T-Shirts are done!

We are now off on another adventure, building our family according to God's plan. As many of you know, adoption is not cheap to say the least. The cost of fingerprints, paperwork, flights, hotel, country fees can add up. We are deciding to take a leap of faith and see what God has planned and how he will provide some help in the form of our friends and family to bring baby Heddleson #2 home. We prayed about this and talked about this for awhile now, so it is officially time to start our fundraising. We had a friend come up with some T-shirt designs for our adoption fundraiser. He is great and did an amazing job. I am so excited to finally be able to put them up on our site. Thanks to Tom Hartwig we have 2 exciting designs.




To purchase a shirt see the side bar, you can pay through paypal or send me a message to make other arrangements. We appreciate everyone who supports our journey to bring baby Heddleson #2 home. God will provide!

These will make great Father's Day gifts along with some coffee from our justlove coffee store (link also in the side bar). Can you tell I am completely not a salesman?

This pretty much sums it up!

This quote pretty much sums up how I feel. When people say that Daniel is the one who is so blessed and has been given such a great gift. In reality it is Mark and I who are the lucky ones, who are truly blessed to have the honor of being his mom and dad. Not the other way around. I will never truly be able to express how grateful I am to have been given the gift of Daniel.

1 Year ago today....

1 Year ago today we were arriving in Pittsburgh, after a very long flight and journey home with our son, Daniel. I can't believe it has been a year. When I look back it seems as if he has always been here. He has grown so much in this year. He no longer looks like a baby, he is extremely independent and has learned the words "No" and "Mine" (among others) and uses them way to often. He makes us laugh so hard we could cry, and melts our hearts (and the hearts of those who meet him) with his sweet smile. He is loving and caring and way to energetic. Life would not be the same without him. We thank God everyday for this precious gift. The best part of my day is hearing that little voice in the morning say simply "Hi". I can't wait to see what the next year has in store as we begin our journey to bring another baby boy home to become Daniel's brother. I love him more than I could ever express into words, my heart is full and running over. It is amazing how much he has changed in the last year. The blank stare and empty eyes are now filled with a light that I can't even describe. Check out the pictures below, the first if from the day we left the airport and the second is a recent picture:



Then



Now!

God's plan for our family has been so good. I can't wait to see what He has planned next!

Mother's Day

Happy Mothers day! I loved waking up today knowing that I am finally a mother to the most precious, loving and joyful boy ever. The cutest thing was when I opened my bedroom door and there was Daniel with a card and a bag, yelling "Happy Mother's Day (or his version of it) and then he put his little finger up to his mouth and said Shhhh. Apparently when they bought me the figurine pictured here Mark told him Shhh it's a surprise. So even though I have already seen the present he is still saying Shhh. I love being a mother. I love the sticky hugs after he eats a sucker, the cute sideways glances he gives when he is starting to do something he knows he is not allowed to do, the infectious laughter when he is excited and giggling. I love being the one that he wants to wipe the tears away, the one he wants to tuck him in and rock him at night, the way he gets so excited when I pick him up at the end of the day and the way he opens his mouth like a baby bird when he wants whatever I am eating. I love everything about being a mom. God has truly blessed me. I can't thank him enough for this precious gift of Daniel. He had a plan through all the court failures, all the delayed paperwork, all the tears and frustration. God knew that today almost 1 year exactly from the day I first held this precious baby boy it would all be worth it. I am forever grateful.

While I was in church today singing and worshipping I thought of the brave, courageous woman who made the decision to give up the perfect baby boy. Daniels birth mother. My heart hurts for her today knowing she will not see his smile, here his giggle or feel the warmth of his little arms around her neck. I am forever grateful for her sacrafice, which is truly the best gift I have ever received. I pray that someday we will meet in Heaven and I look her in the eyes and give her the biggest hug. I pray for the day when I can thank her and tell her how much that one decision has truly changed my life. I can't imagine life without Daniel in it.

On this mother's day, almost 1 year from the day I met Daniel I am dreaming of his baby brother (who we do not know yet and is not from the same mother since we don't know him yet) and of the mother's day that I can wake up and hold both of them in my arms. God knows who he is but I still can't help but wondering who he will be.

What a wonderful day! Happy Mother's Day to all you mothers.

It's Time!

Since the day we meet Daniel and brought him home (and probably before) Mark and I have said we would definitely adopt from Ethiopia again. Well almost 1 year later from bringing Daniel home, we feel it is time. God is ever so quietly whispering "It's time. You have another son, go get him." When is the right time to start the adoption again? If you wait for that perfect moment, that perfect time you will never take that step. For us it is a leap of faith, it is us stating "ok God, we are here there is a child there, I don't know how this is going to work but I know you are in control. You will take care of it." Some people are shocked when I tell them we are starting again (obviously people who really don't know us to well) since we went through a lot of hoops to get Daniel home. The question I get most often is how long will this process take, will it take as long as it did with Daniel? My answer, I don't know and I can't answer that. It will take as long as God feels is necessary to carry out his plan. He has plan for our family. Right now we believe that plan involves two little Ethiopian boys. It is time to start the process to bring home a baby brother for Daniel. Starting this process makes me nervous and giddy all at the same time. I love watching God's plan unfold before my eyes. I don't always like the methods or timeframe, but none the less I love watching his plan. Usually it is way better than my plan anyway. I shouldn't say usually, it is ALWAYS way better than my plan in the end.

So where are we in the process? We are starting the fundraising process. This is something we didn't do with Daniel. Our first fundraiser is coffee! Seems appropriate since coffee originated in Ethiopia and Ethiopian coffee is to die for! If you would like to support our efforts to give a child a forever family and make there one less orphan in the world simply visit www.justlovecoffee.com/theheddlesons. A portion of all orders will come to us for our adoption fund. I love this fundraiser since it was started by a family who also adpoted from Ethiopia and wanted to help other families with the financial aspect of the process. You can also click on the picture to the right.

Coming soon.....we will be selling T-shirts and have a donate now button on our blog. Check back for more details. I have seen the Tshirt design and it is amazing! I can't wait to share with you.

Lastly, the best thing you can do is pray for our journey. Pray for God's guidance and patience as we wait to see what his plan unfolds. Pray for that baby boy that we will adopt and most importantly pray for his birth family whatever the circumstances will be. Only God knows what child will be ours and I can't wait to meet him!

Thanks for all the support you gave throughout Daniels adoption and thank you in advance for the support for baby boy #2. Ethiopia here we come!

Happy Easter!

He is alive! He is alive! Christ has risen! Those are the words I think about when I think of Easter. Easter can be fun but we need to make sure we don't forget the reason for the day. Jesus died for our sins and on the third day (Easter) he rose again. We need to make sure through all the fun of easter, eggs, baskets and bunnies we are instilling in our children this real reason for the day. This was Daniel's first Easter with us. We colored eggs, Mark and I hid the eggs after Daniel went to bed and when he woke up he was so excited to see a soccer ball. Then we started to find the eggs. It took all of maybe 15 minutes to find 42 plastic eggs filled with jelly beans, m&m's and random change we found around the house. The best moment was we hid an egg in the feet of Daniels Monkey. When he found it he started blowing kisses to the monkey to tell him thank you. Then he had to keep running back to give the monkey a hug and kisses. I love watching his expressions as he finds things and experiences new things. Here are a few pictures from the day: