12 and 1/2 days (and counting).......

We leave for Ethiopia in less than 13 days. I started packing today. One suitcase down, about 8 more to go. I packed Asher's suitcase, which I had already started, but I took the time today to weed some stuff out and get things more organized. It was kind of fun. I have to get Leah and I packed for Ethiopia (which is seriously a task in and of itself.....we have to take meds for things we can only imagine we will encounter, donations, cash, important documents, etc., etc.) but I also have to completely pack Ryan and the kids for Florida. The good thing is that I can mostly pack everything now because our Florida clothes are not the clothes we currently wear. I imagine that in the next few days I will have everything mostly packed. I just operate like that. With lots to do, I stress way less if I can do as much as I can as soon as possible.

It appears that Ryan and the other four kiddos are going to be leaving for Florida about the same time Leah and I leave for Ethiopia. I think that will be pretty good for the kids. It will keep them busy and excited about the fun they are having. I worry about Ryan and getting all the way down to Florida with no other adult help. I know Logan will be a huge asset to Ryan, but I still worry a bit. I am also a little sorry that I will be missing almost a whole week of family vacation, but I know it is so worth it to be going to get our son! It will be cool also to have a full week with Ryan in Florida to be together as a family of eight.

Julie

Merry Christmas!

I just wanted to take a moment to wish you all a very MERRY CHRISTMAS. We are so very blessed to have that little baby come to earth to save us. Who are we that Father God thought that much of each of us?

This Christmas I feel incredibly grateful to God for all the beautiful things in my life. My amazing husband, my kids, my extended family, my friends, these are the things that mean so much. But, more than anything, I am so grateful that Christ lives inside me. I have a hope that passes all earthly concerns. God gave his Son to die for me and I get to have best friend and partner that will take me through eternity. How incredible is that?

May your Christmas be filled with all the fun things Christmas should be filled with. But more than that, may your hearts be filled with the love of Christ and a personal relationship with him!

Julie

Officially leaving in 18 days!

Tickets and lodging are booked!!! Yeah!

We had a tough time getting a flight. I praise God for helping us snag something for a reasonable price. Really, two recommended travel agents just flat out couldn't find anything to work for us. It is a very busy time to fly (apparently) and the return flight home was just booked. The travel agency we ended up using deals with adoptions a lot and was able to get us two confirmed seats on the way home! I was impressed.

We got a medical report on Asher today saying he has a lesion on his leg and we should bring some meds with us for it. I am all over that. They think it might be impetigo or a fungus. We are pretty much taking every medicine under the sun with us, "just in case." My poor little guy though. He needs his mommy........

Julie

It looks like we will be leaving January 9th!

Well, it indeed appears that we will be traveling to get Asher in less than 3 weeks! We have a guest house booked for 5 nights and I am waiting to hear back from the travel agent we are using about flights. I am a little concerned about booking a flight because I hear things are pretty packed during that time. The travel agency was suppose to get back to me by the end of the day.

So, we will leave on Sat., the 9th and Ryan will leave for Florida with Logan and the 3 littles probably Wednesday or so. Leah and I will leave Addis (with Asher of course) on Friday or Saturday and fly into Orlando. Then, we will hang in Florida for vacation until that following Saturday. We should get back to Ohio on the 24th. Holy friolies. Do you know how organized I am going to have to be? Anyone have some suitcases we can borrow?

Julie

Sneaky kid #2

I have always considered Anna pretty trust worthy. I have caught her in a lie a time or two, but I wouldn't really consider it a problem, just a typical 3 year old testing her boundaries. Well, things are changing a bit. Yesterday we were at my sister's house and I hadn't seen Anna for a while so I went to check on her. She was hiding under a blanket in my nephew's room with a mouth full of chocolate. She had snuck into his candy stash. She had already eaten a bag of fruit snacks and she had just started on the candy bar. She fessed up right away. I mean what else to you do when you get caught red handed? I know this is just part of the game, but I was hoping I wouldn't have to deal with this with another kid....... Nuts.

A small Asher update:

It appears that we will be able to snag the January 12th Embassy date, but it isn't 100% yet. Hopefully we will know for sure by Christmas!

Julie

The Birth Certificate is here!!!

