Thursday, March 31, 2011
A little video for you all.
Stella was so proud to show her daddy how she can walk!! It was precious! Darin had just gotten home from work and she wanted to walk right to him! LOVE IT. Ben as usual has to be all over his Daddy too!! Darin does not get a break from the kiddos until they go to bed.
Saturday, March 26, 2011
How things are going.
A lot of people have been asking how life is now that we are all home and the only way to describe it is BUSY!
I have only been out of the house 2 times, but life is non-stop! It is constant feeding, diaper changing, napping, crying, laughing, and playing.
Claire is doing OK at best. She is having a hard time understanding why she is not getting 100% of the attention any more. She will throw herself on the ground, bang her head on the wall, and cry randomly. All of course attention getting mechanisms. So I have been trying to handle that the best way I know how. I know it will take time and eventually she will come to love her Bro and Sis. I see little glimpses of hope every now and again. So please remember her in your prayers.
Ben is just as sweet and easy as can be. I have to be very intentional with him because he easily gets lost in the mix. So I will make special time just for me and him when the girls are napping. She has a sweet innocent way about him. He is quick to smile and lots of fun to play with.
Stella is something...right now I am looking at her and she is laying on the tile licking it. HAHA She is FULL of life and personality. She is either totally HaPpY or she is MaD... and there is not much in the middle. She has the biggest smile but... She has a nasty little habit of biting.
There is a small update..its all I have time for ;)
Thank you all again for helping build our family!!
I have only been out of the house 2 times, but life is non-stop! It is constant feeding, diaper changing, napping, crying, laughing, and playing.
Claire is doing OK at best. She is having a hard time understanding why she is not getting 100% of the attention any more. She will throw herself on the ground, bang her head on the wall, and cry randomly. All of course attention getting mechanisms. So I have been trying to handle that the best way I know how. I know it will take time and eventually she will come to love her Bro and Sis. I see little glimpses of hope every now and again. So please remember her in your prayers.
Ben is just as sweet and easy as can be. I have to be very intentional with him because he easily gets lost in the mix. So I will make special time just for me and him when the girls are napping. She has a sweet innocent way about him. He is quick to smile and lots of fun to play with.
Stella is something...right now I am looking at her and she is laying on the tile licking it. HAHA She is FULL of life and personality. She is either totally HaPpY or she is MaD... and there is not much in the middle. She has the biggest smile but... She has a nasty little habit of biting.
There is a small update..its all I have time for ;)
Thank you all again for helping build our family!!
Monday, March 21, 2011
Home
Claire and Stella held hands the whole way home from the airport~
Ben loves stuffed animals!
Finally All Together!!!!
Emily came to Ethiopia with us!! When she can home my sweet brother asked her to marry him!!! YAY!!!
Tuesday, March 8, 2011
Stella and Benjamin..here we come!
The time to celebrate has finally come!
This has been a stressful, long, hard journey! But doesn't it seem like when things are that way once it comes to an end it is just that much sweeter! So it is with absolute praise to our great and mighty God that I can FINALLY say we are leaving to get them!!! In a few hours we will be on a plane!!! (huge sigh)
As I am reflecting on the "journey" to Stella and Benjamin, the thing that is most astonishing is my pure peace. I know that is a peace that could not come from me. The most amazing peaceful feeling was after being in Ethiopia and spending 8 days with our children. I did not think I would have peace at all after meeting them and then having to leave them.
I can not put into words how much it took for us to lay our son back into his crib. That was not a peaceful feeling... He was in a room with many other babies and we were not sure the next time he would be held! And the kicker was we were totally capable and able to just take him home with us...but of course we all know that is not how it works. Yet, after the heart wrenching moments we experienced shortly after walking out of the orphanage, we were at peace. HOW?!?! ...Thank you Holy Spirit for the gift of peace. I would not of been possible to make it though on our own.
