not mom yet

i have had a crazy few months preparing for our son to arrive. casey and i have both been working as much as we could knowing that when david arrives all of that changes. today was not unusual in the busy/crazy schedule but i did have a few minutes to come check on casey [home from work this week] and grab a different snack [didn't want the one i had grabbed at 5:45 am]. shortly after arriving him casey informed me that, "well, he has tonsillitis." i stared at him. my mind was trying to determine the "he" in that statement. i first thought of his brother kyle but we had just seen him last night and was fine so i ruled him out. nothing, absolutely nothing was coming to me so i had to ask, who? casey gave me the stare followed by, "really? our son in ethiopia, who else would i be talking about?"

needless to say i felt a little silly for not even considering that he might be talking about our son. so be in prayer for our little guy - he will be taking medicine for the next few weeks and will hopefully be feeling better when we arrive.

BearKat

it has been a stressful week trying to get our flights nailed down, planning for being gone from work, researching/purchasing the last things needed for travel and all without my amazing husband. so waking up at 2 am every evening has not been helpful!

but, i have had lots of dreams about david this week. my favorite needs a little buildup though. when we first saw our cute little boy we were trying to guess how to say his name and without hesitation casey says, BearKat. since then, casey has continued to call him BearKat. "BearKat Butler" is a great sports name according to casey. so, the other evening i found myself dreaming about david. in the dream he was around 3 years old and running away from me. he was running in the street and i was furious with him. i was calling for him and running for all i was worth but i could not catch him. at 3 years old my boy was too fast for me to catch and was taunting me while he did it. i couldn't help but laugh when i woke up! casey's hopes of having an athlete has crept into my dreams now.

we are officially heading to Ethiopia on Thursday, December 3rd! three more weeks!

a maybe

we are a maybe for being in ethiopia december 6th-11th. yes, we are finally heading over and i no longer feel weird for getting most of david's stuff packed already.

we were blessed to share the video montage of david that we posted a week ago with our church family today. jim had asked me earlier in the week if he could use it during his sermon today and of course i said yes. all week i have wondered what my response would be - would i cry, would i run to hug those people that have been beside us through the whole journey, would i... i just wasn't sure. i watch the video every day [sometimes more] and i tend to get emotional and cry so i was leaning heavy on that emotion coming out. well the moment came and i snuck into the sanctuary to watch the video and as some cried, i laughed. yes, i thought i might have to leave because i felt that "giggle" working itself up. i had the biggest smile plastered on my face as i looked at my son and i couldn't stop laughing at everything that has brought us to this point. the journey has been full of maybes and we have finally hit the last one. when this maybe becomes reality we are on our way to pick up our son!

still waiting

we still have not heard when we will be traveling so i thought i would just show you a few more pictures of our very cute son.

we PASSED

Make an on-line slideshow at www.OneTrueMedia.com

thank you for coming with us on this journey. we hope you enjoy the video. we will have more details soon.

glory and praise to the one who gives life!

what went wrong?

this is a question that i believe we have all asked in our lives at some point. you may have picked up on me wrestling with a form of this question a few times throughout this adoption journey. i had an amazing moment of clarity just yesterday when a couple of great friends and teachers forced a group of us to answer this very question in regards to the life of Stephen [first martyr]. i will try to share what i learned here but know that my words don't always best articulate what i am thinking.

text this comes from Acts 6.1-Acts 8.3 [worth the study time]

key verses that lead to the question at hand:

Acts 6.3 - therefore, brothers, pick out from among you seven men of good repute, full of the Spirit and of wisdom...

Acts 6.5 - they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit

Acts 6.8 - and Stephen, full of grace and power, was doing great wonders and signs among the people.

Acts 6.10 - but they could not withstand the wisdom and the Spirit with which he was speaking.

Acts 6.15 - and gazing at him, all who sat in the council saw that his face was like the face of an angel.

Acts 7.55 - but he, full of the Holy Spirit gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God.

Acts 7.59-60 - and as they were stoning Stephen, he called out, "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit." And falling to his knees he cried out with a loud voice, "Lord, do not hold this sin against them." And when he had said this, he fell asleep.

WOW! so what went wrong? all we read shows the he was a man with great repute, full of the Spirit and wisdom. answer - NOTHING!

i doubt that i will ever know God as intimately as Stephen did. he understood and lived the text from Philippines 3.10-11 - I want to know Christ and experience the mighty power that raised him from the dead. I want to suffer with him, sharing in his death, so that one way or another I will experience the resurrection from the dead!

the goal isn't for everything to go right - the goal is to know Christ and explain his story to anyone we can and sometimes that may mean going against the grain.

dreaming

casey has not returned from work yet and i have completed the "have to's" for tomorrow so i am cross referencing my packing list with another one i just received and dreaming of the amazing trip that is coming. i wish i could post the picture of david that i keep looking at as i try and guess how many diapers/bottles/outfits we will need to bring. soon, very soon we can show him off. the 30th is right around the corner.