We made it!

Hello from Ethiopia! We arrived here Thursday morning after a long flight with a rambunctious 5 year old sitting behin us. Let's just say it was not a restful flight! We put our stuff at the hotel where we are staying and started our first task of getting our phone in working order. After that, we headed to go get sweet Jude! We enjoyed our time at the transition house, loving on others friends babies and talking with judes nanny some. I am so grateful for her, she loves Jude so much! It was her day off and she was there so she could live on him some more and see him off. She's precious, and she will always hold a special place in my heart. We spent the rest of the day loving on our little guy and trying to stay awake. Jude is such a sweet baby, and his personality has developed so much since we were here last! He is very happy for the most part, but is also much more aware than last time. Yesterday, he spent the day staring at us and checking us out.

This morning, he woke up with his cough worsening and he was acting crummy, so we laid low for the first part, and then took him to the doctor this afternoon. He just has a cold, but they gave me something to help with his cough. The hospital we went to had a clinic side and an inpatient side specializing in OB...it was so interesting! I would have loved to go up and see the unit, but that was not something I was going to ask about when I had a crummy baby, a husband, and friend/translator with me!

We are really doing great. If I could adjust to the 9 hour time change, I'd be doing even better! I will add some pictures soon, but I can't figure out how to do it from my iPhone right now...

the next step

I wish I could put down on paper what the past several months have been like, but really there are no words. God has taken us through a journey that I never want to repeat, but that I appreciate so much. This story is not over, and this week, I take another step in faith. I am flying out Tuesday to be with my son until he can come home on that airplane with me. I am praying it is a short trip, but that is not up to me.

Our case was deemed, "not clearly approvable" by the US Embassy, along with 60+ other families. Investigators from the USCIS will look at each of these cases over the next 2 weeks and make a determination on them. We know God has this story in the palm of His hand, we just don't know how it will play out.

Please keep our family in your prayers as we start a new chapter...one that is joyous and painful at the same time. Pray that the investigators find favor with our case and we can come back home quickly. Pray for safety and health for all of us, far and near. Pray that the girls handle this transition okay, that they know how much they are loved, and that I can survive the time without them. Pray for the time that Jude and I will have together, that it may be full of love and bonding.

I will do my best to update this blog with my life in Ethiopia....

pray

I am asking for prayers, once again, for our adoption. I will not get into details on the blog, but I am asking you to pray for our in-country staff. They need strength, wisdom, and guidance in order to finish this. They are working hard for us to get our baby home, and they need the direction that only God can give right now. I feel like they are looking for a needle in a haystack, but I am praying with everything I have that they find that needle. Pray for Jude's continued health and safety. God has called us to this, but He did not say it would be easy. It's not.

"Evening, morning, and noon I cry out in distress, and he hears my voice. He ransoms me unharmed from the battle waged against me." Psalm 55:17-18

it's official!!!

we have another whitfield!! we passed court on monday and officially became judes parents, and what a great day it was!! we were with 9 families from our agenecy and everyone passed, which was a huge blessing. our time here has been amazing and exhausting all at the same time. i have loved seeing ethiopia and the people that make this great country. my eyes have been opened like never before to the needs of others and how blessed we truly are. while we have been here we have spent time getting to know friends and their children, visiting orphanages, eating great food, seeing the beautiful countryside and the people there, and learning all we can about our new son!

jude is seriously the happiest baby ever, and i am praying he stays that way! neither of my girls get the happiest baby on the block award, but he just might take that title...he laughs all the time and really only cries when he wants a bottle or is tired. we have loved getting to know him and what he is really like, he is an amazing addition to our family, and we could not be more thrilled.

i will post more details about our trip later, but there is our update for now! here is a little picture of our precious son....

oh my!!!!

We are going to court SOON!!! I am so grateful for todays news, and I am so grateful for all of you who have been praying us through this delay. There has been nothing easy about these past 2 months, but God has shown Himself in mightily ways this past week. Miracles!!! As soon as I can put Jude's cute face on this blog, I will! Please pray for some of my friends who have not had the same week I have had, it is heartbreaking what some people are dealing with now. Please also pray for us as we travel across the world to meet our son. I am so excited to hold him in my arms and tell him how loved he is!!!

