We Cleared!!

Do not be afraid, for I am with you; I will bring your children from the east and gather you from the west. Isaiah 43:5
Our file was approved in Nairobi so we are cleared to travel!!! We are so excited to pick our baby girl up and bring her home!!!

I mean look at this girl...doesn't get much cuter than that!!! We are so thankful that God chose her for our family!! We leave next Thursday so that means in one week I will be holding my baby girl!! Yippee!!!! We have been praying we would have her home by her birthday and we will actually be in Ethiopia ON her birthday April 4th...Love it!! Praising God for working out all the details!!

So I have to share a funny story (not so funny yesterday but funny today):

Since Feb. 1st (the day our file was submitted to the US Embassy) I have woken up every morning wondering if we have an email saying our case has been approved. So yesterday was just like every other morning over the past couple months I wake up run downstairs and check my email. I noticed that I had received 2 emails that had been returned to sender because my inbox was full. Both emails were from USCIS in Nairobi, Kenya (the emails I had been waiting for) RETURNED TO SENDER. So you might be wondering how could I let me inbox get to full capacity? Well when I delete the emails on my phone they don't delete from my email account so I have to go online to delete them. My email admin had sent me an email a couple weeks ago saying I was getting close and I totally forgot to delete them. Well of course I start frantically deleting emails hoping they would resend but NOTHING. So I emailed USCIS (twice) and the Vice Consul in Ethiopia to let them know what happened so they would resend the emails. Since the time difference is 8 hours ahead of us they had all left for the day. About 4 hours later I finally get an email from the the Vice Consul letting me know that we were cleared!! The cool thing is that since the Vice Consul email directly we already received our Embassy appointment which usually takes a coupe days. Love how God took this gliche and turned it into something good.

Mason is memorizing Psalm 100 at school and it is so right for this point in our journey.

Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth. Worship the Lord with gladness; come before him with joyful songs. Know that the Lord is God. It is he who made us, and we are his, we are his people, the sheep of his pasture. Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name. For the Lord is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations. Psalm 100

Please continue to pray for us as we travel and transition together as a family. Thank you so much for your support and prayers!!!

$7 for our 7th - A Charity Project

Our sweet friends Nick & Jessica are adopting a baby boy from Ethiopia and they need your help bringing him home. Click on the link below and find out how you can help them for ONLY $7!!! They have an awesome story that is well worth reading. Just do it!!!

http://www.acharityproject.com/f/7forour7th

Not Clearly Approvable...off to Nairobi

We received an email this morning from the Embassy that said, "We regret to inform you that the Consular Section has determined that your Form I-600 Petition to Classify Alien as an Immediate Relative is not clearly approvable." They have sent our file to the US Citizenship and Immigration Services Office (USCIS) in Nairobi, Kenya for them to review our case. It can take 30 days but some of the families we know have been approved in 2 weeks. We finally have movement...this is such an answer to prayer!! Rejoice in the Lord always, I will say it again: Rejoice! (Philippians 4:4)

Rough Week

I miss my girl!!! I have felt emotionally drained this week. Every morning I wake up run downstairs and check my email to see if the Embassy has cleared our case. It has been 5 weeks since our paperwork was submitted and so far NOTHING!! I email them every week for an update and the generic response I receive in return is so depressing. I'm ready to pick her up, hold her and have our family together.

Daddy Daughter Dance

Tonight is the Daddy Daughter Dance at Northland Church and this is the 3rd year Clay has taken Lyla Grace. This event is etched in her mind as the best night of her life. She told me earlier this week "Mommy at the dance I get to eat junk and be with Daddy! I can't wait!" Part of the excitement during the week is picking out her special dress (this year my mom made 2 to pick from) and talking about how she is going to wear her hair. My cousins wife shared a picture on Facebook about a month ago where she had curled her daughters hair with Bantu knots. Well I googled it and found out how to make it happen :) It was so easy and her hair was in beautiful ringlets (for 2 days). Here it is before she went to bed.

Here is her hair after

 She was so excited to have curly hair!!!!

All of the dads and girls went to eat pizza before the dance.

 Lyla Grace dancing with her friends

 Three besties!!

Nice Serve

Every 3 months our church serves the people of Orlando alongside organizations in our community. Today we teamed up with Greenup, an organization that helps keep the community parks and other public areas clean and usable. Almost 2,000 partners at our church went out and served this morning. Our kids loved helping and it was great to be able to serve together as a family.

So fun

Over the past couple weeks I have been able to go on 2 field trips with my kiddos :) I know this doesn't seem like a big deal but to this momma who has felt like I have missed out on my kids school life lately it is a very big deal!!
I went with Mason's class to the Orlando Science Center and had so much fun getting to know his little friends.

 Mason got so excited touching the snake that he almost walked off with it...until the lady used her stern I don't think so voice. The funniest part about it was that he was shocked she wouldn't let him actually carry it around.

 This week I went to Green Meadows farm with Lyla Grace's class.

 I was so surprised to see how much she loved the animals. She is usually such a girly girl and doesn't really like to get dirty. She was running around catching ducks, chickens and bunnies.

 Lyla Grace and her sweet friend holding a baby duck.

 Milking a cow

After working part time last Fall I am so appreciative of the time I do get to spend with my kiddos. Thankful God was able to teach me the lesson that every moment spent with them is a gift!!!!