Leaving on a jet plane!!

In all of the commotion and excitement I forgot to update the blog to let everyone know we cleared embassy!!  We got the email at 2:20 am on Wednesday morning.  Our agency immediately replied to embassy requesting the 15th for our appointment.  (I don't think Sheila ever sleeps!)

We are leaving this Sunday morning at 10:30 and will fly to Washington D.C. to spend the night.  On Monday morning we board a plane headed straight to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia!  Our son will be in our arms in 3 days!!!  We arrive back in Birmingham on Oct. 19th at 6:30.

I am not sure if I have mentioned it before but we are taking our 6 year old son and my mother in law is also going.  We are so excited to show them the beautiful country our son is from.  

Thank you to everyone who has prayed along with us!  We are going to get our son!!  God is Good!!!

Unexpected

     On Monday the embassy let us know that they wanted to interview the birth mother's father.  Our agency informed us the orphanage would be looking for him.  Yesterday we got a completely unexpected email.  During their search for the grand father they found our son's birth mother!  I had to read it several times until I knew I wasn't dreaming.  Part of me was happy they found her and then the fear and anxiety took hold.  All I could think about was when she disappeared when she was supposed to be at court.  I knew that if she didn't show up for this interview they would just keep rescheduling it causing delay after delay.  I am going to be completely honest.  I had a complete melt down.  I'm talking that ugly kind of crying.  I called my mom and she helped.  My friends helped encourage me.  I dug into scripture.  I realized God called us on this journey.  As hard as it is, I must give this completely to him.  Micah is our son and I have to trust that the Lord is watching over him.  

     We were not sure if we would find out today when the birth mother's appointment would be scheduled for.  I spent a large portion yesterday of looking up how long families had to wait for these appointments.  Every single one was 2-3 weeks out.  I had prepared myself for this.  This morning I heard John's phone ding at 2:00 am with a new email.  I knew this was more than likely the embassy with the scheduled appointment.  I didn't want to look at it because I just wasn't ready to see that we had to wait another 3 weeks until the appointment.  At 5:00 am I finally looked at the email.  It said, "The birth mother interview is scheduled for Tuesday October 2nd at 3:00".  What?!?!  That is next week!!  We immediately emailed our agency and Lesley responded with "that is unheard of, this can only be God".  

     So, now we wait to hear if she comes to the embassy appointment.  If she does appear we should clear that day.  I want to ask each of you to pray for Micah's birth mother.  I cannot imagine how difficult this is for her.  She has already gone over the reasons behind her relinquishing Micah to the regional court.  Now she will have to tell her story again.  I will not go into details but it is heart breaking.  I could never be angry with this woman.  She chose life for our son.  The day Micah was born I was at the Created for Care retreat for adoptive mothers.  That was the first time I realized I needed to be praying for the woman that would give birth to our son.  I broke into tears thinking about what she would go through.  When we got our referral and I saw the day he was born I was blown away.  We will forever be grateful to her for giving our son life.  

     Today I painted a picture to put in Micah's room.  I thought I would share it with you.

Prayer Requests

    We got an email from the U.S. embassy on Monday morning saying they want to interview the birth mother's father.  Remember, Micah's birth mother disappeared after she relinquished him.  She did go to the local court for that part and even had witnesses there.   One of the documents we have has her father listed as closest relatve.  We are thinking they just want to ask him if he knows the whereabouts of his daughter.

    This is where we need prayer!  Please pray that the orphanage is able to find him very soon.  If they can't find him we will tell the embassy that we can't find him.  We are not sure what they will say to that.  If they find him the earliest appointment for birth relatives is about 2-3 weeks out.  I am pretty bummed that I may not get to see our baby for another several weeks, but if they do find him John and I would love to meet him.  We want to find out about Micah's birth mother and her family history.  We feel that it is very important that we are able to give Micah some sort of picture of his birth family.  

     I must say this journey has been very stressful!!  I am so ready to bring our baby home.  Every day that passes is another day that he doesn't have his mommy and daddy to love him.  We are very thankful for Sheila and Lesley with our agencies.  After a conference call today my stress level was much better!  

