Aileen's Bridal Shower

Well, it wasn't the surprise we had hoped for, but we still had a very enjoyable time of FOOD, FUN and LAUGHS at Aileen's bridal shower. She will make a gorgeous, young, blushing bride in 7 short weeks.

So this is the lovely "Martin" sister line up. Don't I have such beautiful sisters?
I definitely got the "short" genes, but the resulting jokes and "funning" have made me stronger. Ha! (I don't believe I'm "showing" as much in this photo.)

Mini-video about Bethany in Ethiopia

Our adoption agency, Bethany Christian Services, has created this great video summarizing its outreach to the children in Ethiopia and those who help to make it possible. Click here to check it out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OGcO3DpABdA

Enjoy!! Apologies to those who still have "slow speed". I'm one of them. smile.

School's Out for the Summer. . . .

So what am I doing with my time now that my classroom is packed up and I have something very valuable at my disposal. . . . TIME!

First, Eric and I are attempting our first garden on our own. We have "shared" gardens with grandparents and parents, but this is one to call our own. We are eating lots of fresh salads with lettuce, spinach and radishes out of our new produce store. There are a few other yummy things on the way. I must say I am enjoying how effortless God made the growing of plants to be. You plant it (and do a few other things) and it GROWS! God is a good, good provider.

Secondly, our house is under construction. We are adding a reverse gable porch to the front of our house. This should add some depth to our otherwise simple rectangular solid of a house. Next week we will be adding a new roof, finishing the underside of the porch and gable, and adding all new gutters. Hopefully we will be better prepared for more of our summer rain storms that we have been experiencing (without gutters on the front of our house. . . scary).

The third item that I've been up to is helping my mom and grandma with my sister's bride's maids' dresses. It was supposed to be a very simple pattern, which has turned into quite a complicated process. It has a top that has three pieces and three layers to cut, piece and sew together. Mom is the seamstress. Grandma did the pinning and cutting, while I did the ironing and pressing. We made a pretty good team, and hope to get them near to completion in another week or so.

Eric is also finished with school as of 8:30 p.m. last night, as he completed his final exam for his summer on-line class for international business. On several occations he has already stated at random, "I'm done!" or "I'm do-o-o-one!" and I am at first, left to think twice about what he is talking about before I realize he is celebrating his new freedom, not just finished with his food or done using the bathroom.

His new available TIME with be soaked up in golf tournaments, work, work and more work, and some RR time. Oh, and he does have a few projects here at home that he is working to complete, such as the remodeling of our shed, setting up an outside retractible clothes line, and helping with the roofing projects.

We do also hope to take a few weekend-get-away camping trips. . . . smile.

The 1st of Three Sibling Weddings. . .

Congratulations to the new Mr. and Mrs. Michael Allen Lehman!! It was a be-a-u-tiful day! The rain finally stopped and the sun was a lovely sight to see.

Eric and I have three BIG weddings scheduled for this year and the first was on Saturday, June 6th. Eric's youngest brother has now entered wedded bliss. (The other two weddings are for my youngest two sisters. There weddings are in August and November.)

After the rushing, hustling and bustling, celebrating, cleaning, and much needed resting, the Lehman family had a relaxing evening around the campfire. My nephew had fun roasting his first hotdogs over the fire. We are very grateful for our family, their love and support. Everyone needs this kind of a support system; for whatever life brings!

Paying it Forward with Dogsitting

Two weeks ago my parents spent five days in Phoenix, AZ for my cousin Kelsey's wedding. Since my sisters and I had just gotten them a dog for Easter, they were in need of a dog sitter for the time that they would be away. And since we anticipate needing a sitter from time to time in the very near future, we thought we'd pay it forward and get one up on them while we could.

And that is how Shadow came to stay with Eric and I for several days. I don't think we knew how "needy" animals could be and are. Shadow, like any other dog, needed walked first thing in the morning and just before going to bed. She needed to be exercised, fed and watered more often than our 8 to 9 hour workday normally allowed, so Eric would travel home over his lunch hour to take her out and feed her. She also needed lots of playtime and attention. This forced us to take time to relax with her. I took lots of walks through the neighborhood. I quickly learned how many dogs our neighborhood had! They all wanted to take their turn barking at the new passersby. But Shadow wasn't a big barker, thank goodness. She was more of a sniffer and if any noise came out of her it was more of a whine.

