Today was THE DAY!!!

What an amazing day today has been!
I was working on making some diapers today when my phone rang. But it wasn't just any ring it was the special ring I made just for my social worker. When I saw it was indeed her my heart just about stopped. Then for a split second I thought, " What if she's calling to tell me just some random news about paperwork or the seminar coming up?!" my next thought was "if this isn't the call I'm hoping it is I'm gonna be a mess!". So I answered and tried really hard to read her voice but I couldn't. But after a few seconds she asked me to sit down that she had some news for me! I KNEW WHAT THIS MEANS! Then she gave me the news we have been waiting to hear... we have been matched with a precious little 1 1/2 year old girl. My heart all about stopped at this point. I was really glad she told me to sit down because I'm not sure my legs would have remembered to hold me up at this point=) She then proceeded to tell me all kinds of information about this and that and what to do next and ya da ya da ya da ya da is all I heard. At the end of the phone call I kindly informed her that I hadn't heard a thing she told me and that she would have to repeat it all tomorrow. I'm sure she is used to this kind of reaction because she was like, "Yep that's totally normal!".

So I immediately called stephen (sobbing of course) and attempted to tell him what happened. Once I managed to form a sentence he was super excited and tried his best to console me through the phone. Meanwhile at our house the kids were looking at me as if I had just grown a second head. They had no idea why I was happy-go-lucky going to answer the phone and within seconds was a soppy mess of tears. But they tried their best to be sweet to me and came and rubbed my back and hugged on me. Even Bethany got into it and kept coming over to me and doing her fake cry and then smiling and walking away=)

Stephen and I got to talk just for a few minutes about everything and then we decided to hang up and go open our emails and see her picture for the first time!

What an AMAZING moment that was!!!!! This sweet girl who we have been praying, dreaming and waiting for right there before our eyes. It was one of those moments that will forever be etched into my heart.

After this I spent the next 5 hours on the phone with friends and family letting them know the good news and crying with each new phone call.
What an INCREDIBLE day this has been! And now we are off to do more paperwork, which I don't mind in the least! One giant step closer to bringing our sweet little girl home!

Mommy and Daddy love you

4 Months Waiting

Well here we are at 4 months waiting! We have very little news to report but are very hopeful that we won't be posting a 5 months waiting. Yet I also am attempting to not get my hopes too high.

We have been VERY busy this last month which has really helped time to fly by, which has been very nice! We are getting so very close to seeing our sweet baby's face for the first time. This is such a very exciting time in our adoption journey. All the work to get us to this point and it's so close!

Even though we haven't see her face yet everyone in our family talks about her as if she is already home. The kids talk about her constantly and are just if not more excited than we are!

Stephen and I pray everyday for her. I dream about her all the time. I even had a friend dream about her=) Now we are just attempting to get our house set up to welcome her home. That's all for now...but hoping to post better news soon!!!!!

Welcome!

We wanted to welcome anyone that is just checking out our blog for the first time, maybe due to a letter from a friend of yours or from us. We welcome you to go back to the beginning of our blog where we had just started on our adoption journey. We are so excited to be hosting a Both Hands Project and are SO very thankful for each person who is going to take part in it, in whatever way you can! We have some wonderful friends who will be making up our team.

Aaron and Bethany Sams
James and Devon Carrasco
Thomas and Crystal Shields
Steve and Nicole Wise
Bryce and Lisa Sykes
Preston and Kelcy Lee
Jonah and Emily Jackson
Valerie and Shannon Bogle

Without them this project would not be possible!!!
I'll be posting more about the project as we set into stone details of that day (Nov. 6th). If your curious about how the project works check it out here. If your interested in getting involved Our personal project page is here .
We very much covet your prayers as we work on this project and wait to be matched with our little girl soon! God Bless

3 Months Waiting!!!

Well here we are at 3 months!! This last month has flown by and creeped all at the same time? Not sure how that works but we are happy to be here!

There really isn't much news to report. There have been a few referrals on the boards this last month which has moved us up some. Yet like I said in my 2 month post, there isn't many families (who sent their dossier before us) on the adoption boards so haven't heard of any referrals for a while now=(

I called our social worker 2 weeks ago just to see if she could give me an idea of where we were at in the process. So she called corporate and all they could say is that we are getting close! I already knew this but to hear it from the people your waiting to hear your BIG news from is some how more exciting=)

Of course I'll post when I hear more news.

Read a very good post from fellow blogger Building the Blocks here.....

I have been SOOO restless lately. I'm not entirely sure why, but I suppose it has to do with our status on the waiting list? We have marked off one after another after another after another families who received their referral. We are moving up and up and up the list. Then just this week there have been several families who submitted just before us.... get matched!!! We are currently family #26 (but how many of those families are waiting for older/siblings/little boys is anyones guess...which means we could be much higher up the list).
I am REALLY trying to be patient but the fact that it could be any day now that we get THE call that changes our life, just kind of makes me crazy. Or it could still be months away.
One hard part is that out of the dossier submitted before us (about 20 or so families) , almost none of them are on the adoption board. So from here until we are matched we really won't get to see our names moving up the list as the other families are matched. We will have to wait till the end of each month to see where we are at. But on the other hand we could be matched tomorrow with the little girl the Lord has for us. I'm planning on calling our social worker this week to see if she can give me an idea of our status.
We are still very busy with several big projects but always looming in my heart is my desire to hear my phone ring with our BIG news!
Thanks for letting me vent. I know I need to be patient, but until you have been here, you have NO CLUE how hard that is!!! Just keep taking it to the Lord and I also find that praying very specifically for our baby girl makes me feel like I am taking care of her in a way. Please just pray for us for patience and for our baby girl.

Becoming A Family Of Five: Yezelalem Minch - Help For Ethiopia

This is a post from a fellow adoptive family. They got to go visit Yezelalem Minch (a WONDERFUL ministry in Ethiopia). Right now they are trying to find 50 sponsors in 50 days....Please check it out!!! See how the Lord would have you help!!!


Becoming A Family Of Five: Yezelalem Minch - Help For Ethiopia