Puzzle Pieces

So.......... Axum now has a Birth Certificate, a Passport and has had his medical appointment done by the Embassy!!!!! That is so huge! He has a BIRTH CERTIFICATE !! He could of lived his whole life in Ethiopia without a Birth Certificate!! It has our last name on it!! HE is an Engel! Praise God! That is another miracle! He has a PASSPORT!! You know one of those things you need to leave a country!! One of those things you need to come home! We should be submitted to Embassy on Monday! That means that we will  receive an email about an orphan investigation. This email means our file has been screened and passed on to an actual person!  This person will decide if they need to do an interview with his birth mother or anyone else, and then they will clear us. If they need an interview we will receive an email stating this.  Our Agency  will schedule the interview and get the person there. Then we will receive an email once that has happened and once our case has been cleared! They say this can take anywhere from 4-6 weeks (give or take 3-4 weeks) LOL! So really they don't really know and every case is different! And since Christmas is in there it might take a little longer who knows? God knows!!! And it will be perfect!

In the Bible James tell us that Every good and perfect gift comes from Above, from the Father of Heavenly lights.  This whole journey had been part of God's plan for our family! When I look back on life even before we even started our family 9 years ago, I see now that God has planned all of it and that if I would of be listening closer, so many things would not have been a surprise. He has put all of  the pieces together one by one. He will continue to do that for the rest of my life until that last piece is put together and hopefully he will be able to say TA DAAAA!!!!!  It has taken almost 2 years to come to the understanding that ,

James 1:12
Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, because when has stood the test he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him.

Meaning that their will be MANY trials but when you face the trails with perseverance (faith) you will be rewarded. Maybe not here on Earth but in heaven!  Wow it took almost 2 years to get that!! I might be a slow learner. LOL!

So these last weeks of waiting might be the hardest part of this one little piece of our puzzle but, We will stand in Faith knowing that this is the will of our Father! We will try in this season if giving to not be polluted by the world in thinking that we need more than we do. We will teach our Children to look after one another. We are all Orphans and God has adopted us into his family.


We will bless our children with knowing that when you walk in faith that you will not do it alone! Life can be dark but out of the shadows comes light! Pure everlasting light!

Lord, thank you for your light! Thank you for loving us so much! Thank you for giving so generously to all!! Thank you for your good and perfect gifts!
Amen

Thankful

I am not worthy to be Loved by a king!
 I am not worthy to be saved, or forgiven, or renewed.

But I am !

I am Loved by the King, Loved like a daughter!
 I am forgiven for all that I fall short of !

I am renewed each time I am forgiven!

I am saved!
 I am Saved!
  I am Saved!

Over and over again you say you Love me !
 You hold me up and whisper "I am enough"

My King is more than enough! 

I am Thanful that everyday I am met by Savior as I get out of bed, and that as long as I walk in his Will he will shied me with his Grace!

Today is special!

A week ago today was the second day of getting to spend time with our little man ! We first had breakfast at the guest house, it was pancakes. They were rolled up and the syrup was all on the inside! Yummy, and of course we had coffee!! I love COFFEE! Then we went to the foster care center to see Axum! He was feeling better today, not to sure of us yet but not as scared! He is a really good sleeper! I think he would get so nervous  that he would just fall right asleep in our arms! One of God's blessings to a Momma is having a sleeping baby on her chest ! I was very blessed getting to sit and rub his back while and I prayed and told him that we are his mommy and daddy forever! And just like that our first two hours of quality time was over!! BOO!!!!

Shortly after lunch we had a meeting with Mr. Alemu our attorney. So our driver took us over to his office. It was just a brief meeting to go over the things that we could expect for court the next day! We sat in his office and, he told us that the judge would ask us a few questions and it was really no big deal. It felt like it was going to be a big deal! I asked him if we would be able to look at Axum's file, a stack of paper work in a folder on his desk. He said of course and handed it to us! Half of it was in Amharic and the other half in English. We found out what orphanage he came from which I was very happy to know. On our next trip we might be able to go see it and maybe find out more about our little man! We also found out that someone had given him a birthday! We had heard that before and didn't think anything of it, a cause it didn't feel right! Some random stranger sitting at a desk who just has to put a date  down so that his file could be complete. They really don't keep track of birthdays in Ethiopia so for him to not have a true or "real" birthday was "normal". Those are two words I really don't like. Any who, We felt different about this date , something seemed to fit! 11-14-11  still two months earlier than we had thought but it is the same month as Josh's birthday!! Payton, Raegan, and myself all the share the Birthday month of August! So it seemed like 11-14-11 was meant to be! Josh and Axum get to share a birthday month! And guess what????? That's TODAY!!  Our baby boy turns 1 TODAY!! My heart hurts knowing that we are missing celebrating it with him, but I know that we can celebrate when he gets home and we will not miss another one! Amen!!!! God is Good! He has two gifts waiting for him to open when he gets home! I can't wait to see him open them! I can't wait for him to be sitting in our living room crawling or walking and playing ! I can't wait to kiss him when ever I want!!

Soon little man, soon!!

And We are Back!!

What a amazing week we had in Addis! We got to meet our son! He is so precious! We got to Addis around 1 in the morning on Tuesday, all of our flights went well and all the bags made it! We were able to pack 3 bags FULL of donations for the foster home! That is 150 lbs of donations!! Woot Woot! Thank you to everyone who went out of your way to get us donation to take!! It means a lot!

So Tuesday we got checked into the Guest House and than went straight to the Foster Center!! We were so excited to get to meet Axum!   Their were two other families that were staying at the guest  with us, they both had sweet new daughters they were getting to know! Another family stayed at the Hilton and we enjoyed getting to know them also! It was fun to listen to how God is working through all of them!

So once we arrived at the foster care center we waited for them to bring him to us,   We were so excited and our emotions were all over the place! I could not believe this was happening! And THEN THERE HE WAS!!! HALLELUJAH !!!! One of his very special care takers handed him to me! He was very shy and held on very tight to me. I WAS HOLDING OUR SON! He was so little and quiet! He had no idea who the heck we were and why the heck we were smothering him with kisses and hugs! We tried to play a little with him but I'm pretty sure we were scaring him! He would just hang on to us and that was fine with me! We were able to visit for two hours in the morning and two hours in the afternoon. It was never enough time! He was always very curious of everything that was going on around us. He has the most amazing smile it lights up the room! His eyes are so beautiful and big!He sucks on his lower lip. He is perfect and we are in love with him now more than ever! I couldn't stop thinking about how big of a miracle he is and how big of a miracle it was for us to be meeting him ! God has pushed us and we are so thankful! This is only a God sized dream!!

The one word I have to describe it is, Eucharisteo which means grace joy and thanksgiving always precedes the miracle!

This was only the first day!!!! God is Good! Thank you all for the Love and support!