Amazed!

So there were two sweet little boys who recently arrived at Hannah's Hope in Ethiopia. They are orphaned due to a father who left the family and severe poverty. Now I have to say they are cute and I mean cute! As the mother of three rambunctious boys, I found myself saying to myself of course, what is two more? The sheer noise of five boys would probably send me right over the edge but I have to say the boys called to my heart. All God's Children did not have a family ready to accept two boys, ages 2 and 4 so they sent out an email to all the families wait listed for the Ethiopia program. The buzz was amazing and within hours we were all talking about and advocating for the right family to step forward. I kept checking email just to hear if there were changes and as an answer to many people's prayers, a family who was wait listed to adopt one boy within 6-8 months stepped forward. They were touched by the spirit of the two boys shining through in their photo. The boys have a home!!! This is big news. Even bigger is the question that the family is now asking. Where will we find 10k in 10 days to be able to accept the referral of the boys. What a commitment and what a leap of faith. I do not know them personally but they inspire me. They inspire us all to have courage and faith even when the boat feels rocky. We will pray for the money to come, blending a family into six and saving two sweet and smiley little boys who just want to remain together and be loved.

Kneeling in Bethlehem

IN SEARCH OF OUR KNEELING PLACES
In each heart lies a Bethlehem,
an inn where we must ultimately answer
whether there is room or not.
When we are Bethlehem-bound
we experience our own advent in his.
When we are Bethlehem-bound
we can no longer look the other way
conveniently not seeing stars
not hearing angel voices.
We can no longer excuse ourselves by busily
tending our sheep or our kingdoms.

This Advent let's go to Bethlehem
and see this thing that the Lord has made known to us.
In the midst of shopping sprees
let's ponder in our hearts the Gift of Gifts.
Through the tinsel
let's look for the gold of the Christmas Star.
In the excitement and confusion, in the merry chaos,
let's listen for the brush of angels' wings.
This Advent, let's go to Bethlehem
and find our kneeling places.

-Anne Weems

So much to be thankful for

We are preparing to head North for some R&R and of course a wonderful meal with family, I am reminded of all we have to be thankful for in this amazing adoption process. I am grateful for God's nudge in the time where this all began. I am grateful for the time and energy both myself and my husband have poured into embracing and accepting adoption as the way we were meant to grow our family. Thank God both of us could get on the same page and have felt equally called to adopt our daughter. I am thankful for our agency and all the many AGCI families who continue to amaze and inspire me. Whenever I feel challenged by the idea of four children, all I do is look around at the many AGCI families and I am reminded of God's grace. By next year we should know who our little Ethiopian daughter is. I know this holiday season she is in Ethiopia, but not a day goes by when she is not in my heart. We hope next year to share this season of giving with her, baby Strobel. We are thankful for you!

Our growing girl...

Here we sit as a family with a new number in the adoption line. We have been given the number 25 which in loose terms means that there are 24 families ahead of us who are also waiting to adopt their sweet daughter from Ethiopia with AGCI. As the number continues to go down we become more aware that all of this is truly happening. That is a strange comment I know but we have been waiting for so long for all of this to actually happen. Our hearts were stirred many years and three kids ago and over the weekend both Bob and I were enjoying an old favorite restaraunt where we lived during his graduate school days. We were visiting to attend the UofM football game and have our boys and my Dad join us for a day of reminiscing and fun. We determined during our calm dinner that the last time we had been to the Earle, in Ann Arbor, MI, over ten years ago, that we were discussing the possibility of adoption due to infertility issues that had lead to an ectopic pregnancy. At that point we were interested in only one thing. We wanted a baby. We both were convinced that adoption would be right for us and that we would not try to have a biological child forever. Little did we know how much that conversation nearly ten years ago would come to pass. What began as our own journey to children soon became God's journey. We went on to have three beautiful boys but still the feelings of adoption lingered. It began to feel like something maybe we were meant to do. Funny how God works sometimes. As our lives became busier, as we become more aware of the blessings in our lives, as our relationship to God became bolder and more important, we were continually reminded of the days back in Ann Arbor when adoption was our great hope. We celebrated 14 years of marriage with our dinner at the Earle this past Saturday evening and we feel like there is no more we could hope for. We are incredible blessed with rich and rewarding, fun and faith-filled lives. We are listening to God's nudges and the daily benefits are so great. We are number 25 and soon we will hold a little girl who is growing somewhere. She may be growing in her birthmother's belly or growing within the walls of an Ethiopia orphanage. She is growing like the idea of adoption grew in us. She is growing like the seeds of faith that have grown within myself and Bob over the past fourteen years and she is growing to someday be welcomed with open arms into our family. We cannot wait to know who our precious little daughter is. Bless and keep her God as she grows-wherever she may be.

Fun and Fantastic!

Fun and fantastic is the way Bob described our Halloween! The boys were so amazing with all their excitement throughout the night! We had good friends here who were new to all the WV hoopla. Grandparents stopped to see the costumes. Grandpa Ron made amazing chili and manned the porch so we could all walk with the kids. Just watching their eyes sparkle as they shook off the cold night air and ran from house to house was so precious. Hayden informed us that at one house Owen even asked for two of whatever they were passing out and it made us recall the days when Hayden would ring the doorbell and say, "trick or treat, I'm allergic to peanuts." People would melt in their doorways or simply dissolve into laughter. Halloween is always a magical night and a favorite celebration of costumes, candy, all the neighbors out taking photos in the cal-de-sac and of course chili and anything pumpkin we can think of. Our Halloween traditions are a blast and this year Frankenstein and my two mummies enjoyed it all! Just think... perhaps next year I will be able to make a little girl's costume. :)

37 sure sounds good to us...

We have had a wild ride of a week around our house and I have not had the chance to update our blog. That's the very reason I love this online journal of sorts... it helps me keep track of all the many changes and updates as we move through our adoption.
So about a week ago I received an email informing our family that we had moved from 44 to 37 on the wait list. This is big movement in one months time! Apparently IN late September through early October the courts close in Ethiopia. That means few referrals are likely to occur at that time since the adoption system is slow and quiet. In spite of the closure it would seem that Hannah's Hope is busting at the seams with infants and they are working hard to match children with families. Remember the referral means we have a match! More later I have to run. :)