In Dubai, getting ready for flight to JFK

Pray for Nati's flight, the first flight was rough. See u all soon.

He is with us now

Well, we picked him up today and brought him to the place we are
staying. It was very emotional to see the nannies say good bye, their
job must be so hard. Today I pray that these ladies would be blessed
by God and know that the Lord is pleased with their incredible
service. Thanks for all of your prayers and support.

We met him!

Today we met Nati and he is awesome, he will fit right in with the
rest of us. We got to spend about two hours playing and trying to coax
a smile. The biggest hit for Nati was the cell phone Lucy packed for
him. He knew how to use it and everything. It was very special to be
with the other seven families as the spent their first moments with
their new kids. We had to leave him at the transition home tonight,
but tomorrow we get to bring him back to our room. We continue to pray
for God to lead our journey, He has been so good. Goodbye for now.

So it begins . . .

We landed about 2 hours ago. We are safe and sound at the Yasabi guest
house. We are slowly meeting the other families on the trip. ET is
chilly. Well that is about it for now. Remembering to leave the
expectations and let God take us on this journey. To God be the glory!

Sent from WiPhone

Africa here we come!

Well we just finished our time in Dubai. It was fun and hotttttttt!
Like 105. we did some fun stuff, including a city tour and a desert
safari. We are just about to board our flight to Ethiopia. Excitement
is very high. Pray for our hearts to be centered on the Lord and to
lose our expectations of what the next week might or might not be
like. Much love to you all! Next stop Africa.

Dubai has met the Stackler's

So, the first leg of the journey is in the books. We landed about an
hour ago in Dubai. The flight was long, but pretty good. I think I
watched six movies. They served a lot of food and neither of us slept
very much. We are presently waiting for a shuttle to our hotel. We are
hoping for an early check-in. Talk to everyone later.

We are in the car headed toward NYC for the night. Flying out in the morning. Packing was an adventure, we are hoping for a little grace from the airline. Anyway, we are excited to finally be taking these steps toward our son. We will try to keep updating as long as we have access to a signal.

It's Official - Meet Nathnael William Stackler

We got the call today, we had a successful court date and Nathnael William Stackler is legally part of the Stackler family. He has long been in our hearts, but it sure does feel good to clear this legal hurdle. We are now scheduled to travel to Ethiopia to pick him up on August 15th. This is a little up in the air right now, so keep praying.

Here are a few pictures of our son.



Here is a video we put together to tell a little about our journey to Nathnael.

Another Bump

Well, I guess it would have been too easy to just wait for next Monday and get the good news about passing court. Apparently there was some miscommunication regarding our court date. The Ethiopian court has our court date as July 29th and not July 27th. So we will have to wait an extra two days. Still waiting with hopeful hearts.

While I'm Waiting . . .

Well, it has been an insanely long time since we have written, mostly due to laziness, but also due to the difficulty of processing all that is going on. The last time we updated everyone on the status of our adoption, we had a court date on May 20th. A couple of weeks prior to our court date we heard from our agency that cases like ours were not being heard by the Ethiopian court due to an investigation. The investigation was not directly about our agency or our son. Unfortunately, when our court date came around on May 20th, the Ethiopian court closed our case (and all others like ours) until the investigation was completed. This news was very difficult to take and I think that Amy and I pretty much went into shutdown mode.

We were told by many people about the ups and downs of the adoption process and how things will never go how you think they will go. I naively thought our case would be different and, quite simply, I was wrong.

The investigation eventually came to an end around the beginning of July (I think). We got another court date for July 13th. Then we heard that another government agency in Ethiopia was having training for a couple of weeks and could not perform their part of the court proceedings. They will not be returning to work until July 24th. So, on the 13th we got another court date. This time our court date is July 27th. This is the first time that we have had a court date with a chance of passing. I am not holding my breath, but I am hopeful.

I am learning so much about God in this process and they are not easy lessons, but they are lessons that I am better off for learning.

While all of this is going on, life has continued at its normal pace. Lucy and Sam are enjoying vacation bible school, Amy and the kids went to Savannah and Raleigh for vacation (I had to work), Sam started Cub Scouts, we got a sandbox, we got new carpet, Sam went to camp at The Marsh. Life has been fun this summer and I have had a great time with my family, but I have definitely felt those parts of our family that are missing.

