Ethiopia day 5

Wednesday
Oh how great it has been to have Stella with us. She has adjusted really well and is doing great with both mom and dad. We did not have a lot planned today-mostly at the guest house, everyone just learning to be a family with their new kids. We went to the orphanage after lunch to have our meeting with the doc. We went first and it went well. The doctor seemed to be quite happy/impressed that Tizibit was doing so well and she also knew her new name, Stella and would respond to it. The doc said she had clinical pneumonia at one time but that was it other than the cold. She said that Stella likes to be held close to the chest and we had figured that out already. There wasn't much more to be said. She was really encouraging to us as her new parents and that we could switch things up, as far as her schedule, and do what we wanted. Then we went over to the shopping area to buy some gifts. That was great to see all that was there and help support the women. The drivers came around 5:30 to take us back to the guest house. By this time i was really not feeling well as all the driving and food was just making me nauseous. We think they forgot about our dinner it didn't show until almost 7:30. I was still feeling really sick so fed Stella then ate a power bar and we both went to bed around 8. i was so tired that i didn't even hear Andy come in at 8:30. Stella slept until 10:30 Andy got up with her but she was hungry so i made a bottle and fed her. She then slept until 5:30! As did I. What a great night of sleep we had.

Ethiopia day 4

Tuesday
Today we decided that it was time for Stella to join us and stay with us. When picking her up from the orphanage she is usually lethargic, i think that's her way of coping, today she got out of that state really quickly as we picked her up and then went back to the guest house. She loves being with daddy. He's so good at making her smile. He was sure to make the same noise each time he sees her so she will recognize him-it's totally working. Right now it's hard as we are staying at the guest house but then having to go back and forth to the hotel for lunch and dinner. It seems we are always on the move. Stella is doing great and seems to be enjoying her new mommy and daddy. She is eating and drinking really well. When it's time for nap or bed she really does best if you just lay her down. We put her to bed around 8 and she slept until10:30 and wanted a bottle. She woke up again a couple of times. If she were in her own room she would be fine but since we are all together i try to get her up before she gates to loud. At 5:45 she had her first huge blow out!!! It was all up her back, needless to say she was up for a while after that but finally went back to sleep. I of course did not go back to sleep. i think we finally woke her up around 8:30 so we could get the morning started.

Ethiopia day 3

So today we had our breakfast around 8 and then went to Sinayue's office to finish up our paperwork. Got to the kids around 10:45. Stella was doing great, we decided it was time to take her with us, and the others did the same. We grabbed them up and loaded into the cars. It was almost time for lunch so we headed to the hotel to eat. Stella was awesome! She fell asleep in the car ride and had a great nap, about 45 minutes. She woke up and had some "pourage". She did great eating from Andy and I-we switched 1/2 way so we too could eat. After lunch we all headed back to the guest house for some naps and rest. i laid down with Stella for a while and just enjoyed being with her but she wasn't sleeping so we got up and walked for a bit and then i finally just laid her in the crib to let her fall asleep on her own and she did. Right now I'm waiting for her to wake so i can give her a bottle, it's 4:00. then at 5 we will take her back to the orphanage, i think Andy and I need one more good nights sleep before bringing her home with us. Plus we want her to sleep well to o. We did find out that we will meet with the Doctor on Wednesday at 2:30.

