I dreamed...

I dreamed about meeting Mathias for the first time last night. I didn't want to wake up. It was amazing. It is the most disconnected feeling to not have your child with you... not just not with me... but oceans away. I need to be with him soon. Thank goodness Oct. 14th is approaching... the first day I will get to hold him in my arms!

The 2nd Guess

Dont you hate the 2nd guess? I know I do. When you think you should do something (or not do something) and the decision you made haunts you.
Tonight a very sweet (and sweaty) (its like 100 degrees) african-american young man in his 20's came to my door and was selling books/magazines. He was dressed very professional and had great manners. He explained that the real point of selling things was to learn people skills and how to be professional. I like to think the best about people so I believed him. I for some reason had no cash on my so I came up with $2 (and a cold 7up) to give him because I didn't want to buy a $40 book (thats crazy). He said thank you and went on his way. He never pressured the sale or made me feel uncomfortable.

When I went for a walk later in the evening I saw a Frisco cop car pulled over on the side of the road and the young man was standing next to it. The cops were in there car while he stood looking awkward on the sidewalk. He saw me walking on the other side of the street and smiled and said quietly "I think I won two tickets to chuck-e-cheese" he was obviously embarrassed and trying to make light of it.

Everything in me told me to walk over to the police car and ask what was going on. I thought I could at least give my experience with him to help his case. Soliciting is not illegal in this neighborhood. I hated to think it, but I'm pretty sure they pulled him over for his skin color... which makes me real, real mad.

I ended up not going over. I wrestled in my mind over whether the cop would get mad at me or if the guy really was a crook and I would be defending him.. basically I failed to live up to my life motto, Micah 6:8 "And what does the Lord require of you, that you seek justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with your God."

The more I think about it... the more I realize my decision was all about me. He needed my help, my voice. I failed.

Praying for forgiveness and hoping I learn from this.

Court Date!!!

So excited to receive the call today letting us know that we will get to go meet and adopt our sweet Mathias on Oct. 15th, 2013. That will be a wonderful day. We plan on staying a few days to experience Addis Ababa and his home country. Then we will say a hard goodbye and await our embassy date where we can go pick him up and bring him to his new home and family. He has one excited big brother who is ready to meet him. With the estimated times we are hoping this pickup date will be in January or early Feb. The sooner the better! Prayers appreciated!

Good News

So I never could muster up the courage to write about our first court date because we were told that everything went well and we rejoiced and then we were told, "oh never mind, the birth mom never came" soooo Ive been praying and also a little crabby for a few weeks. BUT we found out today that the birth mom has been found! Praise the Lord, thank you so much to all who prayed for this. She is willing to cooperate with the adoption but does not have any government issued ID. Our agency is working with her to get one and then she can sign the paper she needs to. So it looks like we are back on track! Our MOWA letter is still not there, which is a bummer, so please continue to pray for that!

Thank you everyone!

Court Progress.

Found out today that the 1st of 3 court dates has been set for July 9th! This is the birthmom court date. 

The only bad news is that our court date was set with such short notice, and MOWA is running at least two weeks behind, they have already let us know that the MOWA letters, which are normally there at first court, will not make it.  What this means is that the court will happen as scheduled but until that MOWA letter is there, an adoptive parent court date (2nd court) cannot be issued by the judge.  At this point there is no way to guess whether or not we will be able to travel for court before they close mid-August.  It is a possibility that it may be October before we are able to go meet Mathias. Insert sad face. I know this is all in God's hands, so I will not worry. I just pray that we meet him sooner than later. 

Prayers for crazy fast MOWA letters appreciated!!!

- Candace & Justin 

Wednesday.

Wow... Wednesday was one of those days. The days you dream about as an adoptive parent. 

When God convicted us last winter about adoption we knew there was no way we could raise ALL the funds on our own. But we were for sure that God wanted us to start the process anyways. Then begins the roller coaster of amazing people stepping up to help us bring this child into a forever home. When we first saw Mathias's face we knew that nothing would stop us from bringing him home... I mean I would have probably stood on a street corner asking people for money if needed. =) 

My sign would have been really cute, I promise! 

Thankfully God had other plans. Our community, new friends and family surrounded us with generosity and as of Wednesday the 19th we have met our fundraising goal of $30,000 which is the estimated cost of the total adoption. This includes all legal fees, document fees, and travel. I dropped to my knees in the middle of our apartment when Justin called and told me about the donation that pushed us past our goal and just cried. Although if you have a toddler you know that dropping to the floor equals being tackled... so I was also crying because Micah leveled me. 

Earlier on Wednesday morning we had received the call we had been waiting for. Our adoption case was SUBMITTED to COURT! This is huge news considering the Ethiopian government is doing some adjusting and was going to be on hold for a couple months, not accepting any new cases until October. This momma did not want any delay on bringing home my Mathias. 

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I will keep you updated as to when we will be headed to AFRICA to meet Mathias (hug, love, kiss, carry, snuggle, tickle) and adopt him, then sadly and with broken hearts we will return home without him and await our embassy date when we can return to pick him up and bring him home forever!

Thank you for your prayers! There are a lot of amazing things happening in our family during this season and we are so humbled to share our life with each and every one of you. 

Love - Justin, Candace, Micah, & Mathias

If you haven't ordered your Adoption Shirt yet, the official end date to order is JULY 1st!!!

You can do it at the link above =) 

THANK YOU!!!

The Butterfly

I took this photo last year in April and it was at a really relaxing time, Micah was a tiny baby but I was away from him for just a little bit because I had a cool opportunity to photograph a small wedding at a butterfly garden. As I sat in the peaceful garden alone this little guy landed near me, it was one of those "moments" that I will never forget. Little did I know that before God had even stirred my heart toward adoption. My son was being born that day on the other side of the world. 

Today at 1:38 on May 13th I received the call that every adoptive parents wants to get. 

"Would you consider adopting a one year old boy?"

"YES"

"ok, go check your email"

<insert ugly crying for about 30 mins>

<oh and also insert the apartment repair man who came to fix my lightbulb in the kitchen who now thinks I am a crazy lady, he asked no question, I gave no explanation for the sobbing>

These are his hands =) Im gonna hold them real soon.