     
     So.....please pray with us they find the grandfather soon!!  To God be all the glory!  And we know that the Lord has been and will continue to hold our hands through this!

SUBMITTED!!!

    I woke up in the middle of the night to check John's email and guess what I saw?!!  An email saying that our case was submitted to the U.S. embassy on September 13th!!  Of course I had to wake John up!!  
   Now we wait on them to review our case.  I have seen where the embassy will clear cases in just a couple of days or it could take weeks.  We are so thankful that we are on the last leg of this journey!  Thank you for the prayers!  

Praying for embassy and recovering

  On Monday this week I underwent a surgery that I have been putting off for quite some time.  The doctor had prepared us for the worst case scenario and told us to pray for the best.  I had to be on a clear liquid diet the whole weekend (yuck) and then take a TON of antibiotics Sunday night on an empty stomach.  I was feeling very sick Monday morning before the surgery had even started.  I think this was the way the Lord was helping me with my nerves.  I have never been this nervous going into a procedure simply because there were so many different things the doctors may need to do.  I made several of my friends promise me that if I was too sick to go get Micah when he clears embassy that they would get on a plane and bring him home.  I knew my husband would not be able to leave my side.  Well, prayers were definitely answered!!  The doctors were able to do everything laproscopic and my recovery is going to be much quicker.  Needless to say, I am not a very good patient!  I feel like I am losing my mind!  I have always been a complete freak about laying out the boys clothes the night before, making sure their backpacks are packed, lunches are packed with all of their favorite things, and all of the homework has been completed.  I am trying to realize it is okay if John doesn't doing everything exactly the way I do.  It....is....okay...  Life....does....go....on....!  
  
  Now on to a huge prayer request!!  Micah's paperwork has been ready to be submitted since last week.  We haven't gotten word from the embassy that his case has been submitted.  Once it is submitted they will go over all the paperwork and determine if they need to do any more investigation.  We are desperately praying we wake up tomorrow morning with an email from the U.S. Embassy saying that are case has been filed.  This will be the last step to getting little man home!  And can I tell you how much my heart is longing for him!  I was telling Lesley from Lifeline the other day that there are no words that can describe this feeling.  You literally just left your child halfway across the world and do not know when you will see him again.  It eats you up inside!!  So, please will join in praying with us that Micah's case gets filed and we can move on to this last step to get him home?

I am going to leave you with one of my favorite pictures I took while we were in Ethiopia.  I took this picture with my trusty ole iphone!

We are ready!

    We found out last week that Micah's new birth certificate and passport have arrived.  He will now go for his medical exam possibly next week.  Once this is complete we will finally be able to submit our case to the U.S. embassy.  This is where we have no clue how long it will take for embassy to clear  his case, but as soon as they do we will be on the first flight to Ethiopia to bring him home!!  Embassy could clear us in a week or it could take a month.  It is in God's hands.  

    Today we finished Micah's room!  It was such a huge relief to get this done because I will be having surgery next Monday.  I was in a mad dash to get the "big boys" room and Micah's room finished.  My mom will be spending the week with me after my surgery and she will help get all of the baby clothes washed and put away.  I'm hoping we can also make a trip to get bottles and other little things we may need.  Working on these rooms have really helped me with missing my little boy.  I could have never dreamed it would be this hard.  I thought the waiting for the referral call was brutal but it doesn't even compare to this wait!  Some days I look at my husband and say "I'm just so sad".  Bless my poor husband!  I know he is dealing with missing Micah too, but I can tell it is killing him to see me like this.  I keep telling myself "not much longer".  A sweet friend I have met through facebook was able to bring her two sons home this week.  While she was at the transition home she checked on Micah.  She sent me two great pictures of him!  It is such a blessing when a family doesn't  mind loving on your child while they are in country.  She said that he is a very happy boy and sleeps very well!

     I just wanted to leave you with some pictures of our little Micah's room.  I can't wait to see him peeking out of that crib!!

It's official!!

Yes, we got the call today that Micah is OFFICIALLY a Junkin!!!  We are the proud parents of THREE very handsome boys!  Now we wait on embassy until we can bring him home.  It could take 2-3 months, but it is all in God's perfect timing!  Today we are rejoicing!!

