My Baby turns 5

Newborn Maggie

5 year old Maggie

Maggie turned 5 this past weekend! It seems like yesterday that I was holding a 7 lb 1 oz new baby girl in my arms for the first time. She is growing to be an amazing little girl. Wise beyond her years and faith like nobody I have known. She is an amazing gift from God and I am so glad that I can call her my daughter. When she smiles I have always said that her whole face smiles. Her eyes just light up. She amazes me everyday with all of her cute little remarks and questions. I love that she loves to cuddle and loves to spend time together. We went on a mommy daughter date last night and it was so much fun. I love her little laugh. I love how she is so giggly when it's time to go to sleep. I love that she wakes up every night to sleep on our love seat in mommy and daddy's room, just so she can be close to us. I love that she wants to play with us so much. I love when she plays pretend and makes her pony's or lizards talk. I love that she always remembers to pray and loves for us to read her bible to her. I love that she loves lizards and snakes. I love that she is a girly girl and a tom boy all wrapped into one. I love her imagination. I love that when I say "how did you get so big so fast" she says "i will always be your baby". I love her.

Maggie had a great time with family and friends at her party. The morning of her birthday she received a present from mommy and daddy. She was surprised with her first American Girl Doll. She loves it and loves to brush her hair over and over again!!! During her party we did a pinata, decorated hats, played pin the skirt on the barbie, ate cake, and opened presents. I think her favorite gift at the party was from Granny. She got her very own fish tank and fish!!! She names is sparkles and LOVES it. She takes very good care of it. Next year she wants a bearded dragon (it is a lizard). We will see. Overall her birthday was fantastic!!!

Happy 5th Birthday Maggie.

another wait list number

When I spoke to Kiersten on Friday she didn't give me a siblings list number. I didn't even think about it until we got off the phone. I emailed her and she responded back and we are #15 on the siblings list. In our parameters we said in the case of twins 0-12 months that we would want that referral if they came up at our time. So our parameters are boy, girl, twins, healthy, 0-12 months.

We made the list!!

Knowing that AGCI was calling us sometime today made me look at my phone every few seconds to see if they had called. Like somehow I didn't hear the phone ring or something. I was really excited!!! Around 5 o'clock we finally got a call from Kiersten and she said that our Dossier looked great!!! We made the wait list coming in at #14 for boys list and #40 for the girls. Looks like were having our boy!!!! She said that the wait looks like it will be around 3-4 months for the boys list before we get our referral!!!! Oh my goodness this is amazing!!!!

I lined up a bunch of Adam's old Hot Wheels and made a #14 because here soon we will have a baby boy to play with those trucks and cars!!

We feel like we are officially "expecting" now!!!!

dossier delivered!

I looked at our tracking number on the ups website and our dossier has been delivered to AGCI! It was supposed to make it there by 3 pm tomorrow, but it arrived way early!!! I am happy it made it there safe and quickly!!!

It's off...

Above are pictures of our journey to send off our Dossier (we are litterally jumping for joy, i know we are silly)...

Tonight after Adam came home we took some photos of our beloved Dossier and took it to the UPS store. It was crazy how hard it was letting it go. I guess this was because there was so much time put into it and we were putting into some elses hands to deliver it for us.

This first part of our journey has been incredible!!! We really got everything done so quickly!

So our Dossier is off and will be in Portland by Thursday afternoon. We didn't feel we needed to overnight it since they won't be looking it over until Friday anyways.

Right after we paid for the package the driver came to pick up all of the deliveries for the day, so we got to see the truck drive away with our Dossier in it. The clerk told the driver to take very good care of it. He said that he would.

I am so amazed by the things that God is doing in our lifes and cannot wait for the next stages in it.

We are so excited to be on the waitlist and cannot wait meet our baby that God has chosen just for us!

Continue to pray for us as we continue on this wonderful journey that God has placed before us!

sooooo excited

So Nan from Adoption support Center called a few minutes ago and our home study is DONE!!!! The background checks came in yesterday and it was approved by AGCI. So me and the girls are headed up to pick it up in a little while!!!!!! I have to make copies this afternoon and then when Adam gets home we are taking our Dossier to the UPS store!!! YIPEE!!!!!!! From what I understand is that AGCI looks over the Dossiers on Fridays and then lets you know if everything is ok. Pray that everything looks good in it!!!

