3 Days and Counting!!!

Oh my goodness! I am so tired but about to burst out of my skin with excitement.... My precious little (yes I said little, not my littlest :-)- but still little brother) haha-- came over today to help Jared and make more sense of our mess of donations. I thought that I had all of our stuff packed yesterday- until one of my dear friends called this morning and said, "Kris, I have more!" So off we went, to meet her to fill up the back of my truck once again with clothing and formula. Praise God! I should have counted all the cans of formula (large and small) When I empty the bags in Ethiopia, I will try to remember to do that. We are able to take 8 bags with us, all but one are filled with donations of clothing and formula and all of it was donated... More than 350lbs worth of donations... Praise God!!! and.... there is still some leftover for Elaine to take with her when she goes to get her little girl :-) Thank you to everyone- everyone who has prayed, provided (in any way), worked and been there. When I saw my friend Tina today, we shared a few tears at the craziness of all of this. In January, it was a feeling that Jared and I had that we were supposed to do this- praying all the way that we were doing the right thing and that God would open the doors if this was His will and close them if we had misunderstood- well, He threw every door open and I can't begin to even describe all of the ways that has happened... but we are almost there-and then we will start on an entirely new journey full of twists and turns and lots of unknowns- but one thing that I am sure of is that God will be there. It almost makes me laugh at my stupidity to think that I doubted the God of the Universe- how silly is that????? The sad thing is that as much as I would like to say that I won't do it again, I will..... probably later tonight..... when I can't wrap my brain around something and I start worrying and doubting before I even realize that I am not trusting... the reality of my human flesh... My desire is that I longer I walk with Jesus, the more I will trust and the less I will doubt... He gave me a verse right before our spaghetti dinner out of 1 Samuel- "stand still and watch this great thing I will do before your eyes." Amazing!!!! He always does what He says... I pray that our children will be able to look back at this journey and be willing to walk wherever God leads, no matter how illogical and irrational it may seem to their human minds. Anyway- I wanted to post the pictures of some of the donations all over our bedroom and to say that I feel like I can maybe do this whole blogging thing- I figured out how to put a playlist of songs on here- Yeah!!!! We have last minute items to pack but other than that we are pretty much done.... My step-mom and dad come in tomorrow at 2pm- they are coming to care for our little girls while we are gone. I feel so sad to leave them, but am excited for next Friday, October 9th- when all 8 of us get to be together as a family!!!!

A week away!

I have orphanage donations spread all over the floor in our bedroom. I am packing bags with clothing and formula, all of which was donated. Praise God! I have learned more about the provision of God during this journey than ever before in my life- and how it comes through his people, many of whom we don't even know. So I send out a huge thank you to everyone who donated anything, who prayed, who worked---and any other way that someone may have participated to bring Muluken and Gifte home. Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! May God richly bless you! I am going to get back to packing so that we are ready to go in a week! Yeah!!!!!!! We can't wait..... The line in a song by Aaron Shust keeps coming to mind- I would put it on this blog but I don't know how- "To God alone be the glory! To God alone be the praise! Everything we say or do, let it be all for you! The glory is yours alone!!!!"

Almost 4 am-

This is Day 2 of no sleep. Medicine does funny things to your body.... I have lists a mile long in my head of all that needs to be accomplished in a short amount of time. Too short- yet 11 days too long.... I have watched the videos others have posted on their blogs of their gotcha day and I cannot wait to have ours... Every one that I watch reminds me of this precious journey all who have adopted have ventured on... It brings tears of joy to my eyes just to think of it. The journey has been long but not so long in light of eternity- or really in just the reality of bringing them home. Being pregnant was somewhat like this- you wait forever and ever it seems and then when it is just around the corner there is seemingly too much to do- but once they are home and in your arms- the wait seems to slip from your memory... Hmmmm- the miracles of God. I know I should be sleeping- but I lay there and am literally almost wide awake.... I have a thousand 'wonders' on my brain... I also realized tonight- that our house is sold and we have yet to well---- we are waiting on the Lord to provide what we need. I am counting down the days until our family is all together and eating together at my table which has been missing 2 Pavatt's since the day we bought it :-) I laugh at the thought because God knew and somewhere in my heart so did I- I just didn't think it would be like this and I am so thankful that it is... I asked Jared tonight again (because I kept him awake to talk to me until 2:30) if he ever thought he would be a dad to 6- he chuckled and said, "I never thought I would be a dad to 4 but I am and it is awesome!" He is a great daddy- and an amazing husband. I am thankful that we get to be on this journey called life together.

Ethiopia Here We Come!

