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!

GRADUATION!

So, I'm WAY behind on my posting, but I also WAY behind on getting pictures from the camera to the computer and then resized so I can put them on my blog, but such is the busy life of a full-time working, tired-but-fulfilled Mom of three, waiting-to-be Mom of four. I don't know how alot of Mom's keep up, I usually go to bed right after the kids, so I don't get much done at night.

Anyway, my sweet J2 "graduated" from pre-school in May and I'm finally getting around to showing off the pictures. He looked so sweet in his cap and gown. I can't believe my second "baby" is going into Kindergarten in a month!

The whole family came out to cheer him on!

Here's my big boy with his best buddy

I love you sweet boy!!!!!

The Girls' Room!

So we talked to our case worker, Julie, last night and she confirmed that we are officially number 10 on the girl's waiting list, but she also said that there is only one family ahead of us who are willing to accept a child over 12 months, so, of course, now I am even more anxious! They can never tell when they will have "your" child come into their care...only God knows when that will happen, but I am now "buzzing" on that news and hoping for a sooner rather than later call. I should know after going through this three times before that it is better to think "later" and be surprised earlier, than to get your hopes up for "soon" and drive yourself crazywaiting. I can't help myself though, and like I told my good friend, the anticipation is one of the blessings of this roller-coaster journey.

Most of you that know me also know that the Girl's room has been ready for months now (when I have something in my head, I have to do it "now"!) It came out really nice and I can't wait to have both of my little princesses together in their room. I guess I'd better work on getting "L" out of my bed at night first though :)

I love dragonflies, and I'm not a girly-girl (neither is "L") so I did their room in a buttery yellow color with green and blue dragonflies. I found the cutest wall decals and added some embellishments of little dragonflies I've found here and there. They have matching beds and will share a dresser and a pretty yellow rocking chair.

This is one of the wall decals...I just love it! The dragonflies are actually 3D and are glued to the wall.

This will be "H's" bed when she comes home...soon I hope!




Ok...so I'm ready, the kids are ready (I think) and the room is ready...so come on home baby H! We love you and can't wait to hold you and kiss you and watch you sleeping sweetly in your new room!

NUMBER 10 !!!!!

We got our new official number from AGCI today. I was expecting 13, maybe 12, but was very pleasantly surprised that we are number 10. Yeah! The bad news is that the courts in Ethiopia close for two solid months at the end of July, so even though we've moved up quickly, now we are pretty much "On hold". Please be praying that all the cases currently in "the system" will pass through the courts before the closure. It would be so much harder to have a picture and then have to wait through two months of NO movement at all.

STOP AND THINK!!!

Ok...I know I'm probably gonna get some eye-rolls, some "who does she think she is?" and "oh brother, I'm not wasting 15 minutes of my time on this "hooey". But do me a favor, because if you are reading this...you are obviously someone that I care deeply for...and even if I don't know you, I still care. Please, don't pause or click away, watch the entire thing. It's only 15 minutes of your time, but it means the world to me. And, given how crazy our world is and the losses we all experience, and how short our lives are on this planet, it really is too important not to just give it 15 short minutes.

http://www.crazylovebook.com/ click on "videos" and then click on the "JUST STOP AND THINK" video. Before or after that, you may want to also watch the shorter awe factor video.

Much love,
Stacy

J and Mommy's Florida adventure!!

I had the best time tormenting J1! I suprised him at school on Thursday and didn't tell him where we were going or what we were going to do. I made him guess all the way to the airport and then when we got there, Daddy asked him if he could go anywhere...where would he like to go? He said...New York...hahahaha. I said "well, New York would be fun but they don't have Mickey Mouse". His little jaw just dropped! I think he was in shock.

I told him we were going to Florida to see his cousis...Yay! On Friday, we went to Disney World and had an unbelievably good day. The weather was awesome, and we didn't wait more than 10 minutes or so to ride anything!

We had a blast! J1 even rode his first rollercoaster...Thunder Mountain. I didn't tell him it was a rollercoaster when we got on because I knew he'd freak out. His little eyes were as big as saucers and he didn't look very happy, but I think he liked it...once it stopped. : )

He did pull me aside to tell me that the ride made him "obnoxious"...(he meant nauseous) haha

We met Peter Pan...and Uncle R channelled his inner Jack Sparrow :

My happy boy in the Happiest Place on earth. Not a bad birthday suprise, I think ; )

And that was just the first day! On Saturday, Uncle R and Aunt C took us all out on their boat to fish and play.

We couldn't have asked for better weather...and I even caught a shark...ok, a little baby shark, but it was shark!

We snorkeled and played on the beach and just had an awesome day. The water was so clear and blue...just like being in the Caribbean. That's my kind of day.

Thank you, God for my awesome oldest boy and for giving us the opportunity to go on this amazing trip and get to spend time with my Sister and her family. I don't think either one of us will ever forget our time together. Thanks again, Aunt C and Uncle R, and counsis D and D...we love you guys!

NUMBER 20!!!

We got our new wait list number today and we are currently number 20 on the waiting list for our daughter. I know the wait will be alot longer, but we moved up 6 numbers since we got on the list, so I'm happy with that. God's timing is so perfect...even when my patience is not!