waiting. It will be like a happy wait, because we know he is ours!!!

She loved his bedroom and she said we had everything done. So I hope she can put in a word on our behalf to let the Ethiopian team know that we can and are ready to travel at anytime. I don't know what more we can do?? All we can do now it give it to God and pray everyday that we will soon see our little prince!
Philippians 4:6- " Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving present your requests to God."
I am saying this verse everyday to not let me get too worked up over when we are getting Connor, but to pray and give it up to God and be blessed with what we do have. Everything we have is a blessing from God. He is so good!! I know when we get our referral it will be a blessing and it will be GOOD!!!

Please keep praying for us and our family as we wait for our picture of our little guy.
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