We are Growing More and More in Love Each Day....

We are completely useless......all we can do is just stare at the pictures (thanks to the Raymer & Gibson families for taking them!!) of Caleb Samuel and dream!! Yes, you heard it here....his name will be Caleb Samuel Caldwell. We love him so much already, and I know the next couple of months are going to be sooo hard as we wait for him. I just want to pinch those cute cheeks (which have the cutest dimples) and kiss his little bald head :)

One specific prayer request we have is that AWAA would be able to secure a court date for us in October before the courts close next Thursday. We believe that this would put us "ahead of the game" so to speak if we could go into the court closures with a date already scheduled. Of course we realize that even if a date is scheduled it could be pushed back, but we would just feel better if we had a date.....so, keep this in your prayers. Also, there will be four families who will have their actual court dates on August 6th, the day before the courts close. I can not imagine what these families must be feeling! Please keep them in your prayers as well.

And as promised, a picture of us before "the click" of "the email".......our lives would be changed forever after that mouse click!!

Today Is the Day!! We have a Son!!!!

TODAY IS THE DAY!! PRAISE THE LORD!!

We received our referral today for the cutest little boy in the world! The call came at around 12:45 today and I still haven't quit shaking!!! Right after Zack and I had finished eating lunch, my supervisor told me there was a call for me! I never imagined it would be Terra Bailey!! I answered the phone like I usually do at work, "Hello, this is Rebecca....." The voice on the other line said, "Rebecca, this is Terra Bailey with America World." Gulp! This was the call!! We put her on speaker phone, and listened to her tell us all about our son!! He is 7 months old, and soooo cute and very healthy! He is so happy and just seems to smile all the time! After we calmed down enough to remember where we were, we were able to talk with some of the families who just returned from Ethiopia, and they said he is just the happiest little baby!! I wish I could show you his picture, but of course, because of legal reasons, we can't until we pass court, which will most likely occur in October!

I can't explain how I feel right now, all I can tell you is that we are in love! It was instantaneous! We know he was just the baby God had in mind for us, and we are so unbelievably blessed to be his mommy and daddy! I will post more later, including the pics of us right before we saw him!!!

Does This Look Like Fun to You?

Does this look like fun to you?? It sure does to us....well, kind of. These are pictures of our new home! As you can see, there is a lot of work going on! We are completely remodeling the entire kitchen, including new cabinets, counter tops, flooring, paint, and in some places, new drywall! The family room (the red room) is also getting a new floor (thanks to a leak) and some new drywall and all the other rooms will get new paint, and the bedrooms will get some new carpeting. Oh, and a garage is in the works as well. Remodeling is hard work, but I think the worst is behind us. Some of the worst included tearing, ripping, or doing whatever we could to remove 3-4 layers of wallpaper, and taking up the moldy, wet floor....yuck!! I love home improvement projects, and the timing of this couldn't be better, in terms of giving us something to take our mind off of the wait :) More pictures to come in the future!

6 Months....and #1!!!

Today we have been waiting for our referral for baby Caleb for 6 months! To be honest, though I knew today was our 6 month mark, it was kind of in the back of my mind all day, because we were soooo busy packing and moving, packing more stuff and moving more stuff....you get the idea :) Then, around 4pm I checked my cell phone and I had a text message from my dear friend and fellow waiting parent, Karen Bowman. It said something like "I've not seen you online today, so I just wanted you to know that the Hammond family got their referral....you're next!" It took me a while to process what I had read....then I realized "We are now #1!!!!" AHHHHH!!!!!

So, yes, we are #1!!! Our family coordinator confirmed this today, and also said that they expect the next batch of referrals to come within the next two weeks!!! OH MY GOODNESS!!!! In less than two weeks we could be seeing the face of our son! This is just amazing.

What is more amazing is just how faithful God has been to us throughout this entire process....in every way....it just amazes and humbles me. May He receive all the glory!!


Your love, O Lord, reaches to the heavens, your faithfulness to the skies.
Psalm 36:5

Praise the Lord!

Three families that had received referrals in the spring had court dates today...and they all passed! Praise the Lord! They should be traveling in early August to pick up their children. Congrats to the Moles, Cox (Shawn & Tisha on our blog roll) and Ducommun families! Check out their cuties on their blogs (links to the right).

Referrals for five families!!! UPDATED 7/23/08

Five families received referrals yesterday! Congrats to the Laughner, Britton, and Nunez families,and two mystery families.....the most exciting part.....the Nunez family has the same dossier to Ethiopia (DTE) date as us!!!! We weren't expecting anyone in our DTE group to have a referral for another month or so....but I guess we were wrong!! So, I believe that we are #2 FOR AN INFANT BOY!!!!! I am not positive, and we could be maybe #3 or 4, but I am pretty sure this is where we stand in line!! I am going to verify this Monday morning!!

It just feels so unreal to know that we are this close...to know they are to our DTE group!! I am not sure if any more referrals will come this month, or if it will be next month, as it has happened that sometimes DTE groups are separated by a month or so in terms of when referrals are received.

Please keep praying for the many families that already have referrals and are waiting anxiously to hear news about court. We are praying that they will all make it through before the courts close in a few weeks.

UPDATE 7/23/08- AWAA would not say anything about when the next referrals would come or exactly where we stood in line, but they did confirm that there were four families with DTE dates of 1/25/08, and that the Nunez was the first of these families requesting an infant of either sex. This is great news, as our records showed the same information! We can now assume that AWAA is processing requests for infants of either sex or infant boys in the 1/25/08 DTE group....so, we should be #2 for an infant boy!!

Also, on a less happier note...it does not appear that the ten or so families awaiting court dates will get through before the court closure around August 5th. This means they will have to wait until October to have a court date and travel to meet their children. This is very disappointing news for these families. We continue to lift them up to the Lord and ask him to bring peace and strength to them during the next few months.

Closing!!!

Today we are closing on our house! That's right, we sold our house, and today it is official! We will be moving out in two weeks. Bye bye house! Selling our house was emotionally exhausting, but it is a blessing for our family. It was a great place to live!

We had thought that we would kind of chill out for a while in terms of home buying, but God had other plans....that's right we are home owners once more! We actually bought our new home on the court house steps! Scary? Yes! A great way to save money? Yes! I don't have a picture of our new home yet, but I will post them as soon as I can. It's a great house and just needs a little tlc. The next few months are going to involve some small home improvement projects, but we love those, and we also love that it will give us something to do while we wait through what could be the toughest part of the process.

We are still hoping to receive a referral next month! I can't hardly believe I am typing that. We are closely watching the families in front of us, and praying that they hear good news soon.

Some Pics from the 4th....and Families in Ethiopia :)

We had a great 4th of July weekend! It started off with a Reds Game & beautiful fireworks over the river, then ended with a great cookout and swim time.

And......The Raymer, Gibson, & Ord families are in Ethiopia!! I love it when families are there....it is so exciting!! And according to Kari Gibson, Ethiopia has had some serious rain.....praise the Lord!!! I have links to the Raymer and Gibson family blogs to the right....not sure if the Ord family has a blog!!