It's Official!!

Bryce's King's Kid Poster for school

Blake's King's Kid Poster for school

Faith showcasing the beautiful flowers that Uncle Seth, Aunt Kelly, Moira, and Ella sent us to congratulate us on the referral.


Today was such an exciting day. I just feel complete excitement!! We accepted the referral and we are ready to move ahead with the process. We still have not heard anything back about little A.'s test results but we really feel like this referral is from God and meant for our family. We are still praying that she is healthy. We are so excited to be A. and M.'s parents.

The kids were so funny this weekend. They would not let up on Wade and I with what names we would choose for the kids. We have been undecided about keeping their Ethiopian names or adding a new first name. The kids were googling names all weekend and their meanings. Yesterday we were eating lunch after church and they were ready to vote after all of the googling that had been done. We narrowed the names down and put A and M's pictures in front of us and we reached a unanimous consensus on the names. Here they are.....

Zoey A. (Zoey means life)

Tatem M. (Tatem means cheerful, bringer of joy)

(I am still being very cautious with listing their Ethiopian names, but that will be their middle name). Blake likes Tate and felt very strongly that Tate was a good name, but I couldn't just settle on that so we went with Tatem, so that he could call him Tate. The kids each have made copies of Zoey and Tate's picture and they had them mounted on the front of their notebooks to go and show off their new brother and sister at school today. I love seeing their excitement. They have been praying for many months for this referral so it's euphoric to see God's plan unfolding.

Now we wait again. Our dossier will be sent to the Ministry of Women's Affairs in Ethiopia. We will pray that our paperwork will not be lost and we will wait to be assigned a court date. We probably won't hear of a court date to be assigned to us for 4-8 weeks. Court could be a couple of months after that. Hopefully court will pass the first time around and then Wade and I can travel to get Zoey and Tatem around 6-8 weeks after court passes. There is the time-line. We will update with any info. that we get regarding Zoey. Please pray that they also get good nutrition while they are at the orphanage. Tatem is such a little guy for his age and he needs to start beefing up to keep up with his big brothers.

Referral!!

Wade and I at the computer at the hotel, getting the referral pictures.

Wade, Todd (Wade's brother), and the kids after getting the referral at the pool. We called them over to give then the EXCITING NEWS!!

We were in Mexico this past week with the kids for Spring Break and we got our referral. Wade and I were sitting together by the pool watching the kids. Wade had his phone right on his lap and we saw the call come in and I said that's the agency. We took the call and Aneata had the referral for us, Praise God!! Our referral was for a little girl age 5 and a little boy age 2.5. They are not siblings and they are both adorable. He seems to be healthy from what little information that we have received. We are still checking on a blood test that came back for that we are concerned about. She was taken to the clinic again this week to re-test her and we are anxiously waiting for the test results. We have not officially accepted the referral yet, but our hearts are already completely won over. Please pray for her. We pray that she is healthy and if not that we will be able to help her to get the care that she needs quickly.

At this point we need to be very vague about the info. that we put on the blog. Ethiopian laws do not allow us to share details and post photos at this point. I know you are dying to see photos but we cannot post photos until the kids pass court and are officially ours. We will keep you updated. Thanks for all of your continued prayers, emails, and calls.

Hoping for a Call SOON!

Bummer, Blake broke his finger the first week back to outdoor baseball practices. He
has been getting ready all winter with indoor practice. Here he is on his birthday bowling with
his left hand! He actually won and did better than he normally bowls!

Blake's 11th Birthday was two days ago on St. Patrick's Day.

We went to an Ethiopian Restaurant a couple of weeks ago with some friends. Here is a
picture of the platter of food that we ordered. We had a good time trying injera for the first
time, watching a coffee ceremony, and letting the kids tear it up together on the dance floor.

We are anxiously waiting for THE CALL. We have known for three weeks that our agency is sitting on some photos of children that they are hoping to refer soon! YEAH!! We are waiting for the medical reports to come back so we can see if they have a match for us. I am just praying for good health for these children and that God's hand would be all over how they are placed with families. We are really praying that we will hear something in the next couple of days. Keep praying!! We are headed to Mexico tomorrow (Friday) with the kids for Spring Break and looking forward to it, hopefully we will get a referral while we are there. We will keep you posted.