Our trip to ET will be full!! We will have 5 very full days and 2 days where nothing is planned! We will take one day and spend it at Bright Future. While we are there we will be spending time in the after school program there and with the people of that surrounding town. Day 2 will be our Gotcha DAY! We will pick up Stella and Ben and then just enjoy them and spend time with the other kids at the orphanages. Day three will be a long day of traveling and visiting, 4th day will be Church with Stella's orphanage, 5 will be Embassy days 6 and 7 are open. pheeeww I am tired just writing about it ;)
I am humbling asking for your prayers! Here is just a small list of specifics.
Health for us and our babies.
Safe travels
Please pray Stella and Ben receive us well
Pray for Claire to adjust OK and for protection over her while we are gone
Our great friend Emily is coming with us, Please pray for her that she is touched forever by this trip.
Thank you again for praying for us!
~ The Shrock Family
Darin, Jolene, Claire, Benjamin & Stella
This has been a stressful, long, hard journey! But doesn't it seem like when things are that way once it comes to an end it is just that much sweeter! So it is with absolute praise to our great and mighty God that I can FINALLY say we are leaving to get them!!! In a few hours we will be on a plane!!! (huge sigh)
As I am reflecting on the "journey" to Stella and Benjamin, the thing that is most astonishing is my pure peace. I know that is a peace that could not come from me. The most amazing peaceful feeling was after being in Ethiopia and spending 8 days with our children. I did not think I would have peace at all after meeting them and then having to leave them.
I can not put into words how much it took for us to lay our son back into his crib. That was not a peaceful feeling... He was in a room with many other babies and we were not sure the next time he would be held! And the kicker was we were totally capable and able to just take him home with us...but of course we all know that is not how it works. Yet, after the heart wrenching moments we experienced shortly after walking out of the orphanage, we were at peace. HOW?!?! ...Thank you Holy Spirit for the gift of peace. I would not of been possible to make it though on our own.
Our trip to ET will be full!! We will have 5 very full days and 2 days where nothing is planned! We will take one day and spend it at Bright Future. While we are there we will be spending time in the after school program there and with the people of that surrounding town. Day 2 will be our Gotcha DAY! We will pick up Stella and Ben and then just enjoy them and spend time with the other kids at the orphanages. Day three will be a long day of traveling and visiting, 4th day will be Church with Stella's orphanage, 5 will be Embassy days 6 and 7 are open. pheeeww I am tired just writing about it ;)
I am humbling asking for your prayers! Here is just a small list of specifics.
Health for us and our babies.
Safe travels
Please pray Stella and Ben receive us well
Pray for Claire to adjust OK and for protection over her while we are gone
Our great friend Emily is coming with us, Please pray for her that she is touched forever by this trip.
Thank you again for praying for us!
~ The Shrock Family
Darin, Jolene, Claire, Benjamin & Stella
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
We have been cleared!
PRAISE THE LORD!! We have everything set up and we are all ready to go! Our flights are booked and our guest house is reserved!!
Thank you all for the thoughts and prayers! I am so excited to start our life WITH Stella and Benjamin!!
The last two days have been crazy because on Monday we found out we were cleared and we thought we could set everything up to leave this week!! So I booked flights and had everything set only to find out yesterday morning that we could not travel next week!! So yesterday was full of emotions! I was mad, then sad, I had 100 things to do!!! But by the end of the day we found out that we were 100% sure as to when we could bring Stella and Ben home!! So by the end of the day I was so EXCITED to have everything set in stone!!! WOW it is such a wonderful feeling!! There is a lot of stress relieved but now it is time to focus on preparing Claire and the house for having 2 more babies!!!
ONE WEEK!
Thank you all for the thoughts and prayers! I am so excited to start our life WITH Stella and Benjamin!!
The last two days have been crazy because on Monday we found out we were cleared and we thought we could set everything up to leave this week!! So I booked flights and had everything set only to find out yesterday morning that we could not travel next week!! So yesterday was full of emotions! I was mad, then sad, I had 100 things to do!!! But by the end of the day we found out that we were 100% sure as to when we could bring Stella and Ben home!! So by the end of the day I was so EXCITED to have everything set in stone!!! WOW it is such a wonderful feeling!! There is a lot of stress relieved but now it is time to focus on preparing Claire and the house for having 2 more babies!!!
ONE WEEK!