Africa Famine Relief

Help us support organizations who are providing famine relief in the horn of Africa. This is near and dear to our heart since Daniel is from Ethiopia and we are finishing the paperwork to adopt another baby boy from Ethiopia. Another Ethiopian adoptive parent decided to create a fundraiser to bring relief for the drought that is currently affecting the people in the horn of Africa and areas surrounding. Will you help us make a difference and save a life or two. Simply take a minute and visit this site and please share with others.

http://adoptivefamiliesforfaminerelief.weebly.com/index.html

YOU can make a difference TODAY!

There's a Reason for Everything

Well I guess there is a reason for everything, even the nervousness and anxiety of your son having surgery. And I guess I should learn to listen to that gut instinct inside of me, when I felt uneasy about surgery today.

We went to the hospital, checked in put the gown on and got all ready (here is a too cute picture of Daniel in his gown)


They started all the pre-opp testing, weight, height, blood pressure and listening to his lungs. This is when it all went south. The nurse hear wheezing in Daniels lungs so there was no surgery today.


We now have to go to his Dr and see what she says. We will then reschedule with the surgeon. The anaesthesiologist wouldn't give him the anesthetic due to the wheezing, since his airway was already compromised they were worried about bronchial arrest during surgery. I know this is a good thing we rescheduled for his safety and health but still very frustrating. Poor thing. God knew what he was doing and he put that nurse in our room to question what she was hearing. God is good and His plan is great, even when I don't agree with the timing or methods. Even through the frustration I am thanking God for great nurses and anaesthesiologists today.

The Tough Mommy Moments

What do you do when the parenting moments go from easy go with the flow to tough? Like when your child has to have a minor procedure that requires them to be put to sleep and you hear words like outpatient surgery, recovery, bring comfort items, etc. We are faced with these moments now. It sounds all kind of silly, you know a minor everyday procedure, nothing life threatening, nothing scary but yet it is so scary to this mommy heart. It is not even the procedure that scares me, it is the thought of the anesthetic and going to sleep that scares me. Not knowing any family background, medical history, allergy information makes this hard for me. I am not sure why, maybe because I have a hard time coming out of anesthetic. I come out of it enough for them to send me home and nothing more. So I am not a fan. But the thought of them taking Daniel in a room without us for 45 minutes and then seeing him in recovery breaks my heart. Does this happen to all parents? I am telling myself yes.

Tonight when we were putting Daniel to bed, we were walking him through our day tomorrow. We will get up, get dressed and go see the doctor and then we are going to come home and lay in mommy's bed watching movies. He loves to do that because we don't get to do that often. I even bought him a new movie to watch tomorrow and my mom taped a bunch of Handy Manny's. But while we were putting him to bed we prayed (he loves to repeat what we say when we pray at night, that makes my heart full listening to him) and he looked at us and said "Yea Jesus", which means sing Jesus Loves me (how perfect). So we sang Jesus Loves Me and he wanted to sing it again. He loves to sing that song but it actually comforted me tonight too. I know Jesus loves us and he will be with Daniel in surgery tomorrow. We have a lot of people praying for us. While we were rocking singing MMMM Baby (Daniels made up nite nite song) I couldn't help myself and broke down crying. Thank goodness it was dark or that would have been another long conversation. It is going to be a long day tomorrow and I am pretty sure it is going to be hard for this mommy to keep it together.

The hardest part of this is Daniel can have nothing in the morning to eat or drink. He can have clear liquids before 6:00 am. We don't have to leave the house until 7 and I am pretty sure I am not going to wake him up before 6 just for some water. Surgery is at 9:30. No food and no apple juice in the morning is going to make for a crabby baby boy. Keep us in your prayers for that because the only time Daniel is not happy is when he is hungry.

I know we will get through, we always do because God is with us. He has a plan and will hold us in his arms. I am pretty sure I am also just overreacting and being a paranoid parent! But that is my baby boy, I waited a very long time to hold and love with all my heart. He makes our world whole. God had big plans for him so I know he will get through this and we will laugh at this post one day. Until then God protect us, keep us sane and be with us tomorrow as we face this new journey in our lives right now.

