Kitchen pictures

This is a before picture. It is not that great but is the only one I have. I was sick with a high fever the weekend he started. You can see that Jesse had already started ripping stuff out and moving it around before I took the picture.



And these are the finished project! Yeah! It is so nice!!!!

Next stop...Boise!

So much has happened since last time I posted. To make a long story short, we have switched to using just Hope Adoption Agency instead of also using AWOP as a sort-of middle guy. Hopefully this will help everything go along smoothly. Our dossier will be in the mail in the morning headed for Boise for state authentication. We will include an overnight self-addressed envelope so that they can overnight it back to us. Then the package will be off to the assistant stork and Washington D.C. to be authenticated again. Once the authentication process is done there, it will be off to Ethiopia! Please pray that it will make it to Ethiopia in a timely manner and also that we will receive a court date before mid-July. The Ethiopian courts close from July-October, so this is crucial that we pass court before they shut down. We know that however it happens, God is in control and everything will happen in His perfect timing. We also know that we will do everything in our power to speed stuff up. So we are preparing ourselves that we might not pass court before Fall and praying that we will!

I was going to post pictures of my new and improved kitchen. I think it might just have to wait till we get wireless internet, though.

God is faithful!

"Understand, therefore, that the Lord your God is indeed God. He is the faithful God who keeps His covenant for a thousand generations and lavishes His unfailing love on those who love Him and obey His commands." Deuteronomy 7:9


"God will make this happen, for He who calls you is faithful." 1 Thessalonians 5:24


The past couple weeks, but especially, the last couple of days, have been full of "tests". We have been faced with the choice to doubt God, or to believe that He is faithful. We truly believe in our hearts that He has called us to adopt. Sometimes when the enemy throws stuff at you it can make you want to doubt, but ultimately, God will prevail! We have prayed and seen God answer in amazing ways. We are seeking His will and we have seen Him make clear the path before us. Of course, we do not have all the answers, but we do know we can fully trust Him.


"Father to the fatherless, defender of widows--this is God, whose dwelling is holy. God places the lonely in families; he sets the prisoners free and gives them joy. Psalm 68:5-6a

A Six Point!

Here is W's first attempt at horn hunting! He was very excited to find a "gigantic horn" when he was just walking through the field. He said "I was walking and I stopped and turned around and there it was--a huge gigantic elk shed!" Of course Jesse and I are very excited. We have done a little horn hunting, but have not really found anything. Okay, so I have never found anything. Jesse has found 2 or 3 deer horns, but certainly no elk sheds! And a 6 point! At 4 years old! It's almost as big as he is! The "boys" are actually back out right now trying to find the other one!

Miscellaneous

1. We completed both of our homestudy appointments. Now we just have to wait for our social worker to finish the paperwork. Should be within 2 weeks.
2. We are hopefully getting wireless internet in the next month or so (for $50 instead of $500)
3. We are remodeling, so our entire house is covered in sawdust...but....

• I am very excited to have a "new" kitchen!
• We are getting an actual built-in dishwasher (what a novel idea!)
• New sink
• New counter top
• New kitchen floor plan! (we moved a couple cabinets around, plus the placement of appliances.)
• The result is a bigger kitchen, more user-friendly, and more inviting!
• I am also going to paint my cabinets (any ideas on paint colors?)
• Plus, we also get new flooring! Yeah! Away with the 60's green carpet that shows EVERYTHING and in with the hardwood!

A Walk To Beautiful

A powerful story of healing and hope for women in Ethiopia . . .

The award winning feature-length documentary A Walk to Beautiful tells the stories of five Ethiopian women who suffer from devastating childbirth injuries and embark on a journey to reclaim their lost dignity. Rejected by their husbands and ostracized by their communities, these women are left to spend the rest of their lives in loneliness and shame. They make the choice to take the long and arduous journey to the Addis Ababa Fistula Hospital in search of a cure and a new life.

I just checked our local listings and this will air on PBS on May 13 at 8pm in our area.

Busy, Busy!

We have been very busy this week getting ready for our 1st homestudy visit Saturday. I have been cleaning, reorganizing, throwing things out, and cleaning! Our social worker said she does not do a white glove test.....but still! Plus, we are having our family over to our house for Easter dinner, so it needs to be clean anyway. I'm sure I don't have to be quite this extreme in my cleaning, but it sure does feel to have a deadline and good to get it done.

I just heard that we will not receive the new DVD from AWOP till the first part of April. This is very disappointing, but God can teach us patience! We were originally hoping to have it this week. We have been anxiously waiting for the mail to come every day, just to be disappointed when the DVD is not there. They have been busy putting many hours into making it and I know they will send it as soon as they can. I am sure everyone wants to see it right away, so we will try not to bug them. We can use this time to be pray and try to wait patiently.