Isaac eschews...

Isaac is eschewing the color green! He chose the colors in his tower. I'd give him a choice between colors and he never chose green. Then I have him a choice between two greens and he looked at the bucket, meaning "get me another color." Isaac was so excited to play with "his legos" because Caleb loves legos and was playing with his.

PS - Can you believe Isaac had the audacity to chose green while I was writing this post. I guess I need to find an antonym for eschew.

PS

No referrals this week. If it were possible I would eschew that too.

Eschew

This week this word has been in my head. I am going to eschew facebook, I am going to eschew eating too much. And the Lord has a sense of humor because today my word of the day e-mail was "eschew." It means "to shun; to avoid (as something wrong or distasteful). I have been meaning to eschew a lot of things. Namely self-pity and crankiness. Blah, blah, blah, I'm sick of myself. So, while I am stuck with me, I am going to try to eschew some things that are not helpful in my life. Do you have anything you want to eschew? bless you.

Immediately Jesus streched out His hand and caught him

and said to him, "Oh you of little faith, why did you doubt?"

Ahh, Peter, a disciple after my own heart. I had a Peter moment today, I had been walking fine on the water of no referrals, and I saw one wave and started to sink. The wave was this, I was under the impression that it was 4 months at the most that we would wait after our referral to go to Ethiopia, but some families have waited 6 months. NOOOO! I didn't think I could take that. In a matter of moments I was sinking, that is crying and vowing to never adopt again. Yes, this over two months (but you'd agree 6 months seems heaps longer than 4, especially in the life of a baby). But I have not been through almost 6 years of adoption time for naught and had somewhat gathered myself together in less than an hour vowing to trust the Lord no matter what.

And immediately Jesus streched out His hand and caught her. There were seven referrals this week, and eight children! Thank you God for catching me, and for just being good. Good to give referrals and meeting me at my time of need. The parents of baby boys had waited 11 1/2 months, the same amount of time on my ticker.

I am still praying, praying for referrals, and praying that our time before we travel would be short. The main reason for delay is that the court date is postponed, here are some things to pray for court:

1. That the birth parent/relative shows up for court

2. The official signature or seal is on all documents

3. MOWA (Ministry of Women's Affairs) would write the approval summary for the judge and get it to the judge on time.

4. Zadok's name is on all the documents and spelled correctly

5. The judge or MOWA is not in a meeting

6. Our names are spelled correctly and are on all documents

7. Nothing else would be allowed to interfere with our case being passed

I feel a bit selfish praying for this to go quickly, but I will still pray :). I think God is giving me this information so I can pray. My issue today was that often enough court is postponed for one reason or another. Today in the e-mail we got the above six reasons why it would be postponed (I added #7). I think that's God giving me a way to pray! I love that immediately Jesus saved Peter, and I am thankful He immediately gave me the answers I needed.

A Seven Year Old Lives Here

Today was Caleb's birthday! I loved watching him turn seven, it's fun to remember when it was exciting to gain another year ;). The day was a delight. I told him he could wake me up at 6:56 because he was born at 6:57. He did, and so I hugged my six year old one more time, and then he was seven. But wait, he turned back to six because Joel's clock was behind mine. Then I hugged my six year old one last time, and finally it was irrevocable, he was seven. What a nice way to start!

Last night Isaac and I wrapped a present for Caleb. Isaac wasn't content to leave it in my room, so we hid it in Isaac's room. As soon as we got Isaac up and Isaac heard it was Caleb's birthday he looked towards the present to tell Caleb what he had done! Both boys were very excited. It was a model airplane. Then Caleb opened some more presents and played some. We did a little school. Isaac went to school, and Joel came home early. Caleb chose McDonald's for lunch. Then we went to Bounce it Out, an indoor place full of inflatable bounce houses, slides, obstacle courses etc. We, as parents, were supremely jealous that we couldn't join in. I know this because I was kicked off the slide last time :). He bounced for a couple hours and we came home. Then Isaac joined us, and finally Grandpa, Grandma, and Auntie Bubba came for breakfast for dinner. Can you believe he got more presents? Finally, cookie cake! That about wrapped up our day. Tonight Caleb and I agreed it was a good one. He wishes next month was January too so he could have another.

As for mom, I endured this birthday better than most. We looked at all his baby pictures and his baby books, and I am very thankful for the boy he was and is. Besides seven is my favorite number, so it's bound to be a good year. I really do love my seven year old.

NoNe

Even Fonzie agrees, thumbs down. No referrals this week either. Please help us pray for more next week. I feel like every week that there aren't any is a week added to our wait time. Please Lord bring these babies home!

Have you seen this one?

This is Isaac, we were blessed to have gotten some baby pictures from his foster mother when we adopted him. What a treasure! Only it makes me wish I could have been his mom then.