new flower

Photos courtesy Karen

2011-05-05T20:49:00.002-04:00

My sweet friend, Karen, took these amazing photos of Grace and her daughter, whom Grace has not stopped talking about since our visit with them.

Read it, Mommy

2011-05-03T07:01:00.000-04:00

Grace's has 2 favorite books right now and many times a day she bring them to me and says, "Read it, Mommy" (I then look down my nose a bit and she remembers to attach the please to her most uttered phrase). Before every nap and bedtime and often several other times during the day we read "A Mother for Choco" and "Shaoey and Dot" (thanks to cyber-Aunt Sara for this one). Both of these are popular adoption theme books and interestingly, Grace has always been drawn to them. Grace has always loved books and has many, many of them but I'm so curious why this book is her favorite right now.

Does she really identify or does she just like the story or pictures? I'd love to hear from other out there. How early did your children begin to pick up on things related to their adoption? Grace already spots every brown person in books and on TV and says emphatically, "That's me!" And one book I read said she wouldn't notice a difference in her skin color for another year.

Okay, adoptive parents, what do you think? Does she sense something? Have you experienced anything like this? I'd love to hear about it.

Easter

2011-04-26T17:53:00.003-04:00

It was a glorious Easter weekend filled with egg hunts, candy, scuffles over wagons, pretty clothes, the joy of worshipping a risen Savior and the abundant life his sacrifice affords us.

Spring!

2011-04-12T08:10:00.004-04:00

Heirloom

2011-04-10T14:18:00.000-04:00

It's not exactly an heirloom, but this is a dress that I made for Avery about a decade ago. Now, I'm not a saver of things, so when Grace came along, the only thing left in our house that even hinted at the fact we had ever had a couple babies before her was one box of handmade dresses. I am also not a Southern girl at all (not only do I not like sweet tea, I do not even know how to make it), but I did fall in love with the art of smocking while we lived in Montgomery, Alabama. And I have so enjoyed putting Grace in the dresses Avery once wore and dwelling on Grace's new heritage. I hope her children can enjoy these family heirlooms someday.

High Speed

2011-03-31T14:10:00.003-04:00

No, it's not your eyes. These pictures are blurry. They are meant to illustrate the point I made in my last post. Grace moves at very high speeds. In her actions, in her thoughts (I thought she had a stuttering problem but she really just can't get the words out fast enough), in her emotions, in her words. She can even tell a knock, knock joke in 3.2 seconds, including the punchline and the laugh. Consider these "A Day in the Life of Grace" photos. In fact, if that second picture had audio, you would hear her telling me that she was going to Target, Church and Trader Joe's.

Grace gets a boo-boo

2011-02-28T21:35:00.003-05:00

Grace is reckless. And reckless at high speed. The last few weeks her usual speed and inaccuracy at walking/running/playing etc. has dramatically increased. On Saturday I remarked to Scotty, "Get ready for an ER visit soon. This girl has had too many near misses. Her time is coming."

The very next day, we were headed to the ER. Good thing I don't believe in "jinxing" things or I would have thought I caused it.

Grace tripped and fell forehead first into the corner of a cinder block wall. It wasn't pretty. So it was off to the ER to get her glued back together. After swaddling her in a pillowcase, the professionals derma-bonded her back up and we headed home. Unfortunately, we discovered many days later after taking the bandage off that the cut had opened back up at some point. So we are healing it up and plan to invest in some serious mederma in the future.

And true to her nature, it didn't slow her down one bit.

Outside is her happy place

2011-02-08T11:11:00.003-05:00

Cupcake Love

2011-02-03T13:11:00.006-05:00

So while Grace really does love her siblings (see previous post), her love for cupcakes (of which she has has a grand total of 3 in her life) at times is far greater. The scene below appropriately occurred at her 2 year old birthday party.

Like I said, the girl loves cupcakes and the facial expressions back me up. If there were audio with the above pictures you'd be hearing, "YAY! Cu-cakes!"

This is where it gets ugly. Grace finished her cupcake in about 22 seconds and since her fellow birthday buddy was proving to be rather slow at hers, Grace thought she would help her out. The tears began when Mommy told her she wasn't allowed to have Chloe's cupcake too.

The tears turned into tantrum. The hand went up when she realized the entire birthday party was watching. Mommy still says no.

This picture could be captioned, "Grace has a new best friend." One of the other dads at the party decided that since Grace was turning 2, she should get 2 cupcakes. Amazingly, the tears stopped instantly.

Grace retells this story often, even weeks later now. It goes something like this, to anyone who will listen, "Cu-cake, birt-day nummy. Chloe cupcake too. Mommy, NO. Mr. Goad, cupcake me! My like it, too."

Sibling Love

2011-02-01T11:08:00.003-05:00

The most common question I get about our adoption has to do with how the children have adjusted to each other. I'm very thankful to answer that this has actually been the most seamless part of it all. Grace adores her "Cay" and "Aye-yay." She is always asking about them when they are gone and bursts into tears whenever we drop them off somewhere. She loves to be in the middle of whatever they are doing. And as for the big kids, they are fantastic older siblings, learning wonderful lessons about how to love. The hardest part of it all is keep Grace away from Lego creations and American Girl accessories.

What a joy it is to watch the fun times and work through the challenging times. Of course, the big kids will now never be able to leave home until Grace is also old enough to since she won't know what to do without them. Either that, or she'll have to go to college right along with them.

2 Years old!

2011-01-23T14:33:00.012-05:00

Grace turned 2 this month and it was a epic celebration that began in December and finished with a snow day that reminded us of our days in North Dakota.

It began with a triple twosome party as Grace celebrated with her two buddies. Then we celebrated with her first trip to the children's museum where she voluntarily sang quite a rendition of "Twinkle, Twinkle" in the recording studio and got soaking wet in the lily pond play area. Finally, she got her very own chair and we ate yummy chocolate cake with our neighbors (her favorite babysitters) on a snowed-in night. Grace was rather prophetic in her cake choice. When asked, she requested a cake in the shape of her recent obsession... a "circleman." Maybe known to you as a snowman. And she actually managed to blow one of the candles out all by herself.

I did have a few thoughts about her birth mother and father during these weeks of celebration. I wondered about them and if they were thinking of her. I'm not exactly certain how to process these thoughts or what to do on future birthdays, but we did pray for her birth family. I wonder how others honor birth families? I'd love to hear about it.

Our prayer for all each of our children on their birthday every year is that they might grow "in wisdom, stature and in favor with God and man." Here's to a great 3rd year of life ahead of you, Grace!

Snow Days!

2011-01-22T14:02:00.005-05:00

Grace is now a big fan of snow!

Full of Life

2011-01-21T18:02:00.006-05:00

Grace has spent the last 6 months completely emerging. Her personality and vocabulary explode and multiply daily. We can barely remember the listless 6 month old who refused to bear weight on her legs. Now her legs are going all the time! She loves to sing and dance (until 10:30pm at weddings!) and cheer on her favorite sports teams. Oh and she LOVES "i peem cones!"

This one's for Sara...

2011-01-21T14:37:00.007-05:00

...because I think she's only one out there who might still check this blog. "I just want to see her grow up" said Sara to me today on the phone. So here you go - I'll try to capture Grace's HUGE personality and the last 6 months in the next few posts. And once again, Sara has inspired me to blog on.

This is Grace as the flower girl in her aunt's wedding - 8/2010

What a Year

2010-07-05T07:27:00.003-04:00

One year ago today, we arrived home to an amazing welcome as we became a family of five. I simply cannot believe a year has passed, but then to look and see how far Grace has come! When she arrived home at almost 6 months old, she couldn't roll over, sit up or even hold her tongue in. Today, at almost 18 months old, the girl is running everywhere, has a huge vocabulary and is fearless around animals and swimming pools. In addition, her crazy, zany, silly and non-stop personality is blowing us away. This girl loves a party and wanders around looking for her siblings, calling to them when she is at home without them. She thinks she is about 10 years old and is always in the mix of whatever is going on. Best of all, she has started to tell us she loves us. Okay, so she says "Ooo Foo!" to a passing dog too but we'll still take it!

Grace, we LOVE what you have brought to our life!

Love this Girl from Top to Bottom!

2010-06-01T21:31:00.003-04:00

I am working on that promised post on how our attachment is going, but just to keep you coming back...here are two places on my sweet Grace that I love. Oh, and orange nail polish looks fantastic on her.

Grace Gets a New Car

2010-05-23T15:33:00.003-04:00

Adjustment, Bonding and Attachment

2010-05-20T20:44:00.002-04:00

Grace is giving hugs. You have to ask for them, and she doesn't always oblige, but when in the right mood she'll wrap her little arms around you and squeeze just slightly. I'm sure this is a big deal to any parent but in the adoption world, it's a huge sign of progressing attachment and we are celebrating.

I don't claim to know a ton about attachment and bonding, but we have read a fair amount on the subject and tried to prepare ourselves for anything. If you are waiting for your adoption to be completed right now, spend some time reading about attachment. Even babies must learn to attach. They have to learn to see their parents as a special and significant relationship, not just a caregiver.

Again, I'm no expert on this at all; I just thought I'd share our story and how we are still seeing growth in this area 10 months after coming home. Our experience has been measured in subtleties that I wouldn't even have know about had we not read adoption books. We've not had a difficult time with Grace. We're extremely thankful for that. Nonetheless, it's an area we still put much work and prayer and try to act deliberately.

