Two Years!

What a difference TWO years make! Looking back on my past posts, I can't believe we have come so far. It hasn't all been easy but it's been worth it. 

Moshe is doing extremely well. He loves school and is working hard so he can go to Kindergarten next year. He started talking about going to Kindergarten on his own. It's proven to be quite a motivator! He also loves baseball, singing and the Avengers. He is definitely ALL BOY!

We are so blessed to have Moshe in our lives. He fits right in and we can't imagine our little family without him. Our support system has been incredible as well. We couldn't have done it without the loving support of our friends and family. At the top of the list however, is our Lord God. He listened to our cries and prayers. He strung together so many miracles, there are too many to count. In the end, we couldn't survive one day without him.

So...what's next? We continue to ask for wisdom and love and we raise our three precious children. Is there another adoption in the future? We are still praying about that one. We'll see what the Lord has in store. I'd love to hear from you. If you have any questions or are thinking about adoption, I'd love to talk to you. It's a journey worth taking.

Meet Moshe!

What a whirlwind the last couple of months have been. We didn't even have a moment to update our very out-of-date blog! It's a long story, so here are the highlights...

Wednesday, October 27- Get a call from our agency saying that we need to fly to Rwanda on Sunday. (yes- that was 4 days notice!)

Tuesday, November 2- Arrive in Kigali, Rwanda.

Wednesday, November 17- Meet Moshe for the first time!

Thursday, November 18- Moshe is officially ours!

Tuesday, November 23- Fly to Ethiopia to finish the visa process.

Wednesday, December 1- Arrive home!

We were home for a couple of weeks and then we traveled up to northern California for Moshe's first Christmas with our family. Now we are home and ready to take on 2011 (at least I think we are!)

Moshe (pronounced "Mo-shay") is Hebrew for Moses. His middle name is Hakizimana ("Hawk-ee-zi-ma-na") is Kinyarwanda for "God Saves." He is 2 1/2 and an absolute joy. Emma and Abby are wonderful big sisters and a huge help to us.

Thank you to all who supported us through this whole process. This has definitely been a “group effort” and we couldn’t have done it without your love, prayers and support. You are all apart of this miracle and God has used you in a special way. God bless you all!

Our Referral Letter!! Meeting Moshe for the first time

Thanksgiving in Ethiopia!

Approval!!!

We received our non-objection letter from Rwanda this morning!! We are so excited!

We have one final step before we travel to Rwanda: our Referral. This is where Rwanda matches us with a child. Shortly after, we go to Rwanda and pick up Charlie!

We are praising God for this news and pray that more families receive their approval as well!!

Number Six

It's been many months since we've posted anything because there hasn't been much to post! :)

We've been patiently waiting (some days better than others) for God's timing. It's been 18 months since we first started this whole process and our paperwork has been over in Rwanda for over 8 months. We were told today that our Dossier (all of our paperwork) is number 6 in the line of Dossiers.

The process has been extended a bit due to program and personnel changes over the last few months but it looks like things might start picking up again. I know that our POA in Rwanda is working very hard for us.

I was very encouraged by a family who just returned a few weeks ago with their baby from Rwanda. If they would have gone at the "scheduled time"- their baby wouldn't have even been born yet! God knows the perfect time for our family!

Rwanda T-Shirts!!!

Our Rwanda T-Shirts are in. See the sidebar for more information on how to order.

On Deck

We are officially "on deck." (Disclaimer: This information is based on past adoptions from Rwanda, however things can and usually do change!)

What does that mean? We should be getting our approval from Rwanda any day now.

What happens next? Approximately 1-2 months (or sooner!) after our approval we'll get a referral.

What's a referral? Any information the orphanage has on the child they have matched to our family gets sent to us. We'll get a picture and medical information.

Then what happens? Once we accept the referral, we will travel to Rwanda within a couple weeks and go pick up Charlie!

What do you do in the meantime? We're starting to get the room ready and preparing our finances for the remaining costs.

Stay tuned for Phase 3 and 4 of Operation Charlie!!

Here's David with 1 of 3 truck loads of recycling! Thank you everyone!!!

Last Collection Day for the Cans!

Last day to drop off cans at our house for Operation Charlie is THIS Friday (December 4). We'll continue collecting ink cartridges and cell phones through March. Thank you for all your support!!!