Mathew 18:5

"And anyone who welcomes a little child like this on my behalf is welcoming me." Mathew 18:5

Saturday, December 14, 2013

SURRENDER


     It has been ten days since our family got the great news that we had a son who is, in Ethiopia. I am the happiest momma in world at this point. Nick and I have been preparing ourselves for a long wait, at least a full year, or two, on the wait list. We waited only two months to the day. I have many things going on in my head at this point. I am so overwhelmed with joy and happiness that I can’t image anything at all bringing me down. I have always, my entire life, been a believer in God, but I have to confess I have a hard time with trusting in Him and giving up control to Him. Nick and I have joined a small group with our church and I had confessed to all of them that I have issues with giving up control to God, and that I truly would like to work on that. I have to tell you all that I love our God, but I am a bit of a control freak. Everyday I struggle with submitting myself to the Lord’s will for my life. I trusted God enough to get me to heaven, but not enough to be the person He created me to be. Fortunately, through my small group and prayer I began to grow weary of trying to manage and control my own life (it wasn’t working for me). I was actually relieved to hand it over to God. Let me tell you when I did, I experienced overwhelming joy and love. I have to tell all of you I have been trying to control this journey to our son the entire time and when I decided to surrender this journey to our heavenly Father, He showed us His plan. Let me tell you I love His plan. He gave us a beautiful son. We all love him so much. The wait for our court date is going to be very hard but I am at ease knowing God is in control.

If any of you are in a similar place today, I urge you to not wait another moment. Surrender all that you have and all that you are to the Lord and see where He takes you. I have shared where He is taking me, and I can’t wait to see what else He has in store for me! “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love Him” (1Corinthians 2:9 NIV)

Monday, December 9, 2013

REFERRAL CALL... IT’S A BOY!!!!!!!!!


                                                                      

O boy big news everyone!  Last Wednesday Dec.4th at 2:00, my husband got the phone call. Referral call!!!!!! Nick was at work at the farm, and I was at the shop getting ready to walk out the door. Nick called me about 2:15 and the first thing he said was how are you feeling? Well I have to tell ya’ll, I have been feeling a bit sick for a little while, and that day was a bad day for me not feeling good at all. Then Nick asked me if I was sitting down? My heart stopped then! Somehow I just knew he was going to tell me we got the referral call. Nick proceeded to tell me about a little boy who just turned 5 the end of November. Nick kept talking with info about our precious boy and I could only think about thanking God, as tears rolled down my face. Nick then told me Julie is going to call us at 3:00 and we both need to be there to learn all the info we can about our son, and see his precious face! The face that I have been praying for, I finally get to see. All I could think was, is this real?

 

Well 3:00 came Julie called and it is really real. We have a son in Ethiopia waiting for us to bring him home. I hope you are smiling just as big as I am as I type this. Julie gave us a lot of info on our son and I can tell you my little guy has been through so much. It truly breaks my heart. For a moment, I felt ashamed at feeling so much joy, and he has going through so much pain and confusion. It was so bittersweet. I don’t know how else to describe it. Across the world in Africa, a family experienced loss and pain. We got a son. It doesn’t seem fair, but then, it is all in God’s plan and “ K “ will have a forever family now. We are so ready to love him, comfort him, and give him a forever home. I tell you at the end she asked us if we were ready to see him( if she sends the pics 1st a lot of parents can’t focus on all the info she needs to get through)I told her we are so ready to see his pic. So I called the kiddos downstairs and told them that they have a brother and asked if they would like to see him? They all got huge smiles on their faces and nodded their heads yes. So Julie who is on speaker phone sent the pics through email. EEEEEEEK! There he was our son who we have already had in our hearts, there on our computer screen. I started crying so hard that I think it scared Lily. She just stood there and stared at me. Gabe kept hugging me. Awe, my kids wanted to comfort their momma. After they realized it was happy tears, big smiles came across all of their faces. They were so excited to see their brother. They all kept saying he’s so cute. Let me tell you cute is not the only word for him. He is perfect and adorable. Wait until you all see my little guy’s cheeks! You will fall apart! We love him so much and can’t wait to get him home. God is so good! Praise the Lord! Thank you God for the best Christmas present a momma could ever get. Thank all for your support and prayers we love you all! We can’t wait to share our little guy with you all!

