Top Ten Favorite things about the Cheney's Christmas in Ethiopia:

1. We awoke to homemade cinnamon rolls fresh out of the oven! They were DELICIOUS:), especially since I (Heather) didn't have to make them, or do the dishes:)

2. The staff made us homemade cookies, which were fabulous. I am attributing the cookies extra fabulousness to the fact that they had PURE cane sugar in them. You could actually SEE the sugar granules in the cookies. SO good!

3. Getting the girls Christmas pictures taken out on the street in front of somebody's blue door. This super sweet little girl came over and stood there watching us. At first I thought maybe we were taking pictures in front of her house. But no, she was just wondering why on earth these silly Americans would want their pictures taken in front of this random house with a blue door.

4. The church in the Kora village. The poorest people I have EVER seen, yet they have SUCH a love for Christ! This was a humbling experience for me. I think too many days at home I tend to feel sorry for myself. I begin comparing myself and what I (don't) have with everyone else around me. I complain that my shoes are too old and too beat up, etc., etc., etc. But you know what? At church this morning, I was wearing the same clothes and shoes that I often wear to church at home, and nobody noticed or cared. In fact, I didn't even notice or care. You know why? Because every other person at church this morning wasn't worried about the clothes on their back. They could have (justifiably) been worried about where their next meal would come from, but even that seemed to take a back seat while they worshiped our almighty God.

5. Watching Capri LOVE on the babies at church. Poor Capri gets hugged and kissed everywhere we go. It's like she is this thing that people just cannot keep their hands off of. They just want to know what she feels like. Whether we are going to church, to the market, to the Transition Home to see our kids, or even here at our Guest House. She is the one everyone (men women and children alike) wants to give a squeeze to. She HATES it, but has learned to tolerate it, without much fussing:). At church though, she got to give some hugs away to the babies.

6. Listening to squeals of laughter from London, Geneva, and Capri as they played with the staff here at the Guest House. They have really warmed up to some of the people that work here. It's so cute to see our girls outside playing soccer with the guards:).

7. Seeing our kids light up as we got to the Transition Home today for our visit. We had a really great day with them. We even picked out middle names for at least two of our kids:) Our oldest picked her own, (but we really like it) and she LOVES it! SO cute:) We are trying to come up with city middle names for our younger two...

8. Finally getting Words With Friends downloaded onto our ipad:) I know, such a trivial little thing, but still, something to help the time go by...

9. Going out to dinner and getting to pick whatever I wanted to eat.

10. Watching Adam drink his "milkshake" that he ordered. First of all, he ordered chocolate, it was vanilla. Second of all, it wasn't an American milkshake (loaded with ice cream:) it was milk shaken (with some vanilla flavoring added to it:). So, basically Adam ordered himself a glass of milk to go with his dinner (and he doesn't even like milk:)...

Hope you all had as great of a Christmas as we did!

Blessings to Everyone!

You know you are in Africa....

When you wake up to the smell of burning trash mixed with incense. (I love it by the way)

When you would rather give your children a glass of soda versus the water or milk that might be served.

When you have to carry toilet paper not just to the bathroom, but everywhere you go.

When "free range" takes on new meaning as you see goats being herded down the highway.

When your children can get corn rows in the hair for a nominal cost.

When you wake to the sounds of prayers being called out from all over the city before the sun comes up. (I love this as well)

When the chicken you eat, is as tough as steak, and the steak.... well it is ground up.

When the power goes out just about daily. (excluding the rolling blackouts of California:)

When you can pick your nose freely in public or go pee right along the street.

When you can get good coffee for less than a dollar or a caramel mocha for about a buck ten. (Heather's favorite:)

When you can get the freshest roasted coffee, roasted over an open fire that is brought inside the house. (no smoke detectors were set off here:)

When none of the streets are really named, and those that are go by 3-4 different names.

When your blond haired, white children stand out super easily in the crowds.

When pedestrians have no rights. Watch OUT the car is not going to stop!

When dogs are treated like dogs, and not little humans that bark. Dogs are mostly not fed, they are scavengers, and you know what? There are still a ton of them alive.

When goats are carried on your back, or dragged along as the owner holds one leg.

When everything is done by hand, laundry, cutting wood, tearing down buildings, cooking, recycling concrete with a sledge hammer.

When your house has a solid metal gate, a guard, and barbed wire. Yet you feel safer here than in many parts of San Jose.

When it is more common to see kids playing with a flat soccer ball than a full one.

When poverty abounds, yet it is vibrant, colorful and full of life.

There is more to come, I am sure.

Adam's gut feeling vs. MY gut feeling...

Today was by far the BEST day here so far! First, we went to tour a coffee factory this morning. I will never take a cup of coffee for granted again. The amount of work that goes into each little bean is incredible. After the tour, we went to get a cup of coffee. Adam and I each got a macchiato, and oh yes, London had her first (1/4 of a cup:) as well! She is definitely gonna be a little coffee drinker:). After the coffee tour, we went to lunch, and then to visit our kids.

This is where the best part comes in. First off, I got to sit and read with our middle child, which was SO precious. She is still learning English, and so we were working on learning to read the BOB books. Since she doesn't speak or understand very much English, this is one of the first real bonding moments I have had with her. Then, with all 5 of our girls we pulled out some yarn and plastic stitching squares. The girls had SO much fun with that. It was great to see them all enjoying the same thing. And, it was the first time we were doing something as a family. Our youngest had just woken up at this point, so I was feeding him his bottle. Once he finished his bottle, Adam took him for awhile, and as he left with him I smiled and waved. And he smiled and waved right back!!! OH BE STILL MY HEART!!!! He was all smiles and giggles today. For the first time, I had him laughing! With every smile and giggle I could feel him trusting me more and more, and I could feel myself falling more and more in love.

Here's the problem. Adam does not want to make a final decision yet about whether we should stay here in Ethiopia and wait it out or go home, but right now his gut feeling is telling him that we are going to need to go home. MY gut feeling on the other hand, is telling me, that in 3 weeks, (when our kids are even more attached to us, and I am even MORE attached to them), I am not going to be able to leave OUR KIDS behind in an orphanage half way across the world!!

PLEASE keep praying for us as we try to figure out what to do. Right now Adam and I are tossing around different scenarios, trying to come up with different possibilities. If any of you have any suggestions, we'd love to hear them.