I'd call our first days together the "adjustment and bonding" phase. Not sure if this a textbook term, but it seems to fit. We were all adjusting to each other and I'm sure to Grace we were just more people taking care of her. She was 6 months old. We had no idea what kinds of habits or tendencies she had, no idea what her nap or feeding schedule was and no idea how she liked to do things. So our first few weeks were just spent figuring things out. Scotty was the first to giver her a bottle and do a lot of the "dirty" work with her in Ethiopia, so he bonded with her very quickly. In his words, Love is an action. As soon as you start doing things for this child, your love begins to grow. As for me, I certainly adored this tiny little person that had been given to us from the moment I held her, but I must say it took several days before I was feeling like her mom. I think being there, trying to take pictures of Ethiopia and take it all in while visiting her orphanage and meeting other families all sort of kept me distracted enough. I was caring for her and enjoying her, but so much was going on it just took me awhile to focus entirely on the fact that she was my daughter and I was her mom. Does that even make sense?

So by "bonding" I mean that we were growing in love for her and we were becoming special in her eyes as she began to recognize that we were caring for all her needs all the time. Once we got home and over a bit of jet lag, Grace and I really began to bond as I was fully into "mommy" role and family life resumed.

The first few weeks home were interesting and exciting, but not really the time to make too many judgement calls or major decisions. It's hard to know what was jet lag and what was hunger, what's a minor skin irritation and what's ringworm or how much stress your baby is going through adjusting. Grace went through some minor physical stress reactions in those early weeks. She sweated profusely. Yes, I know it was July and August in the South but still, this was different. This sweating made her skin do all kinds of crazy things from dry patches to bumps. I really think now, it was just a stress reaction since I have heard of many adopted children have similar reactions. Her hair (and she had a head full!) all fell out a few weeks after being home. I thought I had ruined her beautiful locs. Again, I now look back and attribute it to stress and losing baby hair. She was quite bald for a few weeks and then her hair all begin to fill back in. Again, it was nothing major, but I really do think this was all part of her whole little world changing and her body getting more calories.

I guess I'd say that our adjustment phase lasted for about 3 months. That was right about the time that real life had really started back up, the doctor visits were finished and she stopped waking up several times in the middle of the night. She was also just beginning to light up as we would walk into a room. I think this was really the beginning of the attachment phase and I see now was the precursor to these awesome hugs that she is just starting to give away. More on attachment coming soon.

It's Good to be Grace's Mom

2010-05-09T14:51:00.003-04:00

Finding my Niche

2010-05-04T21:17:00.006-04:00

I was encouraged today by my sweet and too-far-away friend Sara to post more often on here and I can assure you it has nothing to do with her wanting to read any words I have to say. She just wants pictures of Grace. Truth be told, my posts have been infrequent because I haven't really been sure about what to do with my blog. I thought about making it an orphan and adoption advocacy blog but there are so many great ones of those out there already making an awesome difference. I wondered if I should close it down and go with a grandparent-only blog where I could brag freely and include all the children but that didn't feel right either.

Then I thought about how we are not at the end of the adoption road but just the beginning. When I was waiting for Grace to come home, I loved reading about other children who were already home. It gave me such hope.

So, thank you, Sara. You have given me a little nudge (can I have some of your writing ability too, please?) to show more of what's happening on this side of paper-chasing and international travel and being an adoptive family. Maybe Grace can give a little hope!

Cookies for a Cause

2010-04-22T10:38:00.004-04:00

We got the most thoughtful gift in the mail yesterday. I just had to spread the word because the cause is so cool. Check out these amazing cookies! The girl who makes them gives some of the proceeds to purchase mosquito netting and medicines for Africa, AND they are trying to adopt from Burkina Faso in a pilot program. She is redeeming her waiting by baking cookies.

Go check out Cookies for Africa!

Last step, citizenship

2010-03-30T09:10:00.005-04:00

Last week was Grace's court date to finish up all this paperwork and make her a US citizen! Yet another reason to celebrate. Grace's favorite part was her "cu-cake."

Referralversary!

2010-03-23T20:51:00.003-04:00

I can hardly believe that one year ago today we saw this sweet face for the first time. I confess that I actually didn't realize it was today until my sweet and wonderful friend Sara (who I walked most of this adoption road with) reminded me. And, we actually have our court date here to finalized everything tomorrow! Amazing.

It was one year ago today that Scotty drove home from work like a mad man so we could all open the referral email together. Clay was sick, which caused us to be home when the phone rang. I may not have realized today's date but I can remember that day very clearly. And then we opened the picture and all just laughed through our joyful tears big time. This was the one and only photo we had for awhile and we loved it instantly. And who knew such dimples were hiding in those sweet and now chubby cheeks!

Grace, what an amazing year it has been getting to know you! We love you!

Treasured

2010-01-28T09:42:00.002-05:00

Happy 1st Birthday, Grace!

2010-01-11T10:04:00.007-05:00

Grace is 1 today and we are celebrating! What a joyful time watching your child turn one and what an poignant time as we reflect on her challenging beginning in this world. We are so thankful to the Lord for the precious gift she is.

To celebrate, we made our first attempt at Ethiopian food over the weekend and Grace ate it all up! It wasn't exactly authentic, but we tried. The doro wat (chicken stew) and (shortcut) injera was pretty good. Today she'll get to try good ole' american pizza for her birthday dinner.

And let me say that if the way she ate her first cupcake yesterday is any indication about how this girl is going to approach life, then watch out. She is destined to attack it and enjoy it to the fullest, all with a great big cheesy smile!

Art for the Adoptive Family

2010-01-08T21:04:00.003-05:00

After receiving a beautiful sculpture that hints of Africa for Christmas, I have been searching the internet for art and books and other resources that highlight and deal honestly with our new family make-up and culture. Check out this artist who creates for the multi-ethnic family. She's having a giveaway too right now!

http://jqueenan.blogspot.com/2010/01/art-give-away.html

New Year reflections

2010-01-01T10:21:00.005-05:00

It was New Year's Day 2008 that Scotty and I decided to pursue adoption. What an amazing 2 years it has been. December 31, 2007 - adoption was not even on our minds. January 1, 2008, it came up in our discussions about the new year. We committed to pray for one month about it and set a date night for February 1 to make the final decision. January 17th all our paperwork was turned into our agency. Needless to say, when we opened our hearts, the Lord opened the door wide. What an amazing blessing it has been.

If you are contemplating adoption, Do it. If you have never thought about adoption, think about it, and then do it. It's worth every challenge that comes with it. If you are in the midst of adoption, be encouraged. The paperwork and the waiting will melt into a fuzzy memory. Our family is richer, fuller and oh so much sweeter with our Gracie.

Merry Christmas to us

2009-12-31T18:25:00.002-05:00

Our best gift by far this year is the addition of Grace to our family. We are so blessed. She joined in all the family traditions perfectly. All the kids even slept in the same room together on Christmas eve, as they always do. They didn't want to leave Grace out of the fun!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

2009-12-09T12:27:00.002-05:00

Her Heritage

2009-12-02T21:11:00.004-05:00

Traveling to Texas and introducing Grace to the Anderson side of the family led me to do a lot of thinking (ok, so I'm sure the 36 hours in a car inspired some of that thinking too, but still...). As I watched Grace ride around the rodeo ring on a horse with her Daddy, I kept thinking, "She's a Texan." Grace is as much a Texan, (and a Coloradan) as she is anything. Her heritage is her daddy, who grew up wearing his Wrangler jeans and showing sheep, her Grandad, the farmer and rancher, her uncle and Grandma in the Texas telephone industry, the trombone skills of her Aunt Casey and all the creativity of her Aunt Crystal. Grace's adoption means that she isn't a cute little visitor in our home, she is ours and we are hers. She gets all our history as far back as it goes and we get her future and all that comes with it. Welcome to the family, Grace.

Meeting the TX family

2009-11-24T08:45:00.005-05:00

Since TX is an 18 hour drive from our home, we haven't been brave enough to venture there until now. So this Thanksgiving, Grace is getting the privilege of meeting her Texas family and beginning to understand what her Texas heritage means (now that's a loaded a statement as this Texas-by-marriage girl has learned).

Let's just say that it has begun with meeting her bona fide cowboy grandad, who promptly fed her biscuits and gravy for breakfast.

10 months old

2009-11-11T13:30:00.004-05:00

I can't believe a month has gone by without blogging. Actually, I can. It's not so much the busyness of our new life as a family of 5 that has kept me from it (although that is certainly a factor). It's been more about my loss for words. Or maybe it's my abundance of words. So many posts are brewing in my head and yet I haven't been able to get them down on "paper."

The experience of adopting is so profound that a lighthearted post about Halloween costumes doesn't seem to capture enough but at the same time, verbalizing the depth of our experience can seem too heavy at times. Maybe that sums it all up right there. This experience is full of dichotomies. We make the huge decision to add another family member and yet after we fill out the paperwork, the process is out of our control. We meet our sweet Grace, who is a stranger to us, and she suddenly is entirely our own. Her actual adoption was such a big deal and yet it will be but a small part of her history. She looks very different from us and yet she has the same eyes as her brother and sister (lots of people tell us this). Just 4 months ago she was in an orphanage halfway across the world with no family, last month she wore a poodle skirt and cruised the neighborhood for candy. She is sitting next to me in her highchair eating cheerios as I type. And yet again my mind can't decide between "what a normal baby thing to do" and "there is a little brown person sitting right next to me who was born in Ethiopia...and she's my daughter!" It's hard to make sense of it all sometimes and yet, it makes perfect sense every time I look at her. She is ours.