We officially have travel dates and tickets! We leave October 3rd for Ethiopia with Kailyn and Austin. We will arrive in Addis on October 5th and have the opportunity to spend some time there with our children and their little sister. It is such a mix of emotions- I can't wait to see them and love them... To see their country and their people. But then I am saddened, that their sister will stay behind for awhile until she is also able to come home to Arkansas. We are all trusting in the Lord's timing... The waiting is hard.... To even write the dynamics of the way life has been and the changes that God has made- hmmmmmmm.... I don't know where to start. I don't think I can right now- but what I will say is that God's plans are so much better than even "our best thought out plans"- they aren't logical and rational to our human brains- but wow- I am so excited to see all that God is going to do through this process for our family, Jeremy, Elaine, Cody and Caleb (and soon to be a precious little girl) and for our community... it makes me laugh out loud- the craziness of it all. But- I can only say, that it is all God... and I praise Jesus for that.... I can't end with that though because it makes me think of Jared's cousin Mica and her husband Carrol. Mica has continually been my encourager through our adoption process. She and Carrol are hopefully soon going to be able to travel to bring Pedro home from Mexico- but this is their second time adopting... She has reminded me continually that this is God's and not mine- that He loves them more than Jared and I do and that He will provide. I remember a phone conversation several months ago where I was crying and almost hysterical because I could not understand how all of this was going to work, where the money would come from- our house was too small, our car wasn't big enough.... you name it, it wasn't going to work.... she was so calm and reminded me over and over of the truth of God's faithfulness and how He had been faithful in providing to bring Josie home and was providing to bring Pedro home and that He would do the same for Muluken and Gifte.... Mica and many of our other friends have been anchors to my soul through this time. When I would get lost for a bit in the storm, they were there to be His hands and feet to pull me back to the safety of what is true. So- to Mica- thank you for sharing your story, your journey, your heart, your love and your faith with me- it has made walking this road even more amazing... We love you and are praying for you all..... To every other friend, family member and brother and sister in Christ (if I started naming I would accidentally leave people off)- thank you for loving us and serving Jesus by being so willing to serve us through this process with all the fundraisers, support and prayers. We could never have made it to this place without the willing hearts and hands of His people. I not only stand back amazed at what an awesome God we serve, but also at what can be accomplished when His people come together for a common purpose- May he richly bless each of you! May God alone receive all the glory!
Mica and Carrol sharing their adoption journey at our spaghetti dinner-
Mica talking to Josie- her Guatemalan princess :-)

 These are some more of the pictures from the Both Hands Project! What a great day!

Bringing them Home!

God is so amazingly good! We are leaving in 3 weeks to bring Muluken and Gifte home to Arkansas!!!! Austin and Kailyn are going to travel with Jared and I, the little girls get a special week with Nana and Grandpa! So far, this has been one of the most amazing journey's of our lives, I can't begin to imagine what it will be like to actually get to meet them and touch their precious faces, after how long we have loved and prayed for children that we have never met. I got to speak to Gifte on the phone a few weeks ago- she has the sweetest voice and seems so happy. The Ethiopian people seem to be so full of joy, even though they are afforded so little in life. It is something that I can definitely learn from.
We are in the process of gathering donations for our trip to bring to the orphanage, clothes, shoes and baby formula. I am also gathering all that we will need to take with us. Imagine being a young child and having nothing..... nothing at all.... The normal everyday things that we take for granted, like underwear and socks- shoes that fit and clothes that are just ours..... Mimi (Jared's mom) has had a great time picking out some flip flops, pajamas, pants and some shirts, as well as underwear and socks!!! Praise Jesus for grandparents :-) She is getting ready to have her hip replaced and will need lots of prayer to get her through so that she can walk well again.
Life has been lots of fun lately. We started school, soccer, football and we are selling our house, trying to buy a new one------ and bringing Muluken and Gifte home. We are praying for God's will and provision in all of it. I can't wait to bring home pictures and tell of our trip. We have the opportunity to fly through Dubai on our way to Ethiopia and Jared is so excited. It should be an amazing adventure, I can't wait to see the reaction that all 4 kids have.
We also have an opportunity to meet their little sister, who they just found and some of our close friends are adopting her. God is so good!

These are the before and after pictures of Ms. Ann's house from August 22 when we did the Both Hands project! It was awesome! Ms. Ann has a very large yard to take care of and we had the opportunity to help her by getting so much done in one day. The rest of the pictures of the new fence and kitchen stuff are on Jared's computer, so I will post those later on today or tomorrow.... It was a blessed day!

Meet Muluken Pavatt!

Meet Gifte Pavatt!!!!

We passed Court!!!!

I am awful because we passed court on August 19th and I am not writing until right now... We have had so much going on and.... but they are 100% ours and I can post pictures of them so you can meet them!!! YEAH! We should be traveling about the beginning of October to bring them home, maybe earlier if possible... All of our projects to raise funds to bring Muluken and Gifte home have gone so well. We are now nearing the end and are just really lacking what we need to travel. So we are praying and hoping and trusting... God has brought us this far, he will finish what he started, I just in my humanity cannot fathom how.

We are fully into school with the kids. Austin is using the Abeka video streaming for his schoolwork, which he and I love..... In a few months when Kailyn starts 3rd grade, I think we will use the videos for her as well. I have no idea what we will do for Muluken and Gifte, but the videos allow more time for me to work with Tristyn and Brityn on letters and sounds, numbers etc.... I love being at home with them and getting to watch them grasp new concepts... lol- some of them I get to learn right along side them :-)

Life is full and busy- the Both Hands project that we did on Ms. Ann's house was amazing. We had about 60 volunteers throughout that day and we transformed her yard, built her a new fence, and fixed up her very tired kitchen... It was so awesome! That day I realized that our college kids are amazing and very capable- hmmmmm..... Everyone worked so hard and Jared and I are so grateful for all the love and support that we have been shown and that was given to Ms. Ann. She is the neatest lady and would definitely be a cool grandma!

Austin is playing football and Kailyn is playing soccer, the two fall sports that we love. Tristyn just turned 5 and Kailyn is about to turn 8. Wow, when Muluken and Gifte come home, our children will be 3,5,8,9,10 and 11. That's a mouthful! We might get to call the transition house and talk to them this morning! Praise Jesus! I keep wondering what to say- I love you, love you, love and I can't wait to wrap my arms around you and hug you and pray over you as I love you?????

We listed our house and made an offer on another- we are praying for wisdom and provision.... life has been an amazing roller coaster this year! but there isn't any place that I would rather be than here, with Jared and our children and trying to be in the center of God's will- the very best place to be...