Take That Andre Agassi

Garrett got a tennis racquet (or racket - however you choose to spell it!) and tennis balls from his Pop and GG for his birthday! Since then he has been practicing his swing often! We are amazed that he can track the ball, get his timing right and then HIT it far....just six months ago this would not have been.....YAY GLASSES!!!

Boomer Sooner!

Sickies and Halle Berry Baby

Well, this week has gone downhill, kinda. Both boys (hubs and child) are sick. Kenny is NEVER sick but apparently has been hit by something. Garrett came down with the sniffles, watery eyes and fever right around lunch time. Luckily, he is now napping and hopefully will feel better soon. Kenny has gone to the doctor and hopefully he'll feel better soon, too! I, on the other hand, am ingesting as much echinacea and vitamin C as humanly possible!!

While all is quiet in the house, I am NOT being productive but instead gawking at some new pictures of Ellie. Our sweet friends who just arrived back home from Africa last week with their son, sent us some pictures yesterday. And, OH. MY. WORD. She's gorgeous. Beautiful. And looks so happy.

I cannot tell you how incredible it is to see your child, who is growing up and being cared for half way around the world, smiling. In some of the new pictures our friend, Luke, is holding her and she is just-a laughing and grinning and grabbing at him! For me to be able to see joy in her eyes is the best gift right now. Thank you guys for loving on our little girl even before you knew she was ours.

It was also really great to see that Ellie has gained weight in the new pictures. We currently have pictures of her at 5 1/2 months (and there she is itty-bitty), 6 1/2 months and now 7 1/2 months! In each set of pictures she has grown and put on some weight. Her little cheeks are even looking round (although I wouldn't call them chubby)!

I had the chance to show two of my friends Ellie's pictures (in person) this morning. The first one teared up and the second, well, she cried. I am not sure if that is because she is expecting her own little girl (preggers) or what, but it was so awesome to see their reactions to the newest member of our family. It is so comforting to know that the people who are part of our lives now already love our newest little peanut, too. Thanks, girls! Your excitement was so sweet!

Oh, and I cannot forget, the two friends mentioned above said the best description of our sweet Ellie's looks could be categorized as "Halle Berry Baby". Um, yes, yes. I would agree. Ellie *is* that beautiful. Am I a proud momma or what? Enough for today!

Look What the "No Nap" Fairy Brought Today.....

Okay, guess I need to tell some kind of story to go with this picture! Garrett was on his 9th day without a nap yesterday. He rested quietly in his room for the first half and then during the second half he is allowed to get up and play quietly in his room or playroom. Towards the end of "quiet play time" he shouted at me, "Mommy, come look what I have in my toes!". I was so scared to even look. As Garrett rounded the corner of the hallway, I saw him waddling with these little marble/pebble things between his toes. I don't know WHY, but I thought it was funny. I couldn't stop giggling at the Peanut. So, I took a picture to remember what happens when Garrett does not take a nap - there is no telling what he'll come up with to entertain himself!

Her Name & Where We Go From Here

Well, after much deliberation, we have decided to name our daughter Ellie T**** Wade. The "T" name is the name given to her by her birth mother. It is beautiful and sweet and we just love how it sounded with Ellie; we'll be able to reveal that name on the web after we pass court.

We've had a few other names on the short list but Ellie has been the one name we always go back to....and maybe it's because her big brother is insistent that is what her name should be! We had a difficult time convincing Garrett that we would be keeping her given T name because he had something different in mind. But, after reminding him that his middle name is his special name from his birth mother, he quickly thought it was special and fun to "let" her keep her T name, too!

Ellie. Ms. Ellie. Our Baby E. Bitty Baby Ellie. LOVE IT!!

Now, on to what's next....I wish I could say we knew a time frame but in all honesty, we don't. We are only the 5th family in our adoption agency's Africa program to be matched with a child, so there are not too many examples on how long it takes once you are matched. We anticipate it will be 3-6 months (per the social worker's best guess) to get through the following steps:

*Adoption agency turns in our legal documents and Ellie's legal documents to the country's department for women's and children's affairs. All of these papers are completed, in the hands of our representatives in Africa and ready to go!

*Department reviews all documents, makes sure the match is a good one, makes sure nothing is missing, etc. It could take 1-3 months (or who knows, we pray not longer) to get through this stage.

*Department requests a court date (in Africa) on our behalf.

*Court date(s) will be held. Right now, most infant adoptions are taking 2+ dates.

*Once we "pass" court and our adoption is finalized, we begin to make travel arrangements for about 3 weeks later (when our Embassy appointments will take place - we must be there in person for those).

SO....please join us in praying for God's perfect timing in this whole process. Right now we are strangely peaceful about the wait that is ahead of us. Obviously, we would prefer to get to our sweet Ellie sooner than later but understand that we are on an "international adoption journey" and things go slower or take longer than what we are used to in the states.

