It's out of our HANDS!

Literally, our adoption progress is now totally out of our hands. However, I would venture to say "was it ever really in our hands?" God has it all in His hands but there are things that we have to do along the way to make it happen and then we step a side. Monday we went and had our fingerprints taken for our Immigration approval of our daughter entering into this country. We need to have this letter before we can be matched with her. We will wait for the letter and then wait some more for our referral (to be matched with our child). I've turned a new leaf and decided that since I know we will be waiting for awhile, I'm going to look of ways to enjoy the wait! We will celebrate other families referrals and maybe the passing of every month in some way. Maybe we will buy things for our child or decorate rooms. Most importantly we will spend our time praying for her. I'll read books to prepare and we will try and learn more about Ethiopia and the way she may be used to living. We will talk about her and also just enjoy the time we have as a family of 6 now. So wait doesn't have to be a bad thing or a bad word. God has had many people wait in the Bible. So I'm determined to try and ENJOY the wait! Remind of this in . . . oh, let's say, NEXT WEEK!:)

Romans 15:5-

"Now may the God who gives comfort and strength in waiting

make you of the same mind with one another in harmony with Christ Jesus."

Abba Changes Everything!

Check out this fabulous article found in Christianity Today. Very powerful! Enjoy!

The Waiting Game!

So when you adopt it not too different than when you are carrying your child in your body. The ONLY difference is you have your child on your brain and in your heart but not in your body. When you are pregnant you haven't seen your child (now a days though the the ultra sounds are like a picture- i never had that technology) and you try and picture what they will look like.

When you are adopting it's so hard not to have your child(ren) on your mind ALL of the time. During the waiting process it's sooooo important to keep busy and do as much preparation because when you get "the call" and the ball starts rolling toward court and traveling your minds losses it and your can't think straight any more. So I've decided to start making a bucket list for the waiting process of things I should, need to do and want to do while waiting. Please feel free to give me ideas to add. WHO KNOWS HOW LONG IT WILL BE? It might need to be a GOOD long list.

THINGS TO DO WHILE WAITING!!
1. Fund Raising for the remaining expenses. - to be started soon
2. Watch the movie called???
3. Collect donations for our orphanage
4. Reread There's No You without Me by Melissa Fay Greene
5. Praying for current families in the referral process to bring home their children
6. Working hard on daily devotions and building my relationship with God - this should be #1
7. Learning more about Ethiopian Culture specifically celebrations for our ET Culture Camp
8. Make a list of things to look for a purchase for our family while in ET
9. Praying daily for our child(ren) and their birth family
10. Do fun things with our kids like day trips and trying new things
11. Work on cooking more ET food. I only know one dish so far and it's Americanized!
12. Get green coffee beans and roast them, grind them and make a good cup of coffee.
13. Have fun during the summer!!!!!!
Waiting is very frustrating, but is ALWAYS worth it.

Snow Day AGAIN!

We are off school for the 5th day this school year and we are to have 4-6 inches with possibly more. Some places may get 8 inches. So what should we do to keep us busy.

I'm thinking some baking, movie watching, game playing and sorry to say we have lots of laundry that I need help with. We have thank yous to write and maybe phone calls to reach out and touch someone. We will also go play outside and I will shovel the drive way.

So there is something else I'm doing today and that is praying my sister to town. She is due to get into the airport right in the heaviest part of this storm. I so want her to come in today but I really want her to be safe.

Who knows what the day will bring but I hope it helps with the "wait" for our daughter to join us. Maybe we will lay bets today on what month we could get our referral. No money of course.

Enough of the randomness on this post. Let it snow. Let it snow, Let it snow!

Get'n closer to my sister

Hi everyone!I am your guest blogger for today.My name is Abby. I am the 3rd kid in the Ewing family.I wanted to share about the numbers we are on the waiting list. I am so excited. On the girls list we are # 88!!!! We started out as # 100 and now we are 88! We are also on the siblings list in case God blesses us with two!We are # 34 on that list.I am so happy!I am looking forward to sharing a room with her because Asher shares a room with Caleb and I was jealous of them.I need someone in the room when I sleep because when I am alone I don't sleep good. I am also excited to play with her and teach her new stuff.

2011 a fresh start!

I love fresh starts. When you turn the calendar to a new month, when you put your feet on the floor to start a new day, and yes even starting a new year. I did a poor job of blogging in 2010 and I hope to use this fresh start in 2011 to make that better.

So as we start this year, I'm not one for resolutions but I do like to think of how I see 2011 unfolding and then watch what God will do in my life and our families. So my goal for this year is to document more of my anticipations, praying and goals and see what God will do in my life and the life of my family's. It's all his any ways. I also want to get back to journally more and having a consist prayer list.

One of the things I love about our adoption agency (All God's Chilren International), is that after you complete your paper work and start the "waiting" process they give you a waiting journal and encourage you to work on your relationship with God in the waiting process. I love that! Believe you me you can get so caught up in the process and walk away from the one whose in control because you try and take the control. I remembering this being a struggle the first time.

Anyway, to update on our process, today we got our appointment from the Homeland Security for our finger printing. We have to be finger printed so they can approve us to bring a child into this country. We will go downtown on Feb 4th for our appointment and then wait to receive our letter from the Homeland Security (FDL). We pray for our daughter (1-4yrs) in Ethiopia not knowing where she is or what her family circumstance will be or when we will even be introduced to her face and medical information. We will wait and love to live in our waiting and maybe do some blogging in the mean time!

Random picture cause I don't like to post without a picture.