My Video 8/8/12 at OneTrueMedia.com

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Making it.....

   It has been one week and two days since we handed our son back to his nanny and got on a plane.  When I am asked how I am doing, all I know to say is "I'm making it..."  We have been showered with love and prayer since we got home which has helped tremendously!  Friends have invited us over for dinner and have made sure to keep me busy.  My close friends know that when I am sad I just want to crawl in a hole somewhere and pout.  Getting to spend seven days with our precious new son was incredible.  It is hard to explain how you can fall in love with this little person that is not of your blood or has your same skin color. But, fell in love is what we did!!  When the time came for us to leave, I walked him back to his room and handed him over to his nanny.  Before I turned away I wrapped my arms around the nanny and Micah, kissed her and said "thank you for loving my son".  The plane ride home was emotionally and physically hard.  We were really excited to see our two boys waiting on us back home, but both of us had this sick feeling in our gut that we were not complete.  This past week I have cried at the most random times.  My heart hurts.... I want my son.  This weekend I realized that Micah, nor our other two sons, are truly ours.  They belong to our heavenly father and we are blessed to be their earthly parents.  This puts things into perspective for me.  Micah is a child of God and he will protect him.  Although my heart is aching to wrap my arms around him again I must know that Jesus has a plan for him and right now it is to be in Ethiopia.  
   So when do we get to bring Micah home?  I wish I knew the exact answer to that question.  Micah's case has changed from being relinquished to being abandoned.  The judge wants an ad to be placed in the paper for two weeks and then she will rule that he is legally ours.  As soon as she says that he is legally ours we can start the process for embassy which takes 6-8 weeks.  We can only pray that this process goes smoothly and quickly, but again I must remember that God has a plan for our little Micah.  
   Last night the women of our church had a baby shower for Micah and soon to be here Jianna.  I can't express how wonderful it feels to be surrounded by such amazing and encouraging women!  I thought that it would be very difficult opening presents for little Micah but it was actually uplifting to see the love people have for him already.  
   I want to thank each of you for your prayers and encouraging words to John and I.  We are so humbled by the fact that people want to keep up with our journey to Micah.  Most of all we are thankful that the Lord has chosen us to be his parents.  This child has blessed us in so many ways!!

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

Court Day,

    I want to start off to explain what this court date was for.  Normally there is a preliminary hearing where the birth mother or the relative that relinquished the child attends.  Since our birth mother has missed two hearings, the judge ordered for a police search for her.  We went ahead and came to Ethiopia to do our part for the court which is pretty much giving your consent that this is the child you want to adopt.  Some of the questions the judge asked were "Are we prepared to answer his questions when he grows up about the adoption?"  "Do we love the child" "Do we have friends that have adopted from Ethiopia for him to play with" "She asked us if we have any biological children of our own and if they were excited"  She asked if we had spent the time in country learning about Ehiopian country"  It was pretty much that quick.  It was a very surreal experience.  We have been waiting 18 months to get in front of a judge to tell her how much we love this child and it was really happening.  She did say that she is waiting on the police report to declare him officially ours!  We walked out of the room and I looked at John and he was crying.  I love that man!!!  
    We rushed back to the transition house to hurry and get changed because we were going to feed the monkeys, visit an orphanage, and then go see Woudneh (West Sands School).  At the orphanage there were about 7 children playing outside when we got there.  They hurried over to us an immediately took our hands.  We started playing soccer, which they killed us!!  I then took a couple with me just to hug on them and tell them they are loved.  We sang "jesus loves me several times" and "this little light on mine"  It was so hard to leave them not knowing if they will get a family.
    Later, Woudneh took us to the school that he built for West Sands.  It is in amazing school that holds around 200 children.  The children were so happy!!  Woudneh has to be one of the most interesting person I have ever met.  It is also really cool to see if him work so hard for these children.  Woudneh is definitely one of kind.  He love Jesus and wants the best for these children and for the Ehiopian country.

Hello from Ethiopia!!

