A cake for Baby Quilla from one of our news producers at my station!
So sweet!

WE LEAVE SUNDAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! We are so excited!! We got the call yesterday and we sprung into action immediately. Even though things were not confirmed, Brad and I had talked about how to handle it if we did get to go. Sweet Brad is taking today off from work to clean and get things in order for his mom's stay at our house. She arrives tomorrow morning! Please pray for TT's safe travels, for our safe travels, for great weather, smooth flights, uneventful travel, and on time travels. ALSO, pray now that we pass court on the 8th. That will be HUGE! It's a major milestone for our adoption to pass court.

Brad's great aunt Teenie and Mammy called last night to say how excited they are for us. I totally choked up as Teenie told me all the people she had asked to pray for us. Of course, our families are praying. My friend Kelley in California has activated her prayer chain. My bestest friend in the world Katie and her family are praying for us. Our church family has us wrapped in love and prayers. The America World yahoo group is praying, our local adoption friends are praying, I know so many of you are praying. Honestly, people...it makes me tear up just thinking about it! THANK YOU!!

So, ever since last Friday when we found out we might be traveling on the 4th, we've been prepping Zeke about our trip and the fact that he'd be at home with TT. We've also talked to him about making good choices while TT's in charge. He asked us if TT could give time outs. We said yes, if you make bad choices TT can give time outs. We have told him that TT will likely have treats for him and when we bring up TT's arrival, he always says, "And cars and trucks?" He's so sweet. It really struck my heart last night how hard it's going to be to leave my sweet Zeke for a little over two weeks. I know he'll be in excellent hands but I'll just miss him, plain and simple. Thank goodness for Skype!

No Decision

The judge is still deciding whether we can be in court on July 8th. I am so hoping and praying we can be there. We are supposed to find out tomorrow morning. It's a miracle that all of our plane tickets, including the plane tickets for Brad's mom, are still on hold. We feel like that was a very good sign and an important detail. We will find out tomorrow morning what the judge has decided. Shortly after I heard this news, I decided to fast until sundown, asking God to give us a favorable decision on this matter. We are really longing to see our girl and to get this court business done. What the judge is deciding is whether she wants the birth families and adoptive families to be in court together. We really want to meet Quilla's birth mom so please pray that we will get to be in court with her. So...more waiting and praying...

TENTATIVE COURT DATE-JULY 8!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We got THE CALL today that we have a TENTATIVE court date of July 8. We are putting plane tickets on hold today and will know Monday if we can buy them. Please, please, please pray that we get to go!! More later!

Court Papers Filed!!!

The birth certificate arrived and our papers were filed for a court date late last week! THANK YOU JESUS! We are so happy and can't wait to get our actual court date. We should any time between now and next Friday (July 2nd). We may not have much notice on when we go so we are starting to think about getting ourselves in gear now. Several families found out Tuesday that they have a court date of July 2nd. With less than a week's notice, they are heading to Ethiopia!! I'm so happy for them!! I will post as soon as we get our court date!!

BELIEVE: Claiming Victory Over the Junk

God sent me three angels last week via email. First, my mom reminded me of a great saying that really encouraged me during the wait for Zeke:

Because
Emmanuel
Lives
I
Expect
Victory
Every time

BELIEVE!

So, yes, I believe that God is victorious and sovereign over this current wait.

Also, two of my Internet buddies sent me encouraging emails about how they are praying over this hold up. Thanks, Katie and Kelley!!!

Another blessing: We got several donations at church today for our upcoming trip to Ethiopia! Praise the Lord! Our church has also agreed to assist in covering the cost of taking extra luggage (filled with donations!) on our trip. So, I pray that we will be overflowing with donations when the time comes (in July!!!) to travel. If you are interested in donating, you can email me at zekeandlilysmom (at) gmail (dot) com to find out what we need. We're taking donations to our agency's transition homes. We're also collecting donations for Into the Streets, a ministry for streets kids in Addis Ababa (see the link on the side). So, I am focusing on these donation drives instead of worrying about when we'll hear something. More time waiting means more time to collect supplies for these kiddos who really need them!

Brad Comes Home!