Hard, Hard, Hard Day-Keep Praying!!

Today is a big struggle for us. I am writing this update with tears. Today we got a call from Aneata at our agency. They had a very rare circumstance that emerged today. A family that had accepted a 3 year old girl had to back-out of the adoption process for financial reasons. Aneata asked us if we would want to accept her, but this would mean that we would only be able to adopt one child. Her court date is scheduled for March 9th, so we would have been placed in an ideal position from a timing stand-point. Wade and I agonized over this decision with each other, Aneata, and God this morning. A three-year old girl is the reason I really wanted to do all of this, for me this is the perfect age and gender, but we have felt strongly about adopting 2 children all along. The wait might continue to be quite awhile if we want to adopt two children between the ages of 1-5. With sobs in my throat I finally called Aneata back and turned down this precious little girl. We didn't even have Aneata email us with pictures and information because we knew we would melt at the sight of this precious little girl. I am not worried about her going into a great home because there are many families below us on the list. We will continue to pray for a match and that we are following God' plan. Please pray for us to have peace and that we will hear something soon. The wait is excruciating and long right now. Thanks for all of your support.

Waiting, Waiting, Waitinnnnnnnnggggggggggg.......

Posing by the coke Polar Bear, dad LOVES Coke so we couldn't resist

Faith, Mom, and Dad riding the gondola down to the base

So I haven't updated the blog forever and now today I will add to updates. We are still #1 on the waiting list. It's been two months and we haven't moved on the list. The wait has been trying. I am in prayer all of the time. I know that God has big plans for us and I am trying to trust him. My heart is yearning to get a referral and to see the faces of the precious children that will be in our family soon. I can't even explain the desire that is welling up in our hearts. I am so excited for a friend that I have gotten to know through our agency. She and her husband just got a referral for a precious little baby girl this past month. They have been #1 on the list for baby girl for quite awhile too. So we are praying and celebrating with them. They have four boys and they can't wait for a little pink around their home.

We have so many people praying for us and the referral right now. Thank you for your prayers. Please keep them coming.

This weekend we are in Winter Park with my parents and we are having a great weekend. I just took these pictures a few hours ago. We went down to the base to meet up with Wade and Blake after they finished skiing. Here are a few pictures. Happy Valentine's Day everyone!!

Bryce's Big Day

Chocolate Brownie time (Bryce's request, he said cake was too chocalatey):):)

Bryce, Blake, and Faith before we went to Red Robin

Bryce on Feb. 5th (his 7th bday) playing football with friends in the backyard

Bryce loved his birthday. It was a beautiful day. He wanted a sleep-over but mom said let's wait until summer when we know it will be warm and we can be outside. Little did I know that it would be in the 70's on his Feb. 5th bday. Bryce has morning kindergarten then we went to Chuckee Cheese for lunch (Bryce's favorite). That night he had two friends come over for pinata, presents, and dinner at Red Robin.

Still Waiting.....

Fun in the snow after posing for a Christmas picture.

Faith~12, Blake~10, Bryce~6

We are still waiting for a referral. To pass the time Wade and I finished our 24 hours of credit needed to adopt after completing our last 7 hours of class today, YEAH!! We are #1 on the waiting list and we are happy to continue waiting on God and his timing for our referral. He knows where are kids are and the right timing for us so we will continue to wait and pray.

We are busy getting ready for Christmas along with the rest of you! Next Friday we leave for Iowa already. We are all so excited to see our family and to spend a week with them over Christmas.

Continue to check our blog, hopefully I will be able to add exciting news soon regarding a referral. After Wade and I accept a referral we will wait 3-4 more months to allow the adoption to be complete and to get through the Ethiopian courts. Then we will finally travel to Ethiopia to bring home the two little ones!! If you think of it, please continue to pray for God's hand to be in our journey. God's blessings to you this Christmas season!

Merry Christmas!! The Donels