Leaving the country...

So this is the first blog post that I have ever wrote (this is Jon by the way) and I have much to say. We are currently sitting at Washington Dulles waiting for our 8:30 flight to Addis Ababa. We left Boston only a few hours ago and already God has been absolutly amazing to us. Just to help you understand how well things have gone let me just say this, our first flight arrived 15 minutes early. Yea thats right, flying with one of the worst airlines for delays and lost baggage we arrived early!

As I was packing the past three nights I have been worried about the extra fees we might have to pay because all our luggage was well over the weight limit. We tried to pack as light as possible but one bag in particular was almost 20 pounds to heavy! When we went to the counter to check in, the employee helping us said she would let all the bags go though without a hitch. She did warn us however that Ethiopian Airlines may charge us extra on the long trans-atlantic flight.

After our flight arrived in DC early we had to stand in another line to get our next set of tickets. It was while we were in this queue that we met two women flying back home to Addis Ababa. Both have come from different parts of the country and had different stories but they have already befriended us and provided us with their contact information while we are all in country! They even taught us how to say "I love you" in Amharic. While I sit here two other ladies from NYC who are from Ethiopia just ohhed and ahhed over Talo's picture!

After recieving our tickets we went to look for something to eat while we wait for the flight. On the way we met a couple who lives in southern NH that has adopted 2 children from Ethiopia. They have even started a business there to help with the poverty over there. So suffice it to say that God is most definatly is lighting our path!

Well, until we land again I'm going to sign off. That for all your prayers!

-Jonathan

We are in The US this weekend. . . But God is Faithful.

Early this week we received news that we would not be able to travel this weekend. Still holding out hope and praying for a miracle I did not want to post until today. However, it is official one of the things needed for our embassy appointment is not ready yet and will not be ready until next week. Our agency is very hopeful that we will be able to travel next Saturday and we should have confirmation on Monday about our new travel dates of September 19th to October 2nd.

Please pray for the employees of the US embassy to have soft hearts for our case and that we would be able to travel without any further delay!! Satan is real and active and always in opposition to what God's wants to do. We do feel attacked by Satan yet we keep saying God's promise in 1 John4:4 where God says "Greater is He who is in us than he who is in the World." It may only be a week delay but it is the emotions of trying to have faith that we are really going to get our Son only to hear "not yet". I want to have faith that we are leaving next Saturday but the flesh part of me that is always at war with the Spirit of God in me says "guard your heart you don't want to get hurt again".

But as Jon and spend time with God everyday (together and individually) we realize there is a theme in our journey to bring Talo home and that is God's Faithfulness! He is so faithful to be with us. Notice I didn't say spare us from hard times but to be with us in the hard times. My friend Lauren sent me this verse this week, a verse I have read a hundred times but is takes on new meaning to me today.

"Let the morning bring me word of your unfailing love, for I have put my trust in you." Psalm 143:8

In these past few weeks Satan has attacked my mind with horrible nightmares even having Talo in my dream last night. But what a joy I have that when I awake I can go and be before Jesus, write to him my fears, read God's Word and have Him renew my mind with his unfailing Love and Faithfulness.


God is so faithful to us and so faithful to be there every morning, noon and evening when I so desperately need my mind cleansed. Jon came home last night and just spent time reading the Bible and being with God. Jon can't be everything to me and I can't be everything to Jon. Talo can't even be everything to us, but Jesus can. I am learning that more and more as I feel crushed down and then refreshed as soon as I set my mind on Him. Remembering who He is and all He is to me. He is so faithful! And if you don't know Jesus like this, my greatest wish for you is that you would.

My Jesus bleed a died not to take away our pain but to save me and you a sinner from a life separated from God now and forever. Jon and I may not have Talo in our arms yet... but we have Jesus in our hearts forever and through the tears and human emotions we say He is faithful to be all we need. I love you Jesus more today than yesterday because the more I suffer the more I realize and experience your faithfulness.

Until God's next move, Jolene (for Jolene, Jon and Talo).

Please watch this video as it is on of my favorite Christian artists who has an amazing testimony of God's faithfulness in His life. The second video is the song he talks about.

Thanks Everyone!!!!

WOW!!!! We have been so blessed by all of you!!!!!!!!!!!!

Jon and I just want to say thank you to everyone who has given to us in these last few weeks. Since my last post we have been blessed beyond our imagination. We just are in awe at how God continues to provide through the loving hearts of all our family and friends.

First the cards have just continue to pour in with gifts of money in amounts we would never have dared to ask for! Thank you to all of you who have sent cards. We are so grateful and whether you believe it or not you have been used by God to bring Talo home. With all of your money we have been able to buy him clothes, toys, sippy cups, food, booster seat for the table, a potty seat, books, and a few other things! So know your gifts were not unused!

