IS No News Good News?

So, we still have not heard anything about our court appointment. We're just hanging out, sorting donations, re-organizing closets to make room for number 4, and wondering if I should start packing suitcases any time soon. I have borrowed luggage from my sister which for some reason is very exciting to me-they took their whole family to India last year at this exact time (they have 6 kids, age 12 and under-although one was in-utero at the time!!) to explore some missionary possibilities, and here this same exact luggage will be traveling the world again to complete another piece of God's plan-bringing home our little girl. And she also gave me her shoes that she bought just for that trip as they were just a tinsy bit big for her (we wear almost the same size shoes, which in this case worked out well for me :) ) and I plan on taking them to Ethiopia, b/c they are super comfy. So, they will go on another international journey, too. I just love the fact that the dirt on the soles of those shoes has been collected from around the world, all in response to God's prodding a few hearts. Amazing that He takes us, dirt and all, both at home and around the world, to make sure that He is known and His love is shared with people from every tribe and tongue. And so I oddly do not feel anxious or worried at all about our court results because I know He loves our girl more than we ever will and He has got her in the palm of His great big almighty hand, and there is not a better place for her to be! So, I will let you know when we hear anything, and until them I will just continue to be in awe of the amazing things God does in the hearts and lives of those He calls His own :).

This Is It!

Tonight is it-our court date!! While we sleep, the courts in Ethiopia will decide if we can bring our girlie home very soon, or if we need to wait a little while longer.  Please join us in praying that we pass this first time and we can bring her home in just a couple weeks!!

Trying

Y'all, I am trying to keep up with posting because we have so much going on that could be fun to write about, but the problem is that we have SO MUCH going on, that there is not time to write about it! And now all of the sudden our court date is upon us-this Friday, in the wee early hours of Friday for us, and I am not even sure how that happened!! So we could be in Africa in just a few weeks, and I cannot even get my groceries put away, let alone packed to pick up my baby! So I am just going to skip most of the posts I have composed in my head because by the time I get them caught up on here, well, I will be an old lady.


But I will tell you what we did this weekend. We made this:



Into this:

(those white boxes on the wall hold all our shoes-they are from IKEA and are the best. thing. ever. total space saver!)

My appliances FINALLY came and we had decided whenever we got them, we would re-do the icky laundry room(which is the room we come into when we come home so I got to look at its ugliness about 15 times a day-depressing) and so we did it this weekend and I LOVE it! We put in new flooring and took down ugly wallpaper border and re-painted and hooked up our new washer and dryer and well, I'm in LOVE! My littlest Thing and I just sat on the (new) floor and watched the first load we did because it was so fun to watch it go around and I was amazed at how this machine was way smarter than I was. It was ultra quiet, too, and I was completely unconvinced it was actually washing my clothes because it used like 3 tablespoons of water. But it did and I have no idea how, and it dried the entire load in 45 minutes!! Not even on high heat! It is little miracles like this that are keeping me going right now because our life has been a huge steaming bowl of crazy the last couple weeks. And it is just going to get crazier, but I think this next few months will be the good kind of crazy, the kind that makes you praise God for the fullness of life, rather than rip your (rapidly whitening) hair out and wonder how you ever ended up in this place in life and how can you get out of it. And I cannot wait!!!

Testing Testing 1-2

I am testing out the feature that lets me email posts to my blog as I am hoping to be able to do this from Ethiopia. If you are reading this, it worked!!

Where Did We Go Wrong?

Dear Dawn,

I don't know why you left without saying goodbye. I was so excited for your visit-Jody had cleaned and shined me all up. She even fluffed the towels above me and then they all whooshed off to the airport to get you. I thought this MUST be someone special with all the excitement around the place!! And even though it turned cold and snowy the minute you got here, I knew it would be a fun weekend because I could hear so much giggling and talking outside the door. Well I tried to do my very best job for you and it was nice how you would visit me every now and then. I even nicely held onto your hairdryer for you while you ran around with Jody and the family, going shopping for your baby, going out to eat 50 million times, talking all the time about something called babies--and I even hummed along while you played DDR on the Wii.

