Ok, so this has NOTHING to do with Caden or Adoption at all.

Its just fun.

I have had so so soooo much going on that I am very late in doing this, but a few weeks ago I got told that I received a Liebster blog Award!!!!!

Thats amazing because:

A. When I was forced started this blog….I thought maybe my mom and husband may read it. I knew that I had nothing really interesting to say and thought “Who is the world would want to read about my life?”

&

B. I can barley use Google. Not kidding, its so bad, It’s almost a gift. I dont do this because I am lazy and dont wish to be able to find all of the things the world has to offer at my fingertips, its because for some reason, I just cant find anything I want to or fix the slightest issue if it so chooses to arise.  Matt and my friends know and are just like ” Give me the computer, Ill find it in 2 seconds!” And they are right. I dont get mad though, its just the way it is. Ive accepted this reality and I CANT BELIEVE I have managed to make my blog look “pretty” its nothing short of a miracle. The fact that you are reading this is … in fact a .. miracle.

SO, I had to find out what a Liebster even was But Thanks to Ellie over at Musing Mamma, I now know. Thank you Ellie for finding what I say worth anything and for giving me this award. The Liebster is an award, given by one blogger to another. Liebsters go to bloggers with less than 200 followers, so it is a way to recognize small blogs and encourage others to check them out. Once nominated, the nominee passes the Liebster on to 5 of their favorite small blogs. And why is someone who is given a Liebster Award called a nominee? I have no idea. It’s one of the great mysteries of life. Annnddd without further ado……. Here she isssssss.

Purty Aint she !!!!

But in my head, she looked like this:

And I was all….

According to the research I tried to do, the Liebster Award takes its name from the German word meaning ‘Beloved, Dearest or Favorite’.  Don’t quote me on it though, Its me we are talking about. When you win the award, there are a few rules to follow:

1. Thank your Liebster Blog Award presenter on your blog.
2. Link back to the blogger who presented the award to you.
3. Copy and paste the blog award on your blog.
4. Present the Liebster Blog Award to 5 blogs of 200 followers or less who you feel deserves to be noticed. (Sorry if someone has more than 200 followers,  hopefully I am not offending anyone!)
5. Let them know they have been chosen by leaving a comment on their blog.

So, the five blogs I am presenting the Liebster Blog Award to are:

1. The Peach Notebook. This is amazing friend, who I have YET to meet in person. She married our good friend Josh, whom we did our DTS with in 2007. She is amazing, and inspiring. She writes about a lot of things like mommyhood, all things natural, her passions to save the world and see it change for the better, art, nature and my favorite is when she includes pic of her hubby and sweet baby girl. She is a dreamer and I love her. Cant wait to get to Hug you Liz!

2. Becoming the Miller Family. These are our good friends and I am so glad God bought them into our life. Its nice to come across people that believe like you do and have similar passions. Michelle is PASSIONATE about orphan care and they have great BIG hearts. They are adopting a little boy from Uganda and this is their journey. I especially like their ‘Dreams, Schemes, Silly Things’ page. Its fun! I cant wait till they get their little guy home….

3. Aprons and Apples. This is my friend Kristy, whom I met in Vanutau in 2009 when I adopted Koral. She adopted a little Island Girl too who is only a month older than K. Bella and K were little buddies for my 4 months in V2 and I loved getting to know Kristy ( and her family ) while there. Her blog is FULL of DIY, Home school, cooking, crafts, exercise and healthy living… you NAME it she’s got it. I love her and really dont know HOW SHE DOES IT ALL. Hope to get to visit her in the states one day!!