Woohoo, we have Asher's new birth certificate. We should have our embassy date soon!

The picture on Asher's B.C. is a hoot. He is all bug-eyed and looks like a deer caught in the headlights. That poor boy. We have so many crazy pictures to torment him with when he gets older!

Julie

No Birth Certificate Yet.

Well, nuts. I really thought we would at least have Asher's birth certificate by now. That is step one to bringing him home. They were taking about 2 weeks and we are at 3 weeks 1 day. I am stalking my e-mail just waiting to see a message from our case manager. I am sure the Dec. 30th date is gone, but now I am getting concerned that we won't even be able to snag the Jan. 12th date.

I e-mailed our case manager yesterday and she said that because the traffic is so bad in Addis (the capital, where Asher/the foster home is) they were clumping kids together for various parts of the process. I have a feeling that we might lose that extra almost two weeks we gained by passing court early. But then again, I am not sure it matters. Our agency has 10 slots at the Embassy ever other week. Those slots are only for kids adopted through CWA. Even if they are "clumping" the kids, I would think they would still maintain some sort of order. So, even if Asher goes with 5 other kids to be "processed" I would think they would still give him an Embassy slot first if he passed court first. Who knows though. It is all such a guessing game.

I did get some really cool feedback from my friend Leslie this past week. She just arrived home with her sweet Solomon a couple weeks ago. Solomon and Asher were at the same foster home. You are not allowed to take pictures of other kids there, but this is what she said:

"I did see Asher. I asked to see him but he was asleep. He was beautiful. He is getting great care in the foster care center. He is in a room with maybe 6 or so other babies, maybe not that many."

How cool is that? She saw him and he is being well taken care of. It made me cry, but happy for my

boy.

Julie

I miss him.....

You know, I think for people that have never adopted it might be hard to understand how you can miss someone you've never actually met..... I know, I have been there. And to be honest I am not sure really how to even explain how this feels. It's not like how it was when I was pregnant. Sure the nervous anticipation and excitement are definitely there and feel just the same, but a sad ache is there also. When I was pregnant, things just seemed like they were suppose to be. I was impatient and always wanted my bio kids here sooner than later, but this just feels wrong. He is there, he needs a family, we are here and love him and desperately want to be with him. I know loving him like we do is a beautiful thing, but when the one you love is so far apart, well you get the picture. Especially this time of year when there's nothing more I want to do than be around the people I love.

This is a great song that I have listened to way too many times this season.....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dy8RW6aHXWQ&feature=related

(sorry, you are going to have to cut and paste the link)

Julie

Life in pictures...

Here's what we've been doing around here lately....

Today we took our annual "by the tree pictures" for our Christmas cards. It actually went pretty well. This is not the picture we used (a little too much mouthage, but I still thought it was cute.

We are starting them young in the partition business. Madeline does a good job at them!

How cute is my nephew Coleson (yes, that is a rhetorical question, I know he is adorable)? His little brother is due in March, so Asher is going to have two buddies!

Last Saturday Leah and Logan had a piano recital at the library. Who is that tall gangly thing playing piano? Certainly it is not my baby girl.......

Here's Logan doing his thing (they both did so great).

Madeline is really catching on to her Leapster she got for her birthday. Poor Anna, she just sits and watches and wishes she had one (good thing she's getting her own for Christmas).

This is our beautiful mammoth tree the kids picked out. I love it, but it was too big to go into the living room like usual, so we totally cleared the dining room out for it!

New Asher Pictures!

Here are our first pictures of Asher COLE (still officially Mussie Cole)!

What a LOVE! Man, I cannot wait to squeeze him and just touch him. Did you notice the "tag" around his ankle? It appears to have his name on it. I am sure it has an extremely practical purpose and I get that, but it kind of rubs me the wrong way.... He's still amazing though, tag and all. It warms my heart so much to see his big smile. He seems so happy and I think he is going to fit into this Cole clan perfectly!

Julie

Ramblings.

So, I think I have relieved a little stress over the last couple days. I have scaled back a few things to make them more manageable. Also, probably 50% of stress for me is being unplanned/unprepared. So, I have been getting more organized and trying to get a game plan. I have about 50 "to do" lists flying around the house.

