Fingerprints...check!

We had to wake up and drag the kids out of bed and leave by 7 am yesterday to make it through rush hour to our long awaited fingerprint appointment.  We sent our application in to USCIS(United States Customs and Immigration) a little over five weeks ago and now that we have our fingerprints done should receive our approval in the next 2-4 weeks.  Once we get our approval page from USCIS, we can submit our Dossier to Ethiopia and wait to be assigned to our sweet daughter.

After fingerprinting we took the kids to IHOP for some much needed breakfast.  We ran some tables back to Eagle Middle School after we had borrowed them for the yard sale, thanks Micah for letting us use them!  The kids needed some time and space just to be kids so we took them to the park.  They played on the play equipment and in the water while Josh and I layed in the grass under a tree and read/slept.  There was a nice breeze and it was very relaxing.  We went to the in-laws and threw the kids down for naps.  We eventually grabbed some dinner and headed back to Boise.  We ended our day at Aidrea's birthday/welcome home party.  She is beautiful and is doing well.  She's walking around all over the place and always has a smile on her face.  She loves to point at people and then wave, sooooo cute!  I can't wait for our daughter to run around and play with her!

Our fingerprints bring us one step closer to bringing our sweet baby home!  God has taught us so much about the needs that are out there, about the blessing that children are, about our obedience to His plan, about His faithfulness... I am excited to see where He takes us from here!

Unexpected Faithfulness

The last few days have been an exhausting whirlwind of emotions.  I only got a couple of days to recover from last weeks yard sale before we were setting up once again for round 2 of our yard sale to bring sweet Naomi home.  I headed into town Thursday afternoon to set up tables, canopies and signs at Bobbi and Rod's house in Nampa.  I left for a couple hours to run out to play in a church softball game, grabbed some dinner on the way back in, and then it was back to unpacking boxes onto tables and pricing a bunch of new stuff that was donated just this week.  I crawled into bed a little after one AM and was awoken by the garage door a little after 5 - Josh and Rod had to set up a bunk bed before Rod had to leave for work.  Friday was a slow yard sale day with not many customers and lots of drive bys or no buys.  Saturday was fairly slow too and much of the same  - not many big buyers.  We did make a few big sales, however, and were pleasantly surprised with our total sales.  When we added both weekends together - we made $5,820!!  God is so faithful and provides in ways we never could have dreamed.  We started the yard sale needing $7,700 by mid-August for our next installment payment that will be sent to Ethiopia with our Dossier.  We had $2,000 in the bank and we made over $5800 - EXACTLY what we needed!  I still get goosebumps thinking about it.  God is faithful!

God also showed me another story of faithfulness this weekend.  Wednesday evening as we were busily getting everything ready for the upcoming yard sale - my dad called and said they were at the hospital with Grandma Everhart (my mom's mom) and they were trying to decide if they were going to admit her or not.  It seemed like the same 'ol same 'ol.  Grandma has been in and out of the hospital for most all of my life.  She spends a couple of days, gets some fluids and meds, and is on her way.  They ended up admitting her that evening and mom and dad spent time with her on Thursday.  Sometime on Friday she took a turn and her condition got very serious very quickly.  They moved her back down to ICU and began running a gammet of tests.  Over the course of just a few hours, grandma became unresponsive.  The family began gathering at the hospital to be with grandma, grandpa, and each other.  We are a large family, and kinda loud :), so they moved us into a seperate lobby area that wasn't being used since it was the weekend.  I took a break from the yard sale Saturday morning to go see grandma.  She's been in the hospital many times, but I knew this time was different as soon as I walked in the room.  My kids got to come see her that evening and tell her that they loved her.  Sunday afternoon the doctors met with the family to tell us that grandma needed surgery to survive, but the surgery was more than her body could handle.  It was their recommendation to make her as comfortable as possible and allow the family as much time with her as we could.  They moved her out of ICU to a private double room and even gave us the room across the hall for overflow since there were so many of us.  Sunday evening everyone local was able to come down and spend time together praying and reminiscing.  We had to have crammed close to 40 people in her hospital room and spent hours singing grandma's favorite hymns.  Grandma was a fighter and held on longer than the doctors had anticipated.  Standing at her bedside on Tuesday morning July 19, 2011 - I watched my grandma pass through heaven's gates to see her Savior and the rest of her family that were there waiting for her.  It was a bitter sweet moment of sadness and grief mixed with peace and hope.  God prepared grandma for this journey long ago and she has been a living example of a godly woman.  God was faithful in the midst of a hospital room in Nampa, ID to bring a family together and give us peace.  The joy and heartache that eminated from her room as we sang praises to Jesus is indescribable.  Grandma loved to sing and we spent the last 48 hours lifting our voices to heaven waiting for God to call her home.  God was faithful to give her peace, to give us peace, and to give us an example of what a godly woman looks like - I will strive to be the legacy that she was.  Love you grandma!  See you again on the streets of gold...

More Than We Could Have Hoped For Or Imagined!