4. Finding Church. This is the Church Family!!! They are adopting, like us, through YWAM Ethiopia and I JUST LOVE THEMMMM!!! Shannon and I have been writing each other since Nov 2011, and I was VERY pleasantly surprised when we actually got the SAME court date to go meet our babies!!! We are kindred spirits and I am so blessed to know them. This blog is their journey “finding” the newest member to their family, who happens to be a sweet little girl close to my heart, little Laylu. She is totes adorbs. We are {PRAYING} to go to embassy together… to be continued …

5. Polka Dots and Ric Rac. This is Brooke. I do not “know” her. They are adopting a sweet little boy from Ethiopia right now too. She is with a different agency than me and lives far away, but I bought one of her adoption shirts to support their journey. So we started emailing. And I just love her blog. Its cute, Its funny, its got some heartbreak stories and some amazing triumphs. Not to mention a WHOLE LOTTA adorable pictures of her little family.

Check em out and enjoy!!

We are stilllll waiting. But I thought it has been a while since I updated with news of Caden.

He has been sick twice, once with a respiratory infection and had an ear infection and eye infection. *sigh*

Its SO HARD to know your baby is sick and you aren’t there to take care of him, hold him, love him, rock him and just make sure he is ok.

Mother’s Intuition and all that. But He is better now, so that’s awesome.

Well. We have gone through a lot of paperwork. We have gotten his birth certificate and his passport. Still waiting on a few things to get done before our file can be submitted to the U.S. Embassy in Ethiopia for them to review it and make sure, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that  they are ‘ok’ with all the investigation that has been done to make sure our child is, in fact, an orphan by the standards of the United States of America.

{As I think to myself…} *** Ahem, Even though, He legally is OURS according to Ethiopian courts. so that’s weird…whatever ***

so checking, checking and then re-checking. Annnnndddd they ONLY submit cases on TUESDAYS. So … that’s upsetting. Cause’ every single week you are waiting to see if you got everything done in time to submit on Tuesday and once it passes the rest of the week is a deep dark sink hole that you just live through until the possibility of the next Tuesday comes close and you hope and pray to have your paperwork in order and you write tons and tons of emails and annoy the heck out of your case worker.

Yup. That’s how my weeks go.

Its been 5.5 weeks home and I just want to go get that sweet boy !!

There is so much going on in our life right now that I haven’t been 100% stewing on not being in Ethiopia. Ive also been spending as much time with my family as possible. So that has been good and my brother Nick is flying in on Monday with his family and they have never been here so that is so exciting! Then the day they leave my little brother Mike flies in with his family, then in June my brother from Vanuatu will be coming back for 2 weeks. Talk about a busy calendar. The “When it rains it Pours” motto has never been more true for me.

That is another very tough thing. On the one hand I JUST want to go get Caden NOW and on the other hand I want to see all my family that I haven’t seen in years! Feeling very torn and very emotionally drained but in the middle of the chaos, God is sustaining me and the prayers of the saints are keeping me afloat.

I am so beyond grateful and humbled by all of the prayers, thoughts and comments pouring into me from all of my friends, and get this, EVEN from people I have never met in person! That is another way God astounds me daily. Thank you for all of that and thank you most of all for your grace. I need it.

So this is where we are. I am seriously wanting to get submitted soon. like Tuesday soon? Shocker?? Didn’t think so.

I will, of course, let you know when that happens…

and until then. check out this sweet face. (awwwwwwwwwwww) with his little green shirt. Stoppit.

On this day, 3 years ago, you were born on the beautiful island of Efate, Vanuatu.

In Vila Central Hospital, you came, weighing 7 lbs. 6 oz and 20 inches long.

I didn’t know about you that day, but I was praying for you. Not like I had to wait long…

You were only 2 days old when I got a call from Uncle Tony asking if I wanted you to be mine forever in the most nonchalant, non urgent way. (crazy)

I will admit, I was in shock. I was nervous. I knew NOTHING about adoption or how to even start the process. Of course we knew we were going to adopt, that was without question but I thought I would have TIME to figure all that stuff out.  All people have is time when they are adopting. It normally doesn’t go like this. So when your Daddy saw me stumbling on the phone and I’m sure I may have looked a little strange, He kept saying, “Whats going On, What is it?”

I just looked at Him and Said “Tony found us a baby. Its a girl. He wants to know if we want her.”

