Because I can not post them yet I will go into detail about the most precious videos we received in the mail today. Our agency is amazing not only do they send tons of photos but we also get videos! WOW :) I will start with Stella Marta because she is now older the Benjamin LOL. When we were given the referral it was said that in the end on June she was 2 months old. But in the video that was taken mid July she was sitting unsupported for about 5-10 seconds! Clearly not something a 2 month old can do. So Sue our coordinator told me that Stella is more like 5 months old. Stella is not quick to smile...but who knows it could of been nap time :) She seems VERY short :) In the video they call her Marti I think it is adorable! Marti. She is very alert and aware of her surroundings. Her huge eyes are taking everything in and she is a very calm and easy baby. Still no hair :)
The next video I watched was of Benjamin. He is in the same orphanage that Claire was in. We sent over a care package that had pictures of Me, Darin, and Claire Dollame. And at one point in the video we can hear a mans voice ask. Is that Dollame? And Sue our coordinator says, "Yes. Fikadu will be Dollame's brother!" Then you can hear all of the nannies in the back ground and you can tell they are looking at Claire's picture and they are saying Dollame, Dollame and giggling! So very cool! But Ben is just a tiny little guy! The pictures are deceiving. He looks frail. But he has the gigantic smile! And he likes to smile a lot! :) Ben's eyes are so big! I keep telling everyone he is SO pretty! Several times I have had people ask me if he is the little girl. LOL we won't tell him that when he is older. He has huge cheeks and this skinny little neck. He does not have very good head control yet. And he can not be more then 9 or 10 lbs.
I was thinking about it today, Claire has a December birthday, if it is true that Stella is 5 months she will have a February birthday, and if it is true that Ben is 3 months old he will have a April birthday. So in the winter every 2 months we will have a birthday!! :) Claire is 14 and 16 months older then her sister and brother.
Another big this that has happened or I guess did not happen is that we did not get in before the Ethiopian courts closed. That is wonderful for the country of Ethiopia as it means that they are getting enough water for their crops, but it is not good for us. The Ethiopian courts will be closed for the next 2 months. They will not open back up until October. :...( and the last I heard we have not even been submitted to court yet! So that means that I will have nothing to report about our adoptions for the next 2 months.So now our time line looks a little more like this...
Court date sometime the end of October.
If we pass the 1st time we could be traveling the second week of December to bring home the babies. This is now our BEST case scenario. And that will make Stella 10 months old and Ben 8 months old. So please keep our babies in your prayers! And please keep us in your prayers that we may find patience and peace in these next few months. God Bless
Friday, July 30, 2010
Sunday, July 18, 2010
SO EXCITING!
Oh my goodness! :) What a fun and exciting week it has been! We received some new pictures of Benjamin and Stella. They got the packages that we sent to them! We sent them each a blanket, outfit, a little stuffed toy and a plastic photo album of pictures of Darin me and Claire. It was so amazing to see them with their gifts from us! I wanted to take a little time to describe the babies since we can not post pictures yet!
Stella... I feel like her name is perfect for her! She has huge bright eyes, what little hair she does have as of right now appears to be straighter. I am sure as she gets older it will not be straight by any means but perhaps more curly rather then TIGHT SPIRAL curls like her sister Claire :) She has a sweet round face, a little button nose and nice full lips. Her medical report says she is 11 lbs. We have no pictures of her smiling yet, that may take some time because she is still only 2 and a half months. She is adorable and ohhh so cute!!!
Benjamin...He is still so tiny! The out fit we sent was 3 months and in the pictures they laid it on him because I am sure the out fit would of swallowed him up! It looked huge! He has eyes that are so big and round! His hair also appears to be straighter as if it will be more wavy instead of kinky curly. His lips...oh my goodness his lips they are only as wide as his nose lol but they are full and the most beautiful shade of light pink. But let me tell you when I first saw the picture of Ben with his HUGE smile my heart felt like it might leap right out of my chest and I burst into tears!
We are so excited to add these 2 PRECIOUS children to our family! We have a video of Benjamin. Claire ALWAYS want to watch it! She loves Benjamin and Stella or in her words... " brudder Ben." (brother Ben) and "tella" (Stella.)
Stella... I feel like her name is perfect for her! She has huge bright eyes, what little hair she does have as of right now appears to be straighter. I am sure as she gets older it will not be straight by any means but perhaps more curly rather then TIGHT SPIRAL curls like her sister Claire :) She has a sweet round face, a little button nose and nice full lips. Her medical report says she is 11 lbs. We have no pictures of her smiling yet, that may take some time because she is still only 2 and a half months. She is adorable and ohhh so cute!!!
Benjamin...He is still so tiny! The out fit we sent was 3 months and in the pictures they laid it on him because I am sure the out fit would of swallowed him up! It looked huge! He has eyes that are so big and round! His hair also appears to be straighter as if it will be more wavy instead of kinky curly. His lips...oh my goodness his lips they are only as wide as his nose lol but they are full and the most beautiful shade of light pink. But let me tell you when I first saw the picture of Ben with his HUGE smile my heart felt like it might leap right out of my chest and I burst into tears!
