Testing, testing.....1,2,3

The last time we were in Ethiopia, we did not have much of a chance to use the internet....so we weren't able to post on the blog.   We are not sure if things will be better this time or not, but if they ARE, we have to post via email....so that is what I am trying to do here!  Hopefully, we will even be able to send a picture or two...NO PROMISES!

Please be praying as we continue to prepare for the trip of a lifetime!!

Hannah's Hope, here we come!  We can't wait to walk through THIS gate!     :)

Planning, packing, patio and puppies!!

Wow!! It is CRAZY here!

We finally have tickets purchased to Ethiopia to bring Derek home! We leave in 6 short days....so it has been crazy here! We have been making lists, gathering & packing donations, talking about what to expect...and trying to maintain our sanity!

We did a couple of things 2 months ago that have added to the chaos (decisions we made back when we assumed the courts would close and we wouldn't have Derek home for a long time) ....

1) We started a remodeling project! It has become obvious that the project will NOT be finished...but Chad has been busy trying to get as much done as possible. This week it has been the patio. And I LOVE it!! I can't wait to sit out there and soak up some sun!

2) We thought it would be fun for Sugar to have a litter of puppies, so we found her a boxer-husband and she delivered her pups Sunday. Won't that be fun to come home to? HA! (It sounded fun when we thought they would have found them their OWN homes BEFORE Derek came home!!) :)

So, that's the scoop here! Crazy, but VERY blessed!!!
Stay tuned!

"He has the sweetest smile in the world...."

We received an update on little Derek (had I officially mentioned that will be his name??!!). This was our "Preparatory Update"....as in PREPARING TO COME HOME UPDATE!!!!

The update had some fun info about his daily schedule...like the "laying in the sun/massage" time from 9:00-11:40 a.m.! When we visited Hannah's Hope in January, we were there during this "sun" time, and it was such a JOY to see all the babies outside. In some orphanages, babies don't get outside much, if at all. But at Hannah's Hope, they are outside every day!!

The update also had the word that I was sooooooo waiting to hear: "SMILE"!!!!
In the ((few)) pictures that we have of Derek, we have yet to see him smile. He looks so sad in most of them. But listen to this description....straight from Ethiopia:

"Personality -- Dereje is content baby most of the time and has the sweetest smile in the world. He is an intellectual little guy; he takes it all in first before he warms up to you. He loves being outdoors and looking at anything that moves."

Music to my ears.
I guess he is waiting for us to see his smile for the first time IN PERSON.

He has also gained a little weight. He is up to a whopping 18 pounds at 15 months old (by the way, he is 15 months old TODAY!). That still puts him super low on the growth curve, but is great progress from when he came in to Hannah's Hope at 14 pounds!!

We are still waiting to get confirmation on our travel dates. If our appointment at the US Embassy in Ethiopia is confirmed, we are hoping to book flights for September 2nd.

Our family wants to thank you ALL for the kind words, BUT MOST OF ALL for all of your prayers!
Please continue to pray for our family as we prepare to BRING DEREK HOME!!!!

CELEBRATE!!!!!!

It is with very happy hearts that we are letting you all know WE PASSED COURT!!!
Praise God!!
Our little guy is now FOREVER a member of the Timmons family!
We are absolutely amazed at how God has put this adoption on the "fast track" to home!

All God's Children gave us tentative travel dates of September 6-10, but we are hoping to go a couple days early to see the amazing things that have been happening since we were there in January (more details on that to come!)

As of right now, we are planning on all FIVE of us traveling to Ethiopia....and all SIX of us traveling home! Please pray about that as we try to make the arrangements!

:)
Oh Happy Day!!!!!

PLEASE PRAY!!!!

In a few minutes it will be Wednesday, August 12, 2009 in Ethiopia.
August 12, 2009.
Our court date.

Sometime in the next 18 hours or so, a judge in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia will review the file on the Timmons family... and review the circumstances of little 14 month old boy living at Hannah's Hope Orphange. And, IF GOD SO CHOOSES, the judge will declare that sweet little boy PERMANENTLY AND FOREVER A MEMBER OF THE TIMMONS FAMILY.

Oh how we pray.

