WE ARE REALLY GOING-!

Yeah, it is really sinking in now. We've got most of our bags packed. It is getting really exciting that in a few days we will be with our girls!

Just in case you have been following our lives, and at least struck by how many things can go wrong and still God works, here are a few to add:

• Our computer crashed yesterday. Hard drive just stopped. After a few tries and some jostling, it is up and running again (yeah - EVERYTHING is backed up now).
• The dooms-day forecast started yesterday. They said 20" of snow by Friday afternoon. Now, after freezing rain, they have downgraded it to 7-13" with additional 1-3 by Friday night. Yeah, that is still pretty significant for this area. Tom and Connie are coming up to watch the kids and may have to travel in that. Please pray for them as well.

Despite all that we are remaining positive:

• Finally got the grant check that was awarded to us today! In the bank!!
• No School tomorrow (maybe)?
• Received a Christmas tree coupon so we can get a tree when we get back
• Back in time for Rams/Bears (though I may not get to watch...wait, only positive)
• Before our agent got us on the flight Saturday - we were ready to jump on the flight that was the only available. It would've been leaving here at 9 a.m. tomorrow morning (remember the foot of snow forecast). We are hoping that by Saturday things will be up and running again!
• We have 4x4 now (in case we need to drive to Chicago and catch our flight there)

Yeah! We are excited!

Timing

It is really starting to sink in how rough this next month will be at work. I am having that "trying to keep my head above water" feeling. When I miss a day, I spend three making up the extra work that needs doing. I will be gone a week! I know everything will turn out alright...just a tough day.

We are whittling away on our multitude of lists. It seems that most things are capable of doing. It is just hard to actually get it done in reality. Thanks again for all of the positive thoughts and encouragement. Just wanted to let you know that we are still here and working like crazy to get ready.

Dave

Ethiopia Info...

I was on the National Geographic site looking for dog whisperer info (yeah, I got sucked in) and noticed that Ethiopia is their place of the week. Good articles, cool pictures, etc... are all there. Check it out.

Getting Down to the Wire!

Well, we will be leaving in a little over a week. It is nice to have our travel meeting and a have few last minute plans nailed down. We found out yesterday that our travel agent was able to get us in the Ghion hotel (nice gardens, pool, playground) and so that should be nice. We also found out that we'll:

• Arrive Sunday Night
• Monday meet the girls, go to the embassy? and then have authentic meal out
• Tuesday we'll go visit the birth family. It appears to be an 8 hr drive each way so it will last 2 days. We will stay in Shashemene. Too much to explain, just follow the link mon.
  
• Thursday is open, hopefully to bring the girls back to the hotel with us and maybe get some souvenir shopping in (or Friday).
• Friday we have a goodbye coffee ceremony in the afternoon/evening and then leave that night.

Sure looks like we won't have a ton of free time. Thanks again for all those lifting up prayers on our behalf. There is a lot that needs to happen (work for me, packing, etc...) before we leave.

Hope you all have a great Thanksgiving!

"woo-hoo's" during the prayer

Today was an exciting day.
We bought our tickets to leave for Addis Ababa, Ethiopia on December 2, & return on Decmeber 9.
We had been waiting to see if seats would open up on the "cheaper" flight, & today they did--yahoo!
Our kids here were pretty happy to hear the news, & couldn't really hold in their excitement during our prayer of praise at dinner...We are very thankful to see everything coming together.
Today we also had a conference call with our caseworker & the other 8 families joining us to pick up their kids. That was quite an experience. That is a LOT of people on the phone at the same time. It worked surprisingly well & we all learned a lot from hearing each other's questions answered. Our caseworker talked through the entire week in Ethiopia, helping us understand what our time of crisis might be, how we can keep a positive attitude when accomodations are shaky, how to enjoy Ethiopia as the beautiful country that it is & leave with the best memories possible. It was very thrilling to talk about something we have been looking forward to so long.
All that talking did make Dave a bit tired (& you can imagine how much he talked).
We have a BIG pile of stuff to take in our room & a big pile of donations in our basement.
We are just about ready to go.

Crazy Busy!!

Wow! Our lives are about to HUGELY change! Yeah, we knew that, but are really starting to KNOW that. We are trying to get tickets that are decent (agent working on it... right now the total bill is gonna be around $5500 for the flight alone!), a hotel we'll like, get all the things we need, and wrap up a few things around the house. I worked pretty hard today (with some help) and got the leaves raked and the yard picked up for winter (whenever that settles in for real). Also got new tires on the Suburban today. I still have a few things to do to it yet, but we'll give it time I guess. The old faithful (our totaled beast) still feels more like our vehicle. We just need a great road trip!

Look what Sonya did! What was meant to be completed for our wedding, after much determination and discipline, has turned into the last great masterpiece before traveling. We are so proud of her quilt!

Also, here are a few pics of Murphie, for those that were wondering if she is really for real.

Next week we hope to finalize travel, go to St Louis for Thanksgiving, work on a few things and prepare to leave. We'll leave either Friday the 1st or Saturday the 2nd.

We're Going to Ethiopia!

We woke up to an email this morning that said we are going to Ethiopia...will try to leave on Dec. 2nd! Praise God. More later!

Greedy for Prayers

With the news we received today, we would like to ask for continued prayer support. As you can tell, it is very hard to know exactly what will happen until it does. So no speculation, just that there will be more news by Thursday sometime!

It is National Adoption Awareness month, or something like that. FamilyLife, Focus on the Family and Shaohannah's Hope are teamed up this week to bring a week of broadcasts. Check it out at Voice of the Orphans. You can listen online or download the podcasts. There was also an interesting article on the ups and downs of adoption at U.S.A. Today.