9 months old!

2009-10-11T16:36:00.005-04:00

Grace is 9 months old today. As everyone who has walked the adoption road ahead of us says, it's hard to believe that she has only been home for 3 months. - it's like she's always been a part of our family. Adoption has truly become a past tense verb at our house. A funny thing is happening for me; the farther away from our trip and the day she became ours, the less I am inclined to distinguish her and her unique story. When we first came home, I would tell anyone who noticed her, "This is Grace. She just came home from Ethiopia." I felt like I should explain it all. Now, I'm certainly happy to tell varieties of her amazing story as we really hope the Lord uses it to inspire others to adopt. But I have to say that now I prefer to just introduce her as my daughter, Grace. Adoption is what happened to Grace, not what defines her. She is an Anderson through and through now.

And yesterday, In honor of Grace's 9 month birthday and her Anderson heritage, we had our annual trip to Sky Top Apple Orchard. We have been going every fall for 9 years and, as in just about every other way too, Grace fit right in!

Happy Fall!

2009-10-03T12:52:00.000-04:00

8 Months old!

2009-09-11T11:53:00.005-04:00

What a difference 2 months makes! In just eight weeks this girl has learned to put weight on her legs, roll over, sit up, wave bye, clap and the best of all, give kisses! She has gained 3 lbs and is now on the American growth charts. The most amazing thing has been to watch the light in her eyes come alive. She is now on the floor trying very hard to get somewhere, anywhere. There is a big world out there and she is ready to go discover it all...and put it in her mouth :).

In addition, today is also the Ethiopian New Year so Melkam Adis Amet! It's now 2002 in Ethiopia. They are on a different calendar and 7 years behind us.

Happy New Year and Happy Birthday! We love you, Grace

Ethiopia - Chapter 4 - Ethiopia Guest Home

2009-08-16T10:01:00.005-04:00

One of the things I stalked adoption blogs for was information on where to stay while in country. We stayed at the Ethiopia Guest Home and I highly recommend it. We loved our time there. It was very comfortable and we really like the part of town it was in - kind of a residential area so not as busy as main roads. It's about 15 minutes from the airport and 10 minutes from Sele Enat and our agency's care center.

We originally booked the Adoptive Family Suite - which is hu

ge, has it's own bathroom, a queen bed and bunk beds with plenty or room for a crib or two. We ended up switching rooms with this totally amazing family because they had all 5 of them crammed into a much smaller room (due to a last minute booking change they had to do). It worked out just fine. We moved to a room that was smaller but still had a queen bed, bunk beds and room for a crib for Grace. We shared a bathroom just outside our door, but that was no big deal at all. Oh and the fourth floor suite is incredible - two bedrooms and a bathroom, a living room and the most amazing deck with a view. If you are traveling with a crew - it would be perfect. This was our room.

The food was also great and just ea

sy. Breakfast and lunch included and dinner for just $5 per person more. We actually ended up eating dinner there every night. We had planned originally to go out one night but we didn't want to leave Grace and the fellowship with the other families was just too fun!

The lobby has toothbrushes, diapers, formula and some medicines for sale and they let us use the lobby laptop anytime we wanted to. As for internet access, the EGH has wireless, however, its out a lot due to rolling power outages. They have a generator so we were never without power, but that just means that the only internet is dial up from the lobby computer. Oh and you get a cell phone thats yours for the week. It's preloaded with a few minutes - you can get more pretty easily but have your family at home buy a calling card with cheap minutes and they can call you whenever you want! You can get these "calling cards" online. We didn't realize exactly how this would work and so we payed a pretty penny for our family to call us without this cards.

I cannot say enough about the staff at the EGH. Everyone from the sweet girls who do 24 shifts at the front desk to the cooks to the drivers - totally amazing. It was so neat to sit and talk with them. They were willing to help in any way. They showed Scotty where to go buy water and cokes and snacks around the corner. They cared for Grace one morning. One driver took us shopping all over and bargained for us. Another driver took us to Grace's town so we could get some pictures and was an awesome translator and friend that day.

Here are a few shots of the guest house.

Of course, the absolute best part was the friends we made. We hit the jackpot with house mates. Hanging out with them was one of the best parts of our trip. We all left our doors open, loved on each other's children, shared supplies, learned a ton from one another and had some serious laughs. Here's our house bunch. We miss you guys!!!!

Happy 7 months, Grace!

2009-08-11T08:09:00.004-04:00

Grace is 7 months old today! In her 6 weeks at home, she has grown and learned so much. Here she is showing you just how proud she is of her ability to sit up - at lease for a few minutes anyway. :)

Ethiopia - Chapter 3 - Sele Enat

2009-07-28T20:23:00.004-04:00

Sele Enat is the orphanage where Grace lived from March through May. We spent three days there while in Ethiopia taking pictures, meeting the caregivers and loving on the children waiting to go home and those waiting to be matched with families.

We were very pleased with Sele Enat and I hope to remember everything when we tell Grace all about it. For families with children there right now, take comfort. Yes, it's an orphanage in Ethiopia, but what most impressed us is the love the caregivers have for the children. It's not a home and it's not a family but we were so touched by the nannies with tears in their eyes as they gave us Grace. When we walked in the gate at Sele Enat each day, they snatched Grace up and held her until we wanted her back. I wrote down the names of the ones who were clearly special to Grace. One of them even told me that Grace and I have the same hair :).

Our third day there, the children greeted all the IAN families at the gate dressed in traditional outfits. The staff served us a delicious lunch and then the children sang for us while we were treated to a coffee ceremony.

I so enjoyed our time at the orphanage, but it definitely creates a swirl of emotions. We're so grateful to see that Grace and all the others are well cared for. There are many orphanages with the (limited) resources that Sele Enat has. That being said, an orphanage is not a forever family. These children do not have parents and they need them. Thankfully almost all the children there currently have families. But when they go home, there will be more to fill their beds. The need is so great. My heart just ached when we left for the last time. If you are reading this and at all in a position to adopt. Do it. They need families.

To tide you over...

2009-07-28T08:00:00.003-04:00

How about a few pics until I can finish this next post I've been working on?

Ethiopia - Chapter 2 - New Parents

2009-07-18T15:08:00.003-04:00

I'll let the pictures of our first day together speak for themselves. It was new, fun, wonderful and surreal. It took about a day to grow into this new "parent thing." The first time she got fussy, we tried everything until we realized that she needed to be fed. Yep, its been 10 years since we did the baby thing but we figured it out pretty quickly.

As far as feeling like parents, for Scotty, it took him about .05 seconds before he was entirely smitten and completely dad. For me, I have to admit that it took several days to settle in to being mom and feel like she was all mine. Don't get me wrong, I was totally in love from the moment I held her but it was sort of like I had to get through some of the administrative tasks of the trip like giving to donations to the orphanage and taking pictures of other children and finally settle down before I relaxed and felt like mommy. The stress of the last months of the adoption process had to melt away as I held her and watched her sleep. By about Thursday the mommy in me was fully in the swing of it all.

Ethiopia - Chapter 1 - Meeting Grace

2009-07-13T13:47:00.006-04:00

We arrived in Addis late Sunday night and got to our guest house about 10:30 pm. We waiting for over an hour in the visa "line" and another 30 minutes in the immigration line. A business man near us said he travels there a lot and this wan the longest wait he had ever had. We enjoyed talking to the people around us and it wasn't too bad. You do want to keep your place in line or the merging gets out of control :).

Our awesome driver, Akee (from the Ethiopia Guest Home), loaded up our luggage lifting it up on the the roof of the van and took us to the guest home. They had saved dinner for us (we didn't even ask them to) so we ate with another family who had just arrived and then headed to bed.

Monday morning, we had breakfast (mmmm fresh Mango juice) and waited to hear from our agency facilitator. We soon got a call at the guest house and we told to be ready in a minute - and we'd be going to the care center to meet Grace. This is when it dawned on me to pack a diaper bag :). Sorta forgot how to do that and while the wonderful assistant waited for us, we packed enough for a week. :) I was in a fog trying to grab donations, the list of photos to take for families back home, and stuff for Grace. I went back to our room at least 6 times for stuff. And I'm usually the organized one.

The Outmans, who already had their boys, came with us to video. It finally hit me in the van - we were going to get Grace! This was also the first moment that I opened my eyes to see what was all around. We passed fruit stands and busy roads, the goat heard crossing the 4 lane highway and the music store/internet cafe. Lots of corrugated tin and dirt. Lots more blue and white taxi vans. Driving is insane so I vowed just not to look out the front window. They are way better drivers than Americans. And although it consistently looks like a game of chicken to get where you are going, someone always relents and you get through.

We pulled up to the blue gate and they let us in. The first site we see is a blanket full of babies! I was frantically trying to match faces with families and figure out whose children were whose. I admit I was not thinking about getting straight to Grace. The site of these children smiling at the toys Michelle was breaking out was just too precious. I just wanted to sit down and tell each one all about their family coming soon.

Then Scotty hits my arm and says, "Hon, it's Grace." "Huh? Oh, Grace! Are you sure (what a silly question!" Yep - it was definitely her. Hair and all :). And then, the nurse just put her in my arms. Just like that. In som

eways, it was a bit unceremonious, and yet, she's is our child, there's very little left to do to get her home so a small handoff seemed appropriate too. And so I just held her and looked at her. Then Scotty held her and looked at her.

