A friend who is adopting through our same agency went to Africa this week and sent this update on Maya: Your sweet girl is just that - SOO sweet! She laughs easily, lets me hold her and love on her and puts out the biggest, toothy (4 that I could see) grins I've seen in a long time. She plays easily by herself and others, ate well and napped well, too. I've got tons of pics and video for you!
We really can't thank Jill enough! It is so great to hear information and to know that she is being loved and cared for so well! We can't wait!
Friday, January 30, 2009
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Excited!
Dakota and Carter are so excited! Dakota woke up today and said, "O.k. we need to paint her room today and then paint her bed." I said Hold on! We are not painting anything. He was pretty adamant that we needed to paint, so I said let's put the baby bed back together (it's been a toddler bed). He was excited and so today he and I put the bed together and cleaned it all up for his little sister! He was very proud. He's ready to put the sheets and blankets on and get the room all fixed up. I told him that we still had a long time to wait, but we would so a little each day. He was satisfied, for now! Anyway, we have accepted the referral and now we just wait for a court date. It could be four months, or five weeks, who knows. We'll just pray for quick turn around!
Saturday, January 24, 2009
We have a match!!
We had our match meeting!!!! I couldn't believe it until it happened! Friday morning at 10:00 we met our agency case worker and she introduced us to a beautiful little girl! Because of security and privacy we are not allowed to post pictures or her African name until after we pass court (probably in several months, sorry), but her name means "gift" and we are going to keep her name as her middle name and the name her American family is giving her is Maya! She is eight months old and beautiful! She has big bright eyes and big chubby cheeks! Her brothers have already been making up rhymes with her name and theirs. Everything looks really great and according to our doctor, is very healthy and developmentally right on target, even a little ahead! We know it is because she is being cared for and loved on so wonderfully! We are so very thankful and hope to find out a court date in the next few months. We will let everyone know when it is so you can all pray for that to go well! Thank you for your prayers through all of this, we know God is working through all of this and we can't wait to bring her home!
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
HAPPY INAUGURATION!!
What a day! No matter a person's political persuasion, the historical significance of the inauguration of the first African-American President, is overwhelming. Tears and cheers from all ages, all races, all political parties show the magnitude of today. When the oath was taken and he turned to face the unbelievable mass of people, it literally took my breath away, I was speechless. All could think as, it really happened! The country actually has an African-American president! For our family, this has an even greater meaning since we are going to have a daughter from Africa. What an amazing perspective she will have as she grows up in a country where she sees the reality of equality and justice. Her brothers will not think twice about having a sister whose skin is a different color. "Our patchwork heritage will be our strength" and our common humanity will unify us each and every day. Her brothers will live out the compassion and justice that the new President spoke of in his speech. She will grow up in a world where she will be judged by her character's content rather than the color of her skin. She will not suffer as so many who have gone before. She will not be limited or pushed aside as countless others before her. She will find that hope awaits her. Change has come to her new country, and for that I am eternally grateful!
Monday, January 19, 2009
Happy MLK day!!
Today is Martin Luther King Jr. Day! This has always been a great day and a day of service and celebrating freedom and equality for all people, a day for coming together and seeing each other through one another's eyes. Our country still has room to grow and inequality to overcome but we are a better people today than yesterday and a better tomorrow is ahead if we continue to work hard for the betterment of all people. This year MLK day hits a new note of significance in our family's life. Please read Dr. King's speech all the way to the bottom, it won't take long and it might just make your day!
"I am happy to join with you today in what will go down in history as the greatest demonstration for freedom in the history of our nation.
Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand today, signed the Emancipation Proclamation. This momentous decree came as a great beacon light of hope to millions of Negro slaves who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice. It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of their captivity.
But one hundred years later, the Negro still is not free. One hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination. One hundred years later, the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity. One hundred years later, the Negro is still languished in the corners of American society and finds himself an exile in his own land. And so we've come here today to dramatize a shameful condition.
In a sense we've come to our nation's capital to cash a check. When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir. This note was a promise that all men, yes, black men as well as white men, would be guaranteed the "unalienable Rights" of "Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note, insofar as her citizens of color are concerned. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check, a check which has come back marked "insufficient funds."
But we refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt. We refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this nation. And so, we've come to cash this check, a check that will give us upon demand the riches of freedom and the security of justice.
We have also come to this hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of Now. This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism. Now is the time to make real the promises of democracy. Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice. Now is the time to lift our nation from the quicksands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood. Now is the time to make justice a reality for all of God's children.
It would be fatal for the nation to overlook the urgency of the moment. This sweltering summer of the Negro's legitimate discontent will not pass until there is an invigorating autumn of freedom and equality. Nineteen sixty-three is not an end, but a beginning. And those who hope that the Negro needed to blow off steam and will now be content will have a rude awakening if the nation returns to business as usual. And there will be neither rest nor tranquility in America until the Negro is granted his citizenship rights. The whirlwinds of revolt will continue to shake the foundations of our nation until the bright day of justice emerges.
But there is something that I must say to my people, who stand on the warm threshold which leads into the palace of justice: In the process of gaining our rightful place, we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds. Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred. We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline. We must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence. Again and again, we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force.
