Thoughtful Gifts

The past week I was with my family, celebrating the holidays. I LOVED every moment of it.  There is something about being home and just being together; nothing planned, just hanging out, eating good food, good wine, music, conversation...priceless.  

Of course Shaun and I are focused on our adoption, and others who share similar experiences, so my sister, Christie, bought shirts from another family, who like Shaun and I, are trying to raise money for their adoption. I have a picture of the shirt below, but it's kind of hard to read the scripture that's written on the shirt. So below I have a picture of the sweet letter my sister wrote, and the scripture is written in the letter.

I think I like my sister's letter more than anything. 

I also got another thoughtful gift from my great friend, Desi Meza.  It's a scarf, but the neat thing about it is that she did some research and found an organization called, FashionABLE (www.fashionable.com)

The scarf is made from women in Africa, Ethiopia included, and it helps to sustain women with job opportunities. If you have a chance, check out their website. Great idea for meaningful gifts.  Here's a pic with me wearing the scarf, before we headed out! :-) They come in all different colors!

Hope each of you had a Merry Christmas! 

As always, we thank everyone for their support and love.

-Angel 

Support is a beautiful thing

So, an update...

We are waiting for our social worker to send us our written report. I'm hoping that it will be done this week! We shall see.
Once we have the report, we can then apply through Immigrations with the United States, for adoption from a foreign country.  Once we submit our application and our home-study to the US Government, we will have to wait 30-60 days, before we can move forward...basically we are just waiting on others at this point, and will continue to for quite some time.
It's very difficult waiting on other people, especially when it comes to something like this.  I think we all have a hard time waiting on others, or just waiting period. I'm going to need to start embracing this feeling, or otherwise I'm going to have a very difficult time through this journey.  
I would LOVE to be on the "waiting list" by February. I would LOVE it...but who knows! So much of this process is not up to me, I have to place my trust in the Lord and know that His timing is perfect.  Not always an easy task.

On another note, we have such great support around us. Shaun's dad has decided to do a set up a little fundraiser to help us out!  For those of you who may not know, not only do you have to jump through hoops to "prove" you are a "good" parent, but there is a whole other side of adoption called EXPENSIVE!  It will cost Shaun and I $33,000 to adopt internationally. So, obviously, if we don't plan on going into serious credit card debt, we need to start getting creative and think of some more ways to get some support.
With that being said, Shaun's dad owns an automotive repair shop out in Canyon Lake, so he started a little something to help us out.
Shaun and I printed out little Africa countries, and we also created a short little bio about what we are doing.  Every person who buys an Africa ($5) there name goes into a drawing that is done monthly.  If your name is drawn, then you get a free oil change/service for you car!  I'm so thankful that we have people around us who are supporting us, in all ways they can think of.
Here is a picture of the set up :-)

Shaun and I are researching and trying to think of another way we can possibly get some extra support.
I think we have figured out an idea, and hopefully over the holidays we will get everything up on our blog and others can support our journey, too! :-)

Thanks everyone who reads about our journey. Your support, kind words, prayers and thoughts mean a lot to our family.
Many Blessings,
angel

Keep Your Eye on The Prize!

Family.
I love my family, for many reasons. They are my biggest supporters and greatest strength.  They are the ones that I feel most secure with.
Over the Thanksgiving holiday, they surprised Shaun and I with an Ethiopian baby shower.  To see all the excitement, support and joy for us meant more to Shaun and I than we can begin to explain.  It made this Thanksgiving a very special one. Everyone bought a children's book and wrote a sweet message to our baby that we will one day read to them.  I can't wait till the day comes and I can read every one of those children's books to our baby.  What joy that brings to me! :-)  The only thing that could of made this shower that much more special would of been to have my sister, Candis, there, but she was an intricate part of the planning, and that was awesome to know!
Here are some pictures that I want to share on this blog, as part of documenting our journey.

Absolutely surprised! 

Greatest mom and dad a girl could ask for. Love you.

Sophia wrote, "I can't wait to meet you. I love you."

Love this picture. Captured a precious moment!

Family...missing a few though...

Love all of you.

-Angel