I have also been plugging away at my sewing. Ahhh...sewing. I really do love to sew (under certain circumstances). I also love to make things for my kids. To me it is a special thing to have something hand made by someone who loves you. I hope every Christmas each of my kids can get a little something special made by me. This year has been a little heavier than most. I obviously can't talk about Christmas on here and presents for the two kids I have that can read, but here's what I am doing for the 3 little ones.

**I made crayon rolls for them (and a cousin) that turned out pretty cute. (I am hoping to post pics of my completed projects soon). They look like this: http://www.skiptomylou.org/2007/04/25/on-a-roll/ Mine are a little different, but you get the idea.

**The last couple days I have worked almost exclusively on a play mat for Gee. It is one of the cutest things ever. Concept wise it was easy, but it ended up being very time consuming. It is a mat that when unrolled has a whole town with roads, etc. He can drive his cars all over the place since that seems to be his favorite pass time lately. When he is done it rolls up and snaps shut. (Let me say her that I LOVE my snap press. I bought it for Asher's diapers and I am using it for everything!) I also bought him some little wooden cars that I am going to make a pouch for. This ended up being the priciest gift for him. The fabric alone was $45 (I had extra though that I am making an outfit for him with). The little wooden cars were expensive also. I think he will love it! Here's what I patterned Gee's playmat after: http://jcaroline.typepad.com/jcaroline/2008/07/merryville-play.html

**The three little guys are getting a playhouse from Santa this year and I think that will be the next "to do" on Santa's list. It is made out of cloth so it folds up small and then it fits over any standard card table. I am going to make ours fit over a wood table that Grandpa Hidinger made for us. It is a little bigger than standard card table size and I am hoping it will fit both. Here's an example on Etsy (I love this place) of what I am going to make, although it probably won't be quite as elaborate. http://www.etsy.com/shop/missprettypretty?section_id=5577944

**Besides the little kids, I have quite a few other gifts I really want to make if I have time.

Lately, I have also been tackling the stuff we need to do to get ready to go to Ethiopia. I can't make travel arrangements until we ok Asher's new birth certificate, but I can do a few other things until then. Right now I am trying to be sure we all get the immunizations we need. I think it is going to be Leah and I traveling and we will both need Hep B (Leah may have already had this) and Typhoid. All 7 of us are getting the Hep. A vac. It is taking a little time to organize this and to find out exactly who needs what. I am also pulling together all the prescriptions/medicines that we need to take. I thank God for Chrissy. She is pretty much taking care of all the over the counter medical needs we have, as well as working with the doctors for the prescription stuff. It is a pretty extensive list and I am really wanting to take as much as I can to be as prepared as I can.

Oh, another thing I am doing to relieve stress is trying to get all my Christmas done now. I am about 85% there. Which is really good, but I want to be completely done within the next week (except for the sewing I am doing). Normally I am still picking up stuff up until a few days before Christmas, not this year. I am just trying to get myself to the point where I am enjoying this time. I love Christmas and even though the waiting stinks, I love preparing for Asher to come home. I want to be able to enjoy this spot in my life and not be stressing!

Julie

Stress is creeping in.......

Oiy.

I am starting to get stressed. Me, stressed, is not so good. I have a LOT to do. This time of year is busy under normal circumstances, but this year is way worse. Truly, I enjoy being busy and having things to do, so to some extent all is well, but on the other hand, WHEN am I going to get everything done. Here are some of the things rolling around in my brain right now....

-"have tons of Christmas gifts left to make"

-"have tons of diapers left to make"

-"I need to get into our Dr.'s office to shoot everyone up with a Hep. A vaccine"

-"have a decent amount of Christmas left to buy"

-"I need to pick up Asher some jammies and basics"

-"I really should start packing"

-"I want to pull some freezer meal recipes together for Mindy and I's freezer meal day"

-"did the kids lock the coop door before they went to bed?"

That is all the craziness I will subject you to, but trust me, I am feeling the stress.

