New Nephew

Baby Cole Dean arrived on Nov. 11th at 8:48 a.m. He is very small (5lb 12 oz) and very precious. These are pictures from Thanksgiving Day at Dean and Brenda's house.

All 4 Sisters Married! Amelia and Neil Mukergie's Wedding

Amelia and Neil had one of the classiest weddings I've ever attended. Eric and I ranked the reception as one of the best we've ever attended. What made everything so enjoyable? Well, it wasn't the rainy, dreary weather, that's for sure. But we were impressed with the elegant restaurant chosen for the reception. It was Greek, and had great architectual designs. They also had lovely LIVE wedding music with stringed instruments and a singer. It was just the right volume too. I hate going to a reception and having to yell at the person next to me. Great food, great conversation, great planning, and a great setting all equaled a wonderful wedding. Congratulations Amelia and Neil!!

As I am typing, Mom, Dad, Anya, Ryan, Neil and Amelia are flying to India for their traditional wedding in Mumbai and Kolkata. Should be quite an experience for them! I am praying that they have safe travels and a positive experience while in Neil's home country.

The newlyweds will be returning to their new home in New York City (well, the suburbs) the beginning of Dec. with the rest of the family.

Yawn. . . I'm bored of this waiting!

Sorry to bore everyone with the lack of up-dates. But you can't up-date what isn't being up-dated. Know what I mean? Nothing has changed. We sit and we wait. . . and wait. . . and wait. . . and wait. And soon we become NUMB to waiting. We don't feel sad or shocked by waiting, because it is what everyone told us we would do. But we have lost excitement, enthusiasm and anticipation in our waiting.

Unlike a "biological" pregnancy, where there is a "due date," we wait for a date that is ominous and unknown-kept secret and hidden. We can't even give rough estimates. . . at least not ones that we, ourselves, can hope in.

We know God is Good! We know His timing is perfect! We know the saying that "the best things come to those that wait." But these comforts don't seem to comfort much these days.
However (I know I write these a lot in my posts, but I mean it). HOWEVER!! The Psalms in Scripture give a balm to our hurt and longing to become parents. Especially David's Psalms written as he waited and waited and waited to see God's plan unfold. He had been anointed as king. He had been promised the throne. And yet he waited for God's timing. All the while, running for his life!

Listen to Psalm 30: I will praise you, LORD, for you have rescued me.
You refused to let my enemies triumph over me.
O Lord my God, I cried out to you for help,
and you restored my health
You brought me up form the grave, O Lord.
You kept me from falling into the pit of death.

Sing to the Lord, all you godly ones!
Praise his holy name.
His anger lasts for a moment,
but his favor lasts a lifetime!
Weeping may go on all night,
but joy comes with the morning.

When I was prosperous I said,
"Nothing can stop me now!"
Your favor, O Lord, made me as secure as a mountain.
Then you turned away from me, and I was shattered.

I cried out to you, O Lord.
I begged the Lord for mercy, saying,
"What will you gain if I die,
if I sink down into the grave?
Can my dust praise you from the grave?
Can it tell the world of your faithfulness?
Hear me, Lord, and have mercy on me.
Help me, O Lord."

You have turned my mourning into joyful dancing.
You have taken away my clothes of mourning and clothed me with joy,
that I might sing praises to you and not be silent.
O Lord my God, I will give you thanks forever!

Lord, I am thankful this Thanksgiving season for many blessings. Naming them all would take a much longer blog. :)

One more down. . . 11 more to go!

Another Bethany family has been referred a two year old little boy from Ethiopia. I'm hoping there will be a few more. They (referrals) often come in "bunches." But every time I check. . . . no news. But we praise God for the ONE!

Thanks for praying for us as we wait.

Another family has been checked off the list

Yesterday, one family was successfully matched with a 4 month old little boy. This leaves us with only 12 families in front of us. We are out of the teens! Hopefully we will soon be celebrating single digit numbers.

Back to the Daily Grind

With fall comes many changes. . .

• April goes back to school teaching 2nd grade. I have a class of 19 busy yet, most importantly, obedient students. I'm adjusting to the new weekly and daily schedules and look forward to the humor, triumphs, struggles and blessings that each one brings my way. I usually have a good story to share with Eric when I get home. However, I've learned the need to save the throw up stories until after supper. Yep, that already happened this year.
• Eric begins his class at Ship. It is a hard Managerial Economics class that he/we chose to take all by itself. It has lots of calculus, which has me stretching my brain to refresh myself enough to help him when he gets stuck. He always brings the "business" side of the class to our tutor sessions and I try to piece together the "math" side. Talk about stretching your marriage and communication skills. :)
• The leaves on our Dogwood tree are already changing and look lovely; a nice fire red color.
  
• The garden will soon (hopefully) be done. We still have tomato plants with tons of small tomatoes and sweet potatoes that are waiting for the first frost before they are dug up. Eric is looking forward to them. Mmmmm. . . . Senator Russel's sweet potato casserole, baked sweet potatoes, and sweet potato pie.
  
• We are planting two bushes in memory of sweet, little Alivia; a small pink rose bush and a hydrangea bush. They are gifts from two of Eric's very thoughtful cousins. We are still trying to find the perfect place to plant them. . .
  
• We are also in the process of leasing-to-purchase some land near Eric's work. We found ourselves needing a new focus for our dreams of the future. We'll see what the Lord brings.
• Oh, yeah . . . and I turned a year older.
  

Correction....

Shortly after our last posting, we checked the website and found 2 more families were matched with children. That brings the new total to 13 families in front of us!