The Church Triumphant

Today my beautiful Grandmother joined the Church Triumphant and is now part of the great cloud of witnesses before the throne of God.

Grammy you are well loved and we will see you again.

peeling the onion - all about hair

Over the last month or so Becca's hair has grown a foot (or at least 2 inches) and has quickly overwhelmed my meager efforts to figure out what to do with it. Top that off with the fact that she really truly dislikes - read hates- to have her hair messed with and it is recipe for disaster. Then top that off with the fact that Alemtsehaye's hair is really - really long and you have one overwhelmed mom at the thought of struggling with 2 girls hair - sigh. I am not alone in trying to figure it all out however and thank goodness that those who have gone before me on this journey of transracial parenting have shared their knowledge.

The thing is that I love Becca's hair down and curly, it is perfect and beautiful that way - perfect ringlet curls - unfortunately she really can't keep it nice when it is down - after all she is only 3 and really doesn't care about how her hair looks. BUT you can be sure that folks around us do notice and care about her hair. One day when her hair was loose and kinda messy my neighbor commented that it looked as if I needed a lesson on AA hair care. She offered some advice and hints and products - but truly it was time for me to step it up and figure it out. The big thing seems to be shampoo with out sulfates and conditioner with out silicone - for a number of reasons to do with oil production and so on. The other big thing is the appropriate amount of moisture each day (again silicone free) but every day, and way more than you would think. Last week I did some twists in Beccas hair - super cute but I only was brave enough to try 4 and then really didn't keep it moist enough so it got a bit fuzzy but did last a whole week, which is great as far as I am concerned. Then this week I put lots of shea butter in her hair to condition and then washed and conditioned some more and then went to do box braids (totally brave on my part!!) Discovered there was still a bit of shea butter in the hair but just rubbed it in more and managed to get 12 box braids in - victory! and so cute too. The best part is what happened at church on Sunday (put the braids in on Sat and then went to pool afterwards and they held up really well) anyway sweet AA lady at church was talking to Becca and I and asked me who I had to do her hair - I told her I did it and she looked totally shocked and said I was doing a great job. Completely made my day and boosted my confidence.

As a white woman I will never fully understand the implications of hair in the african american community - but as I peel the onion of hair and transracial parenting I will do my darndest to understand and adhere to the customs of it - my kids are worth it. (but I think cornrows will have to wait until little miss can sit still - or until big sis comes home)

prayer needed

So our son's file is missing one letter - when that arrives thier cases will be ready to be submitted to court - pray with us that this letter arrives and they can be submitted in the next 2 days before court closes for 6 weeks.

Gift Bags

So when we accepted the referral of the kids we were allowed to send them gift bags. We included a tshirt with a picture of the family and each of thier pictures, a photo album, a letter and a few small toys. The reciept of the gift bag is the official announcement to the kids that they are being adopted. Often times because our agency allows traveling parents to take pictures for waiting families they figure it out on their own. We have recently recieved several pictures of our son - in the first one you could see him putting 2 and 2 together and the biggest grin. Up until now however no one has been to our daughters orphanage so this was a big surprise to her - and you can see it on her face - so cute. Probably the best thing is that the staff in ET took Alemtsehaye from her orphange (KM) to Estifanos's orphange (AHOPE) to meet him and open their bags together and then set us the picture - what a precious gift!

Now if only our case could be submitted to court before the closure on Friday - pray with me folks!!!

details

God is definately a God of details! So when we were deciding to adopt the kids I emailed a gal whose blog I read (afamilywithoutborders) as her daughter is at the same orphanage as Alemtsehaye. Amanada was able to give me her impressions of Alemtsehaye as she had just been to Ethiopia and had met her - and of course the girls are friends which is just so cool. My hope is that when they are both home they will be able to write, email , talk on the phone. Just to be able to keep that connection is precious. So then one night last week we were at an event and met another adoptive family - started talking adoption and what not and discovered that they are in the process of adopting the best friend of our soon to be son Estifanos - and they live only 45 minutes away!! They have been to Ethiopia a few times with an other adoption and have pics and video of Estifanos that they can share with us!! WOW!! How amazing that these 2 boys who live in an orphange on the other side of the world will both becoming to live in CO? How amazing that out of about 1200 Ethiopian orphans adopted to the US each year we would know these 2 other families? God is so into the details - what a Father he is. Thank you Lord for these precious kids and these amazing connections.