Second thank you to my friends at work who first and foremost have been so supportive in our adoption. Working in labor and delivery has made this whole process very interesting for us but all of my friends at work have joined in the celebration of our adoption. They have come to see that adoption is not plan B and it is just as special as delivery a child by birth. You guys have been such an encouragement to me, never making me feel as though adoption is second best. The women at work love Talo and they even took a cash collection for him! Yesterday
I felt like a money collector when they handed me a card with over $300 in it!!! Thank you guys so much. You have never made me feel like Talo is second best.

(To the girls at work:I hate to admit it but I am a crazy/true primip reading all the adoption books, buying the BPA free cups, crying all the time, and packing way to much for our delivery in Ethiopia! We even have a video camera!ahhhh!)

We also just wanted to thank one of my friends at work who gave me some great gifts
for Talo and two of my favorites were these books she found. I cried when I saw them and Jon and I read them last night. These will be two of our most treasured gifts! Thanks Toni!



Third thanks goes to my friends Jessie and Jenn who planned an awesome little shower for me with some friends from church. They totally surprised us too. I knew we were going over for a little celebration but Jon and I were like dear in the headlights when we walked in. I immediately became all teared up and there were more friends there than I thought were coming. They had Talo's picture everywhere. Even on the cake! The theme was Ethiopia and America, bringing Talo home! Jenn made a quilt of the Ethiopian flag and Jessie made a cake with our flag and his coming together. There were even M&M's in his country's flag's colors. Jon and I were so amazed that when the guys went to take Jon away so the shower could begin both of us were like "where is he going?". Then it hit us, this is our shower!!! Here are some pictures from the night! Thank you girls so much, and thank you to everyone who came and gave. Talo has the cutest clothes and best toys around!









I think God just so proves Himself when things seem immposible. While in some of the worst economic times for this country;God has provided thousans of dollars and tons of gifts. What other God could do that?!

"I have set the LORD always before me. Because He is at my right hand. I will not be shaken." Psalm 16:8

Our Ever Changing Talo!

"I am the LORD, the God of all mankind. Is anything too hard for me?" Jeremiah 32:26

Our son is ever changing and we are amazed at God's work in him. From the first pictures of him at 25lbs with just such sadness in his eyes, we now see a joyful little guy who is up to 30lbs. Goodbye to the 2T clothes we had bought and hello 3T! He may be way too short at 32 inches for the 3T but our little man is gaining weight quickly and we are overjoyed to be buying bigger clothes!

As you can also see it looks like they gave Talo a haircut! I was so sad to see his curls gone, I loved them so much! But it will grow back and we can't wait to see it grow in even healthier than before. This is something else we read in our update and I know you will be blessed by it.
"He is so sweet! He smiles a lot. He has become very active and sociable. He likes to run and wrestle with the kids. He has a nick name, Alazar (Lazarus in English). He likes it when the nannies call him Alazar. They gave him this name because he was so thin and sick when he comes to the Transitional home but now he is fat and healthy so they say God has raised him from the dead like Lazarus in the Bible."
Isn't God just truly amazing, that He would chose to place Talo in our home just blows my mind. We are so grateful for him!

Here are just some other updates from this week. We actually have our TRAVEL DATES and we will be headed to Ethiopia on Saturday September 12th and flying out from Ethiopia on Friday Septmeber 25th.(more on this later, please just pray for us to be prepared for our trip and for Talo to be prepared for us to come). AHHHH! So exciting on 2 weeks away!

Another blessing this week was the gift of a car seat! I was so blessed to get to go out with a great friend of mine and she wanted to buy us a car seat for Talo. So off we went and I got to spend the day with her and her boys (1 1/2 year old twin boys who are so sweet!) and I left with an amazing gift! Thank you Tananya.

Here is Jon trying to figure it out! I wish Talo came out of the box with the car seat!



God also did amazing things by blessing us with money which we have been using to purchase all the things one needs for a toddler. Clothes, shoes, food for our trip, sippy cups and so much more. Here are all the cards that came in this past week. Jon's brother drew the one with the two parents and little kid. I love it Ben! Thank you to all the women at work who gave so much, you guys have been wonderful to us. Also Thank You to our extended family who has sent us cards and to my Aunt and Uncle who gave us a bed and dresser for Talo. We are so overwhelmed by God's provision.

So, people keep asking what else we need and truly we just need money. We have about $8,000 in travel cost from our plane tickets and hotel fees and in country travel. So for those of you who have asked that is really what we need. We will update you all again soon. To God be the glory He is doing all of this!!! Oh we just Love God and love our Talo~!

"And my God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus." Philippians 4:19

Introducing God's Grace to Us!

Praise be to the LORD! We passed court today and here is our son Talo (His Ethiopian name which we are keeping!)He is almost 2 1/2 years old.

We already see God at work in his little life as these are not our first pictures of him. Here are the first pictures we saw of him back in June.

We just prayed so earnestly that He would feel God's love and that God would heal the grief in His little heart. We prayed that he would attach to the nannies at the transition home and he has. Our update states that he gets jealous when the Nannie has to take care of other children. And it is evident from his smiles that he feels God's love! Oh We love him so much! This is the miracle of adoption!