He was getting ready for work, and fiddling with his tie in the weirdest way but immediately He said “Yes, and tell him to name her Koral!” *we had never talked about this. He just named you on the fly*

I spoke through the receiver, in a shaky voice I’m sure,  “Yes, we want her. Name Her Koral Eden. Let me just figure this out and then Ill buy a plane ticket.” *I just decided I at least should get to pick your middle name and it sounded pretty*

He said that he had been trying to call me all night and It was after midnight so he was going to bed but would try and go to the hospital to take pictures for me, if I wanted.

UMMM DUH!!! I thought it would be a little nice to see the child that just became ours. I knew Uncle T was in bed for a while so when it came to our night time, when I knew he would be out and about I OBSESSIVELY checked my email every once in a while in the middle of the night. It was finally at around 5 am our time when they came. I screamed. Daddy must not have been “sleeping” much that night either. He jumped up and yelled from our bedroom “YOU GOT  EM’ ????” This is what we saw.

Perfection. We were in LOVE. You were the prettiest  little baby I have ever seen. And you were mine. God blew me away in that moment. I could not believe this was happening, but I just jumped in head first and trusted the Lord.

Somehow, and I do mean SOME HOW… everything I needed to get done just got done. I bought a plane ticket giving myself and the government 2 weeks to get all the stuff in order so I could get on a plane and get to you. I got a home study and got out our I600A turned in, we got fingerprinted and physical-ed. I was on a mad dash and I was on a plane 2 weeks later – knowing that I would have to live with you in Vanuatu for 4 months until we could go to court there. I left Daddy at home to work until it was time for court and then he would meet us there. I think if I actually sat down to “think this over” I would have chickened out. But that’s the thing. I didn’t think at all. I just did. And I knew that God had know about this before the earth was made. He took a tragic situation and redeemed it for both of us. He gave me a sweet child and gave you a mommy to have forever. We belonged to each other now. And I am beyond grateful.

So after 27 hours of travel, I flew in and Uncle Tony wasn’t even there. He was out of the country teaching with YWAM. I waited for him to get there and then we could go get you together. Here is a video on our “Gotchya Day” ( I totally HATE being in front of a camera, but I’m sure no one can even tell how uncomfortable I am here, so that’s good {extreme sarcasm intended} )

Your story is too amazing and way too involved to go into all the details here. It was an awesome 4 months. Not without a lot of looong nights, crying (both you and me) sickness and just plain hard times. But when I look back on it I forget all the hard and just remember it as one of the absolute, without a doubt, best times in my life. We shared something that not a lot of people are lucky enough to. I am so grateful that God chose me to be your mommy and you are my special, special K. You are my Island Girl and my promise fulfilled. I wanted you long before I even was old enough to really know what my life would be like. You are beyond Beautiful and amazingly smart. You are STRONG WILLED and a little bit shy. You are just like me in so many ways its creepy, and you are SO Ni- Vanuatu its astounding! I have to admit, it is still surprising to me that your culture is something that does not have to be taught, it comes out EVERY day in ways that make me laugh and sometimes want to cry. The Vanuatu is just in you, and it makes us so happy! We love you Kwelev. And always will.

Here is a sum up of the 4 months we spent on the most wonderful little island in the whole wide world with some of the best people I know. We made it through and on September 14th 2009, you officially became ours. We celebrated with none other than Jill’s Hot fudge brownie sundays. We still had to get you home though. And even though getting you was no easy plight, I would do it again in a heart beat. So, we hopped through Australia, flew to Papua New Guinea and stayed for a week trying to get you citizenship through the U.S. Embassy there because Vanuatu doesn’t have one. Through God’s grace and perfect timing it all worked out, even when I thought it wouldnt. That last week we were on 10 planes, 50+ hours of travel and you, as a 4 month old, had been to 5 different countries. What an exciting start to life my dear, I’m 100% sure the Lord has AMAZING things planned for you. Im honored to be your mommy and to get to journey with you. And what an amazing journey it has been. Happy Birthday my love.