At this point, several other families arrived to meet their children. I ran around furiously snapping photos. Of course, I had forgotten the list of names and babies and the name cards I made to help remember the children. I also forgot all the questions parents had asked me to find out about their waiting children. I forgot all the questions I wanted to ask the nannies about Grace. I admit that the moment over came me. Not in an emotional way, per se, but there was just so much to take in- our child, the other children, the families meeting their children for the first time, the amazing nannies tearing up as they began to say goodbye to the children, the care center where Grace had been living, her bed, our new family!

After this surreal hour or so, we headed over to Sele Enat ("in place of mother") orphanage. This is where Grace lived from March until early June, before she was transfered our agency's care center. Someone told me to be the eyes and ears for Grace for when she is older and wants to know about her time in Ethiopia. I was trying so hard to memorize everything. We had a great afternoon meeting more of Grace's caregivers and hanging out with the children at Sele Enat. Again, I was caught up in it all. The children were so sweet and eager to speak the English they knew. The nannies were happy to meet us and show us around. They served us coffee and the children climbed in and out of our laps. I'll leave you with a picture of Grace and one of her amazing caregivers. Tomorrow: Our first moments with Grace and learning to parent a baby again.

Ethiopia - Prologue

2009-07-10T16:28:00.008-04:00

Where do I start? How do I begin to explain this trip? It was so surreal. Experiencing a new culture is one thing. Seeing orphans sing to you is another. Meeting a child you have waited 18 months for and who is instantly your daughter, yet another. But to have all those events and more coincide in one trip. It's indescribable. I have written this post time and again in my head but no words seem to convey the sentiments just right.

It many ways, it was just what I expected. I have read a million blogs of families who have traveled to Ethiopia to pick up their children, and the experience is a common one. The scenery was familiar, the faces of the people were familiar. The food had been described and all the videos or meeting children for the first time have a similar feel. Obviously it was a much richer and fuller experience in person, but nonetheless not too much was brand new to our eyes.

One the other hand, it was an overwhelming experience to see it all first hand and then experience meeting OUR child. It was REAL. The sights and people in the photographs are REAL. The orphanage workers tear up as they kiss your children goodbye. The children living in the orphanage laugh when you break out the bubbles and cry when they think there isn't any candy left for them in your bag. They hug you when you have just met. They thank you ten times for a blow up beach ball from the dollar store. You cough at all the diesel fumes while driving around town. You tear up at the beggars on the street when you have handed them your last granola bar or Birr.

By the end of the week we were both ready to go home and yet sad to be leaving. The language was becoming a bit familiar and we actually used several words in our vocabulary. We became instant friends with the 2 other adoptive families who shared the guest house with us. We made friends with the 8 year old girl who ran the "convenience store" just outside our guest house. She stopped charging us the "ferengi" (foreigner) rate on the deposits for our coke bottles. The children who lived next door to the guest house invited us over and shouted "I love you" when we stood on our balcony. We kinda knew the way from the guest house to the orphanage (not that we'd ever be brave enough to drive it!). We saw the town where Grace was born and met the woman who named her (much more on that later). As ready to come home as we were, I felt this strange sadness myself and for Grace at leaving her homeland. Oh the irony of boarding the plane in Ethiopia on the 4th of July - the ache of leaving and the butterflies to bring our new little American home to meet everyone.

Tomorrow: Ethiopia, Part 1

Home Sweet Home

2009-07-06T21:18:00.004-04:00

We're back! We arrived yesterday happy, sad, fulfilled, content, sleepy and overwhelmed. What an amazing trip and a very sweet little girl. I'll blog about the trip later but this should tide you over :)

24 hours!

2009-06-24T09:09:00.003-04:00

It's really more like 29 hours, but who's counting!!!!!!

Here is a basic itinerary of our travels:

Ethiopia is currently 7 hours ahead of EST

Thursday 6/25 - 2:20 pm fly out of Greenville - 10 PM EST: Flight leaves from D.C. for Ethiopia
Friday 6/26 - Sunday 6/28: Scotty and I enjoy two days in Dubai before flying to Ethiopia
Sunday 6/28 8 PM: Arrive in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Monday 6/29: Pick up our Sweetness!!!!
Wednesday 7/1: Embassy Appointment
Friday 7/3: receive her travel visa
Saturday, July 4th: fly to Dubai
Sunday 7/5 12:10 am (Dubai time) board plane for DC
Sunday 7/5 9:42 AM arrive home in Greenville, SC

This trip is so wildly crazy, overwhelming, and emotional. It's also an amazing privilege. We are so honored that the Lord has led us down this road. We'd love to have you prayers over the next 10 days! Here are a few things you can pray for:

logistics of travel (flights on time, luggage at right weight, no luggage lost, seats on planes, etc.)
safety during travel
physical health before and during travel
physical health while in Ethiopia
Clay and Avery at home with Kerry's mom
our initial bonding with Grace
and anything else the Lord leads you to pray for!!!

We cherish and rely on your prayers more than you know.

Test blog post for Travel

2009-06-20T20:11:00.001-04:00

I'm testing posting to our blog via email because in just 4.5 days WE
WILL BE LEAVING!

That's right folks - we got confirmation today that we can leave on
Thursday, June 25th to go get Grace! We cannot access blogger while
in country but if the internet server is up then hopefully we can post
to the blog via email. We won't see any comments but we'll read them
all when we get home.

Sooo...testing 1, 2....

Scotty & Kerry Anderson
scottyandkerry@gmail.com

She's really an Anderson

2009-06-19T11:13:00.003-04:00

Yesterday I opened up an email with paperwork attached that I expected to be administrative and instead it opened up my tears! We received Grace's birth certificate and adoption decree. It caught me off guard how amazing it would be to see her last name as Anderson and our names listed as mother and father. Its also very cool to see everything in both Amharic and English.

We have one issue to clear up however since both our middle names were spelled incorrectly on the birth certificate. We're praying today that it won't delay anything and that we will be given the green light to get on a plane next week!

Good news and no news

2009-06-18T11:36:00.003-04:00

Good News: Our paperwork issue of a few posts ago is resolved! Our updates 171H is at the embassy in Addis Ababa waiting for us. Praise the Lord!

Good News: The youth group at our church collected donations for us and packed them all up last night. The first of our suitcases are zipped and ready to go and under the weight limit! We're so thankful to the youth group and the amazing people at our church for providing lots of necessities and goodies for the orphanage. We can't wait to give them!

No News: No confirmation for travel - in fact it could be very, very last minute. We're still planning on leaving next week, hoping for the best! Apparently our exact departure date isn't "need to know" information. That's okay - we're ready for anything!

Here are some photos of the youth group packing everything up! Thanks guys!

Hurry up and wait

2009-06-17T08:06:00.002-04:00

These days are an interesting mix of oxymoronic emotions, actions and self-talk. We think we're leaving a week from today. JUNE 24TH. But we don't know yet. Not sure when we will know. Just waiting for that phone to ring. I go from nervous energy to total relaxation about it all. I get hit with the reality of all that is about to happen, stand there frozen for a minute and then go on with my day as usual. I run around frantically packing and check to do lists (at least 50 times a day), then I stare at her crib and her cute little clothes and act like I have nothing but free time. I tell myself there is no way we can do this next week and then remind myself anything can happen and adoptive families everywhere have been there, done that. Hurry up and wait.

And then finally, I take a deep breath and the Lord reminds me that even though we don't know when we are leaving yet, He does. Even though I don't know how much formula to take and how many diapers we'll need, He does. Even though we don't know the exact day we'll meet our daughter for the first time, He does. He always has. He called Grace Bethel out to be an Anderson longer ago that we will ever understand. What a comfort for this frantic and overwhelmed soul. It makes all the hurry up and waiting not just possible but fun.

Happy Birthday, Grace!

2009-06-11T21:39:00.004-04:00

By one estimated birthday, Grace is 5 months old today! If all goes as like we think it might, she'll be home to celebrate her 6 month birthday with us!

Happy Birthday, Sweetness! We're coming soon!

Packing in faith

2009-06-10T10:22:00.005-04:00

We found out yesterday that the National Visa Center lost some of our paperwork (our 171-H for those of you familiar with adoption immigration paperwork numbers :)). It was signed for, but then disappeared. It's supposed to be at the embassy in Ethiopia but it was never submitted. We are very thankful that the problem was found and it's been resubmitted. However, we cannot get confirmed travel dates until that paper is at the embassy in Ethiopia. So this means that we may not know we are going for sure until a few days before.

Doable? Yes. Packing on faith? You bet I will be. Obvious logistical issues and stress for this type A packer/planner? Oh, yeah. Would you please join us in prayer that this will all resolve quickly and we can get our travel dates? More importantly, will you pray for us to draw near to God and glorify him during this? This adoption journey has been one amazing walk of faith. Something tells me that won't be ending anytime soon. For that, we are grateful and excited. Thanks again. We so appreciate it.

Amazing Grace

2009-06-04T16:29:00.002-04:00

Proverbs 22

¹ A good name is to be chosen rather than great riches,
and favor is better than silver or gold.

Grace Bethel Anderson.

We chose the name Grace over a year ago. We just thought it meant so much on so many levels and truly speaks of her earthly adoption and our spiritual one. And then.... about 3 weeks after we were matched with Grace, we found out that the woman who found her and helped deliver her to the orphanage was named... GRACE. Needless to say, it was confirmed. And Bethel, her given name, we loved from the beginning. It means "House of God." There is truly Grace in the House of God.

