Trying to be patient... and an update on our patient!

Ok, so I apologize to those who were watching the blog yesterday waiting for an update! I updated FB and kind of forgot to let everyone else know what was going on. Sorry!

The news about court is that we *think* our case passed because I was able to talk with our friend Fekadu afterwards and he said that the family part is completed. This is an awesome thing and we were excited to hear that. BUT, he wasn't actually there in court,  so we don't know if the judge approved our family to be N and M's parents. We are so wanting to celebrate, but are very very cautious. Our agency was clueless and had not received an email from Ethiopia. Which means they really had no official news to tell me. Which makes me pretty nervous. Soooo once again we are sitting here WAITING. Waiting to hear if we passed court and can tell the world about our son and daughter, OR waiting to hear if the judge said no and therefore have to book tickets to leave for Ethiopia in A WEEK!

*I may or may not be a little anxious here. Oh my.

In other news, we got up bright and early (not that I really even slept!) yesterday morning to take Elliana in for her surgery. We literally picked her up our of bed and put her in the car half asleep. A few minutes later, this is how she looked- she was happy to be on a special trip with just mommy and daddy:

We got to the ENT surgery center and after filling out paperwork they called us back to Elliana's special bed. At first she was pretty happy and quite funny. She was chatting with the nurses and wanting to sing. We just told her the dr was going to take her to go night night in the other room and then we would see her soon. This is when she started getting a little nervous. They gave her toys and color crayons, but she mostly just wanted to be close to me and Randy.

 She got all dressed and ready to go, picked out bubble gum anesthesia to breathe in and then the nurse whisked her away.

We only waited about 20 minutes before the dr came out and told us the surgery was over- super fast! He said that her adenoids were huge and blocking her airways almost completely. He said she will be like a new kid when she's all healed up and can actually breathe! We had to wait a little longer before we could go in and see her, and when we did she had just started to wake up. Oh my- was she MAD! She screamed and thrashed and was just a mess for awhile, so Randy and I took turns holding her. She was in some pain, but mostly just out of sorts because of the anesthesia and she would yell at the nurse every time she came back in to check on her. She was not happy anymore!

After about an hour, we were on our way home. She was so relieved to get out of that place!

She was a screaming mess for a little while, but once we were home for a decent amount of time she was ready to go night night in her own bed. She slept for 3 hours! Amazingly, she woke up feeling so much better and downed two Jello cups in a matter of minutes! Um yeah- I think we are getting our girl back!

For the rest of the afternoon/evening she got progressively more happy and actually started getting crazy wild and hyper. I mean so wild that she was downright naughty- even grabbing a salad plate off the counter and throwing it on the floor to watch it shatter! It's like she's drunk on all the oxygen she's now getting! :)
I can only expect that she will continue to do well and once she's all healed up she might have even more energy- uh oh!


Thanks so much for praying for our sweet girl and for our continued adoption drama. It is so hard to be patient! I know that God is in control and He hears us when we cry out to Him. He will not forsake us! I hope to have good news today, but who knows?!



Those who know your name trust in you, 
   for you, LORD, have never forsaken those who seek you.  
Psalm 9:10

Tomorrow is the big day!!!

We are asking all of our family and friends to join us in praying today!There are two big things happening for our family Monday morning... 

The first is of course our court date in Ethiopia! While we are sleeping tonight (well, you will be sleeping- I probably won't be able to!) they will have family court in Ethiopia. We are asking for God to grant us favor with the judge and that she will accept our letter of exemption so that N and M can officially become our children. We are also praying for ALL of the necessary paperwork to be there too, as we have heard of many cases where 1 document was missing so they had to assign another court date. We are ready for this step to be completed and so please pray with us for God to do a miracle- that we would wake up tomorrow morning with the news that we passed court!!! My friend Erin has a court date this Thursday for their son who we met on our last trip and they are asking for the same miracle. Pray for them too!

The other news is that our little Elliana is having a small surgery tomorrow morning to have her adenoids removed. I  know that compared to most surgeries, this is so minimal. The whole procedure is like 20 minutes long. But, as her mama I still hate to see my baby put under anesthesia and in pain for any amount of time! She is too young to understand or even try to explain what is going to happen, so I have a feeling she might get a little freaked out when she goes in. Although no surgery is pleasant, I am actually looking forward to her having this and hoping that once she is recovered she will be feeling so much better! Poor girl has had so many problems that we didn't even know were related and she has been dealing with it all for quite some time now. The doctor says that once she is able to breathe, she will be so much happier and hopefully a lot less sick, no more drooling or gagging or snoring! Yes!

So if you are reading this, will you please say a prayer right now for our family? You are a part of our story and I want you to experience the blessing of seeing God answer prayers in crazy ways- cause that is what we are expecting Him to do! 

I will update tomorrow as soon as I am able, but it might be hard depending on how Elliana is doing. If we are friends on FB, you will most likely hear from me there first. :)

Have a great Sunday everyone!

3 years old today

And as cute and spunky as ever!



Our Elliana Sa-rang whose name means God has answered my prayers and Sa-rang is the Korean word for love. She has blossomed from a teeny tiny little scared baby to a confident (most of the time), hilarious, incredibly smart  little girl. She is sweet, but boy can she be downright naughty too! Typical!




She had fun the other day with Nathan and I going out on a little photo shoot to get a few shots of her in her Hanbok. This is the same hanbok that her foster mother gave her that she is wearing at one year old here. I think it fits a little better now!

This picture totally reminds me of the one above!