Brad is coming home this afternoon from Chicago (scroll down for his photos from Chi-town). Hooray! Zeke prefers dad to tuck him in at night, though we've had some sweet snuggle time. One night this week, Zeke reached over, put his hands on my face and brought me in for a kiss. He rarely does that so it was just super special! He knew Mommy needed it. Of course, the battle royale that followed over getting him to sleep was craziness. He was up past 10PM one night this week. He's been sick (though he's much better now), and I guess not having dad there has just gotten him off his bed time routine. Poor little guy. He had to get up very early this morning because I had to be at work early...so he should sleep well tonight!

Yeah...still no news. I don't even want to get my hopes up for next week...Can't stand another week of no news.

Hear the Crickets Chirping?

That's the sound of no news. We have no news on birth certificates and no news on court. Honestly, I'm beginning to prepare my heart for the possibility that we may not get to travel for court until after the closures. That's how discouraged I feel. I'm exhausted from praying so much over this...

Zeke and I are by ourselves this week. Brad's in Chicago for work (see photos below). Lucky duck. He's already had some Lou's pizza. He's promising to bring back treats for everyone--including Quilla. *sigh*

Brad's digs

Postage stamp room

Hear Our Prayers!!

I am begging God to unclog this log jam, to get those birth certificates done and to get us a court date. PLEASE! Hoping and praying that this is the week we get some news!!!

How God Encouraged Me This Weekend

I'm so glad that God speaks to us in creative ways. Wouldn't it get boring if God only had one way of doing things?!?!

So, yesterday, we headed to Wal-Mart. We needed essentials like milk and cat litter. I noticed that there were a lot of adult clothes on sale. I wondered if any of the kids clothing was on sale because we're planning to take clothes and other donations with us to Ethiopia for the kids at the transition homes our agency runs and for the Into the Streets ministry (see link on our sidebar).

I wandered toward the racks of sale clothes. (I love sales anyway, and I figured that buying on sale would allow me to buy more for less.) So, I saw some boy shirts with Toy Story and GI Joe characters on them. Not exactly what I had in mind. Then I saw these shirts:





YES! I was practically in tears thinking about how perfect these shirts about AFRICA and its ANIMALS would be for little kids IN AFRICA! Plus, they were only $3 each. Well, I bought six shirts in different sizes. I cannot wait to give these and other donations to the children in Ethiopia!!

Our church is doing a donation drive for the kids in Ethiopia. There was an awesome write up about it in the church newsletter this week. Our pastor said this could be the start of an ongoing ministry where our church sends donations with every family that adopts overseas! YES! If you're interested in helping with donations, you can contact me at zekeandlilysmom at gmail dot com or donate directly to Into the Streets by clicking on the button on the sidebar. We (all of us!) are called to be the hands and feet of Christ!

Zeke on his hog.

Zeke Antics

*Yesterday evening, he found a feather small white feather in the floor from our bedding and said, "Mommy, it's a cat feather. Throw it away."

*Zeke's new favorite game is falling on a stack of pillows. I seem to recall liking this same game when I was a kid.

*Zeke has nearly memorized a poem that I had memorized when I was little--"The Moon" by Robert Louis Stevenson. Zeke calls it the bat poem.

*We've made some progress on the potty front but it seems like every time we take a step forward, we take two back. *sigh* We still aren't insisting or making a big fuss over it, but we're strongly encouraging him to go. There's a 99 cent truck at Target with his name on it as soon as he takes his potty skills to the next level.

*At school yesterday, they had the bounce house up and going. I arrived to pick up Zeke just as he was getting his turn. Of course, I let him go at it for about 10 minutes. Then, the teacher was asking the kids to rotate out so others could have a turn. Zeke came out willingly and then I told him it was time to go. The fit that followed was one of the worst ever. In fact, even though I normally do not give in to that kind of behavior, he was so "beside himself" with fit pitching that I couldn't get him in his car seat to leave. So, we walked back inside and I asked if he could get in the bounce house again. The teacher said yes. Zeke literally gets in for 10 seconds and says it's "hurting" him. I asked him where it hurt and he just got out without answering. I said, "You don't want to play in the bounce house?" "No. Wanna go." So, we go out to the van. By the time I get him in his car seat and start to back out, the fit is back in full force, as though I have once again denied him access to the bounce house. I reminded him that he was the one who didn't want to stay. Well, the crying and snotting continued until I could get to McDonald's and get him a milk and some fries.

