Please pray for Hope

Jason and I have been preparing to meet Hope for the past two years.  Since the day this journey began, we have known God had a daughter planned for us, and that we would meet her in His timing.  

Our kids have also been preparing for the last two years.  They are eager to meet their sister and cannot wait to play.  It has been a joy to watch how God has placed Hope deep in their hearts already.  Each of them have prayed the most precious prayers for her, and they talk about her ALL the time.  They especially want to play hide-and-seek with Hope, realizing she has never been to our home- hiding will be really easy!

Recently we were able to witness just how much Hope is already a part of our family-

Our dear friends the Alexanders called to let us know they had just delivered their fifth baby.  When I told the kids that the fifth Alexander had been born, Jackson responded, "They are catching up to us!"

I cried.

Hope is counted as a sister even before she is home.

While we are excited and ready, Hope has no idea we are coming.  What is great joy for us, will be overwhelming and scary for her.  We want to be sensitive to her perspective on all the events which will unfold when we arrive and remove her from the orphanage.  Please pray for our sweet baby, pray for her heart to have peace and for her to trust us.  

Please pray for Hope!

Airport Fun!

As we near our departure date, I wanted to provide a few details for those that may be interested.

First off, many of you have asked about joining us at the airport upon our return- absolutely!!!  

That being said, it seems unwise to list specifics of our travel plans on the world wide web.  

We do not want anyone to assume our house will be empty during our absence and . . .   However, I must say- if anyone were to break into our house, they would be soooo disappointed.  We do not even have a television, and we are bringing our only computer with us.  

Unless of course, they are robbers that have a love for home school curriculum, Adventures in Odyssey CDs, Legos and baby dolls- then they will have hit the jackpot!!!

Here is the plan, if you want to meet us at the airport, send me an email (heidigarner@bellsouth.net).  We will send you our scheduled landing time, and on the day of return we will try and send an update if we miss a flight etc. . .

To God Be the Glory!

Unbelievable!

Throughout this adoption process we have seen the hand of God so clearly that it takes my breathe away!

Time and time again He has shown Himself in ways that bring us absolute joy and awe that He is deeply involved in every aspect of our lives and that He truly cares for us.

The most recent picture of His work unfolded this weekend.  Ever since receiving the video of Hope, we have wanted to thank Andy Ish.  We have no contact info. for him- and even my attempt to locate him through a google search brought no results.

Then on Friday, I ran into our neighbor, Beth.  We have known each other for years, used to go to story time together and still run into each other consistently.  She asked how the adoption was going, and then she told me her sister had just returned home from adopting twins . . .My brain immediately heard the video clip when Andy said he was in Ethiopia with his sister who was getting twins.  Out of my mouth came "your brother isn't Andy Ish is he?"

Beth was shocked and said Andy was her brother, and wondered how I knew that- what a story I had to tell her!  

Only God could be so creative!  To orchestrate all those circumstances and have the man that held our sweet baby be our neighbor' s brother- WOW!  The really fun part is we were able to talk to Andy, he called last night and both Jason and I were able to speak with him.  What a gift!!!  

Video from the Transition Home!

We are overwhelmed with joy!  We received this video from the Rutland Family who traveled to Ethiopia last week to pick up their children!

This video far exceeds anything we could have hoped to receive.  Enjoy!

Special thanks to Andy Ish for trying to make her smile on camera!