Blessed be the name of the Lord

Today is a HARD day. This morning was court date #2. We were just waiting for one piece of paper, a letter, stating that all of our information was good, and that the judge could legally grant us custody of our kids. The letter did not come. We did NOT pass. And now, to add fuel to the fire, our agency must go collect a whole lot more information. They need more proof that our kids are orphans. They must go find any living relatives and interview them and have them relinquish their rights.

We now have TWO new court dates. The first is for our two older ones, on January 3rd. The other is for our youngest one, on January 9th. This came as a HUGE blow. We have now been delayed almost a month from our first court date. When our two older ones found out that we did not pass, and that it would still be another 3 weeks before our next court date, they started crying. It is incredibly hard for our family to visit our kids in the transition home. It is tiring and emotionally draining every day.

Adam and I don't know what to do. We had already decided that if we didn't pass court today, we would really have to think about whether or not we should go home early (and not take custody of our kids). We decided that either way we would stay thru Ethiopia's Christmas (which is January 7th). We really want to celebrate it with our kids, plus our oldest is in her schools Christmas play that day, and is playing the part of Mary!!! (My mama's heart could not be more proud:).

So, now we are asking all of you out there to PLEASE PRAY!! We don't know if we should come home around January 10th, (and then return to Ethiopia anywhere from 4-12 weeks later) or take custody of our kids, and just trust and Pray that God will get us home on February 10th. Our tickets are for Feb. 10th, and it costs about $300/per ticket (x8) to change them. I keep reminding myself that God knows all of this. But, still not sure if that means that we should stay or go and then come back. Adam can only stay here until the end of February.

Today has made me incredibly homesick. I've done really well up until this point.

Though at times it is difficult, we continue to trust in God's perfect timing and the fact that this does not surprise Him. May He be glorified in all we do. Thank you for you continued prayers and for all of the support that we have been receiving.

"I will bless the Lord at all times; his praise shall continually be in my mouth." Psalm 34:1

"Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good!..." Psalm 34:8

Me? Preach? in Ethiopia?

This morning I (Adam) was able to go to church with an evangelist who started a church in one of the poorest of the poor's area. The place is called the Kora dump. It is the location where all of the garbage of Addis Ababa goes. The people that live there, live off what they find in the dump.

What an experience it was. Actually, it was very refreshing.

On our way there we had to stop on the side of the road to get a quick tire change. While we were waiting, my friend asked me if I would like to preach. Not wanting to be rude and always ready to share, I told him that I would be happy to say a few words. When we arrived at church, we were late (since we had to get a tire change). The church was a small 2 bedroom house, that was stuffed full of chairs. There was about 50-60 people packed into an area barely bigger than my bedroom. I, along with my friend had been saved a seat. We sat at the very front, right next to the preacher, facing the crowd. It was the place of honor. (In the picture above, it is the seat that is against the wall, next to the podium) The whole service was in Amharic, which I did not understand at all. What I did understand though was the praise that was being lifted up in the name of Jesus! I understood the devotion of those around me. I understood that it took a lot for many of those to come to church, as I looked on the ground and saw numerous canes lying around. After the preacher had preached, I was given a turn. I gave my greetings from California and continued to preach, with a translator, for about 15 minutes. After I was done, they put their hands around me and blessed me! How humbling. Then as we sang, I stood, worshiping the same Sovereign God in a different language.

After the service, I was warmly greeted by the elders and the pastor. They started to show me a bunch of pictures of what the church is doing in this part of town. It was incredible to see the way the church comes together to help those in great need. You see, there is GREAT need in this church.

This church is mostly made up of widows, orphans, blind men, deaf men and lepers. I did not even realize that leprosy was really still around. Well, it is. I sat one foot away from it, and shook hands with it. It had taken all the fingers and toes of those plagued by it. None of the kids that were running around had diapers on, therefore urine was all over the ground. Many of those attending are HIV positive. I am also positive that many of those had TB.

I did not get a chance to tour the dump area today, but I will another time. I also was told that I will be able to tour some of the homes in the area. Some of the ways that the church has been helping those are by taking older, at risk, orphan girls out from the dump and housing them in a better area. They also buy charcoal (a necessity) for the lame and carry it to their houses for them.

I am praying about how God wants to use me, and my family, in this place over the next few weeks.

I know one thing for sure, and that is I am excited about next Sunday!

You can watch THIS VIDEO about Kora dump by clicking the link. The man in the video is a man that I met at church. He is one of the elders there.

The picture above is with me, the evangelist, the guitarist, and the pastor.

What is hard here in Ethiopia!

I love Ethiopia!

I love so many things about it. It is full of life. It is vibrant, exciting, new. I love the people, (they are very friendly.) I love the food. I love the coffee. We just bought mocha's for about $1 each, and they rival Starbucks any day.

I love our new children. We are attaching well, bonding, playing and learning to communicate. Right now we are only able to see them for a few hours a day. It also costs us about $35 to drive there daily. We hope that we can pass court soon and take custody of them so that we don't have to continue to drive there daily, and we can be with them all the time.

There is just one thing that is really hard for me here. It is HARD to go shopping. We want to buy a few souvenirs to bring home to remember our trip and for our kids to remember their country as well. We are by no means spending an outrageous amount. However, when we are shopping, beggars are everywhere. By beggars, we mean 9 year old kids, hungry, dirty, asking for help from everyone, (especially those with fair skin.) Women, nursing children who have gray hair. Which is indicative of chronic malnutrition.

I know that giving them the change that is in my pocket doesn't solve the problem for them. It only sustains them for a short time. In fact, we had to go to the same area two times today, and the same kids came up to us again, still hungry. I also know that by buying local made stuff we are sustaining many families and businesses. We bought a leather stool. There are numerous families that are all benefiting from this going all the way to the farmer that grows the grass for the cows. I know that this is a more sustainable way to assist people. However, it is still hard when I am holding a bag of items, and my pockets are now empty of all my small bills to hand out. I don't really know what to make of it.

I saw an online article this week that stated 1/2 of the US lives in poverty now. Really? I don't know if 1/2 of the US really knows what poverty really is.

I have been reflecting a lot on what Jesus said about the poor. We are to give to those in need. However, He is the real sustainer.

John 6:35 Jesus said to them, "I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst."

They need Jesus. We all need Jesus. He is the only one that can reconcile all of us. In the meantime, we will continue to try to help sustain those in need at least for one more day.

Just a funny story...

So today when we went to see our kids, we also got to take a tour of our older girls' bedroom. This is really just where they eat and sleep, as the school that they attend is at the babies' transition home.

