P.S. We Love You!

This is a very special journal.

It's filled with our most intimate thoughts, hopes, and dreams for our daughter.

Whenever we're having a "hard" day dealing with the wait, we write her. If we're having a great day and wish we could have shared it with her, we write her. If we have an epiphany about our future life as a family, we write her. We've found it to be a very therapeutic way to deal with the wait (because the wait is honestly harder than we ever imagined it would be).

One day we will share this very personal journal with her. By that time, I'm sure she will know (and feel) the depth of our love for her, but this journal gives us the opportunity to share with her how much we loved her, thought about her, and wanted her in our lives before we even met her.

"Love is never tired in waiting" 1 Corinthians 13:4

Every Princess Needs A Crown

In 23 days, my blogger friend Kari Smalley Gibson from My Crazy Adoption Blog is leaving for a missions trip to Ethiopia. She will be visiting orphans living in Korah and visiting orphanages in Addis Ababa.

Kari's mission (in honor of her daughter Zoie Senait's 3rd birthday) is to bring beauty to the girls living in Korah and in all the orphanages she visits. She asked her friends to help her put love on the head of every Princess she meets in Ethiopia – by hand making headbands for girls ages 2-13 (she hopes to bring 400 headbands).

I hope the 78 headbands we made with love for Ethiopian beauties will help Kari reach her goal!

With the help of my friends we threw two headband making parties: one in Lexington, KY and one in Mt.Washington, KY.

The Lexington Crafters

The Mt.Washington Headbanders

We had a wonderful time for a meaningful cause:



Our friends Nina and Wes were in Korah this week (click here to read about their touching experience). We are continuously amazed by their strength, their hearts, and their deep spiritual connection with God. Please continue to pray for them and their upcoming February 7th court date.  

Thanks again to all my girlfriends for lending your crafty talents. The headbands are awesome! 

Wait List

We have officially been on Children's Hope International's Wait List for:

Our handsome nephew Logan

2 MONTHS!

We haven't moved up for a week or two but the referrals are coming we can feel it! 

On Angels Wings

Our friends Nina and Wes are leaving tomorrow to meet their twins, Alexander and Eliana for the first time! You may recall their Referral Day Video that we posted on our blog a few months ago. There's no doubt that their Referral Day was amazing but how great do you think their Meetcha Day will be?!

We can hardly contain the emotion we feel just thinking about it - we can only imagine how they feel. Instead of making two trips to Ethiopia, Nina and Wes are staying the whole time (1-2 months). They will be with their babies forever after their court date on January 18th.

We would like to ask our family and friends to join us in praying for Nina & Wes as they embark on the last leg of their unforgettable adoption journey. Please pray that the entire Mullins Family is safe, healthy, and has zero delays in returning home to Kentucky. You can follow their adoption journey at Chasing After Love. 

We can't wait to welcome the Mullins family home!

These are a few of our favorite things ...

It may come as no surprise to you but we think about our daughter all the time. We daydream about what she'll look like, who she'll be, what our life as a family will be like ... the thoughts of her are endless. 

That's why Christmas was so special this year. Our family and friends made generous donations to our adoption fund, instead of gifts, which we really appreciated. The gifts we did receive were reflective of "her" and our future as a family.

From Left to Right: "The Color of Me" by: Lisa L. Dunn wasn't given to us, it was actually a gift from Grandma Walker to our nephews but we love its message and hope our nephews will too. The book emphasizes that everyone is made from God's colors and that all races are equal in the eyes of God. We think it's a great book and would recommend it. 

Over the holidays we visited the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center in Cincinnati, OH. It's a tremendous resource for families, the center is very well done and has a great gift shop. We purchased this hand beaded African giraffe for "her" bedroom as a Christmas present and a souvenir of our first visit to the Freedom Center.

"70 Traditional African Recipes" by: Rosamund Grant was an unexpected gift from a close friend. We love the cookbook and plan on trying some of the recipes and sharing them on the blog in the coming weeks.

"From My Heart You Came" by Heidi Ballard (a mother who adopted from Ethiopia) was a gift to me from my sweet husband. The book is a tender journey through the thoughts and emotions of a mother's heart for her adopted child. It's nicely illustrated and I love that the story ends with a picture of the mother and child (there's an insert for a personal photo). Another great thing about this gift is that 10% of the purchase price went to support Into the Streets of Ethiopia. A nonprofit whose mission is to raise financial support, basic living materials and educational needs for children living on the streets of Ethiopia.

A photo book and memory box for "her" from Aunt Lisa and Uncle Brandon. We can't wait to have photos of her to put in the photo book and memories to put in the memory box.

The last gift was from our Aunt Vivian. She asked a friend to make this sweater for "her" while she was in Hawaii. We couldn't help but shed a few tears when we opened it and our family did too. We were so touched because it was the first Christmas gift we opened that was just for "her".

We feel confident that we'll have a referral before next Christmas. By then, we hope to have visited "her" at least once, maybe twice, or who knows if we're lucky we could be celebrating Christmas with her.  

Let's hope that 2011 is a grand year!

New Number

We've hit a slow period it seems ... we've moved up once in the last two weeks but at least we've moved up, right? 

Please pray for a large round of referrals (like we had in November). We'd love to see that happen again soon!