Delayed

This doesn't look like 'priple' to me!

We couldn't agree on a shade of 'priple' so we went with Tarikwa's other favorite color, BLUE!

We had lots of help building her furniture!

Such eager helpers!

And here is the end result...

Introducing...TARIKWA'S NEW ROOM!!!!!!! There is a dresser on the opposite wall as her bed.

If you've seen the movie, "Blindside" we tried to pick the same color walls that Michael's new room was. We think it turned out beautifully...perfect for a pre-teen.

Now all we need is Tarikwa!!

It seems that the Ministry of Women's Affairs (MOWA) was closed on Friday and therefore didn't issue any letters recommending the adoptions that were scheduled for today. There was a note left on the locked doors of the court explaining this.

Jill, my friend who's adopting a good friend of Tarikwa received an email stating that she was rescheduled for the 9th. The only email we received stated that the agency would let us know when they knew about rescheduling.

So what does this mean?? Does it mean that we were scheduled for Tuesday, the 8th and our case will be heard then without needing to be rescheduled? We were told either the 7th or the 8th. Is ours also rescheduled for the 9th with Jill?? I guess I have absolutely no idea. But God knows and we trust His wisdom and timing. But in the meantime we continue to wait.

Thank goodness I am such an experienced waiter:)

Keep praying!

Blessings,

Laura

On pins and needles

While we sleep tonight (or possibly tomorrow night) Tarikwa will be in an Ethiopian court, having her case heard before a judge. If all things are in order, she will legally be declared our daughter. If you haven't been through this, it's hard to describe how it feels.

It feels absolutely wonderful to finally be at this point...court. We are so close!

It feels overwhelming to think that we could be traveling next month!

It feels so exciting to know we will meet her soon!

It feels humbling to think that God sees us worthy of being her parents and family.

Her bedroom was painted on Saturday and today, after a trip to Ikea, her bedroom is complete! May I just say it looks gorgeous! Katie and I had fun lying on her bed just imaging her in her room.

I will post some lovely bedroom pics tomorrow. Be prepared...you are in for a surprise!

Hope to post some wonderful news tomorrow or Tuesday. Pray that her case will be successful:)

Blessings,

Laura

Want a laugh?

Misganaw is one of the funniest little kids I know. He'a always saying something funny and I have to share the highlights of the week.

So here's a little 3 year old humor, just in case you've had a hard week:)

As told by Katie: Last night, Misganaw entered Katie's room and announced to her, "Katie, I'm brown. Do you like me?"

Katie, "Yes, I love that you're brown."

Misganaw, "And you're peachy!"

Katie, "Yes, I am."

Misganaw, "I'm brown and you're peachy but there is candy in your room that is green and I'm just wondering if I could have it so I could put it in my brown tummy??"

Then this morning, Misganaw woke up just as Blaine was getting out of the shower. He went out to put on PBS for him, wearing his towel.

Misganaw, "Dad, I'm brown."

Dad, "Yes, you are. What color am I?"

Misganaw, "You are peachy AND you have spots!"

(A side effect that is lingering from the boat load of Prednisone he was on this summer)

Then I was asked last night by a neighbor, "Did you hear what Misganaw said to Tom (our neighbor) at your party last week?"

I'm thinking, "Brace yourself, Laura!" This neighbor is very sweet, sort of a Santa Claus type.

Got a picture in your mind now?

She goes on, "He went up to Tom, and while poking him in the tummy said, "You (poke) must (poke) eat (poke) a lot (poke, poke!)"

The moral of the story is that you might not want to spend time with Misganaw if you have any insecurities because he's sure to point out any flaw you might have!

Have a blessed weekend!

Laura (who is peachy and short!)

The countdown begins

Ok, it began months ago really but now it's getting so close. Tarikwa's court date in Ethiopia is in only 5 or 6 days from today! We've been praying that all her paperwork is in order, all T's are crossed and I's are dotted, and that the correct people show up for the court hearing. If these things don't happen, she doesn't pass and then we all continue to wait. I trust God and after all we've been through, realize that His timing is perfect in all things.

I can't help but think in 5 or 6 short days, this child will officially and legally belong to a family. Her last name will change to ours and she will be our daughter. Wow, it's really an overwhelming thought. This sweet girl, who has prayed to be a part of a family who cherishes her for way too long, soon will officially be our child. Yea!!!!!!

