We have been so busy around here preparing our trip to bring home Zek along with everything else that has brought business into our life's. Adam started a new job recently, so lots of changes going on around here! I feel like I have been neglecting the blog!

Here are some things that we have been doing lately...

This is our 3rd annual "Decorate a Gingerbread House" Thanksgiving morning. The girls had lots of fun decorating and eating. :)

Here are the girls playing in the leaves. After 6 1/2 years the trees finally make enough leaves to play in!

A few weeks back my mom and Adams mom threw a shower for me. It was a wonderful time! We are so blessed to have such great family and friends! Zek got lots of new stuff. I think he has a different outfit to wear everyday for a long time!
Adam was at the shower too, but he was behind the camera the whole time :)

Friends...Erin and Berkley, Kristen, (me), Maggie, Laura...and the top of Hazels head

My little brother Brandon, Dad, and little sister Brianna

Adams grandma, my grandma, Joe, my mom, my sister -Miranda and Ashton

The church gang. Patricia, April, Stacey and Olivia, Tabitha, Ashley, Lynda, and Katie

Adams mom doing a great job with the shower games. Everyone seemed to really enjoy it. I think the games were great!

Zeks new bouncer. Our referral pictures of Zek are of him laying in this same chair. So, it means alot. And we can put him in it when we get home and compare his pictures to him in it. We can see how much he has grown.

This shirt says it all. We do and cant wait to love on him in 13 days!

We, of course, need lots and lots of these!

That is a little of whats been going on around here. We have been packing and going over lists, and packing and going over lists. I am waiting to pack our stuff. There is alot of stuff to pack for a 3 month old! We received a package from our travel agent today with our tickets and stuff! It is beginning to be a little bit more real, but still not totally "real". We will be in Ethiopia so soon picking up our baby boy!!!!! Wow!!!!!

Please everyone pray for us as we are feeling anxiety about leaving the girls. I know it's only 7 days, but we have only left them overnight once! It will be good for us and good for the girls. They get to spend lots of quality time with there grandma and granny. We have presents for them to open everyday and a little note to let them know what mommy and daddy will be doing that day. Their first day they will be opening Build a Bear gift cards. I know that they will enjoy that!

I am also feeling a little anxiety about flying. I have no idea why. I have flown before, but not often. I have never been on a plane for 15 hours straight. I think that is what I am a little scared about.

I know that God will ease my anxieties and we will have peace throughout this trip.

We leave in 11 days!!!!!!!!!!! Soon we will get to kiss on those adorable cheeks, hear his coos and cries, and hug him and never let go.

We got the GREEN light

We got a call earlier from AGCI and they said that we have the green light. Our travel dates are confirmed!!! Adam was actually on the phone with the travel agent at the same time that AGCI called, so we booked our tickets right then. Worked out perfectly!!!

We leave on December 11th and will arrive in Ethiopia on December 12th at 8:30 AM. We will meet Zek the very next day!!!!!

3 weeks from today we will be on our way to our son!!!!!!

It still doesn't seem real!!!!

We will be there very soon baby boy!!!!!

I started packing. Right now it looks like a big mess because I am not really sure how to pack everything. We have 3 weeks to figure it out. :)

Tentative travel dates!!!!!!!!

We just got tentative travel dates from our agency!!!!!!!!!

We will need to be in Ethiopia on December 12th (zeks 3 month birthday). Gotcha day is the very next day December 13th!!!!!!! We will leave Ethiopia on December 17th putting us back home on either the 17th or 18th!!!!!!! From the start of our adoption for bringing Zek home is less than 8 months!!!!! Thank you God!!! You are amazing!!!!!!

I have called our travel agency already and they are looking into flights for us.

I really hoped that this is when we would be traveling and we are!!!!! Well, not confirmed yet. It will be confirmed next week and then we can book our tickets!!!!!!

We are coming little Zek!!!!!!

We also got an update on Zek. He is already 8 lbs and 8 oz and about 21.5 inches long!!!!! Our update says...