Ethiopia day 2

Today we woke up had breakfast met the other families and were off to meet our babies. There were 4 families staying at the guest house. Us, the George's, a family from Minnesota Sarah and Phil (who were getting 2 babies) and a family from Maryland Josh and Maureen (who were also getting 2 babies). They were each great people and we instantly had connections with each family. It was a nervous ride to the orphanage. We were just so full of emotion. When we arrived at the orphanage they asked each of us the kids' names and they went to get them ready. All 6 babies came out at once. It was so great seeing Stella for the first time. Hearing them call out Tizibit (pronounced Tizipt) and me receiving her as her mom! I was overcome with joy! She is so beautiful and tiny and just perfect in every way. Out of the 4 couple Stella was the oldest baby so she was a little more nervous than the other kids. She cried and whimpered a little bit but over all i thought she did really well. i held her first while Andy was videoing the first time meeting. She went to Andy really well, still whimpered but nothing to bad. We arrived there at 9:30 and was able to stay until about 11:30. it was a little weird you are finally holding your child for the first time and then they just come and take them back. I didn't know quite how to feel. i do know our hearts were so full. I understand that they do that so they can feed them and put them down for nap, there is just no communication as the nannies didn't speak much English, if any. So we were going to come back at 3:30 so we were good for the time being. We were now on our way to the new hotel that Toukoul just bought. That's where we would eat lunch and dinner. We met Megan who had adopted a little 10 month old boy and had been in Ethiopia for 2 weeks already. It was good to talk with her and hear her thoughts. Wendy is the chef, and such a good one. He did a fantastic job. We were so happy with our first meal. Lunch seemed to be the big meal of the day. It's always served in 3 courses, salad first then the meal then fruit/dessert. After eating we were able to walk to a nearby market to buy some diapers, our luggage was to full to bring a lot. $15 for 40 diapers but we needed them so we bought them. It was great to walk outside, the weather would float between 65-70 degrees, their winter! Light jacket weather. After our walk it was time to head back to the orphanage, another surprise to us we would get to see the babies twice today! How wonderful it was to see them all again. Stella did much better this time and by the end she was laughing and playing great with us. We again stayed about 2 hours. Stella did this sort of leaning thing with her head that seemed to be her way of coping with what was going on. i was so glad we were able to recognize what was going on. It was great to see the babies for a second time today. The have a living room style room set up for the families to visit the kids in. It was great to sit around and see all these new families sitting and playing together. Next we were off to the hotel again for dinner. After dinner we went back to the guest house. Tonight we decided to switch rooms with Phil and Sarah, our room had 2 cribs in it and theirs only had 1 so it was better for them. however Phil was a big guy, at least 6'4/6'5 so i felt bad giving him those tiny beds. But it did come with their own bathroom, where as in the house we shared a bathroom with Mike and Laura which was fine. Andy went back to the airport to get our luggage-it was delayed. They got back around 10:30 and off to bed we went. I thought I would sleep really great seeing how the night before I didn't get much at all but it rained all night long, no not rain, DOWN POUR is more like it, very loud. I did sleep but it was definitely off and on.

Ethiopia day 1

Hi all, I thought I would take some time and share my thoughts about Ethiopia, actually while we were there I kept a daily journal so I will just copy what I wrote at the time. Sorry no pics yet, they will come eventually.

We arrived late Saturday evening-by the time we got to the guest house it was 11:30 and of course they had dinner ready for us. We didn't get to bed until about 12:30. Sintayeu our lawyer was there to pick us up at the airport, it was great to see a face we already knew. When we got back to the house he gave us the best news of all, we would have breakfast and then the cars would pick us up to see our kids! We were all so excited as we were told we most likely would not get to see them seeing how it was Sunday. So needless to say even though I was totally exhausted I did not sleep much at all that first night. Not to mention we were put in a room with two "twin" size beds. I say "twin" because my feet hung off about a foot. The flights there were not bad. We almost didn't make it on our second flight. We were not booked all the way through and did not know to check in a head of time. At the very last minute they squeezed us on the plane. Needless to say our luggage did not make it on. It should be joining us late tomorrow evening.

1 week 1 day

Okay so we are down to 1 week 1 day before we take off to get our baby girl, can you believe that, I'm having a hard time believing it. It seems there's so much to do and it just doesn't seem like there's enough time. Let's see it's only 8:15 and I've already cleaned the bathroom including the shower. I'm sure everything will get done that "needs" to get done. On top of that we received yet another packet of paperwork to fill out i looked at it and put it away. It looks so confusing am I suppose to put my name, Stella's name ugh! We have a conference call today with the agency to get it figured out but really I'm ready to be done with the paperwork. I know there will be some when we get back but we will have Stella and then i can do it but seriously now, no thank you, I could totally do without. On top of that we are purchasing another route with FedEx, which is totally a God thing and we are so blessed to be doing but I'm just not sure it will be finalized before we go, prayers are appreciated!!! The boys are doing great, having fun counting down the days until mom and dad leave to get baby sister. We have been trying to spend lots of time with them, just blessing them and surprising them. I sat Ezekiel down to talk with him and asked if he's been enjoying all the surprises and he replied yes of course. then i went on the explain that when baby sister gets here things may be a little different for a while just trying to get her adjusted and he got all serious and said "mom are we not going to do surprises with baby sister" i thought that was so cute, he wanted her to get surprises too. i explained that yes we would but it may be a while. Needless to say that night Andy and i sat down and looked at the calendar to plan a weekend away with the kids before school starts. Well the kids are starting to wake up, that will be it for now.
Laugh today!

