we have a date!

we've been given travel dates and booked flights to travel many, many hours to go get our sons!


we leave on sunday, june 12 at noon.

we hope to have them in our arms sometime the afternoon of june 13 (we arrive in rwanda at 1:35 pm june 13. they are 6 hours ahead of us here on the east coast...so that will be around 7:35 am june 13 EST). if not that day, then DEFINITELY june 14!

we will be in rwanda until june 22. then we fly to ethiopia to get lincoln and levi's visa's. we will leave ethiopia on july 1 and arrive back to dulles on saturday, july 2 at 8:40 am (anyone and EVERYone that wants to be there is welcome! sorry it's so early!)

the countdown is ON!

yesterday

we've been studying "heaven" in our small group for the last few months.
and, i don't know exactly...but these days lately feel like SUCH a taste of heaven to me...just all the love and support that we feel flowing out of those around us that just want to be CLOSE to what God is doing.

it's an amazing story and i feel BEYOND blessed to be one of the pieces of it.

yesterday was a sweet day...many sweet moments...

*stood at a playground for 2 hours with a friend while our kids played. we are SO alike. she "gets" and verbalized things i'm feeling now. things i'm worrying about. knew things i'd be thinking about for when we arrive back home. and she made me LAUGH - which i didn't realize how much i needed!

*our small group had us sit on the floor last night and they laid hands on our family and prayed for us. for our trip. for our family. for sawyer. they even had the kids come up from the basement and be there. it was holy. and so special to me. i will never forget it.

*AND...we were given travel dates and booked our TICKETS! {more in next post}

what a ride this is.
soaking in His goodness.
feeling so blessed and thankful.
NOT forgetting the long road that got us to this point.

their names

so...do you want to know their names??

first, when i went into their rooms to take the pictures for this post, this was on the bed. i mean...

the younger one is Levi. we are giving them new first names. we are still unsure what their middle name is going to be. it will be one of the 2 names they were given earlier in life.

the older one will be Lincoln (we think we'll call him Linc). we had discussed names a few times. but made the FINAL decision as we were driving to my parent's house the day we got their referral and had actually SEEN their faces. a friend got these blankets for me. they are SO soft. the DAY i got them, i walked 2 houses down and gave them to another friend - she embroiders as her business! LOVE them!!!

so...age-wise the order is: rebekah, joshua, bailey, lincoln, sawyer, levi :-)

right now

it's gonna be another one of those random ones...

i'm on the verge of tears ALL.THE.TIME. but i hardly ever cry. there's just so much going on in my mind and heart but so little time to process it all.

pat and i have planned a special night for the 6 of us this saturday. it is the last weekend night we will have together before we leave (we still don't know EXACTLY when we are leaving...but we have plans every night for the next 3 weekends!) i'm excited about our time. and kinda sad.

i'm getting less patient and more anxious to GO. to get to our boys.

sawyer says, "i go acica" countless times a day. it shatters my heart every single time. i hate it. i can't believe how much he GETS it. this past weekend we seriously toyed with bringing him. but, after thinking it through, we re-decided that it is BEST for him to stay. it is still SO hard.

we got more pictures of one of our boys in africa. he is SO cute.

our room is where all the travel "stuff" is accumulating. i'm starting to wonder how it's all going to fit in the suitcases lined up. and there aren't even clothes there yet!

i got the clothes out of the tub in the basement for our younger boy this afternoon. those were some sweet moments that i think i will always remember. it was quiet - 3 oldest at school, sawyer napping, rain pounding on the window, sitting on the floor of their room that is finally coming together, pulling the outfits out one by one. remembering sawyer wearing them...and these boys being a dream in my heart at that point. and now, packing those clothes to bring to put on his sweet body! amazing.

i am in awe of the generosity of those around us. in AWE. it's humbling to be blessed over and over and only able to say, "thank you."

with my mornings, i am trying to balance: just BEING with bailey and sawyer - how i LOVE that time...today we played "castle", and trying to get together with a few friends - since i have NO idea when i'll be ready to do that again!, and every now and then running errands.

prayer requests for us right now:
*we need a very important piece of paper to come in the mail SOON
*health for pat. i think he's trying to recover from this past weekend. but i need him. ALL of him. i can't do this by myself.
*continued rest for me. i'm sleeping MUCH better and without drugs! but, i need to continue to get good rest.
*the kids - each of them has their own "things" right now - they are doing great - but just that God would meet their every need

the end. for now.