Summer Fun

This summer has been full of fun. So many things that Daniel did last year but since he was so small it is like he is experiencing them for the first time all over again, only this time he has started catching on to things a lot quicker. We have learned we have to watch what we say and what we do because this little one is smart and repeats everything! He loves to swim, he is like a fish and has no fear of the water. I am not sure if this is a good thing or not! He loves to jump in and has started trying to swim with his face in the water. I am pretty sure by the end of summer he is not going to like being in his little floaty innertube thing. Below is a picture of Daniel and Ray swimming together.



Growing up I remember every weekend in the summer spending the evenings at car show after car show with my mom and dad. Since both of our family's have classic cars or show cars Mark and I also invested in a car. Which was a good thing because Daniel loves the car shows. He loves to look at the sweet motors and big tires. He can name every part on a car (big parts like motor, door, tire, window, etc.). He will also tell you who rides in which cars. He likes to watch the cars and bikes run down the drag strip too. Every year Salem OH has what they call the Super Nationals. Tons of classic and show cars (even some not so much show cars) all in one place, some just sitting there and some drag racing down the track. Daniel loves them all. He will talk for hours about the different cards. Below are some pictures from this event this year, Daniel sitting in Pepa's car, and cleaning every ones cars. He watched the drag racing from Daddy's shoulders with Daddy's glasses on.






The best time we have in the summer is hanging out with our family and friends. Bonfires, pizza party's and just relaxing at home. In my opinion this is what makes summer fun. We spend time at Meka and Papa's swimming, bonfire's at Audras, mowing the grass and swinging at Mamaw and Pepa's and so much more. A couple of weeks ago we had the cutest little Ethiopian Princess over for a play date. It is hard to believe over a year ago both Hope and Daniel were in the transition home together and now they are living only an hour apart. I love to just watch them together. Below are pictures from all our summer adventures so far this summer.







I can't wait to see what else the summer will bring. I love seeing the summer through the eyes of a 2 year old who just seems so excited with everything. We have started going on bike rides at night. There is a seat attached to Mark's bike and Daniel loves it. Tonight as we were riding he was singing loudly the whole way. My favorite song was the Mommy Daddy song. The baby seat was on my bike for awhile but that extra 30 pounds is really hard to pedal through. Great exercise though. I love summer!

On the new adoption front, we have most of our documents just waiting on some things out of our control and I am hoping to be DTE by the end of August. We will see how well that goes!

Homestudy Packet Received

We received our first email with the documents needed to complete our homestudy again. You would think the amount of paperwork needed wouldn't be so surprising since this is our second trip down this road. As I was printing I thought to myself "Wow this is a lot of paperwork". I almost wish I could just buy a stamp with my signature. But then again that would take the fun out of it! How quickly can we get these forms complete? Hopefully the USCIS won't take to long with our fingerprint and I171H forms. Crossing my fingers and praying for quick appointments and turn around times. My goal is to have everything complete and submitted by the end of August. Is that attainable? We will see!

Meanwhile we have another fee due of $1050. We raised enough money from our shirts to pay our initial fee, can we do it again? Would you like to help? See the information on the right on our T-shirt fundraiser, Coffee website or if you would like to just donate. I want to thank everyone who has helped so far and will help in the future. This baby Heddleson #2 is already truly blessed.

The other night when we were putting Daniel to bed, Mark asked him if he thought his baby brother had been born yet. Daniel's answer "No". Is he right? Has our baby boy been born yet? I can't wait to see his little face. I know I am getting ahead of myself but I can wonder can't I? I know God has in his plans the perfect little boy for our family.

First Step Complete!

Our 1st payment and stack of paperwork is now on its way to AWAA! Thanks to our friends and family that have purchased shirts, coffee and made a donation to our adoption fund. I can't wait to see how God will continue to provide in this next leg of our journey.

We are now working towards raising our next payment of $7500. Would you like to help? Here are some ways that you can help bring our son home:

1. Purchase a T-shirt - you can purchase on our blog here or send me a message and we can work something out.
2. Share our blog with your family and friends. If you have a blog there is a button on the right that you can post on your blog.
3. Purchase some coffee at our Just Love Coffee Store, www.justlovecoffee.com/theheddlesons or use the link to the right
4. If you would like to just make a donation you can do that too? There is a button to the right that will take you to our paypal account.
5. And most of all pray for our journey and for God to continue to provide!

