Hale Family Tales

Saturday marked 3 years since we received Ellie’s referral.  She loves being held close while I explain how this day – and others, like the day we met her – unfolded for us: 

Ryan received a call from our adoption specialist with specifics about Ellie’s name, age, and where she was living.  I was at Target running errands when he called me with the fantastic news.  I jotted down “Guo YuDian” and “Oct. 23″ and “Beihai SWI” on the side of an envelope.  Ryan said, “I googled her orphanage – it is a Half the Sky Orphanage.  Gina, she is in a safe place.”

I then floated (on cloud 9) over to the diaper aisle and stocked up on a bunch of diapers, wipes, baby soap, etc!

The next day, we had an appointment with our adoption specialist to get her picture and more details and to go over some paperwork.  The moment we saw her face was almost magical.  Yes, this was her, this was the face of our new baby girl.  It was every parents’ ah-ha moment.  Finally, her face.

Even though, we knew she was in “a good orphanage” – The face of this child was so beautiful and yet so bittersweet.  This child needed a family…a mama and a daddy who would wrap her up in love and erase the emptiness in her eyes.  A family who would tell her about the grace of God and his perfect plan for her despite a broken beginning.

So once again on Saturday morning, we all sat down and watched a video that Ryan made shortly after we returned home from China.  Her story has some hard parts – they are even sometimes painful.  I fervently pray that she will embrace the good parts, the redemptive parts and will persevere in triumph over a broken beginning.  Her middle name is Grace because of God’s promise in 2 Corinthians 12:9 when he says, “my grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” 

As it turned out – 9 children were referred to 8 expectant families this week! 

Wow, there are many Bethany families rejoicing this week at their good news.  I rejoice right along with them.  Children are a gift from God and they should be celebrated!  I think, maybe, these little lovelies should be celebrated even more for the rough beginning to their little lives. 

Pretty soon, though, new Mom’s and Dad’s will be wrapping those dear ones in hugs and telling them how much they are loved.

…after much delay, there are referrals popping up all over the Bethany Forum this morning. 

It is like a breath of fresh air to see children matched up with their forever families! 

So, we wait, probably a few more months before it will be our turn.  But the wait is so much easier as we inch closer and enjoy watching the steps of those before us!

It’s hard to believe are are back into the swing of a new school year. 
We had a great start last week – (I love our curriculum!) We headed
over to the pool a couple of times this weekend to ward off the 90
degree temperatures.

Here are a couple of shots of Hannah going strong at the pool this afternoon.  I love the mid-air shots. 
 

We had to re-do some adoption paperwork upon our arrival to Colorado.  The last piece of it just arrived in the mail today.  It is our approval by the Colorado office of Homeland Security to immigrate an adopted child.

It’s a small step – but hey – things are very dry (actually wet, in Ethiopia, which is the main cause for “referral drought”) and it is a good thing to have check marked.

Evidently, from what I am reading, Addis Ababa is having severe rainfall knocking out power for long periods of time.  It seems, as hard as the staff is trying, they can’t seem to get much accomplished without electricity.

So….we wait…

Ellie’s version of a classic:

“The B-I-E-L-E.  Yes, that’s the book for me.  The B-I-E-L-E.”

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Ellie is into twirly dresses.  She has one criteria in choosing clothes right now:  “Is it twirly enough?”

The other day, Ellie was twirling in her twirliest dress.  Suddenly she stopped and said, “Mom, did that make you dizzy?”

Ellie pounded down the stairs with her arms crossed in front of her,  “Mom, Hannah disobeyed me!!!!”

(…ring…ring…ring…=annoying alert sound)
…to see if I can manage to integrate my WordPress blog with Facebook.

Stay tuned for further announcements…

Of course, Ellie has been spending a lot of time being a princess since our trip to Magic Kingdom last week.

The other day, she introduced herself as a Princess (can’t remember which one…)

I said, “Oh, someday you can grow up and marry a prince!”

Ellie said, “Well, I already have a prince.  His name is Charming!”

My sweet Hannah cooked breakfast for us while I was working on the post about Disney World.

Her helpfulness really comes in handy – I just wish it wasn’t so selective.  I guess she is 8, after all!