Praising God!!

All I can do is praise the Lord! He is working so many miracles with this adoption. We drove 4 hours to Lusaka on Friday to drop off the paperwork at the adoption committee and we were expecting to have to wait at least 2 weeks before they would sit, review it and give us our effective date of notice. The effective date of notice states that we can go to court 90 days from that date! The adoption committee has to approve you to adopt after your 1 year fostering (they are a little flexible with the fostering though). If they don't want you to adopt they have the power to stop your adoption completely as does social welfare here in Ndola. So....we gave them the paperwork...the minister of social services was the lady we met with..she looked it over and asked us if we could come back Monday as it takes 24 hours for them to review the paperwork!! We were like okay!! (we were definitely not going to question the time frame) Because it is a 4 hour drive we asked if it would be possible for them to mail it too us!! She kind of hummed and hawed for awhile...finally she was like I don't think it will get to you if I mail it...because your out of town I will rush it and do it today...can you come back at 15 and get it...UMMM ABSOLUTELY!! Praise the Lord, we were speechless!!!

We also went to the National Registration building to check in on the application for the girls birth certificates that we had sent in in March! We found out that they were done...but...that the registration number that they had given to the twins had already been given out to other kids...Someone had made a mistake, and the birth certificates needed to be reprinted. We asked if they could be done today...but unfortunately not until Monday...Thankfully one of Grace's care givers was going to Lusaka Monday, and could pick them up for us, so we now have them too. The only things we still need to finish the Zambian side of this adoption are their passports and that final court date!

It has been so humbling to watch the Lord work, to see what amazing blessings the twins are and to realize how little faith I had!! I am realizing more and more how angry I was that he had taken this away from us. How much I felt it was my right and that I wasn't content in the Lord alone and all of the other amazing blessings he had given to me. One of the caregivers at Buseko commented to me that God had truly blessed me!! It made me want to cry to think of how much I have and I still wasn't content to wait on his timing!! I can truly say that I am thankful for everything I have learned, and I'm grieved for the things that I prevented myself from learning. If i had had my way, would I have my girls, would I have the relationship that I know have with my husband, would I be here where I have the opportunity to be taught so much by these kids? Praise the Lord for his mercy and grace!!

The kids here are amazing and I am so enjoying getting to know them better! Not a day goes by that I don't have someone knocking on my door asking to see me or the babies. Some of them will come just to say goodnight to me! I was doing a few pieces of laundry by hand the other day and they helped me to rinse it out since I guess I hadn't done it quite enough, or so they told me..lol...they showed me how to find Ntungulus, which are red fruit that grow underground and taste kind of like lemons! Such cheerful, happy kids!

The girls are doing so well, I have them on a schedule that is working really well! I'm starting to give them some more solid foods, which they mostly play with instead of eating but you have to start somewhere! Their little personality's and quirks are so cute! I can't wait for you all to meet them, they are so beautiful!

Adoption delays!!

It never ceases to amaze me how the system here works!! I don't want to say too much, but I will say that if they say you'll get it on Fri...you probably won't get it until the following Friday, if then!!! We are still waiting on the paperwork that we need to take and submit in Lusaka! When their is only one person in a certain department and she has the control to prevent you adopting if she wants to...You kind of have to be nice to her!! lol...at least with everything else we have been through I'm learning to let it all go and trust in the Lord that it will all happen when it is supposed to!! We should get the paperwork hopefully tomorrow (fingers crossed), and will take it to Lusaka on Thurs....So...that means that the committee that is going to review it should hopefully do that within the next 3 weeks, and they will give us our effective date of notice for our court date which will be 90 days later....so sometime in Sept and then everything will be official...the girls's names will be changed and as far as Zambia is concerned everything is finished!!!

Team comes this Friday!! get to see some familiar faces....the homesickness is in full swing and am trying to keep myself busy to help it go away....it does help that every time my cutie babies smile it reminds me of one of the reasons that we are here....the kids here at Grace love the babies and I've been getting to know a lot of the kids as we play with the babies!!!

