We were recently notified by Bethany that the wait times for our Ethiopian adoption are changing...again. Now we are being told it will be an 18-24 month wait for a referral. We are about 9 months into waiting already, but this change significantly increases wait times for us and all the other families in the program.
Things continue to change all the time though...it could be shorter, it could be longer. The increase is largely politically driven. We are glad the government wants to make sure things are done ethically, but at the same time our hearts break for the millions of orphans waiting for a home. Please pray for Ethiopia, the government, and the precious orphans.
A few short weeks ago we were meeting with a birth mother for the first time, and now we are preparing to welcome a baby in a few months! We are busy planning and getting ready to welcome an infant into our home and lives. Wow, what a change that will be!
At this point we do not know the gender of the baby, but we are still holding out hope to find out before he/she is born. So, we have been not done any major baby shopping yet...although we did buy a couple outfits to celebrate on the day we found out we were chosen.
Our nursery is well on its way to being completed. We have slowly been working on it since last fall when we started the domestic adoption process. Right now it is gender neutral and we are excited to add some baby boy or baby girl touches to the room. I will post some pics when the room is complete!
Please join us as we pray for the birth mother. She is making an amazing sacrifice that is not easy. Pray for her during these last few months of her pregnancy. Pray that she is given peace that transcends all understanding.
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We were finally able to meet our newest little niece Peyton a few weeks ago. Katie and Andrew made the trip from Philadelphia to introduce Peyton to the family. She is a little sweetie!
Katie asked me to take a few pics of her. She was about 8 weeks at the time- not in the super sleepy infant stage, but also not really able to hold her head up...so we did what we could. Here are a few favorites.
Three years. Where has the time gone? The memories of that day still flow through my head as if it were yesterday. I can replay the entire evening. Those painful thoughts will never leave me. Our sweet Brady James left us here on earth to go to his eternal home - January 12, 2009. So many questions and no answers. Why us?
But I/we have changed...even come to a point of being thankful for that night. The Bible says to “give thanks in all circumstances.” (1 Thessalonians 5:18) That can’t be right. All circumstances? How is that even possible?
How in the world do we thank God for taking our little baby?
Trust.
We trust that his plan for our family is perfect. Although some days are easier than others, we trust. David writes in Psalm 13 - “How long, O Lord? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me? How long must I wrestle with my thoughts and every day have sorrow in my heart?”
Psalms is one of my favorite books because David (the author of this chapter) is real. He asks questions and writes truth from his heart. He does not stray from asking God the tough questions...and he still trusts.
At the end of the Psalm 13 David writes: “But I trust in your unfailing love; my heart rejoices in your salvation. I will sing to the Lord for he has been good to me.”
So just as David waited- we wait and trust. Giving thanks to God for His love and blessings. Even during difficult times we are called to give thanks- for he has done great things for us.
We have been singing a song in church called “Thank You” by Hillsong United. Listen to the words and give thanks...
We enjoyed spending time with our friends and family over the last few weeks. A few weeks of busyness is worth being able to spend time with the people we are thankful to have in our lives.
We celebrated Christmas with my side of the family the Tuesday before Christmas. Katie, Andrew, and Peyton did not make the trip home this year...but hopefully we will see them soon!
Our party with the Lubbers was the Monday after Christmas.
Lauren and Allie each made us a reindeer craft. Lauren made these cute reindeer out of root beer bottles.
And Allie made these cute candy cane reindeer:)
We had fun opening gifts from both sides of our families for our future babies. They spoiled us with books and toys for the little ones who are not even in our lives yet.
We were able to spend a lot of time with friends the week after Christmas. Thursday night we had dinner with some high school friends and were able to hear all about Sara & Don's twin boys from Ethiopia! They are currently waiting for a court date to be able to travel there and meet them for the first time!
Scott and I arranged to have a few extra days off work together...so on Friday we decided to do something we had not done since junior high?!??! Skiing! We drove to Cadillac with Jill & Toby for the day and went to Caberfae Peaks. We were both a little nervous since it had been so long, but we had so much fun! I forgot how much I really do like to ski...and no injuries...just a few sore muscles!
We rang in the New Year with Robb & Katie, and Mike & Lisa while playing "The Game of Things" (great party game!), relaxed on a very snowy New Years Day, had our small group over to watch football on the 2nd, and celebrated a Meeechigan victory in the Sugar Bowl on the 3rd with the Sayers!
Our evenings before, on, and after Christmas are mostly spent at parties with family and friends. This year was no different, except that we had one night with no plans - the Friday before Christmas. We decided to plan a relaxing night out together in the midst of the busyness of the season.
We spent the evening in Grand Rapids - starting with dinner at a new restaurant to us - The Green Well. It was excellent...seriously...go there!
Our next stop was Frederick Meijer Gardens. They have a Christmas tree exhibit displaying trees from around the world. The middle picture on the left is a representation of an African Christmas tree. They also had a cool train exhibit and thousands of Christmas lights outside to see.
For our last stop we planned to go downtown to Rosa Parks Circle to ice skate, but the wait was way too long for skates. We decided to just watch the skaters for a bit and then get some dessert...not a bad 2nd choice! Plus, while we were there it started snowing!
Ok, so this was not a typical Christmas party, but we had a blast. Our small group decided to go bowling for our Christmas Party this year- and made it even more fun by wearing ugly sweaters!
The whole gang- even the kids had ugly sweaters!
Nice turtlenecks!
Scott and I wore these sweaters a few years ago for an ugly sweater party- but we forgot how ugly they really were until we pulled them out again. I also forgot that my sweater had shoulder pads- bonus!
We all decided that Matt was the winner of the ugliest sweater! Congrats Matt!
After bowling we took our ugliness to Thai Palace for dinner. This was our first time eating Thai food- we loved it and will definitely be back!
We are so thankful for these friends and the way our relationships have grown in the past year!
It has been tradition for my mom and sister(s) to get together to make Christmas goodies. This year- Katie was not at home due to just having a baby, so it was just the three of us...and a few "helpers". Colton and Cassidy made sure all the spoons and beaters were clean!
As usual, we made way too many goodies!
It has also been tradition to get together with Scott's family to decorate Christmas cookies. Lauren and Allie worked hard to get these looking good...with a few taste tests too!
Today we welcomed a new niece to our family! My sister Katie and her husband Andrew had a little girl- Peyton Lydia Gent. She is a little cutie! Unfortunately we have not been able to meet her yet since they live in Philadelphia...hoping to be able to meet her soon (hint, hint Andrew & Katie:).
This weekend was our annual Chicago getaway with Scott's family. We love going to Chicago...especially this time of year! The weather was quite mild for December, which was nice...although a few snowflakes would have been a nice treat:)
On Saturday we did some shopping in Lincoln Park and then headed to a show mid-afternoon. It was a musical called The Christmas Schooner in a small theater in Lincoln Park. It was very good and the music was great! After the show we headed out for some good eats at Maggiano's! yum. It started raining after dinner so we took a quick walk to Michigan Ave to see the lights and then headed back to the hotel so the guys could watch the Big 10 Championship game.
On Sunday we spent the day in the city- doing a little Christmas shopping and taking in the sights on Michigan Ave. And of course...a stop at Trader Joe's!
Join us on our journey through and Ethiopian adoption and an infant domestic adoption...at the same time! We hope this will be a good way to keep family and friends updated on both of our adoptions. Thanks for reading!