more love

the love for these 2 boys is coming from EVERYwhere!

a few weeks ago i got an email from one of pat's co-workers. they wanted to do a surprise party for him in support of our adoption and they wanted me to come and be part of the surprise!

sawyer and i headed into the city once bailey got on the bus on thursday.

sawyer was a HIT!

they TOTALLY surprised him! and that is NO easy feat!

their love and support was overwhelming. and i know it meant SO much to pat.

there was a great lunch spread, yummy cake, and very generous gifts!

pat said a nice "thank you" and we so enjoyed being a part of it!

what a special day!

right now

i want to document these days.
but they are so FULL, i don't have time to document them the way i want.

so, i'm just going to start.

these are the busiest days ever.
full of homework, projects, swimming lessons, baseball games, soccer practice.
huge event we're in charge of this weekend at church...HOURS of pat's time organizing it.
it's going to be amazing.
taking bailey and sawyer to the playground in the morning because the weather is that PERFECT kind where you can't even tell there IS a temperature and i don't want to miss these last few days with just the 2 of them.
now i'm crying.

i didn't cry when we got our referral last week.
i kinda choked up, but i didn't cry. i was in shock.
then i switched into "lots to do" mode.
i didn't cry until this sunday at church. with the first word that i tried to sing.
it opened the floodgates. and i cried off and on all morning...mother's day...showing the pictures of my boys to SO many that love us and them.
and i've been on the verge of tears ever since.

i'm so overwhelmed. with your love. with His love.
i've never felt WHO GOD IS so clearly in all my life.
it's beautiful. awesome. amazing. the words don't come close to capturing it.

i'm exhausted. yet exhilarated.
in a daze. but trying to take it all in.
not wanting to miss or forget one thing.

pat and i are great. what a ride to be on together!
the kids are great. God is meeting me when i fail. and i'm actually capable of being gracious to myself. possibly for the first time in my life.

i'm fighting the cold pat had last week. but i think i'm winning.
the kids are not - 3 of the 4 have it. but they are fine.
i'm sleeping a little better.
and taking sleeping pills sometimes.

my foot is TOTALLY healed.
proof?
i can run 4 miles.
i can do kickboxing.
and i can play on the playground.
I AM BACK!!!
{it will be a long time before i am able to do a 12 mile run, though. i say that is fine. i'm not sure i mean it.}

the excitement and support and graciousness of those around us is so humbling.
someone brought me some meals yesterday to have when we get home.
we have received items off our registry every day.
a friend offered to take a shift for me so my kids can be on swim team this summer (when i was stressing over how to balance needing to adjust and maybe NOT do swim team, with swim team being the HIGHLIGHT of our kids summer - and YEAR even, for rebekah!)
and the interest and questions from friends means SO much to us.

i don't even need to look at their pictures.
they are etched in my mind.
i can't WAIT to get my hands on them and tell them i LOVE them.

i'm terrified.
i feel completely ill-equipped to parent 6 kids.
i don't know what this summer is going to be like as we all adjust to one another.
i know it will be crazy and overwhelming and hard.
but i also hope it will be sweet and special and good.
i know God will be with us.
i hope i can feel Him.

the weekend

the joy that catching a bubble on his wand brought this little boy was unreal. i definitely stopped in the middle of the road to take this picture :-)

the bike ride on friday was so fun.
lunch at a deli.
then cupcakes at a shop around the corner.
close to 20 miles ridden.
PERFECT weather AND great friends!

took rebekah out on friday evening.
we saw soul surfer.
we both loved it...the movie and the time together.

saturday was full of sports...

i think i lost some years of my life when rebekah plays goalie.

she's pretty good at it, though...

grandmommy and granddad came out to cheer her on!

she has no fear of being kicked in the head...she'll dive right for the ball (thankfully she hasn't been kicked in the head!)

later was baseball...

finding bugs.

steph and colin came to watch. colin gave joshua a little pep talk!

proud of his run!

it's a good thing it was bath night!

steph and colin brought a fun basket of goodies for the kids for our trip to africa!

ended the day with a double date with the young's - SO fun!

and have had a very sweet mother's day - full of handmade cards, carnations that are broken in half, hugs, not having to make dinner and LOTS of love! i'm very blessed!