    The first thing I’d like to do is set the scene for where I am writing this post.  Jenn and I are perched high atop the transition house on a sundeck we did not know existed until Early this morning.  5 stories up is a really good vantage point in a town where there are not many 5 story buildings.  We are sitting on Route 4 which connects the northern border, and the only access to a port, to the southern part of the country.  This is entertainment at its finest.  To say that Ethiopia’s traffic laws are fluid is an understatement.  Just in the last hour this road, which has no markings, lights, or stop signs has been among other things:

·        - Three laned expressway headed South

·         -Three laned Expressway headed North

·        - Four laned Expressway heading in both directions

·       -  Complete standstill traffic

·       -  Deserted

·        - Oh and I forgot to mention the cow that stopped traffic for about a minute

I have no idea how a country with ZERO traffic laws has no accidents…..Lots of close calls….. but no accidents.  And we, with our bazillion traffic laws, rules, and regulations are overrun with fender binders. But I digress….

    Micah is precious.   We met him about 8:00 Saturday morning and spent about 45 minutes with him.  After we got settled in, our Ethiopian coordinator for our agency, Lesley, who lives in Ky, has been here at the transition house for a week and Jennifer got to meet her for the first time.  Later we got to eat lunch with Woudneh, the director here at the transition home, and then go eat the traditional dinner complete with tribal dances from all across the country.  Both Jenn and I got up on stage and showed them that we could hang with them in some of the dances but only Jenn got called back up for a 8-10 minute encore.  They loved it…… and so did she.

    The past two days, we have been in the transition home the entire day and can I just say, what a difference a couple of days makes in the life of an orphan.  His personality has come alive and he is cooing, laughing, crying, burping, passing gas, and all the other wonderful things babies do with their parents.    He is pushing up on his belly and trying to roll over, which is a huge improvement from Saturday and we were able to show him the picture book we made him and he was studying the pics of JT and Rhett very intently.  He now recognizes Jenn when she walks into the room and lights up when he sees her.  He is big and healthy with a head full of hair.  It has truly been a fantastic couple of days.

   Can’t wait to see what’s in store for the rest of the week.  Please continue to pray for the nannies and caregivers here at West Sands and Woudneh who is truly a remarkable man.  Pray for his wife Betty who is off to Washington DC with 3 of their kids for 5 weeks while Woudneh holds down the fort.  Pray for Jenn and I as we go sight-seeing tomorrow and for our court date to go well Friday.  Lots more to do.  We’ll keep you posted.

P.S.  we have absolutely loved getting to spend time with the kids here at the transition home. The older ones take such good care of them and nannies are always on top of everything.  Love you guys continue to join us in prayer and we will see you soon.

Can we just go??

We are not the first and certainly won't be the last couple to say that to each other after the roller coaster ride we have been on the last month. And as it turns out, the answer to that question was yes!
Picking up where Jenn left off last week, the police/orphanage did find the birth mom last week and allowed her to take our court date (today) to do the preliminary hearing. However, the birth mom went MIA again on Tuesday and after talking to West Sands we requested that they allow us to go ahead and come to court to do our part and give consent now that the preliminary hearing was going to be delayed significantly.  To our surprise they agreed given the circumstances, and early this morning Woudneh went to court to request that very thing. Unfortunately, the judge gave our hearing time to someone else because they knew we didn't have the birth mom and therefore he was unable to ask the judge to ok our hearing. He has a hearing on Friday to make that request.
Now, back to our dilemma.  This next week sets up really well for us to travel with our jobs, and everyone at West Sands not only believe the judge will grant our hearing, but also do it quickly given the impending rainy season. So do we go ahead and go and spend next week with Micah and wait for a hearing or wait for the court date and then head over there. I had my opinion, but when I called Jenn at work and told her that Woodneh was unable to get clearance, her response was the same as mine "Can we just go?"
So tomorrow we are leaving Birmingham for D.C. and Friday morning we will be headed to Addis. I can't tell you what it feels like to know that Saturday morning I will finally get to hold Micah.  
As I see it one of four things will happen:
1.) the judge oks everything and we get a court date next week and we come home next Friday as planned.
2.) the judge oks everything but gives us a court date for the following week and we have to stay longer than expected.
3.) the judge oks everything but is unable to give us a court date before the rainy season and we come home
4.) the unknown option known as TIA (This is Africa)
The common denominator in all of these is that we get to see Micah and visit the orphanages and see first hand what eyesthatsee.org, (un)Adopted, West Sands, and other great organizations are doing, and have the life altering experience we have been preparing for for over a year.
So for those of you praying for our family, please pray for us as we travel tomorrow and Friday.  For Woudneh and the court next week.  For my sweet wife.  For JT and Rhett, who are staying behind with family. And that through whatever lies in store for us that God will be glorified.
To be continued.........