What's next?

Well, in a few days, we should receive confirmation of our Embassy appointment and our travel dates. We hope to leave in just a few weeks. Yep, a few WEEKS!!! And when we meet her, we think she will be almost 6 months old.

Thank you to everyone who prayed for this over the past week and months. I heard from an uncanny number of people, how many of you were awakened by children, dogs or otherwise and prayed through the night while court was happening. Thank you. As Scotty put it, "I think Satan took a beating over this one."

We are in awe of God's amazing GRACE.

One less orphan

2009-06-04T15:21:00.000-04:00

And one more Anderson! Praise to Lord, from whom all blessings flow:

Psalm 68:4-6

⁴Sing to God, sing praises to his name;

lift up a song to him who rides through the deserts;

his name is the LORD;

exult before him!

^{⁵ Father of the fatherless and protector of widows}

is God in his holy habitation.

^{⁶God settles the solitary in a home;}

he leads out the prisoners to prosperity,

Introducing....

Twas the night before court.....

2009-06-03T08:29:00.002-04:00

and all through the house, everything was stirring like CRAZY! I'm hoping the nervous energy will result in a highly productive day. I'm wavering somewhere between an erie calm and frantic excitement.

The courts are open in Ethiopia from about 1am EST to 10 am EST. Lord willing, we should hear something by about noon tomorrow so check the blog, facebook, twitter.... If we pass, we start packing. If not, we'll be rescheduled for a new court date. Okay, I'm off to pray, clean, pray, organize, pray, alphabetize my spices.

I will have so much more sympathy next year when my children waiting for Christmas morning.

3 Days!

2009-06-01T09:08:00.006-04:00

3 days until court. That's at least the 15th time this morning I have said that.

We need your prayers. So much goes into getting a positive opinion from the courts. Last week 3 of the 4 families I know who had court did not pass due to several very understandable reasons. Sometimes the reasons are not understandable. At any rate, bring on the prayers.

Here's what our family is bringing before the throne of grace these next few days:

- For our sweet girl's health and well being.
- The Lord would provide for and protect our representatives in court, the judge hearing the case, and anyone else who is essential to seeing the case go forward
- For a clear and sound legal verdict according to Ethiopian Law
- That third world logistical issues won't impede the hearing (weather, power outages, transportation issues, etc.)
- That we would pass court and she would be legally OURS! :)
- That we would hear the verdict Thursday morning.
- That we would be assigned a July 1st Embassy date. This would be the date we'd travel around and the earliest possible we could leave.
- That we would trust God and be patient whatever His sovereign intention might be for that date

Thank you!

On the radio whoa oh oh...

2009-05-30T10:39:00.002-04:00

I know I used this title for a post before when Scotty was on the radio, so I'll use it again for the same thing! Scotty was given the opportunity to guest host a radio program called Knowing the Truth. Their topic for the day was adoption and orphan care. It was a great honor for him to be able to interview Russell Moore about his new book Adopted for Life, This book is amazing and we highly recommend it. It's Moore's personal story of adoption (they have two boys from Russia) woven together with a call to believers to lead the way in adoption. It's one to buy several copies of to give away as friends consider adopting.

In addition, he got to interview Paul Pennington, executive director for FamilyLife's Hope for Orphans, and John Moore, director of the national foster care prayer vigil.

You can listen to the interview here. Even cooler than hearing Scotty on the radio, was hearing the message of adoption and orphan care going out on the airwaves!

Showered with Love!

2009-05-26T20:07:00.008-04:00

Our church hosts "welcome home" showers for all adopted children and let me tall ya, I feel so loved! What an incredible evening. Thank you to my sweet friend, hostess and fellow adoptive mom, Kim.

I was showered with cute baby stuff and plenty of it (which is so helpful since I saved nothing from the first time around 10 years ago). The food was delicious - all my favorites! The fellowship so encouraging. Sweetness is already so loved and anticipated!

What an honor to be part of a church that cares for the fatherless. Each person there is part of His awesome plan to bring her home. God's abundant provision for us through this entire adoption process is humbling.

Oh, and something cool...we counted 7 adoptive moms in attendance and several others who either were adopted themselves, or are adoptive grandmothers. What a testimony!

Orphan care everywhere

2009-05-26T19:26:00.004-04:00

You know how when you buy a new car you start seeing the same make and model everywhere and you wonder if all those people bought that car the same day you did? You could just about be certain there were none like it driving around just a week ago. I feel like ever since we started our adoption and the plight of the orphan grabbed hold of our hearts, the Lord has opened our eyes to so many amazing ministries, non-profits, families and situations who are all about orphan care. I wonder why my heart wasn't seeing them 3 years ago, but for whatever the reason, they are intensely precious to me now. What these groups are all doing, they could have been doing for my soon-to-be daughter and it makes me so thankful for them.

Very cool story along these lines....

A couple of weeks ago we headed to Immigration in Charlotte, NC to update our fingerprints. These are not the local police fingerprints or the FBI fingerprints but the ones through USCIS. For some reason they are only good for 15 months. I'm not sure exactly why or how our fingerprints "expire," but it's a hoop and we'll happily jump through it to get Sweetness home.

After we were done, we grabbed lunch and found a little park with some benches in the midst of downtown and had a picnic. There was a pretty chapel on the grounds so we went to check it out after lunch. It turns out, according to the docent, that it was the only remaining building of the Thompson Orphanage and Training Institute, founded in 1887. Would you believe we were having our lunch on the grounds of one of North Carolina's oldest orphanages? In the brochure was the following quotation:

In his annual report to the Diocesan Convention of 1889, the superintendent of Thompson Orphanage and Training Institution, the Rev. Edwin A. Osborne, stated:

"A chapel is also very much needed. At present we hold services in the school room, but it is difficult to impress children with proper ideas of reverence and devotion under such circumstances.
If we had a chapel that would cost about one thousand dollars we could build up a small congregation around the orphanage, and the benefit to the children would be incalculable."

Reading the words of someone who cared about children who didn't have a family left me standing there with tears rolling down my cheeks. At one time there were dormitories, a library, a working farm, classrooms and recreations areas for 130+ orphans. There was something so moving about reading all the plaques and thinking about the people 100 years ago who made the effort to love these children, again children just like the one we will soon bring home. I must say, I have a new passion and I love finding out about anything having to do with concern for the fatherless child.

I will say, though, that unlike when you get a new car and feel a little selfish that all those other people have your same one, I'm thrilled to see as many groups caring for orphans as we can imagine.

2 weeks

2009-05-22T06:59:00.002-04:00

The countdown to court continues. Our court date in just 2 weeks from yesterday. I must admit that in spite of a very busy schedule in May, the days are still crawling by. I even forgot it's my birthday in 2 days.

So for all you praying types out there...we really would appreciate your prayers for June 4th. Some recent events have made passing court a bit more tenuous. The Ethiopian government has recently stopped hearing any cases (temporarily) of children abandoned in Addis Ababa while they investigate some cases that were perhaps unethical. Our case does NOT fall in this category since our Sweetness is from outside the capital city. However, the courts are being very careful as they hear other cases.

Ultimately, this a good thing. They're trying to protect the children and adoptions in Ethiopia from unethical behavior. Unfortunately, there are families caught in this while they wait to bring their children home. In light of this, we have certainly stepped up our prayers for our case as well as for the children and families who wait indefinitely. We trust in the Lord's timing, whatever it may be, but we're ready form Sweetness to be an Anderson.

Please keep praying Sweetness home!

We have room

2009-05-20T20:34:00.002-04:00

When people ask us why we are doing this, one of my favorite answers is, "because we have room in our hearts and our home."

Then, I found the blog of this way cool family. They leave in a few weeks to go pick up their children in Ethiopia - a sibling set of three. I know, I'm impressed too. But wait, this is the SECOND sibling set of three they have adopted in just over a year. ANd they have three biological children too. Check out this trailer for a documentary in production about them. They seriously live by that motto. And I mean seriously.

3 weeks

2009-05-14T08:22:00.002-04:00

Our court date is just 3 weeks away! We have been told it might actually be June 4th so that's just 3 weeks from today! In many ways it feel like that is sooooooo far away, though I'm sure it will be here before we know it.

We got some GREAT pictures from families that traveled last week. Thanks Beckings and Trumans! They held her, ran their fingers through her hair and told her we love her. What an amazing thing to know that they loved on our Sweetness for us.

Please join us in praying that everything (paperwork, people, power, etc.) is in order for the court date and that we would pass court. We thought we were prepared to not pass court if that should be the case but as the day draws near, the thought of that is getting harder to imagine. We're so ready for her to join our family.

Living Upside down

2009-05-06T14:46:00.002-04:00

Awhile ago I posted a link to a great post on another blog about not allowing our adoptions to become selfish and self-centered. I literally read it every time I get discouraged about the wait and want to make this adoption about me.

Here is a link to yet another amazing post by this pastor and adoptive dad. This time, he is talking about "living upside-down" (according he the world's standards) for the sake of the gospel through our adoptions.

Read it here.

Our Hearts are in Africa!

2009-04-30T18:34:00.002-04:00

The Countdown - 5 weeks

2009-04-29T09:13:00.002-04:00

Our court date is just 5 weeks away. Seems like an eternity and then I blink and after all this time and waiting, it seems like nothing! There is so much to do right now that the days are flying by.

Some very dear families are traveling this weekend to pick up their children. They will visit Sweetness and hopefully love on her and bring us back a report. What a comfort! We are truly learning to trust the Lord as the father to the fatherless. He promises to take care of those children and knows what they need even better than we do.

