A Peaceful Sunday Morning

Mornings are so peaceful. As I sit here typing this the sun is shining brightly in the window, yet it is still cool and quiet outside. This morning I hear crickets chirping outside our window and I heard several geese honking. My dog is curled up on my lap; I am drinking hot chocolate and it feels so calm and peaceful. I am sure later on in the day I will have worries about Ruby and anxiety about travel time lines. I will probably be tired from being pregnant and feel overwhelmed about bringing home a 4 month old when I am 4 months pregnant. But, this morning, I just feel peace; God's peace. It is good to sit here and soak that in and be reminded that He is in control of all of this. I am just walking the path I feel He has called me to.

Over the last couple of weeks of waiting I have been blessed by the Psalms. I want to share a few of them that have impacted me; maybe they will impact you too.

Psalm 55:22- Cast your cares on the Lord and He will sustain you. He will never let the righteous fall.

Psalm 56:3-4- When I am afraid I will trust in you, in God whose word I praise, in God I trust, I will not be afraid.

Psalm 29:11- The Lord gives strength to His people; the Lord blesses His people with peace.

Psalm 34:1- I will extol the Lord at ALL times. His praise will always be on my lips.

Parts of Psalm 37- Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the Lord, trust in Him and He will do this. He will make your righteousness shine like the dawn... Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for Him.

Have a blessed Sunday and a great Labor Day!

Another Small Update

We got an email about Ruby today. It looks like she is still doing okay, but Bethany's in-country coordinator thought it would be at least another week before he could try to take her out to go get her passport. This means I think we are at least a month away from holding our little girl which is pretty disappointing to me. I am struggling to stay content and patient these last couple of weeks, even though I do appreciate that they are being cautious with her health.

We were also advised not to come early to spend time with her (we had asked if this was a possibility). The medical exam at the embassy is the last thing she has to do before getting her embassy appointment. At this exam it is possible they could tell her she needs more treatment or something like that and then we will be there indefinitely, so it was recommended that we keep waiting to go.

This is so tough, especially because she still needs to get stronger; I long to help her recover. It is also hard to not really have an end in sight. I know eventually it will happen, but who knows how long it could take until she is strong enough to handle all of this?

I would really appreciate your prayers. I am trying to stay positive, but I am struggling with this recent news. I am ready to have my baby in my arms.

A Summer Weekend

Mark and I were up north all weekend at a cottage with our small group from church. We had a fabulous time boating, riding quads, playing games, eating junk food, sleeping in... it was a true summer weekend. It was great to get away and not think about so much about adoption.

When we got home we saw beautiful pictures of Ruby from my friend Beth who just got home from Ethiopia. Beth was picking up her new son, Levi who was at the same orphanage as Ruby. She held Ruby and told us that she is doing better and being well taken care of. The pictures look a lot better than the last one we got; she looks like she is healthier so that was very reassuring to see. I don't think I could ever have enough pictures of her! She looks beautiful and super tiny. I am thinking I might have to bring her some newborn clothes when I go because she looks so little.

We feel much better knowing she is doing well. We keep praying that she will be strong enough soon so that we can go get her, but in the meantime we know that she is being loved and cared for and that is very reassuring. Thanks for all your prayers! God keeps answering them; maybe not how we would want them to be answered, but He is faithful and He continues to work out His plan in our lives.

A Small Update

We met with our social worker today and we got a small update about Ruby. She is still out of the hospital, but she is pretty weak yet. The medical person at the orphanage wants her to get stronger before our contact in Ethiopia takes her out and about to get her passport and physical at the embassy. So, we are still on hold for awhile. I am glad they are being cautious with Ruby's health, but it is so tough to think of her being so tiny and weak, especially when I can't be there for her. I feel like if I could hold her, feed her, and give her my undivided attention that I could somehow help her recover; instead I have to sit here in MI and that makes me feel pretty helpless.

We are not expecting to hear much in the next couple of days; we will keep praying and we trust that God is taking care of her.

