Yard Sale and Other Things

I haven't posted in a couple of weeks because we are simply BUSY! Despite the fact that we will be completing an international adoption of two kids from Africa in only 4-5 months, we have life going on too. My oldest daughter turned 10 and had a "Wild and Wacky" party...



My son is on a travel baseball team which translates to mean that we LIVE at the ball park!


Fortunately, my youngest goes with the flow and is happy to be almost anywhere (even the ballpark when it is 100 degrees outside) if she has friends (old or young) to play with.


We went out for an airport homecoming last night for a new friend and her family coming home from Uganda. We followed up the celebration with a trip to an Ethiopian restaurant with some more new and old friends. I so wish I had pictures of this, but I forgot my camara. Just imagine...3 moms, 2 teenagers, and 11 children. Add in the fact that we waited over an hour for our food, after spending an hour finding the restaurant after spending another hour and a half driving to and being at the airport and you might get an idea of what the restaurant experience was like :-) Luckily we are all "laid back moms" and we had a great time despite all those facts!

Our biggest time consumer most recently is our Yard Sale Fundraiser this Saturday. We have had so many generous people donate items to sell, bake goodies and offer to help us work it. Bethel World Outreach Center in McKay's Mill in Franklin has graciously offered for us to use their facilities for the sale. We have been blown away at how this community supports and encourages one another. I LOVE living in Middle Tennessee!!!



If you are free, come out and visit us on Saturday (1753 Players Mill Rd; Franklin, TN 37067). Even if you are not in the market for yard sale finds, come and get a snack and a drink. We would love to see a familiar/friendly face :-)

We are still waiting for the immigration paperwork we need to travel. If it comes in the next week or so we will be going to Ethiopia for a July 15th embassy appointment and bringing back our kids. If not then hopefully we will be traveling for a July 29th appointment. I am trying to prepare "plan A" and "plan B" scenarios for childcare. I will keep you posted when I have any news...until then please keep praying :-)

Blessings...

Getting Ready to Head to AFRICA!

There is sooo much that goes into an international adoption that many will never know about. We sure didn't and we have had it all happening so fast. Last Friday we went to get all our shots required to travel to Africa. Brent only got 4, I had to get 5 since I needed the tetanus booster. We opted for the oral Typhoid vaccine because it has a higher efficacy (protection) rate. For those of you who don't know, my husband worked in research for 10 years for a vaccine manufacturer. Because of this we now have an expert on any vaccine that can readily give us advice on them. The Typhoid expert said to get the oral...so we did. It was not easier though. You take it every other day for a week (4 doses) and it makes you feel icky. Add in all the other vaccines we had and it was NOT a fun day on Saturday :-( We took some pics of us getting them...

Brent went first. He is the strong one right? Well, after his "ouch's" and "ooh, that hurt" I was not reassured to go next.

Brent took several pics of me. I think he thought it was great fun! This close up says it all...It HURT! The needle going in wasn't so bad, but the medicine being injected HURT!

My girls were quick to the rescue. They held my hand and reassured me. The oldest told me to squeeze her hand.

Here's the whole crew...

We also had to go yesterday to get our fingerprints done for our immigration paperwork. Whitney was very concerned and asked if it was going to hurt me.

We are now almost ready to travel. Just pray our immigration paperwork returns quickly. We have an embassy appointment set for July 15th. This is the appointment we are required to attend to bring them home. If we don't get the paperwork back before then, we would be pushed back at least 2 weeks to the 29th. The appointments are every 2 weeks so we would just keep getting pushed back until we get the forms we need to travel. We have witnessed so many miracles and mountains moved that I know God can do this too. We are just waiting to see how it all unfolds. Living for HIM is definitely an adventure and one I don't want to miss :-)

We passed!!!

Our director called us from Ethiopia this morning (afternoon over there) to tell us that we did indeed pass court. Sooo...I can post some pics....

"Sifan"

"Jordan"

This pic was taken just last week. They are opening our "care packages" we sent. They got to see us for the first time in the photo albums we sent.

We are very excited! Thanks for all your prayers!

They are Almost Rutlands!

Please pray for us tonight as our court hearing is set for Friday, June 4th in Ethiopia. If we pass court then our kids will officially become a Rutland! Ethiopia is 7 hours ahead of us so when we go to bed tonight they will be starting their Friday. We should know something when we wake up tomorrow. It is not uncommon to NOT pass court the first time. We are hoping that all will continue to go as smooth as it already has and we WILL pass the first time. I will keep you posted!!!