We are so excited to add these 2 PRECIOUS children to our family! We have a video of Benjamin. Claire ALWAYS want to watch it! She loves Benjamin and Stella or in her words... " brudder Ben." (brother Ben) and "tella" (Stella.)
Saturday, July 10, 2010
A few more pictures
I thought I would post a few pictures of this summer. We met the Loveday family who adopted 2 beautiful girls from CCI. CCI is the same agency that we adopted Claire from and the same agency that my friend Laurie is adopting Tariku from. Tariku and the Loveday's oldest daughter became friends at the orphanage in Kamashi and now can continue their friendship here in the states as their forever families will only live about 2 hours from each other!!
Friday, July 2, 2010
In a bit of panic
Overwhelmed...The excitement of accepting 2 referrals is quickly smothered by the reality of our financial situation. We normally are very private about $. But I feel as if I need to be very honest so that God can work. So here is the reality of our situation.
Darin is an attorney, but he was hired at a firm at the worst of economic times. I actually made more $ as a hairstylist then he is making as an attorney. With that said I am now working 2 days a week so I can stay home with Claire. So we actually are making about as much $ now as we were when Darin was still in school and I was working full time. But now we are on family insurance which is as high as our mortgage, Darin's school loans are also like another mortgage payment for us. We are able to make it monthly. The $ made for these adoptions is coming mostly from fund raising. We had a garage sale a month ago. We basically sold everything in our house that is not of use to us daily. Home decor, clothes, toys, wall hangings, our spare bedroom stuff, books, extra TV's, all of our DVD's, and a lot of stuff people donated, we sold! We made enough for one flight to Ethiopia, but this time we need 4 flights! We are going to have another sale this fall, one last push before we bring them home but to be honest unless we sell our furniture I do not know what else we can sell. LOL But we will try.We also sold T-shirts again that brought in a couple hundred $.
Here is the amazing part of this. Darin and I like to think that we are pretty responsible people. And that we do not just do things with out thinking them forward and backwards. But when it came to these adoptions we basically had zero $. But we both knew God was asking for us to put our faith in Him. And He has shown Himself already through the money we have already raised. We know that God would not let us get this far and then not pull us through. We, as of right now, do not have the money to bring our children home. I know God is about to move a mountain through His people. Please be in prayer for our family!
Now here is a run down of our adoption costs.
Agency fee's ...PAID
$14,000 in country fees..we just sent a check for $7,000 yesterday. The other $7,000 will need to be paid after we pass court and the babies are legally ours. So 7,000 of the $14,000 is PAID
$10,000 for travel...this is where we are not sure where the $ is going to come from.
If you have ever felt the need to help support orphaned children now is your chance. You will be helping bring 2 babies into a loving home. Please prayerfully consider helping. I am humbly asking. Our family is depending on your help.
http://www.onehundredgoodwishes.com/family/JoleneShrock
On the side bar of my blog you can click on the good wish page to donate or click this link.
Just a side note if you are reading this and you have any fund raising ideas I would love to know about them.
God Bless
Jolene
Darin is an attorney, but he was hired at a firm at the worst of economic times. I actually made more $ as a hairstylist then he is making as an attorney. With that said I am now working 2 days a week so I can stay home with Claire. So we actually are making about as much $ now as we were when Darin was still in school and I was working full time. But now we are on family insurance which is as high as our mortgage, Darin's school loans are also like another mortgage payment for us. We are able to make it monthly. The $ made for these adoptions is coming mostly from fund raising. We had a garage sale a month ago. We basically sold everything in our house that is not of use to us daily. Home decor, clothes, toys, wall hangings, our spare bedroom stuff, books, extra TV's, all of our DVD's, and a lot of stuff people donated, we sold! We made enough for one flight to Ethiopia, but this time we need 4 flights! We are going to have another sale this fall, one last push before we bring them home but to be honest unless we sell our furniture I do not know what else we can sell. LOL But we will try.We also sold T-shirts again that brought in a couple hundred $.
Here is the amazing part of this. Darin and I like to think that we are pretty responsible people. And that we do not just do things with out thinking them forward and backwards. But when it came to these adoptions we basically had zero $. But we both knew God was asking for us to put our faith in Him. And He has shown Himself already through the money we have already raised. We know that God would not let us get this far and then not pull us through. We, as of right now, do not have the money to bring our children home. I know God is about to move a mountain through His people. Please be in prayer for our family!
Now here is a run down of our adoption costs.
Agency fee's ...PAID
$14,000 in country fees..we just sent a check for $7,000 yesterday. The other $7,000 will need to be paid after we pass court and the babies are legally ours. So 7,000 of the $14,000 is PAID
$10,000 for travel...this is where we are not sure where the $ is going to come from.
If you have ever felt the need to help support orphaned children now is your chance. You will be helping bring 2 babies into a loving home. Please prayerfully consider helping. I am humbly asking. Our family is depending on your help.
http://www.onehundredgoodwishes.com/family/JoleneShrock
On the side bar of my blog you can click on the good wish page to donate or click this link.
Just a side note if you are reading this and you have any fund raising ideas I would love to know about them.
God Bless
Jolene