Football season is over!!

Zach & Noah had their last game of the season today and they got to play at OSU Reser Stadium-which they thought was really cool!!

SLIDESHOW OF OUR JOURNEY SO FAR

As we get ready to leave, one week from today, thought I would post the two videos to show our journey so far...... enjoy the two videos

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1 WEEK!!!

This time in one week we will be on our way to meet our daughter. We will be flying to DC for 2 nights and then on to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. I can't believe it! We have been packing and organizing and trying to get everything done at home before we leave.
We made a trip to the Dollar Store and got gifts for the kids to open each day we are gone...hopefully this will pass the time and give grandma a break as they play! We are sad and nervous to leave the kids and fly across the world, but know they will be in good hands. It is an ironic feeling though to go to see your baby (who was an orphan) to knowing that if something happens to you, your kids will be orphans-

We have never been to DC-so we are excited to see some of our country's history! It will be nice to slowly adjust to that 12 hour difference in time from here to Ethiopia.....DC will break that up some.

Not that this is funny, but I had to share.....So, as I was looking for an image on line, I found these, but the second image came RIGHT up-THIS IS NOT WHAT I WANTED TO SEE RIGHT NOW!!

Adam and I haven't flown at all in 14 years (have I mentioned this)....we are SLIGHTLY nervous to get on that plane. Over all it is about a 24 hr. plane ride, but stopping for a couple days in DC will break up the trip some. But, we still will have to leave DC and have a 20 hour plane ride WITHOUT getting off the plane (they stop once in Rome for fuel-but won't let us off)! I am excited and nervous-I think that the first miracle of the trip though will be JUST getting my husband on the plane-as HE is way terrified! :-) Pray for us this week for peace and organization! I can't believe that soon we will actually meet our daughter that we have gazed at over the last 4 months and watched her grow through pictures.

Only 2 WEEKS to GO!

WE LEAVE 2 WEEKS FROM TODAY-I CAN'T BELIEVE IT! IN A LITTLE OVER 2 WEEKS I WILL BE HOLDING ABIGAIL IN MY ARMS!!! HOW LONG WE HAVE WAITED FOR THAT MOMENT! PLEASE KEEP PRAYING FOR US AS WE HAVE A LOT OF PACKING TO DO STILL, WE ARE BOTH WORKING AND KIDS HAVE THEIR ACTIVITIES SILL-IT DOESN'T LEAVE MUCH TIME TO GET READY! PRAY FOR PEACE PLEASE AS WE ARE STILL NERVOUS TO FLY AND GO TO A DIFFERENT COUNTRY. HERE ARE PICTURES FROM THE BEGINNING OF TRYING TO PACK UP SOME DONATIONS.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

This week we carved pumpkins-we helped the kids carve nice triangles, smiles, etc....then they decided to take over from there. This is what happens when you give 4 boys some pumpkin carving tools! :-) o'well

LOVELY!!!

LETS HOPE OUR YOUNGEST SON NEVER GROWS UP TO BE A PLASTIC SURGEON-THIS IS WHAT HE DID TO HIS PUMPKIN! :-) THAT SHOULD LIGHT UP OUR PORCH GOOD!

This is how girls carve pumpkins-nice and neat!

Adam had a contest at work of who could make the funniest Halloween cake-here was his entry which won third place.

CALLING ALL MY MEDICAL FRIENDS-GIVE ME YOUR OLD SCRUBS!!!!

HI GUYS-SO ONE OF THE NEEDS AT HANNAH'S HOPE -OUR ORPHANAGE IN ETHIOPIA WHERE OUR BABY LIVES IS SCRUBS FOR THE ORPHANAGE WORKERS TO WEAR. THEY DON'T NEED TO BE NEW-AND ANY SIZES WOULD BE APPRECIATED, ESPECIALLY SMALL/MEDIUM.
I HAVE A BOX IN THE BREAK ROOM WHERE I WORK AND ALSO ONE AT OUR CHURCH-SALEM EVANGELICAL THAT YOU CAN DROP THEM IN IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO GET RID OF ANY OF YOUR SCRUBS THAT YOU DON'T NEED ANYMORE-WOULD APPRECIATE IT! THANKS

Needs at our orphanage-can you help?

