I made it nice and big, so you would be sure that it is the #1 you are seeing.

We are unofficially number ...

I think I may have a heart attack before all this is over. The anticipation is more than I can bare. Being this close is soooo exciting and soooo scary all wrapped up together. I am so excited and want to meet our little girl more than anything. I am so scared, because I feel unprepared. What bottles do I use? How much formula do babies eat? (Neither of my kiddos would EVER take a bottle!) What kind of formula do I get? Should I start buying diapers? What size do I get? Is there anything else I can do to get my kiddos ready for their new sister? What else should I read to help prepare? Is my sling the right one for us? I need a new diaper bag because ours won't be big enough for three kids and their stuff. I feel like my head is about to explode...but in a good way! How am I ever going to sleep with all these questions swirling around in my brain? How am I ever going to sleep again with three kids?

I also wanted to congratulate another family on their referral today. The Meade family were introduced to their 10 week old daughter today.

Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. John 14:27

But these things I plan won’t happen right away. Slowly, steadily, surely, the time approaches when the vision will be fulfilled. If it seems slow, be patient! For it will surely take place. It will not be late by a single day. Habakkuk 2:3

Best guess, John Piper and 50th post

I am guessing after all the referrals that went out in the past two weeks that we are at least

and possibly even...

Also, I know this sermon has been posted a few times before, but it is soooo awesome I wanted to post it too in case someone misssed it. Here is the link to John Piper's Predestined for Adoption to the Praise of His Glory: Reflections on Being Adopted by God and Adopting Children. I am providing the link so you can choose to watch it, listen to it or read it. (I am a visual learner so I do much better reading!) If you haven't had a chance, take a peek or a listen.

I just noticed this is my 50th post. Wow, I usually don't have that much to say-lol.

After 6 weeks and 2 days we are ...

and may even be ...

Apparently their is another girl referral out there that has not been accepted, but Christy said we would be 18 if it is. Five-six spots is not bad for being on the list 6 weeks. Praise God for all those kids being united with families and thank you God for bringing us a little closer to our girl!

How Awesome Are Your Deeds
To the choirmaster. A Song. A Psalm.

66:1 Shout for joy to God, all the earth;

2 sing the glory of his name;give to him glorious praise!

3 Say to God, “How awesome are your deeds!So great is your power that your enemies come cringing to you.

4 All the earth worships you and sings praises to you;they sing praises to your name.” Selah

5 Come and see what God has done:he is awesome in his deeds toward the children of man.

6 He turned the sea into dry land;they passed through the river on foot.There did we rejoice in him,

7 who rules by his might forever,whose eyes keep watch on the nations—let not the rebellious exalt themselves. Selah

8 Bless our God, O peoples;let the sound of his praise be heard,

9 who has kept our soul among the living and has not let our feet slip.

10 For you, O God, have tested us;you have tried us as silver is tried.

11 You brought us into the net;you laid a crushing burden on our backs;

12 you let men ride over our heads;we went through fire and through water;yet you have brought us out to a place of abundance.

13 I will come into your house with burnt offerings;I will perform my vows to you,

14 that which my lips uttered and my mouth promised when I was in trouble.

15 I will offer to you burnt offerings of fattened animals,with the smoke of the sacrifice of rams;I will make an offering of bulls and goats. Selah

16 Come and hear, all you who fear God,and I will tell what he has done for my soul.

17 I cried to him with my mouth,and high praise was on my tongue.

18 If I had cherished iniquity in my heart,the Lord would not have listened.

19 But truly God has listened;he has attended to the voice of my prayer.

20 Blessed be God,because he has not rejected my prayer or removed his steadfast love from me!

1 month down

and only 5-7 more to go! I spoke to our case manager today, because I wanted to check on our parameters. I also asked about the wait and we do fall into the 6-8 month wait because of our large number on the list. That got me thinking and I went and checked a few blogs to see how long the wait for referrals has been so far. On the blogs, the longest wait to this point has been 18 weeks, although there are those still waiting for a referral that are up to 19 weeks and beyond. These are families who started out at #15. We started at #24, so we have a waaaaaaaayyyyyyyyyyysssssssssss to go.

Praying for those families that have been waiting so long. It has got to be hard to be so close to your babes, yet not quite there.