 

At this point we have all the paperwork done, getting them notarized tomorrow, and sent out! Then Julie will tell us our next step. I will fill you all in when we know the time we will be flying to Ethiopia to meet our son. Remember we will be making two trips before we can bring him home forever.

One more note sorry I cannot post any pics of “ K.” It is illegal to post pics of orphans. If I do post any pics, my son will have a heart over his face to hide his identity.  

 

 JOHN 14:18 I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.

Saturday, November 30, 2013

ALWAYS THANKFUL




Salem all blog readers, yesterday was Thanksgiving. I’m looking back and reminding myself of all that I’m thankful for. This is the time of year that it’s easy to forget about the heartache we all have experienced in life. It’s great to be able to dedicate time and really appreciate how lucky we are (even if we think we aren’t).  Here are some of the things I’m thankful for:

1.       An always faithful and loving God.

2.       Three incredibly loving, caring, and smart kids that are my life and breath.

3.       An amazing husband who deeply loves us and is deeply concerned with the well-being of our family. He is completely my world.

4.       Our church LifeHouse, of which has led all of us to a deeper relationship with God.

5.       My job as a stylist, I have seen God in more ways that I can count through my job, my clients are not just clients they are family.

6.       My husband’s job at the Fire Dept. and especially his job at Pond Seed (I know Nick has seen God’s work through that job).

7.       My family and friends who have been so supportive through our adoption process.

8.       Our health even though I have been through some ups and downs this year. I have amazing doctors getting me back on track.

9.       My very special friends that I have met through AGCI Facebook group.

10.   One of those very special friends I have gotten to speak with is T & A’s mom (they are my prayer buddies I wrote about in one of my earlier posts. If you haven’t read it please go back and read it. I promise once you read it and then get to know that I’m in contact with their amazing mom, the hair on the back of your neck will stand up. Oh and by the way T & A’s momma and I have so much in common, we share the same birthday (GOOSEBUMBS if you read my earlier post, Prayer Buddies), we have the same pic of her children on our wall, her father owns his own hair salon, we both love and adore her children, and on and on. God is so good.   Her children will be coming home real soon to such an amazing family!    YAY!!!!!!!

11.   For Erica and my special orphan V who has opened my heart to adoption. Without you two I don’t know if I would be on this amazing journey.   Love you both dearly!!!!!

12.   For my adoption agency, AGCI, whose staff has guided us through every step.

13.    For our child(ren)’s birthmother, for she had the courage and the strength to bring our precious child(ren) into the world. She will always hold a special place in my heart. No matter what the circumstances were, she chose life for her little one, our child(ren).

14.   Ethiopia, where are child(ren) will be when we first hold them in our arms. From what I have read and heard it is truly an amazing place. We can’t wait to experience all of it.

15.   Hannah’s Hope, the transition home of where our child(ren) will be until we get them home. The special mothers who take such good care and love our children while they wait for their parents.  

16.   Last but not least we just got our Favorable Determination Letter, which means we are approved by immigration!      Another step closer to our child(ren)!  YAY!!!!!!!!!!!


Monday, September 30, 2013

Dossier Sent Off, Headbands Fundraiser, and More!


Wednesday the 24th of September was a huge day for our family. We sent our dossier to our agency AGCI.  We already have heard back from our agency and we only had one correction on it. We forgot to sign of passports (opps hee hee). We signed them and they will be in the mail tomorrow. This is the last of our paperwork for a while.  We are now waiting patiently on God’s timing. We will be on the waiting list very soon! We have had a lot of people praying and supporting us. We would like to thank you all. The next day after we sent in our dossier, we came home to a gift on our porch. A jar of pickles saying “congrats you’re officially paper pregnant.“