So, while we were at the older girls' house, one of the nannies was eating a snack of injera, which is a weird sort of spongy bread, and she was rubbing it into this spicy red sauce. Adam and I have both had injera with our Ethiopian cuisine when we go out to Ethiopian food. You use the injera as your utensil to pick up your meat.

So this nanny starts trying to feed my kids the injera soaked in the spicy sauce. They of course refused. I am standing there thinking, 'well, I can't really blame them I wouldn't want some women I don't know trying to put food I don't know if I even like into my mouth.' So then when my kids refuse, several times each, she turns to ME to HAND FEED ME!!! I was SO wanting to refuse, but knowing that they seemed offended when my kids refused, I didn't want to be rude. So, I opened my mouth. Literally, there was nothing else I could do, she had the injera about an inch or so from my mouth. Then, the funniest thing of all, this nanny turns to Adam, and I kid you not, HAND FEEDS HIM this big huge bite (if you could even call it one bite) of the injera. It was HILARIOUS!! Adam won't even let his Grandma Cheney hand feed him (though she tries every year at Thanksgiving, b/c she wants him to "taste test" the turkey)!

After thinking that this food was really spicy, and we were without water, I tried really hard to NOT think about the fact that a women just hand fed us some food, with her hands dripping with red sauce.

Life In Ethiopia

Well, we have been in Ethiopia just about a week now. I feel like we are finally settling into some sort of a routine. We have moved to a new guest house, which has some things that are better, and some things that are not. The girls love it here because they have some toys to play with, and they actually like the food better! I liked the food at the old place as well, but the food here is good too. Also, breakfast and lunch are included in our cost, and dinner is just $5 per person (but kids 5 and under are free:).

The positives about are new house, are the toys, we have two balconies, (which the girls love to go out on and color or paint in the fresh air). We also have a bigger room. It's a two bedroom, plus living room. We have a "kitchen", although I'm not sure you can really call it that, b/c it's just a sink, some cupboards, and they did bring us a mini fridge, which is nice. A major plus is that we are in more of a neighborhood in this part of town. The old place we were in a loud area, next to shopping and a night club, which was open the WHOLE night long. The girls sleep much better here b/c it's quiet. Plus, their beds are better here than the old place, so that helps:).

The bummers about our new place, are that the bathroom is just outside our door, but I guess better out in the hall b/c the shower floods:). Also, Adam and I are sleeping on a box spring. Literally. It's loud (you can hear the coils every time you move) and makes me miss my (once thought to be uncomfortable) bed at home. Also, we are not with the other families that are adopting, which is a little isolating. But, we are just trying to make an effort to get over to see our kids the same times the other families are so that we can try to connect with people.

Our day in Ethiopia consists mainly of letting the kids play a bit at "home" and visiting our kids in the transition home. We did venture out yesterday with another adoptive family and visit the countryside. It was really cool to see some other parts of Ethiopia. We even got to visit a family who live in traditional huts.

Our kids in the transition home seem to be attaching to us pretty well. Our littlest doesn't cry for more than a second when I take him, and he lets me hold him in the presence of his sisters without crying, which is really great. The older girls are doing really well. They are excited to see us when we get there, and bummed when we have to leave. Which, makes leaving hard, but good that we are being missed. It's been super fun to watch all of our kids playing together. Our oldest loves to hold Capri, and rescues her from the nannies who love to cuddle her (but Capri doesn't love this so much:). Poor Capri really gets a bum deal at the Transition home. Between me not being able to hold her (because I'm holding our youngest) and the nannies trying to love on her and the kids chasing her around the yard because they want to touch her hair, her skin, and love on her as well, she is exhausted by the end of the day!

All in all, we are doing great here in Addis, and are so thankful for all of your prayers!

We tried to post some pictures but they are taking to long to load on here and the internet is really slow today. You can check them out on Facebook.

Meetcha Day!!

Yesterday, December 11, we met the newest additions to the Cheney family!! All THREE of them! They completely took our breath away. I, Heather, was a nervous wreck! Our kids had woken up at 4:00 that morning due to jet lag, and I was worried that they would be clingy, whiny, and plain old tired when we went to meet our kids. But God totally gave us a PERFECT moment in the day and they did awesome! They were all just as excited as we were.

Meeting for the first time, was exciting and scary, for all of us I think. Our littlest screamed and cried in my arms for at least an hour. Which, I kept reminding myself, was a GOOD thing. We wanted him crying, because this meant that he has formed attachments with others, is able to attach, and will be able to transfer that attachment. However, since he is most attached to his oldest sister, it was difficult for her to see him crying. We kept telling her that he would be okay, and she could go play. Once he calmed down, she was able to really relax and play as well.

Eventually our littlest fell asleep (in my arms--which I SO loved:) and when he woke up, he didn't start crying immediately! And, he was letting my snuggle him, kiss him, and sing to him without crying!

Today, our second day visiting the transition home, was much better. Our littlest didn't cry nearly as much, and I got to feed him a bottle and snuggle him right away. I even got a few little smiles. And, he was able to sit with me, with his oldest sister in the room (yesterday he screamed every time he saw her, so we tried to stay out of sight as much as possible). Plus, our oldest seemed genuinely happy to let me take him today so that she could go do writing and drawing in the notebooks we brought.

Adam got a chance to hold the littlest today as well. He cried at first, but then settled right down. I got a chance to play with our oldest, which was so nice. I feel like we had a few bonding moments today.

Our middle child seems to be smiling a lot more than I had anticipated from the pictures we had received, which is nice. She is not quite as serious as I first thought. Bonding with her is going a little slower because she doesn't understand English. Luckily, our oldest understands quite a bit and is able to translate.

We will be going to COURT on Tuesday morning, Ethiopian time (so that's MONDAY NIGHT AT 10:00 PM CALIFORNIA TIME)!! PLEASE PRAY that the judge will see all of our paperwork completed, and give us custody of our kids.

6 hours....

In about 6 hours we get to go to the transition home that are children are living in and meet them for the first time! I can't sleep. I know that part of the lack of sleep is due to jet lag, not eating dinner right now, and the club music that has been going on all night long. Some of it actually sounds like a po-go stick bouncing. However, I mostly can't sleep because of thinking of how our lives are changing in the next 6 hours. I feel like a kid on Christmas eve! I want to sleep, but am wide awake.