The marvelous new militancy which has engulfed the Negro community must not lead us to a distrust of all white people, for many of our white brothers, as evidenced by their presence here today, have come to realize that their destiny is tied up with our destiny. And they have come to realize that their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom.
We cannot walk alone.
And as we walk, we must make the pledge that we shall always march ahead.
We cannot turn back.
There are those who are asking the devotees of civil rights, "When will you be satisfied?" We can never be satisfied as long as the Negro is the victim of the unspeakable horrors of police brutality. We can never be satisfied as long as our bodies, heavy with the fatigue of travel, cannot gain lodging in the motels of the highways and the hotels of the cities. We cannot be satisfied as long as the negro's basic mobility is from a smaller ghetto to a larger one. We can never be satisfied as long as our children are stripped of their self-hood and robbed of their dignity by signs stating: "For Whites Only." We cannot be satisfied as long as a Negro in Mississippi cannot vote and a Negro in New York believes he has nothing for which to vote. No, no, we are not satisfied, and we will not be satisfied until "justice rolls down like waters, and righteousness like a mighty stream."¹
I am not unmindful that some of you have come here out of great trials and tribulations. Some of you have come fresh from narrow jail cells. And some of you have come from areas where your quest -- quest for freedom left you battered by the storms of persecution and staggered by the winds of police brutality. You have been the veterans of creative suffering. Continue to work with the faith that unearned suffering is redemptive. Go back to Mississippi, go back to Alabama, go back to South Carolina, go back to Georgia, go back to Louisiana, go back to the slums and ghettos of our northern cities, knowing that somehow this situation can and will be changed.
Let us not wallow in the valley of despair, I say to you today, my friends.
And so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.
I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal."
I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia, the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.
I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.
I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.
I have a dream today!
I have a dream that one day, down in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of "interposition" and "nullification" -- one day right there in Alabama little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers.
I have a dream today!
I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, and every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight; "and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all flesh shall see it together."2
This is our hope, and this is the faith that I go back to the South with.
With this faith, we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith, we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith, we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.
And this will be the day -- this will be the day when all of God's children will be able to sing with new meaning:
My country 'tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing.
Land where my fathers died, land of the Pilgrim's pride,
From every mountainside, let freedom ring!
And if America is to be a great nation, this must become true.
And so let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire.
Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York.
Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania.
Let freedom ring from the snow-capped Rockies of Colorado.
Let freedom ring from the curvaceous slopes of California.
But not only that:
Let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia.
Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee.
Let freedom ring from every hill and molehill of Mississippi.
From every mountainside, let freedom ring.
And when this happens, when we allow freedom ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual:
Free at last! Free at last!
Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!"3
"I am happy to join with you today in what will go down in history as the greatest demonstration for freedom in the history of our nation.
Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand today, signed the Emancipation Proclamation. This momentous decree came as a great beacon light of hope to millions of Negro slaves who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice. It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of their captivity.
But one hundred years later, the Negro still is not free. One hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination. One hundred years later, the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity. One hundred years later, the Negro is still languished in the corners of American society and finds himself an exile in his own land. And so we've come here today to dramatize a shameful condition.
In a sense we've come to our nation's capital to cash a check. When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir. This note was a promise that all men, yes, black men as well as white men, would be guaranteed the "unalienable Rights" of "Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note, insofar as her citizens of color are concerned. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check, a check which has come back marked "insufficient funds."
But we refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt. We refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this nation. And so, we've come to cash this check, a check that will give us upon demand the riches of freedom and the security of justice.
We have also come to this hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of Now. This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism. Now is the time to make real the promises of democracy. Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice. Now is the time to lift our nation from the quicksands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood. Now is the time to make justice a reality for all of God's children.
It would be fatal for the nation to overlook the urgency of the moment. This sweltering summer of the Negro's legitimate discontent will not pass until there is an invigorating autumn of freedom and equality. Nineteen sixty-three is not an end, but a beginning. And those who hope that the Negro needed to blow off steam and will now be content will have a rude awakening if the nation returns to business as usual. And there will be neither rest nor tranquility in America until the Negro is granted his citizenship rights. The whirlwinds of revolt will continue to shake the foundations of our nation until the bright day of justice emerges.
But there is something that I must say to my people, who stand on the warm threshold which leads into the palace of justice: In the process of gaining our rightful place, we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds. Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred. We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline. We must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence. Again and again, we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force.
The marvelous new militancy which has engulfed the Negro community must not lead us to a distrust of all white people, for many of our white brothers, as evidenced by their presence here today, have come to realize that their destiny is tied up with our destiny. And they have come to realize that their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom.
We cannot walk alone.
And as we walk, we must make the pledge that we shall always march ahead.
We cannot turn back.
