Tag, I'm it!

8 things I'm passionate about:
1. My Sweet Savior.. Jesus
2. My family... (Ted and my kids :-)
3. Relationships - I love connecting with people on a heart level.
4. Being challenged... though it's hard, I love to learn something new and be challenged.
5. LOVE TO LAUGH. I wish I could laugh so hard every day that I peed in my pants (what?)
6. Homeschooling... who knew I would love it so much.
7. Adoption!
8. Blogging (did I just admit that??!)


8 things I want to do before I die:
1. Adopt!
2. Be a bone marrow doner
3. Become organized!
4. Learn more!
5. Live my life SIMPLY!
6. Meet Emily :-)
7. I use to think I HAD TO BE on the Price is Right but now that Bob is gone... It's not a MUST... it's a ... maybe
8. See all of my kids come to know Jesus and walk PASSIONATELY WITH HIM!

8 things I say often:
1. I love you
2. OH MY YES!
3. Oh uh uh
4. God is soverign (to myself and to my buddy Julie!)
5. the names of my children
6. Babe! (that's Ted)
7. Clean your room.
8. Get dressed (to my kids... not Ted... get your mind out of the gutter)


8 TV shows you recently watched
1. American Idol
2. Made (on MTV)
Honestly that's about it.... no time for TV :-)

8 Songs I never tire of listening to:
1. The entire Carrie Underwood CD (2nd one)
2. anything by Water Mark
OK... that's a lot more than 8. Sorry, no specific names of songs.

8 things that attract me to my friends:
1. ability to be transparent
2. I love to talk about where we are (wait... is that the same as #1)
3. I love to have fun!
4. I love to know what makes people tick...
I LOVE relationships... so I know I am not answering this question but I'll take whoever the Lord puts in my life :-)

8 Things I learned in 2007:
1. How the Lord is truly sovereign (El Elyon)
2. That the Lord was/is OUR PROVIDER
3. I learned what my Ethiopian baby looks like :-)
4. I learned that I am too busy
5. I learned that I dig a girl named Julie Beeler :-)
6. I fell in love with a country... Ethiopia
7. I learned more about contentment
8. I learned that my husband is THE BOMB.COM (oh wait, I knew that!) But I have grown in love for him more and more!

Who am I gonna tag?
JULIE... (who will never do this), EMILY (who has been tagged like 3 times), AMY B (who is too cool for blog school and has probably been tagged as well), OH OH OH and SUZY!!! you know what... I am probably breaking a rule here again but WHOEVER READS THIS AND WANTS TO DO IT... GO FOR IT!
I am one of the weird ones that LOVES to be tagged :-) So if you love it too, consider yourself tagged!

BUY TICKETS... CHECK!

The tickets have been purchased! We are leaving on Feb. 16th and will arrive in Addis on Sunday Feb 17th. We will have to go to the hotel and SLEEP (WHO CAN SLEEP????) and then the next morning, after breakfast (WHO CAN EAT??) we will get to meet our SON for the first time. I feel like I know him. I have his face memorized! I found out today that he weighs 11 pounds. I can't wait to feel those 11 pounds in my arms!

We will be back in TN on Friday the 22nd.... I have dreamt of the day we would get off of that plane and be reunited with our kids and loved ones! It's overwhelming to think about.

I can not believe that this is really happening!

I have 2 1/2 weeks to pack, get my kids prepared, prepare myself, plan plan and plan some more... pack pack and pack some more.

Though I am SO FULL OF JOY my heart ACHES for my precious friend, Julie. Julie has not yet heard when her travel will be. They said there was a small chance she could make this trip and so we've been praying for a miracle.
Julie and I met through this journey of adoption and honestly, I can not imagine my life with out the JULIE JOY in it! She has become very dear to my heart. She and I have talked until we are blue in the face about adoption. We can finish each other's sentences and we have really bonded through this time.
I so look forward to the day where we are both home with these precious babies. I asked her recently... "what are we gonna talk about when they are home?" and then we both laughed because we will HAVE PLENTY to talk about with two infants. We might be too sleep deprived to make any sense but we'll laugh through it I am sure! I love you Julie. Julie and I met here in Knoxville. We both live in this area and met at an informational meeting with our friend, Stacy. Stacy and her precious family were the first family to adopt from Ethiopia with AGCI. What a gift... to have a friends who are on this same adoption journey! THANK YOU JESUS!

He is...

OFFICIALLY OURS!

We passed court...

Will update soon with exact travel dates :-) We have been given tentative dates so when I know for sure... I'll let you know!

MORE QUESTIONS

Here are a few more questions... feel free to answer the one below as well...

1. How much does extra baggage cost to bring to Ethiopia? Just wondering because our church announced donations for us to bring to HH ET.

2. How did you communicate with loved ones? If you used AGCI and stayed at the UNION hotel, how much was internet access?

3. Did you bring your laptop?

4. Are their internet cafes there? We are thinking of not doing the phone thing but communicating by e-mails... so just curious about this.

5. Did you bring a hair dryer? what kind of adaptor did you need? Could I buy it from someone if they are finished with it?

THANKS so much for answering all my burning questions. We don't have a travel date yet but I thought these are some things I could think through while we wait :-)

Products?

Just wondering what you guys out there have used for lotions for your baby. Something that will work well on our baby's skin. I ordered Carol's Daughter Hair Milk for his hair but wasn't sure about shampoos, conditioners, lotions, baby wash. TELL ME WHAT YOU USE :-)

Thanks!

Little Project

This is not quite what I had invisioned. I really wanted to get the willow tree where they are standing up holding the baby but I found this one instead. I painted the face of the baby... not an original idea. I actually saw this on a blog (I can not remember who's it was). I LOVED the idea and have wanted to do it ever since.