Our case manager called yesterday. Bless her heart, she didn't know that we knew and she thought she was calling us with this big surprise. Anyways though, right now we are waiting on Asher's new birth certificate. That is running about 2 weeks (which is quicker than it has been in the recent past). Once that is done all our stuff will be submitted to that Embassy and we will be issued an Embassy date. We will probably either be scheduled for December 30th or January 12th. I think there is a chance we could snag the earlier date, but it is unlikely because we have quite a few families in front of us. Our agency is only allowed 10 Embassy slots every other week. So, even if all our paperwork is there, we may have to wait because there are no earlier slots available. Obviously, the sooner the better, but even more so because we leave for Florida January 14th. If we get the January date, Ethiopia will run into that vacation. That is not the end of the world, I will just fly back into Orlando, but that is a whole lot of craziness for a baby that is sure to already think his life has been turned upside-down.

Well, I think I will head to bed. I am quite tired and I have lots of stuff to do tomorrow!

Julie

More Asher Pictures......

Now that I can post pictures of our boy, I thought I'd give you a little more!

This is the first picture I saw of Asher. Poor guy just looks scared and cold (and ready to fight).

This is one of the next set of pictures we received.

These were next in line. You can't see really well, but he has a rash/skin problem in these pics. His next medical report stated he had a skin infection (still beautiful though!).

This is one of the most recent pictures. He is at the foster home in Addis in these pictures. He has amazing eyes!

The first smile we ever saw! Very gummy and perfect!

I am still overwhelmed with joy. I just praise God that He entrusted Ryan and I with one more amazing gift!

Julie

Please let me introduce.........

Asher Houston Cole

By the grace of God we were surprised with an e-mail this morning that we PASSED court yesterday, November 25th. Apparently, they tried to fit into court some of the cases that had been postponed. We were one of the lucky ones to get an earlier court date and to pass!!! We got an e-mail this morning from our agency saying "surprise." Surprise indeed. What an amazing blessing and we could not be more thrilled. I think I am still in shock! Seriously, I can just hardly believe that we legally have son half the way across the world!

We don't know yet when we will travel (and probably won't know for another couple weeks), but it will probably be in early January. We will talk to our actual case manager on Monday and work out some of those details.

I just feel so humble right now. He is just so beautiful and he is ours. This Thanksgiving we have been especially thankful.

Julie

This is my life.......

Argh! Madeline is very honestly the most high maintenance child I have ever had. Now please don't harass me for blogging that thought because Madeline has a long list of amazing qualities, she is just a bit "difficult" right now. She is smart and sneaky. I feel like I have to be on her case ALL DAY long. Well, I know she sneaks candy and sneaks in to places in the house she not suppose to and sneaks out of bed, you name it. Well, I finally got them to bed tonight and I was

plugging my laptop in behind the couch and this is what I found.......

Those would be Hershey Kiss and Tootsie Roll wrappers. Give you one guess where they came from. It is just agonizing some times. This is probably the 4th or 5th time I have found wrappers like this around the house.

It is a good thing though that my life is full of so much more. I am so blessed, candy wrappers and all. Here, see what I mean........

Aren't they beautiful (and sleeping :))?

Julie

"Jonah.......where you going?"

I am putting up applesauce today and the 3 little ones are cracking me up. One kid will be "God" (I am guessing) and the other two will be "Jonah." "God" will sit in the kitchen and say (in a very deep god-ish voice) "Jonah, where you going......." The other two will run into the living room (two rooms over) and say "I can't hear you......" How funny is that? Poor old Jonah, always running away and pretending he doesn't hear.

Also, Gideon is such a corker today. Sometimes he gets this way and it is truly a hoot. I just think Gee is shy a lot, but more and more at home he turns in to a typical youngest child. You know, anything to get a laugh. A little bit ago he kept doing a little jig. He would put his arms up and shake his body and say "Oh yeah, oh yeah, I did it, I did it...." I had to get the video camera out for that one. He even did it for the camera!

I got some more Asher pictures today. Again, they were amazing! He was smiling in two of them and he looks so great!

Julie

He just melts me........

We got some new pictures of Asher Thursday. They are taken of him at his new place at the Addis foster home. I got two separate e-mails of pictures and the last picture I saw he was smiling. Not just a little smile either.... It was a HUGE gummy smile. It was incredibly beautiful. I have been worried about him and missing him of course, well, that picture was gold. Overall he looked well. It was so nice to get pictures of him playing with toys, with clothes on, just looking like a normal baby. Most of the pictures up to this point have been pretty stark and he has been scared looking. Oh, I ache for him.