There are those who are asking the devotees of civil rights, "When will you be satisfied?" We can never be satisfied as long as the Negro is the victim of the unspeakable horrors of police brutality. We can never be satisfied as long as our bodies, heavy with the fatigue of travel, cannot gain lodging in the motels of the highways and the hotels of the cities. We cannot be satisfied as long as the negro's basic mobility is from a smaller ghetto to a larger one. We can never be satisfied as long as our children are stripped of their self-hood and robbed of their dignity by signs stating: "For Whites Only." We cannot be satisfied as long as a Negro in Mississippi cannot vote and a Negro in New York believes he has nothing for which to vote. No, no, we are not satisfied, and we will not be satisfied until "justice rolls down like waters, and righteousness like a mighty stream."¹
I am not unmindful that some of you have come here out of great trials and tribulations. Some of you have come fresh from narrow jail cells. And some of you have come from areas where your quest -- quest for freedom left you battered by the storms of persecution and staggered by the winds of police brutality. You have been the veterans of creative suffering. Continue to work with the faith that unearned suffering is redemptive. Go back to Mississippi, go back to Alabama, go back to South Carolina, go back to Georgia, go back to Louisiana, go back to the slums and ghettos of our northern cities, knowing that somehow this situation can and will be changed.
Let us not wallow in the valley of despair, I say to you today, my friends.
And so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.
I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal."
I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia, the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.
I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.
I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.
I have a dream today!
I have a dream that one day, down in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of "interposition" and "nullification" -- one day right there in Alabama little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers.
I have a dream today!
I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, and every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight; "and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all flesh shall see it together."2
This is our hope, and this is the faith that I go back to the South with.
With this faith, we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith, we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith, we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.
And this will be the day -- this will be the day when all of God's children will be able to sing with new meaning:
My country 'tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing.
Land where my fathers died, land of the Pilgrim's pride,
From every mountainside, let freedom ring!
And if America is to be a great nation, this must become true.
And so let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire.
Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York.
Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania.
Let freedom ring from the snow-capped Rockies of Colorado.
Let freedom ring from the curvaceous slopes of California.
But not only that:
Let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia.
Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee.
Let freedom ring from every hill and molehill of Mississippi.
From every mountainside, let freedom ring.
And when this happens, when we allow freedom ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual:
Free at last! Free at last!
Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!"3
Monday, January 12, 2009
Technology!
The orphanage director has the two documents we have been waiting on!!!! YEA!!! The only problem now is that she has to email them to Dallas and it is not working! They tried last week and no luck. They tried to day and evidently, no luck. As soon as our agency in Dallas gets these documents we can have a match meeting and find out who this little girl is, we will get pictures and infomation and possibly even video of her! Needless to say, we are excited and ready to find out who she is! If y ou get a chance, say a prayer that the internet will work and those papers will get to Dallas!
On a very happy note, another family from our agency is in Africa meeting and getting to know their two new kids! They have adopted a brother and sister and they will be bringing them home in a few weeks. They asked that everyone pray today because they have to make a special request of the US Embassy there to meet earlier then is scheduled so that they don't have to change plane tickets, etc. (very expensive). It is complicated but just pray that everything works out for the Seays to get their appointments tomorrow or Wednesday. To see a picture of their kids just check out our other friends blog.
On a very happy note, another family from our agency is in Africa meeting and getting to know their two new kids! They have adopted a brother and sister and they will be bringing them home in a few weeks. They asked that everyone pray today because they have to make a special request of the US Embassy there to meet earlier then is scheduled so that they don't have to change plane tickets, etc. (very expensive). It is complicated but just pray that everything works out for the Seays to get their appointments tomorrow or Wednesday. To see a picture of their kids just check out our other friends blog.
Wednesday, January 7, 2009
Christmas plays!
We also had two wonderful Christmas plays this year! Carter was a toy soldier in the Nutcracker! He loved it! He has the best music and art teachers. They get amazing work out of these elementary students! 
We also went to Dakota's Christmas play at his preschool. He was Joseph (for the second year in a row)! They acted out the Christmas story and then they sang and recited things they have been learning all year. Dakota also got to saythe prayer into the microphone after the show. He was very cute!!
No news
Still no news from Africa. We really have no idea when we will get matched. It could take months. They are having to file papers to meet new requirements and I think there is a back log because they are doing this for all the orphans up for adoption, so it really could be a long wait. Blah!
Stockings!
Playing Santa with Uncle Paul
Bug glasses from Grandma and Grandpa Kirk!
The Felton Grandkids! Olivia (in the middle) is my new best friend! We painted fingernails and made an easy bake oven cake, I have to get ready for all the girl stuff!!
Keith's mom and the top of his brother's head!
Dakota and his Great Grandma who will be 95 in February!! She is amazing!
On a much more fun note, Christmas was great! We had wonderful times with both sides of our family and had fantastic travel! We have great travelers. Both boys do so well that even long trips (12 hours) are a breeze! Here are some pictures from Texas and Alabama.
Christmas p.j.s!! Aren't they cute!!
Christmas p.j.s!! Aren't they cute!!
It wouldn't be Christmas with out some Dallas Cowboys stuff!
Stockings!
Playing Santa with Uncle Paul
Bug glasses from Grandma and Grandpa Kirk!
The Felton Grandkids! Olivia (in the middle) is my new best friend! We painted fingernails and made an easy bake oven cake, I have to get ready for all the girl stuff!!
Keith's mom and the top of his brother's head!
Dakota and his Great Grandma who will be 95 in February!! She is amazing!
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