Well, as the time came for Shadow to go home, I was surprised at how much her presence was missed. When we went to my parents this past weekend for Memorial Day, we were pleasantly surprised by her exuberant welcome. She had remembered us!

So maybe we aren't ready for a dog, but I think we are definitely ready to care for and love on something beyond ourselves (and beyond tropical angel fish). And ready or not our lives are about to expand by two precious little ones. Can't wait!!

Two will be more than a blessing!

We have been keeping a secret for the past several months. If you could see me you’d know the secret pretty quickly. Eric and I are expecting a second child, a birth child, on November 9th. Well, at least we are pretty sure it will be our younger child. We are definitely continuing with our adoption, and the two could be anywhere from 18 months to 1 month apart. So life could get pretty interesting. But we are confident and give testimony that this is God’s planning and handiwork and not our own. We desire his blessing for our family and willingly (and very excitedly) embrace his perfect and pleasing plans for this family.

We would, of course, appreciate your prayers as we plan and prepare to become parents to not only one, but two young children, over the course of this next year. Also, any advice would be welcomed as well. J

Many that I’ve spoken with face to face have asked:
Have I experienced morning sickness? Well, I did for about 5 to 6 weeks. I had a terrible taste in my mouth that made me want to brush my teeth constantly, and smells drove me crazy. I didn’t enjoy packing lunches in the morning. I often would try to eat something first, and worked to make it go as quickly as possible. It will probably be a while until I eat beef stroganoff again or have a desire to make meat loaf, but over all, (looking back) it wasn’t a terrible experience for me. However, I was relieved when the nausea greatly diminished soon after the 11th week.

Will I continue working? Well, that is a tricky question and depends on the timing of our referral. I do plan to start the year and to take off for some maternity leave after baby #2 is born. But it will depend on the progress of our adoption as to whether or not I return or just continue to stay home. So I could end up returning to the classroom to finish the year if we don’t receive a referral until Jan. or later, simply because we would not likely travel much before the end of school. But, like I said, it is all up in the air. I am very blessed by my employers willingness to be flexible with the unknown.

How have you been “feeling”? I know this question is usually asking about how the pregnancy is progressing. So far we have had three visits to the doctor’s office and had two ultrasounds and everything seems to be going great. I must admit that this does not mean that I am worry free, but very optimistic about this pregnancy ending successfully. We’ll see what week 18’s apt. brings in a few short weeks.

International vs Domestic Adoption

One question that we often answer when sharing about our adoption is: Why did you choose to adopt internationally versus domestically?

Well, it isn't a quick and easy answer to give . . . but to sum it up here are a few of our reasons for choosing international adoption. First, both of us have overseas experience as missionaries. Eric spent six months in Kenya in 1999, one month in Mexico in 2000, and 1-year in Cambodia in 2003-2004. He also traveled to Guatemala for work projects in 2001. April traveled to Trinidad and Tobago in 1998 for a two-week trip, and spent four months in Singapore and four months in Macau, China in 2002, and also spent a few weeks in Hong-Kong, Indonesia and China while in the "area." Due to our cross-cultural experiences, we value the richness that other nations and people bring to our lives.

In both of our experiences, we were touched by the children. They were so easy to befriend, lovable and adorable. Most of April's missions experiences involved working with children's ministries and outreaches.

Having also spent time outside of the US and seeing first hand how blessed and fortunate we (as Americans) are - even our orphans, which are placed into foster homes instead of orphanages - has had an impact on our decision to adopt cross-culturally.

But mostly our decision lies in the fact that we feel God has called us to Ethiopia and to adopt internationally. We trust Him with the decisions that involve our lives and our family.

The pictures come from Eric's time in Cambodia. We "email" dated that entire year and this is one of the pictures he sent me. He made friends with two dear little girls while he was there that still have a special place in his heart.