Praise you in this Storm

I was sure by now

God You would have reached down and wiped our tears away.

Stepped in and saved the day

But once again, I say, "Amen," and it's still raining.

As the thunder rolls, I barely hear you whisper through the rain,

"I am with you."

And as your mercy falls,

I raise my hands and praise the God who gives and takes away.

I praise you in this storm and I will lift my hands,

for You are who You are, no matter where I am.

And every tear I've cried, You hold in Your hand.

You never left my side. And though my heart is torn,

I will praise You in this storm.

(Casting Crowns)

This storm has been hard, too hard at times.

And yet, I will praise the God who is giving me the strength to go another day.

I dont have enough, but He does.

I don't know how this story ends, but He does.

Part of my heart is in Africa and I can't be there, but He is.

And He's on my side.

I was talking to a friend the other day, and I said, "When am I ever going to feel normal again, this has just been so hard." and she said, "I don't think ever, once your eyes are opened, you won't ever be normal again." I have replayed that conversation over and over since then, because, no, I don't think I will be normal again. I am changed. I KNOW hurt, I KNOW begging and pleading to God, I KNOW what it feel like for God to say, "No, not the way you think is best." And yet, I Praise Him, because I KNOW Him like never before.

how...

did Taylor go from this

to this....

and do this today?

I have no idea how that happened, but I want to freeze this girl just how she is. I love my first born so much and am so proud of the little girl she is. I am so honored to be her momma.

update....

We received some discouraging news from our agency this past weekend. Our court date has been postponed indefinitely, so we are most likely not leaving Sunday like scheduled. Please pray for a quick resolution to this situation and peace for all of us mommas and daddys wanting more than anything to have our children in our arms. This does not only affect us, but so many others in our situation.

Through this entire adoption process, I have found such peace in a song by 33Miles that helps me redirect my thoughts to the One who really is in charge here. We had some really dark days this weekend, but He is in control, and that is so comforting.

Getting ready, but we need your help!

So we are working to get ready for our trip to Ethiopia in just a couple of weeks! I am beside myself excited to be there, experience the culture, soak it all in, and oh, meet my baby!!!! I have looked at others blogs who have done this before and are experienced and gotten their lists of what we need to pack. I feel certain I will forget some major item that we will need, but I am trying.

I am taking 2 big rubbermaid containers full of donations for the orphanages while we are there. Soooo, we need some help! I spoke with our director and she said that the transition house needs disposable diapers and powdered formula. If you would be willing to donate one (or 2 or 3) of those items, those precious babies would be very grateful! You can email me at sarawhitfield@bellsouth.net and i can get them from you. We have been so blessed by friends and family supporting us on this journey, and we thank you!!

And here is a little picture of the four of us over easter weekend. We love our family so much, but can't wait to be a family of 5!!

The yard sale like no other....

There are really no words to describe the yardsale we had april 16. huge, freezing, amazing, exhausting, humbling, crazy come to mind when i think of the weeks before and the actual day. Here are a couple of pictures that can start to put a picture of what i mean....

Here are some of the amazing women who helped me get ready. This is our "thursday night group" who usually go to panera, but on this thursday, they came to my house and worked for hours to help us pull this thing off. and several of these angels were at my house day after day slaving with me in the pod to get ready. oh how grateful i am for my friends!

This is the amount of people here as the sun was rising.....

are you starting to get the picture???....tons of stuff and tons of people!!!!

Some of our very brave friends setting up at 2am...

more helpers doing their part...

We had an awesome bake sale that the kids did all day! They had coffee, popcorn, all kinds of baked goods, water, and lemonade. here are some of our awesome bake-salers!

Here we are, the Whitfields and Thompsons, being blessed by others so we can bring our boys home!!

Despite the terrible weather, God did amazing things this day. At the end of the day, there was very little left that did not sell. What did not sell was donated to 2 very good causes. When all was said and done, we raised a total of $10,000 on this one day! We are so grateful for all of you who helped or contributed to bring home jude and will hudson!

