Lowe's Build and Grow!

Every other Saturday, I try to take Paisley on a date to breakfast or lunch and to Lowes for their Build-And-Grow clinics. It's great. It's free, which is always good. Each child gets an apron and safety goggles before they build.


Paisley is making a tape measure! It was great. She was pretty excited to use a hammer and build something. Check out her video:




Every time they have it, they make a different project. Paisley has made a tape measure, a bird feeder, an ant farm (but we never did get ants for it...), and a periscope. Today, we took Majil too. She's been jealous of what her sister brings home. She got her very own apron too.


This time they made a mini baseball game. It was tons of fun. They were pretty proud of their construction projects.




We're still signing the contracts for AGCI and moving along with that. Right now, we're waiting on financial strings to be tied together. It should be by early next week so we can get our dossier packet in the mail! We've been looking at agencies to do our homestudy since there is no AGCI office in our state. It's kind of intimidating....what if they don't like us? I'm sure it will be fine, but still...kind of scary.

Just finished a conference call!

We just got off the phone with AGCI....the process begins! You wouldn't think we'd get all excited to sign papers and get them notarized, but we are! I'll probably even post pictures of them! Aren't they cute....just little papers with words that eventually bring us together with our new baby!

We're invested....and Jana says I'm pretty dorky.

Funny thing....we were reviewing the orientation packet and were adding up what fees were payable upon receipt of the contract. Somehow, the "3 sibling" fee sheet made it's way into our packet instead of "single child"; we were adding things up and freaking out! Why did the rates go up so much!!? Fortunately, Naomi from AGCI set us straight and emailed us the proper sheet. It is funny how God puts things into perspective...now the fee doesn't seem quite as big...guess it's all how you look at it.

Why adoption?

It is funny...when we were dating, we discussed international adoption, but once we had our own, adoption was put on the back burner. With our first baby, we were interested in what he or she would look like....will she have my knock knees? (She does.) Jana's chin? (She does.) For the second child, we were curious how her features and personality would differ from the first. While she's just as knock-kneed as her sister, she has a very different and equally wonderful personality (and my chin). We always wanted a third, but didn't realize how God would bring us back to adoption.

Paisley is our oldest little girl. My wife, Jana, had a relatively uneventful pregnancy according to her doctor. (I love that..."uneventful"; vomiting 18 hours a day and having your fingers and toes look like sausages is "uneventful"?) After 14 hours of labor, it was discovered that Jana had a cord prolapse; the umbilical cord was pinched between Paisley's head and the cervix, cutting off the blood flow to the baby! Jana needed an emergency C-section without a functioning epidural (no kidding...epidural malfunction, emergency delivery, etc.). Paisley was born grayish blue and unresponsive. In the hours following her delivery, we heard about "anoxic brain injury" and "possible cerebral palsy". By the grace of God, she met and exceeded her milestones and is one of the brightest, sweetest, healthiest little girls I've ever met. No lasting effects of her delivery whatsoever. Amen...she has such a cool story.

Majil is our younger daughter. Again, an "uneventful" pregnancy. She was born by C-section too, but this one was more controlled. Jana walked to the OR, had her epidural placed comfortably, and delivered a happy, healthy baby girl. We went home on a Friday and enjoyed cluster feedings and very little sleep for two days. Sunday night Jana was a little short of breath, so we went to the ER for reassurance that everything was OK. After several tests, she was diagnosed with a pulmonary embolism. The treatment was 6 months of anticoagulation and that was it. We were so incredibly fortunate...not all postpartum PE's end so well. We were incredibly blessed that it wasn't a larger piece of clot. If you want to read a heartbreaking story about the same situation with a very different outcome, click here. It is sobering to read the direction things could have taken.

Jana's doctor told us that there was no medical reason for these two complications to occur. However, further pregnancies were discouraged, but if we wanted to have another, she would be there for us. Because she could have died unexpectedly with the last pregnancy, was it really worth it to risk it? Nope. Not a chance.

We were let down at first, but we remembered our conversations about adoption while we were dating. We started to get excited and felt it was an opportunity to get back to God's plan for our lives. We had friends that had had good experiences and began to pray about what God wanted for us. If He wants us to stop at two...no problem. But our hearts were burdened for a third. At first, we didn't know from where, but we knew it would be international. We prayed that God would guide us to both the location of the child and the agency in which to go through. Jana and I received the AGCI info packet and she opened it up and immediately became teary-eyed (or "misty" as she calls it, although calling her "misty" at that moment is like calling a desert in the middle of summer "warm"). She turned the brochure around and showed me the Ethiopia information sheet. We both said, "that's where our baby will be from." And here we are, getting ready to send in the first round of paperwork. My wife rocks. My kids rock. My God rocks. And Ethiopian kids rock.

We're APPROVED!

We are so excited! Yesterday, we found out that All God's Children International (AGCI) has accepted our application as prospective adoptive parents for the Ethiopia program! It has been an interesting road; sometimes smooth, sometimes bumpy, but always under His control. It has been a learning experience and it has JUST started!!

Our two girls are SO excited for a new baby in the house. It is hard to explain that it's not going to be tomorrow or next week! They get along so well...they are crazy about each other. Today, they wouldn't come to the table when I asked them to; when I looked in the other room, they were hugging each other on the floor and giggling! Hilarious! But seriously girls....

Why adoption? Well....long story (and excellent story, I might add). I will post more about it but the bottom line is God led us down this path and we are so excited to see His plan for us! He has already worked out amazing things for us, so I'm sure there will be more stories soon.