My CWA buddy is leaving a week from today to pick up her little boy! I am so very excited for her. She was the gal that was one referral in front of me at our agency. They passed their October 26th court date. They only had a little over a month between passing court and their Embassy date. That is encouraging for us. Maybe it won't be quite 6 to 8 weeks to travel? Time will tell I guess. Still though, I am just so happy for her and her family. They seem like such good people....

Julie

Asher Update and some fun sewing.

I got an e-mail from our case manager saying that Asher was moved from Awassa (where he has been in an orphanage) to the foster home in Addis (the capital). This is pretty exciting, but they don't normal transfer kids until they have passed court. My case worker is out until tomorrow so she couldn't field my questions. So, I think they are just getting him ready which is super cool. Plus I am pretty sure that the foster home is a much better place for him. Please continue to pray for him. The new report today states that he is on antibiotics for tonsillitis and ointment for a diaper rash.

So, I have been sewing some, which is fun. I really enjoy creating things. This is my new purse/bag and I love it! I bought a t-shirt with this saying on it (that is really special to me) but the shirt became way too short after the first wash (no more on line shirts for me, I have been burnt one too many times). Now I have this awesome bag made out of a recycled sweater.

Julie

A very productive day.

I feel like lately someone has lit a little fire under my hiney. I have organized the house pretty well. There's a little painting left I would like to do, but for the most part our house is more organized now than it has been in a while.

For a while I have been wanting to do "Once a Month Cooking." It is where you spend a day making and freezing meals for the entire month. I will make an extra dinner here and there and freeze it, it freeze bread/muffins and rolls pretty often, but that is it. Today I didn't do a full month of cooking, but I did a lot. I made enough chili for two meals, enough meatballs (thank you Mindy-I love your recipe) and marina sauce for at least two meals, two double sized turkey macaroni casseroles (one we ate for dinner), a double batch of yeast rolls and corn dog muffins. Whew, it was a lot. I also cooked a 17 lb turkey yesterday. We ate dinner off it last night and the rest went into the two casseroles and I filled a gallon sized freezer bag to store away. I still have one of our chickens in the fridge thawing also. I am not sure what I will do with that. I will definitely cook it tomorrow, but we won't be home tomorrow evening, so I might just turn that into some freezer chicken and noodles. Anyways, I am proud of our haul today!

Here's all the goods ready to go into the freezer

Here's our poor picked clean turkey. I don't know why I felt the need to include this pic......

Oh and I am finally getting to make diapers for Asher. I am excited to be using cloth again and I am more excited that I will be making it all! I have been collecting fabric for weeks and it is fun to actually be using it. This diaper is a little wonky, but not bad considering it is my first one I have made of this type. I did this one yesterday and I finished another one today. I have tons of sewing on the docket. Christmas, clothes for the kids, you name it!

Later. (please don't forget about Asher in your prayers!)

Julie

Update on Asher.

We just got Asher's monthly medical update and he has malaria. He is being treated for that and a skin infection. Our case manager said that malaria is quite common in Awassa because there are a lot of mosquitos/lakes. I have a call in to our international assistance doctor. I don't think this is anything that is immediately threatening him. He looks pretty healthy in his pics, but I am still worried. Could you all pray for our little guy?

Everything else looked good on the medical. He is starting to get some "real" food and the report states he likes potatoes. He has gained some weight and he is almost smiling in one of the pics. I have yet to see a real smile though. Maybe we will have to wait for that in person..... Anyways, that's all.

Julie

Life in pictures!

We've taken lots of pictures lately, so that is mainly what this post will be.

Leah, Madeline, Anna and Gideon all take gymnastics. Leah and Logan took them for 3 or 4 years when they were younger, but we have been out of it for a while. We started back up this quarter. It was a huge hit. All 4 kids love it! I was super impressed with Leah this past Saturday because she was involved with a skills competition at the gym and she did great! Especially for only being involved for one session!

Here's Anna on the beam.

Gee's big finish (yes it was staged :)).

