Fia's 4th Birthday

Happy Birthday to our wonderful, beautiful new daughter! Fia is 4 today! I can't believe that she is already four and I haven't met her. I wonder what she will choose for her birthday dinner next year and who will be her little friends that she invites to her party? When we first heard about Fia, they weren't quite sure if she was 2 or 3, so now that she is 4??!! Wow- she ages quick! I am actually a bit sad that I have missed so much of her life already, but so thankful that we get to be her family for the years to come. Hmm......I sure wish I could give her a hug and kiss and wish her a happy birthday in person today. I mentioned that yesterday to Ella and her friend, Alyssa, and Alyssa said, "but that's okay, because you can celebrate together when she is 5!" She is so right and I can't wait to share all our birthday traditions with our little girl and start new ones just for her!

Random pictures

Last week the kids and I went to the Bloedel Reserve on Bainbridge Island with my friends Tarra & Tanna. The reserve used to be a private home with 150 acres, but now is turned into a reserve with lots of walking paths and beautiful gardens. Here is a picture with our kids. Can you believe this is just three families? Plus, 4 of our kids are missing (if you count our two in Ghana, one in a stroller and one in utero-not mine)!


And, just because I can, I thought I would share a couple more pictures of Fia and Kwame!



I just love the smile on her face. When we first saw pictures of Mefia, she looked so withdrawn and sad. They both came into Eban House, the adoption center, with malaria, so she probably wasn't feeling well because of that. I also think it just took her awhile to feel comfortable. Now, most of the pictures we see of her are of her beautiful smile! The uniforms are a new addition for the adoption center they are in right now. I guess they dress in their uniforms in the morning for pre-school and then go put their play clothes on so that they don't dirty the new uniforms. So cute!










I just love these photos of Kwame too! Robin took the first one of Kwame when she was there and she is a professional photographer. She is amazing. If any of you are in the Nashville area, you will have to hire her for all your special occasions. The other picture just captures his personality and it was taken by adoptive mom, Amy Fabu. I just LOVE the sparkle in his eyes!


We are still waiting on passports for them and realize it could be a while. Please help us pray that a miracle will happen and we can get them ASAP!!!

Happy Birthday Inger!!

Have I ever told you that I have the best sister in the world? Inger, or Finger without the F as she would tell people who questioned how to spell her name, has a fantastic sense of humor, beautiful voice, and a gorgeous smile. There are many days that I am sure she was annoyed by her big sister, but we have many great memories of our childhood and adult life that I just cherish. Inger is someone that I can just be myself with and tell my hopes and fears to. She has always stuck by me when boys were mean to me and she also let me pretend I was her on the phone and say "Kristin wasn't there" when I didn't want to talk to a boy growing up! I am so thankful to have Inger as a sister for me, a sister-in-law for my husband, and an aunt to my children. Love you Inger and Happy Birthday!

We passed court!!!!!!

Introducing......... two of the most beautiful, precious little children that we are so blessed to add to our family! We are THRILLED and ELATED right now!


Moments ago we received the most WONDERFUL news that our case passed court in Ghana this morning and we are now, officially, the proud Mom and Dad to Fia and Kwame!!!! YIPPEE!!!!!!


What a way to start a day! I honestly feel that same feeling of excitement after you give birth! I want to shout out our good news! So, if you see me walking through town today a bit giddy, now you will know why! Thanks for all of your prayers and words of encouragement during this last hurdle. Through many of your words, God used YOU to speak to me and give me the hope to focus and dwell on. I am so thankful for His faithfulness!
ALL GLORY TO GOD!!!!!

Now, the next step is to wait for the adoption decree, which is usually issued a couple weeks after court. Once we get that and their Ghanaian passports(PLEASE START PRAYING FOR THOSE), we can travel over there and file the necessary paperwork with the US Embassy to bring our children home!!!

