Introducing Jambo and Kume!!!
Yes, these are their Ethiopian names, no nicknames yet.
God has already knit them into our hearts.
What more can we say?
Thank you, Jesus!
Thursday, March 27, 2008
Wednesday, March 26, 2008
tomorrow
Apparently our judge never showed up for work today, so our court date is rescheduled for tomorrow. I don't know if this applies to all the Gladney families waiting court today. Sure hope some had a successful day.
I felt this huge crescendo of emotions today, up until hearing sweet Natalie's voice. It is odd, but when she told of the postponed date, the crescendo immediately crashed and I actually feel quite peaceful. I have had literally no appetite since yesterday morning (shocking for me), and now leftovers sound really good.
I felt this huge crescendo of emotions today, up until hearing sweet Natalie's voice. It is odd, but when she told of the postponed date, the crescendo immediately crashed and I actually feel quite peaceful. I have had literally no appetite since yesterday morning (shocking for me), and now leftovers sound really good.
Hebrews 13:6 -- So we say with confidence,
"The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid.
What can man do to me?"
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
Court tomorrow
Tomorrow is our court date. If you check out this post today, Tuesday, we would totally covet a prayer on our behalf.
We are trying to trust in the One who is in control every step of this journey, but it is a daily battle, let me tell you.
God is good, all the time.
We are trying to trust in the One who is in control every step of this journey, but it is a daily battle, let me tell you.
God is good, all the time.
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
I'm swimming over, who's with me?
We were e-mailed more pictures of our kids today.
A couple in particular struck me because the kids were smiling and holding a couple of the gifts we had sent over in a care package. Ouch. I mean it's fun to see that but this is a LITTLE different than a normal pregnancy. This whole ocean away thing is... hard.
I was also relieved to see the kids holding our family picture and they were STILL smiling! I think the words that were used in the e-mail was "they clung on to your pictures" I don't cling on to very many things... but I'd have to agree, I don't know if I've ever waited in anticipation of photos like I have with this.
Funny or disturbing? We threatened our youngest (aka - Action) that we were not going to let him go with us to Ethiopia if he did not eat his asparagus last night. I can laugh today, but can't imagine the upcoming battle "You're not leaving this table until you eat your Injera bread young man!"
We were also mailed an update a couple days ago from some of the in country staff... "(T2) is a little smaller than (T1) but no less active! It seems when the adult to kid ratio changes the energy will change, too... as soon as the fun starts she is definitely in the middle. (T1) is enthusiastic about life! And I think it runs in the family, judging by his sister (T2)! In a house full of kids (T1) has no trouble matching the energy level of the others! He is bright and friendly and will surely settle down a little when he is not around so many kids"
It sounds to me like these 2 will fit right in with our family. We are going to be one noisy clan!
By the way, we still are fighting through bureaucracy & paper chasing with the NVC. We are trying to not have that steal our joy but we could still use your prayers on that glitch.
Well that's enough for now... aka - soon2B "father of 5"... Farmboy
A couple in particular struck me because the kids were smiling and holding a couple of the gifts we had sent over in a care package. Ouch. I mean it's fun to see that but this is a LITTLE different than a normal pregnancy. This whole ocean away thing is... hard.
I was also relieved to see the kids holding our family picture and they were STILL smiling! I think the words that were used in the e-mail was "they clung on to your pictures" I don't cling on to very many things... but I'd have to agree, I don't know if I've ever waited in anticipation of photos like I have with this.
Funny or disturbing? We threatened our youngest (aka - Action) that we were not going to let him go with us to Ethiopia if he did not eat his asparagus last night. I can laugh today, but can't imagine the upcoming battle "You're not leaving this table until you eat your Injera bread young man!"
We were also mailed an update a couple days ago from some of the in country staff... "(T2) is a little smaller than (T1) but no less active! It seems when the adult to kid ratio changes the energy will change, too... as soon as the fun starts she is definitely in the middle. (T1) is enthusiastic about life! And I think it runs in the family, judging by his sister (T2)! In a house full of kids (T1) has no trouble matching the energy level of the others! He is bright and friendly and will surely settle down a little when he is not around so many kids"
It sounds to me like these 2 will fit right in with our family. We are going to be one noisy clan!
By the way, we still are fighting through bureaucracy & paper chasing with the NVC. We are trying to not have that steal our joy but we could still use your prayers on that glitch.
Well that's enough for now... aka - soon2B "father of 5"... Farmboy
Friday, March 14, 2008
stress....
We are so very thankful that God is in control.
Yesterday, however, we got a little stress added to our plate. Our sweet case worker, Natalie is off in Ethiopia (hopefully she'll bring back some pictures to sustain us a little longer), so her partner-in-crime, Mary, called to inform us that for some reason our CIS approval never made it to the US embassy in Ethiopia. Mary was great and did all she could, contacting CIS and doing some legwork, but some things could only be done by us, as the adoptive parents. We discovered that, yes, CIS did send our approval on to the National Visa Center (NVC) on Sept. 19, 2007. Next step, contact NVC. Wish it was as easy as just typed. Calling or emailing NVC is not for the faint-hearted. After calling and emailing all day, finally this evening we got in touch with a sweet, very difficult to understand non-native English speaker. I attempted to spell and give our case number for several minutes. Then he reported he searched the records, and there is no record of ever receiving our approval. Huh? I asked him what could be done, and he said, if it is found they will send it on, but if not, there is nothing they can do. What?!? At least I think that is what he said....