Seriously, it is so hard to picture her and try to imagine what she might have looked like on the day she was born 3 years ago today. Born much too early only weighing a few pounds and alive only because of multiple blood transfusions and oxygen support, I am sure she was quite a sight to behold. I have been thinking about her mother again lately and wondering where she is and what she is doing and if she ever had the chance to hold her baby girl in her arms before they whisked her away to another bigger hospital. Did she look into her daughter's face and see beauty and dream about who she would become or did she turn away because it was just too painful?

Does she think about her or wonder if she will ever see her again or has she chosen to shut the door on her past and not think about any of it.

I don't know, and I bet it's all of the above, but I hope and pray that someday the Lord might be gracious enough to allow us to meet. Because I want her to know how incredibly grateful we are for this gift that she carried in her womb and labored for and gave birth to and grieved for. The daughter that she gave LIFE to.

Someday I hope she gets to see this face





Cuz we think it's a pretty cute one!




Even when she's being a stinker!



Happy 3rd birthday to our Elliana! Saengil chukha hamnida!!!


We praise the Lord for this precious little life!



 For you created my inmost being;
   you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
   your works are wonderful,
   I know that full well.
 My frame was not hidden from you
   when I was made in the secret place,
   when I was woven together in the depths of the earth.
 Your eyes saw my unformed body;
   all the days ordained for me were written in your book
   before one of them came to be.


Psalm 139:13-16

This girl

Makes me smile.



So full of life and spunk and BIG personality- our daughter is a gift from the Lord.



She's come a long way since those early days and we give God the glory for what He has done in her life and ours.


Less than two months away from turning 3 years old, this little firecracker has us on our toes.


She is curious, yet very cautious. Fiery, yet very fearful. Pretty, yet has a bad habit of pinching. And has the highest-pitched scream this house has ever heard! SO different than any of the boys.

And that's ok. Because she's not one of them. She's a girl.

Our girl.




She loves babies, dogs, music and dancing, talking on the phone and although she adores her brothers and daddy- she is still very much a mama's girl. Which isn't so bad. Until mama wants to get something done! :)

and of course those brothers and daddy adore her. She makes us all laugh. A LOT.
And sometimes she even makes us cry.

She loves clothes and shoes and when she puts on a dress or gets a bow in her hair she wants to go find daddy or one of the brothers and ask them if she "looks pretty?" Of course they tell her she is beautiful. Because she is.


We still have struggles with attachment/adoption related things and times of progress and times of regression- but over all- she is thriving. We continue to take baby steps towards helping her to feel secure and safe and to  some it looks like spoiling. To us, it looks like parenting with an open mind, reminding ourselves of all that she has been through in her little life, and most of all- GRACE.
It's not easy.


Her speech is improving daily. She might not be able to talk like a typical almost 3 year old, but boy does she know how to get her point across! :)

She repeats just about EVERYTHING you say, and is still learning the concept of answering when someone asks her a question.
She pretty much talks non-stop the entire day- it's just that she is mostly on repeat-mode. Sometimes it wears on us.

Her favorite things to say lately (repeatedly) are: daddy {or mommy} hold you (if she wants to be held), nah nah wants snack, nah nah wants water, nah nah wants... >insert item here< ! If you haven't already guessed- nah nah is what she calls herself.

She loves music. And the ABC's. Oh yes, she loves the ABC song. One more thing that is on repeat over here. :)

My favorite thing is lately she has been talking non stop about her "sissy" and brother N. She wakes up and tells me that sissy and N are bye bye. In the car she tells all of us that N is nice and sissy is nice. She sees me talking on the phone and wants to talk to N and sissy. She carries their picture around and gets mad if I try to take it away. God has stirred not only our hearts towards the adoption of N and M, but all of our children's hearts as well. I can't wait until she is able to hug them and kiss them in person!


This girl.

She is our daughter.

She is unique. and beautiful. and precious. and talkative. and feisty. and hilarious. and SO loved.


Behold, children are a heritage from the LORD, the fruit of the womb a reward. Like arrows in the hand of a warrior are the children of one’s youth. Blessed is the man who fills his quiver with them! He shall not be put to shame when he speaks with his enemies in the gate.


Psalm 127:3-5

Happy 2nd Birthday to our sweet girl!

I can't believe it's been a year already since we came home and were celebrating our baby's first birthday with her. Look at her- she was so little!



She has grown and changed so much this past year, it is truly amazing.


She is a joyful, curious, sometimes stubborn, little firecracker and always finds a way to make us laugh each and every day. She is talking and mimicking us like crazy and somehow thinks that every person she come into contact with needs to listen and respond to her antics! She loves to dance, sing, read books, take care of babies, and get into EVERYTHING! She keeps us all on our toes, and might even have a few of us wrapped around her little finger! She is an amazing little treasure and gift from God and we cannot imagine our life without this sweet bundle of energy.

Happy Happy Birthday Little Miss 2 YEAR OLD!

One year ago today...

We were doing this.

And it was one of the best days of my life. I look back at these pictures and can't help but tear up again. The day we met Elliana was so amazing. God was there in that moment and we will never forget it.  If somehow you are reading this blog and you missed THIS POST you can catch up today. It is worth the read. :-)

I can't believe it's been a year since we were there.
In Korea.
Soaking it all in.
The sights, the smells, the tastes, the culture.
And of course HER.

In that one day, our lives changed forever. We were finally face to face and holding the little sister that we had prayed for and dreamed about for so long. This sweet adorable little face.

We were sad to have to leave her that day, but it was only a matter of time before we would see her again.

In just two days we will celebrate the one year anniversary of our daughter joining our family forever...

A day that we hope to celebrate for a long time.

Stay tuned!