  This same friend, Georgene, has adopted two beautiful children from China. She knows all about the emotions with adoption and has been such a dear friend with her support. Georgene has such a passion for orphans and wanted to help me with funding some of our adoption. She has croqueted headbands for me to sell. Georgene donated a ton of headbands she has made. She dropped a huge bag off to me at the shop and asked for nothing in return. She is such an amazing, talented, woman with a huge heart. These headbands are so adorable. I’m selling them for $12 at the shop, or I’ll also ship them out if you want them mailed. Every bit of the money will go toward our adoption. We would greatly appreciate any sales for we are now open to take siblings up to two and we know that it comes with a cost. There are all kinds of colors and also I can buy yarn and ask her  to make other colors on your request. Thank you for all of support it is greatly appreciated. Here are some pictures of these adorable headbands. I can take closer up picture if you request.


 




 
 

Sunday, September 8, 2013

SOON TO BE AN ORPHAN NO MORE!!


This update I don’t have a lot of new information on the adoption. We are waiting for our home study and dossier to be completely finalized. We are hoping and praying it should be done real soon. This is the point that I ask God to grant me some much needed patience.

I do have some good news though! Remember the little boy who opened my heart to adopting?  Yep, V, the cutest little Ukrainian I have ever seen. Well precious V is going to meet his amazing new family very soon. His family has booked their flights for September 20. They should be in Ukraine in time for their appointment on the 24th. I can’t even explain how excited I am for all of them. V’s family are truly amazing people.  I have been following their blog faithfully. Their journey has not been easy but the reward at the end will soon shine. Soon V will find out that he has a family that will be there to love him and bring him home. V is also going to find out that his best friend, S that he has grown up with in the orphanage, is also going home with him. Yes you read that right. This amazing family is adopting both of them. V’s best friend very soon will be his brother. I wish you all could see the huge smile on my face when I just typed thatJ!!!!!! I’m now asking for all of my blog readers to please pray for V&S’s family tonight before you lay your head down for bed. Please ask God to be with them.

I’m going to end this blog update with praying for the Selman family (V&S’s family)

Please God I pray, grant them strength, wisdom, and patience.

Please God I pray, keep them healthy and safe in their travels.

I pray Lord, please keep the doors open so that the Selman family can bring those two little angels home, for we know as adopting parents how easy it is for a door to close in this journey.

I pray Lord just put your loving arms around them, for we know you have the entire world in your hands!.......by the way I love that song J………..PRAYER WARRIORS START PRAYING!!!!!!

Saturday, August 10, 2013


THANKFUL FOR OUR PRAYERS BUDDIES!...... WE LOVE YOU!!!!!
 

Selam everyone! It has been awhile since my last update. A lot has happened since then. I’ll start with about 5 weeks ago we had our first visit with our case worker. It went very well. I will have to admit, I was a little nervous, but once we met her, we felt very comfortable. She was very nice and we warmed right up to her. After her visit I headed to work. I was at work for about 3 hours and I got a text from my husband saying, “Call me we need to talk.” I called him right away. He proceeded to tell me about two children who are waiting for a forever family. My husband received an email from our agency telling us about these two siblings who were waiting children. These children were not a match for anyone on the wait list for Ethiopia, so therefore they open these children up to anyone in the Ethiopian program. I hung the phone up after speaking briefly with my husband, my heart was racing. I just couldn’t wait to get home to read all about these children. At this point there were a lot of things going on in my head. Are these really my children that God has chosen for us? I have only been praying for one child, and now two? How does my husband feel about two? Many more questions were racing through my mind.

