holding my world in His hands {day 3}

And these are Your days, you give them
All for Your fame and all for Your glorious kingdom
Jesus, You have ordained
All things to dwell in Your purpose

We arranged to get to the orphanage a little earlier this morning. We are trying to squeeze in every possible minute with him while we are here in his country. We considered skipping lunch, but we learned the kids take a nap after lunch, so they needed us to go out for lunch and come back as we have done the last 2 days. (This is amazing, I would love for this to continue once he's home!!!)

So I will not worry or fret
My God is the God who will never forget
All of His goodness and all of His promises
He's holding my world in His hands

We had some real sweet time with our sweet boy today. Today we learned that he knows even more English than he seemed to know yesterday (I think he will end up being fluent by the time he comes home!) and he is opening up to us more and showing more of his cute personality. He is so smart. We just keep looking at each other every day like, "Did he really just say that/do that/understand that?" He is so clever and has the best sense of humor. He knows how to charm us for sure- I don't know how I will say no to that sweet, sweet smile and "Please Mom?" with an Ethiopian accent. He is so expressive. His facial expression, hand gestures, acting... it would only be fitting that he seems to be a little dramatic. Chase and I clearly aren't dramatic at all... we need some excitement in our lives!! ;-)

I'll give you a sneak peak with a picture he took of our feet. Cannot wait to show off our beautiful boy tomorrow!

We ended the day at a traditional Ethiopian restaurant with traditional dance (more like a 2 hour show). We enjoyed it so much, my cheeks hurt from laughing and smiling so much. Can't wait to take E back there on our Embassy trip!!! I'll post some pictures tomorrow... I'm about to pass out.

We are beyond blessed and so thankful for how the Lord has completed our family. Today as I was watching him, I started crying thinking, "What if we had said no to the Lord's calling us to E?" It hurts too much to think about. I am so thankful we said yes. We are the lucky ones to call him our son.

And I am your child, beloved

And all of my days, my future is laid in your promise

Jesus, to the end of the age

I am not alone or forgotten

Tomorrow afternoon is our court appointment! After court, we will officially be a family of three in the eyes of the Ethiopian court. We will then be able to share his name and his beautiful face!!! Be prepared for your heart to burst. You've been warned.

Thank you so much for your prayers throughout this journey... we are feeling them every step of the way and we are so thankful for all the love and support we have back home!

DTE!!!!!

I know this update is long overdue, but I figured no one wanted to read a whiny post about how we've just been waiting on this and waiting on that. So I've been holding out until I finally had some good news to report.

My friends, that day is here!!! As of yesterday we are DTE!!! {Dossier to Ethiopia} How many times can I track a package may you ask? A lot. 

The day we've been waiting for since July is finally here. 8 months of organizing paperwork, ordering birth certificates, passports, doctor's appointments, home study, USCIS fingerprinting + a hiccup with our USCIS clearance, notarizing, state certification... well, you get the picture. It is all behind us! (For now... some of our things will have to be renewed next year, but who's talking about next year right now?!) 

Now what? Now we wait. It's looking to be about 24+ months right now for our age range we're requesting (0-2 yrs, boy or girl). So eventually we'll be getting a call to come bring our baby girl or boy home. I can't wait for that call! But at the same time- I can. I wish it wasn't going to take years, but we've never been parents before people! We don't own a crib, or a stroller, or a changing table, or a baby monitor... We've got some preparing to do, and for a person who likes to have things planned out and prepared for, I'm glad I do have a little bit of time to get our ducks in a row. I'm really glad we don't know yet what we are having or the baby's room would probably already be furnished, painted, and closet filled. 

Over the next 2 years we will be praying, reading books, and getting our home ready for our child that we dream about and pray for every day. My heart has been really heavy the last couple of weeks, and it's hard to get it all out in words, but this is a good start: 


“Adoption is a redemptive response to tragedy that happens in this broken world.” 
― Katie J. Davis, Kisses from Katie: A Story of Relentless Love and Redemption

"An honest approach to adoption involves both profound brokenness and beauty."

- Jason Kovacs

Adoption for us is our Plan A. God has called us to bring our first child into our family from another country, that will not look like us or talk like us, but will be ours all the same. While we are rejoicing our DTE status, right now in Ethiopia our baby could be making their way into this world any day. Our baby might already be born. I can't imagine the heartache that our baby will experience in their short life before we bring them home. I can't imagine the heartache of our child's birth mother and birth family. I can't imagine the circumstances that will leave our child without their birth family. My heart has been heavy thinking about these things. Adoption for us is how God has called us to grow our family and live out James 1:27. Oh how we wish that adoption wasn't necessary, how we wish that there weren't millions of orphans needing a home. For millions of children in the world, international adoption is their best hope. 

So we pray- we pray for our child, that God would hold him or her safe in His hands and that He would comfort them and place people in their life that will love them until we can bring them home. We pray for our child's birth family, for the nannies in the transition home that will care for him or her until we can get there, for the government in Ethiopia to process cases quickly but yet ethically and effectively so that less children are stuck in orphanages all over the country- and the world. We pray that children remain with their biological families, but when that's not an option we pray that more and more Christians will ask the Lord how they can help. Not everyone is called to adoption, but we are all called to care for the orphan- and that can look different for everyone.

I think I could go on & on here, but I'll leave you with this link to Brandon Hatmaker's blog post about the movie STUCK. STUCK is a movement to remove barriers to international adoption and to prioritize the need to find permanent loving families for children all over the world. Too many children are STUCK in orphanages while families wait years to bring them home, this is too long, things have got to change. Check out his blog and/or visit the link to sign the petition.

We want to thank each of you for your love, support, and prayers over the last 8 months. Please don't stop now, the hardest parts are ahead. We couldn't be doing this without our friends and family and we appreciate all that you have done for us! I am amazed at how gracious God has been to us over the last 8 months through the support of our friends, family, and people that we barely know. He has been so good to us and we are so thankful! 

We had a wonderful celebration at Taste of Ethiopia in Pflugerville last night with our family and friends, thank you for joining us to celebrate being DTE! We love you all! If you haven't had Ethiopian food or like Ethiopian food, get over to Taste of Ethiopia. SO STINKING GOOD! (I got Siga Tibbs with Fesolia, and loved every bite.)

I cannot tell you how much I love this painting made by Jacob & Stephanie, our dear friends Andrew & Laila's sweet kids. We love this family so much!! 

Have a blessed Easter celebrating our risen Lord!!!