DTE 11-11-11

We are finally DTE!!! As of 11-11-11 we are officially waiting for a referral.  You are probably wondering what that means if you are not in the adoption world right now.  DTE means Dossier to Ethiopia, a dossier is our packet of paperwork that we have spent months gathering to get to this point.  This does not mean we have a child already.  We are just "in line" so to speak for a referral. We are requesting a boy age 0-2 and probably won't receive a referral call for 10-16 months, based on the trends today.

This time is exciting for us and kind of nerve racking based on our last experience, but praise God we are one step closer to our baby boy.  Waiting seems to be the hardest part of this journey for me, especially since everything I am waiting on is out of my control. That is probably part of God's plan to help me learn patience and I can not control everything, His plan is way better than mine anyway!

I want to share with you a few verses that I held on to while we were waiting to bring Daniel home, and will hold on to while we wait to bring this baby home (we need to come up with a name):

Psalm 9:10 - He performs wonders that cannot be fathomed, miracles that cannot be counted.

Isaiah 26: 3-4 - You will keep in perfect peace him whose mind is steadfast, because he trusts in you. Trust in the Lord forever for the Lord, the Lord is the rock eternal. 

Hebrews 12:1 - Let us run with endurance the race that God has set before us.

James 1:3-4 - For when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing.

Ephesians 1:11 - In him we were also chosen having been predestined according to the plan of Him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will.

Now as I type this I wonder if our child is already born (with our age range he could be) or is his mom already carrying him in her belly.  Will he have a cute button nose and big brown eyes like Daniel? What will his giggle sound like? Will he be outgoing or will he be shy? Only God knows because he has the perfect child already in mind for our family. Just like he did with Daniel.  I really can't wait to see what the next few months bring and to watch God's plan for our family play out.  I haven't even met this baby boy or seen a picture and I am already love him so much.

I am going to close this post with the following poem I found online (author unknown):

The Gift of Life

I didn't give you the gift of life, 

But in my heart I know.

The love I feel is deep and real, 

As if it had been so.

For us to have each other

Is like a dream come true!

No, I didn't give you 

The gift of life.

Life gave me the gift of you.

That is what Daniel is to us, a Gift. We are so blessed and we are the lucky ones to have that special boy in our family.  And so will our next baby boy.  Oh I can't wait to hold him and kiss him, it's going to be a long year!

Happy Halloween

Happy Halloween (2 days later)!  Daniel had fun this Halloween after we convinced him to put his costume on and that it was ok to go Trick or Treating.  First the costume, I bought him this cute Scarecrow costume.  His response the first time we tried to put it on "No mommy, it scare me".  Since the name of the costume was Scare...crow, he was convinced he would be scared.  Only my child.  We finally got it on him and he made the cutest scarecrow ever (I am only a little biased).

Next the night before Halloween we were trying to explain to him the concept of trick or treating (we only go to like 5 houses of people we know, babysitter, parents, etc.).  He would not give in, he kept saying "No".  When I asked him why, his response "No mommy it will be to dark".  Really, what child will pass up candy because of the dark.  So we came home and went right at 5, to make sure it was not dark while we were out there (the whole 45 minutes we were out, which was mostly spent visiting).  

 

The first house that gave him a sucker, he wasn't even off of the porch before he had it open and in his mouth.  He would not let go of his bucket for anything.  No one was going to take his candy away.  Overall a great Halloween with family, friends and candy!