The Dunns in Athens

Family Photos

2012-02-08T19:17:00.000-08:00

Our amazing friend Brian Davis offered to take our family photos after we were home and settled. We couldn't be happier with them! Here are a few of our favorites...

Two Months Home

2012-02-02T16:32:00.000-08:00

I know I promised family pics, and they really are coming! But today marks two months home, so I had to give that priority. Someone once told me that with children, the days are slow, but the years are fast. While we haven't had years with Jace, I would say the same for the months. These past two months have flown by and yet they have been at the sweetest, slowest pace at the same time. John and I were just talking last night about how having Jace home has changed our lives. He has brought more joy and love and fun into our lives that we ever imagined possible. John and I loved our six and a half years together, just the two of us. So many wonderful memories. But Jace has just taken our family to the next level:). We both knew that we would enjoy being parents, but we never imagined we would enjoy it this much. We are ridiculously head-over-heels in love with this little guy!

It has been so fun to watch Jace become more at peace this past month. Every day, we know he is making progress--even on the hard days. He knows and loves his routine now, and it's so fun to see him anticipate what's next and get excited. Sleep has gotten remarkably better, but that is definitely when his anxiety comes out. We've heard this is common for kids his age since they cannot verbally process what has happened to them. He just wants to know that we're still there, that he's not alone. Last week was a really hard week sleep wise, but this week has been great. Overall, huge progress in the sleep department. And honestly, we find a lot of joy in reassuring him that we're not going anywhere. No we don't spring out of bed at 2 a.m. and skip to his room. But as I'm standing there rubbing his back, reminding him that Mommy and Daddy aren't just numbers in the line of caregivers, I feel so blessed for the privilege of being entrusted with such an incredible gift.

Jace is just sweet and an absolute joy to be around. He cracks us up...a lot. And he's so smart! (Sorry I just have to brag about my kid.) His language has ridiculously taken off. When our social worker came for our post-placement visit, she was absolutely floored by how many English words he knew. And a nurse kept asking us just the other day, "So he really wasn't taught English in the orphanage?!" Needless to say, we think our son is a genius (surprise, surprise).

Eating has been the hardest area this month. Jace will eat pretty much anything. He is a great eater! But he's been having a gagging/choking problem that has literally been scaring us half to death. The first time it happened, I shook for almost an hour afterward! It usually only happens toward the end of a meal, and it is only on pureed foods (weird!). I have exhausted possibilities with another adoptive mom (you're a lifesaver, Becky!), which has actually brought me a lot of peace. Makes me feel like I'm doing something to solve the mystery! I took Jace in for a modified barium swallow test yesterday, and they couldn't find anything wrong. We are so thankful for this. I just wish I knew why it was happening! They think maybe his full meter is not properly working, but that doesn't explain every occurrence. For now, we're just praying for complete healing. On another note, his ear is totally healed. The ENT said his hearing is perfect and the ear has healed beautifully. Thank you, Jesus!

It is clear that Jace is understanding that we are Mommy and Daddy, which brings such joy to our hearts. He doesn't go to strangers to be held anymore and frequently checks in with us when other people are around. I held a friend's baby the other day, and he actually cried. He did not want to share his Mommy! And in a weird way, that really blessed me. Seeing him understand the concept of Mommy and Daddy is so beautiful. He's also getting more comfortable outside of the home. I can take him to run errands, and instead of being overwhelmed, he has a blast. This kid loves riding in a shopping cart. We mainly stick to the grocery, church, park and library, but it's been so nice being able to actually leave the house this month! The month of cocooning was so so so good, but it also feels good to be on the other side. We still haven't left him in the church nursery yet. I just can't bring myself to do it. If any adoptive moms have any wisdom about the timing of that, I'm all ears!

All in all, I would say that this has been a month where a lot of peace has come for all of us. We are settling in as a family and just feel so grateful. I don't mean to sound super sappy, but every day, we are praising the Lord for the miracle of Jace. He is a precious gift that we do not take for granted. I'll leave you with some of my favorite pics from month two...

Still loving his box...and his bear from G Daddy

Why not walk around in Mommy's shoes and a Santa hat?

I'm going to make a collage of pictures of Jace attempting
to sit on things. Seriously his favorite. Probably have at least 20:).
Here is my favorite...attempting to sit on a sprinkler at the Botanical Gardens.

This perfectly captures Jace...so FUN!

Just chillin'. Sitting on my favorite Choo-choo.

Just love that smile!

Bought Jace a winter coat at a consignment sale. Winter seems
to have skipped over Georgia, but I couldn't resist putting it on him
anyway. Remind anyone else of A Christmas Story:)?

Seeing Elmo for the first time on TV...utterly amazed!

Loves attempting to sing the Georgia Bulldogs song

May be my favorite pic of the month:)

Eating Doro Wat and Injera...and LOVING it!

Vote for Jace!

2012-01-27T13:23:00.000-08:00

Please visit http://childrenshouseinternational.com/photo-contest/ and vote for Jace! There are three categories where you can vote (family, child and holiday), and we have an entry in all three categories. If we win in any category, we receive a grant to go toward our next adoption...whenever the Lord should call us on that journey again! We would greatly appreciate your votes! You can only vote once and voting ends February 12th.

Here are our three entries so that you can find them easily...

Family

Child

Holiday

* Going to post some fun family photos we had taken recently very soon!

Looking Back on the Other Side of the Tunnel

2012-01-22T12:08:00.000-08:00

"It is the glory of God to conceal a matter; to search out a matter is the glory of kings."

Proverbs 25:1-3

These past (almost) two months have been such a time of rest for us. Not in the physical sense of course...far from it! But I feel like we've finished walking through a really dark and mucky tunnel and are finally standing in the glorious light at the end. Such. A. Good. Feeling.

These past several years have been a hard time for us as a family for many reasons. I've fought back tears through countless baby showers and Mother's Day celebrations as my heart felt like it was going to break in two, we've walked the heart-wrenching adoption journey filled with more tears and pain and joy and blessings than I ever imagined possible, and in the midst of it all, we rode up and down an emotional roller coaster during my Dad's cancer scare as the doctors said, "You have cancer," "No, you don't," "Yes, you do," "No, you don't"...you get the picture. (This torture went on for months.) I praise God every day that the ones who said, "No, you don't" were right all along. God worked a miracle, in a BIG way...with my Dad, with bringing Jace home (he's really HOME), with so many things in our lives these past few years. But man, how hard it was as we walked through that tunnel.

Now that I'm on the other side, I find myself thinking, "What did I really learn? What was God doing?" I know I've learned a lot about dependence. During especially difficult times in this last season, people at work would ask me how I was doing out of care and concern. My answer was always, "I'm dressed, and I'm here. Miracle!" And it was true. I came to realize that even making it to work every day and trusting God to work through me was an utter miracle and a testimony to the sustaining grace of God. I don't mean to sound overly dramatic, but I think back to all the dark nights and realize the fact that John and I made it into work every day really was quite miraculous. There were so many days when I didn't feel like He was near, but He simply had to be. He sustained us in every possible way...plain and simple.

As I really think about it though, what I've learned is this: I know Him better, but I understand Him less. I have grown more intimately close to the Lord because of this dark season. That's what always happens when you're clinging to the Lord for dear life; it's a pretty awesome side effect. But He is more of a mystery to me today than He has ever been. I have absolutely no idea why all of the events of our adoption journey happened the way that they did. No idea. But I do know that God literally did everything He said He was going to do. Every single thing. I know that He is faithful. I know that He is good. I know that His love is all consuming. I have become more intimately acquainted with His character through all of this, but His ways are a mystery to me. His thoughts are a mystery. The whole, "My thoughts are not your thoughts, my ways are not your ways"...well, as much as I've struggled to really get this, it's true.

I remember right after I graduated seminary, someone asked me what I learned. My answer? "That I don't know anything." The more I studied in seminary, the more overwhelmed I was by the sheer fact that I really know nothing. Ok, so I know a tiny bit. But in comparison to what there is to learn about the Lord, I felt like I knew a grain of sand's worth compared to an ocean's. And yet that surprisingly didn't discourage me from learning. It actually spurred me on.

That's honestly how I feel right now. We've been through this dark season, and I've come out realizing that while the Lord was a mystery to me before, He is even more of a mystery to me now. But it doesn't discourage me or make me want to run. It just makes me want to fall on my knees and worship and search out this mysterious Jesus. I love that He's way too big to figure out. And yet, He likes to draw me close and show me who He is. He's really that big, but He's also really that good.

I'm a person who loves answers, and believe me, I will definitely be asking the Lord some questions about this season one day. But I hope through all of this, I've become someone who trusts the Lord ruthlessly, as Brennan Manning would say. A person who contends in prayer like crazy but places my faith completely in the Lord and not on the outcome, as Tammy Hutchins would say. I hope I just stop looking at the waves so much and realize that whatever it is, He's got it. And He's given me the invitation to contend and change things in the midst of it all. Even though He's a mystery that I will never figure out this side of heaven, I hope I never stop trying.

I'll leave you with this picture. It represents God's faithfulness and goodness to me in so many ways from this season. All glory to You, Lord. You are so much bigger than I think You are; You are so much better than I think You are. Thank you for that.

Dad (G daddy) welcoming us home at the airport

One Month Home

2012-01-02T10:14:00.000-08:00

One month ago today, we landed on American soil as a familyof three, and Jace officially became a US citizen. What a day! It’s hard for me to believe that Jace has already been home for amonth. It feels like he just camehome and like he’s always been here at the same time. Jace has experienced so many firsts this month: sleeping ina room by himself, riding on a plane, in a car seat, in a stroller and in anE.rgo, eating American food, taking a tub bath, playing in grass and leaves andreceiving the constant, loving attention of his mommy and daddy.

So much has happened in the last month that I’m going toattempt to break it down (thanks Haley for most of these categories!). For most of you, this will be boring,so scroll down, see the cute pics, and you’re done.

I’m writing this for two reasons: 1) so that I can rememberthe blur this month has been, and 2) so that families in the adoption processor considering adopting can learn from our experience. I can’t even express how much I learnedfrom reading about various families’ experiences before we brought Jacehome. Everyone’s experience isdifferent, but I love that we can learn from each other. So…here we go!

The Plane Ride

As I wrote in my previous post, the plane ride home was VERYdifficult. We found out the reasonwhy once we got home: Jace’s eardrum was bursting on the plane and finallyburst when we came home (see health below). He screamed and screamed and screamed…and then screamed somemore. Get the picture:)? I honestly didn’t know if we would eversurvive our 15-hour flight from Addis to Washington, DC, and our two-hourflight from DC to Atlanta. TheEthiopian Airlines crew was so helpful though, and it was nice having otheradoptive families on the flight with us.

For adoptive families bringing your children home: BringBenadryl! I don’t know if thiswould have helped Jace or not, but I wish we would have at least tried. I also wish we would have asked our docfor an antibiotic to bring with us. Don’t know if he would have prescribed it or not, but all the kiddos hadsome sort of infection and needed an antibiotic. If we could have begun immediately treating his ear, theflights home would have been a lot less painful for poor Jace! It was simply heartbreaking!

We had a wonderful group of family and friends meet us atthe airport to welcome us home. Wewere beyond exhausted and frazzled, but seeing their faces was sowonderful. We had been waiting solong to come up those Atlanta airport escalators to see friends and familycheering us on as we arrived home. Such a good feeling.

Eating

Jace eats like a champ. He is a bit behind developmentally when it comes to eatingbecause he has a really hard time chewing solid food (even when cut up in tinypieces). We think he was only fedmushy food at the orphanage and transition home, so he hasn’t quite masteredchewing. He eats an egg everymorning with either baby oatmeal or some kind of fruit (this kid loves fruit!). He eats what we call mush for lunch,which is loaded with lots of fruits and veggies. It is NOT easy to make but makes enough for three weeks, andJace LOVES it so it’s worth it. Plus I know it’s good for him, so that makes this mommy happy. We’re still experimenting withdinner. I’m trying to give myselfgrace in this area because I can definitely be aneverything-must-be-organic-and-ridiculously-healthy mom. Know I just need to take a chill pillsometimes.

Sleeping

This has been the hardest area BY FAR for us. Jace slept pretty well while we were inEthiopia. He would usually nap oneor two times a day after falling asleep in our arms. It was impossible to put him on any sort of nap schedule dueto our schedule while in ET. Wewould put him in the Ergo at night and pace with him until he went to sleep. He slept through the night most nightsbut would be wide awake between 5 and 6 a.m. most mornings.

Sleep became very difficult once we came home. We had grand plans of having him nap inhis room and then sleep at night in a travel crib in our room, but we quicklydiscovered that consistency was much more important for Jace. Putting him in our room at night seemedto confuse him and cause extra stress, so we put the travel crib away aftermaybe two days home, and he’s been sleeping in his room ever since.

For the first three weeks, Jace would wake up usually two tothree times in the middle of the night—usually for two to three hours at atime. The only thing that workedwas pacing with him. He wouldscream if we tried to sit down in our glider and rock him. After about two weeks, he let us startrocking him, which was a very good thing because our bodies were so very tiredfrom pacing him. Into week three,John and I definitely felt at the end of our ropes. I saw this sleeping pattern continuing for months with noend in sight, and we were utterly exhausted. I, of course, was overanalyzing everything. I was constantly wondering, “Am I doingthis right?” We knew he wasn’tready to cry it out yet, as by family age, he was only a few weeks old!

Thankfully, the sleep part is getting better each day. He actually slept through the nightfive nights in a row this past week! He usually still wakes up one to two times, but we usually just rub hisback or hold him for a few minutes (instead of three hours!). For naptime and bedtime, we read him astory, give him a bottle (to help with bonding) and then rock him in the glideruntil he falls asleep. We don’thave to rock him long now, and we’ve actually really started to enjoy this timeholding him and praying over him now that we’re getting more than 3 or 4 hoursof sleep each night:). I don’tknow how long we will continue to rock him until he falls asleep, but for now,I’m trying not to overanalyze it and enjoy the time I get to rock my son andstare at him in total disbelief that he’s actually home.

Behavior

Jace’s behavior is great. He is such a happy kid! He loves to sing (very loudly!) and loves to dance. He is very content to play by himselfas long as mommy or daddy is within eyesight. That’s not too hard to do since our house is small andpretty open. He usually plays forquite awhile, will come to be held and recharged and then will be off to playagain. I’ve been surprised by howquickly he’s become affectionate with us. He gives us hugs and kisses regularly and makes the cutest kissing noiseever.

He is definitely loving the fact that we hold him a lot, sohe likes to take advantage of that:). There are some days when he is like my shadow and must be right next tome or touching me at all times. But these usually only happen when he’s tired. He responds well to “no” and “no touch”—although like anykid, sometimes he just has to touch whatever it is! We’ve only had to do a few time-ins with him, but heactually seems to like them, so we’re going to have to rethink that:).

One of the emails we received from our agency directorduring our adoption journey said that Jace was curious and interested in hissurroundings. So true! He is fascinated by anything mommy anddaddy are doing and watches with such intensity. We love it! Heis just so so fun!

Cocooning

Our cocooning plan has been a lot harder than expectedbecause of Christmas. We werehoping to be the only ones to hold him the first month, but Christmas made thatnext to impossible. We stillhaven’t ventured out much beyond the doctor’s office and the park a fewtimes. Having so many visitorsduring Christmas week giving him lots of attention and gifts was just too muchfor Jace (and us!), but I know it was a good problem to have. We had our son home at Christmas and somany people surrounding him with love…really can’t complain about that as hardas it was, We hope to have a slow,quiet week this week to catch up and then venture out some more the week afterthat. I’ve heard it said that yousimply can’t move too slowly in the beginning, and I am finding that isdefinitely true!

Health

Jace did have a parasite when we came home, but it waseasily treated and now he is parasite-free. His ear has been our biggest health battle. After two antibiotics, we think it isfinally clearing up. We know thiswas probably one of many of the reasons sleep was such a struggle in the firstfew weeks. He has apparently hadthis ear infection for a very long time, so it’s taking a long time toheal. We go back to the doctor atthe end of this month to make sure it’s healing properly. Otherwise, we’ll be visiting an ENTdoc. Please just pray for healing!

Communication

About week three, Jace just took off in the communicationdepartment. We think this has alot to do with his ear! The doctorsaid that he’s been hearing everything from his right ear as if he’s underwater. Hard to pick up your thirdlanguage when you can’t hear well! Now he is saying new words (or attempting!) every day and is started totry and say multiple words together. Of course only we can really understand most of what he’s saying, but heis growing so much in this area and it is SO FUN to witness.

All in all, WE ARE SO IN LOVE. I look at him every single day and can’t believe that he’sfinally home. With each day,he seems to be getting more and more comfortable, attaching and bonding moreand more and showing us more of his personality.

They talk about kids having separation anxiety, but Iseriously have it! He usually doesnot like when mommy leaves to run an errand when daddy’s home, and itabsolutely breaks my heart. I leftfor the grocery store the other day and cried a little in the car on theway! Seriously? Yes…seriously. I do not like to be apart from thiskid! Every time I run an errand, Iam so anxious to get back home. Iknow this has a lot to do with the long journey we experienced to bring himhome. We are just so thankful thathe is home. So thankful. Praising God every day for the miracleof Jace Kenesa Dunn.

So my biggest advice to adoptive parents in the first month? Drink lots of coffee, pray often and have lots of grace for yourself:).

Enjoy thepics!

At the airport. Love his hand in this pic!

Friends and family welcoming us home at the airport

First night home...ready for bed!

Playing in the leaves for the first time

Finally loving bathtime

New hat made by a friend!

First time at the park:)

First Christmas!

