We're outta here : )

This is it- we are finally 'there'.  Our bags are packed, the vehicle is packed and we are set. Today, I walked out of the school and the reality of it all sunk in.  I handed over the reins of my classroom for the remainder of the semester.  FCCLA'ers were working concessions and all was in good hands.  As I walked to the car, oddly enough I wasn't worried about any of it.  Not because I have a simple, walk away from it job.  Not because I didn't care.  Because I am blessed this semester with a student teacher truly sent from God himself.  Oh, the graceful ways that God has provided for us.  The kids at school are sooooo excited for us.  Tonight is the night we've been waiting for.  Tomorrow is the day we've been praying about for months.  Praise the Lord, Praise the Lord, Praise the LORD!!!!  Keep us in your prayers- we love you all!! :)

WRAP-ing Details

I found this resource and thought it may be helpful to some of our family and friends.  Many of you have offered help.  And, quite honestly.... its hard to know what you need when you've never done something before.  We've tried our best to prepare not just for our time in Ethiopia and our flights.  But, also for our transition to becoming a family.  Adoption can feel a little awkward sometimes will lots of opportunity for unchartered territory.  Hope this helps answer some the the questions maybe you've been asking yourself.  Also, please wrap us in your prayers.  We greatly appreciate it!  Enjoy :)

Click here- WRAP around Newly Adoptive Families

3 more Sleeps... : )

We are soooo close to leaving for Ethiopia!!  Only a few things remain on the infamous to-do list and before we know it, we'll be out of here- we absolutely can not wait!  We fly our of Rapid at 6:30am on Wednesday morning.  Our connections take us to Minneapolis, Amsterdam and then Ethiopia.  Lord willing, we'll land in Ethiopia on Thursday evening (their time) which is about noon on Thursday here.   The weekend will be spent traveling to the region where Kaleb was born.  We're really looking forward to this! 
Monday (Sunday night when you're heading to bed).... we think we'll go to the orphanage for his going away ceremony.  Tuesday is our embassy date.  Thursday we pick up his visa and begin the long process of getting home.  And....

Saturday

October 8th

at 9:30AM

RC Regional Airport

We're havin' a party at the airport :) 

We CAN NOT WAIT!!!!!!

Oh, we can't wait to introduce him to our friends and family :) 

Two weeks from today... we'll be home, together as a family!

Kaleb's Room

Since a lot of our family and friends don't live near us... I figured, it would be fun to share a few pictures of what Kaleb's room looks like.  Its actually been done for awhile but, I just haven't gotten around to taking some pictures and posting them.  Enjoy...

From the door walking into his room.   

The beautiful crib was a gift from the Roth Grandparents!

 The dresser we bought at an auction for $10- Wes stripped it down and I stained it.  It sits below the window and will be the changing table.  

Continuing to the left of the dresser is the open closet.  The dresser is mine from when I was a kid- fresh paint and new hardware does wonders :)

Thanks to Keiffer's for the hand-me-down clothes as well! 

The side cupboard Wes picked up at an auction...it was my 1st Anniversary present- he spent a whopping $15 on it!  The jumbo ruler is a vinyl sticker I bought online then made myself with a 2x6 board.  Can't wait to mark down all his growing milestones.  And, we don't have to worry about painting over the wall or what happens if we move. 

And, lots of cute gifts from friends and family. 

 Kaleb's 1st puppy :)  Sent special delivery from our sweet friends in Virginia!

I love quilts!  This one was perfect....

and, will transition wonderfully into his 'little boy' phase as well.   

Rascal and Patch hanging out in the crib 'till Kaleb gets here.  

CLEARANCE travel plans...

We bought our tickets today!! :)  We learned of our travel clearance on Wednesday morning and originally thought we would attend court during birthday week including my sister and Mom's birthday.  However, God had different plans and of course His always work out better anyways.  We learned Thursday that the embassy will not be doing embassy appointments the last week of September so...that means we were bumped back another week.  I'm not going to lie- I was NOT excited to hear this news.  It may seem like 'just' another week but it is another week.  Imagine being 'expectant parents' for 18 months straight.  But, we now clearly see God's design in all of this.  Lord willing, this is the plan-
We will fly out of Rapid on Wednesday, September 28th arriving in Addis on Thursday evening.  The weekend will involve our birth family visit.  Monday, we will go back to the orphanage for the going home ceremony and to pick up Kaleb.  We're going to walk out of that orphanage and into a new life.  I'm sure it will be a bittersweet moment, realizing that he has been so loved these past months in their care.  We are forever grateful to them.  Tuesday, we will attend our embassy appointment in which he will be granted admittance into the US.  Thursday, we will pick up his travel visa and begin our journey home.  Saturday, October 8th at about 9:30am, we will land in Rapid City.  Ohhh, I can not wait for that moment!!!  We can not wait to greet our family and friends.  To have him meet his grandparents, great-grandparents, cousins, aunts, uncles and super supportive friends who have cheered for us and prayed with us throughout this entire process. 
Today we bought our tickets and God worked a miracle.  He found us what turned out to be basically 1/2 price tickets.  We have great flights and they cost much, much less than we had budgeted.  What a blessing!!!  I am continually reminded of just how marvelously God takes care of His kids.  Seriously, He's looking out for us and we amazed! 
This weekend, is dedicated to packing, 'nesting' and cleaning.  Lots and lots to do but, I'm totally looking forward to it.  God Bless everyone and have a great weekend :)

4:31am....Not a Minute too Soon!!!!!!