I got home and looked at their beautiful faces on the computer, and instantly I fell in love with these children. Nick and I didn’t have to do a whole lot of talking. We both knew what we were going to do. The next day I called Melissa, who is in charge of the Ethiopian program. I asked her if our family could be considered as a match for these children. She then told me to call our caseworker to ask if we were ok for adopting siblings. Our caseworker said yes we were. We called Melissa back to tell her. She said there were several families who have inquired about these two children and they were going to have a meeting on Monday July 8th, and they will pick the family that they feel fits these children the best.  I can’t describe the way I was feeling at this point. There was something about these children that’s so special, and they arrived at Hanna’s Hope on my birthday. The next day all I could do was think about them. I must have pulled up the email on my computer a half a dozen times or more, just to read about them and look at their picture. My friend Erica was going on a mission trip to Ethiopia and was going to be at Hanna’s Hope that very next week. That is our agency’s transition home, where these children are living.  How exciting that she would be over there and hold these children and love them. If you all remember in an earlier post of mine I told you that I bought some bracelets from Erica’s daughter, Shana, to help her raise money for her mission trip. These bracelets were prayer bracelets. You buy the pair and one goes to you, and one she will give to an orphan. When you wear the bracelet, it reminds you to pray for your prayer buddy in Ethiopia. I posted in that post that I can’t help but wonder if one of these bracelets I bought would go on my son.

The very next night Nick and I received an email that struck us like a bolt of lightning. For all of you that don’t know, our agency has strict birth order rules, which we knew about and completely understand and agree with. This rule is that any adopted child has to be at least ten months younger than our youngest child. Lily is six so the child has to be at ten months younger than her. The little boy’s birth certificate said he was five, making him eleven months younger than Lily, and the little girl was three. In the first email, we were told that just because their birth certificate says their age, that it wasn’t necessarily right. All God’s Children has their doctor check them out at the home, and they go by what age the doctor says they are. Well, in that email, it stated that the doctor said the boy was eight and the little girl was five. This means we are not a match for these children. I had a break down. I had gotten my hopes up, and I just crumbled. It was now the 4th of July, and time to celebrate this amazing country and all I could do is cry. I sent a message to my friend Erica and just poured my heart out to her. She is such an amazing person, sent from above. She knew all the right things to say. My husband also was my rock that day. Those children will always have a special piece of our hearts. I will pray for them daily, for I know that they are going to a home with their forever family in this beautiful country. I’m so happy for them and their new family. Erica asked me if I would like her to give our matching prayer bracelets to these children and I said absolutely. Every time I look down at my wrist I’m reminded to pray for these two special children.

I was then praying to my Savior GOD: I’m not here to question your plans, but I can’t help but wonder, why is this so hard? Why God, did I really feel those kids were mine? Can you please show me just a little of your plan for us? Just then it hit me. These children were a part of God’s plan for us. We never even hesitated when we saw two children that need a home in that email. Nick and I are following Gods plan for us. We believe that God has put these two children in our lives to show us that he may not have just one child picked out for us, he may have two. We had our next visit with our case worker and told her we would like to change our paperwork. It is a lot easier to change our paperwork now before our home study is done. Drum roll…………..and so we did. We are asking for one child of either sex, or a group of siblings up to two, between the ages of two and seven. I’m so excited for God’s plan in our journey to our amazing adoption. I will forever hold those two children close to my heart. For God put them in our adoption journey to help us bring the child, or children, that God has chosen for us home. It’s so comforting to know that God has a plan, and understands your pain, and can help you through your trials. When you have faith in God and his plan, you can be assured that there’s a purpose for everything that has happened in your journey. Amazingly, with God’s help you can experience joy even in hard times, and face life’s challenges with a spirit of peace.

Thursday, June 20, 2013

My God is so big! There is nothing my God cannot do!




