Helpless and Hopeful

On Wednesday, November 10, I was sitting in the carpool line waiting to pick our daughter up from preschool when I got an e-mail from our family coordinator informing us that Elias had malaria. I immediately called Charlie, but wasn't even able to get all of the information across to him because I was crying so hard. My heart was completely broken for my son. I was worried about this disease that I knew so little about, but more than anything I felt completely helpless. I wanted so badly to hold him, comfort him, and do everything mommies do when their babies are sick. I knew he was being well cared for in our agency's transition home, but it didn't do much to relieve my helplessness and worry for him. We called our pediatrician right away and also began doing research online.

Malaria is not normally seen in the capital city, Addis Ababa, so our guess is that Elias had it before coming to the transition home. Malaria can be fatal if not treated with medication, and we are so grateful that God allowed Elias to be in the transition home during this time, so that the proper care and medication were available to him. I hate the thought of our precious boy laying there suffering without his mommy and daddy. I am glad for the doctors, nurses, and nannies who took such good care of him, but I wish it had been us. I want so badly to bring him home.

Many, many prayers were said on behalf of our little one, and we are incredibly grateful. On Wednesday, November 17, we got an update that Elias was cured of his malaria and is now completely healthy! Thank you, Lord for holding our son in the palm of Your hand and caring for him way more than I ever could! My heart is filled with joy and praise!!

Care Package #2

This care package came straight from a Daddy's heart to his son. It is so sweet to see Charlie preparing his heart and our home for a son. He is madly in love with this little boy, and I cannot wait to see them together!

Thank you so much Alleca family for offering to take this care package for us and for sharing our love with our son. We appreciate it and feel so blessed knowing you will soon be holding him in your arms.

Tickets, Shots, and Two Steps Closer...

This morning Charlie, Emma, and I went to visit the international travel clinic at Riley. We all showed up expecting lots of vaccines, but only Charlie and I needed them. Turns out Emma was completely caught up on all of hers and didn't need a single one... she was thrilled!! Charlie and I, on the other hand, needed five a piece and have to return for two more. Ouch! Our arms are so sore. (After shot two, I started chanting in my head, "all for baby brother, all for baby brother, all for baby brother...") So tough, I know! We will all be taking the oral typhoid this week, and then we should be ready to go!

We also booked our flights this afternoon! We are leaving on January 14 and will return home on January 22. The thought of being this much closer to meeting our son is an incredible feeling! I cannot wait to hold him in my arms. I am praying that the holidays will help the time between now and then fly by! We are coming as soon as we can little one!!

Court Date!

We have a court date!! The travel coordinator from AWAA called us this morning to share the good news. Like every Wednesday morning, I was out having breakfast with three of my girlfriends when the call came. It was so fun to have them with me when I learned that I would be meeting my son for the first time... on January 18!!

This date is later than we had hoped for, but we are still so excited to actually have a date! (Our agency said that they, too, were surprised at the later court date, but figured its because of the backlog that still exists from the recent court closures and also because Ethiopia celebrates their Christmas holiday on January 7.) We can now start planning flights and itineraries and begin the countdown to the day we are holding Elias in our arms... 70 days from now!!!

I told Charlie earlier today that I was on Cloud Nine with the news of our court date, and he countered that he was on Cloud Twelve! We are thrilled to be this much closer to making Elias legally, officially and forever a Herwehe!

A Match Made in Heaven

When we originally felt God calling us adopt, He was not calling us to adopt ANY orphan. He was calling us adopt THIS orphan, our son. God did not speak to our hearts in a general way, suggesting adoption might be a good idea for our family. He spoke to us specifically, loudly, without ceasing, that our child was waiting for us in Ethiopia. He has known from the beginning of time that little Elias G* was meant to be our son.

He set our path to lead directly to him. Some steps in our journey were quicker than we expected and others took so much longer than we ever dreamed, but it was all to lead us at just the right moment, to this very child.

There were three of us from our adoption agency that shared a DTE date of March 26. All three of us were also requesting baby boys. I often wondered what it would be like if we all met up together in Ethiopia. Would we see our babies and know that they were certainly meant to be ours or would we look at each other's babies and think about the "what ifs?" That's the funny thing about international adoption because you certainly wouldn't ever have such thoughts about biological children. So, from the very beginning we have had to simply trust that we were being lead to the perfect child for our family.

And let me tell you, there is absolutely no doubt that he is meant to be ours. All it took was one look into those eyes for my heart to know that I was his mommy. When we accepted Elias's referral, it was actually out of our age range. We had requested 0 - 12 months, and he was 15 months old. Our agency never really discussed why they had matched us with a child out of our age range, but I think that's because they didn't match us with him, God did. Elias is God's choice for our family.

This specific child was chosen just for us, and we are not complete without him. We are already so in love with him and cannot wait to bring him home! We are so grateful that God chose us for him and that through time and space and miles, he is building us into a forever family!

Psalm 68:6 God places the lonely in families;