God was so amazing last night in how He works as I talked to my dearest friend Lauren who prayed with me over the phone as I cried. Jon and I had been praying endlessly together but I still felt just like God didn't want us to pass court yet, like he wanted us to go through another hard time. I wasn't angry at God I just felt like "what if it's God's will for us to have to wait longer." Then Lauren prayed that God's will would be done on earth as it is in heaven. She prayed how God has already chosen Talo to be our son. It is decided in Heaven before the world began that we would be a family. But on earth there is sin and human error and roadblocks. So when she prayed it would happen on earth as it is in heaven. I knew without any more doubts that it was God's will to bring Talo home. Passing court makes Talo legally our son, and I had been relying too much on the actual court forgetting that God had already chosen Talo as our son. After praying she read to me this verse out of Isaiah 30:18. I know this verse is going to be so much for Talo as it was God's promise to me that He would bring Talo home. I had asked God to speak to me through his word and he did! God did Justice and how wrong of me to forget that God longs to be compassionate and gracious to us!

"Therefore the LORD longs to be gracious to you,

And therefore He waits on high to have compassion on you.

For the LORD is a God of justice;

How blessed are all those who long for Him." Isaiah 30:18

The first time Jon saw Talo's picture he was at work and he had music playing on his computer. As he opened Talo's picture to see his face for the firt time this song began. God is so good!

We did not Pass Court But. . .

Well, as I am sure many of you already know we did not pass court on Friday. One of the people involved in our little guy's case did not show up. So we began another time of waiting. Hearing the news that we did not pass court was so hard and we did cry and wish we had passed. However, we had prayed for God's will to be done and fully believe it was. But then I wonder do my prayers make a difference? Is God hearing what we are crying out to him for? How do I pray in Faith knowing that God is going to do His will and that it may not be my will.

As we seek God every day we both can see how He is deepening and strengthening our faith in Him. We are learning that truly no matter what we may want His will is always perfect and always best. Our hearts burn to have our son home and take him everywhere; the ocean, long walks, hiking, traveling to meet our relatives and so much more. Yet even though this is our passion and desire God has said wait. Wait and trust me and yes keep praying. Because even though I may feel my prayers did not make a difference the Bible and truth of God's Word tells me he does hear and answer our prayers. Emotions can not determine the truths of what I KNOW to be true about God.

Satan may come and try to make us doubt. He may come and try to plant worries in our minds about what lies ahead for us in our life with our son. However, these are only false emotions and attacks from the enemy and we are blessed by the Victory we have in Christ. For God says. . .

"Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen." Hebrews 11:1

Before court we just prayed that God's will would be done and that whatever would bring Him more glory would take place. So to God be the glory and to God be the glory because He has given us a new court date! Our case will go before the judge again while we sleep tonight and the LORD will decide when our son comes home. It is in His hands.

As I felt discouraged today I knew I needed to just praise God and this is the song that I sang! God is so amazing and we love Him so much. To Him be the Glory!

Our Court Date!

August 7th, that is our court date!
In Ethiopia on August 7th, all of our paperwork is taken to the Ethiopian Court to the area that handles adoptions. A judge will look over all of our paperwork along will all of our little guy's paperwork and will make a ruling on whether or not he legally becomes our child. Passing court is a huge deal, it makes the child officially yours in Ethiopia and once we pass court we are able to travel to pick him up and bring him home.

Our adoption agency told us that 40% of the families do not pass court on the first time. Paperwork could be missing, someone may not show up, or the judge may have questions on the orphan status of the child. Ethiopia takes the ethical side of adoptions very seriously and they want to make sure things are being done in integrity and in a legal ethical manner. In the world of international adoption problems can occur where people try to sell their children for money and Ethiopia wants to make sure this is not the case in each adoption.

So truly it is all in God's hands. We pray so much that we will pass court the first time on August 7th. We so desperately want to bring our son home and once we pass court we will be able to post his pictures on our blog and share him with all of you.

Please pray for us as we continue to wait. We long to be united with Him and just continue to pray that He will receive our love but most importantly receive God's love for Him by coming to know Jesus as his Savior. God has been so faithful to us in this whole process and we just can not wait to share Jesus with our little guy. As we wait for Him we continue to trust and know that God loves Him more than we do and He is holding him in His hands. Please pray for the judge to have everything they need on the 7th, to pass our case.

Tonight I was thinking how can I describe what God is to us during this time in our life of waiting and being totally dependent on Him. How can I describe how amazed we feel that out of the billions of people in this world and hundreds and thousands of miles that separate us from Ethiopia, that God would chose us to become this beautiful Little guys parents. We are so in awe of God and how he would work to unite us in even though we may be miles apart. When I thought about all this I remembered the song that we had sung at our wedding ceremony. This song completely describes who God is. How Jesus is great enough to be our savior and redeemer yet at the same time He is intimate enough with us that when we cry out he hears us!