WOW, WOW, WOW!!!!!!  This morning I woke up at 4:15 to shower and get ready to drive a student across the state for an FCCLA meeting.  It was early and my brain did not want to be awake.  I didn't have much time but, I decided to quick check my email while my hair dried for a few minutes.  So, at this point its about 4:30 am....

and the first item in my inbox said

"Clearance-Roth". 

Honestly, I didn't believe it at first.  I opened the document, scanned the info and read the very bottom.  In red it said

"we are currently scheduling appointments after September 19th". 

WOW!  There it was- that's all it took.  Someone to send a simple little email saying- ok, come get him.  It was profoundly simple yet our journey of getting to that simple little email has been much more than simple. 

Keep in mind, its now about 4:31AM..... I immediately literally ran across the living room, up the stairs and crawled into bed alongside Wes who was peacefully sleeping away.  As he kind of half woke up I nudged him and said... "We get to get him.  We got our clearance, we get to go get him!"  That got his attention : )  So there we were at 4:32am laughing, crying, rejoicing and praising our Lord! Truly, the BEST news ever! 

Oh, what a glorious day it has been!  A day that sometimes didn't feel much like a reality and honestly, it still doesn't fully seem real that our 'next steps in our adoption' list has nearly vanished. 

As of right now- the general plan is that we'll fly out next Thursday afternoon, arriving in Ethiopia on Friday night.  We'll pick him up from the orphanage on that Monday, attend Embassy on Tuesday (which just happens to be my sister's birthday-complete amazingness!) and be home to Rapid that Friday or Saturday.  Saturday, October 1st is my Mom's birthday- wow, this is going to be fun : )

Again, we absolutely can not thank everyone enough for all their prayers for Kaleb and our speedy process.  We are truly amazed at God's work in bringing him home so quickly.  To Him be the Glory, its simply incredible the things He has done!

"Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows." - James 1:17

Blessed!

Yesterday was an incredibly fun day in our journey to become parents!  We were blessed by a baby shower for our little Kaleb.  We had an awesome time playing a few games, sharing and enjoying some of the most adorable cupcakes ever!!  I shared our family adoption story too... can't wait to post it online once we're home together as a family!! Some of the coolest gals I know- Hayley and Lindsey, hosted the shower.  Thanks so much!

Also, thanks so much to everyone who came and blessed us with so many fun, cute and useful things for Kaleb.  I told Wes last night... it finally feels like maybe a kid could live at our house.  Miss. Eliot was best, most adorable helper ever too : )  

Thanks everyone- we're so grateful and blessed to be surrounded by amazing friends. 

(growing) Update

Yesterday we received another update on our little guy!  And, WOW is he growing : )  If the report is correct, he has gained 2.89lbs. and grown 2 inches taller in the past month since we've seen him.  This is incredible since he'd gained very little in the months previously.  We have new pictures too!!! : )  They did change his formula a few weeks ago so that must have helped get him growing.  And, I like to think that a visit from his parents inspired a little growth spirt ....he's definitely going to be tall kid!  Can't wait to see what 'family photos' look like in 15 years... good times ahead!

God Delivers

When they say that adoption is a crazy journey full of unknowns....they mean it!  This past weekend we've been praying fervently for DHL.  That's right- the mailing/shipping company.  You see, we mailed our I-600 from South Dakota on August 8th to Michigan.  Somehow it didn't arrive until August 22nd.  Then, it was accidentally via DHL to the South Africa branch office instead of the Ethiopian office.  Same continent- wrong country.  So... last week the troublesome I-600 envelope was supposed to show up by Thursday.  However, by Friday it was a no show and DHL didn't really have an answer as to where it was.  Hmmmmm..... not good.  Especially considering that the DHL 'vehicles' we saw in Ethiopia were pedal bikes with a little box attach to the seat painted yellow saying 'DHL'.  (not even the motorized ones like above) We prayed and prayed and prayed and hoped for good news this morning. 
And of course- God delivered!  Our I-600 immigration form arrived in Ethiopia on Monday and we were submitted to Embassy today Tuesday, September 6th.  WOW, it is just incredible to think that the next 'step' in the process is for the embassy to email us saying 'come get your son'.  Very, very soon we will likely go from 'getting there' to 'going there'.  This week we learned that God delivers...in all kinds of ways :)

This or next...

Happy September- wow, am I excited for this month to get here!  August served us well and God has blessed us so much in these past few weeks.  We suprisingly passed court, have received the updated birth certificate and are now waiting to be submitted to the embassy.  The optimist in me wants to think there is a little bit of a possibility that we must might be seeing our son again by the end of 'this' month.  The realist is still saying 'next' month- October.  Either way, we're getting closer!!!  This week part of the reality of it all started sinking in when a bloggin' friend of mine brought her son home.  We've watched their names slowly crawl up the list just a few steps ahead of us.  This past week- they graduated from the 'waiting list'. Instead 'adopting' they've 'adopted.  The pictures are precious of their little brown eyed boy home together as a family. Ohhh, we can't wait to be there too! 
We're currently waiting on our I-600 to arrive in Ethiopia.  Yes, we followed the directions and sent it in a long time ago,  But, through a weird chain of events (otherwise known as God's timing)...its still on its way to Ethiopia.  Please pray with us that it arrives tonight, which is their Friday, so that our paperwork will be ready for Embassy on Tuesday. 
If and when that all falls into place...we'll officially be in the 'waiting for travel clearance'.  At that point either our process of getting Kaleb will go very quick or very slow.  How's that for an agenda! God knows if we have just weeks left in our wait or if its another month or so.  Either way, whether it is 'this' or 'next' or whenever God has it planned.... we're constantly getting much closer to that big party at the airport celebrating Kaleb's arrival!  Start clearing the calendars folks....this could get interesting : )