Speaking of Tarikwa, as we were sitting at breakfast the other morning, Blaine announces, "I think we need to repaint Tarikwa's room purple." Now you do remember that we had the house all professionally painted after the house was rebuilt. In a letter we received from her, she stated she liked the colors yellow, green and red. So we had her room painted a very pretty yellow. The last two letters we've gotten, you will remember, she said she likes "priple and blue." So Daddy's little girl is getting a "priple" room on Saturday!! Then Sunday, we'll go purchase her bedroom furniture from Ikea and spend hours and hours assembling it! So worth every second!! I told Blaine, "I think you are going to spoil this child silly!" He replied, "Yeah, it's going to be hard not to."

I'm trying to remind the family that we need to be very careful about having expectations of how she'll react to "things." It is typical that children who have never had anything, don't know how to take care of things naturally. It seems logical that if you've never had anything of your own, the first "thing" you receive, you'd take care of with great care. Not true in reality. Being careful with "things" is learned, from my experience anyway. So we don't want to give her too much until she learns this. We're still working on this with Mihiretu! Actually, he's so much better than he was:) But I agree, we all will struggle to hold back from giving her everything she's never had before. But a "priple" room, she will have.

Even though her court date is always on my mind, I have to say that I'm not nervous or stressed about it, at least at this point. God has worked everything out in terms of her joining our family and I trust that He will continue to do this. He puts the lonely in families. It's His job. It's His heart. We praise Him for blessing us with another daughter!

I had a conversation recently with someone I consider to be a godly woman. She has a very godly husband. They have one child, a freshman in college. They are loving and doting parents. She asked me about our adoption of Tarikwa, wondering how it was coming along. I told her and she said, "I sure wish we could adopt. But we're too old." I assured her they were NOT too old, at least not for a little bit older child. She said that she'd love to have a couple more but her husband wouldn't be in favor of it.

There is a lot to that conversation, I realize. I know she's not exposed to the adoption world in the way that we are and many of you are. Because of this, she can't imagine adopting a child who is not a baby or young toddler. She would want to have the child at a young age so she could mold them more effectively. I totally get that.

It made me sad and since this meeting, I've begun praying for her that God would show her His will for her life in regards to the orphan. I also took it as a bit of a challenge. Why has she never been exposed to the beauty of adoption, including older child adoption? I guess because sadly, there are so few people doing it. It makes me sad to think that people I consider very godly have not understood that the orphan and widow are at the very heart of God. He considers the care of them to be "pure and faultless religion." Pure and faultless.

Well, God has caused our paths to cross. I hope that as she and others look and observe our little family, they see that this is not only do-able, but that it is an enormous blessing.

With 147 million orphan children, we really can't afford to wait. This is an emergency. This isn't going to make me popular with some but I'm going to say it anyway. If we look at this the way it is...as an emergency...we'd act.

Think of the Jews during the Holocaust. I have said many times, "Where were the people of God? How did they allow this to happen? People were dying. Where were the Christians?"

I'm afraid that one day, the same will be said of our generation.

In my next post, I will include ideas for those of you who are interested in caring for orphans. We all have a part to play.

Many blessings,

Laura

Thanksgiving-Where do I begin?

I am more thankful this Thanksgiving that ever before. It might be easier for me if I make a list.

I am thankful that God has given us a new daughter, Tarikwa who is waiting for us to come get her in Ethiopia.

I am thankful that on April 3, 2009 when the smoke alarms went off in our house, every person got out unharmed.

I am thankful for a mother in law who, when 7 people came and invaded her once peaceful home, she didn't ask us when we were going to find other arrangements!

I am thankful for the relationships we made with the workers at the reconstruction company who painstakingly cleaned and restored the items worth saving from the fire.

I am thankful that hard drives are made of porcelan, making them very heat resistant, which saved the pictures that were on our computer.

I am thankful that the kids baby books were saved.

I am thankful for the patience I developed in all the waiting we had to do.

I am thankful that through everything we went through, God held our hands and guided us through every trial. He gave us strength that we couldn't have had on our own.

I am thankful for the family who bent over backward to help us. We could not have survived as well without them. I love you. May God bless you richly!

I am thankful for friends and neighbors who encouraged us, loved us, helped us, gave to us, cared for us, made us meals and helped with the kids.

I am thankful for Abbott NW Hospital, who was quick to diagnose and treat Blaine when he became paralyzed in July.

I am thankful for the family who helped us through this, yet another obstacle.

I am thankful that Blaine's diagnosis wasn't transverse myelitis (probably not a complete recovery) but was acute demyelinating encephylomyelitis (a much better outcome).