5 weeks from today, if the judge in Ethiopia says it is so, we could be new parents on JUNE 3RD! Of course we already are in our hearts, but this court date is the next step and the BIGGEST step to getting our child. If we "pass" court, we could be heading to Ethiopia late June or early July!

Court Date!

2009-04-17T15:44:00.003-04:00

It only took 3 weeks and 3 days and we have a court date! In just 6 weeks and 5 days, we could be parents again.

JUNE 3RD!!!!!!!

It's on this day that our agency representative will go to court on our behalf and our case will be heard before an Ethiopian judge. If we "pass court," our daughter will be ours legally that day and we can travel 4-6 weeks later! That puts us bringing home our baby sometime in July, Lord willing.

Please join us in praying that the Lord would allow all paperwork to be in order, all people present who need to be, the power to be on that day and anything else that needs to be in place to allow court to happen and be successful.

Go Barefoot Today

2009-04-15T22:58:00.005-04:00

Tom's Shoes. Ever heard of them? Me neither until this week and they are cool. The shoes are cute and cool and hip and all, but the best part is that for every pair purchased they donate a pair to countries like Ethiopia, where shoes are desperately needed. In developing nations, many children cannot attend school because they have no shoes. Disease and infection are spread as children and adults get cuts on their feet from walking miles for water or supplies or food with no shoes.

This year, Toms plans to give over 300,000 pairs of shoes away to those in need. Check out the Toms website for more information. Talk about a cool company to support.

One of the many, many things this adoption has done for us is to open our eyes to the needs of those in places like Ethiopia. We certainly knew about the needs before, but now it just hits so close to home that we cannot ignore it. As we make plans for bringing donations to the orphanage where Sweetness lives right now, we're having a hard time deciding what to bring, because they need everything. Everything from school supplies to medicine to formula. And, I'm sure we'll bring some shoes too.

Care Package

2009-04-13T10:48:00.007-04:00

A box full of love is on its way to Sweetness! We packed up a some formula, some sleepers (for Sweetness and any of her buddies), a pink rattle Avery picked out and some wrist rattles that hopefully will help her with development. Also enclosed is a small blankie, made out of the same fabric as Avery's "pink blankie" from her younger days. Avery kissed each item before we packed it up to send it all the way over to Ethiopia!

More words. 1000 to be exact.

2009-04-10T07:55:00.003-04:00

We heard a few more of those precious words about Sweetness from the Peace Corps couple...

"she was small, but very alert and active." I know its not much, but remember, its all we've got.

And then they sent us 2 new pictures! I can assure you she is getting cuter, if that's possible! She has filled out a little bit and still looks very healthy. Her hair is amazing and her eyes are huge. We are so thankful. Its just mind-blowing to think that they have held our daughter, made eye-contact and prayed over her. What a blessing.

We are still waiting to assigned a court date. 2 weeks down, hopefully just a few more to go.

Every little word...

2009-04-05T21:15:00.008-04:00

When all you have is one picture and a 2 page medical report to define your soon-to-be-child, every little word about her carries a HUGE amount of weight as you try to piece together who she is and what her life is like. We want to be able to tell her about her early life so any information is cherished.

Through an amazing providence of the Lord, some of our dear friends in the adoption world whose children are at the same orphanage, have friends in the Peace Corps in Ethiopia. These friends of friends were able to visit the orphanage and the children just a few days ago. They sent back an email and oh, their words. I now understand the meaning of "hanging" on them. Wow. I have re-read their email so many times.

First of all, they sent back a glowing report of the orphanage which was a huge comfort to us. From the moment we formally accepted the referral I had an immense desire to know all about her surroundings and her daily schedule. According to them, it's a nice, well-run orphanage that is well stocked with supplies. They were very welcomed there and they observed that the nannies have good relationships with the children and care kindly for them. We love to hear this.

But the words we are cherishing are about our Sweetness. Here is what they said, "I held little (Sweetness) and we took some pictures - tiny little baby! A healthy and precious little one!!"

Those few words have made her so real to us. Someone held her and told us about it. They looked at her and told us about it.

In the words of Hal Ketchum, from a song Scotty used to sing to me, "It's more than just I love you baby, its every little word."

Our Sweetness

2009-03-31T21:14:00.004-04:00

As I've said, I can't share much about her but here's a little more info to tide us all over until we can show her off! She is precious and has a very sweet face. She is very tiny and holds her hand in the sweetest little position. Her mouth is sweet and her eyes are huge and so pretty. She has a lovely and very full head of gorgeous black hair. It's hard to tell from the one picture we have how curly it is, but I'll be collecting lots of hair goodies!

We LOVE her name (which I need to be careful about sharing) and are still working on what we'll call her and how we'll use her given name. Sweetness about sums her up and will suffice for now.

Big Week at our Agency

2009-03-27T11:36:00.002-04:00

So this week at our agency so much happened! SEVEN children were matched with families. Babies, toddlers, preschoolers and special needs children. That is SEVEN children who will no longer be living in an orphanage soon. FOUR families had successful court dates and will leave in 4 weeks to go get their children. That's FOUR children who have forever families!

We are so happy for these other families. This good news is wonderful for families who have been waiting and waiting. However, its even better news for the children. It's HOPE for them!

Keep praying for our court date - the sooner we have a successful court date the sooner we can GO GET HER!

In the next post...a few details about our sweetness!!!

REFERRAL!!!!!!!!

2009-03-24T07:59:00.005-04:00

Yesterday was a VERY good day.

We have a REFERRAL! We got THE CALL. We saw a PICTURE.

She is PERFECT.

I wish I could describe what it's like to fall in love with a PICTURE. I'm sure you are all saying, "Post that Picture!" However, by Ethiopian Law we are not allowed to for the protection of our child. And we are all about protecting our child. We are not allowed to share too many details either since legally she is not our child yet.

So you'll have to take our word that we have been very blessed with a very precious, very tiny, very lovely little girl. She is currently hanging out at a wonderful orphanage where we hear the caregivers give the babies lots of attention. And I can say that that is her bottle in the picture and that her tiny little fingers are just out of the shot. We are so thankful to the Lord for choosing us to have the privilege of hopefully being called her parents.

What now?

All our paperwork goes to a preliminary court hearing to matching with hers. Then we will be assigned a court date. This step in the process can take anywhere from 4 to 8 weeks. We are praying for a swift assignment of a court date. A good case scenario, assuming all goes smoothly, could be court date in June and a travel date in July. We hold that loosely knowing things can change but, we also say PRAY AWAY to that end with us!!!!

Thanks for all your support and prayers so far. This is a verse from one of my devotionals this morning. Too fitting not to share.

"Many, O Lord my God, are the wonders you have done. The things you have planned for us no one can recount to you; were I to speak and tell of them, they would be too many to declare." Psalm 40:5

High hopes for next week!

2009-03-20T18:05:00.002-04:00

Sorry all you blog stalkers and dear and wonderful family and friends...no news to report. We thought we might get the call last week, then we thought surely this week, but now we have very high hopes for next week!

In the mean time, please pray for Ethiopia, its many, many orphans and all the people attempting to serve them. Please pray for our daughter and the orphanage where she is living. No, we don't know any details or even know about her at all, but based on how long we have been waiting at #1, she is likely in the orphanage and has been going through medical testing in preparation for being referred to US!

Stay tuned...

Guarding our hearts from selfish adoption

2009-03-12T11:37:00.003-04:00

I have recently entered the world of Twitter to follow our friends as they go to Ethiopia to pick up their children. I'm still figuring Twitter out and but one thing I do like is how it points you to great blog posts and news articles (assuming you "follow" the right crowd). I was directed to an amazing post by an adoptive dad who is waiting to bring home 2 sons from Ethiopia. It's a very important, challenging, convicting and encouraging post for Christians in the adoption process. This is an easy time to be selfish and forget that God's has already planned this journey out completely. This dad reminds us of our amazing responsibility as ambassadors for the gospel in the adoption process.

Read it here at this family's blog.

Green baby

2009-03-11T07:28:00.003-04:00

Nothing to update - still waiting for "the call." On one hand, I actually feel rather calm about it. I feel more relaxed sitting here at number 1, than I did climbing our way through 5, 4, 3, and 2. On the other hand, trying go about my daily business not acting like our life will totally change with any given phone call is a bit exhausting. I also now function on mountain time, the hours that the agency is open. My heart starts to beat fast around 11 am eastern and it stays that way until 7 pm when the agency closes (5pm in Colorado). Could be today, could be a few weeks from now.

In the meantime, a funny thing has hit me. We are going to have a baby. I know that sounds ridiculous but focusing on the actual process of adoption, sometimes the real baby part gets left out of my thoughts. A sweet friend gave me her daughter's old bottles and it dawned on me that we will be needing some baby stuff around here. We haven't bought anything yet since we don't know how old she will be and since I am not a pack rat, I have nothing saved from my first round of babyhood.

But, apparently this is a good thing. As I have come to discover, everything I used with my first 2 children just 9 and 10 years ago was probably filled with toxins, chemicals and who knows what else. Gee, I hope Clay and Avery turn out okay. Don't get me wrong, I am not mocking all the improvements made in the past 10 years (has it really been that long?). I am all for healthier children. I actually feel like a grandma looking at all the products that are now out there as I say to some adorable younger mom, "Wow. They never had anything like this when I had my kids!" I'm pretty sure we had to carry our children on our back uphill both way back then.