Salem friends and family! I finally have an update on our amazing journey to our son. There has been a lot happening in our lives since the last update. Our family has been through so much in this last month. I would like to start by saying, we have all paperwork done for our home study now. The paperwork in this process is so intense, although our son is completely worth every page we had to fill out! At the end of this update I will list everything we had to do up to this point. We have had so many roadblocks here lately, but with our friends and family, we have gone around them and are moving right along. In the middle of all this paperwork my entire family had to have physicals. Everyone did fine on their physicals (well except me)! My doctor was a little concerned with my blood count. My hemoglobin had dropped very low. Dr. Miller thought that this was a quick fix with some iron pills. That wasn’t the case. After running further tests my doctor figured out that I may have a problem. Dr. Miller had now decided to send me to a specialist. Now it was time to pray even harder. I have never been so scared. Everything kept running through my head. What is going on? How can this be? Why now? Is this just a lab mistake? Is this just how my body is? Is this a genetic disorder that I have gotten from my dad (whom I know nothing about)? Or just maybe this is CANCER? This is something I didn’t expect, so I kind of shut down and worked as many hours at the shop as I could. I realize now that I needed to just stop running and reach out to God. With him all things are possible. My husband and family were here for me every step of the way. We all prayed and asked our Lord and Savior to please step in. I’ll never forget about 3 days of waiting for news on my blood work from Dr. Miller, I just crumbled with a meltdown. My two friends who don’t even know each other picked me up and put me back on my feet, these friends were Meggie Jackson and Brandi Halter. These two women mean so much to me! Thank you so much Brandi and Meg! I would like to thank all my friends and family who have prayed for me! There are so many that I would have a list a mile long to thank. All your prayers worked. The tests for cancer or a genetic disorder came back negative. I still don’t have all the answers but I trust in my new Dr. at St. Rita’s to get me back up to 100%.
With all this going on we had received an email from our adoption agency that there were some problems with Ethiopia adoption. Some of the problems are making sure every orphan is legally an orphan. So therefore, because of the new updates and all the legal issues with the orphans over there, our agency informed us that it now could be a four year wait for our child. My heart was broke! Could anything else go wrong? First, my health and now another roadblock. Nick and I watched an online seminar on all the changes with Ethiopia adoptions. We were so torn, four years is such a long wait! I can’t imagine my child in an orphanage waiting on his family for four years. I have to tell you, we did consider looking into adopting from Uganda (the wait is a lot shorter). Then my heart said to me what about your child that you, your family and friends have been praying for in Ethiopia? With that, we pressed on with Ethiopia. That is where our son, whom God has chosen for us, is. We had another conversation with our case worker and she has given us hope. Since we are asking for an older child our wait may not be four years. Waiting on God’s timing is the most difficult thing to do. It seems like, the more you want something, the harder it is to wait and we even get impatient with God. We need to remember that God’s timing is different than our own. He sees the whole picture. Not just what we want, but what is best for us in the grand plan he has for our lives. Of course when you are hoping, praying and waiting for something as special as our child, it’s easy to forget this. I will end this blog with a story from the bible. In the bible it says that the wise men traveled for two years to see a child that a star had told them about! That baby was Jesus!  These wise men never questioned God’s timing and just kept moving on, trusting and believing in him. I’m here Jesus, waiting on your plan and timing. I trust in you, believe in you and most of all, love you!!!!!!  

This is the list of paperwork we have completed:

Photo of Applicants & Family
Duty of Candor/Statement of Accuracy
¨ Client Information/Consent for Services
¨ Grievance Policy
¨ Discipline Statement
¨ Client Rights Statement
¨ Post Placement Requirements
¨ Adoption Education Requirements
¨ State Adoption Law
¨ Services Provided Form
¨ Criminal and Child Abuse Checks Form
¨ Other States/Countries of Residence
¨ Personal Profile Father (50 pages)
¨ Personal Profile Mother (50 pages)
¨ FBI Criminal Check Father
¨ FBI Criminal Check Mother
¨ State Criminal Check Father
¨ State Criminal Check – Mother
¨ Local Criminal Check – Father
¨ Local Criminal Check – Mother
¨ Child Abuse Checks – Father
State/Countries: _________ _________ _________ _________ _________ _________
¨ Child Abuse Checks – Mother
State/Countries: _________ _________ _________ _________ _________ _________
¨ Medical – Father
¨ Medical – Mother
¨ Child Medical(s)
Children: _________ _________ _________ _________ _________ _________
¨ Family Reference List
¨ Father’s Family Reference: __________________________
¨ Mother’s Family Reference: __________________________
¨ Friend Reference: __________________________
¨ Neighbor Reference: __________________________
¨ Spiritual/Community Leader Reference: __________________________
¨ Co-worker Reference: __________________________
¨ Reference: ________________________________
¨ Reference: ________________________________
¨ Guardianship Statement
¨ Financial Worksheet
¨ Employment Letter – Father
¨ Employment Letter – Mother
¨ Bank Letter
¨ Birth Certificate Copies
Father Mother _________ _________ _________ _________ _________ _________
¨ Naturalization/ Citizenship Document Copy
¨ Death Certificate Copy
¨ Marriage Certificate Copy
¨ Divorce Decree(s) and Custody Agreements Copies
____________ ____________ ____________ ____________
¨ Driver’s License/ID Card Copies
Father Mother ____________ ____________ ____________
¨ SSN Card Copies
Father Mother _________ _________ _________ _________ _________ _________
¨ Copy of most recent 1040
¨ Veterinarian Letter
¨ Copy of Health Insurance card
¨ Proof that Health Coverage includes pre-existing conditions of the adopted child
¨ Proof of Life Insurance (copy of summary page)
¨ Copy of auto insurance cards for each vehicle
¨ Previous Adoption Documents
Adoption Decree Home Study Post Adoption Reports ________________
Re-Adoption Documents (Date: _____________)
¨ Military Discharge Form
¨ Well Water Test
¨ ALP Education Certificates (7 online classes)
¨ Workbook Completion and Approval Date: __________________
¨ Any Additional Documents: ______________________________________________________ 

