6 days until we leave!

I can hardly believe we'll be leaving for Ethiopia in just 6 short days! Yesterday we packed 2 big bags full of donations and 1 bag for Jonas. We also got a start on packing our bag and carry-on. We've been shopping several times, and I think we're pretty close to having everything we need. I'm not sure if Jonas is going to be wearing 6-9 month clothes or 12 months clothes, so we're bringing both. We also have close to a pharmacy supply of medicines for him and for us! Seriously.

Today I cleared the pictures off our camera's memory card and remembered that I never shared pictures of Jonas' room and our baby shower.

So here's the baby's room:






And here's a couple pictures from the baby shower:





This might be our last post before we leave for Ethiopia! If you think of it, pray for us while we're gone. We have a few specific prayer requests. Here they are:

1) Pray for no flight delays! We have some pretty tight layovers and even a short delay could cause us to miss our flight to Ethiopia.

2) Pray that Jonas will bond with us quickly and that we will have the wisdom to know how to help him to do that.

3) Pray that Ray and I stay healthy. No Montezuma's Revenge, but more importantly, no typhoid, malaria, or yellow fever. :)

4)Pray that we'll be able to sleep and get used to the new time zone quickly.

5) Pray that Jonas will be comfortable and be able to sleep on the long plane ride home.

Thanks, and be sure to check back next week for updates from Ethiopia!!!!!

This is a test...

We won't be able to access our blog in Ethiopia, but we should be able to e-mail blogger.  So, I'm doing a test e-mail with a picture to see if it comes through to the blog.  If it works we'll be able to keep you up to date while we're in Ethiopia (as long as we have internet access!).  So here goes....

We passed court! Jonas is officially our son!!!

Enjoy the pictures!

Make an on-line slideshow at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Still Waiting for News....

Knowing that our court appointment in sometime this week (but not knowing the day) has been close to torturous. OK, not that bad. But it has been hard. Today is Thursday. I guess the news will come today or tomorrow. We know that if we don't pass through this time around (it's not uncommon), we'll have to wait another month for a new court date and our new tentative travel dates would probably be in December. If we don't pass it will be so hard to know that Jonas will spend another month in the transition home, not even knowing that he has a mom and dad who think about him constantly. But, God has been reminding me again and again this week that He is good. His goodness doesn't depend on my circumstances. No, he is simply good. I can trust him, even if Ray and I are not on a plane to Ethiopia on November 1st. I've been meditating on a couple of verses I read on Tuesday.

But Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord,
whose confidence is in Him.
He will be like a tree planted by the water
that sends out it's roots by the stream.
It does not fear when heat comes;
it's leaves are always green.
It has no worries in a year of drought
and never fails to bear fruit.

Jeremiah 17:7-8

Oh Lord, the king rejoices in your strength.
How great is his joy in the victories you give!
You have granted him the desire of his heart
and have not withheld the request of his lips....

For the king trusts in the Lord;
through the unfailing love of the Most High
he will not be shaken.

Psalm 21:1-2 & 7

Admittedly, when I first read these verses my first thoughts were not so noble. I didn't want to have to experience any more heat, or times of drought, or have circumstances threaten to leave me shaken. But the more I thought about them, the more peace I sensed from God. He has already done SO MUCH to unite us with Jonas. The journey started years ago and has not been an easy one, but I would do it all over again. I cherish all of the ups and downs that have led us to be Jonas' parents. God surely granted me the desire of my heart, and did not withhold the request of my lips. I do not know what will happen in the courts this week, but God does. So, I will trust. I want to be like the tree whose leaves are always green and who never fails to bear fruit. Who knows, maybe very soon I'll be posting Jonas' pictures with the news that we've passed through court!

Court Update

I just heard from another family in our travel group that our agency confirmed that our court date is sometime THIS WEEK!!!! Please be praying. We'll find out soon if we get to travel on 11/1 or not! I also just found out that there is a formula shortage in Ethiopia. There isn't enough in the stores to buy! One of the orphanages our agency partners with (the one Jonas came from!) is expecting to run out of formula this week. The transition home is going to send some over to them, but they need families to bring formula to help out. It sounds like we'll be going shopping soon to buy some extra formula. If you'd like to send a can or two with us, let me know!