I love being a father and right now my heart just wants our son to be home with us.

Take a peek back on the 27th. If we pass court, I will post a collection of pictures and you can be introduced to our newest son. To God be the Glory!

Easter

Nine AWAA families are in ET right now.  They will return on Saturday with their new children. One family, The Luncefords, just posted on their blog.  I read it and cried.  What a wonderful taste of ET. I can't wait.  

A Benefit Show, Court News and Go TERPS!

Last Friday night, our good friend Sean put together a benefit show for us.  We were expecting a good time with friends and good music.  Our goal for the evening was around 600 hundred dollars . . .We were totally blown away by the generosity of everybody.  The show raised enough money to cover all of our air fare!  (If you want to know the whole amount ask one of us) It is funny, every time I doubt what we are doing God shows me His approval in a big way.  As Bob, one of our awesome Elders says to me with all certainty, "Amy, you are doing the right thing." (Bob rocks on so many levels.)  

On a different note.  We received word yesterday that we will not get a new court date(CD) in April.  It was really tough news as all of the families before us received new earlier court dates.  I was really banking on court moving to April. I was pretty upset about this turn of events.  Sometimes things seem so random.  The other part that really stings is that families that received a referral after us will get a CD before us.  I would like to add that I am really happy for these families since they are dear friends from our Yahoo Group.  

As the end of March draws near we will be receiving an update on on Natty-boy.  I can't wait to share with you all his progress. I miss him. 

William would like for me to add . . . "Go Terps."  They just won something or other. 

 Personally, I am a die hard Seahawks fan.  Go Seahawks!

The Date

This will be a really short up date.  It is getting ready to snow and there is NO FOOD in our house so I am off to brave the harsh reality of poor planning. . . 

We got news this week that our court date in ET is going to be May 20.  Lots of good things happen in May, we are praying that N-man becoming our son will be one of them.  If we do pass court we will be traveling to ET in June.  I am so excited to spend the summer with our new son, there will be some serious family bonding going on. 

Well I am off to  the store, hopefully there is food left.

We got THE call!!

What a day! So here is the story.

I really didn't think that today would be THE DAY, but the Lord knew, and looking back He
was taking care of me. I was in the basement working out, which NEVER happens in the
morning, and after wards I went to take a shower. I am pretty much deaf and decided to
take the phone into the bathroom with me, "Just in case." I really thought that it was silly.
Well, right when I had shampoo in my hair the phone rang and I took my time to answer
it. But my silly 3 year old got to it first, so I couldn't see the caller id. So there I am,
dripping wet, with shampoo in my hair answering the phone.

I hear the 3 year old talking about a shower and then I hear laughing. I said, "Hello?" and
a woman said, " Hi Amy, this is Terra with your referral call." And I screamed, " I am naked. I
mean, I am in the shower and naked." I think that she thought I was drinking or
something. I wasn't. So we got all of the info . ..

HE IS AMAZING!!! Sweet, soft curls and big, brown eyes. Around 18 months old.

Here is the cool thing about the shower part. (Just don't think of me naked) Almost eight years ago, I was pretty sick when we had our first son, Sam, and my Ob called, I was in the shower, to tell me to go to the hospital to be induced at 32 weeks. Pretty scary. The other thing. Our six month old, Georgia, was in the shower with me when she died on Easter morning 2004. It was a nightmare.

How good is our God that he would give us our new son while I was in the shower?

Our friend, Corin, wrote a song and sang it at Georgia's memorial service. One
of the lines is, "Believe, that joy will come from sorrow." That is what the Lord does for us
every day. I am so humbled.

Amy

Putting Sam to bed

Over the Christmas break Sam was looking at the waiting child list with me.  I can't give you too much details, but there was a child that caught his eye.  Here is our conversation that followed:

Sam:  He is like me.

Me:  Yea, he is a bit older than you.  

Sam:  So he doesn't have a family?

Me:  Not anymore. 

Sam:  That is really sad.  It would be cool if we could be his family.

Me: Yeah? Well then would would be a little brother. What do you think of that?