Just love this one:)

Like any kid, he just loves boxes

The Picture that Changed Our Lives Forever

2011-12-18T17:04:00.000-08:00

We received Jace's life book from YWAM this week...something we have been looking forward to for a long time (understatement!). It's a beautiful book of his story with pictures, information about Ethiopia, Amharic phrases and even some Ethiopian recipes. With the life book also came cds of all the videos and pictures taken of Jace while he was in the YWAM orphanage. There are no words to describe what a blessing this life book is to all of us. I know it will be something Jace treasures as he gets older.

We got to see pictures and video we had never seen before last night. As he sat in our laps and watched with us, tears were streaming down my cheeks. Some were tears of joy because the boy that I had loved and prayed for from a distance for so very long was actually HOME, sitting in my lap. But others were tears of sadness, grieving everything that we had missed in his life. We watched a tiny baby on the screen that we never got to hold, never got to see crawl for the first time, never got to see take his first steps. But we were also rejoicing at all the firsts we still get to experience with him. Such an overwhelming mix of emotions! We are so grateful for all the nannies and those on the YWAM team who loved Jace so faithfully as God orchestrated His perfect plan in bringing us together as a family. Every way I think of saying thank you just seems so small compared to the greatness of their love and sacrifice. I continually thank God for them.

I wanted to share this picture...the picture that changed our lives forever.

This is the very first picture we ever saw of Jace Kenesa ("Keno"). Our referral did not come in the way or timing that we expected by any means (the first of many times I would learn that this is actually the "norm" of international adoption!), but God SO CLEARLY led us to our son. You can read some of that story here. But this picture above...well our lives were never the same after we saw it. He forever captured our hearts. Waiting 4 and a 1/2 months for our official referral after seeing this sweet face...complete torture. Seriously....absolutely horrible! But oh so worth it.

I hope to blog soon with details on how the transition is going. In a nutshell, Jace is still having trouble sleeping and is still battling a horrible ear infection (round two of antibiotics), but he is doing so well. I feel like every day, more and more of his personality comes out. Man I just love this kid!!!! We are exhausted, but our hearts are so full. I love that in Ethiopia, Kenesa means "gift of God." I literally think about that every single day. He is truly a gift from the Lord. Thank you, Lord, for the incredible gift of Jace Kenesa. This journey was so long and the hardest thing we have ever done in our lives. I know You saw every tear and every sleepless night (oh so many!). Lord, we thank You for how You have grown us and matured us, for the way You never stopped fighting for us as a family and for giving us a gift too beautiful to even begin to describe. All glory and honor go to You, Lord. ALL glory and honor to You.

"Those who sow in tears will reap with songs of joy. He who goes out weeping, carrying seed to sow, will return with songs of joy, carrying sheaves with him."

Psalm 126:5-6

Second Trip to Ethiopia: Bringing Jace Home!

2011-12-06T07:09:00.001-08:00

Our first trip to Ethiopia in July and August was one we will never forget. We met our son for the first time, got to see his beautiful country and met his sweet nannies. And yet during that entire first trip, there was a feeling of complete dread in the pit of our stomachs knowing that we would have to leave our son without any idea of when we would return. But our second trip to Ethiopia...marked by utter JOY! We would be getting our son and would never have to leave him at the orphanage again!!!!!

Our flights to Ethiopia were uneventful, which is always a good thing. We arrived on Sunday, November 27th exhausted, but we were so excited. We had a day to rest at our guest house to catch up on some sleep before the BIG DAY. Monday morning, November 28th, we woke up, ate breakfast and anxiously paced the floor waiting for our driver to come and pick us up. That hour seemed like an absolute eternity! Thankfully, our good friend Julie Steimer was with us (we traveled together on our first trip) and Tana Robbins and her mother arrived just before we left for the transition home (also was with us on our first trip). It was SO WONDERFUL being able to share the experience with friends! Still can't believe we were cleared at the same time.

Even the drive to the transition home seemed like an eternity! John and I knew that Jace would probably cry when they handed him to us, but we were prepared for that. We arrived at the transition home with our hearts beating out of our chests. When we walked in, they gave the children flowers to give to us and walked them over to us. So sweet! Jace let us hold him and surprisingly didn't cry, but his heart was beating a million miles an hour. We got to watch him play in his element for a few hours, and that was such a blessing. One word to describe this kid is "busy." He doesn't get into everything but simply walks around constantly, moving toys from one spot to another. Hilarious:). He always looks like he's on a very important mission!

We finally left and Jace did so well. We all went back to the guest house and played for awhile. I cannot express how much of a blessing it was to have Tana and Julie there with their sons, Miles and Samuel. I really think it brought comfort to all three boys to see some familiar faces and to be able to have play buddies. Random side note: We LOVED the guest house where we stayed. We stayed at the Ethiopia Guest Home and cannot say enough good things about it!!!! The staff was so so helpful and kind, the place was so clean and the food was great. They even had an area outside for the kids to play in and a lots of toys for them to play with in the living area. We would recommend it to any families, especially for the second trip!

The rest of the week is honestly a blur. Jace slept pretty well most nights, and we got to see so many smiles and hear lots of giggles. We thought it would be weeks before that would happen! Tana and Julie kept commenting on how different Jace was from the first trip. He didn't fall asleep every time we held him like the first trip, and he was constantly laughing and smiling. Made this mommy and daddy very happy! The transition home did have a sweet goodbye ceremony for us, where they presented Miles, Samuel and Jace with traditional Ethiopian outfits. Definitely brought tears to my eyes! There was a lot of down time on this trip, but it was nice to have that time to play with Jace and help him adjust to being with us.

And then we come to the trip home. Honestly, this was a trip from you know where. Just thinking about it makes me want to cry! Jace DOES NOT like to fly. We spent 15 hours on a plane flying to DC with Jace screaming and crying for many, many of those hours. He was so scared. It is just the most helpless feeling in the world when they are scared like that and you're trapped on a plane for that long!!!! He did great on the layover from DC to Atlanta, screamed during the takeoff to Atlanta and then slept the rest of the flight. He did not like his car seat at first and screamed for the first 30 minutes in the car, but then was as happy as could be! Needless to say, I don't want to relive that journey:)...but we are so thankful to have our son HOME!

He's doing so well at home. He has been so happy, which is a miracle considering all he's been through. He's napping great, but we're still having trouble with him sleeping at night. He still has his days and nights confused! Mommy and Daddy are utterly exhausted, but our hearts are so full. Sometimes I look at him playing in our house and I still can't believe that he's home. HE'S REALLY HOME! The joy that comes from this is indescribable. Thank you to all for your prayers on this journey. You have played such an important role in the story of our family, and for that, we say THANK YOU! Here are some pics from the trip:).

Picking him up...FOR GOOD!

First night together. These are the pajamas we held up in
a pic on f.acebook to announce that we were having a boy/had
received our referral. Thought it was fitting that he should
wear these on the first night:).

Daddy was so tired he couldn't even take the Ergo off:)

Lots of giggles!

Goodbye ceremony at the transition home

Ethiopia Guest Home

Playing outside with Miles and Samuel

Clearance and Passover! (And a Very Important Letter to Family and Friends!)

2011-11-23T18:28:00.001-08:00

"The blood will be a sign for you on the houses where you are; and when I see the blood, I will pass over you."

Exodus 12:13

"We have escaped like a bird out of the fowler's snare; the snare has been broken, and we have escaped. Our help is in the name of the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth"

Psalm 124:7-8

Today we got the email we've been longing to see since we started this adoption journey a year and a half ago...we have received clearance to come and bring our son HOME! The witnesses interview was today, so John and I got up early to pray. I had such a peace as we prayed and kept feeling led to pray that the Lord would speak to the Embassy workers, "It is finished, it is done, it is complete." I tried to go back to sleep after John and I had prayed for awhile, but instead, I just laid their thinking about Jace and our adoption journey (how many nights and mornings I have spent like that!!!). As I laid in bed, I heard the email "bing" on my phone...and saw the most glorious subject line ever: "Clearance-Dunn." My heart lept in my throat and I frantically read the email. It seemed to good to be true; I honestly didn't know if it was really "the email"!!! After a frantic email and call to our case manager, we found out that it was!!! We leave this Friday for DC and Saturday for Ethiopia!!!!! THIS IS IT!!!!!

This is of course a total miracle beyond words. I know the verses above may seem random, but to me, they speak of the overwhelming goodness of the Lord. As I was making breakfast sometime at the end of October, I so clearly heard the Lord say "Passover" to me. I remember immediately thinking, "Passover? Where in the world did that come from?! So random!" And then the Lord so clearly spoke to me that I was to pray that our case and the cases from our agency would be marked by the blood of the Lamb and passed over from investigation that is beyond what is good and necessary. John and I and so many of our family and friends have been praying and believing for "Passover" for the past month...and that is EXACTLY what happened!!! The Lord really does do what He says He's going to do! And I am praying and believing this for all my wonderful YWAM families out there still waiting!

Below is a letter we ask all our family and friends to read. I know it's not short, but it would really mean a lot to us if you read it. You can also read this great blog post if you're interested: http://jenhatmaker.com/blog/2011/11/02/how-to-be-the-village. THANK YOU again! We couldn't have made this journey without your love and support.

Dear Familyand Friends,

We areso thankful for the outpouring of love and support you have shown us throughoutthis long and difficult adoption journey. Sometimes it’s hard to remember thatall the paperwork, fundraising and waiting will have been the easy part incomparison to actually parenting our little guy! Since many of you may not befamiliar with this “after the airport” stage of international adoption, wethought it would be helpful to give you some information on what the nextseveral months will look like for our family.

If youcan put yourself in Jace’s shoes for a minute, you can imagine how difficultthis transition will be for him. He is going with strange people to a new placewith different smells, unknown foods, an unrecognizable language and a wholehost of stimuli that he has never experienced before. He will be dealing with thepain and uncertainty of being taken from his home and his caregivers for the thirdtime in his short life. We will bedoing everything we can to ease this transition. This includes"cocooning" for several weeks after he arrives home. This means youwon’t see us at church. We won’t be having people over or going out. Time forphone calls and other communication may be limited (although we will read emailseven if we can’t respond right away!). If you come by to drop off a meal or foranother reason, please leave the kiddos at home or in the car. We know thatthis can be an inconvenience for families, but it is important for Jace and we greatlyappreciate you honoring this request. Also, please understand that we cannot invite you inside for a visit if Jace is still awake.

Johnand I will be the only ones who will hold or feed Jace for the first month.Children who have spent time in an institutional setting often learn that anyadult might be able to meet their needs. Since so many different people havecared for him, Jace has no framework to connect to us as his mommy and daddy.Frankly, he doesn’t even know what that kind of relationship looks like. Byhaving John and me be the sole caregivers who meet his needs, he will begin tosee that we are different from the other caretakers who have come and gone inhis life. Please know that we meanno offense if we ask you to refrain from touching, holding or hugging him or from giving him a snack. These limitations are an important step in helping him tobond to us.

Localfriends and family are welcome to come to the airport to welcome us home. We would love to see you! However, please be aware that the same “rules”apply. We ask that you not touchJace, hug him or give him food. Weprobably won’t be able to see much of you at the airport but know that justseeing your faces would be a blessing!

We aregoing to do our best to post pictures and updates on facebook and our blogas we have time. We appreciate your continued prayers for our family aswe make this very dramatic transition. We know that God has led us this far andtrust that He will see us through any difficulties that lie ahead! To Him be all the glory for the miracleof Jace and his homecoming!!!!

InChrist,

Johnand Tara

*Thanks to YWAM and Haley for the letter!

Please Pray!

2011-11-21T09:49:00.001-08:00

The witness' interview has officially been scheduled for this Wednesday at 1 p.m. Ethiopia time. This interview is VERY IMPORTANT, so please join us in praying! Pray that from this interview, the Embassy would see that our case is clearly approvable and issue us clearance. Pray for this witness, who is sacrificing so much to come to this interview and is doing so with such a willing heart. We really appreciate you all fighting with us in prayer during this last grueling leg of the journey. We are praying and believing for a miracle!

Embassy Update

2011-11-17T15:49:00.001-08:00

Our case was submitted to the Embassy on Tuesday, November 8th, so we have been on pins and needles waiting to hear anything from them. Since they are 8 hours ahead of us in Ethiopia, we will only receive an email from the Embassy between 1 a.m. and 9 a.m. our time. Needless to say, we've been having some sleepless nights lately. I'll wake up on my own at 1:30 a.m. and then check my email on my phone...and then 2:30...and then 3:30. You get the picture. It's so hard to sleep soundly when you know an email could be coming at any moment. Guess it's preparing us for when Jace comes home:). Thankfully, John and I have slept better the last few nights out of sheer exhaustion!

I flew out to Las Vegas yesterday to spend a week visiting my mom. One of the most spur-of-the-moment trips I've ever taken! When I was praying two weeks ago, I felt like the Lord put it on my heart to go. Of course, I had so many questions in response: What if we get cleared to go to Ethiopia? How will we afford it? But when the Lord says 'go', He always makes a way. He gave both John and me such a peace about it, and we were able to use frequent flyer miles to pay for most of the ticket. I really needed to get away and have some mother-daughter time! Really looking forward to this week.

As usual, I checked my email early this morning...but this time there was actually an email from the Embassy! They have requested a witness interview. I didn't know how to feel. Is this good? Is this bad? What if the witness doesn't cooperate? How will they get the witness from Jace's village--15 hours from the city?!? But the Lord really did give me such a peace about it. In only a few hours, we heard back that the witness was willing to be interviewed any day! SUCH A PRAISE! The interview will probably be scheduled for next week. Please just continue to pray. Pray that the interview goes well and that they issue us clearance after this. We. Are. So. Close. Really need your prayers to carry us through to the end!

Right after we heard the good news about the witness, we received these AMAZING new pics of Jace. Could he be any cuter?!!?!? Seriously, melt me heart.

Can't wait to see him running at me with that face:)

He looks like he's going to explode he's so happy!
Makes this Mommy really happy!

Great Christmas Gifts! One Week Only!

2011-11-13T12:57:00.001-08:00

I've been selling beautiful handmade goods from Living Hope Ethiopia over the past month. Usually, Living Hope has you host something called Party with a Purpose to sell these beautiful goods, but since I couldn't find a time to host a party, I thought I could at least sell these goods to friends and family! I only have a few items left, so for one week only, the sales are going viral. For those of you who aren't familiar with Living Hope, it is the ONLY maternity home in Ethiopia. Here is a great description of what they do taken from their web site (http://www.livinghopeethiopia.org):

Many of the women currently residing at Living Hope Ethiopia were working as domestic servants and were raped either by a stranger or their employer and were turned away from their homes and livelihood when the resulting pregnancy became obvious. In Ethiopia, young women who become pregnant out of wedlock, regardless of the circumstances, are often turned out of their homes. Most of them are not much older than children themselves. These women are young, poor, uneducated, and without family support. There are no safety nets for them. They have no shelters, no ministries or government programs to help them. There is a razor thin line between survival and starvation.

Before there was a Living Hope Ethiopia there were only three options for these women - acquiring an illegal, heartbreaking, and dangerous abortion, relinquishing the child to an orphanage, or watching their child slowly die from disease and malnutrition. One child aborted is one too many and there are already millions of orphans in Ethiopia. International adoption is a wonderful way to bring a child into a loving family, but it can’t meet the need for every orphan. There just aren’t enough families adopting to stem the crisis.

Living Hope Ministries in Adama, Ethiopia is the first and only maternity home and Crisis Pregnancy Center in the country. Here, women receive shelter, nourishing food, unconditional love, education and life skills, and the ability to earn money that will provide them and their babies with a future and a hope.

Living Hope Ethiopia seeks to enable mothers to give their children life and also to parent them by their natural family in their own culture. It is a two-for-one solution. One less orphan equals one more chance for another orphan to find a forever family.

This is such an amazing ministry, and I really hope that John and I get a chance to visit when we go back to Ethiopia to bring Jace home. When you purchase an item, 100% goes to help these women (50% goes into the savings account of the woman who made the item so that she can eventually begin a small business when she leaves the home; 50% goes to Living Hope so that they can provide food, clothing, shelter and more for these women and their children). I cannot think of a better Christmas gift!

Here is what I have left (note: I am clearly not a photographer! If you can't see an item clearly enough, I can send you a better pic via email. Just let me know!).

Three strand necklaces. Every bead is handmade by the women.
$20

Only one purse left!
$20

Roses. Can be worn as a hair accessory or pinned on a scarf, jacket, etc.
Hair clip and pin on back.
$8

Scarf necklace combo
$24

Pics above don't do these justice, so I've modeled one for you!

Beaded bracelets. The yellow pieces of paper tell the story of Living Hope.
$8

Hanging bead necklaces
$18

Only two pairs of earrings left!
$8

Only one scarf left!
$10

Cuff bracelets. Also have a green one that didn't make it into the picture!
$23

If you are interested in any of these items, email me at tarardunn@gmail.com. Shipping costs will be minimal! Thanks!

Three Months

2011-11-04T09:04:00.000-07:00

Three months. Thirteen weeks. Ninety-two days. This is how long it has been since we last saw and held our son. Another adoptive mom told that from the time you start your adoption journey until your court trip, you're in "Waiting Period Alpha." But once you meet your child and are waiting for that Embassy clearance, you're in "Waiting Period Beta"...even harder than Alpha (if that is possible!). Well my friend, you were right. Oh my goodness, were you right.