We passed!

Today is June 5, 2009 and we got the call at 9:25 that we passed court! Stella Jean Tizibit Adams is officially ours! We have an embassy date of July 9th so hopefully we will be leaving the Sunday before, we will work on getting tickets soon, through a travel agency. We are so blessed to be able to call her our daughter. How awesome that God chose her for our family, it was meant to be. I can finally put a picture of her on here as she is legally ours!!!
I will let you know when we get our dates for traveling for sure. Thanks to all for the many prayers that have gone out on our behalf. We truly have to greatest friends in the world!!!

Court Date

So, an update is needed. We have our court date for Stella, no we won't be there, it's all official and then we travel. Our date is June 5 and i just found out that we find out that same day how it turned out and we get our travel dates!!! Yeah, i'm really excited and am ready to go in a heart beat. Stella is a beautiful little 7 month old girl who God chose to be in our family, out of all the families in the world He knew that we would not be complete without her. God so amazes me with His love for all of us. And our friends will be traveling with us hopefully, they have the same court date so we are praying we get to travel together, that would just be awesome. So much fun to be able to share this experience with another family.
Well Gabriel's birthday is this weekend so Rob, Vicki and the 4 boys will be heading over on Friday, i'm so glad. i've been missing them terribly. We are hoping to head their way for Memorial weekend. i think i'll need to stop and get my Charysse fill on the way.
I can't believe i have a 6 and 8 year old and now i have a 7 month old too, life is great.
Oh by the way we finally decided her full name will be
Stella Jean Tizibt Adams.
Cry today, out of joy!

Notin much to say...

Nothing really new to say, i just wanted to be able to say that i updated my blog. Still waiting to hear that our papers are all finished and Tizibt is really ours. They say it could take a month or two so no rushing. Then after that waiting for our travel date. God is so good and we are so excited to meet our daughter. Right now it's still a very surreal feeling, knowing she's ours but not having her. i've been checking out all the clearance sections at each store looking for the best deals. We already have about 8 outfits, moms have each bought some and i've been buying here and there. She should be no older than 9 months when we get her so i've been buying 12 months, hoping that will work.
Boys are awesome, Gabriel lost his first tooth on the 5th and then 6 days later lost his second one, both on the bottom, no worries though, both the top ones are loose too! We took them to their first Monster Truck show and that was fun, very ammature(sp?) though, only 4 trucks and 1 they couldn't keep running. All in all the boys had a blast.
Andy's great, still FedEx'n it. Looking at getting another route but it just all depends on how the dice land.
Well that's it for now, we're having Joshua and Mandy over for dinner and i need to start the cornbread.
Be joyful!!!

We got it!!!

Yesterday at 3:15 pm we received the phone call that i thought would not be coming for a while. Our little girl has been matched to our family! She is absolutely precious, beautiful, delicate, scrumptious, just everything you could imagine. I am not able to post a picture just yet, but when she is officially ours i will, don't worry. We had our phone meeting today with the agency and found that it will be between 3-4 months before we can travel. I'm okay with that, just knowing that she really exists and having pictures and updates is enough to keep me going. Her birthday is Sept. 17, 2008 so she is only 6 months, how perfect is that! There are so many emotions running through my mind it's hard to describe. You sit here and look at the screen and then up pops a picture of your little girl, out of the blue totally unexpected. (I think God knows I like surprises) So now we can breathe and know who she is, oh how I'm ready to hold and kiss her but i know that too will come in God's perfect timing. So much to say, so hard to find the words to describe. So I simply just say, rejoice with me our daughter Stella is on her way!

God's Peace!

Hello everyone! i really don't have much to say but it's been a while so i thought i would jot down some thoughts. Can i just say to have the Lord's peace is an awesome thing! i really thought the wait for Stella's referral would be really hard and the first two weeks it was. My heart would jump every time the phone rang. But then i had this revelation that God's timing is perfect and to rush ahead of that would just be silly. There's nothing in my power that i can do (except pray) so why bother wasting tons of energy on something i can't control. It's crazy, i really feel that when we get the call it will be in just the perfect time, she will be ready and so will we! The room is coming along, we are hoping to have a butterfly painting party in the next couple of weeks, other than that it's all ready. You know what else is cool about this whole thing, God is giving me a gift, the gift of a daughter, how cool is that! And it's simply because He loves me, all i have to do is sit back and receive this precious gift and that she is!
Right now we are fighting sickness with Gabriel. Last Thursday he came home from school with a fever, took him to the doctor on Sunday, nothing wrong so they say but every night shortly after dinner his little face gets flushed and the fever comes back, a week, that's crazy huh? So if you think about it say a little prayer for my little man that he would be healed and he could go back to school, he misses it! Well it's 55 degrees outside better go get some bike riding in before dinner, the boys are desperately wanting to go play.
Be Joyful!

