2 years ago ...

2 years ago today we sat in front of the judge in Ethiopian court and heard the 3 sweet words that made my heart sing...

"she is yours"

And she certainly is.

Kiera could not be any more ours if she were born from my womb those 2 years ago.

She is funny, passionate and loves music, like her father. And she is sweet and caring, like her mother.

I love our little girl more than I can say and enjoy seeing her learn and grow, literally every day.

I am excited for the next 16 years that I have her in my arms, in my care; and seeing her grow into the beautiful girl and woman that I know God has designed her to be.

Thank you Lord for the blessing of being Kiera's mom and dad!

"God is Good, All the Time!"
(the song our driver had playing in the van when we all got back in after passing court)

Submitted to Court!

We received the email we have been waiting for...

"Hi Joel and Amanda – I am writing to share the great news with you that "A’s" {Silas's} file, matched up to yours, was submitted to court today.  Our next step is to wait for the courts to reconvene (and the judge to return), so that your court date can be assigned. " 

Now we wait again to be given our court date, which is also our travel date for the 1st trip. 

Praise God! 

Things are moving forward.

And good thing too, because Kiera keeps saying things like...

"We're missing something? We're missing Silas. Silas will sit right here (pats the seat beside her)" 

BTW... lately Jesus has occupied the seat on the other side of Kiera (and Mommy accidently sat on Him once, so now we have to ask). 

Thanks for all the continued prayers! 

Joel and Mandy

Adoption Awareness Concert

So, the concert last night was a blast.

Praising God

Talking about Adoption

Singing with friends 

Here are a few quick shots of the night. 

Walk by Faith

Joel and Mandy singing "One Less" by Matthew West (theme song for Kiera's adoption)

Kiera gave mommy flowers after the concert (thanks Oma)

Silas is standing

We got new pictures of or little guy today.

Wish I could share them all with you so you could see how incredibly sweet he is...he is standing now, maybe trying to walk.

We are so thankful (and jealous) to the nannies who are loving on him right now. He had gained so much in the last few months.

Thank you Lord for trusting us with Kiera and now Silas. Please let us bring him home soon.

Happy Ethiopian New Year!

As we try to combine our American culture with Ethiopian culture, this is a fun day to celebrate in our family.

Today is the 1st day of 2005 on the Ethiopian calendar.

I will never forget what happened 11 years ago in our country...and I will continue to pray for the families and our countriess leaders. But it is nice to have something to be happy about this day.

We are praying that this year (Ethiopian 2005) we will bring home our son and have our family of 4 all together for "2006".

Happy Ethiopian New Year, everyone!