I definitely have moments when I feel as though I cannot take one more second of separation and need to get on a plane NOW. One of those moments came in full force this week. Our agency sends us weekly updates on Jace's health (including height, weight, etc), and this week, we opened the update to learn that he has impetigo. Neither of us knew what it was, so we furiously searched for answers on our computer. We learned that it's a highly contagious bacterial skin infection that is very common among children who share clothes and bedding. Of course, on the first web page we clicked on to learn about impetigo, there was a picture of someone with blister-like sores all over his face. I immediately burst into tears. John kept reassuring me that they were probably just showing the worst cases with those pics, but this Mama's heart was just broken! I am not kidding, it is a miracle that we did not get on a plane the next day. That may sound silly, but when your child is thousands of miles away, your heart is already completely broken and your child has had chicken pox and then a bacterial skin infection with no mommy or daddy around to hold him and care for him, you just reach a limit of how much your heart can take! I know the transition home is taking such good care of him, but it is just not the same as a mommy and daddy. Thankfully, our case manager very graciously sent us pictures the very next day, and Jace looked ok!!! I literally felt like a million pounds had been lifted off of me. We can't see the affected areas in the pics, but he looks ok!!!

Now for the update. Our file is still being thoroughly reviewed to be submitted to the US Embassy. We are hopeful that we will be submitted this coming Tuesday, but that is not a definite. Here is how the process is currently working at the Embassy (although this could change at any moment): First, our case is taken to the Embassy window by our agency and then the Embassy will either accept the file at the window or reject it and request additional information. If rejected, our agency will gather all the needed information and then resubmit our case. This will continue until our file is accepted. After the Embassy has reviewed our file and our case is deemed "clearly approvable," they will grant us clearance and we will travel to bring Jace home! If they do not feel as though our case is "clearly approvable," our case will be reviewed by USCIS officers from the Nairobi office (either in Ethiopia or in Nairobi). Please just continue to pray, pray, pray. Pray that there would be NO ERRORS in our file and that in this crucial review phase, the Lord would pour out His grace over our agency as they review all of these files. Pray that our agency would be able to see with His eyes and catch all mistakes. Just pray grace over them because this is no cake walk for them either! We are praying and believing for a clearly approvable file! I know that all of this pain will fade away when we are holding him in our arms again. Oh that the Lord would hasten that day!!!!

Hopeful

2011-10-25T15:32:00.000-07:00

If there were one word to describe how I feel right now, it would be 'hopeful.' Last week was a rough week in light of all the Embassy news and lack thereof, but this past weekend and week have been markedly different and that I am thankful for. Over the past few days, I really believe God has given me divine strategy in how to pray. Both of the specific ways He has led me to pray have seriously come out of nowhere--the first time while I was praying for something totally different and the second while I was doing a mundane task around the house. I have such confidence in what He is leading me to pray because He spoke to my heart so clearly in those random moments. I finally reached a point where I said, "OK, am I going to dwell on all the what-ifs in light of the rumors and speculations I'm hearing and reading about the Embassy or am I going to believe in what God is revealing to me and place my faith and trust in Him?! Am I going to believe that the circumstances determine the outcome or am I going to believe that God does?!" He really has filled both of us with new faith to ask Him and believe Him for the impossible. Of course, I am still sad and miss my son SO. MUCH. But I feel a hope that I believe can only come from Him and I'm resting in that now.

We received a scan of Jace's passport last week...so adorable! I have looked at it probably a thousand times by now. I love that is says 'Dunn'!!!!! Our case is currently being thoroughly reviewed in preparation for being submitted to the Embassy. Our case manager thinks that some of our cases may be submitted next Tuesday (only day our agency can submit cases), but it all depends on if any documents in the file need to be corrected, redone, etc. We are hopeful that we will be submitted within the next few weeks! Please continue to pray. I know I sound like a broken record, but we really need people fighting in prayer with us.

We received new pictures of Jace today. Always makes my heart so full of joy and sorrow all at the same time. I always have the most ridiculous grin on my face as I open them and have the urge to show them to everyone around me, whether I know them or not:). And then minutes or hours later, my heart is filled with such sadness as I see all the ways he has grown and as I think about all the days he's been learning and developing...and I've missed it. But I cling to Him, the One who gives me hope. As my Dad would say, "There's a miracle in the wings." Yes, Lord!

"Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see."

Hebrews 11:1

Melt my heart!!!!

Lots of teeth coming in!

Court to Embassy Update

2011-10-14T08:25:00.000-07:00

According to the last checklist I posted, our case is moving right along in the court to Embassy process...

1) Adoption decree translated into English and then taken to Authentication Office.
2) Adoption decree taken to MoWA. MoWA issues permission letters for new birth certificate and passport to be issued for Jace.

3) Jace receives an Embassy physical.

His new birth certificate (listing us as his parents!) is ready and his new passport will be ready on Tuesday. I can't wait to see them! Under normal circumstances, we would be very close to being ready to be submitted to the Embassy. However, we have learned over and over again on this adoption journey that "normal" is a very relative term, and honestly, it doesn't really exist in the international adoption world. There are always surprises and roadblocks, but I have to remind myself all the time that God is so much bigger than all of that.

The Embassy has added a new requirement, which has to do with obtaining more information from his village's police department. Our agency started working on this immediately, but it could take several weeks to obtain the needed information. Also, the Embassy announced that they will be sending cases that they feel are not "clearly approvable" to Nairobi for review. Two families from our agency had their cases sent to Nairobi this week. Since this has never been done before, our agency doesn't know how long it will take for the Nairobi office to process their visas. The Embassy is saying one to two months, but we are certainly praying so hard for these two families that it is a much shorter wait! Because of all of this, our agency is reviewing every single piece of paper in all of our files so carefully before we are submitted. They have always done this, but they are going to do so to an even greater degree now. So, instead of our case being submitted four to six weeks after passing court, it is very likely that it will take longer.

Right now, I am fighting discouragement and fear. Being submitted to the Embassy has always been nerve-wracking, but this is a whole new ball game. But like I said, I know that God is bigger than all of this. I went to bed Wednesday night fighting against fear, and when I woke up, someone who had no idea what was going on texted me the following verses:

"You will keep in perfect peace all who trust in you, all whose thoughts are fixed on you! Trust in the Lord always, for the Lord God is the eternal Rock....for those who are righteous, the way is not steep and rough. You are a God who does what is right, and you smooth out the path ahead of them."

Isaiah 26:3-4, 7 (NLT)

I know that God is moving, that He is moving in more ways that I could ever imagine to bring Jace and his buddies home. We just miss him...so much. SO MUCH. One of the ways the Lord continually says to me, "I am in this, I am working miracles to bring Jace home," is through gifts for Jace and things for his room. I know that might sound crazy, but EVERY time we have gotten significantly bad news about our adoption (from the beginning until now), we have been given a gift for Jace or have received something in the mail for him on that same day. It's to the point now where it makes us laugh! And yet it has been such a tangible reminder to us of God's kindness and an always-needed reminder of how much He cares when our circumstances seem so bleak.

Please pray with us for many, many miracles. We are SO CLOSE, but I feel like this last hurdle is the biggest one of all. This is a spiritual battle, and we will not stop fighting! Please pray for us also, as our hearts are so broken every day that we are away from our son. I'll leave you with a recent picture we received of him. I think he didn't like the camera interrupting his busy schedule of playing:). So thankful for all of your prayers and support.

Two Months (and some of our favorite pics!)

2011-10-05T07:43:00.000-07:00

Two months ago yesterday, we said goodbye to Jace. This last month hasn't gone by any faster than the previous month, but we are so thankful that we are finally making progress in bringing him home. Our agency is moving right along on the checklist of things that need to be done before our case is submitted to Embassy (see last post). Words can't even describe how refreshing and encouraging it is to make progress on this journey when so often it feels like we are on a never-ending journey of waiting! Needless to say, we are so thankful for every step forward. Please continue to pray for speedy progress for us and all the families we traveled with and that our cases would be submitted to Embassy soon!

I thought that the two month mark would be a good time to post some of our favorite pics from our first trip to Ethiopia. We did see him smile several times, but we unfortunately got no pictures of him smiling. This is why we have been so grateful to get so many pics of him smiling since we've been home. Seems like forever ago...cannot wait to go back!!!!!!!

12 hour van ride! Such a trooper!

He FINALLY ate...and this Mommy was happy about that!

John reading a book to Jace about adoption:)

Court day!

A Celebration and a Checklist

2011-10-02T16:55:00.000-07:00

Friday we received some great news...the other two families in our group passed court also! One of the families is very good friends of ours from seminary. We still can't believe how God orchestrated everything so that we could travel with them. Kelly and I were in a small group together throughout our years in Wilmore, Ky. Never in a million years could Kelly and I have guessed that we'd be in Ethiopia together adopting children one day! God's plans are truly amazing. So in honor of the Myers and Robbins passing, I'm posting this picture. (Sad I didn't get a picture with you, Tana!)

Kelly with Elise and me with Jace
(Melissa, do you like the banner in the background:)?)

Many of you have been asking what the next steps are, so I'm going to do my best to try and explain how this next part of the process works. Here is a list of tasks that need to be completed before our case can be submitted to Embassy.

1) Adoption decree translated into English and then taken to Authentication Office.

2) Adoption decree taken to MoWA. MoWA issues permission letters for new birth certificate and passport to be issued for Jace.

3) Jace receives an Embassy physical.

This checklist usually takes approximately one month to complete. Keep in mind that this is a highly simplistic list! We received a flow chart explaining the court to Embassy process that was complicated enough to make our heads spin. VERY helpful...just complicated. Once our case is submitted to Embassy, we could receive clearance very quickly and then receive a travel date or they could request more information one or more times. We are of course praying for a speedy Embassy process. We are SO READY to bring Jace home! Please join us in praying for favor in this last leg of the journey. We are getting so close!

Introducing Our Son!

2011-09-27T14:38:00.000-07:00

THANK YOU to all who prayed this past week for our court situation. God has worked a miracle! We were told that the judge would not be signing off on cases until mid-October, but the judge signed off on our case today!!! COMPLETE MIRACLE!!!! Jace is officially our son and we are officially his parents! He became a Dunn today! All glory, honor and praise to God! So without further ado, we would like to introduce you to our son...

Jace Kenesa Dunn

When we first learned that his Ethiopian name was Kenesa, we looked it up and discovered it means 'house of prayer.' We also learned on our trip to Ethiopia that it means 'gift of God.' We love both meanings!

A more recent photo taken in August

He actually has the chicken pox in this picture, but he still looks happy!

One of my favorites. Taken near his first birthday, wearing the birthday
shirt we sent for him.

Seeing him for the first time!

First family photo...tears of joy!!!!

Everyone keeps asking, "So when do you get to bring him home?" The answer is, "We don't know!" We begin the Embassy process now, which usually takes anywhere from 4 to 10 weeks, but even that is not a guarantee. Please just continue to pray for favor in this process and that Jace would come home sooner than we could ask or imagine! Also, PLEASE pray for the other families we traveled with. Not all adoption decrees were signed from our group today, and we feel like we can't fully rejoice until we have all passed! We are like family now. I know God will work a miracle for them too!

Really Need Your Prayers

2011-09-23T10:56:00.000-07:00

We found out late last night that while the judge did indeed come back this past Monday, she will be doing training throughout Ethiopia over the next three weeks and will not be returning to her office to sign off on cases that appeared in court the last day before rainy season (our case included). Needless to say, we are sad in the Dunn household. We thought we would definitely be passing court this week or this coming week. I know that waiting an extra three weeks might not sound like that big of a deal, but it is to this Mamma's heart right now...especially when every day seems to pass so slowly. This is another three weeks of waiting without making any progress in bringing Jace home....at least from my human, earthly perspective. It will have been a little over two months once we officially pass court since we last saw and held Jace. My heart just feels so heavy when I think that we will have waited over two months and will still not have started the Embassy process! I know that we have to chose to believe that God is moving and working in spite of this seeming set-back. We have to hold onto the truth that He wants Jace home. The Lord reminded me the other day of the verse that was so meaningful for us when we were waiting four and a half months for our official referral (and now I know why He was reminding me of this!): "[The righteous man] will have no fear of bad news; his heart is steadfast, trusting in the Lord" (Psalm 112:7). Please pray for us and the other five families waiting that we would have no fear of this news but would have hearts that are steadfast, trusting in the Lord. Please pray that the Lord would be near to us in our sadness and would comfort us. Pray for peace. And please pray for a miracle...

Baby Shower

2011-09-21T08:33:00.000-07:00

On September 10th, three of my good friends (Addie, Deborah and Jana) threw me a baby shower. It really was a perfect day! The weather was perfect, the food was ridiculously good, my friends and family were all in the same room (my mom even flew in from Vegas!) and I was showered with an abundance of wonderful gifts for Jace! I know that on the surface, a baby shower might not seem like that big of a deal. But it really was for me. Part of it had to do with the fact that John and I have been wanting to start a family for some time now, and the shower was a tangible reminder to me of God's faithfulness and of the many ways He has answered our prayers. Also, my shower had originally been scheduled for April 30th, but we had to cancel it because it took MUCH longer to receive our referral than expected. (Thankfully no invitations were sent out!) Since we chose Jace in January and the referral usually comes a few weeks later, we never could have guessed that our referral wouldn't come until mid-June due to all the changes in Ethiopia. I kept thinking to myself as I got ready for my shower, "This is actually happening. Jace really is going to come home." Everything felt so surreal at the shower because it was something I had been waiting so long for. THANKFUL doesn't even begin to describe how I felt.

Unfortunately, what I wasn't prepared for was how I would feel after the shower. Sunday night, John and I were sitting in our living room surrounded by so many wonderful gifts and it was like a tsunami of sadness came crashing down upon us. As we were surrounded by Jace's things, we suddenly became very acutely aware that Jace was not home and that it could be several months before he was home. I just wasn't prepared for the sadness that came after my shower.

We certainly expected to go through our ups and downs on this wait between court and embassy. I don't know why, but the downs always seem surprising because the grief is just so real, so all-consuming. Thankfully, God has filled us with a lot of joy and hope over the past week. I'm starting to be a little less surprised by the fact that I can be so full of hope, joy and peace one minute and literally bawling the next minute simply because I miss my son. I'm beginning to understand that even though I feel like a mess, I know I'm not crazy, that this is normal and that God really is sustaining us every single day. How thankful I am for that!

We're still not-so-patiently waiting for the judge to come back. We've heard rumors that she's already back but nothing official yet. We are just so ready for Jace to officially be a Dunn and to finally feel like we're moving forward in bringing him home. Our group of YWAM adoptive families finished our prayer watch on Sunday, and I believe we're already seeing some fruit from our prayers. Thank you, Lord! He really does hear. He really does care. He really is in this in every possible way.

Wonderful food. Even though my cousin Virgina Lee looks sad here, I think
she had a good time:).

We had the shower at a great neighborhood clubhouse in Athens. Such a
blessing...no one had to clean and it was free!

Lots of great gifts for Jace! (And Mommy:))

Group photo. Thanks to all who came!

One Month

2011-09-04T11:39:00.000-07:00

Exactly one month ago today, we held Jace in our arms for the final time of our trip and left our hearts in Ethiopia. I wish I could say that this month has flown by, but that would just be a lie! It's hard to grasp that he still isn't officially a Dunn yet. The worst part is feeling the time go by so slowly and not feeling any closer to bringing him home. Lord willing, Jace will become a Dunn in about three weeks from now and we will finally be able to start the Embassy process.

We have received several pictures of him lately where he has looked so happy, which has blessed and encouraged us beyond words. Unfortunately, Jace did get the chicken pox, which has been going around the transition home. It totally crushed us to not be there to comfort him. Our case manager told us she would get the transition home to take a picture of him for us; we were so nervous about seeing that picture! I was afraid we would throw all wisdom out the door and get on a plane because we couldn't bear to think of him suffering like that without a mommy and daddy. Thankfully, the picture we received was the exact opposite of what we were expecting. He was standing up in his crib with the biggest grin on his face and seemed to be quite content with his chicken pox! Definitely gave us a lot of peace to see him like that!

In all of this waiting, the Lord has been revealing a lot more to me about the calling He has placed upon my life to orphan care. Adoption is certainly included in that, but I know this calling is so much more than that. I've been going around to a lot of churches in Athens the past few months trying to get as many as possible to participate in Orphan Sunday (Nov. 6th), and words cannot express how much I have LOVED this. Being a regional coordinator for this awesome day has been so much fun. I have been so encouraged by how many churches have given an eager 'yes' to participating and by how so many are going above and beyond anything I could have ever imagined in their participation. So far, seven churches in Athens are on board and several more are working on being added to that list. Amazing!

The Lord placed a call to intercession on my life many years ago, and I am just now starting to see how my call to orphan care and my call to intercession go hand-in-hand. (Yes, apparently I am a slow learner.) One day when I was really struggling with all this waiting, someone prayed over me and told me to be encouraged, that the Lord was making me a fighter in prayer for the fatherless. When she spoke those words over me, I felt something within me come alive and my perspective on our situation totally shifted. I am realizing more and more how this is all so much bigger than us. The past week, the Lord has been teaching me how to be an intercessor for the fatherless, and I have had a fire within me to do so that has undoubtedly come from Him. The families we traveled with and those who traveled a week before us are starting a prayer watch today. I know that powerful things are going to happen because we are coming together in unity to pray! I feel so ready to fight in prayer during this watch!

Please continue to pray for us in this hard season of waiting. Pray that the judge returns quickly and signs the papers that will make Jace an official member of our family. Pray that there would be peace over the embassy and that His hand would fight for all of us in reuniting us with our children forever. We are asking and believing for many miracles soon! Please ask and believe with us!