NO WAY

Two things in my life right now that i'm looking at and saying no way to.
#1 We just got our taxes done and are receiving more back this year than ever before, our travel to Ethiopia will totally be paid for, no more worrying!!! YEAH GOD, He always comes through.
#2 My little Ezekiel is going to be turning 8 on Sunday!!!! Wow, it so hard to believe he's almost 8. Years go by so fast now it's just incredible. i need to figure out better ways of keeping track of neat things that they do. 8 seems like a milestone for some reason. i know in our family 12 is a huge milestone but also 8. We feel like it's time to give Ezekiel more responsibilities and to let go a little. We are going to be coming up with a list of chores for him, we will let him start the car for us, no more holding hands in the parking lot (unless of course mommy wants to) just little things but i know to him they will be really big. He's such an awesome little man if you know him you know that, if you don't know him you'll just have to take my word. Ezekiel is a blessing that i never could have imagined. We were able to have a moment the other night, he couldn't sleep so i just held him for a while. It was great to remind him that no matter how big he gets, he will always have room on mommy's lap, he's always welcome.
Anyhow, just a short little update with my thoughts. Speaking of thoughts, our car door broke last night. You have to love automatic doors right??? But when the door decides to lock itself before it's actually closed really sucks. Luckily Andy was with me so he sat in the back holding the door closed. Getting home realizing he can't fix it so now it sits jimmy rigged closed in able for me to take it somewhere. So now instead of having a relax day picking things up for Ezekiel's party, valentines and getting ready for wife day (which is today, YEAH) i have to try to find someone who can get it in and fix it today, yeah for me.
That's it, be blessed!

Prayer for Stella

Okay so at Saturday night prayer at church we dedicated the first 1/2 hour, which ended up being 50 minutes, to praying for Stella with worship too. It was great. Charissa lead worship, i love Charissa. One of the songs she picked was Bring Restoration. Instantly as she started to sing i knew this was Stella's song, here are the words:
Bring restoration, bring restoration, bring restoration to my soul, bring restoration, bring restoration bring restoration to my soul, you've taken my shame, called me by a new name, taken my pain and in it's place you give me joy, bring restoration, bring restoration, bring restoration to my soul.
There's a second verse by i have to email Charissa to get it, anyhow this was Stella's song. As her mom i was so overwhelmed with the Lords heart for her. Even though she's not here yet the Lord so wants to heal her little heart and soul, it was such an awesome time. Then we read parts of Psalm 31 which was great, had a time of prayer and prophecy which of course was awesome. It just felt great to know that everyone is with us and our family is carrying this with us, we are not alone. Then later on when we got home, Andy went to bed he wasn't feeling well and Josh D. called me to say that their family had sat down and taken time to pray for our family and the words his girls got were just awesome and blessed me so much, Zephaniah 3:17 "The Lord your God is with you, He is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, He will quiet you with His love, He will rejoice over you with singing." How awesome is that the Lord is saying that for Stella. Then each of his girls prayed awesome prayers, which i have written down. i was just so blessed that they did that for us. Also before prayer Nanci had asked the boys with Andy's help to craft a prayer for Stella and here is that prayer:
"We praise you Lord and give You thanks for baby sister and we ask for protection, that You would lead and guide her wherever she goes. Taking care of her with divine health and no weaknesses. We pray that you would show her loving kindness with no fear. We ask that You would bring her home quick so we can play with her and show her how much we love her."
My boys are awesome and we have been continuing to pray this prayer.
I'm just so thankful that the Lord is in control and that i get to put my hope in Him, He never changes and He has good gifts for His kids.
So today, look for your gift!

Here you go...