We found out here from some of the staff that our girls are SO excited to meet us as well. That they have been counting down the days from 21 just like we have been.:)

I love being back in Africa. There is just something right about it. Something that has been missing. We also have learned how to correctly pronounce our kids names. We are trying to get our girls to quickly learn the new way as the way that we thought, is actually a different name.

Our kids really did amazing on the flight. We are super impressed. Thank you for your prayers. The only really hard time came at the last 30 minutes when we had to put away the ipad and headsets to watch the movie. We have not met any other families here yet. Though I am sure they have met us as we were the ones arriving to the guest house at midnight with 3 kids crying and yelling loud due to excitement.

The body of Christ

This last month has been incredible. We have been constantly amazed as we have watched the Holy Spirit use the church body to come behind us and support us in our adoption. We accepted our referral just over two months ago. We estimated that the additional expenses of adopting more children was going to cost us about an additional $15,000. The month of October we mostly prayed about it, knowing that to our God, money is nothing. This last month of November we have watched the floodgates open. We wanted to have as much of that money before we traveled as we could. We leave in 4 days. Well, in only ways that God can provide, we are fully funded. We have literally had an average of $500 come to us in various forms over the course of one month! All glory to God! We thank each and every one of those that have come behind us and supported us. Thank you for being a part of this with us.

We have received some bad news this week. We were told that the letter that needs to be written by MOWCYA and submitted to the Ethiopian court was written, but it was a negative recommendation. This was due to them using our previous submitted paperwork for just one child instead of our new paperwork that is for 3 children. They are supposed to write a new one by 12/20. Our court date is on 12/13. This means that we are not likely to have a approval letter submitted to the court by the time that we go before the judge. Which means that we are going to Ethiopia prepared to fail court. We were really hoping that things would work out a little better than this. We fully trust that this does not take God by surprise and that He has a perfect plan.

Please pray that our approval letter will be submitted this week prior to our appearing in court on the 13th. We would LOVE to be able to pass court on our first attempt. If we fail it could really delay things for us.

Also, we leave in 4 days! Pray that we utilize our time wisely. Pray that it will be an awesome time for us as a family. Pray that it will be a great time meeting our new children. Pray that we can meet the needs of our new children. Pray that we will find time to keep in the Word. Pray that God is glorified in all that we do. Also, we don't know where we are going to be staying for the long term. We have a place for the first week, but don't know where we will be after that.

Blown-away!

We have been blown away! We can't believe the generosity of those around us. We serve an amazing God. We can't express our gratitude enough to everyone. Thank you.

God is meeting our needs completely. To even type that makes me pause. Really. All of our needs. Think about some of the depth of our needs. We are bringing three kids home. We needed bunk beds, (we were given one). We needed clothes, (we were given bags and bags of clothes.) We needed basic items like toothbrushes, towels, etc. (we have been given them as well.) He is providing for every dollar that we need financially, (so for we have spent $44,000).

People have given to us so sacrificially this year. We are speachless. Some have even given up their Christmas presents this year.

Yesterday, our church family threw Heather a baby shower. Wow. The presents completely filled the back of the car and I think that I have counted over $600 in gift cards alone!

We can't wait until we can show our children how many people have had a part of bringing them here. We are so blessed. For all of those that have been a part of this process with us we want you to say thank you. Thank you for your prayers, for your gifts, for your time. This adoption can not be done alone.

We are leaving in one week from tomorrow! We are getting super excited. There is a ton of packing to do and a ton of cleaning. However, today the kids are off to Christmas in the Park with Grandma. So, we are going to take a few hours and have a little lunch date (it will be the last one in a looonnnnggggg time) We are then going van shopping. We are in the market for a larger car:)

Happy Thanksgiving

We have a LOT to be thankful for. Here is a short list.

We meet our kids soon!

We have watched as God continues to pour out his blessings on us in too many ways to count.

We leave in two weeks! We are super excited. Our kids are excited. We are surely in for an adventure.

Seeing the provision of God as we have complete trust and dependance on Him has made us grow more and more in love with Him.

As we celebrate this year, go and be a blessing.

oops, did we mention we have a court date?

This last week has been a whirlwind kind of week. Things are moving so fast around our house it is getting very difficult trying to keep up. It started last Monday morning on my way to work. I got "the call" that we had been waiting for at 6:45 am! We have received our court date! It is on Dec. 13th! WE KNOW!. That is really coming up soon. Which is why the phone call had to be placed before 7am. We need every minute possible for preparation.

We can't believe it. One month from yesterday we go to court in Ethiopia. We have booked and bought our airfare already. We leave on Dec 8th, and return on Feb 10th if all goes well.

Things are racing through my mind right now so quickly that it is hard to stay focused and not so random. Sorry. Have we mentioned that we are bringing our children with us to Ethiopia. Our 5, 4, and 2 1/2 (almost 5) year old. There is a lot to do.

Here is where we stand on our fundraisers. Our garage sale was very successful and we are glad to be done with it:)

We are having a dinner this Saturday for a ton of people and are super excited about being able to share with others the process that God has been leading us through to this point.

Heather is getting the cookie dough fundraiser rolling.

We are canceling the date night/babysitting night fundraiser as we just don't have the time to be able to do it before we leave now:)

We are AMAZED at God's continual blessing. Over and over again, we are shocked and silenced by the generosity of those around us. God, our provider knows our needs. In fact, He knows them better than we do. It has been a blessing this last week to speak with multiple men about the real potential of them adopting. I love it.

For those that have given sacrificially. We thank you. We thank you from the bottom of our hearts. We want you to know that you are apart of this adoption with us. We can not do it without you. Thank you for loving our children with us. We have never been on the receiving end of things before, and it is not easy for us. It is hard to swallow our pride and let people know our needs. But, this is God's way. It is the way that He has chosen for us, because in it we have had to learn to trust and lean on Him. If we had all the finances we needed just sitting in our account, there never would have been this leap of faith. For that we are grateful.

We have had people ask about the Eternal Family program. I have tried to post a link up on our blog for it but I was unable to. Essentially, our agency, AWAA states that you need to speak with you tax professional regarding the tax deductability aspect of this program. You will be given a receipt by AWAA for all donations that are made in our name. However, there is a form that must be filled out in order to do so. This is what I have been unable to post. For those of you that have mentioned this, please email us @ heathernadam@yahoo.com and we can send you the form to fill out.

How you can help pray for us.

Pray that we can utilize our time wisely as we prepare our family to leave.

Pray that we pass court without a hitch.

Pray that we can move quickly through the embassy process.