There are several documents and people that must all be in place for us to "pass court"....and every T must be crossed...and every I must be dotted. But we certainly serve a God who is way bigger than I's and T's....so we will pray.

We will post as soon as we know anything (it sometimes can take a day or two to get info) and then we talk about all the fun stuff that comes next...

Blessed AGAIN

Our heads are spinning.
It is beyond belief, really.
For some reason (say God) the Ethiopian courts have continued to schedule court dates into August (they usually shut down at the end of July for the 2 month "rainy season").....and we are so blessed to be one of them!!!

That's right .... we have court date AUGUST 12!!!!
This is good news. GREAT news!!

What it means: On August 12, our adoption will presented to the Ethiopian court. There are several things that must happen for us to "pass court"....but once we pass court, the sweet boy (who I can't wait to tell you more about and show you FULL pictures of) will officially, legally, and PERMANENTLY be a Timmons!!!! And come home!!!

Please pray for the court preparation.
and Please pray for our travel preparations, too.

And, while you are busy praying....can you please also pray for the families who are waiting for similar news?....we have been very blessed to make "fast friends" with 3 other families who all received referrals around the same time we did (lots of emails and prayers already!) ...1 of the families is still waiting on their good news. Please pray for them! :)

What's on our minds....

"My Story" (aka. "Deep-ish thoughts during oxygen deprivation")

I do not remember what song was playing through my headphones. Was it some of Mac Powell's lyrics that got me thinking? Or maybe Chris? David? Jeremy? or maybe it was that Sara Groves song that makes me want to cry. every. single. time.

Or maybe it wasn't a song at all.

Maybe it was Him.....The Author.

Anyway, I started thinking (as I often do about 2 miles into my run....when my oxygen level probably starts to drop). I started thinking about where we are in life right now. Thinking about what I might have missed if I had written my own story to this point.

The last two days I have been overwhelmed with gratitude. Thankfulness. Total amazement of the blessings. Not the material blessings (sometimes I think they are the actually the burden).....no, not the material things, but the opportunities, the people, the experiences...

And had I been holding the pen, writing the story myself....I would have missed out on so much.

I would not have authored the trying years that led to our first adoption. But then I may never have appreciated the total joy of getting to become a mama again!

I would not have wanted to include the very rocky, painful chapter of loving Isaac from afar for 8 months and then letting him go. But then I might have never known the joy of a boy named Micah and the blessing of friend named Stacy.

I would not begin to know how to introduce a scene that led to a burden for Ethiopia's orphans.
I would never have the creativity to include a mission trip "on the spur of the moment".
But then I would have never seen all those little brown faces, held their little hands, learned of their painful struggles...and I am not sure we would have ever had the necessary passion to give one of them a family of their own.

That's the thing.
There are so many times when I have wanted to grab the pen. Hurry the story along. Change the scenery. Edit out the waiting, or the tears, or the uncertainty.

But I am thankful for a Heavenly Father with strong hands....a strong grip on the pen...a Sovereign Author who is writing a story that is deeper, wider, bigger, more fun, more exciting, more blessed, more full, more colorful and more true than anything I could have ever thought of!!!

If I were holding the pen right now, my next post would announce a court date and talk about bringing our newest son home in a month or two. But I don't hold the pen. And when I look back over the chapters that have already gone to print....I am thankful for that fact!!

But I still am hoping and praying that God and I are on the same page on this one! :)

"No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him" 1 Corinthians 2:9

Please pray!!!!

We are blessed and excited and hopeful and nervous and......

We would love to show you the whole picture (and someday we will!)
We would love to tell you more about him (and someday we will!)

But, international adoption laws clearly state that we can't.
And so we won't.
BUT SOMEDAY SOON WE WILL!!!

We are praying that we will be granted a court date before the Ethiopian courts close for the months of August and September.
Will you please pray, too?!

Back from vacation...and on the list!!

We had a great time on vacation! At the last minute, because we had so much fun last year, we decided to go back to Yellowstone and Montana (instead of the historical tour of the the East coast that we had been planning). It was beautiful....BEAUTIFUL!! The kids was fabulous travelers....3,615 miles (with ZERO DVD's)! I have been guilty of giving my friend Colleen a hard time about vacationing every year to the Yellowstone area (saying things like "You know, there are other beautiful parts of the country you should see!") ....well, lets just say that I made my list of things we want to do "next year"...uhumm...oops, I meant, next time?!?!

