Today is our sweet baby girls 1st birthday!  She is halfway around the world and that is hard on this mamas heart.  I am SO excited that a precious family from our agency will be with her today (they are traveling for court!) and they will get to deliver her b-day goodies, take pics and let her know that we  love her dearly and will get there as fast as we can!! Thank you so much Tana and Casey.

Avery is making a cake and our crew will celebrate today and rest in His perfect timing in bringing her home.

The drought in the horn of Africa is so tragic.  Not sure what to do, where to give??? Please consider giving here to the new campaign that A Glimmer of Hope is doing for relief in Ethiopia.  

This is from the Glimmer website:

58: THE FILM Trailer July, 11 2011 from LIVE58NOW on Vimeo.

THE FRESH AIR FUND, an independent, not-for-profit agency, has provided free summer vacations to more than 1.7 million New York City children from low-income communities since 1877. Nearly 10,000 New York City children enjoy free Fresh Air Fund programs annually. In 2010, close to 5,000 children visited volunteer host families in suburbs and small town communities across 13 states from Virginia to Maine and Canada. 3,000 children also attended five Fresh Air camps on a 2,300-acre site in Fishkill, New York. The Fund’s year-round camping program serves an additional 2,000 young people each year.


If you live in one of the green states, check it out here.   They are still in need of hundreds of families for this summer to participate.  

My mom sent this to me tonight.  It is the final video of 8 on a sermon Henri Nouwen gave.  This so well articulates my heart in regards to my overwhelming love and joy that I get from my sweet Abe and the people of Ethiopia.


Seriously, this is the face staring at me while doing this post.  How blessed am I?

Thanks mama.

Filling in some of the gaps.......
I've known that we had a daughter in Ethiopia for awhile, my dear husband wasn't so sure.  I think since we lost the referral for Wudassie and Biruk back in the spring of 2008, I've known she was there and trusted the Lord would reveal His timing.  We both assumed that we would return to adopt a girl after Abe and yet the Lord so clearly spoke to both of our hearts that we had another son in Ethiopia.  I simply can't imagine our lives without Eyasu and the connection he has given us to our family in Dube Bute.  After Eyasu had been home awhile, I started to long to return, to start the process to our girl. Last summer around this time, my heart literally ached for a child that I longed to mother.  I was so heartbroken when Moody wasn't on the same page.  I wondered how I could have missed it.  So I prayed and waited.  Around Christmas he was ready.  The Lord confirmed in his heart we did indeed have a daughter and we were to begin! I'm so thankful now, seeing His timing, because it is now clear as our daughter wasn't ready for us yet, she actually was just being born. So the heavy heart was for her, I just didn't know it yet.

We updated our homestudy at the beginning of the year and made the decison to return to the agency that we used for Abe, Children's House International.  Our dear friends, the Porters, had recently returned home from Ethiopia with their precious Mary Aster and they used CHI and their YWAM program.  Their experience and way they described the care of the kids, family preservation programs, etc. gave us such ease using CHI again and it has proved to be a wonderful experience.  Everyone on the team has been a joy to work with through this process, and we are grateful for each of them as they work tirelessly for their families.

We assumed that the process would take a very long time as news began to circulate that the Ethiopia program may shut down or at least become VERY slow.  I even began to pray about other options and thankfully the rest of the family were RESOLUTE to remain in Ethiopia.  Moody kept saying, "she is in Ethiopia babe, just be patient".  Love him.

So we did our paperwork, we got fingerprinted and life went on.  Upon receiving our CIS approval we were allowed to discuss any particular children on the waiting child list.  She was not there and we were content to wait for our girl, trusting in His perfect timing.  I got an email from Becky about a little one that was ready but not yet on the wc list.  She was on the much younger end of our perameters, but once we saw her face, we knew.  She was ours and we were hers.  Her story breaks my heart and lets me know she is full of fight.  I simply can't wait to see what the Lord has for her.  We feel so blessed.  The kids are beyond excited and want her home yesterday.  We will sit out the court closure as we did with Eyasu and pray her home quickly.  We would appreciate your prayers as well.

This is the second time that we did not set out to adopt a baby and that it what He has given us.  I have now learned that His plan is always better than our own.  That His purposes are always for our good and His glory.  I have seen Him reveal Himself so much in our first two adoptions and have seen Him work in this one as well.  Moody and I may be the oldest to show up for sweet baby girls 5 year old dance recital, but you can bet her whole cheering section will be right there with us!  Welcome to the Team little one.  We love you dearly.

We are thrilled to announce that we have accepted the referral of the most precious little girl from Ethiopia!  I have much to tell (especially as many of you may be saying, huh? what?) but am running out to baseball games!  Trust me, she is perfect for the team and we can't wait to have her home.  More to come this weekend. :)  God is good.  Soli Deo Gloria!