Spring Program....

The girls had their spring program last week and they were adorable! they were both really excited to participate, and neither were too nervous to be standing in front of hundreds of people!

taylor waving to her daddy in the audience

Callie singing her songs

Taylor with Ty and Campbell...these 3 are the best of friends and it is precious!

My 2 sweet girls, i love them so much!!

i will post about the amazing yard sale we had very soon.......

YARD SALE!!!

20 + Family Yard Sale

All proceeds benefiting 2 Adoptive families

Saturday, April 16

6am-2pm

1005 Glastonbury Drive in Franklin

(inside Fieldstone Farms neighborhood)

Thousands of items for sale!!

Multiple large TV’s

Brand New Hallmark Overstock Items

Entertainment Center

Electronics

Bikes and Power Wheels

Kids toys

Lots of furniture (beds, chairs, dressers, tables, couch, recliners)

Office furniture

Artwork/ large and small frames

Baby beds

Silk trees and plants

Bedding and Drapes

Tons of clothes- all sizes and ages

Kitchen appliances and supplies

Sewing accessories (machines, sergers, software, fabric)

Holiday supplies (Christmas trees, decorations, garland, accessories)

Lamps

Luggage

See you Saturday!!!

we have a court date

and i am so grateful that we got it!! so, that means i will get to hold my baby at the end of may!!

with love,

We have gotten a little something together for our new Whitfield!!

I just dropped these things off in a lovely zip lock bag with some friends who are leaving for Ethiopia Friday and they will take it one step closer to our baby!! I am praying that it does eventually make it to him, although i am not totally convinced it will!

It felt so great to shop (at Target, of course) for our sweet baby boy. I have mostly resisted the temptation to shop for him until we get a little closer to him being home for my own emotional well-being (and because i have no idea what size clothes he wears). But, last week, the girls and I laughed and laughed picking out BOY stuff! They had about 10 outfits each for him, but we narrowed it down to 2 outfits...and a photo album full of picture of the 4 of us. They helped me pick out the pictures of themselves for baby brother so see.

...and his name will be Jude David Whitfield. we may keep his ethiopian name as a second middle name, but don't know yet. Jude has ethiopian as well as biblical significance, which was important to us. He will have the same initials as his daddy, which was also important.

We are still waiting on our court date, but are hoping to hear in the next week or so. Things have definitely changed for the positive with the adoption process. The MOWA is processing more than 5 a day, although it is still unclear exactly how many they are doing. Some people are passing when they go to court and some are not....at least some are passing! We are praying for some friends as they travel in the next few weeks that they will all pass on the first try so they can bring their kiddos home soon!

Please continue to pray for our adoption, as well as everyone else involved in bringing their kids home. We feel so blessed to be a part of this journey.....

little update....

Please continue to pray for the children of Ethiopia. We have not heard much of an update, but we are praying that these adoptions will not slow down significantly and these babies and children can get to their forever homes. On a positive note, we were submitted for court earlier this week! It should take a month or so and we will be assigned a court date. We will still go travel for the court date, but will probably not pass (because of the current hold-ups).

and so we ask you to fervently pray, pray, pray...and watch this awesome video!

pray, pray pray...

I am asking for everyone to pray for the Ethiopian adoption process. There were some new developments last Friday (the day after we saw our baby's face) that could significantly change our adoption as well as so many others. Here is the link you can look at...

http://www.voanews. com/english/ news/africa/ -Ethiopia- to-Cut-Foreign- Adoptions- by-Up-to- 90-Percent- 117411843. html

If this actually happens, instead of getting a court date in May, it could be a year from now before we get a court date. These babies and children do not need to stay in the orphanages an extra year for a paperwork delay. We are praying fervently that God will have His hand in all of this and we will feel His peace. Join me in praying.....

oh happy day!!

We got our referral!!! What an awesome time it was to look at our new baby's face...and i mean baby!! We were approved for a 0-12 month baby, but assumed he would be in the older part of those 12 months, but he is 6 weeks old! and really cute, i might add!!

