about THE call

I know I promised you a blog on re-usable diapers, but it dawned on me that I never shared how we got THE call. On January 25, a couple of weeks prior to our referral, Duni emailed to make sure that we wanted one child. (Remember, for a time we felt led to two.) We assured her that it was one. She said to expect to hear from her soon as they were working on a referral of a baby boy for us and he just lacked one piece of paperwork. That's our theme, folks....just one more piece of paper. :) As soon as that piece of paper came in, she would call us.

We were so close. This was it. IT was about to happen. That was like Thursday or Friday, so we waited until the next Tuesday, January 29. We hadn't heard anything and I couldn't stand it anymore. I emailed her asking about it..no paper, but she would let us know as soon as she had it. Until the referral was complete, she could not give us any information. Not and age, not a hint, not a nothing. I was freaking out. Almost six months of waiting and it was about to happen.

That week wrapped up with no call. The next week came and went on and on. Thursday, February 7, I did my weekly week count on the blog. I was just aching. It was so close, but still so far away. Marshall was having a really busy time at work...meaning unusually busy. I checked my email that evening and had Duni emailed. It was titled "phone call". Was this it? Oh my! Where's Marshall? I called him and said, "I really need you to come home because we are about to get our referral."

Her email said that we could call her anytime. Trembling. Waiting for Marsh to get home. Freaking out. In a good way. Who was this little guy going to be? My stomach was doing back flips. Marshall got home. I think I was leaping around the apartment acting foolishly or something. We got the phone and called Duni. So we never got THE call, we got THE email and we made the call. We always do things a little differently.

She told us his birthday and his name. She said that she would be emailing us his medical paperwork (that last piece of paper :) and some other information along with some pictures. I was silent. I told her that when I played out this moment in my head, I had a million questions for her, but right then I didn't know what to say. She said that once we saw him, we would have plenty to say....he was a cutie.

So, we hung up and waited for the email. Marshall had to go back to work that night, so I emailed her again and asked her to send the pictures as soon as possible so we could see him together. Selfishly, I didn't want to wait until he got home the second time to see the pictures. I was ready, Freddy. The email popped into the inbox and we sat on the couch together with the lap top. It was so surreal. We were about to. see. our. son. SEE him! I opened the email and scrolled down. I do remember that when we saw him, we both gasped. He absolutely took our breath away. And I don't think we've gotten it back yet.....

safe plastic? it's dangerous?!

Did you know that some baby bottles are dangerously toxic? I know...I didn't know either.

The Green to Grow website where I ordered Silas' bottles has some great information here. I had know idea about safe and unsafe plastics until I read about this, so I wanted to share it with my faithful readers...both of you. ;)

Actually, the world we live in does really concern me. I think a lot of our health problems have a lot to do with what we ingest. Have you ever tried to read the ingredients in your favorite, even "healthy", snack? What is that stuff? Is it real?

On another note, do I really need special laundry detergent for Silas' things? If it's not safe for a baby, why do I want to wear clothes washed in it?

I'll stop now before you think I've turned into an all natural granola girl freak. I am still wearing make up, by the way, and I do wear deodorant. My next post will be entirely dedicated to cloth diapers, or nappies, as I like to call them. ;)

Adoption note: Our court date will be requested after March 1.

buzz baby!

We're big fans of Burt's Bees...great products and oh so natural. I'm more and more concerned about chemicals these days and really concerned where chemicals and my baby come into contact.

So after hearing great reviews on Burt's Bees Baby Bee line, I had to try it. I'll let you know how they work out when Silas gets here, but I can tell you now that they smell el fabuloso.

Only the best for our baby's body and bum!

official referral packet

Guess what came in the mail today? Our official referral packet. It included all of the information we received from Duni during THE call and subsequent email. But....the best part? Two 8X10 photos of the cutest boy in the world. One boy shouldn't be that cute.

We will fax our referral acceptance letter to America World tomorrow. We can pay our payment online...ah, technology.

Please pray for our court date. We're hoping to hear soon.

Yesterday we mailed a care package for Silas to our friends the Harpolds, one of the families traveling 1 March to pick up their children. We included a soft blanket we slept with for a few nights and a soft photo album with frighteningly close up pictures of us. Hope it doesn't make him cry. Mel and Erica, could you make sure he doesn't cry over our big faces?

What a blessing that these friends are willing to love on our son, take pictures of him, and share a piece of us with him. This group of families we've walked this road with will forever be special to us.

transition home

We found out yesterday that Silas has been moved to the agency's Transition Home. This is wonderful news, as he will receive more individualized care since the ratio of nannies to children is smaller. All reports coming from the TH are great. Does a mother's heart good.

The other great thing about his move is that the families traveling in two weeks will be able to love on him, take him a little care package and take a million, err...some new pictures for us. I can't wait!!

I haven't posted many pictures lately...so here is the Valentine gift I got for Marshall. I admit I completely copied this idea from my blogger friends Penelope and Lenka. It's the Willow Tree statue called "Our Gift". A little craft paint and it looks just like our little family....except I should have gotten some yellow craft paint for my hair. But, you get the idea...