Finally an update, but really does anyone actually read these anymore now that there's facebook, i know i do i'm just not sure about anyone else. Oh well here it goes anyways.
So we are officially waiting now for our daughter Stella to get matched to our family. Our papers arrived in Ethiopia on January 24,2009, so now we wait some more. They say a good 4-6 months but that's just to long for me so we will wait but are praying it's quicker than they say. Still working on getting people here to paint butterflies in her room, it's so much fun seeing what people paint i can't wait until more people come, it's so much better than i could have expected. i finally finished her blanket, it says baby sister on it. We pray for her daily and know she is in the Lords hands and that He is watching over her preparing her to come home. i think this Saturday for prayer at church we will be devoting some time to pray for her so if you're reading this, come and if you're out of town it will be around 6:30, pray where you are for her to be released quickly into our family.
The boys, Ezekiel got strep but you would never have known it he was such a trooper and so bummed he had to miss 2 days of school, i hope that last. Gabriel is good, we have to teach him a hard lesson about taking what is not his but it's a great time for him to learn. Andy's great, he continues to amaze me. He works so hard every day and does so many extra things and never complains, he's the best ever. i even hear wife day may be next week which is ironic seeing how Valentines is on Saturday, wife day will be Friday, yeah i love wife day.
Well i'm working out and feeling great, still have kept the 20lbs off from my fast which makes me really happy. i didn't know if as soon as i started eating it would all come back on but it hasn't. Hoping to loose another 5 by wife day, better get back on the elliptical 45 minutes might not be enough.
Friends, aren't friends the best!!! Nothing beats having conversations with people you love enough to be your family but by blood they are not. Anyone wants to go for coffee i'm open most days, not Tuesday though that's my day at school.
God, God is the best too. It amazes me how if i get time with Him my day just goes better, i feel better, i get everything accomplished, i talk to the right people to help me through what ever is going on. i love that He looks out for me. He's such a good daddy, even when our earthly daddy's do a horrible job and leave messes that we have to clean up God always makes the way to clean them up, He's so good.
Well i guess that's all i have for now, until next time pray for Stella please!

40 day fast

Wow, i have a lot to blog about so first i will start sharing about my 40day fast. Around the middle of September i felt the Lord was calling me to a 40 day liquid fast. So i prayed more about it and decided i would start the week before Thanksgiving that way it would take me into the new year. So i felt God gave me some strategy on it and it was to be a liquid fast with some protein drinks mixed in and mostly fruit and vegetable juices. i felt the Lord wanted to speak to me in lots of different ways. I knew part of it was for Stella and part was for obedience and part was to hear the Lord. I think the biggest thing i have taken away from it is a since of self control. i absolutely loved that i made it all 40 days, including Thanksgiving, my birthday and Christmas. It felt so good to not fall short and cheat or feel like i was missing out. I was never just exhausted like i normally am when i fast. i had energy, i even worked for Andy most of the time. i felt the Lord gave me some insight to my weight and the traps that ensnare me so much of the time. Being bored is huge!!! Being bored or being bored with food, it was interesting to drink the same thing day after day after day. i became okay with it knowing that it was what my body was needing. So now im eating more veggies because i know it's what my body is needing and i'm okay with that. If you have ever struggled with your weight this next part will totally make since to you. i didn't realize this at the time but i listened to a CD about fears and false refugees. i didn't realize i was fearful of getting really obese. However when i was listening i remembered saying (in the past) that i just wish i would hurry up and get really fat that way i just wouldn't have to deal with it anymore. Which i know sounds totally stupid but i said it. i think out of fear, and out of self pity and self hatred even. But now i can renounce that fear and i know i'm not going to ever be really obese because that is not my portion. i am worthy of more than that because i am a daughter to the King. He desires me to be healthy. It's funny how what we say can make life easy or hard. i want to be positive, think positive act positive and talk positive. Did i make a new years resolution, no! However since i am done with working for Andy i can now work out on my elliptical and get back into my core exercising, which i have done all week. It's time to start thinking about me, not only me but my kids my husband all my family. i want to be active and do the things they enjoy and just flat out be healthy. So i say i'm done with the 40 day fast but not totally. i don't feel quite released to go back to all foods. i'm trying to stay away from bread, just a little meat and no sweets just yet. I'm really cutting back on caffeine too. So now i'm eating better and smaller portions and getting ready for Stella. That's part of the reason for not being totally released yet. i want to really feel the Lords heart for Stella, i know that He loves her but i want to know more so that's where my time is going right now. i'm sure there's so much more i could say but i'm running short of time.
My next post will most likely be about Stella and not to forget we are totally in a new year, that's gotta be talked about too. So for now that's all,
Be joyful today!