Pray that we can blend well as a family, and that our three current kids adjust well.

Pray that this is an awesome time for our family to see God.

Pray that we give God the glory in all things.

Pray that we find a nice, cheap place to stay while we are there for a couple of months.

Pray that we find time to enjoy our family of five right now. We are trying to be very intentional about spending time with the girls right now.

Let's be real

Let us be real and authentic with everyone right now.

We are beat up. Spiritually. Physically. Emotionally.

As we approach getting a court date and getting to travel to Ethiopia we are more exhausted than ever. I am not going to bore everyone with the list of everything going on, but we are feeling attacked in numerous ways. As drained as we are, our girls are feeling it just as much. There is so much going on right now for them that they are trying to just keep up as well.

Their worst tantrums ever have come this last week. Here is an example. We were in a store when they started to fight with each other. (That is normal) Then came the defiance to us. (That is somewhat normal.) Then came me carrying her out of the store like she was a football as she was kicking and hitting me the whole way out. (That is way abnormal.) I thought that security was going to stop me because it looked like I was kidnapping her. It actually was fairly laughable at the time but showed how hard things are for her right now.

We got our first monthly update on our kids a couple of days ago. Our baby boy "Y" is walking now. We have pictures of him walking with his big sisters:) It is exciting and awesome to know that he is progressing physically. However, we missed it. We are not able to experience that with him. Two of our kids there are sick right now, and we are not able to be with them and comfort them through the illnesses. This is hard.

We knew that once we had pictures and names and faces the waiting would get much harder. Even though we knew that, it is not any easier. We long to be with them. We long for our family to be completed.

We have been getting lots of support lately. It seems that just about everyone has taken their turns watching our kids. We have been supported in numerous ways. Thank you. Now, we seek you prayers.

We need to be healed.

We need to be recharged.

We need God's peace.

Today, after coming home from church early, we are going to have a "rainy day" pajama day. We are going to play games, read books and hang out with the kids.

Ephesians 6:10-13

Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm.

Garage Sale!

We have figured out the date for our last and FINAL garage sale. We would love your donated items. The garage sale will be at JIm and Sandy Cheney's in Santa Clara. We will be doing it on Saturday November 12th. Let us know if there is anything that you are looking to get rid of.

What is keeping us busy

Finances.

Not my favorite subject.

However, we have been asked a lot lately what the financial implications will be for us now that we are adopting three children. We have delayed posting anything about the cost for a little while as we pray about what to do. We want to be very clear about a couple of things. One, we fully trust that our God knows our needs and has already provided above and beyond our expectations. Second, we want to be real with people and be transparent in what we are doing.

The increase in costs for us will be about $15,000. We have about two months.

The increase in costs is primarily due to the increased international fees, and two more one way airfare tickets. Adopting multiple children at one time is considerably cheaper than doing it again in the future. We are likely to have a court date around the end of the year, giving us just about two months until we travel, (which is going very fast.)

Here are some of the ways that we plan on fundraising. I will just list them as there is more information to come out about each of them in the future.

• We are setting up an Eternal Family Program. This is a program in which people can donate money directly to our adoption agency on our behalf. This should be tax deductible but we are still doing our research on it.
• We are going to have another garage sale in 2-3 weeks. We would appreciate any donations for this as it has been very successful for us in the past.
• We are going to put on a Holiday dinner for about 20-30 people, topped off with Ethiopian coffee.
• We (Heather) are going to be doing a cookie dough sale.
• We are going to have a babysitting night for those parents in our Sunday school class that want to go out Christmas shopping.
• We (Adam) are working as much overtime as possible. We are skipping grocery store trips, reducing our driving to save on gas, putting every bit of extra money aside to bring our children home:)

A couple of days ago we received some new pictures of our children. They look so excited and wonderful. We can't wait to go and meet them. We really wish that we could post pictures of them online but we can't. My favorite picture is of our oldest girl holding up the picture book of our family. That was the first time that she was able to see who her new family will be:)

We ask that you continue to pray with us as we finish up this journey to Ethiopia.

What!? Three!?

That has often been the reaction that we get after telling people that we have accepted a referral for three children. Although, we did expect that. We had that kind of reaction at first ourselves. The question then arises, how did we get to this point? Weren't we just adopting one? We have not really shared how God has led us to the point that we are now at peace about adopting three at one time.

Let me share how God has shaped our family so far. First off, there were the multiple miscarriages over the course of a few years that led us to believe that we would never have biological children. Then, there was the amazing adoption of London, in ways that were so orchestrated that it could only have come from our Father above. Then came Geneva, and Capri whose timing we never would have guessed. However, all along God has built our family.

So when we started this process of adoption again we thought that this was how God wanted to complete our family. (Though Adam at least, thought it was complete.) After submitting our dossier for an infant child we kept having this feeling like God had more in store for us. We weren't quite sure what. After a few months, we decided to make a couple of phone calls about the possibility of us adopting an older child. Our social worker told us "no." A little discouraged but assuming that the doors had closed we accepted that and continued our wait.

About 4 months later, we called again, still feeling like we needed to pursue the idea of an older child. Once again, we were told "no." This time though we were told a long explanation of why it would be a bad idea. Confused again, we accepted that and continued to wait. However, as we waited both of us continued to look at the "waiting children list," that our adoption agency has. Why did we both feel drawn to continue to look at that list? The only children on that list are ones that have significant health issues or are sibling groups that don't fit into anyones request. We were NEVER going to find our healthy infant on that list, but we kept looking.

Looking for what?

Then we found them. Heather opened up their picture and asked me what my thoughts were when I saw them? My thoughts... My thoughts are that there are three of them, and I walked out of the house, to go do "chores." Are you crazy! However, it was at that moment, that God was speaking to me and I knew that these were my children. Heather knew it also. They fit our family so well. Two older girls, and a little boy. We started talking about how it would never work out. How there is no way that we could do this. We started to really pray about it. We had our parents praying about it with us as well. We knew that it sounded crazy. We know that we can only do it with the help of our Father. We can't do this on our own.

So we made the call again to our social worker. We were told "no" again. However, this time we knew that it was not a closed door to us, but a speed bump in the road to go over. We didn't accept their answer, so they referred us to another local agency. This meant starting a lot of the paperwork all over again. New medical appointments, new fingerprints, new applications, etc. Being that we are now pros at doing it we started to cross things off of our list quickly. At the same time, we called our adoption agency and let them know of our interest.