I am thankful that Blaine shocked the entire medical staff when he demanded to be released from the hospital 8 days after admission. Miracle of miracles!

I am thankful that not only did he leave the hospital after only 8 days, he did so on his own two feet. Praise God for only He could do such a thing!

I am thankful for my beautiful family, who under the stress bonded together to support each other and didn't pull apart.

I am thankful that Blaine is no longer on Prednisone! Seriously!

I am thankful for October 15th, the day we moved back home.

I am thankful for my kitchen and the enjoyment it gives me to be in it.

I am thankful that my kids can sleep in peace and aren't afraid of fire.

I am thankful that my Bible is still usable despite it's crispy cover and the fact that it got waterlogged.

I am thankful that my recipes were saved from my recipe box, which didn't survive.

I am thankful that my address book was saved so I can write my Christmas cards out without a ton of work trying to regather all my addresses.

I am thankful that when God says that He'll never leave us or forsake us, He means it.

I could go on and on and on but I need to stop somewhere. These are just a few things off the top of my head but here are so many more. God has taught our family so much this year through His faithfulness to us. We have grown deeper in our level of thankfulness to Him.

May we never lose that or forget His goodness.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Blessings,

Laura

Wonderful weekend

This past weekend was one of those great weekends. I looked forward to it all week!

Friday night, the women in our family went to "Dazzle and Dine" at our church. It's the women's Christmas dinner and music time. We've done it for a few years and it's become a Christmas tradition. How it works is that each table of has a 'sponsor' (for lack of a better word) who does the decorating of their table. This person it my mom, who takes her job VERY seriously:) She brings her beautiful English china, right down to the little spoons that sit on the teacup saucer, positioned the right way, of course! She loves doing this every year and always has a beautiful table. This year was even more special with the announcement that my nephew, Mike had asked his lovely girlfriend, Holly to marry him just a couple hours before the dinner! So our table had a special shine to it...Holly's smile that could not be wiped off her face!

Then Saturday night, Blaine and I took the older kids and De to dinner and to see "The Blind Side" movie. If you haven't seen it, go see it! If you remember, I had it on my blog several weeks ago as a preview. It's the true story of Michael Oher, a young man who had great potential but had no home and no loving and nurturing parent in his life. A family who is driving home sees him walking at night in the cold rain and offers to give him a couch to sleep on. It ends up being a life defining moment for all of them but they don't realize that at the time. It's an inspiring movie and I found myself choked up from the very beginning of the movie through to the end. I saw pieces of our family in this movie.

When they see Michael on the street and the wife gets out of the car to invite him to come home with them the son asks the dad, "What is Mom doing?" The dad replies, "I've seen this look on her face before." Blaine laughed and I knew just what he was thinking. He's seen that look on my face before and could relate!

There's also a part where their high school age daughter is studying in the library with her friends when Michael walks in to study. Her friends give him a dirty look but after a few seconds, she gets up, walks away from her friends and sits by Michael. Not the 'popular' thing to do. This is my Katie to a tee. (Blake, too actually)

Katie's boyfriend, De was adopted when he was 15. He reminds me so much of Michael, a boy who has so many reasons to be angry at the world but instead is the kindest, gentlest, sweetest boy you've ever met. I often think, "What if De's dad hadn't taken a chance on him. Where would he be?" I hate to even imagine it. We love him so much. Like Michael, he continues to grow and learn and blossom. It's a beautiful thing so observe and be a part of.

I KNOW that Blake and Katie are the way they are in large part because they traveled to Ethiopia, saw what they saw, fell in love with the culture and the people, had their hearts broken and have little brothers of a different culture and race than their own. I cannot tell you the satisfaction and the humility it brings to my heart to tell you that our Thanksgiving table will be have a very international flair to it this year. Katie's best friend at school happens to be a Somali girl who is Muslim. Interestingly, they have much in common because they neither of them are party girls. They share similar morals and just love each other. We love her, too. She asked if she could come to experience an American Thanksgiving, having never done that before. So the menu took a slight change and the ham lovers will just have to choke down turkey this year because we will not offend our Muslim friend:)

Blake has also befriended a young man at college who is from Nepal and is a Hindu. He has also never experienced an American Thanksgiving and we are thrilled to have him. Of course, Rene (our son from Ghana) will be in attendance. Having experienced his first Thanksgiving with us last year, he's anxious to do it again. We miss him and are so excited to see him!

These kids are lonely and quite isolated in our American schools and culture. Few kids want to be friends with the kid who is 'different' than them. Not real popular, you know?? Remember high school?? Yeah. But they are missing out. How does the Bible say that people will know we are Christians again??

