"Chosen" Shirts to benefit Project Hopeful

Project Hopeful is partnering with 147 million Orphans to raise funds for our Ethiopia "Almost Homes" 50% of each sale will go to Project Hopeful.

When we went to pick up Adanech I had a girl follow me around she told me she didn't have a mom. Before we left she gave me a hug and then said "bye Mom". That was heartbreaking! Rob also had a boy that enjoyed hanging out with him as well. He drew him a picture and Rob gave him his watch that the boy loved. After being home a couple weeks Rob received a package and it was from that boy. He had sent Rob a couple pictures and a thank you card and also a couple little toys that I am sure he treasured. Again, heartbreaking! They all long to have a family to call their own. These new shirts from Project Hopeful are dedicated to all those kids that long to have a family. So many praying that God will send them a family, to have a mom and a dad waiting for them.

Help us make it possible for HIV positive kids in Ethiopia to have the opportunity to hear the words "You are Chosen". Help bring awareness to the orphan's waiting all over the world.

If you are a Christ follower then you know how life changing those words are. I know my life has never been the same and is now changed for eternity because God "Chose" me. Praise God!

Go here now and order yours! They are the most comfortable shirts and they are so cool looking!

http://www.147millionorphans.blogspot.com/

Must Read Post-Love is an Action Word

Go and read this post here:
http://www.storinguptreasures.com/2010/01/love-is-action-word.html

Courtney is mom to 10 both by birth and adoption. These are all things I think and just can't write as eloquently as Courtney did. So many people have discussed adoption with me the past two weeks. Specifically they were asking about Haiti but my answer to them was maybe this is the means God used to put adoption on your heart. Sure there are suddenly more orphans now after the earthquake, but there has always been millions of orphans here, this is not a new concept. So my advice is go and get a home study done. Find out what it takes to adopt or become a foster parent. There are millions of kids waiting for hope. Are you willing to do what God might be asking you to do? Sure it is challenging, hard work, stressful, costly, but I promise it is rewarding!

Are you the family these kids are waiting for?

If you have been reading my blog for very long, you know that I love the older waiting kids. We met so many sweet, wonderful kids when we traveled last year to pick up Adanech. So many touched us. I received an email from my agency today and it was a plea to find a family for these kids that have waited so long! Of course it is much harder to place a sibling group of 3, let alone one that has older kids, especially boys. This sibling group is every one's favorite. I have never heard a negative thing said about them. Besides for all the traits listed below, they are absolutely gorgeous kids! Wish I could show you a picture, but I can't. Trust me on this they are beautiful! Please pray, consider if God is asking you to be their family. Maybe you have been thinking about adopting but haven't made the next step. Maybe you are in process and feel like you are being led to adopt older kids. Contact AAI for more information. They would be happy to answer any question's you have. If you already know these kids are not yours, then maybe you can pray their family finds them soon!

This lovely sibling group of three has been living at Layla House for more than two years now and are some of our longest waiting children. B, the oldest, is now about 15 and his sister F is 14. S, the younger brother, is about 12. Social workers describe them as an "exceptional group of kids" who are unusually close and always watch out for each other. All three are fine students and of course avid soccer players too.
A recent volunteer at Layla writes that B, is on track to be the "next Pele" but is also a top student and "thrives when given special responsibilities." In a report by a social worker, B is described as "wise beyond his years, inquisitive and thoughtful" but also as "a ham who likes to make the girls laugh."
Of F, our volunteer says that this sweet girl "presents herself in a shy manner. Although she stands in the back of the crowd, she still is a leader among the group of older girls and is undeniably an understanding, helpful and sweet-mannered person. Her presence is calm and quiet and her smile is radiant, usually constant once in her comfort zone." With adults, F is described as respectful and responsible and her English skills are excellent.
S, the youngest at 12, has impressed everyone with his English skills and is often called upon to translate when visitors arrive. Our volunteer wrote that he "also has accomplished the impressive feat of memorizing all the states of the U.S., their capitals and their abbreviations." She describes his personality as "fun-loving and easygoing" and notes that he enjoys interacting with the younger children on the compound.

All three of these children are eager to find a family. Adopting older children presents unique challenges in parenting. Experience, flexibility and a strong support system are all very necessary for success. The AAI staff is ready and willing to discuss these challenges with interested families and to share more about these children or other waiting sibling groups.
AAI's phone number- 1- 360-452-4777
Email: linda@adoptionadvocates.org
She is the contact person that handles the waiting children list

Sledding Fun!