We had gotten word from our agency that it was probably coming this week, so i was checking my email non-stop all week. And it was perfect timing. we got the emails about 5:45, while david was home! we put a movie on for the girls to watch so we could concentrate on enjoying that moment and looking at our baby, and then we videoed telling and showing the girls. it was precious, they were so excited and i can't wait to show this little guy how much his sisters love him already. then the girls called our parents and the rest of the night was full of visitors and phone calls. it was wonderful!

We will get the medical report today and we are praying that everything is okay with that. as long as we feel good about it (which we think we will), we will "accept" him and apply for a court date in Ethiopia. and then we wait again....

david and i both have a picture of our cute baby and will carry it everywhere to show all of you, and he is cute!!! we are so blessed to welcome the newest member of our family.....

waiting, waiting, waiting

waiting for things in not one of my strong points. I am pretty sure God is teaching me one of those, "I am in control" lessons right now. We are waiting for our referral, and i am not waiting too patiently. The referral is "the call" you get when they have placed you with a child. We will get a picture and some very basic medical information on him (i think). Once that happens, we will wait for a court date in Ethiopia. So, basically there is a lot of waiting going on. That's the update for now, but I will post as soon as we get a referral (which we are hoping is in the next couple of weeks)!!

and just for fun, here is me with my 2 favorite girls...

the shirts are in!!!

The shirts came in this evening and we had so much fun opening all the boxes! If you would like to join with us on this jouney of bringing "baby brother" home, email me at sarawhitfield@bellsouth.net to get your shirt! They are $20 each and the sizes available are in the post below. We hope you like them as much as we do!

Please help bring this baby home!!

So many people have asked what they can do to help us on this journey...well, here is yourchance!

*The first thing we ask you to do is pray! We can't do this alone, and appreciate so much the prayers of others for this journey.

*The second thing you can do is clean out out house and give to us instead of Goodwill! We are having a garage sale this spring and would love to take things off your hands and sell them. We will be doing the garage sale with Jason and Megan Thompson, and will be splitting the profits 50/50 to help with both of our adoption costs. We are happy to take things now so they don't have to sit in your house in a pile, it can sit at our house! If you have stuff for us, email me at sarawhitfield@bellsouth.net and I will arrange a time to get it from you.

*The third thing you can do to help us is buy a t-shirt!! We have just ordered shirts and they will be here early February. The cost is $20 a shirt and we have mens(unisex), womens, and kids. The mens shirts are charcoal, the women's are black, and the youth is baby blue. They are great looking and you will look super cool wearing them around town! By buying a shirt from us, you will be taking part in bringing "baby brother" home and we will be forever grateful for your support. If you would like to buy shirts, please email me at sarawhitfield@bellsouth.net with the sizes you would like. The sizes are...

Womens S/M/L/XL

Mens(unisex) S/M/L/XL

Youth XS(2-4) or S(6-8)

Get your order in quick, I have a limited number of shirts and sizes and I sure don't want you to miss out!!!

**some of you have asked what the verse is on the shirt since it is a little hard to read as it flips to the other side...it is Matthew 25:40

"I tell you the truth, whatever you did for the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me."

can she really be 5!?!?

I think that is what I kept saying all weekend long. Is it really possible??? My baby, 5??? David and I decided quite a while ago that we were going to do something really special for Taylor's 5th birthday. We found cheap flights with Southwest and David had free hotel points, so we decided we took her to Chicago to go get an American Girl doll. She was beyond extatic. We told to her about it several months ago, and she has talked about it constantly since then. She didn't care that she would not get a party, she was getting to ride on a plane (she has been on them before, but none that she remembers) and go get an American Girl doll! The weekend finally arrived and it did not disappoint!

David and Taylor walking to get her doll! I think she bounced all the way there...

Meet the new member of the Whitfield family, Casey!

Group shot in the store. She asked me if she could stay as long as she wanted in the store and I told her we could stay until she had seen everything that she wanted to see. We were there for 41/2 hours! The store was HUGE and we had reservations to eat lunch there as well. It was really cute, they had special chairs for the dolls and they got their own cup and plate!

