Goodbye January...

A cold day on Hwy 34
Today's piece of praise...9 more children were matched with families this past month :) And, more families are traveling for their 2nd trip! Our agency, Bethany Christian Services posted their monthly numbers today. Although we're not one of the 9 for January, we're hopeful that this coming month will bring lots more referrals and if its meant to be- our referral! Our agency will be having their bi-monthly conference calls this week so we're looking forward to hearing more about how things are going regarding the Ethiopian adoption process as well.

In the meantime, we're trying to avoid frost bite and freezing to death...right now, its about -45 degrees wind chill factor outside and the temp is dropping! ohh, Baby Roth I hope you come home in the summer because this really would be traumatic to come 'home' to! God Bless everyone and stay warm!! :) Here's hoping that February is an exciting big month for us...

Ahh, its been quiet here. The journey of adopting is such a pendellum of super busy and super quiet. We've been in this phase of super quiet for nearly 6 months now. And, we're wishing that things would start swinging a little faster for us. The good news is that in the last week or so, the overall progress of Ethiopian adoptiongs through Bethany has again picked up some momentum. Quite a few families are currently in or traveling to Ethiopia to pick up their precious children. Tuesday will be their court date, and a few days later- together, they'll travel to America to begin life as a family. A few infant referrals have happened in the the couple weeks as well which is great!
We think we're close but we know we're not there yet. We know we're towards the top of the list, we know that if our agency purely went in the order which dossiers were submitted we would have had our referral a month ago however we know that God builds families and we know that we will be matched with THE child that is meant to be ours.
And, we know that we are to bring all things to God in prayer. We've been doing alot of that lately! Praying for progress and praying for infant referrals- oh, how we can't wait to acutally have amazing news to share on of these days eventually!!!

100+

To be surrounded by people with a similiar heart for generosity and compassion in Christ's name is a beautiful wonderful thing. As we've been collecting shoes, it has been amazing to see our friends and family come along side us to gather shoes for dozens of sweet Ethiopian children. This week again, we've been blessed with more shoes. My friend Laura who is completing teacher observation hours in my classroom again this semester brought these along- so very gracious and super cute too : )

Thanks so much! With these, we've topped 100 pairs of shoes- yippee! The official count now stands at 108....and counting, right!!!?!!! We can't wait to see the smiles on kids' faces when these are delivered to those very truly in need. And, I doubt there have been many couples as excited to haul 100+ pairs of shoes literally 1/2 way around the world.

Shoe-Mountain

Here's what 'shoe-mountain' looks like at our house...98 pairs and counting!!

Again, thanks to everyone for contributing : )

What a blessing you've all been to help bring shoes to the children of Ethiopia.

98

Oh, I love a great deal!!! And, today God allowed me to capitalize on generosity and great bargains! Wes' Uncle Steve and Aunt Janelle recently sent Wes a birthday card and in it they enclosed a check to be used to purchase shoes for kids in Ethiopia- we were thrilled by their generosity! So, today I did a little shoe shopping and, this is what I found...

20 pairs of shoes for $51!!!!! WOW : ) Special thanks to Steve and Janelle for sponsoring these shoes- we're sure the kids will get great use out of them. Because of you, 20 more kids will be protected from parasites, disease and raw feet- thank you, thank you, thank you!

This brings our shoe tally to 98 pairs- totally beyond what I ever thought would be possible!! Now, the question is... who will donate pair No. 100???

And, since I was having so much fun... I wondered over to the baby section (well, because they've got cute stuff and I can't wait to actually buy stuff for Baby Roth)!! And, there I discovered these super discounted incredibly cute, very nice quality fleece sleepers for only $1.75 a piece! Aww, God's good at this bargain shopping thing : ) Fun, fun, fun...

