blessed

Not a lot of people get the opportunity to combine their pregnancy blog and their adoption blog :) It is a little confusing: "hows the baby?" ....which one hahaha. We have been very blessed! I feel like my emotions are on high alert right now, I guess those are the hormones talking but I have been stressed out to the max this week over everything. Even the little things like what am I going to wear today almost push me over the edge when ummm choices choices my t shirt or Josh's t shirt :) I am eventually going to have to buy bigger shirts I guess. I am so very thankful for my church and the people that I have met there. I was given several pairs of maternity pants by one member who got them from a friend, its great to not have to worry about spending money on clothes right now when there are so many expenses piling up.

(I hope this makes sense, I am having a little trouble keeping my mind on one track for too long right now, I am not complaining I am simply trying to point out how God has provided for us and how my eyes have been open.)

God is teaching me so much right now. I have never had to experience a lot of debt possibly because I was too broke to buy anything for most of my life. Josh and I have been very blessed with great jobs and a comfortable living until now. I think it is very funny how God works, just when we think we have it all together and are totally ready to start a family: we get transferred, we cant sell the condo, the renters move out of his house in KY,my renters moved out, we have to become renters, and 2 new babies :). He is in control and we have to rely on HIM not on ourselves . It is so hard to totally rely on God to take care of our needs and provide for us. But He has and He is and He will, I think we had gotten to comfortable relying on ourselves and He needed to remind us who is really the bread winner in this house.
~We love TX, we have met so many great people and have made so many great friends
~We have rented the house in KY and they are planning to buy it within a year
~the condo....the person who has been trying to buy it for months now is finally looking into a conventional loan instead of waiting on the VA, should close in 2 weeks
~My wonderful brother-in-law is going to look into helping us make the repairs on my trailer so we can rent it again, someone has been asking about it. Its impossible for us to work on it since its 1000 miles away.
~We have a great home in TX, good location and plenty of room, best part we don't have to worry about selling it or renting it when we are transferred woohoo! Plus the owners are super nice and very quick with any needed repairs.
~2 babies in about 4 months wow! I have learned the art of finding really great stuff at yard sales! Who knew lol

My point is, when we felt the most helpless God was in control! He also has a plan, which for those of you who know me well know that I always have a plan A,B,C and sometimes D. None of this was in my plan but look how it has just fallen into place, almost like He knows better than we do :) Everything works to the good of those who love the Lord, sometime He just needs to remind us to not get so confident.
Things are tough but we have learned that we can still make it and even still have fun on about 1/4th of the money we were used to which is amazing! Just think if we had been doing this all along we would have no debt. God has really opened my eyes over the past few weeks. 

Adoption is very expensive but we have no regrets whatsoever just to clarify. We have an amazing, beautiful, happy, healthy baby boy who deserves to have a mama and a daddy and after 2 years of waiting he will finally have one (soon I hope). I do not want to scare anyone away from adoption, there are many grants, loans, tax credits, and employee benefits out there to help cover the costs. It is very rewarding and most of our costs will be covered by the tax credit and the military benefit.
We are also so so so excited to have a newborn, this is totally new to us but we cannot wait to get our little family started. So happy that Liam will have someone to play with that is so close to his own age. I think it will help him adjust to have a little brother or sister to play with. ~Again I am not complaining and I am also not saying we will not be able to provide for our children just trying to point out how awesome God is.~

completed screening

What do I love most about working with the US??? The sense of urgency and the communication!! Although we may not understand exactly what they are talking about it is nice to be updated! The screening of our I-600 (which is the petition filed in the adoption department for adoption to make an orphan an immediate family member) has been completed. Before it can be approved the I-604 (this determines if a child meets the requirements of the US to be adopted) must be completed, in order to complete this in some cases the Embassy official can request an interview with the birth mother or relative, or they can request more information from the agency. In our case they have requested an interview with the birth mother.....which means the agency in Ethiopia is supposed to help them contact the mother....this worries me because we know just how quickly they move. I do not know what happens if the birth mother cannot be contacted but I do know if Liam does not meet the criteria for adoption in the US he cannot get a VISA, I am pretty confident that he will be fine since he has spent almost all of his life in an orphanage but I will feel much better when that is approved. 

Once I604 is approved the I600 can be approved and Liam will have a health exam. After this I believe we will go for our Embassy appointment to finalize everything and then get his visa. But I am not 100% sure about this. We had to turn in several other forms so I am sure they have to be approved at some point. These are all immigration forms in case you are wondering it is NOT easy to become an American. 

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Week 14 day 1

As far as the pregnancy goes I am finally in the 2nd trimester and as promised I am feeling much better and have a lot more energy. I am still having trouble sleeping but other than that I am feeling pretty good. My doctors appointment went fine, I got to hear the heartbeat for the first time! Very exciting, Josh missed it :( I am also fine to travel to Ethiopia! Just have to walk every hour on the plane to prevent blood clots. Not much to tell this week. Still have a few weeks until we find out if its a girl or a boy.   

Case Filed with Embassy

Yesterday morning we received an email from the US Embassy in Ethiopia infroming us that our case had been filed! According to the email it can take a few weeks to a few months for the Embassy to go over our paperwork, complete their investigation, and set up an appointment for us to go to Ethiopia and pick up Liam and meet with the Embassy to get his visa and his citizenship paperwork. 

Our adoption agent also emailed me to say that Liam is doing great and that he is always smiling. :) He is such a happy baby! We are so blessed! He also attached a new picture of him, he is getting so big. We cannot wait to go pick him up!!! It’s finally happening after 7 long months of waiting we are so close! Jimbo said that it normally takes 4-6 weeks to get an appointment with the Embassy which is awesome I am praying for 4 weeks but planning for 8 weeks from past experience.....

As of right now Liam's name is actually Tamirat Joshua, we will have to change it once we get back into the US. We decided to change his name since Tamirat probably isn't a very good name to go through school with in America, especially since his nickname is Tami. Kids can be very mean. Tamirat is a very popular name in Ethiopia and in most Muslim countries; it means amazing or miracle, which suits him very well. His original name is Tamirat Abreham but had to be changed to complete the adoption. We are going to keep Abreham as his middle name. I have read a lot about changing names so it might be challenging at first but he should adapt very quickly, especially since everything will be changing for him. But in case you hear us calling him Tami Liam or Liam Tami this is why, you say both names together and then eventually you just keep the one name when he is used to hearing himself being called by his new name.

I'm very nervous about traveling back to Ethiopia since I will be 4-5 months pregnant, I was very very sick the whole time we were there in December and I am afraid it will happen again. I am also nervous about the two 8 hour plane rides there and back. Please pray for me that I will not be sick or have any issues traveling. 

We are so thankful and so relieved that Liam is healthy and happy! It is so nice to know we are in the home stretch and that we will be bringing our baby home very soon! Also very glad that now we are working with America! God is so Good!!!