missing

Summer is rapidly drawing to a close here - the kids are back to school in just 2 weeks - hard to believe. I hardly have a minute to sit down each day - 5 kids keep you hopping let me tell you! and then we have had the great room rearrange over the last month - we acquired 2 sets of bunk beds and desks and have been working on the kids rooms and realized we needed a bigger dining room table . . . and so on. So between all of that stuff and the swimming pool, and AJ getting his drivers license (Thank GOD) and a trip to SantaFe and the Sand Dunes we have been swamped,

BUT still it feels like something is missing - like 2 little someones are missing. I look up at the pool to count heads and think there should be 2 more, the kids run screaming through the sprinkler and there aren't quite enough of them. We go for ice cream cones and the bill isn't quite high enough . . someone wrote on the big Yahoo group for ET adoptions - that it doesn't matter whether you are adding your first child, your fourth, or your seventh and eighth the ache to see them, to hold them, to wipe away their tears, to laugh with them, to discover what makes them smile all of those things it is just as strong, just as desperate, just as intense. Last year when we were waiting for Becca we knew she was clueless - she was still so little, but still we worried and fretted (well I fretted, Scott worried) - but this time they are so much older, so much more aware - I'm telling you it makes the time grind by as I worry/fret as I grow anxious for any movement forward - just to know our paperwork made it to ET to be translated would be good to know - to know we were submitted to court (which I really shouldn't expect until OCT!!!) would have me dancing over the moon - never mind to pass court - sigh. Please Lord let your timing be soon - let us not miss much more of these kids lives, let us tuck them in soon, let us wipe their tears soon, let us laugh together, cry together, and grow together soon.

Share our JOY!!!! (times 2)

Make a Joyful noise to the Lord for he is good, his love endures forever!!!

We are more than delighted to share the news that we have accepted referrals for 2, count them 2 new kiddos! We will be parents to 8 - GOOD GRIEF!! Never in my life did I think I'd be saying that!!!

We have a new soon to be son E. who is 8/9 and a new soon to be daughter A. who is 6/7. For those of you keeping track we also have a soon to be 8 year old daughter at home already - so in about 8 years our car insurance is going to be more than our mortgage (or food bill!!)

These 2 cuties - and you have to trust me they are SUPER cute!!! came to us via a waiting child list with our agency AAI. The great difficulty with doing everything in reverse is that you are behind on the paperwork! We have been hurrying to get everything in for our dossier and managed that with some last minute FedEx help this week (How could I send the whole thing in and miss just one piece??? Seriously those of you who know me in real life know that is crazy!)

So how did we know these were the kids? Well let me tell you!!!! Even before we picked up the amazing Miss Becca we knew we'd be going back - from the very beginning of our adoption adventure I have felt like God had 3 kiddos for us, so when we got one the first time we just knew we'd be back! Our hearts were greatly moved while in Ethiopia for the older kids who were in care at the various orphanges that we visited so we determined that this time we wanted to adopt those who most needed a family - I searched and searched waiting child lists for that moment of "these could be our kids", and I was always drawn to 8 year old boys and 6 year old girls. These two kiddos are ones that we just couldn't shake out of our minds and hearts - their smiles, their stories - well they touched our hearts deeply and we knew, just knew that they were ours. We commited in our hearts to adopt them a week and a half ago, just about on the same day (plus a year) that we commited to adopt Becca.

So what comes next? our paperwork is being authenticated and then will be sent to Ethiopia and what ever needs to happen next will over the next 10+ weeks - there is no way we will make the court closure. At this point I am praying for the miracle of having them home for Christmas (American or Ethiopian) and believe me that will take a miracle - BUT our God is a God of miracles, a God of signs and wonders, and the Father to the fatherless - which praise Jesus these two are no more. God sets the lonely in families and we are thankful that sweet little A and grinning little E. will be joining our family at the appointed hour.

So friends pray for us as we bring home these precious children - pray that the wait will be short (really short!) - pray for favor on our paperwork to be processed quickly- pray that the kids files are complete and ready to go - pray that the kids stay healthy - and most of all pray for all the orphans who are still waiting for their families to find them, and join God as He moves across the nations on behalf of the fatherless - come friends join this move of God.

(P.S. for those of you already wondering if we are taking the whole family back to ET - we don't know yet - we'd love too but God would have to open the storehouses of heaven over our bank account - or shower us with airline miles instead of water!!!)