We know we're getting closer but we have no idea what day will be our 'family day'. Last week a family received a referral for a 6 week old baby boy and another family recieved a referral for a 4 month old little boy. Yay for 2 more children who will have a safe, nourishing, loving home! These families submitted their paperwork in July and ours went over in August. However, we know there are at least a handful of families ahead of us whose paperwork has been there longer than ours. So, please...keep praying for Baby Roth, for the process, the birth family and us too.

God Bless everyone!

Happy 30th!

Today's been a fun day- filled with celebrating the dad to be...Wes' 30th Birthday! And, its been a fun celebration of an incredible man who is going to make a fabulous dad!! Of course went to church then headed home for what Wes thought would be a 'quiet lunch'. Until friends started showing up...

We're so very blessed by the friends we have near! As we talked an chatted, I couldn't help but think how full our house will be next year. The couple on the right are eagerly awaiting their baby girl due to arrive within days and our little one will likely be getting in on the balloon chasing, paper tearing and cute games babies play! Baby Roth is so blessed by the man God has chosen to be his/her dad! Happy 30th Birthday my wonderful husband and dad-to-be, I'm thinking that this year is going to top all the rest : )

Melkam Genna!

Happy Christmas! Today is the day that Ethiopia celebrates Jesus' birth- and, so we wish you a Melkam Genaa! I found this sweet angel a few weeks ago and it fit perfectly. Today we're praying for a blessed Christmas including nourishment, safety, and some lovin' for Baby Roth.

5 Months

We've made it to month 5 in the race to meet Baby Roth! This past month has been very busy with the usual Christmas activities, travel, shopping, baking, Christmas activities and a few distractionary projects around the house. Its been a great month- we're so very blessed by such a wonderful family, friends, a wonderful church and lots of God's grace! We're hopeful and optimistic that we're rounding the corner in our wait. We're not quite to the finish like of waiting for a referral....but, we think, hope and pray that it's just around the corner! Looking at the discussion boards, there are probably about a dozen or so in-front of us out of a pack of probably around 50 or so. However, since referrals take place based on what children become available, there realy is no telling when that wonderful call will come. The December numbers just came out and it looks like 8 referrals were made last month. Yay- for 8 little ones who will have a future filled with the love and hope of family!!! Most months there are about 16 referrals with the children being of all ages.
We're so very, very thankful to everyone who has been keeping Baby Roth and us upheld in prayer. We truly can feel God's grace as we've been learning to 'wait well'. Making it to 5 has had its moments when its felt like a handful...but, we're getting there! Oh, and God- we'd totally be fine if we didn't make it to the '6' blog post and instead were sharing news of our referral!!!!!!!! Like the little kid song goes... 'He's got the whole world, in His hands. He's got the whole world in His hands". So, till we meet you Baby Roth, we know you're in good hands!! Oh, but we can't wait to meet you : )
P.S. Happy Ethiopian Christmas! Today is the day Ethiopians around the world celebrate the birth of the little baby Jesus so long ago.

Distraction-ary Projects

I've found that one of the greatest tools in the adoptive parent's 'waiting game' is the ability to keep busy. Its when you're sitting around with idle hands that a person goes crazy with anticipation while waiting for that phone to ring and say... 'I'd like you to meet your child'. So, last week I found myself with an entire week of freedom from school. And if you know me at all- you know I LOVE house projects so...the short version is that the downstairs bathroom became the victim of my most recent 'distraction-ary project' aka 'the world's cheapest bathroom remodel! I spent about $37 out of pocked including updating plus 2 gift cards.

The old, 90's bathroom- it worked, looked ok but- it could do better...

those near and dear to me know my thoughts on 'golden oak'... ; )
And the new look...


Its amazing what some old primer and 15 bucks of paint can do to an old cabinet...
Some super cute hardware and very affordable flooring = Mission accomplished!
It was definitely distraction-ary and I think my $37 was a great investment : )

However... I couldn't help but think to myself that doing this kind of a project would be practically impossible with a kid hanging out for the day. As much as I love projects... I'm totally willing to trade my project days for play days with Baby Roth- can't wait!