Esther's official name

Her name has changed from when this blog began.... I was out voted. Our daughter's name is officially Esther - Lily Frihiwot Bowman. We kept her Ethiopian name. Elizabeth's middle name is Rose. So, it seemed fitting to have Lily be a part of Esther's name.

This Saturday!!!!!!!

Oh my word!!!! I can hardly believe it. I leave for Ethiopia this SATURDAY!!! This has been like riding a dream. I am about to wake up and find that it is all REAL!!!! I will get to meet Esther on Monday afternoon. Tuesday, I take her with me..... The suitcases are spread out and I unpack & repack. I don't want to miss a thing! I cannot focus to even do school. School went ok Monday and Tuesday, but today.... well, there was some independent study hall..... I want to savor each moment with Jesse, Aaron, and Elizabeth - so, I think we will take family holidays Thursday and Friday. (Shhhh, don't tell them....)

Amazing! That is what Sunday nights are at our church. David has organized Mission Extravaganza for each Sunday evening during December. Each week different missionary families come and share what God is doing in their part of the world. Tonight we heard from South Africa. It is exciting to hear what God is doing. I, personally, get so tied up in my small world that I don't even think about another place (other than Ethiopia). God, you amaze me.

Our original court date was November 20, 2009. It was rescheduled for December 18. We are praying that all goes well. Our hearts are heavy with anticipation to pass court and travel to bring her home! Hopefully, friends of ours will see her this week and give her lots of hugs and kisses.

This blogging thing, I am not quite sure about. I am having a wonderful time reading other people's blogs, but not great about getting into our blog and our story.

Picking up from where I left off... Our fund-raiser was the weekend after Thanksgiving. It was a Swim-A-Thon! Our children swim on a year-round team. They invited fellow swimmers to get sponsors per lap with the goal of swimming 100 laps. Ten swimmers were able to participate. One of them was adopted herself. She did not even know us, but heard about it and secured her pledges! The final lap count was 1,000 with nearly $10,000.00 raised!!!! God blew us out of the water! David and I were speechless and in awe of our God! December 12, 2008, our dossier was sent to Ethiopia!!!

We have now been waiting for 7 months for our referral for a baby girl up to 18 months old. The wait for a referral is still 9 - 11 months. However, I feel such an urgency to get organized and much accomplished, just like my pregnancies. In the mean time, I will try to become a blogger... It is intimidating, though...

Part II

The LORD had moved the mountain of my health issues! We then began the paper journey with AWAA. By June, we had another crisis.. This "crisis" will remain un-named for now. Our hearts were so heavy. We were crying out to the LORD, our Mountain-Mover, for His guidance. We called this our "crisis of belief" moment. Again, the Lord confirmed His path for us. The "impossible" was of the world and He, the Lord God, is out- of - this - world! He is mighty to save! Amen?
Our paper work continued..... A fund raiser was in the works.... My hope was that by December we could have everything complete......

Esther Jubilee- Part I

Esther Jubilee is the name we have for our baby girl that we have yet to meet. We are on a journey to get her and bring her home. Part I is how this journey began.

It doesn't seem real that our journey actually began two years ago in April... Adoption has been on my heart for a long time. I think it became heavier on my heart after having a hysterectomy. I thought my womb was gone, but God created one in my heart for a child that I have yet to meet.

The children and I joined the Bennett/Minner families traveling to Richmond, Virginia to see the commissioning service for the Minners in late March 2007 or early April 2007. En route, Mia and I chatted about adoption. I shared that I just did not think it a possibility with us choosing to live on one income. An aunt on the van shared with me that God makes a way if that is what He is calling you to do. She also gave me tickets for David and I to go to a fund raiser for Caroline's Promise.

God began to speak to David's heart at that fund raiser. We both felt God was speaking to us about international adoption. What next? Prayer. Waiting. Researching. Asking others in the process many questions. Five months later, a mountain appeared. A routine check up revealed that I needed to seek treatment from an oncologist. We had "chased" this problem with several treatments including a hysterectomy. God put people, once again, in my path to mentor me and guide me in an alternative treatment. My oncologist did not want me to delay surgery and chemotherapy. God gave us great peace that He is my healer and that we could trust what He was showing us. He led us to raw vegetables and fruit!!! Imagine that! We dove into juicing carrots daily and eliminating many foods from my diet. As for the adoption.... we put it on the back burner in our lives.

December came. One Sunday morning, we had a guest filling the pulpit. I always take notes. I am the # 1 fan of the preacher @ my church. (hee hee) But this thought went through my mind. I confess to you that it was not a nice thought. As I was gathering my purse and Bible, I looked @ my journal and thought, "He probably won't be as note-worthy as my man." The Lord was right on the tip of my toes with this, "Ah, but I am note-worthy." Out the door I went with my purse, Bible, AND my journal. Our guest speaker just happened to be from the Baptist Children's Home... While sitting there, this thought was becoming heavier by the minute - that we had put adoption on the back burner, but God had not told us to do that. When the last song was being sung, I bolted to my pastor, my husband, my friend and poured out my burden.

In January, AWAA had a seminar in Greensboro. We signed up and went. While sitting there scanning all of the information, Ethiopia was placed on both of our hearts.

February 14, 2008 - our application with AWAA to begin the process was complete. We headed for the oncology appointment for a 3 month check up. Now, we had been seriously drinking barley and carrot juice and eating totally different than ever before. We got an excellent check up. The doctor said that all looked great. He could not even see where there had been an issue, but he biopsied the area anyway. The Pap Smear and biopsy were normal!!! Praise the Lord, my Healer! Our application was on its way to AWAA!