What! We were told that there was another family that already had their paperwork approved for three kids and that they were going to get their referral. Though disappointed, but not dismayed we continued to plug away at our paperwork. We decided that maybe we just need to open our request and we will see what God has in store for us.

Three weeks later, we saw on the "waiting children list" that their file was no longer pending but they were available. The family had decided to decline their referral. We got right on the phone, well, that is after waiting for a long three day weekend compounded with the East coast time zone complications. We were once again told that there was another family with all paperwork done and they were going to get the referral. We thought, there is no way that two families would decline the referral. Sure enough, three weeks later, our paperwork 95% complete we were told that we could look at their file!

We have no idea the reasons the other families choose to pass on them other than God has different plans for them and we are so excited that they choose to listen to Him as they prayed about adopting these children.

As we prayerfully considered them for those six weeks, we still continued to believe that they were meant for our family. When we received their file, we let a few others in on our little secret and asked them to be praying for us. We wanted to feel God's peace in the decision and know for sure that this is how God wants to build our family. One of the really confirming things for me was in their names. We can't share them until we pass court, but I am looking forward to it. God spoke to me through their names. I knew that He orchestrated years ago that they would be a part of our family. For now, we can call them, "E" "M" and "Y"

I continue to trust that for those who love God, all things work together for the good. He has good plans for us. He is our Loving Father, the God of Mercy, the Giver of all things good.

How are we going to do this? We would be lying to you if we told you that we weren't a little scared and uncertain. There are so many questions, and unknowns. We do hold fast to the truth that God will hold us up in the times we need it. That He will give us the patience, the endurance, the strength when we need it most. We also trust that since He has provided financially for us this far He will continue to provide exactly what we need, when we need it.

We covet your prayers as we now really get ready for being a family of 8, parents to three new adopted children, parents of a junior higher, etc. We hope to travel around the first of the year for court. We will keep you up to date on that.

Super Exciting News!!

We are thrilled to announce that we have just accepted a referral (for those of you who don't know what a referral is, it is the information that our agency gives when they have a child/children ready to be adopted).

SO, we have accepted our referral! As you might know, our original request was for an infant (0-12 months) of either gender. God has BIGGER plans though!!

We have accepted a referral for an infant boy!!! Oh yeah, AND his TWO older sisters!! We have totally and completely fallen head over heals in love!!! Actually, we were in love the moment we saw their picture, and we both just had a feeling that they were supposed to be a part of our family! In God's perfect timing, He had us wait 6 weeks before we were able to find out if we could adopt them. I believe this waiting was so that we could really see God's direction and leading in our lives.

SO, I know that this probably leaves most of you wondering, 'what happens next?' Well, we have A LOT of paperwork that has to be updated, fingerprints to get done, another trip up to Sacramento to visit our state capitol:), etc. But, we are hesitantly optimistic that we MIGHT be able to travel towards the end of December. But, trying not to get our hopes up about that:).

In the meantime, we will be back in full fundraising mode:) as we try to come up with the extra needed expenses (more details to come:)

Fork in the road.

Sometimes life gets crazy. Right now is one of those times. Life is confusing as well. There are times we get all prepared for something and then something different comes our way. Right now is one of those times. We are at a fork in the road. We hear your voice God, but... which path are you calling from? We want to make the right decisions. We want to obediently follow where the Holy Spirit leads. We have been in continuous prayer seeking God's direction. We ask that you pray for us and with us as we choose the path that He has laid out for us.

It has been one year and things are changing!

It has been a little over a year now since we sent in our dossier to Ethiopia. We can't believe that it has been that long already. Initially that wait time was going to be 4-6 months. Well, I guess that one has changed.

However, we are at the top of the list now and we really should be hearing something soon. The last few weeks have been incredibly crazy for us. Since things have taken much longer than anticipated, we have to update a bunch of stuff. Primarily our home study has to be updated which means we needed to get fingerprinted again, get medical appointments again, sign more paperwork and have the social worker come out to our house once again and interview us. In this process of updating things though things are changing! We strongly feel like God has been asking us to open up our request.

Currently our request is for 0-12 months either gender. We are opening that way up to potentially include older kids as well and potentially a sibling set. We know! Isn't it crazy just bringing home another baby? Yes. Only God can give us what we are going to need when we are going to need it. We fully rest in Him and have peace in knowing how He loves us.

The funny thing about us now opening up our request is that we are now finally at the top of the list that we have been on for the last year. We truly don't know what God has planned for us. We do know that we want to be open to what He has in store for us. One thing that we have learned through all the miscarriages, London's adoption, and the timing of our other daughters births is that God wants to build our family the way that suites and glorifies Him. We have never really had much of a say in how we build our family. So why start now by limiting our request?

We don't really know what things are going to look like. We don't know where this road is going to really take us. We just know that we need to walk down it and follow our Father's footprints.

New update...We are still waiting:)

Malachi 3:10

Bring the full tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. And thereby put me to the test, says the Lord of Hosts, if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you a blessing until there is no more need.

Wow! God asks us to test Him to see if we can out-give Him. And He will pour down blessings on us. How incredible.

We continue to count our blessings, God is Good. We will continue to wait for God's perfect timing. We will continue to follow His lead wherever and whenever He chooses to take us. He will continue to pour our blessings on us. Over the years, we have come to realize that even in situations where we can't immediately see these blessings, we ALWAYS see them later.

Seven years ago yesterday was when God took our precious Isabella back to be with Him. She was never meant for this world, just to live in Heathers' belly for some time. It was hard at that time to see how that situation could possibly bless us. Now we see our three precious children growing up, and know that a fourth will be here soon, we SEE it. We have been blessed over and over again. We see the relationship that we have with our Heavenly Father and know that He used times like Isabella's death to draw us into complete dependence on Him.

Today we received an email stating that the wait times have once again been extended. We now have wait times of 10-20 months. (initially is was 4-6 months) Well, we just hit the 10 month mark, so maybe we have some ways to go. We are at the top of the list and are officially "On deck." However, we trust that God will use the waiting to continue to bless us.

$35,000!!!!!

As of today, we have hit our target goal of $35,000  for our adoption. The final $15 came in the form of a refund check that was totally unexpected and quite honestly showed a little of God's humor and complete control.  We have been counting down from $35k and listed each and every way that God provided something.  Heather initially said that we needed to come up with 350 ways to raise $100.  Well, that is just about what happened.  Our list of different ways is about 4 pages long.  Praise God!  