This year we decided to stay a couple of nights in Montana, so we found a little cabin to rent. Check out the view from our little cabin in the Beartooth Mountains!!


On a super happy note:
The day before we left for vacation, our dossier was approved and we were put on the waiting list at 10! Crazy! That should translate into a referral in the next 3 to 4 months....of course, it could be sooner or later than that! If there is one thing we learned through Micah's adoption, it's that God is IN CONTROL, and His TIMING IS PERFECT!!!

Good-bye Dossier...may you have swift and safe travel!!!

Yeah!!
After a couple of months of gathering paper after paper after paper....our dossier is done and should be on its way to Portland, Oregon!



Once it arrives, All God's Children will review it...if everything is in order....then we finally get to wait some more! :)

Maybe at this point I should mention....

It's not that we were keeping it a secret, it's just that I haven't been posting at all lately (what? you noticed?!?!)

But, for those of you that didn't already know...we are adopting again!!!!
This time, from Ethiopia.
We have been gathering all the paperwork and praying like crazy for God's hand in all this!
Hopefully, our completed home study will arrive in the mail tomorrow, I will do some quick photocopying and GET OUR DOSSIER SENT IN TO ALL GOD'S CHILDREN!

For those of you who know the "adoption lingo" and love timelines as much as I do...I have added our adoption timeline to the sidebar.

We ask that you would please join us in praying for:
*God's timing
*the sweet child(ren) who will become part of our family
*preparation of our family (especially Brock, Erica and Micah)
*God's perfect sovereign hand to been directing the path ahead of us!!

If there is one thing we learned through Micah's adoption, it's that God's plan and timing are perfect and WELL worth waiting for!!!!

Stay tuned!

Obviously Third Day left me speechless....

Wow! Seriously...2 months???
Obviously that last post took alot out of me! :)

Much has happened since I last posted.
Just to name a few:

Brock turned 15!!!!!


Erica and I made a special visit to Stacy's over Spring Break!!!


AND WE HAVE DECIDED TO ADOPT AGAIN!!!
In case you hadn't heard.
This time from Ethiopia!!!

We are waiting for our home study to be written up and approved, and then we will submit our dossier and see what God has in store for us!!
:)
Please add that to your prayer list!

Maybe next time they will play in my living room!!

Happy Birthday to me!
Chad took me out for dinner for my birthday...and we just so happened to take in a Third Day concert while we were out!!!
Our seats were not "great"...but they were MUCH BETTER when the band came up to play right in front of us...and I mean RIGHT there. If I was any closer, I would have been playing the guitar myself! What fun!



They were so gracious as to play 4 songs for my private concert (I managed to convince myself that they did it for MY birthday!) and I was loving every minute of it, of course!

I should offer a brief moment of silence for the fact that this was the first Third Day show I have ever been to without Carrie (I think the band was wondering why she wasn't there beside me!?!?!) because she was busy being a good mama!

But I think I may have a new Third Day fan in the family....Chad REALLY enjoyed his first Third Day show!!
:)

By the way, I am still planning on posting the details of our trip to Ethiopia...even if it is on the anniversary of our trip.

"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord

"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. "

Jeremiah 29:11

Happy Birthday, sweet Isaac!

[[[ I originally wrote this post 2 years ago, on Isaac's 2nd birthday. As I read it again today, I was once again convinced that the words grow more true as more time passes. Perhaps some year, on this day I will post something different. But today, this still speaks from my heart...please, OH PLEASE, say a prayer for this little boy tonight!! ]]]

Somewhere in Guatemala, Isaac turned 4 years old today! We trust that the Lord is keeping him safe, as we continue to pray for him as a family. It would mean so much today if you all would take a minute to lift him up in prayer as well!!

