Waiting (and Celebrating)

Qoyta = "waiting" in Amharic (the language of Ethiopia). A beautiful friend of mine sent me the gorgeous necklace above with that word on the front and Matthew 18:5 "whoever welcomes a little child like this in my name welcomes me" on the back. She wrote that since women who are expecting a child through adoption do not have any physical signs they are expecting - by wearing this pendant, a waiting mother can share her great news - that her family is about to grow through adoption.

What a perfect day to open up her little package in the mail - cause today I am (as in the words of the bank teller) a "a little bubbly". I came home today at lunch to find not only my necklace package, but also a typed manila envelope with our address. On the inside was a white envelope with the words, "God bless you and your family". Inside was a bank cashier's check for $1500!!!!! With anonymous written in the subject line. THANK YOU MR. OR MRS. ANONYMOUS!!! So today, I AM a little bubbly. At my next visit, I told them I wouldn't be worth anything as I felt like I had just taken a pregnancy test and gotten two lines!

We ALSO had a phone call from a close friend who told us he had just won $500 in an office football pool and felt immediately God telling him to give it for Olivia's adoption!

Just to sum up the pure precision of God's plan - here are the amounts needed in the order and amounts.

1) Home study - $1000, given first by my family
2) Apply with America World - $1500, given today anonymously
3) U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services - $830, in our chip in account right now, $800
4) To finish home study and receive report - $500, given this evening

Who in this world can say our God is not real? That those who believe in Him are believing in a fairy tale? That the prayers of his children go unanswered?

Thank you all so much for not only your donations, but first and foremost, your prayers. I know we will be on this see-saw for the better part of the next two years, but just having everyone pushing us on and encouraging us means so much.

SO - application to AWAA goes out this week and we should be assigned our personal case worker and get started on our dossier as quickly as possible.

In the meantime - I'm expecting, or waiting, or paper pregnant - for real this time!!!! My joy is just bubbling over!

(And the shoes in the pic - those are my absolute favorite brand Addison had when she was little. So soft and cute, but I sold most of Addison's pairs and only saved a few. I found this pair a couple weeks back at a consignment sale and couldn't help but to get them. So they are sitting, and waiting, on my dresser for me to look at and smile at everyday. Yeah, they may be pretty dusty by the time Olivia gets here!!)