Missing my baby boys....

....and I get to go visit them again! I have the world's best husband. Thanks be to Mike and God for making the way for me to go visit our little lambs in Ethiopia again. It has been as hard as we imagined to be away from our little guys. It is always a loooong hard wait to bring home an adopted child. Meeting them face to face and then leaving them indefinitely is just plain agony. The good news on the adoption front is that Gezehegn has been moved to Wanna and into AAI's care. As long as Gezehegn's paperwork is in order then his case can be added without delay to Assefa's and both of them submitted to court soon. We are praying to be in "Group D" and our cases submitted to court in January. That means they may be home by early spring.....like in March. There are just too many variables to guess with any certainty when they will home for sure. Because we are concerned about Assefa's health and mostly because we MISS them so much and want one of us at least to go hold and love on them....I get to go visit for two weeks. I leave December 2 and get back home the 19th. God bless Kayla our adult daughter staying here to help with the kids when I am gone. There is no way this could happen without her. Please pray for Assefa's continued health improvement, we are mostly concerned about the lung issues. Praises that his CD4 count was excellent! Very, very impressive for an HIV+ infant. This is the most excellent kind of news. Please remember to pray for Gezehegn as he adjusts to a new environment at Wanna house. He was doing so well at the Gladney home and I just know he must be missing his former caregivers and friends and wondering just where he is now.

It may seem like a lot of money to spend just to go visit the babies and hang out in the orphanages. Mike and I know we would do the same for any one of our children....and these two guys are already our children even if not so on paper yet.

Julee
thankfully counting the days till I snuggle my new baby boys again

Bittersweet Birthday Photos

October 23rd was Jonathan's birthday. Here I am with tiny newborn Jonathan the day I met him three years ago. What a glorious day. Even looking at this photo three years later I can hardly believe what our great God did when He gave us Jonathan as a son. Here is Jonathan two years ago with his creme puff 1st Birthday Cake. What a grin he had! He was doing so well at one year old. He was almost all weaned off of oxygen support and close to finished wearing the helmet to reshape his skull. One of the cool things for moms about having a child with Down Syndrome is they stay a "baby" a bit longer. You can see here in the photo that he was being propped up a bit with towels in the highchair...he wasn't quite able to sit up perfectly yet.

Here is our boy last year on his 2nd birthday. He had become ill the previous January and was diagnosed with aplastic anemia. Jonathan and I had spent most of the previous ten months in and out of the hospital. He had gone through so much suffering by the time his birthday rolled around. We were waiting for his bone marrow transplant at this point. I wept with joy and worry this day. I hadn't realized that a big part of me doubted he would survive to make it to his 2nd birthday. It was a wonderful celebration. We went all out on presents for him. I searched and shopped online for every sort of wham-a-dine top rated musical toy ever made. Those toys sure came in handy the next six months. He loved those toys so much. This year the end of October we went to Goldendale again just like we did last year with Jonathan. Last year we were trying to make some good family memories before Jonnie and I left for Seattle for the long haul of the transplant. This year without Jonathan we went because it is our "happy place". We have such a great time up in the woods. It is nice to remember being there with Jonathan. This photo is taken the first time he pulled himself up to standing....one day after his 2nd birthday in Goldendale. We all were so excited and clapping and whooping for joy for his accomplishment. He was pretty thrilled too!

It doesn't seem like enough to just ever have two birthdays does it? I am thankful for the two we had with him though. Our new son Gezehegn's birthday was two days after Jonathan's. Next year when he turns four he will have his first ever birthday cake with us. Our adopted children who came home at all ages had their first ever birthday cake and party after they joined our family. I know that in most parts of the world birthdays aren't celebrated the way we do here in the U.S. I do imagine that the birth mother's of our adopted children that are still living remember those special days as they pass each year. I think of them on our kid's birthdays and say a prayer for them....hoping they know the gift we have been given with their child. Do they know how thankful we are?! I imagine that Jonathan's birth mother remembered his day this year with sadness and some regrets too. I hope somehow she knows how amazingly wonderful he was. How happy he made us and everyone who met him. He may have only had two birthdays, but those two years were full up to the brim with fun and joy. If lives are measured with the love created and shared in them...Jonathan's life was a full one.

Top Ten Predictions

I have always been too self absorbed or just too plain busy to be involved much in politics. I think maybe I am not alone in being a closet lackadaisical citizen? This year, these elections were different for me. I think it was different for many of us for all sorts of reasons. I read something on another blog that was a great comfort to me. It is from a website I have never visited before but I give credit to the author posted below. In a week where over half our nation is rejoicing and the rest of us grieving, it is a good reminder that God is in charge. Let us join together to commit to pray for our president-to-be and his family.

Top Ten Predictions No Matter Who Wins the Election

1. The Bible will still have all the answers.
2. Prayer will still work.
3. The Holy Spirit will still move.
4. God will still inhabit the praises of His people.
5. There will still be God-anointed preaching.
6. There will still be singing of praise to God.
7. God will still pour out blessing upon His people.
8. There will still be room at The Cross.
9. Jesus will still love you.
10. Jesus will still save the lost when they come to Him.


*Courtesy of David Virtue at www.Virtueonline.org