New Years Eve

It is a rainy, cold dreary day here in Charlotte. But...that does not hold back the good times that the evening will hold. Looking forward to spending time with friends and celebrating Christmas and New Years.

Very thankful for this long break that we have had from school. It is always good to go back to MO and see my family. I was even able to meet up with a high school friend at Panera's and catching up with her.

The offices at Nightlight are going to be closed until the 3rd, so no news. I sent out a care package today to Jamie Hedges and her family to take over to Yosef in January. They will be traveling at the end of the month. I have learned alot from their process.

I pray that this year holds new and exciting adventures for me and my friends. May God's blessings be ever so evident in our daily walk. Let all that we say and do glorify Him, our creator and maker of all things.

Christmas Eve

I am in MO. visiting with mom and family and it is nasty out here. It has been raining all day. We have the forecast of snow for Christmas, but the weather has to get more frightful before that will happen.

I heard news from my agency that Shimeliss is coming home to celebrate the holiday with his family. We were never able to get ahold of him and find out the status on Yoseph. I did receive some more pictures of him these last two weekends. Wow he has grown. I think his eyes are getting bigger with each picture. He turned 8 months old on the 22nd. Doesn't seem like I have been waiting for 7 months to hear something about a court date, but that is the time frame.

HOPE. I keep it at the front of my mind all the time. What are you hoping for this Christmas? May God bless all of you and your families as you spend time focusing on the Savior. Merry Christmas!

What Child is This?

My pastor at Forest Hill has been preaching on this series for the last two weeks. We are talking about God's presence in scripture from the Old to the New Testament. Today was about Shad, Mesh and Abed in the firey furnace. Such a great story of how God was with them in the fire and the testament to staying strong to what you believe and know to be true.

The motivating speech by Mel Gibson in Brave heart was shared during the service. It brought a smile to my face when I thought of my visit with Heather to the William Wallace Monument. Oh how I have grown up since then. :) Once again I am convicted about having courage and standing up for the right thing all the time. As Wallace said "They may take our lives, but they will never take our freedom".

Courage and Hope. My focus for the week has been set.

Update on the adoption front is that three people from my agency have passed court last week and will potentially travel in 6 weeks. There were 42 cases that had paper work problems and over half have been solved. I am in the last half. I do feel encouraged that something is happening in my agency. Mondays are when we usually get updates, so it is always a great way to start out the week.

Better news yet, I received an email from a friend with my agency telling me that there were new pics on snapfish. Yoseph was in about 7 of them. Holy smokes this kid has huge eyes! I got a chance to see him sitting up and playing. He also has a lot of hair on his head. It is always great to see new photos of him.

Tasfa...

I had a freindly co-worker (Shannon) come by to see me the other day and she brought me this sweet little magnet of Africa that had this word "Tasfa" on it. Turns out this word means HOPE. My first symbolism of HOPE. It is now holding up a picture of Yoseph on the fridge.

Thank you for the thoughtful gift.

She's back....

Lisa is back from her trip in Uganda and we have a semi update. A family that I have met on a ning group that is a part of my agency just received a court date for Dec. 8th. They were also missing paper work, so there is hope.

I have been thinking about getting a necklace that says HOPE. I feel like that is one thing that I must cling to. My agency was called Carolina HOPE adoption and we are partnering with HOPE adoption in St. Louis. So...maybe I should invest and start praying for this word.

I think about those of us who do not have HOPE. What a sad predicament to be in. As I enter this holiday season I think of family and friends who struggle with having an ever lasting HOPE in Christ. May God continue to remind me of His love and purpose in my life. I am so thankful for life, health, family and friends....and HOPE.

God is so good!

Paper work missing?

Yes...that is the question. The latest news is that Yoseph does not have all of his paper work from the orphange that found him. He was abandoned and I will learn his whole story once I pass court. Meanwhile, we are waiting on the orphange to get his paper work sent to the transition house so that I can get a court date.

Seems like it is just another obstacle in the path to my son. Why this now? Oh the questions that run through my mind. The one thing I know is that God is a God of order and this is a part of His plan for Yoseph and I. Being able to rest in that thought is the job at hand.

Being a Christian educator allows me to be constantly thinking about God and how I can integrate Him into my daily work. Sometimes I can leave that thought pattern at work and not carry it on into my own life. It is so good to be reminded how much I need Him in my life.

The way I see it is this...There is something that I need to be working on over here before Yoseph comes my way and there is something over there in Ethiopia that he needs to receive in order to be the sweet young man that he will grow up to be. In the mean time God give me the patience to walk in this knowledge and accept it.

God is good!

Lazy Sunday

My brother, Larry, and my future traveling buddy to Ethiopia.

Good morning blog friends. It is a cool wet morning here in Charlotte and I am taking time to do a little update. Last week, the guy in charge of the adoption agency in St. Louis left to go to Addis Ababa to see what is going on. The word is that the 10 court dates that were given did not pass. Not sure about all of the details.

I did get a few more pics of Yoseph on the Snapfish account that our group goes to. Does anyone know why they take photos of them naked? I feel a little weird printing these off at Walgreens, but I want to get all the photos of him that I can get. He is now 6 months old and I want to be able to document his growth. Not looking forward to making eye contact at the photo counter this morning.

I am so thankful for all of the blessings that God has poured out on me. I have parent/teacher conferences in the next few days and I am taking time to write comments on my kids today. God has blessed me with a great class this year. Being a teacher is one of the best jobs out there. I love my class!

I had dinner with my classroom moms last Monday night and it was great visiting and getting to know each mom. The subject came up about what started me on this process of adoption. When I think about it, I guess it all started 7 years ago when I was diagnosed with ovarian cancer. God had a plan all along for Yoseph to come into my life. I just needed to be open and willing to the idea. It is neat to look back and see how God works in our life. His plans are so much better for us then ours.

God is good!