Roller Coaster Ride

  First, I want to start off with a big THANK YOU to everyone that donated to help us fund our airplane tickets to Ethiopia.  We are completely overwhelmed with the generosity of others.  Even the prayers were much appreciated.  I believe our last total was around $900!!  My friends knew that I would never directly ask for donations to help us, so they did it for me!  We are surrounded by the most amazing friends and family!!

  As most of you know we were supposed to be flying to Ethiopia tomorrow.  On Monday we got word that Micah's birth mother did not show up for court.  In Ethiopia they have a preliminary court hearing where the birth parent or whoever took the child to the orphanage attends court.  Pretty much the only news we got was that they were looking for her.  His birth mother has done everything she needed to do up until this point so we were very shocked when she did not show up.  The past few days have been really hard.  We know that God already has everything planned out and He knows what is best for everyone involved, but it still hurt....  It is very hard to explain the love that John and I already have for Micah.  We will fight for him just like we would if it was JT or Rhett over there.  At one point John even called his friend that runs Eyes That See to ask if it would be possible for him to go over there and find her himself.  Matt explained to us that things work a lot different in Africa and it wouldn't be any help to our situation.  I had a very wise friend, Deidre, tell me that God is just not done writing Micah's story.  John and I both know this and we could not imagine going through this without having such a strong faith in our Lord.


  Today I got a call from Lesley (Ethiopian coordinator) and she tells me they found her!!!  She will be attending court sometime next week and we will then find out our new court date.  I can't even begin to describe the relief I felt at that moment!  We ask that you please pray that everything goes smoothly with her court date and we can travel to see our little man very soon.  Thank you again for all of the prayers so far!!  They have truly helped make a difficult roller coaster ride a little easier.  I will update again as soon as I know more details.

BLOG TAKE-OVER: Get the Junkins to Ethiopia!!!

As friends of the Junkins, we have taken over their blog for the next 48 hours.  John and Jennifer will be leaving THIS Thursday to make their way to Ethiopia to meet their sweet baby boy Micah!  Now, it is not very cheap to fly to Ethiopia...so, the purpose of this blog take-over is to raise the money they need to get there.  It is time for us, as family and friends, to bless them financially.  We need to raise $4400 for their plane tickets.  Let's do it!!  The paypal link is on this site.  Also, please be in prayer for them as they travel, meet Micah, go through their court appointment to adopt, and serve the people that they meet there.  We can also leave them some encouragement in the comments section of this post. 

Now, go for it!  Bless the Junkins like crazy!!!

What the Lord can do in just TWO weeks!

I know it has been a while since I have updated, but there really has not been much to update on.  Well, in the last two weeks we got a referral for a 5 month old baby boy and we received a court date for July 18th!!!!  There have been moments where I just have to sit down and remind myself to breathe!!

First, I want to tell you about our beautiful little boy that will soon be in our arms.  I told my husband that I would like for him to get the referral phone call.  I was able to tell him that he was going to be a daddy with our other two boys, so I wanted him to be the first to know that we are going to be parents again.  On June 20th around 6:45pm we were at the pool letting our four year old swim with daddy.  JT and I were sitting outside the pool playing battleship on the Ipad. (He has broken arm so no swimming for him).  John's phone started ringing and I looked at the caller id.  It was Lesley!!!  I walked over to the pool and calmly said "John, you may want to take this call".  He answered and after a few seconds started grinning ear to ear!  He got off the phone and I said "is this it?"  He grinned and said "it's a baby boy!".  Well, I then started screaming at the boys to hurry and get in the car!  I remember running to the car and I could hear John's voice behind me saying "no running".  We got in the car and he looked at me and said we are going to go into the house and get the boys dressed and we are going to calmly sit down in front of the computer and call Lesley back.  (Yeah right!)  When we called Lesley she said open up your email and you will see his picture.  Oh, what a beautiful sight when you see your child for the first time.  There are no words to describe it.  Our little man has a head full of black hair, beautiful black eyes, and the sweetest lips!!  I wish I could show you a picture of him, but until we pass court we are not allowed to post any pictures. He is absolutely precious!!!

