No News Yet....

We are waiting on news from the lawyers/adoption agency regarding our little Israel. His case should have been presented to the judge on Monday so I feel as though we should hear very soon....possibly on Wednesday. I feel bad that he is there without us, although he has his WONDERFUL foster mom...but it's not quite the same as having a "for life" Mommy and Daddy of your very own!

So, for now, this For Life Mommy and Daddy have been painting Mr. Israel's room a bright "boy" yellow...kind of a construction vehicle yellow...and getting ready to be parents again, this time, together!

Blessings,
Beth

Court Date!

From what we understand, our little boy's case will be heard in court today in the other state in which he is a legal resident. They are trying to switch custody of him to a third party who can then give us custody!

Pray that it goes well! If that doesn't work, I was told that there is a "plan B"...but I'd love for it to work!

We are busy switching rooms around, stirring up dust and making me really sick with allergies! We have two cats and one dog in the house as well as living in the country with lots of dusty tractors and fields around. I told my hubby that I thought I had two options regarding dust and pet allergies...

#1....keep a very very clean house.
#2...leave everything alone and just never stir up dust...

I thought option #2 was the better and more likely solution but dear hubby opted for number 1.
(But there is always allergy medications, so I guess there is an option #3....)

Hopefully we will hear good news very soon and will have a date to go get our Israel! Leaving Sunday afternoon would be the very very best time for us but I'm not sure that it will work for the foster Mom...a.k.a. Mrs. Wonderful. She really is incredible and gives all the credit to God, which makes her even more wonderful!

God was wonderful to us and made our trip to the D.C. area a sweet time for our marriage... holding hands and talking to each other.  We are hoping to take the girls with us when we come back. Unfortunately, Gideon has some commitments that will not make it possible for him to go. We didn't get to actually go to D.C. or the other historic areas on this fast trip so we want to take a little extra time this next trip with the girls. I haven't seen Washington D.C. since I was 15 or so....and that has been a couple of years for me. (yeah. At least a couple.)

We had heard some car noises when we were about to make the trip home and Roger thought it would be best to have it checked out. He made the statement that we could just pray and trust God to help us get back over the mountains in our little Aveo.....but he also said that God gave us sense and we should take care of what He has provided for us.

All checked out well and our trip home was non eventful....except that we had a wonderful time. At one point, we were entertaining each other by trying to name all the Duggar children in order. We kept missing one. Poor little Jason.
Speaking of Duggars, I bought some DVD's of their show since we no longer have "TV"...just videos. We have gone over a year with no real TV. Anyway, 19 year old Jennie walked into the room last night and noticed that we had just turned the TV/DVD player on.
 She said, "Time for our 'Daily Dose of Duggars?'"
We thought it was pretty funny! We were excited because we were getting ready to watch an episode of the Bates family with the Duggars! I just love those families! They really helped us decide to adopt....even though they haven't the slightest idea who we are!

Well, back to work! Possibly tomorrow I can work on painting Israel's room! It's going to be a kind of antique yellow...in a boyish sort of way. I'm decorating it with retro pictures of cars, trucks, and airplanes. I bought a reversible quilt with navy, burgundy and that yellow color on one side  and dark green, navy and yellow on the other side. (That is, until he arrives home and makes it his own with his ideas and likes and dislikes!) I also thought it would be really cute to decorate it with John Deere tractors....but for a little boy from the Congo who has spent the last two years in New York city or the D.C. area, it may be a little soon to throw John Deeres at him!

Blessings,
Beth

He is Wonderful!

What a whirlwind we have been riding the last few days! We were able to meet our little guy on Wednesday and we ended up spending all afternoon and into the early evening with him! His foster mom is great...what a blessing she is in these kids' lives. She is doing some really hard work with children who have had traumatic pasts.
Israel is just wonderful and really ready to have a Mommy and a Daddy who is committed to him. He has big brown puppy dog eyes and curly eye lashes. He has a smile that lights up his face and the room! We were able to visit with the "family" and then we all went to lunch together. He sat with Roger and myself and his foster mom and her little girl (who is also a child with trauma in her past.) He still had no idea that we were really there to see him. Eventually we took him to Chuckie Cheese alone to play games. He had a ball and so did we! We gave him a little birthday present...a model that he and Roger put together...and a build a bear frog in soccer clothes. He was quite happy.
Then, we went to the park to meet up with the "family" again. When it was time to go, we promised we would be back the next day. (There was an issue with the model that I bought...it was missing a piece and Roger had to superglue it...God works in mysterious ways, doesn't He? I mean, it was easily fixed, but we got to visit again! Israel is learning to TRUST people so when we said we would bring it fixed the next day, he could start learning to trust us.) We got to talk a little more to him and he told us that he wished we could be his MOMMY and DADDY! Oh how hard it was not to just break down and cry at that. Foster Mommy had some tears rolling down her face, too! How sweet it was!
She told him that we wanted to adopt a little child so maybe we could work something out! We have to be a little "guarded" at this point for him until all the papers are signed and we have a date to receive custody of him. We don't want to hurt him any more than he has already been hurt.
When we got ready to leave, he told us that he was happy and sad...two emotions that he is learning to recognize. He was happy to be with us but sad to have us have to leave. We promised to come back very soon and when we left, his foster Mommy was holding him and he was crying.