We got home. Eventually the jet lag wore off. But Ive still been in a daze. Lots of weird emotions. Things I have never felt before. Its like coming home from missions except this time .. we LEFT our CHILD behind, not just our heart. Lots of things to do still to prepare to get him home. Lots of very well meaning people asking the same question of when we will get Him home. To which we reply, as kindly as we can being asked it 100,000 times a day, “We have no idea. somewhere between 6 weeks and 6 months”

Had paperwork still to fill out to file for Embassy. Filled it all out. Got it notarized. Sent it off. Swore we were done with that but its not a big deal..I’m a pro now.

The night before we met Caden in Ethiopia, my Dad went to the hospital cause he had a LOT of stomach pain. They “fixed him up” and sent him home.

Only to have the stomach pain come back with a vengeance last week, so he went in again. They decided to do surgery on his intestines because he had a blockage. They open him up and find a stomach full of the beast known as Cancer and cant do the surgery like they intended. Its bad. Really bad.

He’s been in the hospital since .. well I dont even know what day it is today. Oh right, its my birthday. Well hes been there 4 days at least.

He is hoping to come home on Monday. I saw him today for the first time.  It was H A R D. If you know me …. you know that I’m black on the inside and don’t cry very much. I just am not very emotional in the way most people are. I will cry if I am angry but that’s mostly it.  I didnt cry when I had to say goodbye to Caden and left him in his ORPHANAGE across the world from me.  Even though some of you took bets that I would. I HAD to after all .. I was leaving my baby. But nope. Didn’t.

Well now Ive been crying for a week straight. It was so hard to be in that smelly, stuffy hospital room cause’ I couldnt stop the tears no matter how hard I willed them to HALT and not dare roll down my cheek. Seeing my dad there was just sucky. Super super sucky.

I tried to talk through the pain, command my voice to stop shaking and tell him we would be here to take care of him and not to worry about anything. Thank God my big brother was there to help with my stumbling. He’s in his 40′s and just better at life than me, He’s had more practice. We told Dad that that was the good thing about having 6 kids….it may have been horrible when we were younger but that we would all take care of him in the end. He has a little army.  And we are a STRONG army.

So we march on.

I would say its been the saddest birthday ever. I had to leave my child on another continent and accept the reality of terminal cancer.

In the last year of my 20′s I will get my son home and say goodbye to my dad. Talk about extremes. I just don’t know how to do this.

I trust in the Lord that He knows. He’s in control and He LOVES my dad. He has a plan and its His world – we are just lucky enough to live here, be made in His image and try our best to bring Him glory every day. I dont know what this next year holds. I know what my agency tells me and I know what the doctors tell me….But I only TRUST what the Lord says. And His will is better than anything else. SO ….. we keep marchin’ on.

This is my new theme song. Its been on re-peat and I don’t think that will change in this house for a long while. For some reason, it brings me comfort. Please pray for us if you think about it. I definitely wont forget this birthday.

For those days we felt like a mistake, Those times when love’s what you hate, Somehow, We keep marching on.
For those nights when I couldn’t be there, I’ve made it harder to know that you know, That somehow, We’ll keep moving on.

There’s so many wars we fought, There’s so many things we’re not, But with what we have, I promise you that, We’re marching on
For all of the plans we’ve made, There isn’t a flag I’d wave, Don’t care if we bend, I’d sink us to swim, We’re marching on

For those doubts that swirl all around us, For those lives that tear at the seams, We know, We’re not what we’ve seen,
For this dance we’ll move with each other. There ain’t no other step than one foot, Right in front of the other.

There’s so many wars we fought, There’s so many things we’re not, But with what we have, I promise you that, We’re marching on
For all of the plans we’ve made, There isn’t a flag I’d wave, Don’t care if we bend, I’d sink us to swim, We’re marching on

Right, right, right, right left right, Right, right, right, right left right, Right, right, We’re marching on.