Its pretty fun discovering all the things we totally "need" with this baby, many of which are now supposed to be much safer. A friend pointed me to a cool website called The Soft Landing which has all things plastic for baby, free of the bad chemicals and stuff. Cloth diapering, healthier baby food, and organic clothing are everywhere and seeing as this sweet child will be coming home most likely undernourished, I am seeking all the information I can get.

Oh and of just about everything out there, I'm the most excited about those cool things that you put in the shopping carts to keep babies from sucking on the handlebar. Although, that did keep Clay and Ave pretty quiet while I did my shopping. Well, I'm sure there is something new out there for that too now.

What's next?

2009-03-03T01:13:00.001-05:00

So, of course we are totally over the moon, crazy excited about being next in line, but there are still many steps before we bring her home. Here's a rough sketch and an adoption vocabulary lesson all rolled into one:

1. Wait

2. Receive referral. A referral is when our agency calls to tell us that they have a specific child for us. We receive a picture or two and some limited medical information like height and weight, a blood workup and test results for major diseases. We'll also receive any background information that is available.

3. WE PRAISE THE LORD AND THEN FREAK OUT!

4. We have a doctor look over medical records.

5. We formally accept the referral.

6. Our Dossier (enormous stack of all paperwork revealing our life story and then some) is then translated and brought to MOWA (the Ministry of Women's Affairs) along with the child's dossier and they officially match us and give us a court date, probably 2 months out or so.

7. Wait and pray to pass the first time. Its very common not to pass court for various reasons your first time.

8. If we do not pass, a new date is given about 1 month out.

9. If we do pass court - this is when the child legally becomes ours and they schedule an appointment at the Embassy in Addis Ababa. We travel around this date.

10. Make travel plans, go buy baby girl clothes, pack and....

11. Go get our daughter!!!

We're Number 1!!!!!!!!!!!!

2009-02-27T17:10:00.005-05:00

Usually this time of year we're chanting this for the UCLA basketball team as they head into March Madness but not today, baby! Today, Team Anderson is NUMBER 1!!!!!

Amazing Grace

2009-02-26T21:46:00.003-05:00

The Lord has given amazing grace to the Forrest family today. After a very long and painful adoption road, the Lord has shown his faithfulness to them. Their daughter finally passed court today! Click on over and to their blog see her precious children! The best part for me is that they live right here in our town so I get the honor of meeting these big-eyed beauties before too long!

Adoption Tax Credit

2009-02-23T12:29:00.002-05:00

There is currently and wonderful adoption tax credit that helps many afford adoption. Its set to expire in 2010 unless Congress votes to extend it.

The Adoption Tax Relief Guarantee Act of 2009 would keep the tax credit from being repealed. It only takes a minute to contact your representatives on this matter to encourage them to keep the tax credit. Many, many families are able to better afford to adopt an orphan because of this. Even though we do not benefit from this, I'm so happy to make the effort to keep it around and keep seeing orphans placed with a forever family.

Write your U.S. Representative

Write your U.S. Senator

Hope for the Weekend

2009-02-21T08:44:00.003-05:00

As Friday afternoon loomed, my spirits began to fall. No news from our agency about referrals and they, of course, are closed for the weekend.

But then as I was stalking adoption blogs, I came across some potentially thrilling news. Its being said that there is a new judge in Ethiopia now hearing adoption cases. This means that the courts can hopefully hear more cases and get children home to their families sooner. This may also mean we have a better shot at getting through the courts before they close for the rainy season in August and September.

So even though we hold this information loosely, it did really lift my heart. Making it to Monday morning when the agency opens again is much easier! Praise the Lord!

***I'm not sure if this is a new judge or just one replacing the judge who was on maternity leave. Either way, it should help for awhile.***

On the radio whoa oh oh...

2009-02-17T20:04:00.002-05:00

I've had Donna Summer playing in my head all day today.

Scotty got to be on the radio show Knowing the Truth today along with Dan Cruver of Together for Adoption, Laura Godwin and Lisa Prather from Carolina Hope Christian Adoption Agency and Anthony Mathenia, a former missionary to Ethiopia and adoptive parent. They all discussed different aspects of Ethiopian adoptions and what their ministries are doing. It was really fun to hear him and so great hear orphan care and adoption proclaimed across the airwaves.

He's probably gonna make me take this down when he discovers I posted this, but here is the link to listen to the sermon audio archive of the show.

Who loves the number 2?

2009-02-12T15:10:00.005-05:00

WE DO!

My friend Chantelle received her referral today for a 1 month old baby girl. This moves us up the list to number 2! Wahoo!!

Now we just wait some more but number two is just one less than number 1!

Praise the Lord that one more child has a family.

Who doesn't love free give-aways!?!

2009-02-10T13:59:00.006-05:00

Every Tuesday my friend Jill does a super cool giveaway on her blog. Today is no exception. She is giving away a beautiful doll, handmade my Pam (an adoptive mom) to 2 lucky winners! Calling all grandmas, moms, adoptive parents - these dolls are so sweet!

And if you don't win the freebie, you can order one from Pam's Etsy website. All proceeds go toward their adoption of a sibling group from Ethiopia.

Connections

2009-02-06T10:44:00.004-05:00

We have a great little yahoo group for the families of our agency and it has become quite a community. Its so neat to share with others in their excitement and their disappointments. Its a great place to get questions answered. And, its so great to find people who understand exactly what you are going through and what all the buzz words mean and why you get depressed on Friday afternoons (see post below :)).

Anyway, today so far has already been a really great day on the yahoo board. One family finally received their travel dates, two families passed court (meaning their children are legally theirs!) and another family going through a concurrent domestic adoption got their new baby daughter.

If you are a prospective adoptive parent out there, I highly encourage you to make connections with families from your agency or elsewhere. Its an incredible support and network. Meetings and reunions are planned all the time among these families. It's a unique bond. There is something about adoption that creates fast friends and knits people together for years to come.

Frantic Friday

2009-02-05T19:27:00.003-05:00

So all you prospective adoptive parents out there currently playing the waiting game probably know exactly what I mean by the title of this post. For the rest of you, here's a little insight into our world right now.

I do not look forward to the weekends. Probably for the first time ever in my life. I now cannot wait for Monday morning to get here. On Friday I frantically check my email, voicemail and yahoo group about every 10 minutes for any news what so ever. You see, Friday is when the adoption agency closes for TWO WHOLE DAYS. That's two days that no news can come out of the agency office. Our caller ID won't show the agency phone number. We won't hear if someone passes court or gets a travel date. Oh yeah, I look for major distraction to fill those days. Pretty sure its a syndrome of some kind.

Its now all about Monday. Monday mornings now mean that there is potential for the phone to ring and tell us we have moved up the list. Oh the hope of the new week!

Seriously though, I did find great encouragement today from this verse in 1 Timothy

But I obtained mercy for the reason that in me, as the foremost (of sinners), Jesus Christ might show forth and display all His perfect long-suffering and patience for an example to (encourage) those who would therefore believe on Him for eternal life. - 1 Timothy 1:16

Waiting...

2009-02-04T07:18:00.002-05:00

No adoption news yet - we're still hanging in there at #3.

The waiting of adoption is hard. There is no doubt about that. About a week ago, I received some timely encouragement from a dear friend who has done her fair share of waiting in this life. She was studying Exodus 40, at the end of the chapter where the glory of the Lord fills the tabernacle. When the cloud lifted, the Israelites would travel. When the cloud descended and filled the Tent of Meeting, they could not set out until it lifted again. My friend pointed out that when the Israelites were just waiting for God's guidance and instruction, it was then He was closest to them, filling the tabernacle with His Glory.

Together for Adoption

2009-01-28T19:45:00.009-05:00

Together for Adoption is an awesome ministry that sponsors conferences that focus on our vertical adoption (God adopting us in Christ) and it's implications on caring for orphans and horizontal adoption. I stole that definition right from their website but it says it best.

I posted about the conference Together for Adoption last fall when we attended. I wanted to put another plug in for it for a couple of reasons.

First, they are having their second conference in Nashville, TN this fall. Check out the information on their blog here.

Secondly, if you haven't heard the audio from the 2008 conference. Its amazing and you can listen here.

All the talks are excellent. They greatly increased my confidence in adopting and in parenting a child of another race. I especially recommend the one entitled "Adoption and The Multi-Ethnic Family of God."

Finally, Together for Adoption is leading a mission trip to Ethiopia this June. If you are interested it going on the trip, the information can be found here.

*The pictures are from the 2008 Conference and the Together for Adoption Website.

Keeping up with the Joneses

2009-01-22T21:49:00.004-05:00

Check me out! I finally branched out from the blogger pre-made templates and figured out how to customize our blog. These are the types of things we adoptive parents do to fill up our waiting time.

3 is a magic number...

2009-01-17T09:09:00.004-05:00

If you're a child of the 70's like us you probably remember Schoolhouse Rock wedged between those Saturday morning cartoons or playing before the ABC Afterschool Specials. And so I quote:

Three is a magic number,

Yes it is, it's a magic number,

Somewhere in the ancient, mystic trinity,

You get three as a magic number

The past present and the future,

Faith and Hope and Charity

The heart and the brain and the body

Give you three as a magic number!

Who knew Schoolhouse Rock quoted Scripture?