We are still collecting donations to take on our two trips and just got an updated needs list from our orphanage-so if you were planning on getting something to us-here are some ideas:
We have collection boxes at my work and at church too.

1.Maximum strength Extra Virgin Olive Oil, moisturizing growth olive oil (10-20 bottles, used for the older kids here at HH or at other orphanages)

2.Toys for 4-16 moth old kids….lots of them! Things that make noise and are engaging

3.Bottles-Avent

4.Body soaps for older kids

5.Paper towels

6.Diapers (size 2-3)

7.Rice cereals

8.Towels

9.Notebooks

10.Laptop computer, new or used

11.Men shirts, long or short sleeved

12.Sunglasses for men and women

13.Adult-sized slippers (they wear them in the house, no shoes in the houses!)

14.All sizes of scrubs for the SM

15.Organic flaxseed, unground, they grind there and supplement for kids over 5 months in food

16.Hydrocortisone

I love Matthew West's Music-Check out his New CD

My Own Little World by Matthew West (The Story Behind The Song) from emicmg on Vimeo.

The Judge has ruled! Abby passed court!

We heard today that Abigail passed her part of the court process in Ethiopia. This may sound too easy-like well, duh, why wouldn't she "pass". But is wasn't that simple and we are grateful to our great God that he has once again moved us one step closer to our baby girl across the globe.

You see, EVERY single document from the different authorities in Ethiopia that have to do with adoption had to be in place at the court appointment. If even one was missing they would have had to re-schedule it. Every single person from police to social worker to the judge(which they only have 1 I have heard) had to have shown up and all this happened. They said we would have a 50% chance of passing the first time-all these things being there and ready-and we thankfully did.

Now all we have to do is show up and testify in court in 3 short weeks that yes, she is the daughter we want. We long to hear the words from that judge, "She is all yours". Then, after that, she will be legally ours in Ethiopia's eyes and then we just wait for the United States Embassy to do their part in getting her visa and passport ready-so that we can go have our embassy appointment and bring her home (we hope this is the week of Christmas as we have heard that the 2 December embassy dates are Dec. 13th and 27th) The Embassy only has 2 dates a month-99% of those are on Mondays...so we have to make one of these in order to get her home before the end of the year.

Pray for us as our court date approaches-that we will have a peace as remember we haven't flown for over 14 years and are a little nervous. Pray as we pack, arrange care for the kids, etc that we can get everything done and not forget anything important. Pray for us emotionally and spiritually that we will stay strong as this is a huge transition in our lives. Lastly keep praying for Abby that she stays strong and healthy and that her heart is prepared for our family here.

We got a new picture of her this week and she looks great-healthy, and VERY solid (translation beefy, chunky, firm) whatever you want to call it that girl has some serious cheeks on her. It is good to know she is being well fed. Another adoptive mom from our adoption agency was over there for their court appointment and got to hold and feed Abigail and she said she was "Beautiful and just a doll, very alert and perfect". We are so blessed!

Statistics on Ethiopia from World Health Organization

Click Below-

http://www.who.int/gho/countries/eth.pdf

This is a hilarious video!

Everyone with an African child will appreciate this! Too cute!

Please Pray for Abby and her Court date tonight before you sleep!

Tonight the first portion of our court date will happen. Abigail has her portion of court tonight as we sleep. We are a 12 hours time difference from Ethiopia-so while we are going to bed tonight, Ethiopia's Day is just starting and so their courts are opening.

If she "passes court" that means that ALL of the paperwork is there, that the judge shows up, that the representatives all come-(social worker, and person from our adoption agency, someone from the church or police station). All of this will have to happen to have her portion done. Then it will be up to us, when we go in 3 weeks to appear before the judge, say yes-we want THIS child and if we also pass then-Abigail will become legally ours in the eyes of Ethiopia. So please pray that each and every person and paper gets to the court!

PUMPKIN PATCH!

we had so much fun at the Wooden Shoe Pumpkin patch near Woodburn Oregon! Logan and Noah's class went and I got to join them.......

THE SLING SHOT WAS AWESOME!

Logan , Jake-their buddy, and Noah

Good Friends!

Logan and friend Nathan

The cow train was so funny!





Great homemade slide!

I even got into the action and rode the train!

Mrs. Buckly Logan's kindergarten teacher with him