Distractions

2011-08-28T14:46:00.000-07:00

Normally, distractions are seen as negative; they turn our focus away from what really matters. However, I am convinced that distractions (along with A LOT of prayer) are the only way to survive the heart-wrenching wait between court and embassy. John and I have been trying to fill our days with distractions lately because quite frankly, the wait is not getting any easier. We know that everyone means well when they say, "He'll be home soon." But when every minute away from Jace seems like an eternity, "soon" seems so relative.

We were SO EXCITED to find out that our MoWA letter had officially arrived at the court last week but also totally crushed to receive official confirmation that the judge would not be returning until after rainy season. Just thinking about the fact that all the papers needed to make Jace officially our son are sitting on a desk waiting for one signature is enough to make you go insane...which is why we try really hard not to think about that. We are praying that the judge will return in four more weeks (or sooner!) so that we can begin the embassy process and feel like we're actually moving forward in bringing Jace home. Some moments we think, "We can do this. It won't be that much longer." And then literally five seconds later, we're both thinking, "We can't do this. We're not going to make it!" Seeing the long wait other families are experiencing with embassy right now certainly isn't helping. We are trying to fix our eyes on the Lord instead of focusing on all the what-ifs. Some days we succeed; others we don't.

We have been wrestling with the Lord a lot since we've been home, but the Lord really revealed Himself in power to us this week and ministered to both of our hearts in a way that we greatly needed. He really is so kind. Thank You, Lord! On another good note, we received new pictures of Jace this week. Oh. My. Goodness. He is seriously the cutest kid ever! He actually looked happy in all the pictures and was even smiling in one of them...miracle! We opened the pictures and our hearts were filled with such joy...and then the sadness came and everything within us wanted to go to Ethiopia. Vicious cycle. We are so so thankful though that he looks happy and seems to be adjusting well.

So what have we done to distract ourselves these days? Worked, worked and worked some more. Definitely a season where we are very thankful for the distraction of work! John's mom, Nancy, has also been staying with us this past week, which has been a great distraction. We also are trying to do everything we can to prepare the house and Jace's room for his homecoming. Needless to say, we're not sitting still much these days. Too much time to think is not good for us! We painted Jace's nursery this weekend with Nancy's help but have a long way to go before we're finished with his room. We are going to try to put beadboard in ourselves (ambitious, I know...and by 'we', I mainly mean John:)). But I think getting his room ready will be a good distraction, even though we're so ready for him to be home and in the room. We'd appreciate your continued prayers. We've still got quite a bit of waiting ahead of us and will not make it without God's grace. I know that all of this pain will be a distant memory when we bring Jace home. Oh how we can't wait for that day!

We painted the room yellow a year ago when we moved in because I thought yellow was a good gender-neutral color for a nursery. Then I picked out the bedding a few months ago and changed my mind. Woman's prerogative, right;)? Now the walls are a light beige and we're putting white beadboard on the bottom half. The bedding is mainly blues and browns. Excited to post the finished product one of these days!

Update

2011-08-19T12:14:00.000-07:00

As many of you know, we found out a week ago that families from our agency who appeared at court a week before us miraculously passed court officially. MoWA apparently was catching up and even though the courts officially closed for rainy season on August 5th, the judge stayed a week and signed their court approvals. (We are so excited for these families!!!! Seriously, so amazing!!!!) We were asking and believing for this same miracle for us and the other five families we traveled with. John and I prayed so so much this past week that the Lord would work more miracles.

Unfortunately, we found out this week that the judge has officially left for rainy season and isn't in Ethiopia right now. This means that unless she miraculously decides to come back and sign approvals, Jace will not officially be a Dunn until the end of September or beginning of October. This also means that we cannot begin the Embassy process until that time. It has been a hard week in the Dunn household because we were really believing that God was going to work this miracle. It is so hard to surrender our idea of what timing is best.

Thankfully, I received an email from the orphanage yesterday morning letting me know that Jace is doing so much better. They wrote, Jace "is doing great. You wouldn't believe how much he has dramatically changed." PRAISE JESUS! I cannot tell you how much relief that email brought to this mama's heart. The fact that Jace was having a hard time with the transition was making an already unbearable season of waiting even more difficult. Knowing that he is doing well doesn't make this wait easy by any means, but it does help! We are still praying that Jace will be home sooner than we could ask or imagine. Maybe the judge will come back. Maybe our embassy process will move more quickly. We're trying to find the balance of trusting God's timing but also believing that He can work a miracle and bring Jace home soon. Please continue to pray with us. We need people praying with us for these miracles.

Days 8 and 9: The Dreaded Goodbye

2011-08-15T17:41:00.000-07:00

When John and I woke up in the morning, we spent some time asking the Lord for some sign of hope during our last visit with Jace. We desperately needed Him to show us that Jace was going to be OK. We knew the goodbye was going to be the hardest thing we had ever done regardless, but we desperately needed a sign that Jace would transition well at the home. Since John and I and Casey and Tana were the only two couples there, the home seemed eerily quiet without the chaos of all the other families and their children.

We went up to Jace's room and he cried for a second when they gave him to us but quickly calmed down. After spending some time in the room he's in, we went downstairs to spend some alone time with him. He immediately fell asleep in my arms, but this time, the Lord began to show me the ways in which Jace is going to thrive in a family. I was overwhelmed with hope at the things He began revealing to me, but my urgent desire to take him home right then grew even stronger. I began crying and saying to John, "I can't do this. I can't leave him." We walked around the room together, taking turns holding him and praying over him. John then said he thought we needed to go upstairs to the room where Casey and Tana were, and I am convinced that the Holy Spirit gave him that idea (you'll see why!).

Jace eventually woke up after we had been sitting in the room for awhile, and then the Lord began to answer our prayers in such amazing ways. Jace got down and started eating puffs that Tana had put out for some of the other kids. Remember how he didn't want a thing to do with the puffs we tried to feed him in the van? This time, he wasn't just eating them...he was double-fisting them! He apparently loves puffs because we had never seen him like a food so much! He interacted with the other kids and even walked around the room picking up toys and playing with them. Words cannot describe the joy that filled our hearts as we watched Jace in those moments. We know that was the Lord's gift to us, reassuring us that Jace would be OK. We captured most of those moments on video, and again, I have watched that video daily since we've been home. It is my constant reminder that the Lord is taking care of Jace.

Of course the time passed by too quickly, and it was time to say our final goodbye...the moment we had been dreading since we arrived. We walked slowly up to Jace's room holding him tightly and after kissing him numerous times and telling him that we loved him and would be back for him as soon as we could, I put him in his crib with tears streaming down my face. He immediately started crying and reaching up to us. I looked at John and said, "I can't do it, I can't do it." I picked Jace up from his crib and we held him so tightly as I cried like I have never cried before. One of the nannies finally had to come and take him from me, and we had to walk out of the room without looking back. John practically carried me down the stairs as I cried. We stood outside of the transition home--John holding me as I cried. I thank God that He gave John strength that day because I have never felt so weak. I could feel my heart breaking in two.

We got in the car with Casey and Tana, all of us so emotional and sad beyond words. Our driver took us to get some lunch, and we miraculously were able to make it through the lunch without crying. We then went back to the transition home and had to wait for hours until it was time to go to the airport. It was torture for all of us. For the sake of our hearts, we needed to leave Ethiopia. We enjoyed one more coffee ceremony and finally headed to the airport. John and I had to wait several hours to board our plane because we went to the airport with the other families whose flights left earlier than ours. But we didn't care; we needed to feel like we were going home so that we could feel like we were moving in the direction of coming back. We boarded the plane to Amsterdam and slept for a good part of it out of sheer exhaustion.

Then, our travel drama began. John began to feel very sick again the last hour or so of that flight. We didn't know what was going on since he seemed to have taken a turn for the better that day. He lost all color again and just kept saying that he thought he was going to be sick. The last 30 minutes of that flight seemed like an eternity. We finally landed and John still did not look OK. We made it to a place to sit down, and John laid on the floor...never a good sign. He finally told me that I had to go get some sort of help, that something wasn't right. I quickly went to find the medical center in the airport, my eyes filling with tears out of grief, exhaustion and confusion. Would we even be able to make our flight home? This was the one time in my life where I was thankful for a 10-hour layover.

Once I found the medical center, John thankfully was able to walk there. We were very impressed with their facilities; they basically had a mini-hospital in the middle of the airport. They took John back to a private room and after speculating about malaria and several other possibilities, they basically informed us that all they could do was give him an IV of fluids and anti-nausea medicine and hopefully make him well enough so that we could travel home. We were both scared and exhausted and clearly still grieving leaving Jace. We sat in the medical center for about three hours, and the tears flowed multiple times. I definitely had moments looking at my sick husband where I thought, "I can't do this. This is too much, Lord. We're not going to make it."

Thankfully after the three hours, John started to feel a little better. After leaving, we found a place where we could somewhat lie down and then slept for several hours. By the time we woke up and got something to eat, it was time to go to our gate. By the grace of God, John felt like he was well enough to get on the flight. He did have some color back and looked much better than he had several hours ago.

Our flight home was relatively uneventful until the last hour when I began feeling sick! We could not catch a break. (I promise, we have traveled internationally a lot and this has never happened!) John spent the last 30 minutes of the flight fanning me to help curb my nausea. I realized later that during the entire 10 hour flight, I had only eaten a roll! Clearly, I had been too overwhelmed to eat without even realizing it. Once we landed, I immediately got some soup to eat and finally felt well enough to get on the shuttle to our car and begin our hour and a half car ride home. We took turns helping each other stay awake and FINALLY made it home. John had another wave of sickness in the middle of that night again, but thankfully, he never felt sick after that. We still have no idea what it was!!!!

Our transition home has been so much harder than both of us expected. Waves of grief hit me continually, and I never know when they're coming. Definitely not easy when one hits in the middle of a work meeting! We miss Jace so much that it hurts. Not to be overly dramatic, but I definitely wonder sometimes how we are going to make it through this. I know that the Lord is going to sustain us through this season, and we will come out of this stronger, but we certainly don't feel strong right now. We are believing Him for a miracle and believing that He wants Jace to come home to us even more than we do. We know that He is good and trustworthy, and we are choosing to praise every day. He will be victorious in this! Thank you, Lord, for Jace. He is everything we could have dreamed of and more. And Jace, we remember the words God put on our hearts long before we ever saw your beautiful face: "You are worth fighting for. You are worth relentless pursuit." You are more than worth it, Jace.

Day 7: Court!

2011-08-14T13:44:00.000-07:00

Unfortunately, our court day did not begin well. John woke up sick...and I mean sick. We think it's because he ate chicken the day before, and our agency encourages us not to eat meat while in Ethiopia. Most people on our team had been eating meat and none of them had gotten sick, but John was the only one who had that particular chicken dish the day before. No meat for John next trip! I was definitely a nervous wreck because I didn't know how we were going to make it to court with John so sick. John just kept telling me that no matter what, he was going to appear before that judge...even if he had to do so holding a trash can! I prayed and prayed and nervously paced the room. I finally went downstairs to meet up with the other families and ask them to pray. One of our good friends from home graciously set up a prayer watch for us before we left so that each day, we had at least one person fasting and praying for us. I knew we had several people who had signed up for our court date, so I was believing that God would work a miracle and heal John so that we could go to court. We knew the enemy did not want Jace in a family, but we also knew that God would be victorious!

By God's grace, John was able to get dressed and come downstairs right before the van drivers arrived. He had absolutely no color in his face, but he was determined! Thankfully, the courthouse was just down the road, so we didn't have a long car trip. All six families piled into the already-crowded waiting area; we were all nervous. We knew that our MoWA letters probably wouldn't be there, which means we couldn't officially pass court, but we were still believing for a miracle nonetheless. John paced the room looking pale as a ghost (such a trooper!), and then finally found a seat by a window (it was not cool in there!). Thankfully, one of the other dads talked to him for quite awhile to distract him. Our agency had told us some of the questions we could expect the judge to ask us, so we practiced our answers together while we waited.

Two and a half hours later, the clerk called our agency in. Since there were six families, they had us go in three families at a time. We were in the first group, so we all filed in and sat down. We were in a medium-sized office, and the judge sat at a desk with piles of paperwork surrounding her. She asked us the following: "Do you understand that in Ethiopia, once the adoption is finalized, it cannot be changed? Have you seen your child? Do you still want to adopt this child? Have you done adoption training? Have you educated yourself about Ethiopian culture?" We all nodded our heads in response to her questions. She then told us that everything in our files was complete but that our MoWA letters were not there so she could not officially sign off to make the adoption complete. And that was it. We were in her office for maybe two minutes. As sad as we were that our MoWA letters weren't there, we were all relieved that everything else in our files was fine (not always the case). And John and I were praising God that he never got sick again while we were in the courthouse. If you had seen him that morning, you would understand what a complete miracle that was!

After court, our drivers took us to a pizza place for lunch. John had crust and s.prite:). We also found out that we were going to be able to go to the transition home after lunch, which was a huge and wonderful surprise to us since we were told we could not visit on court day. When we arrived at the transition home, we of course couldn't wait to see Jace again. Even though he did not officially become a Dunn that day as we had hoped, it was still a very special day and we knew we were one step closer to becoming a family of three.

Jace didn't cry when he was handed to me this time, but he almost immediately fell asleep in my arms. I know the drama of the morning did not help my emotional state, but as I stood outside holding him and watching all the other families playing with their children, I just kept thinking, "Something is wrong. He is not OK." Since we had left Jace's village, we had not seen him pick up a toy, play or really interact with any of the other children. As I thought about all these things, the floodgates opened and I wept as I held him. He was clearly having such a hard time, and my heart couldn't take it anymore. I had to take him home...but I couldn't.

John went and got one of the orphanage staff members who speaks English fluently, and I wept as I explained how worried we were about Jace. The worker was so patient and kind and reassured John and me that Jace did play and interact with the other children, and he promised us that Jace did not sleep all the time. Jace finally woke up, so we walked him around outside while the other children played. The Lord did use that worker to give me peace, and I knew I just had to trust that the Lord was taking care of Jace. We left the transition home again with heavy hearts, knowing that we had to trust even though we didn't understand.

When we got back to the hotel, I visited with the families in the restaurant again while John recovered upstairs; he still wasn't 100 percent. All of the families (except for John and me and Casey and Tana) were leaving to go home that night. In Ethiopia, it's tradition to say welcome or goodbye to a guest with a coffee ceremony, so the guest house had a ceremony for all of us to say goodbye. It was fascinating to see the woman roast the beans and prepare the coffee. I cannot drink coffee black, but this coffee had such a great flavor that I actually could. We all enjoyed drinking our coffee and eating popcorn. (We asked why popcorn and the guest house manager said he had no idea:)). All in all, day seven was filled with a lot of emotion and a lot of difficulties, but we really were one step closer to our son. What we weren't looking forward to was day eight...the official day of goodbye.

Traditional Ethiopian Coffee Ceremony

Day 6: Firsts and Shopping

2011-08-13T08:36:00.000-07:00

Again, John and I couldn't wait to see Jace in the morning. After breakfast with several of the families, we loaded in the vans (oh the vans) to head to the transition home. There were butterflies in my stomach again as we walked in to see Jace. I didn't know how he would react or how his first night at the home had been. When we walked in, one of the nannies was holding him, and he looked very content playing with a cell phone:). The nanny handed him to me and he cried for a second. Again, who could blame him?! He probably thought I was going to put him back in a van for 12 hours. He calmed down very quickly and just took everything in with those inquisitive eyes of his. He wasn't happy when they took the cell phone away from him, but other than that, we did not hear a peep out of him.

After only a few minutes of holding him, he fell asleep in my arms and slept for quite awhile. I literally felt my heart breaking as I looked around at all the other children laughing and playing while Jace slept in my arms. It was so clear by this point that he was sleeping to cope and that our little guy was simply having a hard time with all the transitions. At 14 months, he is the oldest child in the group that was moved from the village. From what I understand, this is a peak age for stranger anxiety. Combine that with Jace's personality and you have a recipe for a difficult transition. Even though we didn't get to see much of his personality this trip, it was very clear that he is a shy little guy who loves to be held and does not like change. I knew I would have a hard time watching my son struggle through this transition, but man o man, my heart absolutely broke. I wanted to fix it and make it all better for him, but there was nothing I could do but hold him in my arms and pray. We both did that many many times!

Jace eventually woke up and took it all in. I think the chaotic room full of four other white families and their children was a bit overwhelming to him. The nannies brought out a plate full of cookies for the kids and parents, so naturally we gave Jace one. Then he did something I have never seen a kid do...he held that cookie for probably 30 minutes and never ate it. We have a great video where he literally just studies every aspect of the cookie so carefully without ever taking a bite...hilarious!

Next came one of our favorite moments of the entire trip. One of the 11-month-old boys who had also come from Jace's village was playing right in front of us as Jace sat in my lap. Jace was watching him so carefully and then...Jace smiled! Several times! It was the first time we had ever seen him smile, and thankfully, we caught it all on video. I have watched the video every day since we got home. Seeing his smile melts my heart! We also played a little tickle game with him and got to see him smile a few more times.

When it was time to go, we carried him back upstairs to his crib with heavy hearts yet again. We put him in his crib, and he immediately walked to the back and looked out the window. I'm so happy that he has a window by his crib because he loves to observe things! He was fascinated by everything going on outside his window, so we said our goodbyes and left. As we pulled out of the drive, I looked up and saw his little face still looking out the window! It was precious and completely broke my heart at the same time. John and I were both so tired of saying goodbye; all we wanted to do was take him home.

We then went out to a nice lunch with all the families and then our drivers took us shopping. I am not a big souvenir shopper, but we did buy a handmade ball and a traditional Ethiopian outfit for Jace. Our drivers also took us to buy coffee at a place that the BBC evidently voted to have the best cup of coffee in world. When we were finished shopping, all the families spent the night hanging out in the restaurant in our hotel. All in all, it was another great--yet emotional--day. Next...court day!

