What Do These Numbers Mean?

6/3                        1:24 pm                   #3757






If you don't have the slightest of inklings, then I am happy to tell you that on Sunday, June 3rd at 1:24pm, our sweet boys Ephrem and Anteneh will be arriving on United flight #3757 at the Raleigh/Durham Airport. 


Please come help us welcome our sweet boys home into our family!  We would love to see you there at the airport.  This day is as exciting as my wedding day and the days my sweet babies were born.  

This life is crazy good.   Woo Hoooo!!!!!

News Flash!!!!!

Our case cleared embassy this morning!!!   The aunt arrived and we have moved on to the next step which is to get a visa appointment.  This will not pose an issue at all.  As I have stated before, we are having our boys escorted to the US.  The agency rep from our adoption agency will be the escort.  According to her, she will not be able to leave Ethiopia with our boys until May 31.  This will put their arrival date somewhere between June 1st and June 2nd.  I was actually hoping that they would come earlier, but honestly, I am ecstatic that they will be coming in the next 10 days.


I can't wait to see them for the very first time and my husband can not wait to see them again.  Our children have made years and years of plans with their new brothers  It will be like watching the birth of our children....except this time I won't be naked and in sheet gripping pain.  I am sure you are all breathing a sigh of relief on this one.....this scene would not bode well in an airport and would land most witnesses in therapy and me in the slammer.


As soon as I know the dates of their arrival, I will let you know.  And to all my local friends, it would bring joy to my heart to see you at the airport as we wait for our boys.  I really want them to see how anticipated and wanted they are.  It would mean a lot to our family as well.  All of you have been so encouraging with support financially and through your friendship and prayers.  This is going to be an amazing day for our whole family!


I think I now officially need a pair of Depends.

Today Is The Day

 

Today is the day that needs to be bathed in prayer.   Today is the day my boys' aunt should have arrived at the embassy for her interview.  Today is the day that we will find out if our boys will be physically absorbed by our family within the next week.  

Today...........


Pretty soon all the todays will be yesterdays that we will gaze back upon and see the perfect timing of God's hand in all of this.  The waiting will always have the emotional photo in my mind of longing and impatience.  I will put this in their scrapbook too.  And I will look back, and I pray they will look back, and see the beauty and perfection of it all. 

Today is the day............

A Little Light...

This morning I woke up to a voice mail on my phone.  It was from our adoption agency informing me that our boys' aunt initiated a call to the agency and told them she would be back in over the weekend.  If she is to be taken seriously, this would mean that the embassy interview would take place this coming week.  AND if this happens, I imagine that we will have our boys in about two weeks.


Oh, the times I have estimated "two more weeks" is countless.  I am even afraid to speculate a date as to when they will actually arrive to be mobbed and absorbed by our family.  At times I feel embarrassed as the dates come and go with no boys.....like I am crying wolf with no proof to back it up.  Excited friends come and ask, over and over, if I have heard anything more about our boys and the date of their arrival.  At some point, I fear they will give up and shake their heads wondering if these boys actually exist.


They exist.  Look at my heart.  When I speak, my emotions prove it.  The tears that have been shed due to waiting for them is evidence.  Look at the sparkle in my husband's eyes when their names are mentioned.  Converse with my son about his memories of harassing his new dusty brothers and a grin spreads with pride and excitement.  Oh yes, they exist.


The only thing that does not exist right now is our boys' physical presence in our family.  This is the ache.  This is the expectation.  This is what will be so sweet when it happens......and we will breathe a sigh of relief when it does.


The power of prayer has been incredibly exposed and unveiled due to this adoption and I have all of you dear friends to thank for this. Thank you so much.  I know, without a doubt, that your prayers have kept me sane, calm and full of hope. 

Pray.

What was assumed would only take several weeks has now turned into an indefinite wait.  Our whole adoptive process, at this point, rests on the shoulders of our boys' aunt.  She is needing to come in for an interview at the Ethiopian embassy which would free the boys to travel.  She has cancelled two previous embassy appointments and now she is off in a different region for mourning ceremonies related to her deceased mother.  Many attempts have been made to contact her.  At first, it looked as though  she would be back as early as the end of this week.  Now we have information that she may not be back for weeks.  She has to have some inkling as to what her absence is doing and preventing.  I'm just not understanding her reasoning.....at all.  I am having a hard time chalking this down to cultural differences when it feels so blatantly like apathy.  I just don't understand what is going on.  There is a small voice inside me saying that things are not what they appear.  Something is up.


So, this adoption and all involved need your prayers.  Pray for a quick resolution to this mess.  I have been in contact with different entities trying to get a feel for what alternatives we have to get our boys home.  Pray for Ephrem and Anteneh.  Pray that they have peace and the continued confidence that we are fighting for them and that we are coming to get them.


My heart is aching...but I just don't know what else to do.  It just hurts so much to wait.  Please pray.

Below is a link to where you can see Ephrem and Anteneh read a letter from us assuring them that we are coming for them and that they have a brand new baby sister.  It is precious.

http://sharing.theflip.com/session/412f2c3caa36fb591c2e0643f0297cec/video/142564241