A Few Days in the Life of the Meyer's

Our cat Riki Tiki looking very studious. The cats spend most of the day sleeping by Jason as he works from home on our bed!



So this is how my week started. Gracie came up to me and asked if I could help her write a letter to the tooth fairy. Her and Allie were putting their cute little heads together and decided that the fairy needed to visit Allie so she could get money too. Their plan was to write a letter and put a little white stone instead of a tooth by the letter. I told them the fairy was too smart because she was the tooth expert and could tell a fake one from a real one. So this is what I caught below, Gracie trying to loosen and pull one of Allie's teeth. Side note...they had been at this "pulling" for quite awhile.

Our family loves Tim Hawkin's comedy. He has produced a kids CD which the girls love. For about an hour Gracie kept repeating the Anaconda song. I lost count how long I kept hearing the same song. I finally had to tell her to move on.....but not before she rehearsed her "moves" to this song.

Here is a game that our family thoroughly enjoys. Heroscape is like Risk to an extreme. Jason simplifies the game and they enthusiastically battle good vs. evil. There is a "good" castle and a "bad" castle. Allie likes to add her animals to the landscape as well.

At the end of the day......well, let's just say we are gonna have to change how they play with their toys. The last few days they've done better putting things away when they are done playing with them.

So at the end of a busy day, I try to put up my feet, treat myself to a cup of decaf and unwind a little and catch my breath!! :)

VBS Song!

The girls were sweet enough to sing one of their VBS songs that they learned last week. They made these hats for a craft....they looked so cute!!

Nothing Seems to Surprise Me....Anymore!

(I love Calvin & Hobbs, so I thought this picture was appropriate of Hobbs scaring and surprising Calvin. Kinda symbolic of all the surprises that have come our way through this adoption process.)

We got more details yesterday as to why we did not pass court of Friday. From what we were told everything with our paperwork was a go. Before the dossier packets go to court to be approved, MOWA looks through all the agencies and pulls out the packets to agencies whose license has expired. Well, they included Hope Adoption in that list, even though their license wasn't expired. The judge, knowing that MOWA made the mistake ordered them to get the packets reviewed and to court. There were nine families affected from our agencies. On Monday the lady that was supposed to bring the packets over from MOWA to the courts decided she was going to school that day!! Imagine that! So again, the cases weren't there to be heard. Shimeless assured Lisa, from our agency, that our case should be heard within a week or two.
At this point all this information is kinda ironically funny. No, I am not going crazy, but I am learning about how different cultures work. From what I am told, Ethiopian culture is very laid back and if something better comes up than what they are doing, they will just go and do the other. They are not detail-oriented and things of importance, well......will eventually get done.
Because I am detail-oriented, it was good to hear this kind of information and know that they are trying to get these cases through. Ultimately, I have to trust the Lord that this time of waiting isn't being wasted and that I can grow and learn about patience, and trusting fully in God's timetable and that He will work out the details. Psalm 135:5-6, "for I know that the Lord is great and that our Lord is above all Gods, whatever the Lord pleases, He does." We are not just waiting for His will in an abstract way, but trusting Him to accomplish His pleasure. (per Jason)
I am also experiencing first hand that our culture is maybe somewhat unique from the rest of the world and that God created all of us differently, even our cultures. So I am trying to learn to embrace the differences and rejoice with God's creativity. I am not saying it's right how some of the cases have been handled and have not gotten resolved, but I can take the good and rejoice in that.

Crazy Energy?

I had commented in the past posts that we were working on some renovations in our house. I thought I'd post a few pictures. I am soooo glad we are done and glad we did it while we could. I had a sneaky suspicion that we would not have time later to do these jobs.(this may be redundant for friends on facebook...sorry). It has taken us about 3-4 months. We were privileged to have the help of a friend of ours in the beginning to help Jason. Jason gained more confidence with tiling as we went on. I am so proud of him!! It was a good distraction while waiting to bring our sons home. Now I am trying to find other things to keep my mind off of the waiting process that seems to go longer than we all anticipated. That's why I labeled it crazy energy. I think we were going a little crazy or maybe taking nesting to the extreme!! :) Anyway, enjoy it for what it's worth!