Jace's new traditional Ethiopian outfit

Day 5: Long Car Trip in Africa + Children = An Adventure!

2011-08-12T07:43:00.000-07:00

John and I couldn't wait to see wake up and see Jace again. When we got to the orphanage, I peaked in the doorway, and there was Jace--wearing socks, a shirt and no pants or diaper! (Apparently there was a diaper shortage in the middle of the night since they weren't used to having that many kids.) Jace was in his own world playing with a bumbo seat; he looked up, saw me and ran away! Who can blame him. If I were him, I'd be thinking, "There is that crazy pale lady who took me away from my home, put me in some weird thing that moves and bounces me around everywhere and then left me in this strange place!" He fussed some as one of the nannies helped me get him diapered and changed, but then he calmed down and let me hold him.

As we got in the van, I thought, "Here we go. The moment of truth." None of us had any idea how our kids would do on such a long, bumpy car ride. It was a hard ride without children! I have to say that all of the kids were such troopers though. Surprisingly, Jace slept 80 percent of the 12ish hour van ride. I was amazed at his ability to sleep on such bumpy roads! As the trip went on, John and I slowly began to realize that Jace was probably sleeping to cope. He would wake up occasionally, look around and then fall back asleep. It was like he was thinking, "I'm still in this van with these people!" When he was awake, he LOVED looking out the window with those inquisitive eyes of his. John and I took turns holding him, and John even got to read him a sweet story about adoption. Watching John read that to him was one of my favorite moments of that car ride, and I have a precious picture to remember it by. Although Jace had no idea what was going on, his life was changing forever. He was being held by his mommy and daddy who will love him more than he will probably know what to do with at first! I unfortunately started getting very car sick at one point, but I finally figured out that my patch was simply running out. Once I put a new one on, I was like a new woman thirty minutes later.

Jace was too scared to eat for most of the car ride. We tried to offer him some puffs, but he wanted nothing to do with them. He finally took a bottle several hours into the car ride after several failed attempts, and it made this mama very happy! He just needed some time to feel more comfortable before he ate, and who can blame him for that? We stopped off at a hotel restaurant for an early dinner, and he thankfully sat on my lap and ate rice with vegetables with me. He was so cute eating that rice! One of my favorite memories of the trip was when John and I walked him around the hotel to get him to stretch his legs. He loved holding our hands and walking around! I think he could have done that for an hour if we had time.

When we got back in the van, everything started to do downhill. After about an hour, most of the kids (and parents!) had had enough of the van. Once we got into the city and it got dark, Jace absolutely lost it. It broke my heart listening to him; he wasn't just crying...he was screaming and you could tell he was absolutely terrified. He cried for a good 30 minutes solid, and John and I could do nothing to comfort him. Finally, Abonesh was able to calm him down, and I just sat in the van with tears streaming down my face as she held him. My heart was so broken by how scared Jace was, and even though I totally understood why Abonesh was a more comforting presence to him, it just breaks your heart when you cannot comfort someone you love so much. He eventually fell back asleep and was handed back to me.

We then arrived at the transition home where he'll be staying until we get the green light to come back and take him home for good. I cradled him as he slept, and we all walked into the home and up the stairs to where the various rooms are. Since it was so late, we had no time to help ease our children into this new place either. We were told to hand Jace over to one of the nannies, and as I did, he woke up. He looked around groggily with his scared, confused eyes, and then they had all the parents immediately go back downstairs to the van. While we all totally understood why they had us do that, most of the parents lost it at this point. John and I were both bawling. The Ethiopians were trying to comfort us with the fact that we would see our children in the morning, but there are no words to describe how heartbreaking this experience was. I will never forget how scared and confused Jace looked in those moments. Leaving him in a new place two nights in a row was really starting to take its emotional toll on us. As hard as all of that was, I am so glad we were the ones who moved him from his village to the transition home. I wouldn't trade that experience for anything, even though it was incredibly difficult.

When we returned back to our hotel, we finally got to see our seminary friends, Jeff and Kelly Myers. They had flown in a few days earlier, but since their daughter's village was so far away, their daughter had already been taken to the transition home before they arrived. We visited with them in their room for a few minutes, and it was so good to see familiar faces after such an emotional day. I am still so amazed by God's goodness that He allowed us to be in Ethiopia at the same time as the Myers. When I went to bed that night, I tried to read for a few minutes to get my mind off of things...only to discover that my vision was completely blurred and I couldn't even read the words on the pages! Definitely freaked me out for quite awhile. I finally looked at my motion-sickness patch prescription and saw that a side effect is blurred vision. Thank goodness! (Thankfully, my vision was back in the morning, but it was scary nonetheless!). All-in-all, day five was a journey of a lifetime. It was probably one of the most physically and emotionally demanding journeys we have ever taken, but it was all for Jace...our beautiful, precious Jace. We would walk to the ends of the earth for you, Jace!

(Sorry, no pics from this day! They all had Jace in them!)

Day 4: The Day Our Hearts Were Captured Forever

2011-08-11T15:16:00.000-07:00

July 31st. This was the day John and I had been dreaming about since we started the adoption process over a year ago...the day we would hold our child in our arms for the first time. Everything felt so surreal that day. I think when you've been waiting for anything that long, it always feels surreal when you actually experience what you've been waiting for. We got up early and had breakfast at our hotel with the other three families and then loaded in the vans for an hour and a half drive to our son's village. Thankfully, the roads were paved for this part! The scenery along the way was absolutely breathtaking. When Abonesh announced that we were arriving in the village, my heart started to pound like crazy. The excitement and nervousness that John and I were experiencing were simply indescribable. We tried to soak in everything about Jace's village because I have no idea if we will ever be back. We want to be able to tell Jace about his birth village one day, so we were trying to take it all in.

We pulled up to the orphanage, and my heart was still pounding like crazy. Part of me wanted to literally run inside, but I was also so nervous, wondering how Jace would react to meeting us. We had been told so many times that he does not like strangers at all and that he would definitely cry when we met him. I knew that it would take everything within me not to snatch him up and cover him with kisses! John and I got our video camera ready and slowly walked into the orphanage with the other families. Our eyes darted around the room trying to find him. We couldn't find him at first and then I looked across the room to the left, and there he was. Our precious baby boy. In May, our agency sent us a picture of Jace that cracked us up because he was sitting on the floor with his legs straight out in front of him with one leg crossed over the other. We had never seen a kid sit like that before and got the biggest kick out of it. Well there was Jace, sitting on the floor with his legs straight out with one crossed over the other. So perfect! He had on a diaper (no pants!), a red wool cap and a navy zip-up jacket with the hood on over his red cap. Hilarious! I was actually wearing a navy zip-up jacket, so we matched:). His big eyes darted all around the room as he watched the group of white people flood in. We kneeled down a little ways back from him to give him space and honestly just continued kneeling in awe with the most ridiculous grins on our faces. We called his Ethiopian name a few times, and he finally gave us a sideways eye glance (as in, I'm looking but not all the way because you people are scary:)). He definitely looked scared and was nervously scratching his leg in the midst of the chaos. A minute or so later, he stood up and ran crying to his nannies. Just like we thought:).

We were content to watch him at a distance as the nannies held him, changed him, gave him a bottle. We were just thankful to be in the same room as him! He soon fell asleep, and we finally got to hold him. John graciously allowed me to hold him first, and I immediately started crying tears of joy as I looked at his beautiful face. He is absolutely perfect in every way...the most beautiful child I have ever seen. He captured our hearts with the first picture we ever saw of him, but when I looked down at him, I knew that he had ruined me forever. We sat on the floor holding him while he slept until one of the nannies came and put him in his crib. But we were not to be deterred...we just walked over to his crib and watched him sleep:). When he woke up, we had fun watching him play from a distance. We knew this would probably be the only time we would really be able to see his little personality because he was in a familiar and comfortable setting.

Jace has the most inquisitive eyes ever. Nothing gets by this kid! He watches everything so carefully, and we could see that a lot of times, he is simply content to just watch and analyze everything. We eventually got to interact with him, and I even got to read him a story. At one point, one of our guides was holding him and then she eventually gave him to me. He whimpered for a few seconds, and then almost immediately, he fell asleep on my shoulder. A friend of ours who had traveled to the orphanage a few months earlier to meet their daughter had told me that our son was a good sleeper; she was not kidding! Jace slept for quite awhile in my arms.

When it was time to leave, the nannies and families got in a circle and the nannies sang worship songs for us. It was such a beautiful moment--one that we thankfully captured on video. Abonesh then told the nannies it was time to say goodbye. I had heard that the nannies always cry when children have to leave, but nothing could have prepared us for what we experienced. We were taking five babies from the orphanage, and there were only about twelve total. They held our children so tightly and cried and cried and cried. Abonesh finally had to tell them that they had to hand the children over. It was such an emotional moment for everyone. We were of course so thankful to see how much they loved our children, but it was heartbreaking to see their grief.

Jace woke up as we waited outside of the orphanage for our van, and I prayed for peace over his little heart. He looked so confused as we stood outside and the nannies cried. We finally loaded up in the vans, and Jace was such a champ. I could tell that he was beyond scared and confused; he was leaving everything familiar to him and had never been in a car before! He soon fell asleep on the drive and slept in my lap for most of the hour and half trip back to the other village. Since Jace is not legally ours yet, he couldn't stay the night with us in our hotel, so we had to drop all the children off at the YWAM orphanage we had visited the day before. It was so hard to leave him there. I knew he would undoubtedly receive great care, but it was heartbreaking knowing that we had taken him from everything that he knew and now had to drop him off at a strange, new place to spend the night. Thankfully he had his orphanage buddies with him! Our guides didn't let us stay but a few minutes, which we completely understood but was also so difficult. We really wanted to make sure Jace was comfortable before we left.

After we dropped the children off, we went to visit a really old palace that an Ethiopian king used to live in. Like how I know so many details about the palace? That's because I was thinking about Jace the entire time! John and I were in a fog while we toured the palace, but I know that all of the other families were in the same boat as us. We ate a late dinner at another hotel and then crashed when we got back to our hotel. We were counting down the hours until we got to pick Jace up in the morning and praising God for the indescribable blessing of meeting our son for the first time.

In the morning before we loaded in the van!
We were literally about to burst we were so excited!

Outside of the orphanage...taken minutes before we walked in
and saw Jace for the first time!

The palace that I know nothing about:)
(pictures continued below)

Day 3: Beginning the Road Trip of a Lifetime

2011-08-10T10:30:00.000-07:00

Saturday morning (July 30th) we woke up very early after a not-so-good night's sleep to begin our two-day journey to Jace's village. Three other YWAM families met with us in the Guest House lobby at 6:30 a.m., and shortly after, we loaded up in two vans (two families per van) with Abonesh as our fearless guide and translator. I don't know what we would have done without her! I had been hearing for months about what a grueling drive it was to our son's village, so I was prepared for the worst. I get terrible motion sickness, but I was determined not to miss out on this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity; I put my motion sickness patch behind my ear the night before and prayed like crazy as we got in the van. Thankfully, it was very cool while we were in Ethiopia, so I knew that would work in my favor. After a few hours, we stopped at a hotel restaurant for a great breakfast and then loaded back in the van.

For several hours, we drove on smooth, paved roads and I thought to myself, "This isn't bad at all! I don't know what everyone was talking about!" Then we heard Abonesh tell us that the paved roads were ending and then the real journey began. Were the roads terribly bumpy? Absolutely. Did we really have to go to the bathroom behind bushes along the way? Absolutely. I was prepared for all of this and for the first several hours, I thought to myself, "This really isn't that bad. I can do this." John and I both really enjoyed seeing the beautiful Ethiopian countryside. I really think that part of Ethiopia has to have some of the most fertile land in the world. It was absolutely breathtaking. Then the bumpy road went on...and on...and on....and on....and on. Get the picture:)? We laughed later at how Abonesh would say, "Just four more villages until we reach the paved road again," and ten villages later, we were still on the bumpy road:). It wasn't the bumpy roads that got to all of us; it was the length of the journey on the bumpy roads. We all had sore bums the next day! Thankfully, I never got sick. Huge praise!

We finally arrived in the town where we were spending the night and immediately got to visit the YWAM orphanage there. It was so great loving on the kids and meeting the nannies. We then arrived at our hotel, had a late dinner with all the families and then John and I went to our room and spent some time praying for our first meeting with Jace. It was really happening!!!! Thankfully we were so exhausted from the journey that we were surprisingly able to go to sleep relatively quickly. We were really going to meet our son!!!!!!!!!

Ready to go in the van!

Our van buddies, Casey and Tana

Days 1 and 2: Ethiopia, Here We Come!

2011-08-09T13:54:00.000-07:00

I'm going to do my best to blog over the next week about our first trip to Ethiopia, even though I didn't write a thing in my journal the entire time we were there. Guess we will see how good my memory is:). Unfortunately, I still can't post pictures of Jace since our MOWA letter wasn't there (and he was in 95% of the pictures we took). I've been trying to motivate myself to blog about our trip for days but have honestly been in such a state of grief. There aren't words to describe what it's like to leave your child in another country...but alas, I'm getting ahead of myself. May God give me the grace to capture the most wonderful and the most difficult trip of our lives...

After a week and a half of scrambling to prepare for our trip on such short notice, we loaded up our car and headed to the Atlanta airport on Wednesday, July 27th. Why is it that no matter how much time you give yourself, you always leave your house for the airport frantically and frazzled? We made it to the airport with relatively little hiccups and all four suitcases were underweight...a victory in and of itself! Two of the suitcases were full of formula thanks to donations from friends and folks from Wesley and Classic City Community Church...thank you to everyone who donated! We flew to Amsterdam and had a two hour layover and then headed to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The travel was exhausting but knowing that we were getting closer and closer to our son was such an amazing feeling. We checked into the Addis Guest House around 10 p.m. on July 28th and had NO trouble going to sleep. [By the way, for anyone who is traveling to Ethiopia, a sound machine will be your best friend! It is so loud in the evenings!] Thankfully, we had decided to fly in a day early to give ourselves some time to recover before our big journey to our son's village. We slept in later than we have in a very long time! By the time we got up and got ready, it was lunchtime, so we went down to eat in the Guest House restaurant. That's where we met Casey and Tana Robbins, another YWAM family (there were six families total that traveled). We had a great time visiting with them and then later had dinner with the other YWAM families and a YWAM women's mission team at a great local restaurant. We didn't sleep well at all that night...combination of our bodies saying, "What in the heck is going on?" and sheer excitement knowing that we were leaving for our son's village in the morning. And what an adventure awaited us!!!!

Love that two of those suitcase are filled with formula to donate!

At the Atlanta airport, about to board! Jace...here we come!

Through the Eyes of Our Son

2011-07-24T13:20:00.000-07:00

Needless to say, this week has been CRAZY. Trying to get ready for a trip like this in a week and a half is quite a feat! Thankfully, everything is starting to come together; we have our plane tickets and guest house reservations, A LOT of formula and donations and now what's mostly left is packing (no small task!). I've been surprised by the wide range of emotions this week has held. I obviously knew that John and I would be excited beyond words. Just typing that we will be leaving for Ethiopia in three days and holding our son in our arms a week from today is enough to make me feel like I'm going to explode with excitement! However, I have also experienced realms of sadness this week that I wasn't really expecting to be honest.

First, I've been sad just thinking about what Jace is going to experience in the next week. I've been reading through Parenting Your Internationally Adopted Child (a must read!) and the author talks a lot about how so many times, we look at the adoption journey through the lens of the adoptive parents. We make life books celebrating every paperwork victory, and yet, we're only telling the story from our point of view. Jace has already lost so much in his short life. I can't reveal any of his story until we pass court, but my heart breaks when I think about his loses. While John and I will be ecstatic to see the precious face we've been staring at in pictures these past five months, Jace will be leaving behind everything he has ever known...the nannies who have loved him, the children who have become his friends and the orphanage that has been home to him. He will be riding in a vehicle with complete strangers for 12 hours and then be left at a new transition orphanage until we receive an embassy date and can return for him. Even though this all means he will have a forever family, my heart breaks for him because he will have no idea what is happening. I have thought so much this week about how the Lord's heart must break when He has to take us through things that are so hard for us because we have no idea what is going on...and yet He knows it is the BEST for us. I know that Jace will not understand, but I am praying that the Lord would give him peace in the midst of uncertainty and that John and I would have the strength to take him through these difficult changes because they are the best for him.

Second, I have already cried several times at just the thought of leaving Jace. I am trying so hard to focus on the joy of meeting him and holding him but usually tears come soon after these feelings of joy. I know leaving him will be the hardest thing John and I have ever had to do. Please pray for us in this: that the Lord would prepare all of our hearts to be separated from each other and that the Lord would fill Jace with such peace in the midst of all these changes. I would also appreciate prayers for healing. I woke up this morning with a terrible sinus infection...worst timing! Definitely need miraculous healing!

Jace, Mommy and Daddy are coming to meet you in just a few days! I know we will look, sound and smell so different to you, but we love you more than words could ever say. This journey will be scary, but we promise this is for your good. God will be with you every second and will give you peace in all the scariness. Sorry in advance if Mommy and Daddy smother you with way too may hugs and kisses. You have captured our hearts, Jace, and we are so proud that we are about to officially become your parents.
All our love,
Mommy and Daddy

Guest Blogger

2011-07-21T12:15:00.000-07:00

While I serve as an associate director at the University of Georgia Wesley Foundation and Wesley is technically my employer, I also am a commissioned missionary of The Mission Society--serving as a missionary to the students of UGA and the people of Athens through my work at Wesley. (Confusing, I know.) The Mission Society has asked me to be a guest blogger for them about once a month, and my first post went up yesterday! Click the link below to read about one of the many things the Lord has taught me about ministry through our adoption journey...