This is about the only thing snow is good for. I really don't like winter and would not miss it if we were to ever move. At least the kids can have some fun with it while it's here. We went sledding with some friends to a new sledding hill. We had never been to this one before. The kids loved it! You were able to rent a black inner tube that all the kids could fit on.

New Year, New Beginnings!

Wow, can't believe another month has gone by. I have been seriously neglecting this blog. Maybe with the new year beginning, I can be more on top of it. I have been busy, busy with adoption related stuff. Asher started pre-school in December. We got a puppy. Celebrated Christmas and New Years, had fun with friends and of course have had many, many soccer games.
On the adoption front we have had some changes. We had to switch home study agencies due to the fact that they went CRAZY!!!!! To make a long story short, Bethany Christian Services who we had been with for 4 1/2 years decided to charge a crazy, unimaginable amount of money to update our home study. Get this.....they wanted us to pay $1500 for the update, plus $3000 for some unnamed fee and $1500 for post placement costs. So a grand total of $6000!!!!! Of course that was not mentioned until we were already a month into the process with no timeline ever given about when our home study would be done and after we jumped through the many hoops that we had to jump through during that time. For those of you who have done this before, you know it doesn't take much to update a home study if no changes were made, she just needed to update two paragraphs in the home study, adding Adanech to it and since she had just been to our house a couple months before she wasn't even planning to do a house visit. So trying to charge $4500 for so little work is just unimaginable to me. I am still in shock that they actually did this. So needless to say we switched agencies. We are with a new agency now and hope things will go smoothly from this point on.
We also changed placing agencies. We loved AAI and would have loved to use them again, but we decided to request a boy between 4-7 and there is a fairly long wait for that age range. The new agency we are with International Adoption Net (IAN) is so far, wonderful! They have been great at communication and they have a great support network with their families. Also we are the only family currently waiting for a boy over 5. So we don't anticipate waiting long at all. I am also excited to work with IAN because of the orphanage they work with, Sele Enat. It is a Christian ran orphanage and sounds wonderful. The kids learn all about Jesus there, which is great!

We look forward to a new year. I am excited to see what God has planned for us. I think there will be some big things happening in our live's this year! Stay tuned!

Here are some pictures to what we have been up to.

Gingerbread decorating with the Heim and Kocis kids.

Christmas Eve. The Heim's went to church with us and then we had pizza at our house. Neither of us had family event's, so we thought we would start a new tradition this year.


The kids in their new Christmas pajamas. They love this tradition. Also Cassidy is holding Mia our new boxer puppy! They all love to hold her!

Asher's first day of preschool

His first bus ride home from school.

A rare moment in our house, the kids all sitting together quitely while Cassidy reads from the Bible. This was completely on their own! So nice and I wish I could say this is normal here! :)

Adanech's first time making a snowman in our yard. Adanech and Noah made this one.

It's Called Christmas with a Capital C

My girls just told me about this song they heard at Awana tonight. I did a search and found this video on Youtube. Love it!!!!!

Here we go again!

Picture taken at Adanech's re-adoption a couple weeks ago.

It is official! We are in process again to adopt our 6th child. We will be adopting from Ethiopia again with AAI. We are planning to adopt another waiting child, this time a boy. Currently we are updating our homestudy so won't be able to review the file of the child we are interested in until that is done, but we do have a child in mind. We are all excited, even Asher. He keeps asking when are we getting his brother from Africa. So cute!


I have been wanting to adopt since we returned from Ethiopia but knew we needed time to adjust. Rob also needed some time for God to speak His truth to him and remind him that He is always in control and where we don't see a way, He will make one.


The kids were so wanting us to adopt that they all chipped in their Christmas and savings money. Between the four of them they gave $160 plus they went through all their toys that they were willing to part with so we could sell them on ebay. Between those two things we were able to pay for our homestudy update and our agency application fee. Of course we have a long way to go, but it is a start and I am certain God will provide for this adoption.


One of the ways we are raising funds is by selling coffee. For those that read this that are not in the adoption world, JustLoveCoffee is a business run by Rob Webb a fellow adoptive parent. He has started this business as a way to give back to his daughter's country and to help out other adoptive families and other ministries. We are thankful for this opportunity and would love it if you all would at least go and check it out. I am not a coffee drinker, however I have heard it is wonderful coffee. Rob recommends African Skies. So this is a win, win situation, you get great tasting coffee and we get money towards our adoption. Here's the link to go and place an order. http://www.justlovecoffee.com/TheDevenouges


We would appreciate your prayers as we go on this journey again. It is a very long paper and waiting process. Also pray for our new child, pray for Gods protection and peace as he continues to wait, pray that God is preparing his heart for a new family and a new life in America.