Maddie on the beam.

So, Madeline turned 4 years old on the 6th and we celebrated in style (and celebrated, and celebrated......). I prefer to do something with just our immediate family on each kids actual birthday. That usually works out, but this year, Leah had a piano "thing" and hour and a half away. So, we celebrated Maddie's birthday the night before. We ate at a local spot for dinner and then went and saw "Astroboy." It was fun. The kids did really well at the movie (although I think it was a smidge scary/old for the 3 little ones) and it was odd to be out doing "big kid stuff" with the whole fam. Usually we have someone too little to take to something like that.

Oh and I need to add that Maddie is finally binki free. Normally we totally break our kids on their 3rd birthday, but for whatever reason, we let Madeline have her binki to sleep with. The day before she turned 4, I just took it away and explained to her how she was too big for it. She fussed for a couple times and got to sleep on our floor one night, but she has done great!

Here are our dinner pics. I have to say here, does Leah not look WAY too old. Holy cow (I am dabbing my eye right now). Oh, by the way, Madeline LOVES this dress. I let her (and Anna) pick out anything they wanted to go out in. Both picked dresses and Madeline picked this dress.

(Birthday take #1)

Movie Pics (they each got their own box of candy).

Friday (her actual birthday), Kayla, Aunt Jami and Noami came over to play and celebrate a little bit. I let the kids decorate the cake. Gee seriously dumped a whole bag of sprinkles on it.

(Birthday take #2)

Saturday evening we celebrate Kayla and Madeline's birthdays in Columbus, after church. Kayla turned 5 in October.

(Birthday take #3)

Getting a birthday song.

Finally, last Thursday we had my crew over the the house to celebrate one more time.

(Birthday take #4)

Ok, enough with the birthdays! Here is the computer/sewing room I just finished. Yes it is orange and I love it. Gee's favorite color is orange and when I started painting he said (in a high pitched squeal) "Mommy, you painting the room my favorite color!" It was so cute!

The trim piece above the door has to be specially made, so it will be a few weeks before we can get that up there.

(FYI, the kids have become camera hogs) This wall was very difficult to work with because of the core surface. There was no way to strip it like I did the other walls. So, I used this technique. I am happy with the results, although I might do things a tad different if I were to do it again.

So, Gideon has been long overdue for his big boy bed. The boy loves "Spidy-man." I was not planning on doing a Spiderman theme for him (yes, I am so mean). The whole room was redone just a couple years ago in a camo theme, which I like. Spidy and camo don't so much go together and I don't really care for character themed stuff. So back in August I was talking to Rick (aka, pawpaw) while on vacation and he asked it Gideon's new bedroom was going to be Spiderman (or something to that extent). I explained to him probably not and why. Well, after we got home from vacation Rick picked up these little Spiderman wall stickers for Gee. That got me thinking, but I was not totally motived at that point to do Spiderman at that point. Well, literally less than a week later I was at a consignment and they had a Pottery Barn "Spiderman" comforter and pillow sham, brand new for $15 bucks. I didn't even know Pottery Barn "did" Spiderman. Well, I snagged the set and the rest is history!

Here is Gee very happy with his new bed.

Here is our new "compromised" room. :)

(Note the armoire off to the side, that is Asher's and it was kind of exciting to get it in place and start filling it with all his stuff)

Julie

"Johnny Head" and "When I am five......"

I have no cue where this comes from, but somehow Gee has become "Johnny Head." Sounds strange eh? He calls himself Johnny or Johnny head. As I am sitting here, Gee, Anna and Madeline are sitting behind me eating breakfast. It is like a chant. Gee says "Johnny" and in unison Anna and Maddie say back "Johnn-y He-ad." Very strange indeed.

Oh and now that Madeline is 4 she can't stop talking about being 5. Like, "when I am five I will be able to do ______." I don't know why 5 is so old for her. Maybe it is because her buddy (and cousin) Kayla turned 5 last month. Yesterday she came downstairs to tell me that when she is five she will be able to give the babies spank'in, but "only if they are naughty." I asked her who the babies were and she answered "Anna and Gee." I did set her straight, but then we got into how old everyone was, well, I left the conversation recognizing the huge gap of understanding between a 4 year old and a 33 year old.