Yesterday was another day that took our breath away!!  Lesley called me while I was at work at the hospital and told me we had a court date for July 18th.  She said need to be in the country by the 16th!
So, we will probably be leaving next Friday morning to Ethiopia.  I am completely overwhelmed with how fast God is working!  We are trying to hold on tight and just take it all in!!  I will update again as soon as I get a minute from packing.

New Wreath and a New Number!

This Saturday we are having our adoption pancake breakfast and we thought it would be a good idea to raffle off one of my wreaths.  I know it has been forever since I have posted any new wreaths on the website!!  

This wreath is definitely one of my favorites!!  So, if you would like a chance to win this wreath come by the Applebee's in Pelham on Saturday from 8am-10am.  Each raffle ticket will be $2 and you can enter as many times as you would like.  Don't forget the yummy pancakes!!  The tickets for the pancake breakfast are $5 a piece.  All proceeds from this event will go to help fund our adoption (Ethiopia), The Cater's (domestic), The Beam's (China), and The Hart's (Ethiopia). There will soon be FOUR LESS orphans!!  

Oh, and we got the much anticipated monthly update from our adoption agency today!  We have moved up to number 7!!!  I cannot begin to tell you how great Lesley with Lifeline has been.  She truly cares and prays over each family in process.  Hopefully, not too much longer before we get to see the face of our new little one!

Where God Guides He Provides

  I had a friend send me a text yesterday morning that said "where God guides He provides".  I have heard this before, but yesterday I was feeling tired and weary about our situation and I remember thinking to myself I sure could use some good news today.  For those of you who do not know John has started a new job.  He has gone from making a steady salary to a full commission paying job.  Needless to say I have been working a lot more so we can pay the bills.  John is very excited about this new job but it will take him a few months to get the income coming back in.
  This morning during my quiet time I began reading about when God told Noah to build the ark.  Can you imagine the looks people gave him when there was no water in sight?!?  Probably some of the same looks we get when we tell them God has called us on this journey of adoption!  When people other than God direct us to do things, we follow for many reasons, not because of trust.  But, they are made of flesh and bone just like us.  However, they can't guarantee the outcome.  On the other hand, when God asks us to do something, we ask for a thousand signs from Him.  Crazy!!
  There are times when I feel like we are alone in this journey but God is always there.  And I know he will not leave us without the help we need to achieve this task.  It may not work out the way "we" think it should but God will work things out for us!
  Last night at church I was handed an envelope and was told  "take this and don't ask any questions".  I laughed awkwardly and said okay.  On the way home while sitting at a red light I opened the envelope.  As I read the amount on the check, tears rolled down my face and I couldn't breathe.  My boys in the backseat wanted to know what was wrong and why was mommy crying.  I told them this is a happy cry!  I then told them that we never have to worry about a thing because God will ALWAYS take care of us!  God provides us with anything we could ever possibly need, we just have to BELIEVE!  They were very quiet the rest of the way home and I am so thankful they were with me to see first hand God's provision.

And my God will meet all you needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus. To our God and Father be glory forever and ever.  Amen.  Phil 4:19-20

Applebee's Adoption Fundraiser

We are so excited to be partnering with some dear friends for a  Pancake Breakfast fundraiser. Check out facebook for more info, to RSVP, and invite your friends to the event.

Four Families, One Call, Four less Orphans.

Please come out and help us support the Beam, Cater, Hart & Junkin families who are all in the process of adopting. 100% of ticket donation will go to help them fund their adoptions.

When: Saturday, March 3, 2012
Where: Applebee's, Pelham Location - HWY 119
Time: 8:00 - 10:00am
Cost: $5.00 Donation Per Ticket ( includes pancakes, sausage, drink and a $3.00 off coupon to be used on your next visit )