By our love!

That brings me back to the movie. I can't help but wondering, "Will this movie impact others to see the beautiful potential in the life of a child who has no home or nurturing and loving parent to guide them?" Oh, I hope and pray it will.

I don't know about you, but when I see a movie like that, all that is inside of me screams, "I want to be a part of something huge like that, the changing of a life!!" Do you feel that way? What could be more powerful and important? Few things could have as great an impact on eternity as this.

Ok, enough said...just go see it! Before you go, pray and ask God if he has a role for you to play in the life of someone who needs you.

Oh, and remember...you're not too old. Can I just say that I haves new friend who are grandparents and possibly in their 60's who adopted 4 boys (age 7-17) when they were babies but are adopting another 7 year old right now?? They are a wonderful family! And the blessing is great!

Then on Sunday, Blaine and I had a neighborhood potluck to thank our neighbors for their love to us after our fire. We had about 25-30 neighbors show up and we had a wonderful time!! You might remember, they collected a large amount of money for us which we used for immediate needs after the fire. They watched over our house during construction, called us to check up on us, emailed, sent cards and cried for us. I know that everyone thinks that they have the most fantastic neighbors BUT we actually do! Good neighbors are a gift from God. If you don't know your neighbors, take the first step and invite a few neighbors over for dessert. You won't regret it! And when you need them, they will be there for you like ours were.

If you made it through this long post, congrats! I have lots on my mind this Thanksgiving. I have never been more thankful on Thanksgiving than I am this year! I can honestly say this for certain.

This is just a warning that the Thanksgiving post may be longer than this one! Yikes!

Love and blessings,

Laura

Is she a Daddy's girl??

We received two precious letters from Tarikwa today! One envelope said, "Mom E____", the other "Dad E____." So that part was fair BUT when we opened them up, one was significantly longer than the other! And it wasn't mine! They were similar in what they said but since Daddy's was longer, I'll share that one with you:)

"Dear Dad,

How are you? I'm fine. how is work? Thank you adopt me. My favorite colors is priple and my favorite movies is High School Musical" and "The Little Princess, "Camp Rock". October 16 Sunday I go to Teddy Afro concert and I hope because I see Teddy Afro you know Tedd Afro. You know Teddy Afro do you like music by Teddy Afro. I like Teddy Afro. I know Blake is love music and I like to music. My birthday is August 7. I pray for you every day. My favorite player is soccer and computer games.

I love Jesus very very much. I love you too.

I hope you come to here soon. I hope you injoing by my letter. I love you and God love you.

You are my Dad forever.

Bye" (with a heart)

Ok, how adorable is THAT??? I do believe that this girl is a Daddy' girl.

But how cool, we have a birthday!! August 7th. That's the first time we've heard that. Blaine is August 2 and Mihiretu is August 10th! Sounds like a busy month, huh?

Don't worry, I am NOT jealous of the fact that my letter was shorter than Blaine's ;) But let me tell you, Blaine is very, very proud of this fact. He took the letter when he was home for lunch back with him to work to show everyone his letter from his daughter! I can't blame him. It's very sweet, isn't it?

I guess we need to get to know Teddy Afro, huh??? I did youtube him and he is pretty cool. We'll have to download some of his music on Katie's iPod to take with us for her.

I have a couple funny Mihiretu and Misganaw stories to tell you.

Misganaw, yesterday morning-"Mom, I don't want to buckle up in my car seat today."

Me-"We have to buckle you up."

Misganaw-"Yeah, or the po-po will chase us down and I'll be in trouble."

Rene (my son from Ghana-Blake's friend) was pulled over for a speeding ticket recently and Misganaw heard me telling Blaine what he'd told me which was, "The po-po pulled me over."

Then he was telling me about a girl from pre-school, Mimi. I asked him, "Is Mimi your friend?"

Misganaw-"No, you're my MOM!"

Me me, get it?

When I was driving Mihiretu home from Wed. night church, we passed Burger King and he told his friend, Carlos, "I LOVE berebere (sounds like burbur) King!"

Berebere is the wonderful Ethiopian spice which he loves.

Some say potato, some say potahto. We say Burger, Mihiretu hears berebere.

This language thing is one of the funniest things about adopting older kids internationally! Can't wait to hear what Tarikwa has to say!! Of course, her favorite color is priple!!

Isn't it wonderful and impressive that she can communicate so well!!??

It's amazing how little you can know a person, but LOVE them so much!

Blessings,

Laura