Guest Bathroom-Before
Our initial plan was to ONLY finish tiling our bathtub and about 1/2 of it fell when we took the border off, so we had to start over. It ended up being a blessing in disguise. We decided to try to get it to match our floor which led to use the same tile for our kitchen counters, which we initially weren't planning to do. Isn't that how it always goes?

Our friend Brad helping teach Jason all about tiling and they are still smiling!! Actually it sounded like two boys back there joking around!

Guest Bathroom-After

Kitchen-Before

Sanding and repainting cabinets

We had two layers of linoleum to pull up. It was a bear!!

Jason shoving away for most of the day to get the layers up.

We had to pour hot water with dawn soap in it on the floor to soften the paper backing and glue. Then we took 4 inch razors to scrape it up. We had two garbage bags full of the junk afterwards.

Kitchen-Finished

Then....Jason said we had enough tile left over to redo the master bathroom(see the progression)? :)

Master Bathroom-Before

(excuse the messy counter)

Master Bathroom-After

More Waiting.....................

Just heard back from our agency that we didn't pass AGAIN!! I think this is the most discouraged I have ever been. We had been told that our papers had been approved by MOWA, but when our case went to the judge today, thay had NOT been signed off on. I am not sure where the confusion comes from. The judge, knowing it was MOWA's fault, ordered them to review our papers. They left our case open, again...... There were 9 cases today and none passed.
Keep praying that our open case won't go for 2 months again, but a few weeks. I know there are a lot of families out there today that are feeling just like us. I know adoption has it's ups and downs, but I wasn't expecting this much!! :)
I will affirm again, that God is good, perfect and sovereign. He knew all this ahead of time and we will trust in Him. I would rather be in the shelter of His Wings and live in His perfect Will, than having been approved today and be living without the Lord in my life and not have His hand of blessing on our lives. I trust Him!!

Psalm 20:7 "Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the Lord our God." or......... Some trust in judges, some trust in MOWA, but we trust in the name of the Lord our God.

Rain Drops Keep Falling on My Head

Is this the Week?

I had the privilege to travel with Jason this week up to Natchez, MS and spend Sat. night at a hotel with the girls. It is a joy to be with my husband and to hear God's word. It fills my soul and encourages me in the fight of Faith. That was just a side note to share thankfulness to God for giving Jason such a gift to preach God's word and communicate it in such a way that shows God's glory and greatness!!
All this to say that as we were traveling home last night we were talking about what it would be like to bring Jonathan and David home. It's hard to know because we have never done this before. It feels like we are treading on new territory. Finally after evaluating and talking about the struggles, joys and changes that are to come, I told Jason that this adoption feels like the first time you are going to have a baby. You can try to plan for what it will be like and the feelings you will have, but reality happens when you bring that baby home and realize how much they will change your life and visually see them in your home.
Some of the thoughts that go through my head are sometimes in contradiction to each other.

• "I am so ready to bring our sons home!" vs. "Am I really ready for them?"

• "When people see them, they will surely accept them and treat them as they would our girls and part of our family!" vs. "Will there be differences?"

• "I am confident that the Lord will give me strength for raising 4 kids!" vs. "What are we doing, I am tired sometimes just raising 2 right now!!"

I continually am reminding myself that in my weakness, He is strong!! I am weak and feel so desperate for the Lord to sustain me and give me wisdom. Ironically, that is a good place to be....desperate before the Lord. Because we are weak and frail and our pride can keep us from realizing how much we need God in our lives on a daily and hourly basis.
Pray for us this week that this will be the court date that we pass. I am preparing myself for both though. In His goodness, He ordains all things, even court dates!