Just wanted to take a second and share some unforgettable Miles moments from the past week. They still make me chuckle.

1) We were running around town last week gathering Ross' supplies for his fishing trip and Ross asked all of us, "Where do you guys want to go for lunch?" To which Josie replied, "Buffalo Wild Wings!" And then from the back Miles calls out, "Uh, no guys. We can't. I'm a vegetarian!" (And this from my could-eat-3-cheeseburgers-at-one-time kid.) :)

2) Last Saturday at one of four indoor soccer games, our pastor's 12 yr. old daughter (and friend of Ellie's) walked up to talk with us. The first thing out of Miles' mouth was, "Do you wear a big-girl bra like my sister Ellie?" (If only you could have seen both girls' faces...)

And on that note, I'll end with a hilarious Maggie moment from last night:

3) Maggie and Miles were watching me make dinner. Mags asked me what I was cooking and I replied, "chicken breasts." She gasped in shock, "Miles, we're having chicken boobs for dinner!"

BOOM!

Tonight I'm home by myself - at least for another 20 minutes or so. Just enough time for a brief bloggy update. My adventurous husband is off fly-fishing for steelhead trout (I have NO idea if I spelled any of that correctly) and my kids are at a birthday party. I was invited to go to the party, but am feeling a little wimpy. I think I've finally succumbed to the nasty cold that's been circulating through our house the last 3 wks. with a touch of the stomach junk that just reared its ugly head Wednesday. UGH!!! I'm so sick of sickness. (Can I hear an AMEN?!) :)

So, I'm back to blogging. I've had a few inquiries as to why I took a break. Honestly, and I'm embarrassed to admit it, I was just spending way too much time on here. It's been a long season of waiting in lots of areas in our lives - adoption, move, Ross' job/career. I think I just kind of felt immobilized by the wait. Cyberspace offered a much desired respite from waiting and living in limbo-land. So much so, that other things suffered. Conviction mounted, and I knew I needed to give it up until I could find balance. Although it stunk at first, it was the absolute best thing for that season in my life - my attitude about the wait improved 100% and I became much more productive. :)

What's changed? Our pastor had a very timely sermon about waiting last fall. He said God often works like this - "Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait....BOOM!" And this is seriously our BOOM-time. After almost 2 years of waiting, we finally have a name and sweet face of our #5. I was encouraged so often during our wait that our "child just wasn't ready yet." And how true that's been. One example of this is that we began seriously considering "upping" our age range from 0-24 mo. to 0-48 mo. right around Christmas time. We talked about it, but didn't move on it until January. Jonah entered the orphanage in January. And we were next in line. Pretty amazing how God works, isn't it?

AND, after almost 2 years of waiting, we sold our house and we're going to be buying and moving into my parents' old house. They've been in the process of building since Spring '07. We'll be moving the middle of April. I can hardly believe it.

Finally, Ross' company has had two rounds of lay-offs within the past year and it's been pretty stressful. We found out Feb. 26th that he made it through the second. Praises!

So all of this stuff happening at about the same time has been awesomely crazy. I've always had a sneaking suspicion that everything would happen at once, but I never could've imagined we'd receive our referral paperwork, the contract to sell our house, and the contract to buy ALL in one day. :) I've learned a lot, but have so much more to learn. Right now I'm working on trusting that God continues to have all of this timing worked out. Paperwork-wise (with address change to USCIS, NVC, and the Embassy, fingerprint updates, inspections, appraisals, closings, etc...) it could line up just perfectly, or appear to be a complete train wreck...I just gotta trust God's already on the other side and there's a reason for everything! But don't get me wrong - I'm SO thankful for all of it!!!

March 9, 2009!

I got a call yesterday at 12:34 p.m.  I was shopping with Miles at Sam's and had my cell phone with me, but I didn't hear it ring.  It must've rung right when we sat down to eat our pizza because it was buried in the cart.  We took our time, mosied out to our car, and I heard my phone beep.  I checked the number and didn't recognize the area code.  But I knew right away.  Something in my gut just told me this was THE call.  

I tried to call Ross a couple of times but no answer.  At this point my legs were jelly and my foot was shaking so much it was vibrating against the gas pedal!  (And I STILL didn't know for sure if this was even our agency who called!  ha ha ha)  So hilariously, instead of just calling the number back, I called my friend Danae and asked her what our agency's area code is.  :)  She quickly looked online and confirmed it - it definitely was a Minnesota area code.  By this time, thinking our agency had called and being 1/2 hr. from home, I was seriously freaking out.  I was afraid I'd swerve off of the road or pass out and crash on the interstate if I called the number back, so I drove home.  THE longest 1/2 hr. drive home ever.  :) (And I wonder where my girls get the drama....)

I walked in the door with my groceries, stuck the cold ones in the fridge, and kind of paced the kitchen a couple of times.  AND I still couldn't reach Ross.  It had been about an hour and 10 phone attempts - and that's odd because usually he's so easy to reach!  And then the phone rang...and our caller ID confirmed that indeed I was getting a call from our agency.  

BREATHE - BREATHE - Ok, Lord, here goes....I answered the phone and it was Jaimee, our social worker with "GREAT" news.  But I decided I really wanted Ross to hear everything first with me, so I told her I'd call her back as soon as I could reach my man.  At this point, I was seriously so excited I couldn't remember Ross' work cell phone and ended up calling some complete stranger sounding all excited.  ha ha ha  I actually had to look up his number.  Then he finally called me back and I asked if there was any way he could come home because we had JUST gotten our referral call and he said, "Guess what?  I'm in the driveway."  I guess 10+ phone calls in the past hour tipped him off that something was up.  :)

We grabbed two phones and called Jaimee.  And then it happened.  We heard the name of our future son for the very first time.  "Yonas."  It means Jonah.  And right away - we both looked at each other and mouthed, "Jonah."  That was it.  We've had the hardest time for the past year with names and we just knew in a second that was it.  Pretty cool moment.  Then we confirmed that our referral info was successfully sent to our computer, said bye to Jaimee (she told us lots of stuff that we maybe 1/2 processed), and couldn't wait to lay eyes on our little guy.

He's beautiful.  He's 3 1/2.  I just can't wait to post his picture and share his sweetness with all of you!  We're hoping for a successful court date within the next 12 wks. (at which time he'll officially be our son and I'll be able to post his pic) and then travel about 4 wks. after that.  

I attempted to post this last night, but was completely speechless.  We're so thankful, excited, awestruck, and humbled that God would entrust and bless us with this little guy.  Last night I was so restless because I found myself trying to memorize his face even in sleep!  

I could say so much more (the speechlessness of yesterday is long gone - ha ha ha) but suffice it to say, the journey to our Jonah has been so worth the wait.  :)

(Oh, one more thing - after we got our referral, Ross walked into the kitchen and asked if Jaimee had told me his name before we got the details.  I told him no-we heard everything together.  And then he said that the Bible on our kitchen counter was open to the first chapter of the book of Jonah.  And I hadn't even read anywhere near that book yesterday - I had read a little in the NT and instead of shutting the Bible when I was done, must've inadvertently flipped it back and it landed open at Jonah.  A really neat confirmation for us that God is in this.  Thank you, Lord!)