Merry Christmas?!?!? OOPS!!!!!!!!!!!!

Um.  Um. Um.  Hm.  How do I say this. WORST.BLOGGER.EVER!!!!!!!!!!!!

It's been two and a half months since my last post, and well, those who follow me on Facebook know....Naomi is HOME!!!!!!!!!!!:)  And we have been BUSY BUSY BUSY!  What with Halloween, 2 rounds of assorted sicknesses, 2 birthdays, and Thanksgiving.....yep, a little busy;).  Anywho.................

Our case was cleared by the Embassy on Oct.4th, and I left the 11th to go and pick her up.  God was SO EXTREMELY faithful to give me peace throughout the whole trip!  Plus, he added a sweet little bonus on the trip there!  At my layover in Washington, I ran into Tim and Tama Gray, a sweet family we met on our court trip, and they were going to pick up their kiddos too!!  THANK YOU JESUS!  We talked, reminisced, and just praised God for His goodness to us in allowing our cases to clear quickly!  SUCH a sweet blessing that was!:)

I spent the week at the transition home, sadly, with a very sick little baby though:(.  Naomi had a horrible stomach virus, with both vomiting and diarrhea, and this Momma was more than a little stressed.  BUT, I was just surrounded by the kindest families, who prayed and helped me out when needed.  I could NOT have asked for more!  There were five  families there, adopting a total of NINE children, including Naomi!  So exciting!!!

By the time we left, Naomi completely turned around and was back to being her happy self!  TOTALLY GOD!  We made the 20+ hour trip home without "incident"(no vomiting OR diarrhea).

Since we've been home, the transition for Naomi has been seamless!  She has fit in SO well, and we are SO COMPLETELY IN LOVE with her!!  The kids fight over her, and love rubbing her hair;).  She is just a JOY!  Annnnnnnnd, are you ready for this?  She is WALKING 95% of the time!!  We think she is only about 9 1/2-10 mos. old...so it's just CRAZY to see her walking!  And she is SO smart!  I will feed her bites of food, and then say "more", do you want more?  And now she "pretends" to hold a piece in her hand, put it in her mouth, and says "mu, mu", when she wants a bite of something!!  When we ask if she wants to play "peek-a-boo", she'll take our hands and cover our eyes with them!  She knows her name and is saying Momma and Da-Da, and "lella"(Bella-our dog)....she babbles constantly!;)  She also holds the phone to her ear and says "lo, lo"...SO STINKIN' CUTE!!!  She prefers me over Daddy still, but is warming up to him more and more....it would help if he were home more...but that's a WHOLE different post;).  She has slept through the night since almost the beginning.  She took a bottle during the night for a week or so, but then she stopped and is sleeping from 8:00pm-7:30am!!

As for her health, she is doing GREAT!  We were able to clear up the giardia with ONE round of Flagyl, and her bloodwork is pretty good...she will need immunizations...  We thought she might have lactic acidosis(?), but her lactate came back normal, so that was a definite praise!  Her carnitine is slightly high, as is her RDW(?) on her CBC panel.....not sure if any of that is significant, but the doctor hasn't made a big deal, so for now, we won't either:).  She HAS had a runny nose and cough for TWO MONTHS, and she IS nearsighted and will need glasses soon....not looking forward to trying to keep those on a toddler!  GEESH!

And now, here we are...it's CHRISTMAS and we are reminded yet again how BLESSED we are.  What a joyous season it is!:)  And YOU are a huge part of that blessing!  All of you who prayed and gave to help us bring her home....we CANNOT thank you enough...but we'll keep trying!:)  You are forever a part of her story, and we will make sure she knows of your sacrifices and generosity!  THANK YOU!  THANK YOU!  THANK YOU!

And for your viewing pleasure.......our sweet NAOMI!!!!!!!!

Adoption Update

And the roller coaster continues....

Last Wednesday we found out that the police officer would agree to speak with the Embassy this Monday(yesterday), after she had a chance to review the case...and last Th/Fri were holy days in Ethiopia, so she wasn't working those days.

So we waited..........

Now it's Tuesday....and we still don't know if that phone call ever took place yesterday.:(

We DID, however, discover that there was a "finder" listed in our paperwork(who found Naomi abandoned), and usually when there is a finder listed, cases clear without being sent on to USCIS in Nairobi.  Especially since the officer SEEMS to be willing to talk with the embassy as well.....but it's been two weeks since she was initially contacted by the embassy, and apparently they tried 3 times to make contact.  Even if they conducted the interview yesterday, they could still wait WEEKS/MONTHS to clear us.  RIDICULOUS!

I'm beginning to stress more and more...  The US Embassy has a TERRIBLE reputation for dragging things out, for no good reason, and generally being a pain to deal with. 

So, what do we do?  We keep emailing them, and asking for updates:)!  I won't sit by while they drag things out(like waiting and waiting and waiting for a phone call), when they could just send it on to Nairobi.