Still Here

We have nothing new to share about Ruby. I thought for sure by now I would have heard something. I am trying to stay really busy so I don't think about it so much and get down. I have worked at school in the media center the last two mornings. Today I completed my last afternoon of tutoring and tonight our small group from church came over for dessert. We love hanging out with them and it is good to spend a little time praying together for Ruby and other things that are going on in all of our lives. Tomorrow I will be at school again for a few hours and then my mom and I are going to freeze sweet corn; I have never done this before but my husband LOVES sweet corn so I thought it would be fun to have some in the middle of winter. Tomorrow night I have a meeting at church. Thursday afternoon we are leaving to go to a cottage up north with our small group; we will be there until Sunday.

It really helps to have the next couple of days booked. The last two weeks I had too much time on my hands and I was going nuts thinking about Ruby. For a little while I didn't plan much because I thought we would be going to Africa any day; now I am thinking that maybe we won't be traveling for awhile... who knows. I still need to do normal life while I hope a trip to Ethiopia makes me cancel all my plans. We keep hoping to hear something soon and we will post as soon as we do. Thanks for your prayers.

A little glimpse into our future....

We enjoyed time with our nieces a couple weekends ago. Arabella is about 20 months old and Inara is 3 1/2 months (almost the same as Ruby!)




Friday, we took the girls for a walk in our new double jogger. I was very excited to try it out on them; so far so good. It looks good on Mark, don't you think?

Still No Word

We don't know anything new; we haven't had an update since Monday night and it is wearing on me. It is hard to know that we will not hear anything today or tomorrow because it's the weekend. I am trying to stay busy doing stuff around the house so that I don't think about it so much, but I can only clean, walk the dog, and mow the lawn so much :) I feel like our life is on hold until we get that phone call saying we can fly to Ethiopia.

I am pretty sure the Bethany families that are in Ethiopia met their kids yesterday. I am thinking they met Ruby too and hopefully they held her and gave her our love. I sent a couple sleepers and a little blanket along with one of them to give to Ruby; hopefully at least one of them fits her. I also sent some pictures of us along with them so the care givers will be able to look at them and recognize us when we get there. I am hoping they will have a chance to email a picture or two of Ruby to us, but I know internet connection is very spotty.

I would really appreciate your prayers. The days have been very long for me and as time goes on I feel like it gets harder and harder to wait. In the last picture I got of Ruby she looks like she lost some weight so that is hard to see; I am so ready to get her home and love on her.

Nothing New

I haven't heard an update since Tuesday morning... hopefully by the end of the week we will hear she got her passport and maybe even had her embassy physical. The days of waiting are kind of long for me, but I keep trying to remind myself that God has everything under his wings.

The families that are traveling should arrive in Ethiopia this afternoon. We are praying they get their safely.

Moving Along

Things are moving along. Yesterday we heard that the paperwork we have been waiting for left the National Visa Center to go to the US Embassy in Ethiopia. This is an answer to prayer. We also got another picture of Ruby; seeing her again is so priceless.I can't describe what is feels like to see glimpses of your child through photos. She looks very different than the last picture we had of her, but that was a newborn picture and babies change a lot in two months. She has big, beautiful brown eyes that look kind of scared; this picture makes me want to scoop her up, hug and kiss her, and take her home. Soon-- We are coming baby girl!

I am hoping she is going to get her passport today or that she already did this yesterday. Hopefully we get an update about this today.

There are three Bethany families traveling today to go get their kids. We were hoping to be traveling with them, so that is a little hard for me, but I am so excited for them to meet their children. I send a few things along with them for Ruby and I am hoping they can take a couple of pictures of her for me. I have made connections with these families and it is a joy for us to watch them go through this process. Beth and her parents are picking up an 18 month old named Levi, Holly and Ben are going to get their 5 year old daughter, Bereket, and the Zelenkas are picking up a 2 and 4 year old. I am sure they would appreciate your prayers for safe travel and a smooth transition for their new kids.