God, you are an amazing God!!! Our application was approved with AGCI on April 27th and we are already this far. I cannot believe it!!!!

call from Adoption Support Center

We got a call from Adoption Support Center today (our home study agency) and our rough draft was looked over by AGCI and they only had two things that needed to be added! So those changes were made today and then emailed back to AGCI for final approval!!! We are still waiting on our State background check, but our Social worker said that it should be back anytime. So once that is back then we can go pick up our home study and get that Dossier sent to AGCI!!!! We are soooooo soooo soooo overjoyed. So come on background check, we want on that waiting list!!!! Not to be too anxious because it all is in God's hands, but wow we have really moved along quickly!!!

I also received my Passport today!!!!

workbook and i600a

I went to the bank today and got cashiers checks for our I600A. We then went to the post office and sent the I600A application and our With Eyes Wide Open workbook. YAY!

The girls were so cooperative at both places we stopped by McDonalds and got some chocolate chip cookies. yum yum! and of course I had to get my Coke too! I love McDonalds fountain Cokes and I like that they are $1 for any size!

I haven't heard anything about our home study rough draft, so I don't know if AGCI has looked it over yet or not.

agci phone call or missed phone call!

So I totally forgot to post that we had our bi-weekly call from AGCI. I wasn't home, though! I had a doctors appointment and totally spaced the phone call! It is my mommy brain. I forget everything since becoming a mom almost 5 years ago! Wow, 5 years ago, that is crazy! Maggie will be 5 in a few days!!!

But, the exciting news that Kiersten left on our answering machine is that AGCI has our rough draft of our home study in hand!!! YAY! Hopefully they will get the changes made soon so then we can finalize the home study and get that Dossier sent in!

Just thought I needed to share that news!!!!

Hebrews 11-13

During my morning "quiet" time I read Hebrews 11-13 and it really spoke to me and gave me encouragement.

It is scary stepping out of my comfort zone and into the unknown. I try to remember when I am feeling discouraged of all of the great people in the bible that had to go through so much more than I do to follow God's will. (Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, etc, etc, etc...)

Right now what scares me is the finances of our adoption. I know that God is in control of this, but it really scares me. God wouldn't have asked us to do this if he wasn't going to put all of the pieces together. What I need to do is give Him total control of this and every part of my life.

Hebrew 13:21
equip you with everything good for doing his will.
(God will equip us with all we need for this adoption because we are doing His will)

With all of this being said, though, we can't even put into words all of the excitement and joy we have going on this journey. We can't wait to welcome a new baby into our family!

Please continue to pray for our family and our new baby

Major Restaurant East African authentic food

Tonight our wonderful friends Stacey and Tommy watched the girls while we went to a local Ethiopian restaurant! Above are a few pictures. We forgot our camera so they are cell phone pictures. Sort of blurry.

When we first walked in there were some children playing and the owner and family were sitting down socializing. When I looked at the children they reminded me of the pictures of all of the Ethiopian kids that I have seen. They are so beautiful! Me being emotional I started crying. I have this emotional attachment with our child and this experience brought me closer to him or her.

The people at the restaurant were amazing! The food was different, which we imagined it would be. I will have to admit I wasn't too fond of the taste. Adam seemed to like it more than I did. We ordered Y-beg Watt which is lamb stewed with spicy sauce then flavored with onions, garlic and ginger root. Adam mostly ate that and I had a few bites. The thought of lamb sorta grosses me out! We also ordered Dora Alcha Watt. It is a Drum stick marinated in lemon then stewed in a mild sauce of onion, garlic, ginger, green peppers and rosemary. It sorta tasted like stuffing. The injera (bread for dipping) was a spongy pancake like bread used for scooping the Watt and bean, veggies and lentils. It was all served on this massive plate and sat on a small wicker table. It wasn't bad at all and actually Adam is taking the leftovers for lunch tomorrow. The lady that made our food was very nice in explaining how to eat it. It was sorta weird dipping into the Watt with the Injera. After we were done eating she made us some coffee or Buna. It was roasted beans and ground right there and served in a clay pot we also had incense. The coffee was thicker and stronger than what we are use to but with a lot of sugar it was really good. She served it with popcorn. And she gave us the coffee for free! We like free stuff!

We were there for about 3 hours! It was very slow paced. The ladies there were all about telling us about Ethiopian dance, culture, food, and language. I felt this connection with them and didn't want to leave. I think it was because I came as close as I have so far with Ethiopian culture.

The owners sister was dancing for us and put on a couple of DVDs of Ethiopian dance and music. Adam was even up trying to learn how to dance! He said he felt like he looked like a chicken. He kinda did, but did a great job!