We are still waiting to hear about court. Tomorrow marks 8 weeks since we got our referral. We are waiting and trying our hardest to trust! There is so much to learn while waiting.

FUN EXERCISE...

YOU KNOW YOU ARE ADOPTING WHEN....

(Here's mine)...
You are glad it is Monday because that means you have all week to get a phone call from your agency with good news and fridays get you down because you know the agency is closed for the weekend... meaning.. no news!


ADD YOURS TO MY COMMENTS!

You know you are adopting when....

Happy Shower Day to You!

I went to a shower today for my adoption buddy Julie. It was at her best friend, Kelly's house. Julie got some AMAZING GIFTS! It was so fun to watch all her open all her presents! There was a lot of PINK! and lots of monograms too! PRECIOUS! Here are some pictures from the day!

Here is Julie and Kelly. The shower was at Kelly's house. Kelly and her husband have adopted two PRECIOUS boys from this area. They are a fun family!

The Hostesses... these gals know how to give a great shower!

Here is Julie and her mom. If you closed your eyes, you could not tell them apart. They talk alike, they act alike. It's really entertaining :-) I told Julie "you guys are a sitcom waiting to happen". Julie's mom looks like she could be her sister!

Julie got this cool bear and blanket from her friend Jean. So sweet!

I was amazed at so many of the gifts she opened. SO UNIQUE. One friend of Julie's made her a scrapbook. I LOVED IT!

My buddy and ME :-)

LOOK WHAT I JUST ORDERED

Due to Natalie's amazing demo and my friend, Amy's precious SILAS I ordered some Hair Milk from Carol's Daughter.

I also just want to thank THE MARSHALLS for the amazing pictures they sent us of Abel. They just got home. GO over and congratulate them on their baby being home.

What's New?

WELL... MY BLOG TEMPLATE IS NEW... How do you like it? I am "too cool for blog school" like Amy Bottomly now :-) ha.


The next travel group from AGCI got their dates. They are leaving on Jan 25th. WOW... SO SOON! I am so excited for them. Congrats!!!! What an amazing trip.
I am pretty sure that the next time a group goes out to Ethiopia... WE WILL BE ON THAT TRIP. The group going in late January moves us to #2 in line to travel. WE ARE (beyond) THRILLED! We possibly will be traveling sometime in February.

My sweet Ted painted a scripture on the wall above the baby bed. What pressure. He had never done it before (neither have I). We have precious murals on the walls in our kid's rooms because my friend, Melissa, painted them when she came to help me out when I was on bed rest with Addie (almost 4 years ago). She is a PRO... I think Ted did a pretty good job though! WAY TO GO TED!







We chose this scripture because the Lord brought this psalm to my attention at the beginning of our adoption (in June of 07) and then the night before our referral I was back in that same Psalm. When I first read the Psalm it meant one thing and when I read it the night before our referral I was so overwhelmed because of all the Lord had done and the Psalm totally spoke to my heart.... with NEW MEANING... I still can not believe we are living this dream and that the Lord has provided for this child.

Here is our baby's big boy room. He already has a bed when he grows out of his crib (we are talking a few years)... He will share a room with Aidan. This is his room upstairs with Aidan.

A little news....

Well... we did not make it in the next travel group... We found out on Tuesday that we are the 6th family in line to travel and 4 to 6 families go to Ethiopia at a time. I thought we were further back then that so NATURALLY I got excited thinking WE COULD go on this trip. The next trip will be at the end of Jan beginning of Feb. I was so torn because I always saw our family traveling with the Beelers. .... but the thought of having our baby boy HOME was amazing!
I called our agency, AGCI, yesterday and asked our case worker, Julie, to call me or e-mail me either way. I got an e-mail today saying... You are not in this group but will be in the next. So, another month to wait to hold our son.
I honestly was completely at peace when I read the e-mail. I have really been focusing on the Lord's prayer where it says... Thy will be done on EARTH as it is in HEAVEN. I also am trying to trust in the Lord's plan and I KNOW that HIS WILL WILL PREVAIL! So... I accept. My heart though is sad that we won't be holding him sooner. I am just thrilled and humbled to be on this journey.

WE ARE PAINTING!

ABEL'S BEDDING CAME IN!!! I was so excited yesterday when the FedEx trucked dropped off Abel's bedding. I felt a PROJECT coming on. ..... Charlotte and I went to Lowe's last night and got the bedding color matched. Then we came home and painted these big stripes on the wall. Abel is gonna have a nursery area in our basement but his real room is with Aidan. They have bunk beds :-) So he has two beds in our house right now and he's all the way in ET.

Ted is the bomb.com... he put together the crib, fixed up the bedding, helped paint... what a guy!




Finished product!

NESTING!!!

Here is our new baby bedding. He won't have his own "nursery". He's going to be in our basement. It's like he'll have his own "Nursery Suite"... Suite LIFE of Baby Ancelet. haha. We had Addison down there as well when she was a baby. I'll take lots of pictures once we get it set up. He has a bunk in his and Aidan's room but we decided not to put his crib in their room so he can have some quiet. I found this bedding for an AMAZING prices on Overstock.com ... LOVE IT!


My poor husband... I am nesting HARD CORE.

When we had Avery... which was over 7 years ago I got this idea in my head about him painting the garage floor before she came home from the hospital. He said "why... do you think she'll look at the garage floor when we bring her home". haha. It had to be done... it did get done.... precious husband.

Yesterday I got this idea of fixing up the floor of the shed in our back yard and moving some of the things from the garage into the shed. Poor Ted. I think we might try to do that this weekend.

So we are 3 1/2 weeks out from our referral date. Not sure how long until we hear about court/travel but of COURSE... I'll keep you posted.

I found this sign at this boutique in town and loved it... Maybe we'll add it to the baby area.