Sorrow and Joy

It's been an eventful week for us, as we learned on Monday that the little boy we were hoping to adopt from Ethiopia, Kirubel, will likely be unavailable for adoption. It is expected that his biological family will be returning for him in the near future. While we are happy for him and pray that he will be well loved and cared for, we are sad for ourselves as we grieve this loss. For those who haven't adopted, it may be hard to understand how we could be emotionally attached already to a boy we've never met and only seen one picture of. There's really no way for me to explain it. We loved him already and wanted him to be a part of our family. This was not God's plan, and we accept that He knows better than we do. We've spent the week crying and processing all of this, as well as considering whether or not to accept the referral of another child or postpone our adoption plans. It didn't take long for us to decide what to do.

Today we decided to accept the referral for another little boy. The truth is we love adoption and we love these children. Our hearts physically ache and long for these children who have no families to care for them. While they are certainly very well cared for in the orphanage in Ethiopia, nothing can take the place of a loving family. And so we have accepted the referral for a two-year old boy named Nahom (pronounced Nay-hum). His name means "An Old Testament Prophet" or "Compassionate." We are in love with him already and are eager to bring him home. His case will be filed to receive a courtdate next week. He and Micah are only eight months apart in age, so our house is going to be VERY busy once Nahom comes home.

Please join us in rejoicing at the goodness of God who has deemed us worthy of caring for not only Nahom, but all of our children. We are very grateful for the opportunity to raise each one of them. Would you also join us in prayer that Nahom's paperwork process would be smooth and quick and that God would be preparing his heart, even now, to receive his new family with gladness and acceptance?

...And Some More Changes

As many of you know, Brad has accepted a position with Young Life in Grove City, PA, about an hour north of Pittsburgh. We are planning to move in August after Hannah finishes summer school. We are looking forward to getting to know different people and living in a different place. I am, of course, a bit overwhelmed at the thought of finding a place to live and renting out our house here. I know it will all work out, though, as things always do. I'm sure there are many times when I will be very homesick, as well, but having four, almost five, kids doesn't leave much time for feeling sorry for myself.

We don't have any new information on Noah Kirubel, the three-year old little boy we have applied to adopt from Ethiopia. We are waiting on a court date, but haven't heard anything about even being filed for a date yet, so it could be a while. If he's home before the end of the year, that will be a success in my mind.

I'll try to post again soon, hopefully with good news of a court date, someone to rent our house, and finding a place to live in Grove City!

It is with great joy that Brad and I want to let you know that we have begun the process of adopting another child from Ethiopia. We have accepted the referral from our agency for a 3-year old boy named Kirubel Berhane. (Yes, that was Micah's former first name, now his middle name.) We don't have much information to share at this point except that Kirubel is a reportedly healthy boy who came into the orphanage in December. We hadn't planned to adopt again so soon, but God has laid this little boy on our hearts and we want him to join our family. The legal proceedings have been set in motion, but we don't have any firm dates yet. The very earliest we would bring him home would be May, but it will likely be later than that. We are planning to only have Brad travel this time, so that I can stay home with the other four kids and keep things running smoothly (or whatever passes for smoothly around here!). We hope that you will rejoice with us as we travel down this path again.

Still Here

Well, since Chris thinks I'm dead, I thought I should post. I should've never said I will try to post every Monday. Once I realized that was unrealistic, I just gave up altogether. If I can't do something the way I want, I don't do it at all! Talk about perfectionistic. My friend, Michelle, says I've mellowed since "having" a fourth child. I agree with her to a point, but as you can tell by my confession above, I'm not totally mellow yet!

The holidays have flown by and we enjoyed them a great deal. The kids all enjoyed their gifts from family and Santa. It was especially meaningful to be a family of six this year.

School has started again this week and I am grateful for the return to a routine. It was nice to be able to "sleep in" during the break, but the days sometimes got long with not enough to do. Or, at least, not enough that any of us wanted to do. There's certainly plenty to do around here, but nobody wants to do any of it, me included!

Stay tuned for exciting news in the coming weeks/months. Will that make you come back to visit my blog, despite my terrible posting habits?

Happy New Year!

A Trip to the Great Frederick Fair

I love going to the fair every year, and I'm so grateful to be living in my hometown so that I can relive childhood memories each time I go. My kids love going now, and while there is the occasional meltdown because it's too hot or we don't have enough time to do everything, we have a great time. We only took Eli and Isaac again this year. Hannah goes on a class field trip to the fair each year, and Micah is too young. Maybe next year he'll get to go along, too. There are many more fair pictures besides these, so if you aren't already on my Kodak email account, I'd be happy to add you...just let me know.

Birthdays Galore!

Last weekend we celebrated Hannah's ninth and Micah's first birthdays. We had a lot of fun at the pool with family and friends. Micah enjoyed his cake very much! Hannah wasn't so fond of hers:(

I've been informed by my friend, Chris, that I must post at least once a week in order to not be a terrible blogger, so I am going to try to do just that. Let's see, maybe I'll aim for every Monday...wish me luck!

This is for you, Chris!

At Chris' request, I have added a few new pictures and will attempt to write a brief update for everyone who's reading. Micah is 11 months old today! He celebrated by getting up at 5:45 this morning, much to my dismay. He has a cold right now and also has his two front, top teeth coming through. Hopefully he will sleep a bit later tomorrow morning.

Micah is finally in a routine. It took us about six weeks to get there, but a typical day is as follows. Wake up at 6:45/7:00, naps at 9:30/10:00 and 1:30/2:00, bedtime at 7:00. His naps are about 1 - 1 1/2 hours long each. He's still waking up 2-3 times per night for a bottle. The doctor hasn't given us the go-ahead yet to try to get him to sleep through the night, but I may try soon anyway!

We went to the pediatrician last week for four more immunizations. I asked the nurse to weigh him and he was 18 lbs., 7. oz. He did have his clothes on, but that's still about a gain of one pound in one month. We go back in another month for more shots and I will have him weighed again at that time. His one-year check-up will be shortly after that.

Chris, I hope this update is sufficient for you. Let me know if I missed anything! :)