Something Far Better

by Tara Dunn

MIRACULOUS Court Date!

2011-07-16T09:58:00.000-07:00

At 4:48 p.m. yesterday, we got the call from Kathy, our case manager, that we've been waiting for. We got a court date! We were somewhat expecting this because we found out Thursday that our case number was only 10 away from the last case number processed. However, what we weren't expecting was when our court date would be. Kathy said, "Are you sitting down?! Your court date is before rainy season!!!" I literally almost passed out when she told me and started shaking all over. Our court date is the first week of August. WE LEAVE FOR ETHIOPIA IN TWO WEEKS!!!!!!! Two weeks!!!! We will be seeing our son for the first time in just over two weeks!!! Can you tell that we're a little excited?!

We were not planning on taking our first trip until October, so we have unfortunately put off a lot of things on our travel to-do list. We have SO MUCH to do in the next two weeks to get ready, but we are definitely up for the challenge. I think I slept maybe two hours last night from a combination of excitement and nervousness. I am so ready to meet our son and to be a mom, but I am also very nervous! Please pray for us during the next two weeks. We still have to collect 100 pounds of formula to take with us to donate to the orphanages. Thankfully, I already had a meeting planned this morning with one of the pastors of the church we've been attending, and they are graciously going to have a drive for us over the next week. If you live in Athens and want to donate milk-based Enfamil formula, please let me know! We also have plane tickets and hotel reservations to book and lots of donations to collect. Please pray that we would be filled with peace as we prepare and that the Lord would provide everything we need in order to bless the YWAM orphanages.

And a big bonus to all of this....we get to travel with some of our closest friends from seminary, Jeff and Kelly Myers! We called each other immediately yesterday, and it was so fun to be able to say, "See you in Ethiopia in a few weeks!" God is so good. We are utterly amazed by His goodness in all of this.

One Year

2011-07-14T07:30:00.000-07:00

One year ago today, John and I embarked on a journey that would forever change our lives and the life of a little one in Ethiopia. Today marks 365 days since we began the adoption journey! There are so many ways we could have marked the beginning of our adoption journey: when we decided God was calling us to start the adoption process, when we chose a country, when we chose an agency, etc. We have chosen to mark the official beginning of our journey as the day we had our preliminary phone interview with our agency, YWAM. This marked the start of the Dunn family file at YWAM, and it was the moment we felt like we were moving forward on our journey. Of course we spent so many months before this date researching and praying and researching and praying...you get the picture:). There is just something special about this date to us. I still remember nervously calling YWAM for our interview, feeling so nervous that we wouldn't be approved. There was no reason for us not to be approved, but putting your heart on the line like that is a scary thing! The interview feels like it was yesterday and like it was 10 years ago all at the same time.

Today is certainly bittersweet for us. When we look back at how the Lord has walked with us these 365 days, our hearts are completely overwhelmed. There are no words to describe His faithfulness and His goodness. We have had some of the highest highs and some of the lowest lows, but I know He has been with us every step of the way, ordering our steps in more ways than we could ever understand. We rejoice in His faithfulness today, and give Him all the glory! And yet our hearts are also heavy, as our son is still in Ethiopia and we so thought he'd be home by now. We are so ready to have him home!!!!!!!!!!

Lord, thank you for launching us out on this journey 365 days ago. We are choosing to trust You with every step!

And Jace, we are closer to bringing you home than we have ever been!

Gearing Up for Orphan Sunday

2011-07-10T18:43:00.000-07:00

When I attended Summit VII back in May, I heard about Orphan Sunday for the first time. The Christian Alliance for Orphans and the Cry for Orphans started Orphan Sunday, and it's basically a day set aside for churches to stand for the orphan. Churches from all over the world and from all denominations are invited to set aside Orphan Sunday (November 6 this year) as a day to remind the body of our call to defend the fatherless. It is truly an amazing idea! Churches can chose to participate in small ways (show a short video, for example) or big ways (have every ministry area participate). I've really been praying about ways in which I can stand for the cause of the orphan beyond our adoption and decided to serve as a regional coordinator for Orphan Sunday this year. My goal is to get as many churches in Athens to participate as possible. I have several meetings with churches this week that have expressed interest in participating, so I would appreciate your prayers for that! I'm also praying for more churches to express interest.

Two things I want to throw out there. One, if you live in Georgia and think your church might want to participate, please contact me! I have info galore! Also, for all you non-Georgia residents, see if your church might be interested in participating. The ideas really are endless (too many to list!) and the resources they have on the website are INCREDIBLE. They have entire sermons, children's lessons, songs, Bible study curriculum, poster and bulletin insert pdfs, power points, videos, etc, etc, etc. It really is so easy for churches to participate. I know November seems far away, but churches plan things so far in advance, it's best to start talking to your church now. If you're a non-Georgia resident and you're interested in getting your church to participate, I can definitely get you in touch with your regional coordinator. You can also just spearhead the effort yourself! Please let me know if you have any questions. I think Orphan Sunday is going to be amazing this year! Check out the info below...

About Orphan Sunday

Resources

Event Ideas

(I also have a entire Word doc of ideas I can send to you!)

Summer 2011 Ballet Intensive

2011-07-05T12:49:00.000-07:00

For the past two years, I've had the privilege of helping teach at a summer ballet intensive at Dancefx here in Athens. This year, we had 4 middle school girls participate, and I had an absolute blast with them. I had them for an hour and a half each day for technique class, and let's just say I worked them hard:). They had a small show at the end of the week to show family what they'd been working on all week. I was so proud of them! As many of you know, I taught ballet while in seminary in Kentucky. (To anyone from Bluegrass Youth Ballet reading this, I miss you guys!) I simply couldn't continue teaching while being in full-time ministry, but I've really enjoyed subbing at Dancefx when I can and teaching the past two summers at the ballet intensive.

They performed excerpts form Giselle, taught to them by Ms. Allison. I taught them adagio and petit allegro pieces. (I was too focused to take pictures during my pieces!)

Patiently waiting "backstage"

On the adoption front, we are still not-so-patiently waiting to be assigned a court date and hope to hear in 2-3 more weeks. We are of course praying for a miraculous court date before rainy season (which takes place in Aug and Sept) but also realize that an early October date is more realistic at this point. Please pray with us in this though! We would welcome a miracle:). We are so ready to see our little boy that it just hurts. We are choosing to trust God each day that we wait. Waiting is simply hard (OK...really hard), and as anyone who has been on the journey of adoption can tell you, you learn more about waiting while on this journey than you ever wanted to:)! Thanks for your continued prayers and support. We know that we will bring Jace home one day soon!

Happy Belated Birthday!

2011-06-30T09:45:00.000-07:00

Our baby boy turned 1 year old over a month ago, and of course, it was a very bittersweet day for us. We were certainly rejoicing on the day that God chose to bring him into this world, but we were also saddened that we couldn't be there to celebrate his special day with him. There is such life and joy in his eyes that when we look at his pictures, we just know that God is going to use him in amazing ways. He is the most precious thing we have ever seen! Since we didn't have our official referral at the time of his birthday and no one knew if it was a boy or girl yet, we sadly had to keep the real celebration between the two of us. (Thankfully, close family and friends at least knew it was an important day!) When I came into work that day, a few of the directors came into my office with a box of breakfast pastries with a candle on top. Of course I immediately burst into tears:). I'm making an adoption journey book for Jace, so I wanted to have our parents either take a birthday picture or send a card so I could make a birthday page for him. John's parents (Dan and Nancy) and my Dad, stepmom Sharon and sister Keeley sent pictures, while my Mom and Steve sent a cute little card. John and I wanted to make the day very special even though we could only celebrate just the two of us, so we ordered him a cake from Publix and had a little celebration at home. Joy, our agency director, was in Ethiopia at the time of Jace's birthday, so we sent a birthday shirt for her to give to him. All I wanted was one picture with him in it...and we got it! He looks so cute in his little, "I'm the birthday boy" shirt holding up our family album that we sent him. Those pictures are definitely going on the birthday page! I hope when Jace looks through his adoption book as he grows older, he will know that so many people were celebrating his life that first birthday. Happy belated birthday, Jace! Mommy and Daddy love you so much and can't wait to celebrate your life with you in person!

Surprise from some of the directors:)

Mommy and Daddy celebrating:)

I definitely teared up when I received these two pictures in my email! Sharon, Keeley and Dad above; Dan and Nancy below (in Venezuela!)

When You Want to Be a Number

2011-06-26T17:43:00.000-07:00

We received our court file number on Saturday!!! I was at the lake in Birmingham with three of my best friends from high school (Rebecca, Magen and Mary, I had a blast!!!!) and didn't even think to check my email. My friend Kelly, who also got her referral the same day as us, called me asking me what our number was. Needless to say, I immediately checked my email and Kelly and I excitedly figured out that our case numbers are only three apart! Really hoping to travel with Jeff and Kelly! We've been told that we should be given our court date assignment within the next three to four weeks. Still hoping to travel in late September/early October...if not sooner! John joked that although you usually never want to be a number in life, right now we're really glad to be a number:).

We Could Get Used to This

2011-06-24T04:56:00.000-07:00

When I went to check my email yesterday, I found an unexpected but very welcomed email letting us know that...our case has been submitted to court!!!! We weren't expecting that news for several more weeks, so we were just a little excited when we got the email:). So what does this mean? Well, our agency still thinks we will travel for the first time late September or sometime in October, but they are hopeful that since our case has already been submitted, we will receive our court date before the courts close for the rainy season in August. Please pray that this would be so! We will be assigned a case number within the next few days and then we patiently wait to be assigned a court date. Of course receiving our referral last week made everything so real (still on cloud nine!), but for some reason, this made everything even more real to me. This is really happening! After so many months of waiting and waiting and what seemed like continual bad news, we are actually moving forward! Praise God! Good news two weeks in a row...we could get used to this:).

It's a Boy!

2011-06-15T16:29:00.000-07:00

We can finally share what we've been holding in for the past 4 1/2 months...IT'S A BOY!!! We received our referral last night at 9:55 p.m. and to say that we were excited is an extreme understatement:). Unfortunately, John and I were not together last night; I was in St. Simons on a work trip with the female directors from Wesley. It was so fun having them around to celebrate, but it was also very hard not to be home with John celebrating! We came home a bit early from the work retreat today just so that John and I could sign and overnight the referral acceptance. We have officially accepted this beautiful almost-13-month-old baby boy! I have definitely cried tears of relief...the referral we have been waiting for so long for actually came!!!

The Story: Many agencies chose a child for you, but our agency believes that God will lead the adoptive parents to their child. They have been praying for every child since they entered the orphanages and for every adoptive parent, and they have always seen God lead prospective adoptive parents to the child God has for them. Somehow, John and I missed that this is how YWAM issues referrals! When we received our I-171H in January, we were utterly shocked to find out this is how it worked, and honestly, we were very overwhelmed. We wanted to just "know" when we saw the pictures of the waiting children, but instead, we saw all their beautiful faces and felt broken and overwhelmed. They were all precious! We knew God would lead us to our child though, even though our emotions (ok, let's be real, my emotions) were all over the place. After praying constantly about it for a week, we knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that this little guy was ours. The Lord confirmed it in so many ways! First, there was the dream. I had a very significant dream last summer where John and I were in an orphanage. We saw a child that we knew was ours, but we didn't know if it was God's timing for us to adopt. We left the orphanage and then panicked because we knew it was our child. We were afraid another family had already chosen the child, so we frantically called the orphanage. Thankfully, the child was still available. I woke up and had such a peace that God was releasing us to start the adoption process. We had a desire to adopt for years and had been praying about starting the process for months, so after much prayer, we began the adoption journey a month later. Right before we chose our little guy, we found out that he was brought to the YWAM orphanage the same week I had the dream. Isn't God so amazing?! Second, we discovered that our little guy's Ethiopian name means "house of prayer." If you know anything about us, you know how significant this would be to us! Third, John and I felt more and more drawn to this little guy every day and that has only gotten stronger over these last 4 1/2 months. Usually, you chose your child and your referral comes within a few weeks. Unfortunately, all the changes that happened in Ethiopia affected us significantly. The changes that happened have definitely been for the better, and we have already seen how God has worked so much out of that scary season for good. But it was definitely an incredibly hard season for us! We wondered many days if our referral would ever come...and it finally came!

His Name: We have gone back and forth about whether or not to keep his Ethiopian name as his first name because we really do LOVE his Ethiopian name and know that it is such an important part of his identity. We have decided to give him a first name we have chosen and keep his Ethiopian name as his middle name. We believe God has given us his new first name and that it will be a powerful part of who he is as a Dunn. That being said, his Ethiopian name will always be an extremely important part of who he is. So...his name is...

Jace K. Dunn

Jace-means "God is my salvation; healer"

K.-means house of prayer (cannot reveal this name until we pass court)

Our case should be submitted to receive a court date within the next few weeks, but it could be quite awhile before we travel for our first trip. The courts close in August and September for the rainy season, so we might not travel until October-ish. I have learned in the adoption journey that things never quite happen when you expect them to!!! We are definitely praying for a court date as soon as possible though! Thanks for all your prayers and support throughout this trying season as we waited for our referral. We are truly rejoicing and praising God for this incredible blessing!!!

Savannah and Tybee Island

2011-06-06T09:23:00.000-07:00

John and I were able to go on a much-needed getaway this weekend to Savannah and Tybee Island. We really want our little one home but are trying to enjoy our ability to go on getaways like this while we can! We went to the beach on Tybee Island for a few hours Saturday and then came back for a fun dinner in Savannah and a walk down River Street. Sunday we enjoyed the pool and late brunch at a really unique Savannah cafe before heading home. Short but sweet:).

And...before we left on Friday, we got some wonderful adoption news. Our little one is officially paper ready!!! We should be receiving our referral very soon!!!! It has been such a hard last four months, so I can't even express what a blessing it was to receive this news before our mini-vacation. Thank you, Lord! We aren't the best at taking pictures sometimes but enjoy the few we remembered to take before we left:)...

Delivered through the Fire

2011-06-02T06:48:00.000-07:00

This summer, I'm co-leading Beth Moore's Daniel: Lives of Integrity, Words of Prophecy study for college students and staff members who are in Athens. We've had a great turnout so far, and I'm of course loving the study. Doing a new study of hers every summer is always a treat for me. Last week, Beth "read my mail" and I can't stop thinking about the things God taught me through her video lesson. (P.S. If you're planning on doing this study soon, don't read any further because I will ruin this session for you:).) She taught on Daniel 3 where Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego must bow down to King Nebuchadnezzar's image of gold or face the fiery furnace. While I don't think any of us are standing in front of a blazing furnace being told to bow to an idol or else, we all face trials in this life. All of us. Beth presented three possible scenarios for when we face a fiery trial. Scenario A: We can be delivered from the fire, and as a result, our faith is built. She talked about how we always have to pray and believe that God not only can deliver us from the fire, but that He wants to. Scenario B: We can be delivered through the fire, and as a result, our faith is refined. While God can deliver us, sometimes He chooses to let us go through the fire instead of passing over it altogether. Think 1 Peter 1:6-7: "In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that your faith--of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire--may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed." Scenario C: We can be delivered by the fire into His arms, and as a result, our faith is perfected.

John and I have now been waiting four months for our referral and over a month with no news on the paperwork error I blogged about several weeks ago. Needless to say, for whatever reason, God is not choosing to deliver us from the fire; we feel as though we're standing in the middle of the furnace. But we know that He WILL deliver us. I know that compared to many of the trials people face in this life, this is a small trial. But it is a trial for us nonetheless, and we are certainly experiencing new levels of heartache as soon-to-be-parents that we never knew were possible. Then Beth issued a challenge that pierced my heart (you know, the kind where you look around the room feeling as though everyone else knows she's talking directly to you). She asked what "gods" we were tempted to bow down to when we feel like we're not being delivered from or even through the fire. Then came the list. Bitterness. Resentment. Unbelief. Anger. Self-Pity. Despair. All it takes is for us to think, "He's not coming through for me." I wanted to weep as she read off the list because I know that I have bowed to each of these to some degree or another during these difficult past four months. My heart was broken because I know that He is trustworthy...I know that He is coming through for us, even though it doesn't seem like it right now. Wherever I go, I still can't get away from Psalm 112:7: "(The righteous man) will have no fear of bad news; his heart is steadfast, trusting in the Lord." I know the truth...He is the only One worthy of bowing down to. How I long to live this truth!

Please continue to pray for us. Pray for a breakthrough in this paperwork drama, for our referral to come...but also please pray that we would bow only to the Lord, trusting that He will deliver us through this fire. May we give Him all the glory and honor He deserves when He does!

This song has brought me a lot of comfort lately. Hope you enjoy the lyrics...

