A typical day at #1

I wake up most mornings with exactly the same thoughts. "Please let today be the day." I go to bed with pretty much the same requests being sent up. If this is what was meant by "pray continually" then I feel like I am starting to get it.

5:40am Alarm goes off. I turn it off and roll over. First I think I want to go back to sleep. Then I ask God that today is the day the phone will ring and we will see our baby's face.
6:00 Finally decide to get up. Get dressed and look at my phone with pretty much an identical prayer. I may or may not lay hands on said phone and ask with a pretty please.
7:30 serve breakfast to my kiddos. Sit down with some cereal and yahoo group check. Lots of court dates. (Praise the LORD for He is good!) Facebook stalk the adoption page. Check Email for anything adoption related.
8:00 Work day has started. From this moment we could get a call today. Pray a little more for our babe. This time pray that she is healthy. That some one is holding her and loving her. Pray she isn't hungry.
10:00 Levi comes to me and asks for a snack. Usually I ask him to wait. I am after busy...checking the yahoo group, facebook, email, etc.
12:00 Lunch time and rest time. I reason that we won't get a call during lunch hour so I let my guard down. Eat something. Relax. Breathe.
2:00 The heat is on! Most people have gotten calls in the afternoon so this is prime time for a referral call. I do not go anywhere without my phone in reach. I try to distract myself with a show, chores, talking to friends on the phone. Keeping my mind busy keeps me from dwelling too much.
4:00 Deep sad sigh as I realize the probability of a phone call at this point is pretty much gone. The way I figure the work day ends at 5. I'm not sure if one hour would give them enough time to tie up all that needs done.
5:00 The work day is over and we won't get a call that day. Some days I am relieved to breathe. I may go take a shower since I don't do that during prime working hours most days. 5pm on a Friday is usually about time for a good cry. I usually just get a few minutes of tears. Ask God for a referral for next week and try to perk up.

At bedtime I find myself not being able to sleep as I repeat the same prayer over and over again. "Please, God, please let us get the call tomorrow. I know your timing is perfect. I know you have this all planned out, but please, God, if it is your timing let us see our baby girl's face tomorrow. "

Truth be told, I'm not sure exactly how to pray. I want to be patient. I want to trust God's timing, but I also really want a referral...yesterday. So, I guess I just ask and wait. I try to remember that the wait after I see her face could be 10 times harder since I can't yet touch her. Then once I get to hold her the wait to bring her home could be even more excruciating. I know God knows all the details. I trust he is working all things together for good. But I wait excitedly for that call until then.

Blown Away

We are in awe. We are blown away. There are no words to say how thankful we are. This past weekend we did a little competition between Dan and myself. We thought we would see who could bring in the most in donations in three days.

We stole the idea from some of Daniel's friends who also have adopted. We were hoping to raise a few hundred dollars. To our amazement we raised so much more! Our grand total was $2330! Amazing, amazing, amazing! I can't begin to express how overwhelmed we are by the gifts we were given.

We cannot wait to see our little girl. We are so excited to see how the rest of her story unfolds. We are praying this time of waiting will come to a close soon, but we wait with excitement. Thank you to all who gave and, to all who are praying with us. Your support means more than you know.

This could be fun!

So, since there has been movement and we are number 1 we are planning a little friendly competition between my hubby and myself. We have partnered with Adopttogether.org/thegarmans to help raise funds to bring home our baby girl.

So, Dan and I thought it would be fun to see which of us could raise the most by Saturday at midnight. We decided that we would put the names of each donor from the winning team into a hat. You will get an entry for every $10. If we draw your name you will win a $25 gift card to the place of your choosing!

So here is how it works. Just go to Adopttogether.org/thegarmans and you can donate. Leave us a comment saying Team Abby (or Team Dan if you want). It is that easy. Thank you so much! We are already blown away and overwhelmed by the support of our friends and family. You guys are awesome!

Hello again

As you can see our updates have been few and far between. There has been little to report in the adoption world. And that which there has been to report was mostly just news of slow downs. We have been moving up the list slowly. Inching our way one spot at a time. Sometimes with weeks between referrals. The past few months have been hard.

Then last week something happened and the adoption floodgates opened. There have been over 11 referrals in the past two weeks. That is crazy. That is amazing. God is so good. As of last night we quickly raced to the spot of number 1!

This is so exciting and scary all at the same time. When you are number one you live in constant anticipation. Every phone call could be "The Call". Every email could be something huge. Today could always be the day we see our daughters face. However, there is a flip side. We could sit here. We could wait many more months. We could get caught in court closures and not here news in forever. We share number one with 2 other people. Will they get that call first and leave us in the dust. So many unknowns.

For the moment though we are basking in the excitement of being #1. We are giddy with excitement. We are thrilled with the possibility that our baby girl really could be home by Christmas.

Joy in the Journey

We started this journey over two years ago now. God, put it on our hearts when our youngest was only six months old. I had no idea what this was going to look like. I had no idea that it would be such a long hard road. I had no clue all the lessons God was going to teach me through the process of adoption. It has been painful and stretching and awesome all at the same time.

Today, I am overwhelmed with thankfulness. This process has brought me to my knees over and over again. It has strengthened my trust  and renewed my faith beyond my imagination. This journey has brought me closer to my husband and made me cherish my children even more. Through it all our friends have loved us, encouraged us, supported us, cheered with us, and cried with us. I am so blessed beyond measure! God is so good to me.

I was looking on Adopttogether this afternoon. I love seeing other families with a passion for orphan care. This journey is not easy, but there is comfort in knowing that God is in it every step of the way. I am just so thankful that He has set our family on this path, and I can't wait to see what He has ahead for us.

Perfect

My favorite number has always been seven. It is the perfect number. Growing up it was how many kids I wanted. It was always my "lucky" number if you will. Well, today must be good luck because are unofficially #7!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Today, we moved up a spot and there is a family who is assumed to have a referral also. That means we move up 2 spots in one day. I'd say that is  more than luck. That is a blessing. God is faithful even when we are faithless. He has proved this to us over and over again, and yet I still need the reminder.

We are praying that by some miracle our baby girl is home this year. Please pray with us that the adoption process in Ethiopia will continue to move, and that many precious children are placed with their forever families soon. Thank you for all your prayers!

Wait time

Today we got an email from our family coordinator. It said that the wait time for both boys and girls is increasing again. This time is it is going up to 18-24 months. This was a pretty significant jump. Before that it was at 14-18 months. When we started, the wait time for a female infant was 7-11 months. Needless to say, this process is taking much longer than expected.  The other thing the email said was that times are probably going to continue to increase.

This is for sure discouraging. However, we are still trusting that God has perfect timing for our family. We still feel that this is where God has us. Please keep us in prayer. Also, please keep praying for Ethiopia and adoption process. We are so thankful for all the prayers and support we are receiving along the way.