How to Approach the Child based in his Personality: You can pick him up and hold him. (so he wont be scared of us!!! :) )

Personality Adam is a content baby most of the time. He is sweet and adorable, loves to be held. (I love to hold my babies ALOT)

LIKES Classical Music – baby lullabies before bed while being rocked.

I am feeling anxiety about leaving our girls. Please pray for peace for us and for them!!!!

I cannot believe that in 23 days we will be leaving for Ethiopia!!!!!!! This is amazing!!!!! We have to start packing!!!!!

I had a baby shower thrown for me this past weekend and I will post pics soon!!!!

Guess What?!?!?....

WE PASSED!!!!!!!!

Zek is now legally our son!!!!!!!!! We are now a family of 5!!!!!!

We are so excited and so relieved!!!!! God is so good!!!! Thank you Thank you Thank you!!!!!

next step: tentative embassy appointment and tentative travel dates (i really really hope its really really soon)

Also, today is Zeks 2 month birthday. So, Happy 2 month birthday baby boy!!!!!!

Above is a picture of his big beautiful eyes!!!!!! We cant post any full pictures of him until he is in our arms, which hopefully wont be too much longer!!!!

court

So today our paper chain is down to one link!

Tonight we will go to sleep (if we can sleep) and sometime while we are sleeping (Ethiopia is 8 hours ahead of us) a judge in Ethiopia will be making the decision on whether Zek is legally our son. We really really really pray that we pass court the first time. Some families do not pass court the first time for various reasons. We hope that everything is in place and we just pass! and we find out that we passed quickly!

Praying for Zeks birth mother as she has to be at court. I know that this must be hard for her. She is putting him in front of herself so that he can be provided a better life. The love she has for her child is amazing. We will be forever bonded as we share this same love for the same beautiful little baby boy.

Please pray that we pass and that we hear really soon!

update on our baby boy

We got an update on Zek today. Our case manager got the word that he is doing great and starting to eat more! They said that for an Ethiopian baby of his size the amount that he is taking in is good. They are also giving him a multivitamin and flax seed oil. I still need to figure out what this flax seed oil is. I have heard of it, but not sure what it is.

We are really happy to hear that he is doing great!

We have 3 days now left until our court date! I didn't think I would, but I am starting to get really anxious about it. I just want to hear really quickly that we passed and Zek is legally ours!

Passing time as we wait

A few things that we have done this past week...

Adam and I enjoyed the David Crowder concert :)

david crowder

David Crowder

Us at the show

The girls on Halloween...they were both starting to feel icky (they have both been sick since - yuck!)

The girls making our "huge" cupcake

The girls with our paper chain a few days ago. Counting down the days until our court date...It is now much shorter! only 4 days 'til court now!!! yippee

We also had our travel call this past Thursday with our agency. We went over what to expect when we are preparing to travel and also when we do travel!!! so exciting!!!!

This past week we have had lots of not feeling well. Maggie was sick first, then Hazel, and now me. Hopefully it passes by our house soon!

Last week we received word on how much formula Zek was drinking a day. It was only about 12 oz. This amount is not enough! They should be starting to mix cereal in his bottles, so hopefully this will help. The pediatrician is still thinking that he might have the floppy airway which could be why he isn't wanting to take in much formula (we will see). So we are praying that he starts eating better. We are also praying that we can bring him home even sooner than we think. We need to get to the bottom of his eating issues and also all the other things with him being in the hospital. I just want him home so we can figure it all out. It's hard being a mother to a baby so far away. I think especially when he has been so sick. We miss him so much!

We have court on Nov 12th!!! Its only 4 days away !!!

We are praying for Zeks birth mother as I can imagine this will be a hard time for her. Pray that she is able to make it to court and that everything is in place and we pass! We are also praying for peace for her.

Once we pass court Zek with officially be our son!!!!! We will travel a month or so later! Again, hopefully sooner than we think. Our pediatrician wrote a letter to try to expedite things since he has been sick. Although, we don't know if this letter will help things move quicker, but we sure hope so!!!

We love you Zek and we will be there to bring you home soon!!!!