We do think that the total costs might prove to be a little higher than $35k but we have hit our initial target, just about 13 months after starting.  To cover the costs of increased airfare and such we are planning on having another veggie/bake sale this summer as well as one more garage sale. We just wanted to let everybody know where we stand.  Also, we think that we are number one or two on the list for an infant boy and 7 for an infant girl.  Maybe we will hear something this week, or next week, or the week after that.....

Thanks for praying. 

What is going on?

We have had a few people ask recently what is going on with our adoption.  We haven't posted anything recently about it because....(insert cricket sound here)....  we still wait.  We haven't really heard anything other than the process is taking longer than expected and things have significantly slowed down in Ethiopia.  Uhhhmmm yeah.  Initially when we started the process the wait time to receive a referral for a boy was 4-6 months and 7-9 months for a girl.  Well, we have been waiting on that referral since 9/3/10.  That makes it about 9 1/2 months.  When we had hit the 6 month mark the wait time changed to 5-7 months.  Then we hit the 7 month mark and the wait time changed to what it is now 7-11 months for both genders.  So we shall see.  It is comical really.  

We trust in God's perfect timing.  He has been giving us a tremendous amount of patience and we really have not been anxious about this.  We know that God already has a child picked out for us and he knows when we will be traveling over there.  We also new that going into international adoption that we must hold our expectations very loosely.  

Financially, God is good.  It has been amazing to see how he has provided for us throughout this last year.  When we started the process we thought that we were going to need to come up with $28K.  Well, due to changes in travel that quickly went up to $35K.  Through literally hundreds of different ways and different people, God has allowed us to come up with almost the entire amount in a years time.  What an amazing God!  We never would have thought it possible when we started.  If you are at all considering adopting I urge you to seek God on it, pray about it and ultimately if this is what God is calling you to do then you just need to jump in and trust that he is Jehovah Jirah.  We think that our costs might go a few thousand dollars  higher than we have been planning due to the increased costs of airfare.   Also, Capri turns two soon and we will have to pay for her now as well.  (We originally thought we might be over there and back before her birthday).  

We just wanted to update everybody on where we are at.  We will definitely let you know when we hear something.  

Do you believe in spiritual warfare??

Do you believe in spiritual warfare? It's not something that we talk about very often in the Christian community, but maybe it's something we should be.

We have a different sort of internet situation going on where we live. We can usually get on the internet, but first we have to turn on a mobile phone that sits plugged into our computer. Once this is turned on, we then have to select that phone as our internet connection. Then we wait a few minutes for the computer to recognize that we can get online. Then, we can usually proceed to surf the internet, although not always. Even though the computer always says we have full service, sometimes we can watch TV or watch a sermon, but other times, the internet is running too slowly to allow us to even log onto our e-mail much less watch anything streamed. {Sometimes I feel like we are in Africa}.

The other night, I came home feeling exhausted and defeated. I was discouraged and wondering if God was really speaking to me. Adam was working, so I went thru my usual routine of getting the girls to bed and then logging onto the computer. The first thing I did was log onto my e-mail account. I quickly looked through our email to make sure there was nothing that I needed to respond to. Then, I tried to log onto facebook. My computer kept searching for facebook for a couple minutes while I was busy putting things away. When I came back to the computer I got our standard message that said I was not connected to the internet (even though I was). Then I tried to click onto our yahoo account. Same thing. So, now I am seeing my evening getting fairly boring, as I am not going to be able to read blogs or watch TV. Then I think to myself, 'I couldn't even listen to a sermon if I wanted to.' And I proceed to think 'watch, that would probably be the one thing that I would be able to do.' So, I decide to give it a try. I clicked on Brook Hills website (a church in Burmingham Alabama that we enjoy listening to sermons through), and of course the website pops right up. So at this point I begin to get curious, I click to go back to yahoo and NOTHING. no internet connection. Facebook, NOTHING. no connection. Brook Hills, and the website pops right up. I found the Acts series and, wouldn't you know it, the sermon was exactly what I was feeling SO discouraged about.

Sometimes it's easy to dismiss these kinds of "coincidences" as just that: a coincidence. But, I believe that this was an act of God! He knew exactly what I needed that night. It's easy to let the world distract us into thinking that we need to live a certain lifestyle. But Christ has commanded us as believers to surrender everything, our whole lives to Him!

Yes! I most certainly believe in spiritual warfare. I believe that Satan sent me home discouraged, but that God won when I wasn't able to log onto anything on the internet except the very sermon that I needed to hear to encourage me!

Something that the pastor said in the sermon really hit home for me. He said, as followers of Christ, our whole purpose on earth is to spread the gospel to every tongue, tribe and nation! That's why we are here! That's why we haven't been taken up to Heaven immediately after proclaiming His name.

So I ask you, what are we going to do to carry this out??

Temples

We visited two different temples today.  One was a Hindu temple dedicated to their gods, Shiva and Vishnu.  The other was an American temple called Westfield shopping mall dedicated to materialism and consumerism.  

What struck me today was how very similar these to trips were.  Let me start by saying they both really disturbed me.  

Walking into the Hindu temple, there was a feeling of emptiness.  Though it was filled with hundreds of people, with the sounds of bells, chants and the smell of incense.  Everybody was standing in line so that they could pay their respects and bow down to the different gods of wealth, love and a variety of other things.  It broke our hearts as we watched people worship idols.  Idols that were made by men.  It just didn't make sense.  The chanting and the prayers to the idols did not go above the ceiling.  It was empty.  Though it was fascinating watching, my heart was calling out in prayer to my God.  Yahweh.  The Holy of Holies.  The God of all gods.  God help them to see your face.  Help them to turn from their empty worship to worship the one true God who gave his Son Jesus to redeem us.  

Walking into the American temple later was so similar.  I needed to get my phone fixed and didn't know where else to go.  It has been at least six months since I have been in a mall.  I (Adam) hate going.  Today though, I realized why.  Though it was packed full of thousands of people, it was empty.  The chanting and praying were there too.  They were just in different forms.  Like the Hindu temple, the idols were everywhere.  Come to this store, buy this, and you will be happy.  This item is sure to make you look wealthy.  The gods in this temple were materialism and consumerism.  What are we all doing I kept thinking?  Is this really how we Americans should be spending our resources?  Yet again, I found myself praying for those around me to see past themselves and find Jesus.   

Pray with us.