Great News!

Ruby is out of the hospital!! She was back at the orphanage yesterday. Our coordinator said she looked great and he would keep us informed of her progress. He even said he emailed a new picture of Ruby, which we didn't get yet, but hopefully our social worker will resend the attachment before the end of the day. Another picture would be precious. We are hoping she can get her passport and physical yet this week so we can know when we are traveling by the end of the week or at least within the next week. We think Ruby had some type of skin irritation and infection; we are not sure about the details but we are so relieved that she is at the orphanage being well take care of.

Thank you so much for your prayers and support. I think, for me, this was the roughest two weeks of the process so far. It was so good to be supported by a community of believers and to know we serve a God who loves Ruby even more than we do.

Thanks again-- hopefully we will keep hearing good news of Ruby's progress in the process to get her home.

A New Week

It's the start of a new week and I am hopeful this is the week we will find out when we get to travel. We a had a pretty good weekend relaxing and spending time with friends and family. In a way it was good to know that I probably wasn't going to get updates on the weekend. That way I could relax and not check my email and phone every 5 minutes.

It was great to worship on Sunday and once again I am reminded that we are following God through this and He has all things in His hands. I am confident that He is in control and He loves Ruby even more than we do. He will take care of her.

So, once again, we try to do normal life while we wait for information. Thanks again for your prayers; we could feel them this weekend. Keep praying that Ruby will be out of the hospital today and that she can get her passport and embassy physical soon so we can travel. Prayers for patience would also be appreciated.

A Little Update

After a lot of digging and calling we finally got a little information. Ruby is still in the hospital, but she is doing better and hopefully will be back at the orphanage tomorrow or Sunday. She has some type of fungus; we really don't know what this means, but at least we know something! It doesn't sound too serious, but she probably had to be treated with antibiotics which they would do at the hospital. We know that once she is out of the hospital things can move quickly. We are hoping she can get her passport and physical early next week so by the end of the week we will know when we can travel. Another Bethany family is traveling on Aug. 29, so maybe we could travel with them. I would love to go sooner than that, but it would be great to travel with another family too; we will see what happens.

Thanks for all your prayers. I have been a wreck today so I needed them. It was really good to find something out so that we don't have to go the whole weekend thinking the worst.

Have a great weekend; we will let you know when we know more!

Prayers Please!

We haven't heard anything back from the National Visa Center so I decided to call them today to make sure that they got the new papers that weren't sent to the them last Thursday. I am so frustrated because they said the did not receive our papers again!! I have proof that they were sent there on Oct. 29, 2007 and again on July 31, 2008. This may hold things up even more. Those papers need to get from the National Visa Center to the embassy in Ethiopia in order for us to get an embassy appointment. The lady on the phone was not very helpful and she just said I had to call back on Monday. I feel so helpless! It seems like things that could go wrong are going wrong and we can't do anything about it. We still haven't heard an update about Ruby; I don't know why she is sick or if she is out of the hospital yet. I was really hoping that we would know a lot more by today but it seems we might have to wait even longer.

If you could pray hard that we hear something positive by the end of the day I would really appreciate it. Thanks!

Update as of 9:10am: My social worker called the National Visa Center and did make a little more progress than me. They are running a search for her to see if they can find if our file did get sent but it didn't get put in the computer or something like that. Also, she told me that we don't have to have this in Ethiopia before we get an embassy appointment, just before we go to the embassy. That won't be for a couple of weeks probably so that buys us a little time. I felt better after I talked to her. We will see what we find!

Update as of 3:30: We still have no news about Ruby after a couple phone calls and emails. We are very frustrated at the lack of info that we have about her. The day is not done yet though....

Ruby Will Be A Big Sister

That's right, we are pregnant! We are expecting baby #2 in late February; we are about 11 weeks along. I had a doctors appointment today and everything looks good (I got to see him/her on the ultrasound!) I was waiting until this appointment to share the news. This wasn't exactly how we had things planned, but I guess God has other plans as He has shown us over and over this year.