Also we have our first home visit with our caseworker next week!

           

Sunday, May 5, 2013

HAPPY FASIKA!


Happy Fasika everyone!  Today is Easter in our son’s country. If you remember my Easter prayer blog where I wondered if my son was celebrating Easter now I know it is today. I don’t know if our son has had the opportunity to celebrate this amazing day. I pray today that he knows you God and knows what today is. If he doesn’t get to celebrate this amazing day I just pray that he knows you God. Today (our son’s Easter) was a special day for our family. We have been astray from family for 2 years. Nick and I received a text from this family member on our Easter wishing us a happy Easter. God opened our hearts that day and we were joyous and excited for a brand new start. Nick and I knew it would take some time and effort to mend the hurts. God had made this pretty easy on us though. We began to text and speak on the phone. We wanted to take baby steps and that’s what we did. Today Nick sent them a text asking them over for supper tonight. They live 1hour and a ½ one way from us, so last minute may have been hard for them. Well, they said yes we will be there! Lily waited by the window watching for them to come. She was so excited, all of us were. Lily spotted their truck, down the road they came. I don’t even think they were out of the truck before Lily was standing right there. This night was very emotional in a good way. We had a great time and dinner with them. It was so nice to have them at our house after 2 years. I can’t help but think about how God used Easter to help bring us back together. It blows my mind on how ironic, that we received a text on our Easter from this family member and then get to see them on our son’s Easter. WOW! This is one Easter I’ll never forget. Thank you Father! Father, thank you for blessing me with my family. I ask you to bring us unity through you. Father, please lead us in your ways. Help us to live by your ways, with a compassionate heart. Please fill us with your love, that does not keep records of wrong, and bring joy to our hearts. Please bring your perfect peace and unity to our family. I would like to end this wishing my son a Happy Fasika! I believe God has used my son in Ethiopia to bring our family back together also.
Here is some info we recently received:


Fasika!
This year, Easter will be celebrated in Ethiopia on Sunday, May 5th. In Ethiopia, this significant holiday, known as Fasika, is a very important festival in Ethiopian Orthodox Christianity, or the Tewahido faith. Many argue that Fasika is the most celebrated holiday in Ethiopia and is considered more significant than Christmas. According to Orthodox theology, Jesus’ crucifixion on Good Friday was for the purpose of fulfilling the word of God. It is believed that the near-sacrifice of Abraham’s son, Isaac, with the interruption from an angel and the sending of a Lamb for sacrifice instead (Genesis 22) was a prophetic foreshadowing of God sending his only beloved Son to be the world’s sacrifice and the fulfilling of Abraham’s promise.
Fasika is preceded by Lent (Hudade or Abye Tsome), 56 days of fasting where Ethiopians do not eat any meat or animal products, including dairy. On Easter eve, churches are filled with believers who prostrate themselves, bowing down and rising up 101 times. Candles are lit for the colorful but somber service that includes music and dancing. This service, known as Paschal Vigil, lasts into the early morning hours of Easter Day. Once the service ends, people return home to prepare for a fast-breaking feast, which includes the slaughtering of a chicken at midnight for the symbolic occasion. After resting, a sheep is slaughtered to commence the feasting of Easter Sunday, which includes injera and traditional drinks such as tella or tej.
As we prepare for this meaningful holiday, we pray that you find rest and peace in the grace that God has bestowed on those who love Him. Happy Fasika!