We’ll have the days we break, And we’ll have the scars to prove it, We’ll have the bonds that we save, But we’ll have the heart not to lose it.
For all of the times we’ve stopped, For all of the things I’m not.

We put one foot in front of the other, We move like we ain’t got no other, We go when we go, We’re marching on.
There’s so many wars we fought, There’s so many things we’re not, But with what we have, I promise you that, We’re marching on

Right, right, right, right left right, Right, right, right, left, right, Right, right, We’re marching on.
Right, right, right, right left right, Right, right, right, left, right, Right, right, We’re marching on.

Sweet friends and family,

We are so thankful for the outpouring of love and support through this long and arduous adoption journey. Sometimes it’s hard to remember that all the paperwork, fundraising and waiting will have been the easy part in comparison to actually parenting our little man! And we still need to get him HOME. As international adoption is not a common occurrence we thought it would be helpful to give you some information on what the next several months will look like for our family.

If you can put yourself in Caden’s little shoes for a minute you can imagine how difficult this transition will be for him. He is going with strange people to a new place with different smells, unknown foods, an unrecognizable language and a whole host of stimuli that he has never experienced before. He will be dealing with the pain and uncertainly of being taken from his home and his caregivers for the fourth time in his short life. We will be doing everything we can to ease this transition. This includes “cocooning” for several weeks after he arrives home. This means you won’t see us at church. We won’t be having people over or going out. Time for phone calls and other communication may be limited. Koral will be very involved in helping with Caden and we will provide her opportunities to play at friend’s houses but we will try to keep things very low-key at home. If you stop by for some reason our visits will be short.  This will be disappointing for us and probably for you too, but it is important for Caden and we really appreciate it.  Trust me, we cannot wait to share him with you when the time is right!

Matt and I will be the only ones who hold or feed Caden for the first several weeks or longer. Children who have spent time in an institutional setting often learn that any adult might be able to meet their needs. With so many different people who have cared for him, Caden has no clue to connect to us as his mommy and daddy. Frankly, he doesn’t really even know what that kind of relationship looks like. By having Matt and I be the only ones to meet his needs, he will begin to see that we are different than the many other caretakers who have come and gone in his life. Please know that we mean no offense if ask you to refrain from holding or hugging him or giving him a snack. These limitations are an important step in helping him to bond to us. This whole experience is VERY different than our adoption of Koral and we will do anything it takes to make sure Caden is secure!

We have been SO blessed by the love and kindness that our friends and family have shown to Koral. There is, of course, a natural drawing of attention to any new child who joins a family. This is amplified in Caden’s case because of His unique and long anticipated arrival. We are already having a hard time with Koral’s behavior since being home from our court visit to Ethiopia. She is a bit to young to really know what is happening and I think she is confused, jealous and very frustrated. So Matt and I have decided that we are actually going to be starting the “cacooning” process a little early to really secure her. We are taking this time to surround her with love and comfort because she did not do well with us being gone the first time at all, and we are going to have to prepare her as we need to leave again to get Caden home for good. We want to be careful that Koral does not feel an overwhelming displacement by Caden’s arrival. To this end we would encourage you to continue show the same interest in her as you have in the past. We know that with your help she will continue to feel loved and secure during this transition. And because of the overwhelming amount of circumstances in our life right now, with still needing to get him home and having some very major things happening in my family, I am taking a HUGE step back and I will no longer be doing hair for a while. This has been a big struggle for me as I feel as though I am letting a lot of people down and I have beyond a full load of clients, but it is just what I have to do for my family. Not to say that I am quitting forever, but I appreciate you understanding that I just can’t do it all and my first priority is to be the wife and mother that God called me to be. So my job will have to take a back seat to my husband and children for a while. I’m sorry for the sudden news and pray that you will understand. I’d be more than happy to give all of your color formulas so you know what we have been doing to make you look so fabulous.