Baby Girl

We are overjoyed to share with those of you on this journey with us that today we received a referral of a seven month old little girl. While I cannot share too much identifying information with you on the web (hence, no pictures until after we pass court), I can say that she is beyond beautiful, appears to be perfectly healthy and maybe even a little sassy! She is an itty-bitty (and hence I've already nicknamed her "Bitty Baby") thing with large brown eyes that totally grab your heart right out of your chest. Her tiny little lips make me just want to eat her up with a spoon! So many of her expressions in her pictures remind me of Garrett as a baby - totally spunky and totally full of life! I shared this with the social worker (who was with our baby girl in August) and she replied with, "Yes, she has the potential to be a drama queen some day!".

We feel beyond blessed to be on this journey and quite honestly, cannot even begin to put words to the range of emotions we are experiencing as we take it all in. I'm sure there will be more to come in the days ahead!

PS: Her name will be unveiled soon - Daddy Wade is still making sure we have it perfected!!

The Phone Rang! Kind-of!

This afternoon Garrett, my brother, Kyle (who's in town since Ike hit his town) and I went to the airport to welcome home another adoptive family and their new son. It was so exciting to see the new family of five walk through the airport doors, grins from ear-to-ear!

Our social worker and agency director both came to the airport as well. In the midst of all of the excitement, our social worker invited us to come in tomorrow for our match meeting!

TOMORROW!! Tomorrow we will see our future daughter's face through pictures and video, learn about her life story and so on. I cannot believe tomorrow is the day I will "meet" her. Tomorrow.

Ring, Phone, Ring!

We communicated with our social worker yesterday....she is waiting for *one* last piece of paper/document from Africa. She is/was anticipating giving us a call today or tomorrow asking us to come into the agency on Friday for our big match meeting. Since the country we are adopting from is eight hours ahead of us, I am assuming we won't get a call today (business hours there are over and hence no faxing to the US). Maybe tomorrow. Maybe.

Ring, phone, ring!!!!!

Why Africa?

As we are getting closer and closer to the referral of a child, I am obviously getting more and more excited and anxious and giddy and oh, my, the list goes on. As I am anticipating this happening, I am also talking to people more and more about our adoption. And, when I do, it opens the floodgates for curious (and often opinionated) people to ask questions....which I dread but SO WELCOME! I love answering questions and putting to sleep myths about adoption. I love sharing the reality of the process. I love putting the spotlight on needs of children.

Anyway, as the list of questions roll in, I am most frequently asked: "Why Africa?" I could give you a million reasons why, but for now, I am going to share with you the one little paragraph that sent me over the edge, shaking with conviction that my desire to adopt a child from another country with different colored skin was actually a call from God. And it was really simple. I was spending WAY too much time and effort trying to reason why it couldn't, wouldn't or shouldn't work. This little paragraph totally put to rest my doubts and fears and answers the question "Why Africa?".......

(from Shaun Grove's Shlog...regarding a recent trip to an African country, visiting orphanages...click on over to read the whole thing!)


"Later, as Brian and I processed what we’d experienced together in the orphanage I became convinced of something Brian tried to teach me long ago. We really do make God’s will too complicated. I do. I wring my hands and analyze and worry, discuss and think, think, think. I pray and beg God to speak. “What is your will for my life? What do you want from me?” I ask. And he’s silent. Or is he? As Brian says, maybe God’s will is found wherever my ability and someone else’s need intersect. Does apathy sometimes come from good intentions - from waiting and praying for instructions we don’t really need after all? Is God speaking already and constantly to us through our ability and excess and the world’s pain?"

At church this morning, the worship team led us in a song that spoke of how God calls us to reach all nations....every tongue, every tribe.....the song was a great reminder to me. God called us to a specific country in Africa for a very specific reason, a reason not yet made known to me. It isn't about rescuing His child, isn't about doing some noble deed, isn't about anything worth being complimented about. No, God has called my family to Africa for something. All I know is that His call, His will for us to a physical nation involves a little girl and how, by some beautiful, undeserving gift, we are to be her family. I will probably never know WHY we have faced infertility, WHY we were called to one domestic adoption and one international adoption, WHY, WHY, WHY. I just don't know.


I do remember the day, the "why not" day for us that led us to this place....what pushed us over the edge, so to speak, to make a bold decision to link our lives with a strangers, half way across the world. It was that paragraph. It was God speaking through a man's written words, on his blog no less. And, come to find out, that "Brian" guy he was referring to, is ALSO adopting from "Africa"....and using the same adoption agency as us! His two future children are living with our future daughter right now. In a baby home. In Africa. I just made that connection today. Wild.

So, why Africa .... why not?!?!