Spokane, WA here we come!!

We leave tomorrow morning for Spokane and our two day training for adopting from Ethiopia. The blessing for us is that Kevin's Uncle Kenny and Aunt Karen live there and we are staying at their place. They are taking us site seeing the first half of the week. Friday and Saturday is the training and they are watching the kids:) Then we start home on Sunday. I've added a couple pictures of what we are living in the next 10 days. I've packed it all week with all the amenities of any fine hotel. We have a fridge, stove, running water, toilet, iron. We even have music as Jordan is bringing along her guitar and harmonica. Our day is getting quite long here as we mowed lawn, picked and canned green beans, butchered 60 chickens and made the food we are taking along and now are cleaning up everything. Kevin's parents stopped by so we could see our niece Ally and nephew Arik from Wisconsin. Pray for safety and good gas mileage:) We love you all for praying for us and helping us bring these children home. God Bless You for your love and kindness. We are praising the Lord for his loving kindness too. He is so good to us.

Psalm 63:3-4 ...your loving kindness is better than life, My lips shall praise You. Thus I will bless You while I live; I will lift up my hands in Your name.

A Little Setback

Good evening. We had a little setback which has me a bit disappointed but we know these are inevitable. We had set up our second home study meeting for Thursday night and had a bit of a plan to pay for it but that fell through. The meeting is to be set for another time. Please pray specifically for the finances for this part. Kevin has completed the jobs he had until now and only has one in the works. So (with a smile on my face) please pray for Kevin to get more jobs so he can be away from home more:) Seriously, a couple of jobs would be good just to get through the next step. It was a bit of a blessing to have the meeting canceled because this week I am packing for 9 people to be away from home 10 days. I was getting a bit anxious for how clean should I have the house for this meeting. What do you think? Should we paint the bathroom and tile the floors and replace the garage door and fix the broken window or should we let her see the place as we live in it? One reason we decided now was the time to adopt and not when "all" the projects around here were done was then we would never adopt. The projects when you own a home are never ending. The trip to Spokane, WA is getting us excited. We are attending an Adopting Older Children from Ethiopia training there next week. We are taking the bus and Kevin and Troy just got the air conditioner installed today. The fridge is the next order of business and then we will be road ready. We are looking forward to next year's trip to Somewhere, USA with all of our children (adopted too).



Emily picked out today's verse:

I Corinthians 13:13 And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.

First Home Study Meeting

Hello, we have completed the first half of the home study. We met today in Breck, MN and had a good time sharing with Mrs. Ness about our childhoods and life up until now. She knows all the details because I'm not one to tell a condensed story!!!!(big smile) I have a bit of trouble not including many, many details when I tell anything. Kevin almost ran out of time but he is a man of fewer words than me so he was able to finish. Of course, I helped him answer a few times. I honestly have a hard time if someone doesn't answer before I know the answer:) And of course she had to sort out fact from fiction with Kevin. He likes to tease:) We went to the jail and got fingerprinted so now we will have an FBI check? I think. Thankfully we have lived very quiet, normal lives in our Smalltown, USA. We also signed 4 forms for background checks from various other agencies. Next "step" is to go to the training in Spokane in July. I'll keep plugging away at our passports and little things. Monday, I plan to apply to Christian World Adoption for their part of the process. The paperwork will begin again but hopefully it is similar to what we have just completed.

Nehemiah 8:10b ...for the joy of the Lord is your strength.

Paperwork Pregnancy

My friend Laura is going through this process and she calls this stage a paperwork pregnancy. By the end of all the paperwork you will have a child or children in our case. Hers, too. She is adopting two beautiful boys from Haiti. Well, today I was able to complete all but 7 of the 22 items on the checklist. The most one check received was 13 sheets of paper. The least one got was 2. I have a thick folder. We have check-ups for the whole family and then two more will be gone and also tomorrow at the meeting we have with the home study coordinator one more will be gone when we pay the first check!:) I went online to the Center for Disease Control (CDC) and found out what we will need to consider before traveling to Ethiopia. It is a very thorough site with a link to every country and links to every possible sickness you could come in contact with. I made my list and now know what we will do before going over there. Tomorrow morning at 8:30 a.m. is our first meeting with God's Children Adoption Agency from Fergus Falls. Pray we completed the paperwork correctly. I'll let you know tomorrow how it went.

Galations 6:9 Let us not become weary in doing good for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.

The Hand of God

Good evening! Through most of my daily experiences I like to think; "What is God teaching me through this or showing me through this experience?" I believe he may have done that this past weekend. Thursday night Isaac was bit under his eye by a mosquito or gnat (not that we know for sure but he didn't even notice it so I think it was not a bee or wasp). He swelled up a bit the next day but on Saturday when he woke up a good part of his face was swollen and had a rash. I took him in to Urgent Care. I got to talking to the doctor and he told me of his allergies and where he worked from and he specializes in treating people from other countries, refugees and such. I talked to him about our adoption and bringing the kids to see him when we get them home. He was very positive he could help us through any possible issues. I'm very encouraged to have a resource in this area. Isaac asked why God didn't just heal him since we had prayed for that and maybe God wanted us to meet this doctor!?! Then, when I was getting a certified copy of our marriage license at the courthouse I met a lady who adopted a 4 and 6 year old from South America many years ago now. We chatted for bit (sorry to my children who had to wait while I did this:). She was encouraging in that her children spoke no English and within a month had a good grasp of the language and were speaking it! How wonderful that is. We believe our children have English in the school they attend so how much better for them is that! I started the photocopying marathon. We have 7 of 22 items on the list checked off. And I have to say that one check on the list was about 10 sheets of paper. God Bless and talk to you later.

Thanks a million!

I was so excited to check the blog and have some comments already. I wasn't sure if it was "ready" for viewing yet. We were waiting until we actually sent in our application for the home study. Our first meeting is going to be at our church Friday the 29th of June. We received the first packet of paperwork to be completed. Wow! The list is near two pages long. I do a similar thing each year when I renew my daycare license so it will be OK.

Cute saying from one our our darling children: "Don't you think seven is enough?"

Thank you to those who emailed encouraging notes. We appreciate your thoughts and prayers.

Philippians 4:6 Tell God your needs and don't forget to thank him for his answers.