Somewhat Chaotic Current Events…

SO much has happened over the last few weeks! We had a trip to Florida, then David’s visitation and funeral, then back to Florida, then our referral(!), then our Ethiopia auction, then massive amounts of referral paperwork and appointments, then the trip to Ethiopia which I’m currently planning and packing for…and amongst all of that I found out that my A1C has risen again and I’m sitting on the fence of a diabetes diagnosis. I also haven’t been feeling the best in other areas. But God is amazing and He provides just what I need when I need it! 

Our first look at little C’s face when we opened our referral email ( I’ll have to share the whole story soon):

My heart was beating a mile a minute the evening we got our referral and my watch took note:

Snuggles from Shi-Shi:

Beautiful fall skies:

Our auction: 

TONS of referral paperwork! (It’s all due this week, the day before I leave for Ethiopia!)

Malia and I drove down to Cincinnati and spent the night, got up early for her USCIS fingerprint appointment, and had breakfast afterward. One step closer to our I-800A approval so we can continue our adoption process! 

The twins got lots of football awards, and are currently busy with basketball practices and scrimmages. 

That’s all for now, folks! 

REFERRAL!!!!

We are excited to announce that after a very long wait, we have received and accepted an adoption referral for a precious little boy from Haiti! He was born in March of 2020. We began the process in March of 2020, the very same week! 13 years ago on 11/11/11, we flew to Ethiopia to bring home our new sons, and on this 11/11, we have accepted a referral for a new son! God is so good! ❤️

Florida and Football Finale…

Chris and I spent the last couple of days in Florida…the second time we’ve been there in 2 weeks! This time, we attended a board meeting and open house for The New Beginnings and spent some quality time on the beach.

While we were gone, the boys collected a bunch of canned goods for the food pantry with their football team. They also finished their successful football season by losing their playoff game to Bluffton. They had a great season, though, and I’m so proud of them! 

More of October…

 More football…

I went to visit David 3 days before he died. I took these photos at the hospice facility. I was able to tell him goodbye, I loved him, thanks for being such a good brother, I’ll see him again soon, and to hug my babies for me if he sees them up there. He looked at me and smiled, and I know he heard me. ❤️

Pretty fall colors in our yard, and lots of October roses! 

I went to a women’s conference with my prayer group, and we had a great day together! 

Sunday morning Bible study with the boys and our weekend son, Bolu…

Fun at the corn maze: 

Shiloh is 6 months old! She can now sit and play with toys all by herself. 

A couple pics from school…