I emailed today specifically about the interview, and whether or not it took place yesterday....they HAVE been good about returning emails, so we should know about that tomorrow.

 Sorry, if this doesn't make much sense....  Needless to say, I will be up in the middle of the night tonight to catch their email, and respond if necessary(by personal email to the consulate officer:)).  

PLEASE PRAY for clearance for our sweet girl!!  She IS already our daughter by law, and this Momma bear is getting frantic about her release!

6 Weeks

It's been 6 weeks since I last saw my sweet baby girl:(. And I'm starting to stress. Our paperwork is still at the Embassy and they have requested a phone interview with the police officer in our daughter's birth town...he will NOT call them back:(...that was a week ago...annnnnndd we still wait. It's not uncommon for the police to be less than cooperative...but our daughter is WAITING while we sit and wait for the embassy to play phone tag with this guy. You just never know where it's going to go from here....will they just keep trying for weeks/months? Will they clear us without the police interview? Will they send us on to Nairobi? And the biggest question....WHEN? There is no timeframe....they can take as long as they want. PLEASE pray for us as we wait. For peace and for patience. Pray for our daughter...that she is safe and healthy. Pray that the LORD will soften the heart of the officer at the embassy who is in charge of our case, and that he will clear us or send us on to USCIS THIS WEEK!

Cause I can't stand to miss one more minute of this little girl's life!!

Blogging for Orphans-Lifesong Update

"I was looking for someone to understand me, to love sincerely...I received all this!"    -­‐Natasha, 22 As you heard Natasha share in the video, the orphanage took care of her basic needs -­‐-­‐ food, shelter, clothing.   But she longed for more.  Belonging. Commitment. Love from a family. Hope for a future. Because we believe kids like Natasha need much more than their 'basic needs', the staff of Lifesong Ukraine are building relationships inside the orphanage walls to create what we call Constant Christian Presence (CCP).  The CCP provides mentorship and discipleship, improved living conditions, one-­‐on-­‐ one counseling, group Bible study, job skills training, music lessons, and computer skills training. Instead of the common trend of orphans creating orphans, Natasha, because of her support through CCP, now desires to help other children who are in orphanages to give them the support she received. Orphans mentoring orphans...a cycle worth striving for! Child Sponsorship We are excited to announce that Lifesong Ukraine has recently launched a new child sponsorship program. If you are interested in helping build Constant Christian Presence by sponsoring a child like Natasha, please contact us. "...He will give a crown of beauty for ashes, a joyous blessing instead of mourning, festive praise instead of despair. In their righteousness, they will be like great oaks that the Lord has planted for his own glory." Isaiah 61:3

Kindergarten For Ava

It's official!! Ava is now in Kindergarten!  We decided that she needed WAY more than I could offer her in homeschooling....and retain my sanity in the process;)...so we talked to the principle of our local public school, and we stepped out in faith! 

She has an AMAZING teacher, who, in the first week of school, has already had her evaluated by the school psychologist, and the occupational therapist...WITHOUT my prodding:)!  They are on the ball!!  Love Mrs. Blount!

I've talked with the psychologist, and I'm just so impressed...such a gentle and caring man...and we are all on the same page.  And YAY, I wasn't crazy!!;)  Ava is having trouble with memory, copying basic shapes(i.e. writing), and reasoning skills, etc...  We don't know if it is a "language issue", or delay because of living in an orphanage, or something physically going on in her brain.  The bottom line is, ALL that time we spent last year doing preschool activities has only slightly helped...and she NEEDS intervention to succeed in school.  They are also going to check into ESL services of some sort..haven't heard back about that yet.  And I'm sure an IEP is in her future.

She DOES really like it, and LOVES riding the bus(against my better judgement)...but I can tell she's trying to find a "new normal".  She asks every night if "Daddy's going to wake her up...", and she has be up at 6:00am:(!  She goes to school from 7:30 till 2:30, and then she has to take a nap.  We learned the hard way that this is going to be necessary.  She began to have accidents in the middle of the night because she just couldn't wake up.  She was TOTALLY exhausted!  She doesn't understand why she doesn't go on Saturdays or Sundays...and she gets a little mad about it!

We all would appreciate your prayers as we get used to our new schedule, and for Ava as she adjusts.  We want her to get the help she needs, and at this point feel she is getting that.  I know that our relationship as mother and daughter is going to be much better, because now I can just be "mommy" and she doesn't need to perform for me as a "teacher".  Now I can just support her.  Different, but good for us:).

In other news,  all the other kiddos are going strong in homeschool, and now I have Caleb doing Kindergarten this year as well!  He's a challenge!!  VERY KINESTHETIC learner....having to come up with games daily to keep his interest!;)  He's also going to a local preschool in the afternoon for speech therapy.

So, that's our crazy life....in a not so small nutshell...would again appreciate any and all prayers for great strides to be made this school year for ALL our kiddos!!

God Bless!:)