A Spirit-Filled Moment

Our worship band from church played and sang this morning for the statewide annual conference for United Methodists. It was an amazing experience. While we were singing a song that's relatively new to us, I was struck in such a profound way by the lyrics:

Oh that the church would arise
Oh that we would see with Jesus' eyes
We could show the world Heaven
Show what it means to be His
To be formed in His likeness
Show them that they have a purpose

As I thought about being "formed in His likeness," I thought about the fact that after we sang, an African-American preacher was going to take the stage, someone who has been on the forefront of civil rights for decades. My, how humans have struggled to grasp the idea that those who look different than them are just as much created in the likeness of God as they are. We like to create God in our own image, instead of the other way around. It also reminded me of the photo and caption at the top of this blog. The first time I saw it, I felt a sharp pain in my eyes and throat as I fought back tears. Yes, this image truly exemplifies what it will look like when "thy kingdom comes." Oh, that we would see each other with Jesus' eyes, or as one Christian writer put it, that we would see others as Christ sees them, that for us, there would be no such thing as "other."

Back from the Lake

We spent last night at the lake. We were there for a broadcasters' awards ceremony. Missy won first place for a story she did on a Vietnamese woman needing a bone marrow donor. She took her search to Marion Days, a gathering that brings together up to 18,000 Vietnamese each year. We had a lovely trip. Zeke got to enjoy plenty of time in the pool, which featured a waterfall and "bat cave." The weather was amazing. Overall, it was a very refreshing trip.

We have high hopes for this week. We are praying that we will get our court date this week. We will rejoice when it comes! Oh yes, and we will begin planning for this massive trip. Please continue to pray as we await news on our case.

Quilla has an awesome sick prize waiting got her! Thanks TT!!!

An Interesting Read on Ethiopia's Government (and no news)

Click here to read an interesting article on Ethiopia's government, in light of the recent national elections there.

As far as we know, the birth certificate for our baby girl is still not ready. Please pray that this will get done SOON! That's the final piece of paper we need to file for a court date. We so appreciate your prayers!

Ethiopia is FAR!

I've been looking at flights and itineraries (hoping to have news of travel dates SOON!). And it occured to me that Ethiopia is really far away. Unlike flying to Asia, you can't take a single flight from the US and land close to your destination. (When we went to Vietnam, for example, we flew from LA to Hong Kong and then had a pretty short flight to Hanoi.) Even the "non-stop" flight from D.C. to Addis stops briefly in Rome. So, we can expect one domestic flight, probably putting us in Memphis or Atlanta. From there, we'll likely travel to Europe. Amsterdam, Frankfurt, and Paris are the typical layover points. (We're hoping to spend two nights in one of these cities!) Then, you've got another flight to Addis, and (here's the kicker) that flight is about as long as the flight from the U.S. to Europe! We will be weary (but excited) travelers by the time we arrive is Addis, no doubt. That's another argument in favor of spending two nights in Europe--to catch our breath and get adjusted to the time difference before hitting the ground running in Ethiopia. Well, all this is just "play" right now. We're praying so fervently that we'll know our court date soon!

Zeke got his face painted today at school!

Knowing How to PRAY: Birth Certificate and Passing Court

Apparently, the courts in Ethiopia have issued a new requirement that children who are awaiting adoption have birth certificates from their regions before getting a court date. Because this is new and few people in Ethiopia have this kind of documentation, it's taking longer to get it. PLEASE PRAY RIGHT THIS MOMENT that we will find out THIS WEEK that our baby girl's birth certificate from her region is DONE and that our paperwork is being submitted for a court date THIS WEEK.

Additionally, we had hoped that some things would come together before our court appearance to improve our chances of passing court. It appears that those things will not be happening before we show up, thus not giving us any better chance of passing. It's still estimated that half of families will NOT pass court the first time. PLEASE PRAY RIGHT THIS MOMENT that God will bring together every person, paper, and detail (including electricity being on!) so that we will pass when we're there in court. It sounds like we CAN pass court before the courts close but it will be by God's grace and mercy that it happens in a timely manner.

We will update you the minute we know anything about when we will have our court date. It's so good to know exactly what we are waiting on and how we can pray!