Here she is with all her loot. Family members gave her money for her birthday present and she bought several outfits for Casey with it.

1. 

On Saturday, we went to Shed aquarium and spent the day there. The entire aquarium was great, but this face painting was amazing!! The lady spent maybe 2 minutes on it, and it was unbelievable. she was soooo talented. David and I just stood there in awe!

This was on her actual birthday, I had to take her to do something special. She got her first pedicure and thought it was pretty great...

wooohoooo!

Drumroll please.....I sent the dossier to Washington DC today! Yay!!!

We were out of town this weekend for Taylor's birthday (more on that later) and I hit the ground running when we got back! I picked up the completed home study tuesday and went immediately to get the Williamson county seal on my dossier. Tennessee requires an extra step compared to most other states in that we have to get a county seal, then a state seal, and then the Great Seal in Washington DC. After getting the county seal, I dashed off to church to make 5 copies of the entire document, which was a whole lot of pages! then I went to Kinkos to mail off the I-600A. The I-600A approval is the I171 (confusing, right?) and basically says that we are fit to immigrate a child into the country. This process can take several weeks and includes us going to get fingerprinted when they tell us to.

So today, Callie and I started on our adventure to get the state seal and then get that dossier to DC! I was really nervous because I didn't want to mess anything up (and am still nervous because they won't get it until tomorrow to tell me if I messed it up), but we did it! Callie was a trooper and kept telling people that we were "sending a note to baby brother"...close enough.

I am so grateful to be at this point! We would covet your prayers as we now wait to get a call that they have placed us with a baby boy. It should be several months before that happens, but we are praying that our baby is being cared for by loving people until we can have him...

the next chapter....

for the Whitfield's is to add another to our family by adoption! I feel like it is really old news at this point, but i need to start talking about it on this blog...so here it goes!

We had felt like there was another Whitfield for our family, but just didn't have the picture of what it was going to look like. After much prayer and consideration (and overanalyzing like we do best), we decided this was where we were called and could not be more thrilled about it. We are in the process of adopting a baby boy from Ethiopia! This is a completely new experience for us and we are learning every step of the way. The process is very tedious and requires much more patience than I will ever have, but we are getting through it.

So where are we in the process, you ask??? We have completed our home study and are currently waiting (not patiently) for it to be finalized, and then we will send the dossier in! I have every piece of paper collected, typed, signed, and notarized to be sent to Ethiopia. The dossier is the huge collection of papers that tells everything about us. It will go to Ethiopia and then we will get a referral, which is where we are placed with a child. After that, we will travel to Ethiopia two times and then come home with our precious baby!

It feels so great to be doing exactly what God wants us doing, and really confirms all of our thoughts. The girls are beyond thrilled and pray for "baby brother" every night. We would love prayers as this process continues, because it is far from over. The cost of an adoption is between $26,000-29,000 and that is a really scary amount. We continue to pray for God's wisdom as we try to fundraise for our baby. David (the one in charge of ALL the finances in this house) feels such a peace that God is going to provide the needed funds, which is comforting...but its still a little scary.

I won't make any promises because I am bound to fail, but I will try to update the blog often with steps of the journey so everyone can keep updated. But most of all, we would covet prayers as our baby boy is in a far away country. I keep praying that precious people are loving and caring for him until he is home with us...

Fall 2010

Several things have been happening this fall, but here is a very quick recap....

The girls started school....

Taylor played soccer! It was sooo much fun to watch, although she does not seem to have a competative bone in her body...

We went to the beach....

Taylor scored her first round of stitches. She fell while on the playground at school, but was so a champ while getting the stitches.

We had our annual Sciortino/ Whitfield pumpkin carving. the kids are way cuter than the pumpkins, so that's why you are seeing this picture!

We had a great halloween. Taylor was a flower and Callie was a butterfly. Here they are with some of their best buddies...

that's enough for now, more to come (hopefully in a more timely manner)!!!