About the ups and downs of adoption. We have been on quite the roller coaster this week. I have been thinking about some of the responses we have received, from the sympathetic to ...well there is no good way to describe the responses we have received! Many people have been fantastically supportive of us in this time.

One thing Sonya and I wanted to share with you that may not be understood by all, is that our girls that live in Ethiopia are OUR GIRLS. From the moment we saw them, and even before when we knew God was preparing them and us for our life together, they have been part of our family. We've been asked many times something along the line of: "Wouldn't it be better to wait until the holidays were over?" Or, "What is the big deal if you have to wait a few more weeks?" We are not getting a new computer or even a new TV! We are bringing our girls out of an orphanage, in an impoverished and lonely state (they are receiving great care...but not that of a family) and we are bringing them HOME. Any parent would be anxious to do the same.

Thank you all that have been with us these past several weeks. Please continue to pray that in God's time it will all come together. He knows best!

things are moving!

Well, amazingly, the caseworker emailed this morning to let us know that the "man on the ground" as I like to call him, in Ethiopia was able to locate & "fix" the document & ALSO (the big news) get an appointment in court for Wednesday. This means that he will present our documents in full to the judge & if all goes as expected, we will recieve a call on Thursday with GOOD news!!
Thank you for your prayers. We have known God's blessing on us, even through this painful experience. Isn't it just like God to take us through it just to work a bit on our character?
Keep praying. Maybe we're in line for an African miracle anyway.

We'll come around...

Thank you to all that have offered us support, and more importantly offered up prayers on our behalf. I new when I wrote it that Job had it alot rougher than us...at the same time, coincidence does not necessarilty dictate that close family would move away, both of our vehicles would go down, and we would recieve such disappointing news regarding our girls all in one week . We are thankful for the closesness that is learned from our Saviour through such difficult times. Michael Card had Larry Crabb and Sara Groves on yesterday morning talking about suffering and hardships. It really touched me. Check out the podcast if you get a chance.

Yesterday was pretty eventful (that is great!). I was able to fix my pickup (I think - the alternator was bad) and do a little work on our new suburban (it had a new radiator, rocker arm, and alignment while in St. Louis). There are a few more things, including new tires and a possible detail yet. We also went to Petsmart and got an early Christmas present for the kids (and Sonya). We were going to get a dog from a shelter around Christmas after the girls had been home awhile. However, we hope to travel near Christmas so now was a good time. We noticed that a shelter we liked had planned on being at the pet store on Saturday so we went to check it out! Murphie is an 8 year old Maltese that is fairly obedient and well behaved (and appears to be house broken). She will give Sonya some company through these times of waiting, and give the kids new joy in these difficult times.

Thanks again to all!

That was tough to stomach

Yesterday was about as tough as they come for us. We had plenty of time to process it as we picked up the "new" suburban. I'll give you a recap. When our adoption agency sends us over to get our kids, they send families in groups. We would be the 30th group, and we were told when we accepted our referral that group 30 would most likely travel on November 10. That was not set in stone, just an estimate.

So we were a little disappointed when we got a call a few weeks ago and were told that the tentative date had been pushed back to the 27th of November. It kind of messed with Christmas concerts and such (I am a band director) but anything to get our girls.

Well, earlier this week we were reminded until the paper work comes through, it could be not until the 4th of December until we travel. Almost a month later than we had originally hoped.

I saw it first on our Yahoo group...someone from group 30 said they had a firm date of Dec. 4th. When I got home there was a message from our case worker that we should call because she had travel news. So Sonya called her.

And then she called me to let me know that for the first time ever there were problems with our girls paper work.

So I called the agency to find out that apparently some other agency had our girls first and they did not do the paper work correctly. And so I had to listen as I was told...

The paperwork can be straightened out

We will get our girls

But we are pulled from group 30

In fact, we may not travel before the new year...

It pretty much broke our hearts. We would appreciate prayers for a miracle and that we would be able to deal with the Job-like life we are now leading. God knows...we know He does.

just some pictures...

Since we now have
1) a busted-in car
2) a sappy-looking husband
3) a sharp-looking suburban
4) a quilt
all on our current blog page, I need to add our little darlings to the mix (so you all don't forget what it is we are going for here).
Thanks for being patient with our details & caring about our lives.
~Sonya

Tom may have done it!

In a way too fantastic to explain...Sonya's dad has found us a Suburban. It looks like he'll be able to wrap it up this week. THANK YOU TOM! I guess I may be a bit ahead of myself, but I always seem to have optimism in such a situation (and worry too much if it isn't actually an option). It will take a few days to get the tires changed out (that is right...no spinners for us. It allows the truck to actually be something we can afford) It is the same year with almost the same miles as our old one (all similar features) and for a price that we can afford after the settlement. Thanks to all those that lifted up prayers on our behalf. So, check off one more thing before the girls come home!

Dave

No Questions Here!

I noticed I was starting all the entries with titles that have questions. Well, we finally have some answers!

Our visas arrived in the mail yesterday, less than a week after we sent them. No more worries about what if...we are document ready to travel!

We also got a call confirming the death of SCADS 1. Total loss she says. I hope our health care system doesn't give up on me as fast as our insurance company gave up on our suburban. I am wrestling with the fact that there is nothing out there in as good of shape as our suburban was. Either no leather, or air is broken, and almost all have higher mileage. Done the auto trader, pantagraph, post dispatch, car soup, ebay, journal star, tradin post loop and came up with a few possibilities. We have 30 days to decide, and plan on being in Ethiopia in 22, so... Part of me still really wants to fix ours up but I am not sure I should take the time on it. I guess we'll see what happens.