We have approval!!

Probably nothing that awesome to brag about for  most people... but our hearts are thrilled and we're finally taking deeper breaths... because we have finally been given approval to send our application to USCIS!  USCIS is the place to register ourselves that basically says, "We're adopting and bringing home a foreign born child into the United States."

We have been waiting the past month for our home study to be approved by our new adoption agency, as well as through our home study agency's state approver.  Our agency, CWA, had also been reviewing our dossier documents for Haiti to see what was "salvageable" for Ethiopia.

Next Step... like TOMORROW: We send our home study, and a few more identification papers to USCIS (along with a fee, of course! Nothing comes without a fee in the adoption world. :)  USCIS will approve hopefully within 6-10 weeks???  While we're waiting for USCIS approval, we will continue to finish up the training hours required by CWA.  Whew! Once approved, THEN we get to send our dossier to Ethiopia!!

After which, we will DEFiNITELY breathe some huge sighs of relief! Y'all will hear me screamin' "HOLLA" when that day comes!  It's a big deal to get that off of our check list!!

From the Mouths of Babes!

Oh my sweet, sassy Tenleigh!  Tonight as I am reading our Adoption Parenting book, and trying SO hard to stay focused... I simply am not tuned in to my book. At all.  I think perhaps I need to be tuned in elsewhere... :)

Little Tenleigh... going through her typical nighttime routine of hollering down the stairs until she falls asleep... tonight her last words....

"I wuv you moe den baby pigs, Mom!"  Translation: "I love you more than baby pigs, Mom!"

Book closed. Dying of laughter inside.  Seriously. Love. That. Girl.

But hey... I do think that I made it a notch above what she declared to Jesus in prayers last night... yes, JESUS, the very Son of God who created this one-of-a-kind, often cRaZy, unpredictable, but ever-so-sweet three year old :

"I wuv you moe den baby womes!"  Yep. "I love you more than baby worms" !  And she meant it. With an outpour of love and joy.

How do we say "Thank you"?

Thank you.

Such short words, uttered a million times a day, for a million different reasons.  So simple, in fact, that they can almost seem to come out of one's mouth without really giving thought to the meaning of the words.  And also so easy to hear the words without giving much thought for them.

And yet, these are the very words that we lift up to God.  These are big words.  Very big words, with very big meaning.

There have been so many times during our adoption journey in which we've been able to say Thank You.

Thank you for asking...
Thank you for listening...
Thank you for watching the kids for us while we ___________ (fill in the blank: take classes, go to a meeting, participate in a webinar) for our adoption...
Thank you for thinking of us....
Thank you for praying for us....
Thank you for buying jewelry from The Apparent Project...
Thank you for understanding...
Thank you for ignoring my ugly roots and cRaZy eyebrows that desperately need waxing; I'm trying to save money! :)
Thank you for reading my blog....
Thank you for your card....
Thank you for your gift....
Thank you for writing a letter on our behalf...

The list could go on and on.

I wish I could list all of the people that have touched us in some way or another... but that just would be a never-ending blog in itself!

We are touched, and humbled, and so appreciative of our friends and family.  And even the people that we don't know so well, (or even at all!), that God has somehow weaved into our story in some way.

Friends and Family and Unknown Friends, you do not go unnoticed.  We only know to say "Thank you" and we sincerely hope and pray that you know what these words mean.

Summer Mehaber!

Mehaber is Amharic for "gathering of friends and family."  Our family thoroughly enjoyed a great afternoon yesterday at an Ethiopian Mehaber!!  This was a new event for us, and we have already decided that we want to make this event, as well as other Ethiopian community gatherings a "tradition" for our family.

Ryan and I feel so thankful that the area in which we live has a very strong Ethiopian community.  It was awesome to be a part of it yesterday and to see so many adoptive families, transracial families, strong Ethiopian culture and traditions, and strong support of various causes that support Ethiopia.

The day was hot hot hot but loads of fun!  We enjoyed Ethiopian music and dancing (by adults and kids -- completely adorable kids!) story-telling, Ethiopian food, many vendors selling Ethiopian crafts/ art/books/spices, etc., huge bounce houses, soccer games, and more.  I read somewhere that this Ethiopian Kids event usually draws in around 1000 families!