There are more fun things coming, so stay tuned and check back often. We are truly blessed to have such great family and friends.

Acceptance Call

A week and a half ago we submitted our application to America World for our 2nd adoption from Ethiopia. Since that day I have been glued to my email waiting for something to say "Yes you are accepted again". Well that email did not come, something better did. Tonight while I was helping with games for our youth program at church I felt my phone vibrate. I usually don't check it while I am doing that but something in me told me to look at the phone. I looked down and saw area code 703. For anyone who has adopted through America World you know that 703 area code creates major butterflies in your stomach. All of a sudden no one else was around me and I was very focused on answering the phone. So I ran to somewhere where I could hear and answered. It was Sara from AWAA say those wonderful words "Congratulations and welcome back!" I loved hearing those words. We are officially in the paper chasing phase of adoption number two. What happens next? We sign a bunch of forms and send in our first payment. Then we will be assigned a family coordinator and the paperwork fun will start. Once we submit our dossier the wait time right now is about 10 months for a referral. The age range we have submitted is 0-2 years old and we have submitted for a boy again.

Tonight while we were doing our bed time routine I told Daniel he was going to get a baby brother from Ethiopia. He was excited (I don't think he really understands what is going on). I asked him what we should name the baby. Daniel's answer "Gaga". For those of you who don't know that is what Daniel calls my brother RJ. I had to laugh but told him I didn't think that would work, one Gaga is enough.

I can't wait to see what God has in store for our family. We are building our family according to God's will and God's plan. We are stepping out in faith and praying for God to provide in all aspects of this journey. Praying he will hold us up when we can't stand and are to weary from this emotional journey. Praying that we will give him all the Glory in celebrating the milestones of this journey. Praying for the baby that God has chosen for our family and praying he holds the mother in his arms as she makes the what I would assume to be the hardest decision in her life. Praying for understanding and love. Praying for the support and love of all our family and friends. We can not go through this journey alone, nor would we want to.

New Journey - New Blog

Since we are starting our new journey to bring home our 2nd son from Ethiopia, I thought it would be nice to update the look of our blog. I wanted something more personal and reflective of our family. Becky Burk(Adopt Africa Designs - www.adoptafrica.blogspot.com)did an awesome job! I love the new design. Now all I have to do is find the time to actually post on here.

It is funny how you fall back into the same patterns when you start something over again. We submitted our application last Monday to America World for our 2nd adoption. Since then, I am glued to my phone waiting for that email to come in that says we can start the next step in the process. I remember with Daniel's journey that little red light that blinks on my phone was like an addiction. I literally would have to put something over my phone to hide that little light. It has started all ready. And the butterflies when you see an email with the @awaa.org at the end. We literally just started the process and the butterflies have started already. It makes me laugh when I think about it. I can't wait to see this little guys face, but first we have to get through all the paperwork and the waiting! Oh the waiting (that I am not so good at).

It is all worth it in the end, and I do have to say I can't wait to do it all over again.

Playdates and Haircuts

I love seeing Daniel with other little Ethiopian cuties. Monday we had a playdate with a little girl named Lila. She is adorable and just a little older than Daniel. It was so cute watching them walk into McDonald's holding hands. Those big brown eyes are definitely an Ethiopian trait as they both have them. They played well together once we got done eating and we went to the park. He wouldn't really talk to her while we were together but once we got back in the car it was "Bye lila, Bye Lila" and when we got home it was "Come on Lila" apparently he thought she was still with us! Here is a picture of Daniel with his new friend Lila.


Tonight Daniel got his first haircut. Here is the before:


Here is the after:


He was such a good boy and sat there letting Daddy just buzz the hair off. I didn't want to cut his hair but it is so stinking hot here already and the poor thing is always sweating. I miss the curls. He looks so much older now. Looking at pictures of him from last summer this is how short his hair was so I am hoping to maybe make this an annual thing and letting his hair grow out over the winter. He is so cute with those curls. While his hair is growing out it will be easier this time since we have a hair routine that works now, plus the wonderful Tangle Teaser. Makes combing out the hair so much easier and he doesn't even move at all!

My baby boy is growing up so fast.

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: