"THE CALL!!!!"

It finally came...of course, when I least expected it. I mean, I knew we were next in line for a toddler girl, but I didn't think it would happen when it did. See, usually the "calls" come earlier in the day, so on Monday, August 24th, when 4pm passed by I thought "well, not today". T has been out of town so much over the last few weeks and I've been basically a single Mom, so Monday night I decided to take the kids out to eat. Yeah, I'm crazy...three small kids at a restaurant. Anyway, as expected, the kids were running wild, melting down, fighting over crayons, whining about what they would or wouldn't eat, and being "quietly yelled at" by Mommy to sit down! So, when the phone rang I thought it was my Mom. I had invited her to meet us for dinner and thought maybe she had decided to have some sense and NOT join us : ). But nooooo, it was Julie from AGCI!!!!! When I saw the number I couldn't believe it...I answered and tried to hear Julie while attempting to corral two kids heading for the outside fence (we were on the patio) when thankfully, my Mom showed up. I mouthed to her that it was our agency and my angel of a Mom took over the craziness of ordering drinks and trying to quiet down the chaos. Anyway, I said "Hey Julie...do you have some good news for me?". And, she said, "well, I have a little girl to talk to you about..."

Well, she told me a little bit about our sweet H and I caught things here and there between yelling "sit down!" and "stop blowing bubbles in your milk"! We agreed that she would e-mail me all the information and pictures and I would check them out as soon as I could get home. Great! I'm at a restaurant with three wild kids and no computer AND my husband is out of town. I immediately texted T..."REFERRAL!!!!", since he was in a conference and he texted back that he would call me asap. So, I rushed the kids through dinner, kissed my Mom and said thanks for coming and got home as quickly as possible. So, I tell the kids to get their jammies on and brush their teeth and I run for the computer. I text T like 8 times...."call me", "CALL ME!!"..."CALL ME NOW!!!"...and "WHERE ARE U!?". And, of course, the kids are running around like animals..."L" is naked and running around singing "I shake my booty", the boys are fighting over some cheapo happy meal toy and I am about to fly to Wisconsin to choke my husband for not calling. Finally, T calls and he's booting up his computer, which according to my calculations at the time took, like, 3 years! Anyway, we finally both open the picture and both at the same time said "Oh, look at her, she's beautiful"! We oohed and aahed and congratulated each other and said we would talk more later. I didn't say anthing to the kids about what was going on, cause I wanted T and I to see everything first, but right about then little "L" comes in the room, looks at the computer and says happily but very matter-of-factly "that's my baby sister, H". She knew. I just looked at her and smiled and said, "yes, it is honey". Well, that got the boys all riled up and soon I had three little monkeys all in my lap wanting to see the pictures of their new little sister.

We are just so thrilled and grateful to God for another amazing child. She is 16 months old, sweet as can be and too cute for words...looks a lot like "L" and I cannot wait to kiss her little cheeks. What happens now is that we submit more paperwork, and wait for a court date in Ethiopia. Once we pass court it will take about 3 or 4 weeks until we can travel to bring her home. Please pray that we will get a court appointment soon and that all will go smoothly and we will get her home sooner rather than later. We should have her home in time for Christmas, but I sure would be extra-super-thankful if she was home for Thanksgiving!

Please also pray for her birthfamily and for the selflessness and loss that have experienced. We will love this little girl so much and do everything we can for her. I am just so grateful. So blessed. So so incredibly blessed.

San Diego Baby!!!

Yeah...it's only been two months, but I'm finally getting around to posting pictures of our awesome trip to San Diego in June. The kids did great on the looooong flights...thanks to lollipops, dvd's and gummies. Ok, they were loaded with sugar and "L" kept screaming "Airplane Mommy!" at the top of her lungs, which then turned into for some strange reason, "Dog Poop!" prompting her brothers to laugh hysterically...the other passengers, not so much.

Our first day, we took the kids with Uncle Marse and our wonderful neices to the Point Loma lighthouse, Cabrillo National Monument and the tidepools. We had such a great time. "L" wasn't too fond of the crabs at the tidepools, but she had a blast running around with her cousins.

You can see all the way to Mexico and all of San Diego from here. So beautiful!

We also got to spend time with some of our dearest friends at Jill and Ron's house. Jill is "my girl" in San Diego and I miss her terribly. It was so great to get to spend time with her and her hubby and darling son, Lucas. Who, by the way, was so awesome about sharing all of his way cool toys with my kids.

We also got to spend some time with Aunt Nancyand her kids...Here are all the cousins together at Grandma Bonnie's house.

We attended the "H" family reunion...and this ain't no small thing! T's Dad is from Mexico originally, and grew up on Catalina island. It was so great to see all of his family come together...we were part of the "yellow" group, from Grandpa Marse's side of the family. This is about maybe a 6th of the amount of people there. It was great fun to see all the amazing people that have made up so many generations of this family. Very cool stuff!


We were able to enjoy breakfast for Father's Day the next day with everyone. Happy Dad's day to Daddy, Grandpa Marse and Uncle Marse! You are all such special Dads and very loved by your kids, and grandkids!

We also made it to Sea World with Uncle Marse and had a blast. The kids really really really loved Shamu. I'm still hearing "Shamu! Shamu!" in the car on the way home from school some days.

Jacob made me ride the one ride that you can get really soaked on...and we did!

We were so grateful to Uncle Marse for his hospitality, to Grandpa Marse for organizing the family reunion, and especially to Grandma Bonnie for making this trip possible for us. We can't wait to see you all again. Here we are with Grandma Bonnie on the beach. Thanks again everyone...can't wait to see you all again soon! XOXO!!!!

And, last, but not least...San Diego will always be special to me because that is where God led me to meet my wonderful husband of 11 years. We were married here on the water and are so grateful for all of our family and friends still there. We were able to sneak away for a few hours one night and have dinner at the little "hole in the wall" best fish-taco place in the world, where wer had our very first date! Love you honey!

Congrats to Theresa and Jon....and we could be next!!!!!

My dear friends, Theresa and Jon finally got their referral. An 18-month old Ethiopian beauty! I am so happy for them, and thrilled for this truly blessed little girl...they are amazing parents and just extraordinary people. They've been waiting for over a year for this and I am just so thrilled for them! You can read all about it at http://eastiesandcompany.blogspot.com/
Please be praying for Jon and Theresa to get their new daughter home very soon! The Ethiopian courts close for the month of September, so hopefully they will get an early October court date!

This also means that we are now "unofficially" next in line for a toddler girl! This also means that I am now "officially" crazed thinking about when we will get "the call". It may take a while, because you never know how many children will come into the care of our amazing agency, and especially a little sweetie in our age range (12-24 months). But, God knows and His timing is always PERFECT! Hard to remember when you are so close to finally seeing your child's face for the very first time.
I really can't believe that I'm going to be a Mom again. I never in a million years would've thought that I would be blessed with such an awesome hubby and four amazing kids at this point (or any point) in my life. Thank you Jesus!