The kids here at Grace are going to be doing a garden as part of a school project and I've decided to add a few rows for myself that I get to grow!!! I'm excited as I love to garden and its also something I can do with the kids too!!! looking forward to some fresh lettuce...yay..lettuce is hard to find here!!!

I'll post some pics next time!!! Love and miss you all!!!

It's been too long!!

I have been a very bad blogger!!! I can't believe its been so long since I last updated...So...to fill you in on whats been happening in this end of the world.

The girls are doing well, Eden had an ear infection which is now cleared up and shes back to her happy cheerful self. Cassidy has learned to scootch herself backwards on the cement floor and is so proud of herself when she does it. Their adoption is going well..still waiting on some paperwork and then we can take it to Lusaka...Hopefully in the next week! Also hopefully when we do go we won't have any car troubles..(PLEASE)! We had to take the girls and have a medical done for their Canadian visa's and it was rather traumatic for me and for them. The doctor that was drawing the blood couldn't find the veins and wound of poking them several times each...needless to say I wasn't very happy and was wishing for our medical system back home. Everything came back fine thankfully! I also discovered that they are one month older than I thought they were. The parents had told us that their birthday was Oct 7. But when I got their admissions forms to the orphanage to photocopy for the adoption is said Sept 7, so then I looked on their under 5 cards (this is where the doc records their weights and immunizations) and it also said Sept 7. So my girls just turned 8 months old not 7. I was a little sad on learning this as it is another month of their lives that I was not here for...and also my mom is coming to visit in Sept and was planning to stay until their birthday in Oct....but their birthday is now in Sept and she's not leaving home until the 9th and it can't be switched...So...I have decided to have their birthday celebration when their Oma gets here and since they are only turning 1 they won't now the difference anyways..lol

The other day we found a 6 foot spitting cobra outside our cafeteria. Thankfully the guys were able to kill it without anyone getting hurt, but it did spit at them before it died. We are so thankful that all the kids were in school at the time that it was found and it wasn't crawling around the dorms when the kids were out playing. We are also hoping that since it was such a big snake that it didn't have a little nest somewhere!!!

On Friday we were able to go to Kitwe, its a town about 45 minutes drive away and they have a curio market there where you can buy carvings, jewelry, paintings etc. I was able to get my giraffes!!! yay!!! The market was really cool, everywhere you went it was Madam, Madam..come look!

Well...I think that's all the news!! I will try and do better and post more often!!

My girls are so cute!!!!! I could just squish them!!!!

Long time no post!!!

Sorry everyone...we have had no Internet for the last week, and don't know when we will be getting it back. I am sitting in the office of our Internet provider, and go figure its very slow here too! I will try soon to post more pictures, but it takes a very long time to upload them due to the Internet.

Life here is going well, we are set up and pretty much have a routine down. The girls are sleeping through the night. YAY. Every parents favorite thing I'm sure. Nothing too exciting has been going on. We've been getting to know all the kids and caregivers, trying to find our way around town and I've been learning how to cook here. You can't plan ahead very well as you can never guarantee that the stores will have what you need when you want it. Flexibility is the key! Susan and here family are arriving tomorrow for a little more than a week and it will be a nice break to see some familiar faces. Missing everyone back home so much, but am enjoying everyone here so its making it all worth it. December seems so far away but I know it won't be long before it comes either.

We are hoping to make a trip soon to Lusaka, we have to take our Zambian home study to the adoption committee their for them to review and approve it and I'm hoping to make a weekend out of it as Lusaka is a 5 hour drive away. Lusaka has the only mall in all of Zambia and their is a store their that is like Wal Mart that you can get almost anything at! We may also get to go see a movie!!! It will be nice to get away for a weekend and have something to put on the calender to look forward too!

