Amazing moments along the way

I wanted to tell you some of the amazing things Carter and Dakota have done through out this adoption process:

Dakota came in one day with a handful of something. After chasing him down and asking what he was doing, his reply, " I wanted to put my money in the adoption jar to help bring Maya home!" He had emptied his piggy bank to help bring his new sister home. After Carter learned what Dakota did, he disappeared and came back to do the exact same thing. I have incredible kids!

Every night they both pray for Maya. Carter prays at dinner and bedtime that she will be healthy and that she will come home soon!

Dakota prayed one night that, "Mommy and Daddy would have a safe trip to Africa and that we would all learn English soon!"

One morning Dakota woke up and decided that we needed to paint the baby's room! I said no and so he thought we should paint the baby bed! Still no, we settled on putting the bed together and packing up the guest room so we could make it the baby room. That seemed to satisfy him and he worked all morning with me getting it ready!

Every time he finds something pink, girly, or babyish he brings it to me and says, " This could be for our baby sister!" Then he promptly runs and puts it in her room.

They are both learning so much about Africa and the country where she lives. They have met other kids from there and love talking to them. This past Saturday our agency had a heritage day for all the families and the boys got to hear a praise band from our daughter's country. I loved watching them listen, clap, and dance along with the amazing music. Carter's class (thanks to his fantastic teacher) is collecting books to send to the orphanage and both boys take her pictures to school and show her off! Dakota wants to bring her to show and tell when she comes home!

It is so incredible how much they get it! They already love her so much and are so proud of her! She has no idea what she's in for when she gets home! I love these two boys and could not be prouder of who they are and how they love!

A new family!

Our friends passed court!! They are now a beautiful family of four! Go tell them congratulations on their blog and see their beautiful new daughter!!

Next Step!

Yesterday I was sitting in our living room when my cell phone rang. I answered it and it was our agency calling us to give us "good news" she said! I thought she was calling to give us an update on Maya, but she was calling to tell us we had a court date!!!!! A court date!!! I couldn't believe it! The agency in Africa was suppossed to be closed until March?! I'm not sure what happened but they opened early and gave us a court date. Our date right now is May 5! Now, we are considering this a tentative date because everything I have heard and read lets me know that almost no one gets to actually pass court on the first date given. Court dates get moved, court closes, no electricity on that day, paper work is missing, birth families need to be located, a myriad of reasons why people don't actually have court the first day assigned or why they don't pass court the first time. We are trying to be flexible and patient. We also are just happy to be in the system at this point!

For those of you who haven't heard how this works. We give power of attorney to people over in Africa and they handle court for us. If/when we pass court we are legally her parents. We must then travel about three weeks after we pass court to go meet her and bring her home! Thank you so much for your prayers for us and for our little girl and for this process. Please continue to pray for all of us.

As you are praying today and tonight, and if you wake up in the middle of the night between midnight and three, please, please pray for a wonderful family that has their court date tonight! Their little girl is in the same baby home as Maya and they are going through the same agency. Hopefully, tomorrow they will legally be the parents of a beautiful little girl all the way over in Africa!!

Birthday Festivities!

We had such a great time this year! Carter wanted to go to the Baylor bears basketball game for his birthday! It was great!!! Baylor beat the Aggies! The boys had such a great time and really got into the game. One funny note, there were some really great aggie fans holding a sign that said "Beat the hell out of Baylor!" Carter, of course, saw it and made certain to inform us that there was a bad word on that sign!! Who would write such profanity?!?!?! It was a perfect teaching moment to show him why he never wanted to go to Texas A&M!!!!! LOL!!! Here are some pictures of the day! He wanted a "stunt" birthday cake?! What?! Well, he designed it and I made it! A motorcycle jumping a wall of fire! Crazy!

CARTER!

Today is Carter's 8th birthday! I can't believe that it was eight years ago he was born! Where did all the time go? Carter is the most amazing young man! He is kind and funny and generous. He is smart and unbelievably imaginative and creative! His teacher told me just this morning that Carter is so honest that they call him Honest Abe! She said anytime she needs to know what actually happened, she asks Carter. She said he even told her once that it wasn't all the other kids doing something they weren't supposed to, it was just him! He is caring and a fantastic big brother. I can't wait to see him with a little sister. His big brown eyes are so full of excitement and curiosity, that I always wonder what's going on in that head of his! I am so thankful for Carter and for the way he chooses to live his life. One day he came home and told me he wanted to buy gifts for all his Sunday school teachers and all the kids in his class. We went right then and bought flowers for teachers and he picked out toys at the dollar store for all the kids in his class and then we delivered each one! He has a heart like no other! I love him so very much and could not be prouder to be his mom! Happy Birthday Carter!

Delay. . .

Well, international adoption has its quirks, to say the least! Our agency called this week and the government agency that handles adoptions in our daughter's country, is closing for the entire month of February!! Evidently they are moving and reorganizing. Which means, they did not accept our paperwork before they closed and so our case cannot be submitted until they open back up in March. I am bracing for what could be many delays. My prayer is that when the office opens things will run more efficiently and smoothly and things will move faster!?!?!? Keep praying!

I did get a chance to talk with a friend who was just there and she got to hold Maya and play with her and she said she is very happy, content and seems pretty laid back!! Wow, laid back, that will be a new dynamic in the Felton household!! Overall she said she was very well cared for, loved and given lots of attention. She said the home was wonderful and the care givers genuinely loved all the children, and for that we are extremely grateful! It is humbling to know someone is giving love and care to your future child as if she were their own, knowing the whole time that the child will be leaving them. The people there give so much and give so sacrificially. They have a unique and wonderful calling. We can never thank them enough for all they are doing in the "meantime." We love them already!

Check this out!

Another family adopting through our agency is doing a really fun fundraiser to help with their adoption expenses! They are getting people to trade items which will eventually be sold on ebay. Sounds crazy? Go check out their blog and see if you can help them out! They may have something you need and you may have something they could use!

New Pictures!

We have some new pictures!! Sorry you can't see them! She is beautiful!!! She is really growing! She has new teeth and she sits up by herself! She is very smiley and very squeezable!! Every night at dinner and at bed the boys both pray, " God help our baby sister to come home soon and keep her safe and healthy!" Dakota also adds, "And help her to learn her name quickly." They are so excited. They love to look at her pictures and show them off. They have shown them to their classes at school and church and they have told everyone they meet all about her. I hope they are as happy when she destroys their lego ships!! Some how, I think they will be!

Update!

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!

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!