Sam: I wouldn't like it. (Thinking some more) Well, if he really needs a family I could like it. 

A few days later, after the wildness of Christmas, I was putting Sam to bed and he prayed, unprompted, for this little child to have new family.  That is my prayer too.  

My heart breaks. 

What is a ________?

Over the summer we were invited to a wedding in Maine. (Hi Kouba's!) It was there that we met another family who had adopted a little girl from Russia.  She is about the same age as Sam.  When we found out that this couple had been through the adoption journey William and I both sat back and relaxed.  For once we didn't have to explain our million and one reasons to adopt, and we didn't have to define every adoption term that there is.  The four of us just talked knowing that our hearts were in the same place.  It was really nice.  

My best friend, Erin, is another person that I can talk too without catching her up to speed.  I can just say, "Still waiting. . . " and she replies, "Us too . . ." Our hearts know what we are waiting for.  It was her first adoption that taught me what a Dossier was, I hope that I caught on pretty quick. 

So when I am talking to you and I start to speak another language this little lesson will help you to understand what I am saying.  Please memorize there will be a test. 

Home study- Is when a social worker comes into your home, and life, and interviews you, and some of your friends, to see if you are fit to become parent.  There are usually four visits for a home study.  We actually like to talk about ourselves so this portion was fun for us.  Except for the part when Sam kept talking about getting sp*nked.  Which up until that point he hadn't been sp*nked in years. 

Dossier - A pile of paper work that shows Ethiopia that we meet their requirements to adopt one of their precious children.  Seriously, it is a huge three ring binder filled with documents that proves we aren't criminals, we can drive safely, that our home is sanitary, that a fire marshall has approved our home for habitation, and our water is safe to drink.  It also contains our Home study and other important documents from our agency.  If you know us well, you will know the fact that we have all of these papers in a three ring binder and that we know where that binder is at all times, is an amazing thing.  We found our passports in a random box in the basement. We are not the most "together" people in the world.  I really have to credit William with putting everything together.  He carried the paper pregnancy.  

DTE-  Date or Dossier To Ethiopia: As of right now this is the most important thing.  This is the date that our paper work went to ET.  Our DTE is 5/2/08.  It is sorta like a due date, no more like a conception date.  7-9 months after 5/2/08 we will have a baby . . . sorta.  The DTE is also how our agency keeps track of who is next in line to get a Referral.  The last family that received a referral has a DTE of 4-4-08! We are getting so close!

Referral- When you are matched with a child. Unlike most countries, this is done by our agency.  We either accept or reject they referral. It is unlikely that we would reject a referral since our agency already knows what we are requesting in a child.  They would give us a child that has special needs if we didn't ask.  That is not to say that special needs wouldn't turn up later. 

Court Date - The day that our case will appear before a judge in ET to determine if the child is legally ours. About 30% of people fail court.  It is usually because ET is so adamant about making sure that the child is a true orphan and the paper work submitted didn't match up.  Which is really good, but really hard to endure from this end. Our friends the Kulps are going through this right now. 

MOWA - Ministry of Wom*n affairs.  They are the ET agency that controls orphans affairs.  They must approve us for the adoption before we pass court. 

 TTD-  Provided that we pass court our date to travel is set 2-3 weeks after our court date. 

AWAA- America World Adoption Association. Our agency. 

So there it is, well most of it.  

The Promise of a New Year

Well, it is a new year and unless there is a serious delay, this will be the year that we welcome a new child into our family.  Things have been very slow on the adoption front for the past six weeks or so, but the new year brings hope and much expectation.  I have been reminded over the past week or two about how much God is in control and how life’s challenges and roadblocks are not surprises to Him.  We will be doing our best to put our trust in Him over the next couple of months as we get closer to bringing our child home.

As of right now we are around #20 in line, but there may be some surprise families waiting in front of us.  Our agency does not officially tell us where we are in line, so our best guess comes from the Yahoo Group we belong to that is made up of other waiting families.

Please pray for our patience.  I am really looking forward to focusing on all of the other things that God wants us to do before our child comes home.  I am obviously also very excited about our trip to Africa and how our life will be different after we get home.