I thought "that Dawn is just so nice! too bad she doesn't spend more time with me, I'd like to get to know her! she has the funniest accent and such a silly sneeze, like a little mouse! she MUST be a great girl to have fun with!" But you were always just so busy. With what I am not really sure, other than watching tv and going through small little clothes and saying "that is so cute!" all the time. I am not really sure why you and Jody just kept saying that but whatever. So I decided that maybe we would just be acquaintances, just hanging out here and there and I was ok with that. But then things changed. For some reason Saturday night, when I was sound asleep because it WAS the middle of the night, you came rushing to see me! I was thrilled! Oh we were so happy for those hours,what with all the hugs you kept giving me and everything. We were definitely more than friends now, or at least I thought. I was so thrilled with our new relationship, I seemed so important to you all of the sudden! And you were always so happy to see me each time. But then you stopped visiting altogether. I don't know what happened, just poof! You swept your things out of my room, packed up your things and left, not even offering to take me with you. I even heard you say "I feel SO much better now!" as you were leaving. Was that because you were done with me? Was it something I did? I haven't seen you since and I am afraid I never will again. I noticed you took Jody with you when you left because I saw this picture on the camera when they came to take MY picture (talk about cold):Just hanging out at the airport like you don't even remember me. Well, if nothing else, it was fun while it lasted and at least Jody and the family seemed to have a great time with you-they just keep talking about how great you are though and that stings a little because it just makes me sad how you got over your love for me so fast. Oh well, I hope you all are very happy together and if you ever need me, I'll be right here waiting for you.

Love,

Jody's Potty

Dear Dawn, I Miss You

Love,
Jody's potty

(we had a great time together--I will post more details tomorrow)

Always Darkest Before The Dawn

Well, it won't be that dark because it will be the afternoon when Dawn is coming to visit us tomorrow! Yay, I cannot wait! After months of a million emails flying back and forth and a few phone calls and joint referrals and hoping we will travel together, we get to meet here in Virginia first! woo hoo! My kids had a hard time falling asleep tonite because they were so excited to meet "Miss Dawn". I have been busily getting ready by praying, reading about friends with whom the Lord blesses, and--oh wait, no I haven't, I have been running around my house thinking "oh my gosh! why are we such slobs? why don't I ever paint things? why do we have such ugly furniture? Dawn will turn around and jump right back on that plane! where did this mess come from and why am I trapped under all this laundry?!" Dawn, if I am not there to meet you at the airport, call 911 and tell them to look under the big pile....

(this is Dawn and her hubby Tim and she promised me she'd wear this on the plane so I'd know which one was her when she gets here)

Knock-Knock-Knockin on Heaven's Door

A few Sundays ago, in the sermon at church, a situation was presented and a question asked so I am going to put the same forth to you since it caught me off guard more than I care to admit. I will warn you, it is somewhat convicting and a thought provoker if you are honest with yourself. Picture whatever you think Heaven is in your mind. Go ahead, really close your eyes, sit and picture it for a few moments.

Beautiful sunshine everywhere, maybe? Streets of gold, happiness and no more suffering, angelic music flowing from everywhere, perhaps. Maybe a 24-hour restaurant serving up all your favorites any time and you never have to worry about too many calories, too much cholesterol or trans fats. Your clothes ALWAYS fit just right. A place where no one is sick or ever dies. You see all the lost loved ones you have missed and have many happy reunions. Maybe even your long lost Fifi and Fido are there to lovingly greet you-and they never have dog breath or hairballs! Most of us can agree that whatever image of Heaven we have in our minds is one of utter perfection and sheer blissful happiness. Now, what if Heaven had ALL those things, and then some (Starbucks flowing from a continuous pump, Coke Zero on tap!!) and you could enjoy them without restriction, but there was one catch. Suppose you were met at the entrance to Heaven by and told "Welcome, good and faithful servant! You made it! Come on in and enjoy your eternal life, but just so you know, Jesus is not here."

How does that compare with Heaven in your mind's eye? When you picture Heaven, IS Jesus there? In EVERY part of that picture? Or is that one of those things you take for granted--"of COURSE He'll be there, duh!" but He never quite makes it into the actual picture you have of Heaven? Maybe He's inside that Starbucks you just cannot see Him right then? Is He off talking with someone else and so you know He's there of course, you just maybe didn't have Him exactly in that particular image? Why is He missing from your picture? Would you be willing to say "No, thanks" to the welcome at the gate and instead say "well, if Jesus isn't there, I don't want to be either"? Is your goal to get to Heaven, or to get to Jesus?

I'd love to hear what you think.

(BTW-If you are not sure if you really care or know if Jesus is there, please feel free to contact me by email, and we can talk about that more specifically than we could in the comments)

Roar

March (the month of our COURT DATE!!! 25 days!! ) is finally here-talk about in like a lion....