This year

 A year ago today, we started this adoption. A YEAR!! High five, right?! that's a big milestone!!

This year in summation:

-The paperwork stage was intense, but strangely fun for me (giant dork)
-After paperwork, getting baby/nursery stuff ready has been one fun way for me to feel connected to our baby
-God has opened our hearts and minds to the needs of people all over the world, but mostly, that people need Him all over the world, and that we can help with that
-He's opened my heart to a desire to love on and help orphans find love and a home
-We love the beach, we love our family, we love encouraging music, our friends, Ethiopian anything :), baby things, Haiti, Modern Family, blogs and blog friends, Szechuan 132, and Harry Potter (but we already knew that)
-We're praying for our babe every day; that he/she'd be safe, warm, fed, clean, and played with, and that God would be near to them, that they would grow to love Him, and that He would give us wisdom to raise them well
-We're learning about trials and suffering and what it means to have joy and peace in the midst of all of it
-I'm getting super pumped about doing black baby hair!!!! I've started stocking up on some Carol's Daughter, I'm keeping my eye out for other good stuff

-We're praying every day that we can bring him/her home soon. Maybe this year...

In Feast Or Fallow... Featuring: More pics from Haiti

http://www.sandramccracken.com/

When the fields are dry, and the winter is long
Blessed are the meek, the hungry, the poor
When my soul is downcast, and my voice has no song
For mercy, for comfort, I wait on the Lord

In the harvest feast or the fallow ground,
My certain hope is in Jesus found
My lot, my cup, my portion sure
Whatever comes, we shall endure.
Whatever comes, we shall endure

On a cross of wood, His blood was outpoured
He Rose from the ground, like a bird to the sky
Bringing peace to our violence, and crushing death's door
Our Maker incarnate, our God who provides.

In the harvest feast or the fallow ground,
My certain hope is in Jesus found
My lot, my cup, my portion sure
Whatever comes, we shall endure.
Whatever comes, we shall endure

come, oh come, Emman- u- el
come, oh come, Emman- u- el

When the earth beneath me crumbles and quakes
Not a sparrow falls, nor a hair from my head
Without His hand to guide me, my shield and my strength
In joy or in sorrow, in life or in death

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In the harvest feast or the fallow ground,
My certain hope is in Jesus found
My lot, my cup, my portion sure
Whatever comes, we shall endure.
Whatever comes, we shall endure

come, oh come, Emman- u- el
come, oh come, Emman- u- el

ONE MONTH!!!

We've been on the wait list for our baby for a whole month today!!! YAAAYYY!!! Can you believe it?!? That means we probably only have like 6.5-9months to go until a referral :) WHAT?!?! That's crazy soon, right? right?

Plus, we found out this week that by the time we need to travel next year, we'll probably have built up enough sky-miles to award us 1 free round-trip ticket to Ethiopia!!! Can I get a "Whoop, whoop!" That's 1 down, 3.5 to go, folks :) Obviously, morale's pretty high around here!!

It's funny, since coming back from Haiti, I feel like I have a whole new perspective on life.

1) For starters, I have way less anxiety about adoption stuff and life in general. I think for the first time in my life I'm really learning what it means that I don't have to fret, worry, or be afraid of anything, because my Lord, my eternal Dad, is in charge of this whole sha-bang. How freeing is that?! He has all the money in the world, he cares about people and hurts over injustice way more than I do, He's never taken off guard by a need that anyone has, never scrambling to make things work out, He knows the end of the story, He's got this under control. All I have to do is just follow Him, and He'll take care of the rest. Yay!

2) Then I pair that with my new-found knowledge of the condition of the world; that America is just part of a much larger, painful picture, that all people are equally important to God and also equally broken, and that there's SUCH a need for help; for people who have (the Gospel and material resources) to help the rest of the world that is FULL of those who don't. There are so many children... too many children living in garbage dumps.

3) ...And what I get is a FIRE growing in my bones, as Sara Groves would say, to get out there and do something with the life He's given me!!!! I'm so excited to have a sense of purpose, to know how I want to serve the Lord, have found something I can't wait to pour my energy into!!! Don't know what it's gonna look like yet, but I'm excited!!!

But in the meanwhile, as we wait expectantly for our next big adventure, our sweeeeet baby, I compiled lists of Amharic names, from what I could find on the internet. The links below will open into a Google Doc and you should be able to edit them in case you know a name that's not on there, or maybe something's not quite right, cause I totally don't have any illusions that they're completely accurate. There are some really beautiful names like Salayish-"before I saw you", and some super sad names, like Masresha-"the one who helped us to forget". Hope you find them helpful, and enjoy reading them as much as I do!!! Oh, and I also found this other website with a pretty extensive list PLUS some pronunciations, sweet!

boy
girl



#25 (11 girls, 8 boys and 5 either genders ahead of us)

Furniture, friends and fun :)

Furniture- While he was in New York a couple of weeks ago, I refinished the dresser that's gonna go in our nursery, which I got a while ago at a garage sale for 10 bucks!!! I'm super pumped about how it turned out :)

Before:

After:


Friends- I had the pleasure of helping to coordinate one of my friends' wedding last weekend, and I have to say, it was so much fun. I didn't feel stressed at all. It was beautiful, quirky, personal, and just a total blast, not to mention that our sweet friends are MARRIED now!!! Yaaay!!!

The View

The beautiful Bride

Me and my best friend forever :)

Fun- You got any good/fun/creative ideas for how to celebrate/mark the time we spend in waiting for our babe??!!

Also, this rad painting I got in Haiti that I need to make a frame for!!!