The time should fly by now until our court date. This week the ywam team is in Adama and I look forward to hearing an update about our children from Joy, the program director. You can follow their updates too at their blog
Our children are in Adama living in the widow and orphans home. Sounds like God has the team there at the perfect time because Adama currently has no water. They are bringing it in by the caseload. I praise Him for providing for our (HIS) children.
The following week my social worker from Fields of Promise will be visiting the Nazaret area as well! The kids will be inundated with hugs "from us"!

You probably remember back in Chicago Ben and I were involved in Safe Families. We were able to have 2 placements before we left and loved the model of keeping families together and sharing Christ. The program recently landed on the front page of the Chicago Tribune. Hope they are able to expand down this way...

Cause ya know, mama, I'm a baseball player man!

The first haircut

Sorry I have been such a slacker posting these! John Harvey was a bit concerned, but of course put up with all of it like a champ and was rewarded with a lollipop. His hair is growing quickly-no haircuts planned in the near future though :)

Can't believe our court date is LESS THAN a month away! i know, I still owe you haircut photos. i will get on that as soon as possible :)

What have I been up to?? I don't know: living, trusting, enjoying. Taking it easy. no new court date yet, so I am staying put for a bit. I have found a new website that is just phenomenal! Don't be put off by the title. You would be amazed at how yummy the recipes are and the pics alone are worth a visit. http://veganyumyum.com/
I am not exclusively vegan anymore, but still am amazed and excited to cook vegan recipes.

Harvey update you say?
a haircut! I will post pics when he naps...

Claire's shower

I want to share some of the pics from Claire's baby shower 3 weeks ago. I am so behind! we had a sweet time and everyone truly celebrated henry. Claire's nursery is a Navy/white theme so I went a bit nautical with the shower. We played price is right...a really fun baby shower game! For the food, I served all old favorites-
fruit tarts, vidalia tarts, chicken spinach cups, lemon cookies, chocolate chip cookies, and a crudite tray. The tarts are nice to make ahead and heat up in minutes. Thankfully, Molly helped with the cake. I was so nervous to make a 3D whale, but my cake pans from Granmda did the trick and Molly did a fabulous job with the face. It was actually quite simple, but the icing turned everyone's mouth blue! napkin rings were just like miniature ribbon belts. I ended up sewing these by hand, but I loved the guilt free tv time while I worked on them. I used cardboard letter cutouts as the template for the name banner and then decided to put those out as well. The shower was so much fun to prepare and I am truly so thankful for baby H and such a fun day.

Full adoption disclosure is pretty much my policy today-please do not be unduly anxious on our behalf. We are just watching this unfold...one can never predict the next turn really anyway.
Court dates are being moved up a month ahead of schedule!
We don't have an official word yet on our date personally. Hopefully we will know soon. 2 other agencies had all of their cases moved and apparently all agencies are being asked to do this across the board. One Judge has come off of maternity leave and it sounds like another has been added too.
Ultimately, God knows how much more preparation He will do in our hearts before he brings our kids home and God knows what precious day they will become ours. please keep praying God's grace for our children's judge.

I added a ticker to the bottom of the page so I can keep track of the time until our court date. C totally gave me the idea-kind of fun.
So...wow! 7 weeks and then 3 more until travel. We have 10 weeks to get ready. I am waiting for the nesting instinct to kick back in. I did get 5 yards of some amazing fabric at the new charlotte ikea this weekend. If only adequate yardage did a nursery make...