I'll try and post again soon but will depend on the Internet!!

We're Here!!!

We have arrived! we have been here for almost 2 weeks now and it has been quite the adventure! We arrived on thurs and spent that day and the next setting up and then went and picked up the girls on Sat! It took a little while for them to get used to us, the first time we went to visit Sidney was holding Cassidy and she screamed the whole time. I think that part of the problem is that they have no contact with men and she was a little scared. They were pretty fussy the first couple of days after that but are pretty settled now. I've been putting them on a sleeping schedule and it has been going fairly well. They now sleep together at the same time!!!! and we got a couple of bumbo chairs for them and I love them!! Highly recommend them to anyone. Its definitely been a challenge to go from 2 to 4 just like that, but we are learning and having lots of fun. The girls already have Sidney thoroughly wrapped around their little fingers.

Today Cassidy discovered how to make noises with her lips!!! Its so cute! They can both sit up, roll over and are quite attentive to sounds and movement. They love music and will baby dance along to it while playing with their toys. Both have very different personality's, Eden is usually quite content and very smiley but when she does want something will scream at the top of her lungs and she is really loud. Cassidy is a little more short tempered, but loves to cuddle and have you blow raspberries on her stomach. She also loves her soother where as Eden only wants her thumb. When playing together they will steel each others toys and then Cassidy will start crying even though she stole Edens toy first!

The kids here are wonderful, and love the babies. Our house has been quite the attraction lately and we've had to shoo them away quite often. The ladies are quite willing to snuggle a baby for a while if I need a little break! Sidney has started doing some maintenance and discovering the joys of working in Africa, where things may or may not work and don't always go the way you planned! He has a list a mile long of maintenance that needs doing and today he built us some shelving units as our house has very little storage. He is really enjoying it here and told me yesterday that he could get used to this kind of life!!

Its been challenging, I've probably wanted to come home at some point everyday. December seems like so far away! but then I go outside and play with the kids here and remember why we came!! I willingly try to post on here often our daily doings...but the Internet is hit and miss sometimes!! but tonight I will leave you with some cutie pics of my Impundu's!!!

Packed!!!

We are finally packed!! Praise the Lord, I think its all going to fit too. Trying to decide what to take and not to take and what fits or is to heavy etc etc....AHHHHH I'm so glad it's done. Just hope I didn't forget anything really important! Its only 5 days until we leave and 7 until I get to hold my babies. I'm so excited to snuggle and dress and hold my babies. Tomorrow is my last day of work!! yay!!! Happy easter everyone!!

APRIL 6!!!

Its finally!!! looking like we have a date of travel! We have reserved seats on flights leaving April 6 which means I will be with my girls April 8!!! I'm so excited!!! We are packing like crazy to move everything out of our house in time, also all the last minute details that are required when you move out of the country for 8-9 months are enormous. I will be so glad when everything is finished.

Other news!! I bought a double jogging stroller off of craigslist the other night! A brand new instep run around double jogging stroller...got such a great deal!!! I love craigslist!

I'm getting so excited to be back at the orphanage with all the kids! The kids there are simply amazing and beautiful, their stories are simply incredible...so many that were almost dead and now are healthy and happy!! Its amazing to see what the Lord can do, how he can begin a work and make it blossom from and orphanage where kids could come to die in comfort and with love, to a place where the kids instead of dying like everyone said they would, are living, and going to school, and will hopefully impart great change in their country as they grow up to be successful adults! The kids are the future! So many children in Zambia are neglected or abused, but they are the countries future..they need to be nurtured and taught what is right!!!

Well, I hope that you all will pray for yus and Zambia!! The Lord is doing an amazing work, and I'm so excited that I get to be involved in even a tiny bit of it!! Even though without his help I will just be a hindrance...cause he doesn't need us...but the change that this will bring into my life, S's life and the 2 little girls that are going to be part of our family will be phenomenal!! Literally can not wait!