Abdissa's shoes

We would like to introduce you to Abdissa! He is one of our new friends in Ethiopia. Actually he is the Ethiopian representative for our adoption agency. He is the one who prepares the referrals and takes each adoption case to court. It was a special treat to get to meet him. It's obvious that he is doing this job out of his love for the Lord. He also really loves the kids! We got several pictures of him and his wife with our little Joseph. 

You may be wondering why he is pointing to his shoes in this picture. Well, in Ethiopia shoes are a really big deal. :) Several times when we walked into a room we saw Ethiopians checking out our shoes. We didn't know this before we went there so we just wore our tennis shoes. Who knows what they thought about us. 

Anyway, Abdissa put on his best shoes on the last night we were there and we went out with some other adopting families for a nice Ethiopian dinner. 

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We're back

Hi! We've been back home for a couple days now. We are pretty exhausted from the trip. We've seen some friends and neighbors, but we haven't had much down time yet. 

It's definitely a lot to process. We totally enjoyed our time with Joseph. I wish I could post some pictures and video, but we can't do that until he's ours. So, pray hard for April 8th!!! 

He is a wonderful baby! He's a playful, happy boy. We love his big, expressive eyes. I don't think he'll be able to get away with anything because his eyes will give everything away. 

The staff at the Thomas Center is wonderful. They love the Lord and they love the children. We were very impressed by the wonderful care that our little boy is getting. That made leaving him so much easier. He's happy there. The hope that we could go back and get him in a month also made it easier to leave him. We have a lot to do to get ready for his arrival. Plus we're trying to have a thankful attitude. We're thankful for the time that we got to spend with him and we're thankful for this one last month with just the two of us. 

We enjoyed our time together in Ethiopia. I feel so privileged to be able to share this whole experience with my wonderful husband. He's very impressive! He's already a super dad! 

I'll post more in the next few days about our experiences! :) 

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we're ready!

We're just about ready to go to Ethiopia! We're so ready!! 

Tim called and talked to the director of the orphanage yesterday. We were nervous that we might not get to see our little boy on Sunday since it's Easter. I was listening in when he told Tim (in his african accent), "No problem! I will pick you up on Sunday morning, don't worry about a thing!" At the end of the conversation he said, "God Bless You!" Aww!! We already love this man...can't wait to meet him! 

We bought a ton of diapers that we'll bring with us to donate to the orphanage. We also bought some clothes. We want to be a blessing to the orphanage. We want them to invite us back to adopt a little girl too! Once we finish Joseph's adoption we'll get ready for the next one. :) 

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We have a COURT DATE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We have GREAT NEWS!!! We've been scheduled for a court hearing on April 8th!!!!!!!!!!!!! APRIL 8TH!!!!!!!!!!! We know that it's not uncommon to have to go through court a few times before passing so we're asking you to be praying for this day. Pray that this adoption can be finalized without any problems. If everything goes well we will travel to Ethiopia to pick Joseph up on April 27th. That's just a month after we get back from visiting him. We just long to have him with us. 

It's hard to believe that we are leaving for Ethiopia the day after tomorrow. We're totally excited to meet him!! Lately everywhere we go we see babies and we ask each other...do you think Joseph is that big? Do you think Joseph is sitting up on his own? Do you think Joseph is teething? Do you think Joseph is babbling? We wonder about him so much. Soon we'll have more answers! 

Recently we were at a coffee shop with some friends and we looked up and saw this sign. Seriously, everywhere we look we see things that make us think of Joseph! 

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Tori's journal

Our niece, Victoria, wrote about us in her journal. She is in first grade now and we're so proud of her!! 

Great job, Tori!! We love you and we can't wait to see you when we bring Joseph home!! 

Love, 

Uncle Tim & Aunt Jeni

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The Quilt!!!!

Here's a couple pictures of the finished product. Now I just have a week to finish the small one to bring to him. We leave next Saturday night! We can't wait to meet him, but we know it'll be hard to leave him. 

           

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nicknames

We were sitting in class today trying to focus on our language studies. It has been fun to share our adoption news with our Arab friends and teachers...more on that later. 

Arabs are so cute; they're so sweet and loving. They have a pattern that they use for nicknames they put an "oo" sound in the middle of the name! We brought that up again today. I called Tim, "Teyoom" and he called me "Jeyoon." We asked our teacher how it would work with Yusef's name. She said, "Yesoof!" How cute! We've also noticed that when Arabs talk to babies they call them, "nuu nuu" (kind of like "new new") We can't wait to meet our little "nuu nuu!" 

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30....eeek!!!!

Today we took an afternoon/evening trip to the big city to celebrate my birthday. Until now I didn't want to admit that I was actually turning 30!! eek!!! It's okay, my sister-in-law, Karla, helped me face the truth! Thanks, Karla! 

I wanted to be with just my husband today. I love, love, love being with him!!! We're doing our best to enjoy the time that we have left with just the two of us. We know that our lives are about to change for good. 

Just a couple of 30 year olds. :) 

We couldn't help but admire this cute little girl walking around. She made us think of Joseph. Can't wait to have him with us! 

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welcome home Noah!

We are celebrating with our friends Mark & Renee on the homecoming of their little Noah. They brought him home one week ago today. He was born early and ended up spending 7 weeks in the NICU. We're so glad he's finally at home!! We miss you guys so much and can't wait to meet Noah when we come to the States. 

Here's a picture of Big Brother Samuel welcoming his little brother home!! How sweet! 

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This is the hard part!

This has been a hard week for us. We just long to have our little Joseph with us. By the way in Arabic Joseph is pronounced: "Yusef" and looks like this: يوسف 

I can't get him off my mind. It's not that I'm worried about him because I know that he's in God's hands, but I just can't wait to have him with us. 

I ordered some fabric and my mom brought them with her when my parents came to visit. So, I started Joseph's quilt. I even had some scraps so I plan to leave a small version of it when we go visit and have to leave him. :( 

Here's a couple pics of the progress of the quilt: 

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Happy 1/2 Birthday Joseph!!!!!

Today is Joseph's 1/2 Birthday! His birthday is September 4th, so today he is 6 months old! We can't wait to see him in less than three weeks. We travel to Ethiopia on March 22nd. :) 

My family celebrated Joseph's 1/2 birthday together!! They cut the candle in half and had a cake for him! My parents are so ready to be grandparents. This is the first grandchild on my side of the family so they're going a little crazy over little Joseph!! 

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Joseph's first letter

Joseph got his first letter a couple days ago! We thought it was so sweet of Uncle Gary and Aunt Judy! We both got tears in our eyes when we read it. :) 

They also brought a blanket for him! How sweet! 

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