Story of Grace

One way ticket to the lion’s den

Got to go through the fire so I can come out again

Fight for my faith, live what I believe

Stand on my feet and sing, Oh I will sing

Jesus You’ve called me friend

Jesus You’ve made me what I am

Jesus You are my life within

Yet in my weak frame

I’m calling on Your Name

Broke my heart with Your love

God I will love You the same

Forgiven oceans I am

Brought to my knees

The story of Your grace

It fills me with the theme

Jesus You’ve called me friend

Jesus You’ve made me what I am

Jesus You are my life within

I will live by the light of the glory you shine on me

I will live by the grace that you offer so freely

Encouragement and Refreshing at Summit VII

2011-05-16T08:39:00.001-07:00

As you may have read in my last post (End of the Year: Blessings and Heartache), we've had a hard last few weeks because of yet another bump in the road with our adoption. Still no news on that end...please continue to pray with us that this is a simple error on our child's paperwork! On Tuesday, I headed to Kentucky for Summit VII...and it could not have come at a better time. I stayed in Lexington, Ky., Tuesday night and got to visit a very close friend from seminary and then stayed with the fabulous Groth family. (I was their nanny for three years while in seminary.) How their three little ones have grown!!!! Words can't express how thankful I am for the Groth family and how much I miss them all. The Lord has used them in such incredible ways in our lives. They are like family to us...we just love them! My time with them definitely made me realize how much we miss them and how grateful we are for them. Wednesday morning I got to have breakfast with two girls whom I was in a small group with for two years in KY and then headed to Summit.

The first day was a retreat for adoptive moms...so refreshing! Then the next two days were filled with worship, speakers and breakouts. It is truly indescribable to be in a room with well over 1,000 people from 46 states and numerous countries who are passionate about adoption, foster care and orphan care. I got to hear some of my favorite adoption and orphan care writers/advocates (Karyn Purvis, Russell Moore and Carolyn Twietmeyer, to name a few) and can honestly say that I was challenged and encouraged by every session and breakout I attended. I can't say that about other conferences I've attended:). During my three days at the conference, it was as though God allowed me to zoom out and see the bigger picture of His heart for the orphan and how He is calling the church to DO SOMETHING. I desperately needed a reminder of this bigger picture. How easy it is on this adoption journey to get so focused on the details of your own adoption journey that you forget the bigger picture. God stirred so many things in my heart...a lot I need to still process and things I just can't write about now. I did text John at one point and say, "You better start praying...this conference is making me want to adopt lots and lots of children!" Thankfully, he was able to laugh. He was certainly not surprised by that:).

Another blessing of the conference was that I got to see my good friend, Kelly. Kelly and I were in a small group together throughout seminary, and she and her husband Jeff are two close friends of ours. They are also adopting from Ethiopia through YWAM, and it has been so wonderful being able to walk through this journey with them. Kelly wanted to come to the conference with me but needed someone to share the gas expense with. Her friend, Liz, decided to come with her at the last minute, so they got in the car on the first day of the conference and drove from Missouri to Kentucky!! It was so wonderful seeing her and meeting her friend, Liz (who is also adopting from Ethiopia). There were many blessings at this conference!

With Kelly

Me, Liz and Kelly

On another note (one I hope some find encouraging), the day before I left for the conference, I was in the prayer room in downtown Athens and the Lord so clearly spoke Psalm 112:7-8 to me...

"[The righteous] will have no fear of bad news; their hearts are steadfast, trusting in the Lord. Their hearts are secure, they will have no fear; in the end, they will look in triumph over their foes."

I journaled about this verse because I know that I have been living in fear of bad news regarding our adoption. I got home from the prayer room and in the mail was a card from Kelly. The card simply had a verse written out with a note that said, "This Scripture made me think of you. We are praying--for you and John and baby!" Well guess what Scripture was written on the card...Psalm 112:7. Think the Lord was trying to tell me something:). I have to be honest and confess that at first I was mad at the Lord because I felt like He was telling me that more bad news was coming with our adoption and that I just needed to trust Him. I was just thinking, "I trust you! Don't give me more bad news!" But as I was at Summit, the Lord gently revealed to me that the word was not about whether the news we are waiting for will be good or bad...it is simply about the fact that He is trustworthy. Such a sense of rest and peace came over me as He revealed that to me. So, with His grace, I will not fear bad news because my heart is steadfast, trusting in the Lord. We will look in triumph over our foes!

End of the Year: Blessings and Heartache

2011-05-05T12:15:00.000-07:00

On Thursday last week, we said goodbye to our 72 interns and finished our 2010-2011 year at Wesley. It was bittersweet, as always. Our staff this year has been so wonderful, and it has been amazing to see how God has unified the largest staff we have ever had. As directors, we put on what is called Intern Appreciation every year, where we do our best to show our interns how much we love and appreciate them. This year, after many fundraisers and some miraculous provision, we took them to Fogo de Chao in Atlanta. They couldn't believe it! We loved seeing their faces as we pulled into the parking lot. They kept saying, "No way...no way!!!" We had a wonderful time, and it was a great way to end the year. We have seen God move in such amazing ways this year, I can't even put into words the gratitude in my heart. Seeing lives transformed by the power of Christ never gets old!!!! These last few months have been a time of God accelerating what He's been doing. There has been a sweet grace and powerful move of His Spirit in all of our prayer meetings and services this last month...we are all ending the year hungrier for Him than we began and undoubtedly transformed. What can I say...I LOVE MY JOB!

Girls I have discipled this year (L to R): Addie, Leah, Megan, Erin, Hillary and Rachel. All of them experienced such transformation this year, and it was an honor to be a witness to that.

My wonderful prayer staff...how I will miss them!

With my dance ministry interns, Payton and Ashley

2010-2011 Associate Directors, with our director Bob

Nicole, Megan, Jason and Jerry...those I helped lead the Jamaica trip with

I just returned from our directors' retreat at the lake, which was a wonderful time of refreshing and fellowship. We were able to reflect on what God had done this year and pray about what He has for us next year. I am taking this next week off of work to go to Summit VII (yay!) but will then be back at Wesley planning for next year. Although we as directors miss students and staff during the summer, it is a great time for us to work more closely together and to get a major amount of planning done for next year. I'm looking forward to a slower pace this summer and already have plenty of projects I'd like to finish (like the nursery and the adoption journey book I'm making for our child).

While these last few weeks have been filled with so many blessings, this week in particular has been filled with some heartache. We were one paper away from finally receiving our referral but received news this week that there is a significant error on that one piece that was finally received. We went from expecting to receive our referral within weeks to indefinite waiting yet again. To say that our hearts are crushed is an understatement. We feel like we've been receiving bad news since January and are so ready for good news...so ready for breakthrough. Sometimes I know that I try to rush to a place of hope and believing God's promises without taking the time to really process my emotions. I want to cling to hope and His promises, but I know that I have to let myself be angry, hurt, brokenhearted, sad. I am just trying to learn the balance of expressing my frustration and anger to God without holding offense in my heart. I heard a life-changing sermon on contending prayer in November where the speaker said that in order to contend in prayer, we must pray without ceasing, pray without doubt and pray without offense. She encouraged us to always put our faith in the man Jesus, not in the outcome, and to always choose to believe that God is good, no matter what happens. We have been contending in prayer like never before for there to be no errors in our child's paperwork so that we could receive our referral (which we know is God's heart!) and have had countless others joining us in praying for this. And all papers were without error...until this very last one. It is just so hard for me to wrap my mind around what is happening. All of this is just another reminder that I still have so much to learn about intercession. I know that I can be angry with the Lord, that He can handle that, but I do not want to hold offense in my heart. Please just pray for us right now. We desperately need prayer. This error could be small or huge (can't really give details), so please just pray that it is a small error that can be fixed easily! When we first started this adoption journey, the Lord so clearly spoke a phrase to me about our child: "You are worth fighting for. You are worth relentless pursuit." I had no idea what a difficult fight this would be, but I hold on to this every day. Little One, you are worth fighting for; you are worth relentless pursuit! Mommy and Daddy are not giving up on you!

Please fight with us in prayer for our little one. We need warriors to fight with us...

Summit VII

2011-04-17T11:37:00.000-07:00

In a few weeks, I'll be heading to Louisville, Ky., to attend Summit VII, which I am VERY excited about. Unfortunately, John can't go since it's a mid-week event. Basically, Summit is an adoption and orphan ministry conference geared toward adoptive and foster parents and toward those who have a passion for adoption, foster care and orphan care. There are a lot of breakouts offered especially for those who are interested in starting orphan and adoption ministries in their churches. I can't remember the last time I've been this excited about a conference:). I'm even going to a pre-conference event called "Refreshment and Renewal for Adoptive Moms"--a half-day retreat for moms in the process of adopting and for those who have already adopted. I have no doubt that it will be a time of refreshment and renewal as I surround myself with women who love the Lord and who "get" the ups and downs of the adoption journey. I strongly encourage any of you who have adopted, are adopting, are considering adopting, have a desire to start an adoption or orphan ministry or simply have a heart to care for orphans to come! Let me know if you're interested! And if any of you YWAM moms are going, please let me know so we can meet up!

Click here for more info

Restoration 2011

2011-04-10T12:50:00.000-07:00

One week after I returned from Jamaica, Restoration 2011 took place. (I told you that March was crazy for the Dunns!) Every year I say, "This was the best Restoration yet!" and this year was no exception. Many of you know that I oversee the prayer ministry at Wesley, but I also have the privilege of overseeing the dance ministry. This really is a privilege for me because a small group of us started the dance ministry when I was in college. Those were such redemptive years for me because even though I had been dancing since I was 5 years old, I never understood God's heart for dance. My time participating in the Wesley dance ministry as a student had a profound impact on my life. I still remember a small group of us sitting in a coffee shop dreaming up Restoration--a multi-ministry performance dedicated to restoring dance back to the way God created it to be. We saw it as an amazing opportunity to reach out to the community as well. We had our very first Restoration in 2005--my last intern year at Wesley. We had about 50 dancers in the show and several hundred people come that year. It was amazing! Well here we are 6 years later and how God has grown Restoration! This year we had over 260 dancers participate and two shows totally over 2,500 people in attendance. We've heard some amazing testimonies of how God impacted people through Restoration, and we had an absolute blast. You can't really understand how much time and energy go into running a show like this until you do it, but needless to say, we all crashed on Sunday!!! Hope you enjoy the pics below (no I did not take these!)...

Dancers onstage praying before one of the shows

Praying throughout the theater before one of the shows

We had the choreographers/dance leaders anoint the feet of their dancers...it was very powerful!

We had some incredible stunts this year!

For the first time ever, we had an a cappella group sing...great addition

Great effect in one of the hip hop dances

Open Arms, a special-needs ministry, did a dance for the first time...by far one of my favs!

And yes, this year, we actually had a man dance (or "mance" as they called it). The crowd went crazy for them!

The finale is always one of my favorite parts of Restoration. We have a live band and invite the audience to participate. This year, all the dancers that weren't in finale ran into the audience and got everyone dancing. So fun!

Jamaica and Israel

2011-03-29T17:32:00.000-07:00

March was a very busy month for the Dunn family! John helped lead a trip to Israel with the ministry he works with March 2-16, and I helped lead a trip of 50+ college Freshman to Jamaica March 12-19. I'm not going to lie...March was a hard month for us. We got the news about Ethiopia cutting adoptions while John was in Israel and I was home by myself (the week before I left for Jamaica). Not news you want to get when your spouse is nowhere near you and you won't be seeing them for two more weeks! Needless to say, we are entering into an agreement to never be apart for 3 weeks again! Even though it's been a hard month, we really have so much to praise God for. First, things in Ethiopia are looking much more positive. We have hope that things are returning to a new "normal" and that the delays aren't going to be nearly as drastic as we thought a few weeks ago. We are really praying and believing that our referral is coming in April! (Please Lord!) Second, we both had incredible experiences on our mission trips. I'm posting pics below...enjoy!

Jamaica

Team photo

Two of the Freshman girls I got to know well because we painted together all day during one of our work days. See the finished product below! (Huge team effort, of course)

Jamaican preschoolers singing to us...PRECIOUS:)

Where we stayed was right on the water in the bay...rough life:)

Where we worshiped and prayed every night as a team

These Jamaican cuties made me want to bring our little one home so badly!

With Megan and Nicole, two other girl interns that I helped lead with (I disciple Megan)

And last but not least...

Yes, these are Jamaican preschoolers singing Bob Marley's "One Love"

Israel

Rainbow over Jericho

Olive tree in the city of David

Caesarea: Where Paul gave his last defense before going to Rome

Probable sight of the empty tomb

City of Kusadasi, Turkey (above and below)

My stepfather Steve was able to go on the trip with John...such a blessing!

Classic praying mantis at Melitus amphitheater

Update from National Council for Adoption

2011-03-10T18:27:00.000-08:00

We received an update from our agency today that seemed hopeful and positive. Definitely needed that! Included in the update was the statement below from the National Council for Adoption (https://www.adoptioncouncil.org/). Please please please continue to pray. We need people joining with us in prayer, now more than ever. We are believing for a miracle. Please press in with us for this!

NCFA Issues Statement Regarding Ethiopia Adoptions

At the end of February 2011, the Ethiopian Ministry of Women, Children and Youth Affairs (MOWA) issued an unexpected directive indicating a dramatic reduction in the number of inter country adoption cases to be processed by the Ministry. This directive is scheduled to go into effect by Thursday, March 10, 2011.

In 2010, more than 2,500 Ethiopian children were adopted by American families. Should MOWA implement the recent directive as indicated, the number of adoptions from Ethiopia could fall as much as 90%, although the full impact of MOWA’s decision is unknown and cannot be predicted at this time.

This ruling follows a year of significant progress in improving and increasing transparency in the Ethiopian adoption process. Following several safeguards enacted last year, NCFA’s confidence in the Ethiopian adoption system has grown significantly. Additional protective measures may still be necessary, however, to increase global confidence in the process. MOWA’s recent decision appears to have surprised many Ethiopian government officials, as well as the Central Adoption Authorities in the U.S., Italy, and Spain. Many within the adoption community, including the U.S. Department of State (DOS) and the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS), members of Congress, child welfare officials in many countries, and the National Council For Adoption (NCFA), have criticized the MOWA directive as unfair, unnecessary, and harmful to children in Ethiopian orphanages who await permanent families.

NCFA is grateful for the swift action taken by the U.S. Department of State, led by Special Advisor Ambassador Susan Jacobs, to communicate with Ethiopian adoption officials in an effort to reach a favorable resolution that will serve the best interests of abandoned and orphaned children in Ethiopia.

“We are encouraged by the advocacy taking place behind the scenes and hopeful that these collective efforts will bring clarity and an immediate adjustment to this unjust and unnecessary ruling, which has the potential to negatively impact so many vulnerable children,” said NCFA president and CEO Chuck Johnson.

Unconfirmed reports indicate that personnel changes within MOWA have resulted from the rogue handling of this decision, and because of this, NCFA is hopeful that new leadership will offer opportunities for better communication and a swift resolution to this looming crisis. NCFA respectfully calls on MOWA to amend its recent harmful directive and ensure that subsequent reforms reflect a comprehensive child welfare policy that retains the option of inter country adoption for Ethiopian orphans while ensuring policies and procedures that serve the best interests of children.

Please Pray and Sign!

2011-03-08T09:30:00.000-08:00

It has been an emotional few days as this news has been circulating, but we are trying to remain positive and are praying for a miracle. Please pray with us!

http://blog.beliefnet.com/redletters/2011/03/ethiopias-plan-to-cut-adoptions-a-prayerful-response.html

Also, PLEASE sign the following petition to help us and hundreds of other families bring our children home!

http://www.gopetition.com/petition/43714/sign.html

Dossier is Ethiopia-Bound

2011-02-17T14:37:00.000-08:00

It's official...our dossier is headed to Ethiopia today! It should arrive in Addis Ababa early next week. Please pray that the Lord would watch over our dossier and that it would arrive safely in Ethiopia with no problems. When I was out walking and praying months ago, I saw the clearest picture of the Lord holding all of our adoption paperwork in His hands and He had the biggest grin on His face. That image overwhelmed me with peace then and still does every time I am tempted to stress about our dossier. I know that it is in His hands!

Much Needed Getaway

2011-02-16T08:11:00.000-08:00

The past month-ish of the adoption journey has been the most stressful by far. Again, most of the reasons are things we can't really explain right now. We were expecting to receive our official referral this week but were informed last week that it will be at least 2 to 4 more weeks. Again, we promise to fill you in once we actually receive our referral! We knew the adoption journey was going to be difficult and full of challenges, but we are experiencing an entirely new range of emotions as soon-to-be parents. We knew the waiting was going to be the hardest part, but man o man, it is REALLY hard. Needless to say, John and I just reached a point where we knew we had to get away, even if just for a day. We ended up going to a bed and breakfast in Hiawassee, Georgia Saturday night. It was wonderful!!!!!! We didn't know how it was going to work financially, but we just knew we had to go. When we got there, the couple who runs it informed us that someone had called ahead and payed for our room! What a blessing! The first thing we did when we got there was take a nap. From that moment on, we both felt like jello for the rest of the time we were there. Our room looked like it had been decorated for me (everything was blue, brown and silver and there was a giant whirlpool tub!) and we had a beautiful view of a lake and the mountains. Just what the doctor ordered. We even stopped at some outlets on the way home for some retail therapy:). I really am so thankful for the time we got to get away. It was much needed. Unfortunately, I started feeling sick the day we left and then it hit me hard Monday at work. (Didn't feel too bad while we were there though, so that was nice!) I came home from work Monday afternoon and am still home sick:(. Not really sure what I have...think it's just a head/chest cold...but feel pretty miserable. Good news is that our dossier should be on its way to Ethiopia tomorrow!!!!!!!! It made it through all the needed steps in D.C. without any trouble and all of the needed pieces are finally at our agency in Washington state. Will keep you posted!

(P.S. For those in Georgia...take your spouse to the Chancey Hill Inn Bed and Breakfast, where we went. The couple who runs it is so so nice, it's only a little under two hours from Athens and it's very restful and peaceful! Check it out! http://www.chanceyhillinn.com/)

Dossier in DC!