Beyond a time of celebration, Mehaber also gathers to contribute to real and meaningful change in Ethiopia.  This year Mehaber supported World Vision's clean water projects in Ethiopia.  Love it!

Johnathan and Tenleigh loved everything about the day too.  I think that it helped to bring something tangible to their minds about Ethiopia.  At dinner last night we talked about the Mehaber.  We kind of go through the 5 senses when we're asking the kids to share about things: What did you see, hear, what did your hands make (or in this case What did you see other hands make), what did you eat, etc.

I was thrilled with what they shared!  Tenleigh liked the pink and silver dress (a beautiful traditional Ethiopian dress hanging behind a vendor's table)... and she reminded us that she really really wanted that dress!, Johnathan told us about the Ethiopian flag and the music, and how Tenleigh almost went to dance up on the stage with the Ethiopian kids! (She nodded her head in agreement.)  Their favorite part of the day though was playing with all the other kids in the bounce houses and the giant bounce slide. :)  I think that for Ryan and I, our favorite part of the day was feeling such a spark in our hearts for a country, a culture, a people... that we know will become such a special part of our family.

We are really looking forward to a New Year's celebration coming up in September and becoming a part of what seems to be a great organization, Ethiopia Kids Community!

"Baby Acicka"

Ryan and I decided that we would gradually and casually talk to Johnathan and Tenleigh about our transition from Haiti to Ethiopia.  We figured that they probably would not understand it all, and we didn't want to add any extra confusion to their young minds.  Johnathan is quite a thinker and Tenleigh is all emotion... so we figured in time we'd plant little seeds for them.

I think that the first of this topic came up while driving around with the kids.  Johnathan mentioned his friends in Tanzania (his preschool class sponsors a few children from Tanzania) and so I thought it would be a good time to simply say, "You know, I think that God has our child in Africa now."  To which Johnathan replied, "He MOVED!?"  He got me. "No, honey, our baby didn't move... I just think God has a special brother or sister chosen for you in Africa."  I could see his wheels a-turning... "Hmm..." he replied.

We spent a week at my family's lake cabin recently.  I had to bite my cheeks to keep from laughing out loud when I heard Johnathan telling Great Grandma Katie that "We're gonna get our baby in Africa now."  Makes me wonder if he really believes that we're just going to "shop around" a bit and "pick one out"!?  He is so innocent.  I love it.

Little Tenleigh is very excited about "Baby Acicka"!  Nothing really phases Miss T, so to her it's just like we're talking about more babies, more sweet faces to pray about, more fun activities to think of.  We recently switched the kids' bedrooms around and re-decorated her bedroom.  I think she may have been just as excited that our guest bedroom was going to be for "Baby Acicka" as she was about the new butterflies floating from her ceiling.  She is so resilient. I learn so much from my spunky monkey.

It is so amazing to me that our little children... ages 5 and 3.5.... are already so full of love and anticipation for their brother or sister.  They don't fully understand what adoption means, or race, or orphan.   But they don't even really seem to need to know right now.  Yes, we will educate them and we want them to fully understand the miracle of adoption.  We want them to understand and respect our child's birth family and birth country.  And as a family we will celebrate Baby Africa's heritage.  But right now, all Johnathan and Tenleigh really care about, is loving on another sibling.  Kind of a mirror image of God's love for us.  Pretty awesome and humbling to witness that in my children.

I have been researching various organizations that our family can become a part of to support Ethiopia.  I will continue with The Apparent Project through Haiti because I so totally believe in their cause, but as I originally started with The Apparent Project to stay connected to our child's birth country, I also want to do the same for our Ethiopian baby!  I still find myself checking our Haitian orphanage's blog every day to see if there are any adoption updates. Nothing since June 13.  We still have all of the beautiful Angels Waiting for Adoption page on our fridge.  We still pray for the little ones of Haiti every night.  I have a feeling that God will still bring us to Haiti again in some way.  I would love to serve at the orphanage where our hearts first landed.

We are so excited to get our paperwork off to Ethiopia, I can't even tell you!  I think it will be very soon... I'm hoping it will be very soon!  Our Baby Acicka has a brother and sister waiting, wondering, praying... every single day.