Well, an hour later we were feeling lucky and thought we might attempt to call one more time and hopefully get a more understandable English speaker. Seriously, how do we know he truly understood a thing we said, or we, him? We got through, and this time the woman found our case quickly and said that, yes, the approval was sent on Sept. 26, 2007, to the embassy in Ethiopia. Uh, hem.... but it is not there, so something went wrong. So, she will check to see if it can be resent. Me -- "Check? Can't it just be resent?" No, she needs to check. Have you ever just wanted to smash the phone against the counter, - - - or klonk it over someone's head? Me, neither.
That brings me to another question. Why in the world would an agency employ someone who cannot speak the English language clearly, when their entire job is communicating in English over the phone. Bizarre.
How to end this post. Well, as I began it.
We are so very thankful that God is in control.
Have a great weekend!
Oh, another thanks, my blogger friend, Debbie, just sent some more pictures of our kiddos. And she leaves in just a few days to get her own little girl. Now that is awesome!
Yesterday, however, we got a little stress added to our plate. Our sweet case worker, Natalie is off in Ethiopia (hopefully she'll bring back some pictures to sustain us a little longer), so her partner-in-crime, Mary, called to inform us that for some reason our CIS approval never made it to the US embassy in Ethiopia. Mary was great and did all she could, contacting CIS and doing some legwork, but some things could only be done by us, as the adoptive parents. We discovered that, yes, CIS did send our approval on to the National Visa Center (NVC) on Sept. 19, 2007. Next step, contact NVC. Wish it was as easy as just typed. Calling or emailing NVC is not for the faint-hearted. After calling and emailing all day, finally this evening we got in touch with a sweet, very difficult to understand non-native English speaker. I attempted to spell and give our case number for several minutes. Then he reported he searched the records, and there is no record of ever receiving our approval. Huh? I asked him what could be done, and he said, if it is found they will send it on, but if not, there is nothing they can do. What?!? At least I think that is what he said....
Well, an hour later we were feeling lucky and thought we might attempt to call one more time and hopefully get a more understandable English speaker. Seriously, how do we know he truly understood a thing we said, or we, him? We got through, and this time the woman found our case quickly and said that, yes, the approval was sent on Sept. 26, 2007, to the embassy in Ethiopia. Uh, hem.... but it is not there, so something went wrong. So, she will check to see if it can be resent. Me -- "Check? Can't it just be resent?" No, she needs to check. Have you ever just wanted to smash the phone against the counter, - - - or klonk it over someone's head? Me, neither.
That brings me to another question. Why in the world would an agency employ someone who cannot speak the English language clearly, when their entire job is communicating in English over the phone. Bizarre.
How to end this post. Well, as I began it.
We are so very thankful that God is in control.
Have a great weekend!
Oh, another thanks, my blogger friend, Debbie, just sent some more pictures of our kiddos. And she leaves in just a few days to get her own little girl. Now that is awesome!
Thursday, March 06, 2008
SURPRISE!!!
So here I am attempting to be a great mom by planning dinner and getting it in the crock pot (although 2 of our 3 kids don't even like ribs, hmmm), when the phone rings. I don't pick it up, which is typical of me except the past 2 months when we were waiting for the call of all calls. Then I hear sweet Natalie's voice and think maybe I should get this one. I truly was thinking she had something to say about her upcoming trip to Ethiopia (I think she leaves tomorrow) but instead she gave us a court date!!!
March 26
I know, I know, it often doesn't pass the first time, but HOLY COW, this is the FIRST time anything has gone quickly in this whole adoption process so far (besides our instantaneous smittenness with these kids).
How cool is that!!!
This afternoon I was planning to book our spring break trip, because Michiganders start getting a little irksome this time of year, as we continue to snow plow out of driveways. Well, looks like we will postpone the plans, and if our court date gets moved way out, let's hope for some REALLY good last minute deals.
March 26
I know, I know, it often doesn't pass the first time, but HOLY COW, this is the FIRST time anything has gone quickly in this whole adoption process so far (besides our instantaneous smittenness with these kids).
How cool is that!!!
This afternoon I was planning to book our spring break trip, because Michiganders start getting a little irksome this time of year, as we continue to snow plow out of driveways. Well, looks like we will postpone the plans, and if our court date gets moved way out, let's hope for some REALLY good last minute deals.
No, this is not Antarctica, but Lake Michigan in March. It IS stunning. In these shots, we are actually about 100 yards out on the lake. Lots of massive ice build up. The kids found some cracks and holes (or death traps) that made it ultra-adventurous, but we just let the dog lead the way. If she were to bite it, well, at least the rest of us would be safe. Don't worry, she's fine.
And to think, in a few months, we will be swimming in this stuff.
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