Sidenote: The second picture of the kids is of them wearing t-shirts I made for them with pictures of our family. A bit Brady Bunch-esque, but I think they turned out cute. As far as I know, they have been wearing them for their court days, so this is probably much like they looked today on their way to court! Oh, and don't worry, I will post more pictures of them soon! :-)

Joke by Justus

Actually.......I guess it was more of a riddle. We were in the car the other night and Justus asked us, "What tries and tries but never comes?" Well, Daron and I smirked at each other because unfortunately our heads went straight to the gutter (sorry mom & dad)! Greta, on the other hand, had her own thoughts and said, "I know, Jesus!" Well...........I guess nobody guessed it right (good news all around!), because the answer was TOMORROW!

Well, in the Jag adoption world, tomorrow is finally coming(again) and I am trying to remain positive and hope that when it does finally come, it will come with some good news! Hopefully in the morning I will be able to share news about court in Ghana, as well as pictures of our new children that I can post to the blog! Please pray if you read this tonight that the judge was able to review our case and that she is ready to happily grant us the adoption of these two wonderful and beautiful children that we have fallen in love with.

Pumpkin Patch

This weekend we had a fun trip to the pumpkin patch! We went with my parents and had a great time going through the corn maze, drinking cider, chuckin' pumpkins, and taking family pictures(not so much! LOL)

Ida Izabelle

Introducing.....my new niece! Daron's little sis, Sarah, had her baby yesterday(10.11.08) in New Zealand! Brooks and Sarah are living there for a couple of years and they just welcomed their first child -so far away from all of us! We all can't wait to meet our beautiful little niece/cousin-she looks so precious in the pictures. Congratulations Brooks and Sarah-we are so happy for you! Isn't life amazing????

It's a bit overcast today!

Well, the sun didn't quite come out today, both literally and figuratively! There is hope though, because I do see it peeking out and fighting to show its face! Our case went to court today in Ghana and the judge that we had decided that she wanted to take the case and review it until court next Friday(heavy sigh!!!) What can we do? Nothing. I just hope and pray that she feels good about making a decision in our favor next week. Please keep her and our family in your prayers!

Our hearts are starting to ache more and more for our little ones that are so far away! When we got our referral in August, we were hopeful to bring them home early November. With court being changed soooo many times, it just keeps getting pushed back. Another HUGE obstacle we could find ourselves trying to climb is getting their Ghanaian passports. They haven't been issued yet and there is a big wait for them currently. Please pray for a miracle that they would be ready as soon as we get the adoption decree!

Tomorrow, Tomorrow, I'll Love You Tomorrow....

In the words of Little Orphan Annie, "we're only a day away!" Our case is supposed to go to court again tomorrow, so we are praying that tomorrow the kids will be legally ours. If you feel led, please say a quick little prayer if you can; we would love to bring our kids home as soon as possible! Updates tomorrow! (sorry if I now have got you singing the tune to 'Tomorrow', I haven't been able to get it out of my head-oops!)

Back to School Pics!

It is now OCTOBER and I haven't loaded anything from back to school-oops! Justus is liking 3rd Grade, Greta-2nd and Ella is in half-day Kindergarten. Yep, I have no children at home in the mornings. So far it has been filled up with work, meetings, the gym, and every so often a day to myself at home. Actually, I think that only happened once and I used that to finish writing some grants for our adoption, so that was nice. People keep saying enjoy your time until your little ones are here. The fact is, all I can think about is them, so I just want them home forever with us! I am hoping then I will actually get more done when they are home, instead of checking my email, blogs, and yahoo groups any spare moment in case of new information. It will happen eventually and hopefully I won't hardly remember the labor pains!

After drop-off on the first day of school, we had our 3rd Annual Mimosa Party! Moms come with all different emotions-all are welcome!Some are there to cry together over the fact that their baby has gone off to school and they don't get to spend special moments durning the day with them any longer. Others are there to celebrate that their child/ren have gone back to school after a LONG summer. Either way, no judgement allowed and we just come together to offer a toast to a new school year! It is also a fun way to meet new moms since we never send out invites, but invite people in the halls and classrooms that morning. It was a blast!! Our home was in the middle of being painted outside, so it was a bit thrown together-but worth it!