Last April, we went to a meeting about Ethiopian adoptions, and Bethany told us that it was possible that we would be waiting for another year to received a referral. We were pretty disappointed because I had already given up my job for the next school year. So, we decided (after making sure our SW gave us the okay) to try to have a biological child first. We assured ourselves that if we heard things were moving with Bethany than we would stop trying. Well, we got pregnant fairly quickly, but of course didn't know it when all of a sudden we got Ruby's referral. When this happened we were thinking that it was so good we weren't pregnant. Well we got Ruby's referral on a Tuesday and we found out we were pregnant on Saturday. I guess God does have a sense of humor! Since Ruby was such a young referral our kids will be 9 months apart!

Not exactly how we thought this was going to work out, but we are very excited. God is faithful because last spring we thought it would be at least another year before we would be parents and now we will have two kids by March of next year! God is good.

Give Us Feet to Walk the Path

Psalm 25: 4-5

Show me your ways, O Lord, teach me your paths. Guide me in your truth and teach me for you are God my Savior and my hope is in you all day long.

This verse has been really important to me through this whole adoption process and I was reminded about it again this morning. We are not adopting because it was our own great idea. We are adopting because we feel God led us down this path. I have learned that God does not always take us down the easiest paths, but He does give us the feet to walk the path He is taking us on. Once again I am at a place where I have completely no control and I need to lean on my Father for strength. This Psalm reminds me to trust Him; He will do the leading and all I need to do is follow and pray for the feet for the path.

Thank you for all of your prayers for Ruby. We have not heard any more updates about her, but we are hoping for more information in the next couple of days. Monday was a tough day for me, but today I am feeling God's peace. He is reminding me that He is still in charge and He has a plan in all of this. I am so thankful to be a part of a community of believers that support us during times like this.

Prayers

We found out today that Ruby is in the hospital in Ethiopia and we think she has been there for about a week. Our social worker has again assured us that it is not anything serious and that she is getting better, but of course this has us very worried. We knew she was not feeling well, but we didn't know she was in the hospital. I am frustrated that I don't know what she has and that I can't be there for her. I feel pretty helpless.

We also heard that the other families that we were hoping to travel with got embassy appointments today. They are traveling on Aug. 15. I am very excited for them (Congrats Ben and Holly and Beth!), but I am pretty bummed that it looks like we won't be able to travel with them like we had thought, unless things go amazingly fast this week. Because Ruby is sick, she hasn't been able to get her passport; she needs this before she can get an embassy appointment.

On a positive note, we did hear that the immigration office in Detroit re-sent our paperwork to the National Visa Center so hopefully they will send it to the embassy in Ethiopia.

Please pray that Ruby is well enough to go back to the orphanage soon and that she can get her passport ASAP. We would love to travel on Aug. 15 and if that is going to happen then we need God to intervene and help things really move along quickly this week. Also pray that I will not be anxious about everything; I really want to be able to take care of Ruby and right now I can't so I have to trust God is giving her what she needs.

Thanks again for your support.

Pictures of Ruby's Room

I finally downloaded all of my pictures so over the next couple of days I will show you some glimpses of Ruby's room, the TenHaken vacation and the two showers we had. Let's start with Ruby's room. It is not totally clean yet, so you will just see pieces of her room for now. The ball and cube at the end match her bedding.

We haven't heard anything new yet. I am hoping to hear an update about Ruby's health from my social worker today, but I am not sure if Bethany has any news to tell us or now. Please keep praying that she is feeling better and that she gets her passport ASAP. We are also waiting to hear back from the immigration office in Detroit to see if they sent the paperwork to the National Visa Center. That needs to be in Ethiopia before we can get an embassy date so I am praying it arrives there today or Monday. We will keep trusting God on this journey; He continues to be faithful and He is reminding me that He is in control, not me.