Surgery went well!

Thank you to all of you who were praying for my surgery! Things went REALLY well. They were able to do the least invasive surgery. Praise God! The mass was a big cyst, and it didn't show any signs of cancer. I'm still pretty swollen, bruised, and sore, but I feel more human today! :) I'm so thankful we were able to have the surgery done now. It would have been hard to have an active, chubby little guy at home and not really be able to pick him up and take care of him. I believe God worked it all out so that I can be ready to travel as soon as we get the word! That could potentially be in 20 days!!!!!!!!!

Updates

I have surgery scheduled for tomorrow!  I would have preferred to wait until after we get Jonas home, but the doctor convinced me otherwise.  I'm really relieved that the surgery was moved up from the 10/21 date, because it should give me enough time to recover by November 1st! Thanks for your prayers!

Some AWAA families had court today.  They were tentatively scheduled to travel on 10/23.  I don't know the outcome for all the families, but so far I know that 2 families passed through court, and sadly, 2 families did not pass through.  There is a new rule for paperwork requirements for the adoption of sibling groups that apparently our agency was not aware of.   Their new court date is scheduled for November 8th.  Keep these families in your prayers!

We don't know when our court date will be.  The group of families with their date today was the last group that will know their court date.  We assume that our court date is sometime in the next week or two.  Please pray for all the paperwork and everything needed to be ready so that we can pass through court the first time!  

Tentative Travel (yay!) and surgery (YUCK!)

We've had a very eventful few weeks! Sunday afternoon some women from our church threw us a baby shower. There were about 70 women there and we got so many great gifts! We're pretty much ready for him. We just need to buy some diapers, formula, socks, and a few more outfits. We got 2 car seats, the high chair, a stroller, the complete bedding set and valances for the nursery, diaper bag, clothes, bath toys, sippy cups and bottles, an activity center, and so much more. We were also given many donations to bring to the transition home and orphanage. We have several pairs of Croc sandals, clothes for kids and babies, bibs, bottles, soaps and lotions, socks and underware, books, etc. When I get a chance I'll post some pictures from the shower and pictures of the nursery.

We got an updated picture of him yesterday and he looks happy and healthy. It looks like he might be growing into those chubby cheeks of his! We also got an updated weight, which will help us to know better what size clothes he'll be wearing. A couple of days ago we also got some video of him! It was from a couple weeks before we got his referral, so he's much younger in the video than he is now. His cheeks were HUGE! So cute. We got to see his smile for the first time! In the video he coughs a few times and then smiles. He looks adorable when he coughs and his smile is so sweet!

We got tentative travel dates today! If all goes well in court (probably sometime in the next couple of weeks) we're scheduled to travel on November 1st!!!!!!!!!!!!! However, I also got some bad news today. I went to the doctors a couple of weeks ago for some pain I was having off and on. She sent me for an ultrasound and then a CT scan a week later. I had an appointment with her on Tuesday and she said that I need to have surgery to remove a 5 inch by 5 inch abdominal mass (most likely a cyst related to endometriosis). She won't know until they open me up whether they can do a laparoscopy (recovery in 1-2 weeks) or a laparotomy (recovery in 3-6 weeks or more). She told me Tuesday that they would try to schedule the surgery for as soon as possible. The office called me today to say that the surgery was scheduled for 10/22. The nurse said I would be fine to travel on 11/1 if they do a laparoscopy, and that I could "possibly" travel that soon after a laparotomy. I don't like "possibly". I left a message for the doctor to see if we could put the surgery off until after we travel. The doctor called me back the one time today that I walked away from my cell phone. She left me a message that they're going to try to reschedule the surgery for SOONER, but it will all depend on the OR schedule. The nurse is going to call me tomorrow to let me know if they were able to reschedule the surgery. If they are not able to, I'm going to ask to have the doctor call me again so I can find out if we can push the surgery back. So, I guess I'll know more tomorrow. Please pray! I know that God has been in control of this entire process from the beginning and Jonas is our little boy. We want to be united with him as soon as possible, but I'll trust my loving Father.