Nothing new on Asher. I think we are getting due for some pictures (or at least I hope). I am still very bummed our court date was postponed, but I am dealing with it much better. It will be a busy next couple months and while that doesn't make me want him here any less, it does help occupy my thoughts.

Julie

May 20th

Well, we found out today that Asher's "official" birth date will be May 20th. No one really knows when exactly he was born, but that is the date that was put on the court documents, so that is the date we will keep. It is kind of cool to know when we will celebrate his birth. Another May birthday for us. I am sure Anna will not mind sharing!

Julie

A little more....

Sorry to be so brief yesterday. I am still pretty bummed about our court outcome and have no desire to start bawling again. But, I feel I should explain a little better.

Our court date was postponed because a piece of paperwork was missing. This piece of paperwork is from MOWA (Ministry of Woman's Affairs in Ethiopia) and every case has to have one. From what I understand, MOWA is notorious for waiting until the last minute to add that document and if it is not there, you do not pass. Our agency said that MOWA had been off for a couple of days and therefore didn't add that document to any of the cases like they were suppose to. Our agency was expecting all their cases going before court yesterday and today to be postponed because of this.

Really, this is just beyond my ability to grasp. It made our big court date seem so arbitrary. I mean what was the point? The MOWA letter has to be there, MOWA knows that, the court knows that, what a waste of time.

Also, a month until another court date?? I mean seriously. I have seen people get rescheduled for court in like a week, maybe two, but a month?!? Even then, we have no reassurance we will pass. For all I know they didn't even look at the rest of our documents. I really do realize that as ridiculous as this is, it is part of the process. My heart though, aches for our son. I want him home. We have just added at least another month.

God is still faithful though. Our whole family prayed that God's will would be done with court. I trust that His will is perfect, even when it is beyond my understanding.

Yesterday, Ryan called back after the initial news to reming me that this must be God's will for Asher right now (yes, I very much needed reminded of that right then). Well, as soon as I got off the phone Logan came down stairs and said "you know mom, maybe God has a reason for Asher not passing, and we just don't know it yet." Thank you Lord, for surrounding me with a faithful family!

I really want to add to this post, that my baby girl is FOUR today. Even though court has been a downer, it has been nice to be celebrating the life and birth of one of my precious kiddos. Madeline is such a little firecracker and blessing to me. She was the baby that we conceived right after loosing our twins from Russia. The Dr.'s told me that we would miscarry her and took me off all medicine I was taking to sustain the pregnancy. I honestly don't know if I have ever been so down in my life. Then, a week later we had an ultrasound "just to be sure" and there she was. Her heart was beating and she was perfect. I am still amazed. Although is does not surprise me at this point that she was a fighter, even then.

So much has happened and it is hard to believe that this time four years ago, I was laying in a hospital room holding my minutes old baby girl. Madeline, I love you more than you will ever know. I feel extremely blessed to have been given such an amazing gift.

Julie

We were postponed until December 7th. We are very sad right now.

Julie

Tonight is the night!!!!....... (and some pictures)

Tonight, while we are sleeping (or at least should be sleeping), Asher may officially become a Cole. I am trying my hardest not to think too much about it, but how can I not? I want to be prepared for the worst, but I really feel we have a better chance than average and I will be pretty disappointed if we do not pass. I know that not passing is not the end of the world and Asher will still become legally ours at some point, but I am not sure how reassuring that will be tomorrow if we fail.

So, just continue to pray for us and at the end I will have faith that God's will was done.

Now, on to some pictures......

I just thought this was cute. We got to church a little early on Saturday and we were killing time.

Here are my two "China princesses" fishing for candy at the Harvest Bash at our church.

Here is "Spidy Gee" just looking adorable.

Happy little princesses waiting in line to go through the inflatable bouncy thingy.

This picture cracks me up. Do you see the blue line Gee is suppose to be behind? Umm...he still didn't hit the target.

All three little monkey's.

We made caramel apples last Friday. My apple is on the right, Ryan's is on the left. :)

The kids' apples.

It was a very messy undertaking.

Unwrapping caramels.

A cute picture from Logan's last regular season soccer game.

Julie