Next Stop.....Ethiopia!

I received an email today saying that our dossier had been sent to Ethiopia! I have a tracking number and signed up to receive emails anytime it changes locations. This is so exciting! Please pray that it will arrive in Ethiopia in a timely manner. Also pray for the people who are helping us--both in the US and in Ethiopia. We are really quite powerless to get things done ourselves, so we have to trust people and have complete faith in God.

Not much new

Our little girl all ready for church on Sunday.

Jesse logging for his grandma

B. helping Daddy log

Not much new in the adoption area. We are waiting to hear from the assistant stork when they send off our dossier. We will hopefully hear today! Then we will receive a tracking number and be able to track it's progress to Ethiopia.

Big Day!

Today was wonderful! We enjoyed the beautiful sunshine, had wireless internet installed, AND, our dossier was sent to the assistant stork for review and final authentication. Typically, once assistant stork receives you dossier it should take about 10 days before it is in Ethiopia! I sent it overnight, so they are supposed to have it before noon tomorrow. I am hoping that they just might be able to start working on it before next week. But if not, at least they will have it!

It is such a huge relief to have that much done! Now we need to work on the USCIS (United States Citizenship and Immigration Service). International adoption law requires that in order to bring a child into the U.S. from another country you must first get permission from the USCIS. We have to fill out more paperwork, be fingerprinted (again), give them money, copies of our birth certificates, marriage certificate, etc. Once we have done all this and are approved, we will receive our I-171H saying that we can bring an Ethiopian child into the US.

This evening we went fishing in our pond. Isn't it beautiful???!

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!