It is our desire to “share” Caden with you and hope to provide pictures and updates on facebook and our blog as we have time. We appreciate your prayers and thoughts for our family as we make this very dramatic transition. We know that God has led us this far and trust that he will see us through any difficulties that lie ahead. Thank you SO much for understanding and all you have done for our family to this point, we are forever grateful for you in our lives and the lives of our children.

In Him,

Lisa and Matt

We are home! After 22 hours of travel we made it back safe and sound. We passed court which is what we went to do so YAY and Praise God! I almost don’t even want to try and describe the whole trip because it honestly was too amazing to put to words. YWAM strikes again, making it yet another wonderful life experience!! I knew that would be the case.We were SO BLESSED to be able to travel with 2 other YWAM families and we all had the same court date. One of whom Ive been talking to via FB since Nov of 2011. So, I was actually going to finally get to meet a friend! And the other couple was awesome as well. But it made our trip even better to have these families with us, all going through the same thing. And as an extra perk, we totally fell in love with each others kids   There is way more to the story behind the scenes that I wont get into on here, but I will just say that the Lord is good and gracious. I am amazed at how he orchestrates everything perfectly, and this was NO exception. The short time we spent together in Ethiopia forged a lifetime bond that can not be broken. What an experience to share.

Thank you Jesus for all that you have done.

But since I feel like I am about to drop dead from exhaustion and not even sure this makes sense, without further ado … I will get to the goods.

I know you all came here to see pictures of our sweet boy, as you should have cause’ he is amazing.

These are 42 of my favorites cause’ I took over a thousand & it was hard to narrow down.

Oh, come on!!!! wouldn’t you??

Enjoy!

Caden Josiah Maxfield. 8 months old and ALL OURS !!

Cant believe its finally almost time to go.

Our bags are packed and weighed.

Donations are collected.

and this face is killing me.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pray for the Maxfield family as we head out before the sun wakes up in the morning.

Please keep Koral in your prayers as well.

Pray for our flights and our luggage, our sensitive American tummies, when we go to the village of Korah on Easter Sunday, when we meet Caden for the first time on monday, and finally for our appearance in court on the 10th.

Its going to be a whirlwind adventure but we are up for it!

I cant wait to post again to you from Africa.

 

11 days to departure and Im scared.

Im not scared because I am going to Africa. Ive done that before.

Matt and I are literally starting to freak out because this will be the first time we have ever left Koral. I know all you “seasoned” parents are like.. really?? BUT YES. REALLY.

REALLLLLLLYYY.

My heart is convulsing as I type.

I can even put into words how hard this has been, preparing for the moment of leaving her and flying so far away. No one knows her like I do. I don’t want to leave her with anyone!! I’m starting to think of EVERY possible thing that could go wrong. I play these weird and horrible scenarios in my head. I am scared for when she has a meltdown that my mom just won’t know what to do, because the 6 children she raised, were just so different than ‘MY Koral.’

I know this is crazy. I know she will be so fine. I know God has a plan and will take care of my sweet baby girl while I am away, because He really is the one taking care of her even now. I just think its all me.

But Im serious. This little excerpt Ive written out, my confession of sorts, pales in comparison to what is going on inside my head and even my body.

Heart is jerking. Mind is spinning. Stomach is aching. Throat is getting dry. Tears well up.

and then I stop.

and I think.

WHAT MUST IT HAVE BEEN LIKE….

for Koral’s ‘Island Mommy’ to hand her over to me.

And watch me walk away forever.

Thank You, Florence Roro. You gave me life, purpose, and a gift that is completely immeasurable.

You gave me a piece of yourself & you made me a Mommy.

Forever grateful is an extreme understatement.

I do know, deeeeep down, that all will be fine in my 5 days of absence and I am so excited to meet my son!!! I Just cant wait till we are all home under the same roof.

One family, not separated by miles of ocean.

 

Days till we board a plane headed for Ethiopia.

Some days seem like they have been in slow motion and others going at the speed of light. But its almost here.