About waiting, doesn't immediate gratification take away from some of the pleasure of what you desire? I would not love this child any less if I had her in my arms tomorrow, but this time God gives me waiting for her can be a gift if I let it. He has changes to make in all of us, if we allow him. What can I do with this time to make myself a better person/mother? How can I better prepare myself for a third child? Don't worry, next month (or maybe even tomorrow) I will be cursing the wait.

Also, Christy wouldn't change my numbers. She said she would call next week and they are waiting for acceptances. Are these new referrals we haven't heard about or the ones from the last week? Wishful thinking, I know.

Unofficially we have a ...

Ok, my best calculations put us at 21! Our amazing God has united four families (three were on the girl list) with their children this week. I hope to have our monthly call and update soon, since I haven't had one since the beginning of April. Then I will know our numbers positively.

Praise God for the referrals!

It looks like a trickle of referrals has begun. I pray that God opens some floodgates and unites these children with their families. There are dozens of children at Hannah's Hope. Let's bring them home Lord!

(I know of three referrals so far: Carrie (boy), Michelle (siblings) & Karen (girl) had info about another on her blog. That puts us unofficially at #22!)

And the winner is...

(Ok, so it seems some of you weren't getting my clue.

My fault! This is Keifer Sutherland in "24")

I don't know if I would have found out today, but I wanted to tell my case worker congratulations and that I hoped she had a great vacation since this is her last day. (She is graduating from college and is taking a little time off before coming back to AGCI full-time.) I thought I would be able to tell her on the phone when she called to tell me our number, but since I had not received a call by 4, I just e-mailed her. I did not mention the numbers, even though it was killing me not to. She very casually responded with a thanks and my numbers. She obviously did not understand that everyone who is supposed to get a number has been waiting by the phone all day!

This is my phone not ringing....


And it is still not ringing....

No news...

is not good news!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

How can they drop this fabulous bombshell on us and expect us to wait to hear anything from them?

7:45 am PST-Ok, I know they are not in the office yet, but maybe??
8:35 am PST - Come on already, I have to leave soon!
9:02 am PST - OH no my cell phone battery is dead. Give it a quick charge before I have to leave.
9:30 am PST -Heading out the door with nothing!
11:46 am PST-Run home to check just in case
12:25 pm PST-Home for the rest of the day..maybe I'll hear something
12:31 pm PST-E-mail from Julie stating we will have to wait until Monday to get our number. I am glad they at least told us, so I am not expecting news any second!

Until Monday....Sharon inspired me to have a poll.

What number will we be on the girl's list?

(Add your guess to the comments and on the poll in the right hand column.)

FYI: On the last update there were 16 on the girl's list. There are EIGHTEEN dossiers in office, authentication, en route to Ethiopia, or in Ethiopia waiting for CIS and I would guess they all get numbers too! Our dossier was accepted on April 2. What's your guess? Sherlock Michelle I am expecting you to be the closest with your keen detective skills!!

Jumping for Joy!!!

That is what I was doing when I came home from getting my haircut this afternoon. My mom was watching the kiddos for me and I thought I would check my e-mail real quick to see if there was anything important. What a surprise when I saw I had 8 new e-mails. I read the first one from Michelle and it said something like "I am freaking out for you!!!!! You will be a number this week!!!!! Are you so happy?" I had no idea what she was talking about. The next said something similar and so on until I got to the one from our agency stating the change in procedure and then I understood what everyone was so excited about. It just warms my heart to have other families to go through this experience with and share the ups and downs.

So what am I rambling on about you ask. I think God works in funny ways sometimes. We have had lots of prayers in the last few weeks (thank you everyone for supporting us) that we would receive our FDL, so that we could finally be a number on the list and be waiting for the referral of our daughter. Well our FDL has not come, but we get to be a number and begin the real wait for our little girl!!!

I have been frustrated with the process, because we will wait up to 4 months for our FDL and then have to wait another 6 months for our referral. I never understood why we couldn't be waiting for both at the same time. I guess since the referral time has increased AGCI realized that we could wait for both our referral and our FDL at the same time.

What this means for us is that we will be put on the list in the order that dossiers were received at AGCI. I have no idea where that will put us on the list. I know there are at least 16 families before us on the girl's list and expect that there will be another half dozen or so put on before us due to the recent changes. I am guessing we will be in the 20-25 range, but again that is just a wild guess. Hopefully I will hear from our case worker tomorrow with some sort of news and will post it as soon as I know! I am just so excited to be officially waiting!!!!

Thank you everyone for your support along the way and I am glad to be able to share our joy today with you.