Round one of our yard sale to raise money to bring our sweet baby home was a HUGE success.  Words cannot describe the blessings that unfolded this week!  We were first blessed with an outpouring of items that were donated by friends, family, and even complete strangers!  It took us 7 hours to set up on Thursday afternoon/evening and we turned close to 50 people away while we were setting up!  We had a tremendous amount of help all throughout the weekend as well.  Family and friends poured out their love with time and energy helping us setup, take down, and man the tables starting from 7 am Friday morning until 5 or so Saturday night!  We cannot express our gratitude enough for all the help!

We were slammed all throughout the day on Friday!  People kept coming and going with piles full of items.  Even stuff that we never thought would sell went to find its new found home.  God was working wonders.  We were able to witness to several people about adoption and the need that is out there.  Our bright neon signs caught the attention of shoppers and everyone was supportive of our efforts and wished us the best of luck!  It was an amazing weekend!

Now I am sure you all are wondering what the final total is that we were able to bring in!  God is sooo amazing!  We earned $4012!!  This is sooo far beyond what we ever expected!  It is amazing to me how God provides in such unexpected ways!  Suprisingly, after selling that much stuff, we still have a patio full of items and will be having round 2 of our yard sale this coming weekend at the in-laws house!  I am excited to see God work once again and curious to see what He has planned!

Family Reunion

We were blessed to have 68 immediate family together for a family reunion this weekend.  This included Grandma and Grandpa, the aunts and uncles, the cousins and all our kids.  We only had 10 missing from the clan!  It was great to see everyone and watch the kids have so much fun with cousins that they rarely see or have never met!  The simplicity of the weekend was wonderful!  Just getting a chance to hang out, eat, play some volleyball and horseshoes - building memories that will last a lifetime!  We had one little hitch on Saturday night when Jarod fell off the playground and broke his arm.  An emergency room visit, some meds and a blue popsicle later he was put back together and we were able to head home for some much needed rest!  Overall the weekend was a success and I cannot wait to add our daughter to the mix!  She has an amazing family that cannot wait to meet her and lots and lots of cousins excited to play with her.  Sometimes we take family for granted and don't realize how important they are to us.  I am excited for our daughter to experience family in a way she has never known!

A DAY FULL OF BLESSING!

Leah and I headed to Boise after we ate a hearty bowl of oatmeal for lunch - yes lunch!  It is summer so perspective on meal times and when to get out of pajamas is a little blurred.  First we headed to our adoption agency where we picked up our finalized home study - WHOOOHOOO!!!  From there we headed straight to Fedex where we paid an arm and a leg to get our application to USCIS first thing Monday morning.  There is more waiting to follow but by completing the home study we are one step closer, check it off the list, and move on!  After Fedex, Leah and I headed over to the mall to pick up Josh's ring that we had to get some work done on.  We had a wonderful hour or so just being girls in the mall.  We smelled lotions at Bath and Body Works, looked at stuffed animals at Build a Bear, got a Watermelon slushy, stopped in at Claire's to look at hair pretties and watch a little girl get her ears pierced.  Leah said she doesn't EVER want to get HER ears pierced - we'll see!  And of course it wouldn't be a trip at the mall if you didn't ride the escalator up and down a gazillion times.  We had a wonderful girls day! 

Leah asked all day when it would be time and was so excited when we finally left the mall and headed to the airport to meet baby Aidrea, who was coming home from Ethiopia!  The flight was delayed so we got to hang out and visit with friends we hadn't seen in a while.  We knew it was time for hugs and tears when we saw a bouqet of pink balloons cascading down the cooridor.  Dusty and Chandra escorted by ALL 4 of their beautiful children couldn't have looked happier!  Aidrea was tucked safely away in Chandra's arms taking it all in.  She just watched everyone and let her brother's love on her!  She did great!  On the day that we sent our home study off and are moving one step closer, it was wonderful to see our friends be able to bring their adoption journey full circle.  It reminds you that the waiting is all worth that moment when you can bring them home to join the family forever!  Love ya Benners - thanks for being a loving example of faithful living!

Here's a pic of Leah and Aidrea getting aquainted!  Can't wait until both of my daughters can hang with Aidrea!

Chandra and Aidrea pose with me at the airport!

Josh with Dusty and Aidrea!

Jesus Loves Me

One Step Closer

We got word today that our Home Study was approved by our International Agency and is in the final stages of getting signed and notarized.  The average Home Study takes 2-4 months to complete. We were blessed with an adoption agent who worked quickly for us and we were able to finish up our home study in a mere 6 weeks from our first visit.  I am keeping my fingers crossed that our USCIS approval will come with the same speed - the average wait is 6-12 weeks.  We have everything else ready and in order so as soon as we get approval from USCIS we can send our Dossier off to Ethiopia.  Then the waiting for our daughter really begins!  God is mighty and amazing and I know that His timing is perfect.  He has the perfect little girl waiting to join our family and He will bring her to the right place at the right time to be available for us.  One step closer...