I have started getting organized and trying to get things ready to leave. Actual packing not so much, but I have 2 huge bins almost filled to bless the orphanage and I seriously can.not.wait.to go.

A Big Thank You to all who have given me stuff to bring along to bless the Nannies, Guards, Widows and Little Kids you have never met!  Your treasure is in Heaven and I am so grateful for your giving hearts.

I am even more excited because even though it will be a whirlwind of a trip only lasting 5 days…on Easter morning we have the opportunity to go to church in a  village called Korah. Another family traveling with us is friends with a Pastor there and has set it up so we could go all together. So we will get to spend Easter Sunday visiting a few families from YWAM’s Adoption 1:27 Ministry and loving on the people in this village. There are too many suffering to try and bring ‘things’ for all of them. Because trust me, I wish I could bring ‘things’. Anything! But the need is too great and it would only cause more problems. This is a village of over 100,000 people. Many lepers, HIV/Aids patients, Widows and Orphans. The fact that we will go there just to hang out and be with them will mean more to them than all the stuff we could fit in a backpack. So we will just go to worship at their church service, hang out with them in their homes, hold the hands of some sweet little kids and show them that they are important to us. We are all brothers and sisters in this world and should care enough for the least of these. 

This ministry that YWAM has presented is amazing and is literally saving lives and helping prevent kids from becoming orphans. We have a family that we adopted (they do not live in Korah, but another village that is farther out) and YOU can TOO!!! Pray about signing up..its SO EASY! For $40 a month, YOU could literally be the thing that keeps a family ALIVE and TOGETHER.

And come on, you CAN spare $40 a month. I know times are tough, but I would challenge you to watch this short documentary on the very village I am going to on Easter. Then tell me that you “just can’t.”

I DARE YOU.

Starbucks, movies, cable, fast food, clothes, shoes, shopping, electronics, games, toys, cars, treats, gas, jewelry, STUFFFFFF. Just a small list of things we spend money on and dont even think twice about it. Im not saying this is wrong, but Im saying..we can do a small thing and make a BIG difference to the people of this world. You can change the life of a family. LITERALLY change them forever, give them a chance, show them a hope that they most likely do not have at this moment. All for just $40 a month.

I would like to introduce you to the village of Korah. May you never be the same.

Oh Man… I have been on a dead run for days. {story of my life, I know. please still love me even though you hear this constantly}

I feel like I have so much to do and not enough time. I have our guest house booked and flights are almost confirmed. whew and WHOOP WHOOP.

side note. **It is all a matter of circumstance, because I really had NO IDEA I was adopting when I got the call about Koral. And I was on a plane 2 weeks later with everything I needed done. So I guess a month is plenty of notice to travel, I just have more on my plate than I did back then.**

ahem, where was I?

Oh Yes… I wanted to take the time early on to throw out there a list of things, that if you feel the desire to donate, we can bring to the orphanage in Ethiopia when we go APRIL 6TH. So I would need anything you want to give before then and I hope that I can pack it all

I LOVE giving things needed to those who need it. Anytime we go to Vanuatu, its one of my favorite things to visit villages and be toting a TON of stuff to just give away to people who need it. It is an amazing thing to see such grateful faces for such simple things.

Be a blessing. It’s fun

Give if you want, we are more than happy to bring it all with us.

Contact me if you have any of the items to give and THANK YOU in advance

Here is the list of orphanage donations needed :

·         nipples for bottles (needed everywhere)

·         hand towels

·         crib sheets – cribs in ET are smaller than standard size so we need small flat sheets.

·         toddler toys

·         chewable children’s vitamins

·         scrubs in size small and medium (for nannies)

·         umbrella for guards (4 centers)

·         shirts for guards (medium)

·         Depends for the widows at the W&OH

·         cloth diapers (pre-folded)

·         diaper covers and plastic pants

·         shorts for boys (size 2, 3, 4)

·         size 1T, 2T, 3T clothes

·         baby wipes