We cannot wait to learn more about the culture and we plan on visiting the restaurant often. Next time we are going to bring the girls, but we will probably have to bring taco bell for them to eat!

The night was amazing! It was very eye opening to experience this. We are so excited for this child and to learn about the culture.

It is hard not being able to carry this child in my belly, but we plan on experiencing as much of the culture as we can to help us to feel close even being so far away.

Fundraising Garage sale

Family and Friends

We are holding a fundraising Garage Sale to help with the expenses of our adoption. Perhaps you can help by donating any gently used clothing, household items, toys, furniture, etc. to our fundraising sale being held July 31st & August 1st. Please contact us through email or call to let us know you are interested in donating and/or volunteering your time before, during, and after the sale. Please let us know by July 17th if you are interested. We will be accepting donations between now and July 24th.

Letter sent out to family and friends

Dear Family and Friends,


"Once our eyes are opened, we can’t pretend we don’t know. God who weighs our hearts and keeps our souls knows that we know, and holds us responsible to act." – Proverbs 24:12


Believing in Proverbs 24:12, we are excited to announce that God has put it on our hearts to add a new child to our family through adoption. I know this may be a huge surprise to some of you, but certainly it is surprising to us more than anything, I assure you! We both have felt a tug at our hearts from God wanting us to adopt from Ethiopia. The discussions actually began back in high school, but now is when we have received confirmation from God that this is His will for our family.

We really felt that adopting would be next to impossible because of the high costs of an international adoption. We also feel that the Lord is leading us to adopt and believe God is bigger than finances, so we are truly relying on faith that God will provide.


Our adoption will cost in the neighborhood of $23,000. I know that sounds like a lot (and it is). We are relying on God $1 at a time. We would be amiss if we didn’t also ask for help from families and friends who may be willing to donate to get us one step closer to Ethiopia – no amount is too small! Our plan is to apply for as many grants as possible and pray that doors will open for the money to come through. We believe that through your support that you are not only helping us bring home our baby, but helping millions of other orphans find homes as well.

A special account has been set up at Chip In for anyone wishing to donate. You can donate athttp://thederloshons.chipin.com/our-ethiopian-journey. If you would like to donate and don’t feel comfortable donating online you can send a check.


Please prayerfully consider helping us bring our baby home. If you are unable to send a monetary gift of any amount, perhaps you can help by donating any gently used clothing, household items, toys, furniture, etc. to our fundraising garage sale being held July 31st & August 1st. Please contact us through email or call to let us know you are interested in donating and/or volunteering your time before, during, and after the sale. Please let us know by July 17th if you are interested. We will be accepting donations between now and July 24th.

If you would like to follow along with us on our journey and learn more about our adoption you can visit our blog at:http://knowingnobounds.blogspot.com.

Most importantly please pray for our family as we embark on this adoption journey to bring home our new family member.Your prayers are greatly appreciated!

Love,

Adam, Christie, Maggie and Hazel

home study rough draft

So we received our rough draft of our home study on June 9th. We were on vacation and just returned last night, so we are just now going over it. We plan on getting it back to our home study agency via email tomorrow. They are waiting on one of our background checks to come back, so we are hoping to get the home study completed and our dossier sent off to agci within the next month. I know it is very optimistic! We have just been moving through this really fast. We are so excited! On vacation we completed our With Eyes Wide Open workbook and will be sending it to AGCI this week.

We had an awesome time on our vacation. It was a much needed one! I told Adam that it felt weird to leave all of our Dossier stuff at home. I felt like it should have came with us! I feel this attachment to it. I guess because I have spent so much of my time on it.

We discussed the adoption a lot this past week while on the beach and we are so anxious and cannot wait to meet this baby that God is going to place in our family.

I will post a few pictures from our vacation later. The girls had an amazing time. Well Maggie did. Hazel wasn't too sure about the whole thing. They are both glad to be back home, though.

all paperwork together!

We have ALL of our documents turned into our home study agency and have ALL of our documents together for our Dossier! YAY!

We are sooooo very excited to get all of this part DONE! I had told Adam a few weeks ago that I would get all of the documents together before we go on vacation...well...vacation starts Friday and I have it all together!

I am very happy!

I had a phone call with Kiersten from AGCI yesterday and ask her what the numbers looked like right now and she said for the boys waitlist it is around 10 and for girls it is 30 - 35.

We are getting ready to send in our I600A application this week.

I can't think of any other updates right now.

I will just be glad to get the homestudy and Dossier sent to AGCI!