Here is Sophie in her new coat. My mom sent this because their dog, Billy, wasn't impressed with it. She might look cute and innocent here, but as I type, she is tearing the life out of this coat like it's the carcass of an animal, on the floor in front of me. I think she smells Billy on it and is just "playing". ;)

We are going to pick up my brother this afternoon and take him for a schnitzel. It's a must. He heads back to TX tomorrow....it's been fun to have him around. Makes us even more ready to be back on the same continent with our family.

And that reminds me of one more thing, if you're still following me. We will be staying here a little longer this summer. It works out wonderfully so we can bring Silas home, bond, and then move as opposed to doing all three of those things at the same time. So, we asked the Lord for clear direction on our timetable and here it is...perfect of course!

what next?

We have a baby, with a name, so what's next?

Right now the in-country representative, Girmachew, is working on our paperwork for court and will request a court appointment for us. He will request a court date for us in Ethiopia. We are not eligible for a court appointment until some time in March. (A child has to be in care for 90 days.)

After a favorable court ruling, we will travel three weeks later. So, prayerfully we will go to pick him up in April. We considered traveling twice to Ethiopia in order to get an IR3 visa. We decided that traveling once and obtaining an IR4 visa will be fine. What's a little more paperwork, right?

Now it's time to pull all of the loose ends together and get ready for our boy. It's so nice to have a face to go with our dreams. Wondering if it will ever really happen is really hard, and now I see that the wait after the referral is really, really hard. I trust the Lord that he is getting the best care and all of his needs are being met.

We're praying now that we get the earliest court date possible and that it's sucessful. We are beside ourselves with joy and anticipation. My heart has been stolen...again...this time by a boy named Silas.

his name shall be.....

Silas.

He's a Silas. We will keep his Ethiopian name as his middle name. I can't wait until I can share that too. And his sweet face. I think you will melt. I know we are still in a melted state....

Edited to Add...
My friend Christine emailed me about the meaning of Silas. Everything we had seen up to this point said that Silas meant "wood, from the forest" (not very exciting or sweet). But I believe we gave him a fitting name....

Silas: This name comes from the Aramaic word that means "asked for." Silas was a member of the early church who was, at one time, jailed with Paul for his beliefs.

We definitely asked for him and He gave us imeasurably more than we asked or imagined (see Eph 3:20).

[from Family Education]

The LORD has done great things for us, and we are filled with joy. Psalm 126:3

God sets the lonely in families...Ps 68:6a

And He has done that today! We got our referral!!!

He is beautiful, absolutely beautiful. Because of Ethiopian law and our agreement with our agency (he's not legally ours until we pass through court in Ethiopia), all we can tell you is he is a stinkin' cute little guy. Remember how I called him "cutest boy in the world"? Well, he is!

You don't know how much I want to share his picture with you! But in his interest, we cannot. Soon though. Please pray that we receive a court date soon so that we can share him with the world. We will not be sharing details about his life and circumstances though. My life is an open book, but we feel like our son's should remain private. Thanks for not putting us on the spot. :)

Thank you for your faithful prayers and encouragement on this journey. It's not over....I think this wait to go get him will be the worst. We continue to covet your prayers as we now have a son on a different continent that we can't wait to get to. Oh how he is already loved!

What happens now? We wait (notice the theme...) for our hard copy referral to come in the mail. We then send in the official acceptance letter to our agency. The in-country representative requests a court date for us and we base our travel plans around that date.

God is SO very good! I can't believe I finally get to post that we got our referral!!

Like cold water to a weary soul is good news from a distant land. Proverbs 25:25

23 weeks waiting....

I can't believe we've made it to 23 weeks. I thought surely the wait would be over by now. We're one week from a 6 month wait.

Our agency gave us a 4-7 month window to wait for a referral. We're still in the window, but I feel like we're dangling out of the window by our feet. :) We're hanging on, hoping a praying for that call.

Two families had successful court dates yesterday and 5 more have their court appointments tomorrow. Please pray they go through and can begin travel arrangements. How wonderful it would be for our little guy to be in the transition home when they get there! What a gift those pictures would be.

I'm ready to pack our bags.....just need that phone call!! It would be silly to start packing before the phone call, right?!

the name poll results

Noah........29 votes....39%
Jude........5 votes.........6%
Abram....2 votes.........2%
Samuel...15 votes.......18%
Silas.........9 votes........10%
Micah......23 votes......27%

83 votes total

Thanks for participating! My sister, Katy, admitted to voting for her favorite name from 2 different computers. Anyone else want to fess up?

holding on to Truth

"But these things I plan won't happen right away. Slowly, steadily, surely, the time approaches when the vision will be fulfilled. If it seems slow, be patient! For it will surely take place. It will not be late by a single day." Habakkuk 2:3

random quick update

no news this week like we expected. please stay tuned.

gimpy gout is better...way better.

marshall is home. :)

picking up my brother tomorrow morning.

i have no idea who to vote for....and i've looked at all parties, not just my usual.

wish we could watch the new episodes of Lost like everyone else. we love that show.

it's late and i should really be in bed.

love to you all! (i did say random, didn't i?)