Last week, the Joint Council announced that MOWA (ministry of women and children affairs) in Ethiopia was drastically reducing the number of approval letters that they are going to write. They stated that they are going to reduce their work by 90% effective immediately. Their letter is the letter that every family needs to be presented to the judge in court. Without their approval letters, the courts can not approve a child to become part of a family. This will mean that the adoption process will really take a very long time.
We trust that God is fully in control. We serve a God who made time, and is above time. We continue to put our faith and hope in our Lord as we ride this roller coaster. We know that we will be united with our child in God's perfect timing.
We ask for your prayers, as there are many families in Ethiopia this week trying to pass court and are waiting on their letter from MOWA. We pray that these families will be approved and be united with their children forever. We are praying that God will be glorified in this process. MOWA, the courts and the embassy are meeting and trying to work things out so that things can continue. As we pray for the families currently over there, we have moved up on the waiting list for our referral. We are #7 for a boy and #10 for a girl.

Our God is BIG

A week and a half ago, we were having our family faith talks and I asked the kids to pick out a new country on the map to pray for. It was Geneva's turn and she had already picked a country and kept pointing to it all week anticipating her turn. The country she chose was New Zealand. Yes, that is right, the very same country that has just had a massive earthquake. When the earthquake hit, we as a family had already been praying for this country for a few days. God had impressed it on her heart for weeks that this was a country that was in need of prayer. How awesome is that?

Our God is BIG

Yesterday was a monumental kind of day with our adoption agency. There was a ton of movement. I think that a couple of referrals were given out and 8 families received court dates for when they can go and travel and meet their children and pass court. Normally, it seems that there are usually 2-3 court dates per week. We, however, are still in the waiting stage for our referral. We came to the realization a week ago or so that we are very close to getting our referral and seeing the pictures of our new baby. It can come in a week or so, or it can still be a few months away.

Our God is BIG

This week I have had one of those moments that me stop and thank God for the blessings he has given to us. For the last 3 weeks or so, all of our 3 kids have been sick. Coughs, 104 degree temps, ear infections, the runs (really bad), vomiting, etc. The kids just kind of keep passing things around the house and we can't quite seem to get over it. Heather hasn't been able to go to bible study in weeks. I realized that if we lived in another country like Ethiopia, the likelihood that one of our children would be dead by now from these illnesses is almost certain. I don't mean to sound gruesome but it is a reality. I have spent lots of time thinking about how do you gets a child's fever down from 104 when you don't have Tylenol, or ice packs, or even the ability to take a cool bath? You can't. How do you keep a child from becoming dehydrated due to diarrhea and vomiting, with no Gatorade, no pedialite, no soda crackers, no IV fluids, no clean water to be able to drink? You can't. The majority of childhood deaths age 5 and under occur due to preventable things such as diarrhea, fevers and malaria. We have been blessed to have access to clean running water whenever we want it, or to have hospitals to take our sick children to, or to always have food on our tables. Why are we the ones that have been blessed? It is so that we may in turn be a blessing to all the nations. This is how we bring glory to our God.

Our God is BIG

Dreaming

It has been a while since I have posted anything. We have been BUSY. We have started the Perspectives class and that has added about 8 hours of class or studying to our week. It is totally worth it though. I think that all Christians should go through it. I have been wanting to post something for a while, but just haven't gotten around to it. I could have posted that the last 2 months things have really slowed down in the adoption world. I could have posted about how our wait time has gotten longer. I could have posted about another awesome gift that some friends have given us this week! I could post about how we are mentally planning on traveling in the fall as opposed to late spring. However, I feel led to tell you about a dream, my dream.

I (Adam) am not normally a dreamer. In fact, I rarely remember dreams, but when I do they are normally profound. I am not a dream expert, nor do I think that all dreams have significance, but sometimes they do. So here it is.

My kids were all fast asleep in their beds at home. (ages 4,3,1) Heather and I were not in the house with them though. Nobody was. We wanted to be home with them, but for some reason, something was holding us back. I don't know what. It was almost like the Christmas story with Tiny Tim. We were looking in on them from the outside. We watched them wake up, scared, crying, searching. After a while, they started to care for each other, rummaging the cabinets. I saw the fear in their eyes. It was BREAKING my heart. I don't know how long it lasted, but after pushing the snooze button a few times, it kept reoccuring. We never got the chance to comfort them, we never got the chance to calm their fears.

I was still in that dreamy state when I questioned why God was allowing me to see this? Why must I witness this dream over and over? Why am I watching my kids hurting? Why can't I do anything about it? Then the dream turned towards the orphans. The number ONE HUNDRED AND FORTY SEVEN MILLION (147 million) kept flashing as I saw the faces of children around the world hurting.

I woke up in a cold sweat. My heart HURT. As their father, I could not imagine seeing my children with so much hurting. God, as our Heavenly Father is looking at 147 million that are hopeless, defending for themselves without someone to care for them, without someone to teach them about His love. His questions are aimed back at us. What are you (His church) doing about my children? How can you make me watch this? Why are you just watching my children hurting?

As a body of believers we need to ask ourselves how did we get to this point? More importantly, how are we going to change it? I implore you to seek Christ and His heart for the orphan.
James 1:27 Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.

I didn't really plan on sharing this, but it has been nagging at me all day. I have stayed up an hour later than normal, but I don't really want to go to sleep. I don't want to go back to the dream world. It is not easy getting your heart broken. Maybe I should stop praying that God would show me His heart. Just kidding. I will continue to boldly pray that God will teach me.

One last Christmas Present

I am the girl who puts Christmas away on December 26th. The fact that our local Christian radio station was still playing Christmas music up until the new year was, well, I don't want to say annoying, because it sounds so Grinch, but I couldn't help feeling like I was ready to move on, get back to some of my favorite "regular" Christian music. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE Christmas music. Maybe I'm ready to move on after Christmas is over because I have been enjoying Christmas music since October (well, September if I am being honest--What that's not normal??)
Anyway, so it came as quite a surprise when on Jan. 3rd, I received one final Christmas present. This was no ordinary Christmas present though. This was truly a gift that came from the heart. A very dear friend of mine, and her whole family decided that rather than buying each other more stuff, they would use the money they would have normally spent, and donate it towards our adoption!! WHAT AN INCREDIBLE GIFT! As I hugged my friend, and thanked her for this AMAZING gift, she said that they are so excited to meet the newest Cheney.
So, to this family who did without this Christmas, we just want to thank you from the very bottom of our hearts. We are so truly grateful for your generosity.