So was I...but it was all good. We are pretty much in love with this little boy!

Now it is up to the two states we each live in to get it together so that we can have our boy. Although he is originally from the Congo, he is now a United States citizen. The Lord is good. I am so ashamed that I was so impatient and upset that I felt He wasn't helping us with our adoption. But all along, He was doing some wonderful, secret work that only He could do for us and for Israel. What a blessing our Lord is in our lives...and we have the incredible privilege to share Him with Israel!

Blessings,
Beth

Meet him day!!!!!!!!!!!!

Oh wow....I am sooo excited! Today is "meet him" day!!! We get to meet our little Israel for the very first time! I hope he likes us!!!  Right now, we have about 2 hours before we see our little son. I'm on the verge of tears and getting nervous. I hope he likes us!!!!
We left Indiana yesterday at about noon and drove straight through to the east coast and finally arrived about 1 a.m. this morning. I was a bit wound up and didn't get to sleep until about 3 a.m. I worked on finalizing a scrapbook to leave for him when his foster mom is able to let him in on the "secret" that we are adopting him. Until we have a "get him" date, we are not telling him. But we get to enjoy the company of an adorable little boy for the afternoon!

Can't wait!!!!! I hope he likes us!!

Did I mention that I hope he likes us?
Blessings,
Beth

Lots to do!!!

We are getting soooo excited to get to meet our little boy this week! We leave tomorrow (Tuesday) and then drive to Virginia to spend some of Wednesday with him. Yay!!

Jennie's open house was a nice success...although it was HOT!!! I think it was about 95 here in central Indiana. We also had a garage sale on Saturday and again....HOT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Lots of stuff going on here...please pray that our "big" house would sell. Now that we have chosen Israel, we really would love to have that house burden off our backs so that we can concentrate on our "home" and not a "house." We are busy trying to get the rooms rearranged to make room for a delightful six year old boy!!

Have a lovely Memorial Day.  Remember those who have served us well....

Blessings,
Beth

What a ride this adoption thing is! It's still a "go" to adopt little Israel but there has just been a "glitch" in the works lately. Since this is not really an international adoption (although he is originally from Africa) we have to go through a lot of red tape to get the states to agree to everything. Our state also requires that custody be given or relinquished to an agency instead of given directly to us...so that is one headache we are enduring. We also were just told that our homestudy has to be updated before the states can move forward. Yuck.

We were supposed to go get our little boy next week but now it looks like it will be a bit longer. But you know, as anxious and excited (and slightly overwhelmed and really nervous) that I am, God knows what is the very best thing for our little guy. Maybe he needs a little more time there.

We will plan to go visit him next week regardless of not being able to bring him home. That is really exciting to me. I think possibly this is the best way, anyway. That way, he is able to prepare a little bit more than just meeting us and then the next day we take him with us. How scary that might be for him!

Anyway, we are busy getting the house ready for a new member of our home.

Jennie's graduation party (very small party...she has only invited family...) is this weekend. We are also working on a garage sale to help us with the expenses of our adoption and are planning to have it Saturday.
Yeah...not much going on here!

Today was the last day of classes for Becca's homeschool "co-op." It's not really a co-op but it is too difficult to explain in any other term!

I hope God's blessings are falling all around you now and that you enjoy Memorial Day weekend. It is a big weekend here in central Indiana, with the 500 Mile Race. (Yikes...I don't even know who is racing!! I don't get a lot of news now that we don't get television anymore!!)

Blessings,
Beth

BIG NEWS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

To be completely fair to my daughter, I first need to tell how the big day for Mrs. Marci and her Mr. Ben went.
They were married on Saturday! It rained and was pretty cold. It was to be held outside at the gazebo where they first met many years ago. They were both attendants in my husband's daughter's wedding! Then...Ben asked her to marry him at that same gazebo...where Roger asked ME to marry HIM! So...they had hoped that it would stop raining so that they could add that special place to their most special day.
My dad, aka...Papoo...was to marry them and at noon, he and my mom prayed that it would stop raining and IT DID!!!!!!!!!!! (it was still pretty cold...but that's ok....)The pictures are beautiful and as soon as I can, I want to post some of them! Papoo gave glory to God after the wedding. He is soooo sweet! (I meant my dad is sweet...well, God is sweet, too...but I meant my dad....never mind....)

We had the reception nearby and it was so much fun! Roger and I did the cake, I did the flowers, I did the food with help from my dear friend Deanna and her family. It was a wonderful time!!!!

Ok.....so....drum roll, please!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We are soon to be parents to a six year old little boy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Woohoo!!!!! His name is Israel and he is gorgeous! I'm sure I can't say a whole lot more, but one of these days, you are going to read about our incredible journey in my blog!

We should have him in our home in early June.

What a blessing!! Praise the Lord. I'm so ashamed at how many times I doubted what God was doing in our adoption. He is bringing us the little BOY we need and giving him a Mommy and Daddy who want and need him. (And I'm going to have a fund raising garage sale....Israel does NOT want to wear all those dresses I bought for him/her!!!!!)

Thank you, Lord! I am so honored and at the same time, humbled that He has chosen us to have this little boy!

Blessings,
Beth