When I think back over the 8 months that we called Isaac "ours"...I am reminded that our most important task as parents is to entrust our children into the Lord's hands....to remember that they are HIS first and foremost. I will be honest in saying that at times my heart aches for our "loss"...and I try to make sense of it all....but the reality is, we serve a sovereign God who makes NO mistakes...Isaac was (and continues to be) a beautiful part of the Master's plan for the Timmons family.

One of the songs that will always, always, always remind me of our adoption journey is "Blessed Be Your Name"...

Blessed be your name
In the land that is plentiful
Where the streams of abundance flow
Blessed be your name

Blessed be your name
When I'm found in the desert place
Though I walk through the wilderness
Blessed be your name

Every blessing you pour out,
I turn back to praise
When the darkness closes in, Lord
Still I will say...
Blessed be the name of the Lord
Blessed be your name
Blessed be the name of the Lord
Blessed be your glorious name

Blessed be your name
When the sun's shining down on me
When the world's all as it should be
Blessed be your name

Blessed be your name
On the road marked with suffering
Though there's pain in the offering
Blessed be your name

Every blessing you pour out,
I turn back to praise
When the darkness closes in, Lord
Still I will say...
Blessed be the name of the Lord
Blessed be your name
Blessed be the name of the Lord
Blessed be your glorious name

You give and take away
You give and take away
My heart will choose to say
Lord, Blessed be your name

Rock Star Cousins!!

And let me tell you...these cutie-pies were jammin'!


Every time I see them playing together....EVERY TIME...I continue to think of God's sovereign hand!! These two sweet lives born worlds apart (Micah in Guatemala, Faith in China)...now cousins living just 20 minutes away! :) Miracle upon miracle! We are blessed beyond measure!

"I Saw What I Saw"

I feel like I am doing this all backwards...posting this video before I have told who the people are.
But, the video is done. And I thought I would share.

"What now?"

"WHAT NOW??"
That was the question Dave, the leader of our Ethiopia trip, asked us to think about each day.
It seems a little odd to post about "What Now" before I have even posted about our trip...but the "What now?" is where my focus has been these last 10 days...so I will share a little bit about that first:

When God first called Chad & I to adopt Micah, our eyes were opened to the many needs of orphaned, abandoned, and impoverished children of the world. Over the past year, our compassion for these children has grown.

A couple of months ago, we began to consider the possibility of starting a not-for-profit organization as a way to do more to help these often forgotten children. On our recent trip to Ethiopia, God confirmed this desire and ignited a fire to get started.

Today, I introduce you to: Hope For His Children


The purpose of Hope For His Children is two-fold:
1) To increase awareness among our family, friends, church and community regarding the desperate needs of orphaned, abandoned, and impoverished children of the world.
2) To generate support for orphaned, abandoned and impoverished children in the form of: financial contributions, donations of various supplies, prayer commitments and mission trips.

We are very anxious to get started...and, well, in fact...we ARE started!

Here are the exciting things that have happened already:
*We are officially incorporated as a nonprofit organization according the laws of Indiana!!
*We have drafted bylaws and established our initial Board of Directors.
*We have obtained a Federal Tax ID number.
*We have applied for tax exemption in Indiana.
*We have set up an account to distribute contributions.
*We have sent a package of much-needed medication to Ethiopia!
*We are in the process of applying with the IRS for our 501 (c)(3).

You will certainly be hearing more about Hope For His Children in the future...but if God is moving in your heart TODAY to get involved, please let me know...some exciting things are already beginning!!

As for the details of our trip, my plan is to start posting a "day-by-day" journal of our time in Ethiopia. I pray that it will be a blessing to you, and a great refresher for me! So....stay tuned.....

A very inadequate post.

I just wanted to post to let everyone know that we made it back home safely!
Our trip to Ethiopia was amazing.
As we have started to share with family and friends, we are learning that there are really not adequate words.
There are so many emotions, it seems impossible to process all of it.
I will certainly post more in the near future (as I wade through my hundreds of pictures)!!

Grateful

We are very blessed to have received so many donations for Ethiopia.
Tonight we started weighing and sorting.
89 pounds of formula so far!
and 14 pairs of kids' shoes!!
Not to mention soccer balls, Bible story coloring books, vitamins, etc.


Please continue to pray as the trip gets closer (only 3 more days to prepare!!! can that possibly be right?).