But seriously folks, please join us is praising the Lord from whom all blessings flow. A family was matched with a 4 month old baby girl yesterday, moving us up to number 3! Once again, we don't dare guess a timeframe. We have recently moved quickly up a few but that isn't always the case. We'll just enjoy being so close to the top and feeling like this is really going to happen.

Fantastic Four

2009-01-15T13:32:00.006-05:00

We got the word today that we have moved up the list to number 4! We are of course, thrilled. One more step in our journey. We still do not know what this means timeline wise, we're just getting closer. About this time last year I was making predictions about when we would travel. I'm not even going there anymore.

However, this move up is a little bittersweet. We moved up not because a child was matched with their forever family but because a family ahead of us had to put their adoption on hold due to financial issues. I don't know who they were but I'm very sad for them.

After plugging along at this for 12+ months, I will say my perspective has changed in many ways. When we were just beginning things I read lots of blogs and heard about many situations and bumps in the adoption road but never really thought that would be us. I just thought ours would be smooth and quick. I don't think I was too naive just very optimistic. I realize now that the variables in adoption are endless, and the challenges of a third world country are unimaginable to us. I mean, we just don't think about the fact that we might not pass court because the power is out for the day. I think I'm feeling so bittersweet because it could just as easily be us putting our adoption on hold for some reason. I'm hope that our challenges are mostly behind us, however, I'm more prepared for the possibility now.

So if you know someone in the midst of an adoption, encourage them, help them, pray for them, just do something to let them know you are thinking about them. Adoption can take some superhuman strength at times.

Amazing article: As an atheist, I truly believe Africa needs God

2009-01-11T14:42:00.006-05:00

That is the title to a great article recently posted on the London Times online site. Click HERE to read it.

Is anyone still reading this?

2009-01-10T17:42:00.003-05:00

So I realize its been quite awhile since our last post. I think I'm feeling a bit distant from the adoption stuff as a way of coping with the wait, but also very content where we are too. We're excited as ever and my heart literally aches for our child when I see pictures and blogs of those home with their children. At the same time, the Lord has been helping me to live where he has me now. I'm truly enjoying my 9 and 10 year old and our family of four. We are so blessed. And while we wish our child was home with us now, its hard to get whiney and impatient when you think about the tragedy that will cause our child to need a new home and family in the first place.

As far as updates, there is nothing new to report, we are still waiting at number 5. We had some staff turnover at our agency and we have a new specialist in charge of our case. We're really happy with her. A family received a referral for a baby boy last week and its so exciting to think of one more child being united with his family. Things have slowed down significantly in Ethiopia, but for some good reasons. Many more people are choosing to adopt from Ethiopia and the Ethiopian government is working to keep things ethical. This causes delays in the courts, new document requirement and other issues that bog things down. We'll just be patient with God's timing, knowing that the child he has already marked out for our family will come home on the day He always intended.

Inspiring, to say the least

2008-12-16T14:13:00.005-05:00

I mentioned awhile back that I had reconnected with a classmate from high school and Facebook and discovered she was adopting from Ethiopia too. Get this, after accepting a referral for a sibling group of 2, they found out that there were twin infant siblings belonging to this family group as well. They do not separate sibling for adoption (that's a good thing) so my friend had to decide, all or none. They went for it, fully trusting God to provide all they need to raise 4 new children.

Well, as of yesterday they get to call them their own. They passed court and the children are theirs legally. Click on over to her blog to see the 4 new members of the Brown family!

Movin' on up!

2008-12-14T14:45:00.003-05:00

Merry Christmas to us -

We have moved up the waiting list to number 5!

CNN Hero of the Year

2008-11-20T09:05:00.004-05:00

On Thanksgiving, CNN will air a special entitled, CNN Heroes: an All-star Tribute, during which they will reveal the CNN Hero of the year, selected from the top 10 nominees. You can read about all the nominees here.

When you read their stories, you'll see why any one of them is worthy to win but we're rooting specifically for Yohannes Gebregeorgis. Yohannes was forced to free Ethiopia in 1981 as a political refugee. He became a US citizen, putting himself through college and graduate school. He became a children's librarian and realized that the children of Ethiopia have almost no children's books, not just in Ethiopia but even printed in their native language. He then founded the non-profit, Ethiopia Reads. You can read his story here. The video is definitely worth watching. You've got to see his donkey mobile library that he takes to rural areas.

Scotty and I are so excited to find stories, people, events and issues that we can share with our daughter when she is older and use to connect our family to her heritage. It's amazing how we already love this country that we have never visited.

National Adoption Month

2008-11-19T06:50:00.002-05:00

November is National Adoption Month. All over America there are events and initiatives going on to promote adoption. Even the courts join in by speeding up the legal process in order to get extra adoption cases heard and more children legally into their "forever families. Its a very exciting thing.

In Fulton County, Georgia, 30 children had been adopted out of the foster system on November 15th, National Adoption Day. That number may not seem big, but just think, that's 30 children who did now have a family of their own. Around 3500 adoptions were finalized on November 15th across the country.

Currently, There are 130,000 children in the US foster system who are ready to be adopted. That's is not a big number, folks. The orphan situation in the US could be solved pretty quickly if just 130,000 families stepped up and adopted. We recently found out about Project 127 in Colorado where a church (Joshua and Lydia Rich's church!) began a ministry in connection with the Lt. Governor's office and social services to get Colorado's 800 adoptable children into homes. If families in the effort are not adopting, they are supporting and adopting family. You can check it our here.

Even having my heart turned toward adoption for many years before now, I am amazed at how much my eyes have been opened to caring for those without families in our world. If this process somehow ended without our family adding a child, I would be ever grateful for the new "burden" I feel for orphan care. I'm looking very forward to seeing where our efforts are directed in the future.

Small update

2008-11-11T07:12:00.002-05:00

Our Dossier is in Ethiopia! It has been picked up by our agency's in-country facilitator. It will be translated over the next couple weeks and then go to the Ministry of Women's Affairs for approval. Then it will wait for us to get our referral. Again, this doesn't speed up our time frame at all, but its fun to keep track of. I guess we are just clinging to every little step forward right now.

The Rewards of Waiting

2008-11-04T13:11:00.003-05:00

I saw the following on another adoptive parent's blog. It was printed as a devotional in In Touch, the monthly newsletter of Charles Stanley. It really encouraged me in this season of waiting.

We've all been forced to wait in doctors' offices, traffic jams, and checkout lines. During those times, we have nothing to do but try to be patient.

In God's Kingdom, waiting is defined as an "active stillness." We should be active because we are continuing in our present situation. And, we need to be still because we are focusing our attention on Him for guidance. Practicing a lifestyle of active stillness requires a purposeful and expectant attitude, a patient and determined frame of mind, and a prayerful and obedient heart.

There are rewards for waiting on the Lord. We receive the supernatural energy and strength we need for godly living. At times, when responsibilities overwhelm us, we might be tempted to get out of step with God. Even though we know He's calling us to keep a steady pace, we may fall behind. At other times, our schedules leave us little time to think. So, we make quick decisions, pushing ahead of Him. In either case, we risk becoming tired and emotionally spent because we are operating in our own strength.

Patiently waiting on God brings us the physical energy and emotional reserves we need to keep going. Being patient also enables us to discover His will, which is always for our good (Romans 8:28). We also gain spiritual victory over our trials and disappointments.

Our all-knowing and all-powerful God is always on time. But we often leave too early or arrive too late. Pick a situation in which you're tempted to overrule God's perfect timing. Then submit to Him, realizing the issue is a matter of trust.

Naming her

2008-11-03T20:21:00.003-05:00

Avery has insisted that we call our someday daughter a name. She has chosen the name "Baby E" for now. Not exactly original since E just stands for Ethiopia, but so sweet because it shows how real she is to Ave and Clay. They are very ready for their sister. We rearranged Ave's room to make sure a crib fits. Ave has asked if she can get up at night and feed "E." And you can bet I'll be taking her up on that offer! Clay has asked if he can get her our of her crib when naptime is done and bring her downstairs. They are so excited.

As for her real name, we are waiting to find our her given name because we'd like to keep that in some way. And that's all inquiring minds will get for now. Scotty has sworn me to secrecy about any other names we might be considering. You'll just have to wait for the day we pass court and she becomes legally ours.

Dossier is on its way

2008-10-30T15:54:00.002-04:00

Just a small update... our dossier is en route to Ethiopia. This doesn't mean anything in terms of speeding up the timeline but its a step forward! We are waiting on confirmation that it arrives safely in Ethiopia and is picked up by Abebe, the in-country facilitator. It will then be translated and head to the Ministry of Women's Affairs for their approval. All these are steps toward us being paper ready to receive that referral whenever it comes our way.

Orphan Awareness & Adoption Sunday

2008-10-28T09:42:00.002-04:00

This past Sunday our church had and Orphan Awareness and Adoption Sunday. It was amazing, and not because of our obvious interest. When you, as a believer, hear about our adoption by God and all its implications, you cannot escape the call to orphan care. Our church is launching an orphan and adoption ministry and this was an amazing kickoff. Just when I was getting a bit "woe is me" about our specific adoption process - I was reminded that this isn't about me. Its about caring for children who do not have forever families. Ah, perspective can be so calming.

Dan Cruver of Carolina Hope Christian Adoption Agency and Director of Together for Adoption preached an incredible sermon. It's one to listen to again and again as those of us adopting get discouraged. Its also one to pass along to friends and family. So inspiring in whatever capacity you feel called to care for orphans. Click here to listen. If you ever need a speaker/preacher on adoption to come to your church - he's definitely the one to call upon.