 

 

 

Thursday, May 2, 2013

BE THE HOPE-LSM Ethiopia Night




Salem everyone! (Remember Salem means hello in our son’s language) I wanted to update my blog sooner, but Nick and I have been very busy working on our paperwork for this adoption. We are almost finished. It feels so good to be almost done. I would like to share with all of you what my family and I did last Friday. It is rare that my family is all together on a Friday night. The kids always have something going on. We made this last Friday night a priority to be together. We drove to Bluffton, Indiana, where we attended Ethiopia family night. Loving Shepherd Ministries held this fun family Ethiopia night. Loving Shepherd Ministries has helped us so much in our adoption. We summited our application first with them. LSM is not an adoption agency, but a not-for-profit, Christian adoption organization to help families like us who have no clue where to start. They guided us through the early stages of our adoption. They did so much for us. They helped us with what countries we would be eligible to adopt from, and what agencies would suit us best for the country that we chose and much more. They really helped us out and went above and beyond, for absolutely no money. It was all free. All of you that have been following my blog from the beginning probably remember back when I first started this process in January. I tried to summit my application to LSM several times and it just would not summit. Remember how frustrated I was? It was my computer skills, or lack of, that I couldn’t get it to summit. I will never forget the day Jen from LSM sent us an email saying we received your application, and then the email from Jen saying your application was approved. That was like taking a pregnancy test, and it being positive. Well, guess who I got to meet last Friday? Yep, you guessed it. I got to meet Jen.  Jen Schwartz is an amazing woman, truly beautiful on the inside and out. We also got to meet Jen’s father in law Ed Schwartz the founder and president of this wonderful organization.
 

Ethiopian family night was a blast. We learned about Ethiopian culture and we were able to sample Ethiopian food, go to the market, and the kids played games that the kids in Ethiopia play. We were able to see a typical home for a family in Ethiopia. Seeing that home made my heart drop to think about my child living in a home like the one they had set up there. I sometimes take my home and food I eat for granted, and after this family night, I feel very guilty for this. I’m truly blessed and last Friday night just reminded me of that. We bought some things for our children at the market. Kaitlynn wanted a bracelet made in Ethiopia, Gabe and Lily wanted LSM t shirts. They had a place set up where you could try to carry a bowl with some weight in it on your head, and also carry something on your back, like women in Ethiopia. In Ethiopia the women do a lot of the work. They carry a ton of wood on their back and walk miles. They carry around 70 pounds on their head along with carrying something on their back. My family tried to do it. WOW was it hard and the weight in the bowl was nowhere near 70 pounds. The strength and heart of Ethiopian women just amazes me. My entire family and I really had an eye opener that night on how much we really take for granted. They had a bucket of water sitting by the house, and most of the time the kids around 9 or older will walk miles to get water in this bucket. They then have to carry it miles back to their home. Gabe my 11 year old tried to pick it up. He did get it picked up, but struggled trying to hold it. I can’t image him carrying it for miles without spilling it. I am so glad we went to learn about our child’s culture. What a great family night. We learned so much and met so many amazing people. We also got to formally meet Erica’s family. They are such a cute and loving family. I would like to end this post by thanking God. Thank you God for my everyday blessings you give me daily. I am blessed to have a roof over my head, a great job, health, a family that loves and supports me, and thank God for guiding us through this incredible journey to our child in Ethiopia. I know that you have your arms all around this child you have chosen for us. Please give him comfort tonight and a calm and restful sleep. 
 

Ethiopian Home
   

For anyone wanting to learn more about what Loving Shepherd Ministries is all about, and how they help so many women and orphans in Ethiopia and Haiti, I am posting a link to their website.