2011-02-04T14:11:00.000-08:00

These have undeniably been two of the hardest and most exciting weeks of the adoption process thus far. The biggest reason is one we can't really explain right now but will definitely fill you in once we receive our official referral...should happen in two weeks!!!!!! The other stress/excitement had to do with our dossier. We were finished with our dossier and ready to take our power of attorney (poa) and affidavit of dossier (cover sheet) to get the notarizations certified so that we could then take them to the Secretary of State and get them authenticated. Well, two days after we received our I-171H, I called the Secretary of State office to make sure I could come in and get the documents authenticated instead of mailing them in. That's when it all came crashing down! I then discovered that Georgia is the ONLY state that requires not only the poa and affidavit to be notary certified but EVERY document in the dossier to be notary certified and each birth certificate to have a pen-in-hand signature. I called my case manager nearly in tears and she said it was totally ridiculous and couldn't be right. However, as she did research, she learned that our agency hadn't worked with a family in Georgia for a really long time and what the lady at the Sec. of State office told me was correct. Just imagine working for 6 months on a term paper and then as you are turning it in, the professor says, "Oh, I'm sorry, I'm actually adding on to the assignment!" Getting a document notary certified requires going to the clerk of court office in the county court house where the notary is from and getting a certificate saying that the notary is in fact certified in that county. Because I couldn't control from which county every notary that notarized a document in my dossier was from (medial reports, bank report, etc, etc, etc), I had notary seals from all over.

I woke up last Friday at 4:30 am and drove to four different counties in Georgia to get each document notary certified. I also went to Vital Records in Atlanta to get a pen-in-hand signature on John's birth certificate. I had to get Texas to send me a special letter since they don't do pen-in-hand. Needless to say, that Friday was a really long but productive day! I went to all our Clarke county documents notary certified Tuesday and then went this Wednesday to the Secretary of State to get our poa and affidavit authenticated. It turns out that in GA, for them to authenticate the cover page (affidavit), they must authenticate EVERY document! Georgia is so intense! (I am actually made a connection at the Secretary of State through a friend and he is going to help me get a meeting with my state representative to talk about getting the law changed for GA. This would help a lot of other GA families adopting internationally, so I'm excited about this!)

I was so exhausted by this point Wednesday, but I also was so ready to get this dossier out of my hands! I realized that I could either work nonstop for four hours when I got home and be done or I could wait. I decided to push through, so after 4 long hours of getting the actual dossier and all our different sets of regular and notarized photocopies ready, we mailed our dossier to DC! It arrived today! The company we are using will take our dossier to the State Department and to the Embassy in DC for further authentication (yes, MORE authentication) and then will send it to our agency. Our agency then sends it to Ethiopia!!! Our case manager said our agency sends dossiers to Ethiopia every Thursday and that there is a good chance our dossier will go out this coming Thursday. We are so happy to have it out of our hands but it also very nerve-wracking letting go 6 months of work. Please pray that the Lord would send His angels to watch over our dossier and that it would pass quickly through Washington and arrive safely in Ethiopia!!!!!! Here is a pic of us holding up our finished dossier, just before we mailed it...can you tell I'm to the point of exhaustion by this point:)?....

The Form of All Forms

2011-01-23T07:54:00.000-08:00

We got our I-171H in the mail yesterday! You should have seen me running in from the mailbox and us celebrating as I opened it:). This is a BIG deal! I like to call the I-171H "the form of all forms." Now we can finally finalize our dossier and hopefully send it to Ethiopia within the next few weeks. And...it also means we could be receiving a referral very soon! Yay!!!!

We had quite the adventure trying to make it to our fingerprinting appointment during snow week (this was the last step in making it possible for us to receive our I-171H). We left Athens around 5:45 p.m. after John got off of work that Wednesday and we didn't make it to the hotel in Atlanta until after 8:15 p.m.! The roads were terrible and we hit a lot of traffic. I called all day Wednesday to see if the fingerprinting center would be opened. They kept saying that they had been operating on a 3-hour delay but should be open regular hours Thursday. As John and I watched the news in our hotel room that night, we saw that the main office was delayed 2 hours Thursday. We didn't know what to do! Go to our appointment at 8 am in case the application center was open and risk sitting in the parking lot for 2 hours or go at 10 am and risk missing our appointment. Needless to say, I didn't sleep well that night:). We decided to go at 10 am since nearly everything in Atlanta was operating on a delay. Thankfully, we got right in and it only took a little under an hour. As we were waiting in line though, I looked at the door and saw that they had opened at 9 am! Oh well:). We were just happy that they took us and we got our fingerprints done. Then we had another stressful drive back to Athens in the ice/snow, but we made it and now we have our I-171H!!! We are both so ready to see a picture of our little one who we have been praying for for so long. SO READY! Please continue to pray for us in this journey. The waiting is getting harder, and we have a feeling that it's not going to get any easier!

Winter Storm 2011

2011-01-11T16:37:00.000-08:00

As many of you know, Georgia got hit with a pretty bad winter storm Sunday night. We measured 7 inches of snow in our backyard! We follow UGA's schedule at Wesley, so we haven't had work the past two days. We also don't have work tomorrow. I have enjoyed the time off, but I am really ready to get back to work and back in a routine! We had a crazy week last week Wesley-wise coming back from break. We had a staff retreat at my Dad's hotel in Atlanta Tuesday-Thursday and then came back to a conference we had for our leaders Friday and Saturday. Sunday we had our interest meeting for all wanting to perform in Restoration this year, and we had hundreds of dancers come. It was very encouraging! The week was great, but definitely not my normal routine:). John braved the roads today and safely made it to work. We are going to try to leave for Atlanta tomorrow night and stay at one of my Dad's hotels because we have our USCIS fingerprint appointment Thursday at 8 am. We are praying that they are open! Pretty much everything in Atlanta and the surrounding areas has been closed due to the storms and temperatures aren't supposed to get above freezing this week. Please pray that we would make it to Atlanta safely and that USCIS would be open! Enjoy the winter wonderland pics...

Our cul-de-sac and street

We braved the cold for a little bit, but the freezing rain coming down made the winter wonderland a little miserable. Snow man attempt below...the ice mixed with the snow made the snowman so hard that we couldn't put a face or buttons on him! We tried:).

Christmas Miracles

2010-12-30T13:49:00.000-08:00

What an amazing Christmas we have had! As we celebrated the miracle of the incarnation this Christmas season, we experienced several huge miracles in our lives--continually reminding us of the amazing God that we serve!!!!! One of the biggest miracles had to do with my Dad. Many of you are familiar with his cancer diagnosis in September and his cancer-free diagnosis in November from MD Anderson. What I haven't shared is that when my Dad came back from MD Anderson and took his results to the hospital in Atlanta (where the original diagnosis was given), they completely disagreed with MD Anderson and stood by their cancer diagnosis. They had Dad do more tests and sent his labs to their top oncologists. They came back and confirmed the cancer diagnosis. Needless to say, we had some hard and discouraging weeks after that but fought to stand on what we believed God had done. Dad chose to seek a third opinion at Sloan Kettering in New York City over Christmas break. The Monday before Christmas, the doctor there confirmed that Dad DOES NOT have cancer. They agreed with MD Anderson's diagnosis. Words cannot express how happy we were!!!!!!!!!! Not only does Dad not have cancer, but Sloan Kettering confirmed that Dad's tumor has shrunk from roughly 6 cm to 2 cm. Total miracle!!!! God does heal!!!!

I didn't think that Monday could get any better, but then I received a text message and call from a friend encouraging me to check our adoption email account. When we checked it, we found out that a friend of mine from high school's husband's company wanted to give us $5,000 for our adoption. Can you believe it?!?!?! We were seriously in shock for days after the news. I was watching my sister for the day while Dad and Sharon were in NY and when they came home that night, I got to share the news with them. Dad said, "This is a day of good news." Indeed! We have been receiving a lot of incredible donations over the past few weeks (overwhelmed and so touched every time). We now have $23,717.26 for our adoption!!!!!! God has really shown us over the past few months how excited He is about this adoption. I would have never imagined God would provide so much so quickly! We are so close to our goal!

I was listening to a podcast the other day and the pastor said, "Sometimes the facts distract us from the truth." So true! The facts were that John and I did not have money to move forward with this adoption. But the truth is that we serve the ultimate Provider. He was calling us to adopt, and He always provides for what He calls you to do! We have so many things to be thankful for this Christmas season. I have truly been completely overcome by God's goodness. You are so good, Lord!

Enjoy some pics from Christmas...

Christmas Eve spent with Dad, Sharon and Keeley. Keeley opening up her Christmas Eve gift.

House where I grew up and where we spend Christmas. You can't really tell in the picture, but it had started snowing on Christmas day. We had a white Christmas!

Sticking more as the day went on!

Cousins (L to R): Emily Grace, Will, Katie

John and Maggie

With Emily Grace, Katie and Maggie

Steve and Mom

With Maggie and Virginia Lee

Tree in Alpharetta

Our home in Athens after we had returned (still a little snow on the ground...we got to see it covered when we got home though!)

All the baby stuff we got this Christmas! My mom and I found this glider in a cute baby store here in Athens. Can't tell in the pic but it's blue and white pinstripe...super cute. It was an amazing deal, so Mom bought it for us. Thanks, Mom! It's our first piece for the nursery, which is very exciting. We also got lots of parenting books, a toddler Bible stories cd and a Little People nativity set. Can't believe there will be three in the Dunn family next Christmas!

Home Study and I-600a...Check!

2010-12-15T09:14:00.000-08:00

We FINALLY got our home study in the mail Monday. We think it may have gotten lost for a few days because it seriously looked like it had been run over by several mail trucks. Thankfully, the papers inside looked ok:). We had fun imagining what in the world happened to it though! Our home study was approved Dec. 3 by all our agencies, so you can imagine how not-patiently we've been waiting for it to come in the mail!!!! I was finishing up all the stuff we needed to send off with our I-600a form when John came home from work with our home study in his hands. (The I-600a is basically our petition to the US government to allow us to bring an orphan into the country.) I couldn't even eat dinner before we left for the UPS Store to overnight our I-600a. I was just a tad bit excited, to say the least:). Our I-600a was delivered Tuesday morning, so now....we wait. I told John I feel like the adoption process is mailing off a form and waiting for what seems like forever to get that form back so that you can then fill out another form. Then repeat. I am learning a lot about my lack of patience! Our agency says that families have been getting their I-171H (approval of I-600a) in one month, which is faster than normal. We are not holding our breath though since it is the holidays. Once we get our I-171H, we are eligible for a referral....which means we'll get the call saying, "It's a boy!" or "It's a girl!" and get to see a picture of our beautiful child. Needless to say, we can't wait for this part!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It's crazy to think we could be seeing a picture of our child in just a few months. Please continue to pray for us on this journey! Big side note: We have raised over $16,000 for our adoption! We are getting so close! God is so so so good...

Updates, Updates, Updates

2010-12-05T16:17:00.000-08:00

Yes, I am behind in posting. Don't judge me:). We've had a lot happen in the last month, so here is a snapshot.

Thanksgiving: This year, we got the best Thanksgiving present ever. Monday of Thanksgiving week, my Dad went to MD Anderson and finally got his results. HE IS CANCER FREE! I won't go into all the details (again, email me if you want to see his posts on his Care page), but WE ARE PRAISING THE LORD!!!! It is has been such a scary few months. The doctor at MD Anderson said he totally understood why my Dad's initial diagnosis in Atlanta in September was as grave as it was because he said less than one percent of cases turn out like my Dad's. We seriously had so many things to be thankful for this Thanksgiving. So many people had been praying that Dad would go in that Monday and the doctor would say, "Cancer? What cancer? The tumor is benign." And that is exactly what happened!!!! God is so good!!!!!!!!!!! We got to spend Thanksgiving in Owensboro, Ky with my Dad, stepmom Sharon and sister Keeley. We spent a good amount of time with Sharon's family and then had a big get together with my Dad's family. It was such a celebration! Check out the pics...

With my Dad and sister Keeley

My Dad with his siblings (They did not plan to all wear jeans and black and blue shirts!)

With our aunt MiShawn

Cherry Tart Pie...a famous Ringham dessert (and no seems to like the pie except Ringhams!)

Adoption: Our home study has finally been approved by all of our agencies!!!!!!!! This is such a huge thing to check off our list. Now we're just (not-so-patiently) waiting to receive the copies in the mail. As soon as we receive the copies, we'll be able to overnight our I600a form. It usually takes at least 45 days to get this form back, but once we get it back, we're eligible for a referral and can finally send our dossier to Ethiopia. We really are moving forward! Wahoo!

Wesley: There are always way too many things going on at Wesley to mention in one post, but everything is going well. My prayer staff is AMAZING, and I appreciate them more and more every day. I had the girls I disciple over to our house for a Christmas breakfast last week (minus Kristin, she had class:( ). We had a great time.

And on another note, my cousin Maggie got confirmed at the same church I was confirmed at. I was saved at my 6th grade confirmation retreat, so I know how impactful the experience can be. I was so excited for her!

The fam after the ceremony

Fundraising Dinner:Take Two, Etc.

2010-11-14T13:15:00.000-08:00

We had our big fundraising dinner for Wesley Friday, Nov. 5. A lot of money was raised for the ministry of Wesley, which was a definite praise! We had a lot of fun as a staff helping with the dinner. It always makes for great memories.

With the girls on staff that I disciple at the dinner (disciple two more who aren't on staff)
L to R: Rachel, Leah, Megan, Addie, Me, Hillary, Erin

With Rachel (second year discipling her)

Our friend Brian Davis (who also made our Expecting from Ethiopia adoption cards) did the Wesley video this year for the fundraising dinner. Check it out if you have time! He did an amazing job with it, and it's a great picture of what we do at Wesley!

http://further-up.com/2010/11/uga-wesley-fundraiser-dinner-2010/

In other news, we are so close to being done with our home study!!! We are done with all the interviews and have turned in all our paperwork. Our social worker said all edits should be finished in three weeks. So hopefully in three weeks, we will have finished copies of our home study and can file our I600 form. Once we get that form back from the government (usually takes about 45 days), we will be eligible to receive a referral and will be able to send our dossier to Ethiopia!!! Crazy to think we could be seeing a picture of our child in a few more months!!! Having a finished home study also means we can start applying for adoption grants. Just when the paperwork had started to slow down a bit:). Please pray for favor as we file our I600 soon and start applying for grants!

I just got back from a trip to MD Anderson in Houston with my Dad. God was so good to us in so many ways. I'm not writing about all of that on this blog for multiple reasons, but if you would like the link to my Dad's MD Anderson blog (where Dad, Sharon or I regularly post updates), let me know and I'll email it to you. Please just continue to pray for a miracle!!!

Our Story

2010-10-25T16:59:00.000-07:00

Check out the video we showed at our dinner about our adoption story...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c8gfDgtvSUk&feature=player_embedded

Fundraising Dinner

2010-10-25T16:24:00.001-07:00

John and I had our Adoption Fundraising Dinner this past Saturday. Even saying that it was more than we could ask or imagine feels like an understatement. It was amazing!!! After the news about my Dad having cancer (I will write more about that later, just can't right now), I didn't think we would be able to pull off the dinner. We wanted to spend time with my Dad and family on the weekends, not stay in Athens and plan a dinner. Six amazing friends from work approached me and basically said, "Tara, let us have the dinner." I will definitely admit that I can have a hard time receiving (especially help!), but I very willingly handed the dinner over. They did everything. When I say everything, I mean EVERYTHING. They worked their tails off getting everything ready for the dinner. And...they did not let John and I pay for a single thing. Nothing! They worked nearly all day Friday and Saturday to pull the dinner off, and again, I can't say it enough...it was incredible. The decorations were beautiful and the food was amazing. They literally cooked a gourmet meal. When John and I arrived two hours before the dinner and I saw all the decorations and read the typed menus on the tables, I had to hold back tears. Here was the menu...

Spinach Salad
Shallot-thyme vinaigrette, spiced pecans, pear

Braised Brisket
Malbec and apricot Au Jus

Smashed Yukon Potatoes
Roasted Asparagus

Yeast rolls with honey butter

Graham Cracker Crusted Cheesecake
Strawberry sauce and fresh whipped cream

Is your mouth watering yet? It should be! The food was incredible!!! Unfortunately, I could not eat what they fixed but they served me my favorite meal from a restaurant in Athens and also served me my favorite dessert from another restaurant in Athens. I mean, seriously! Our friend Lindsay gave the welcome and opening prayer. Then we had dinner and during dessert, our amazing friend Jason Harwell gave a concert with a group called The Justice League Band. They did an amazing job. We then showed a video that Jason made telling our story (which I am going to try to post to the blog...we'll see if it works!). John and I got up and shared a word of thanks after the video and also shared about the adoption process. Then we showed a clip from the gotcha video of a couple in Athens who recently brought their little girl home from Ethiopia. The clip was of the couple going into the orphanage and getting their little girl to bring her home. It is such a touching clip and we wanted to help people see, "This is what you are enabling us to do...to give a child a forever family!" Then our friend Clay (who was also the chef, along with our friend Addie) gave the invitation to give. He did an AMAZING job. Our friend Caren closed the night by praying such a heartfelt prayer for us. And...WE RAISED OVER $8,500!!!! Can you believe it?! God is so good. We only had about 50 or 60 people there (a lot of which live off support) and God provided that much. We were overwhelmed to say the least. As John and I drove home, he said, "I think my life was just changed. I don't know how, but something changed." I think that so expresses what happened on Saturday. There simply aren't words to describe what it feels like to be in a room surrounded by people who love you enough to put on an entire dinner for you, come to a dinner and then give extravagantly. God revealed Himself to us through our friends and family in such a profound way this weekend. We still just don't have words. We are so thankful!!!!!!!!!! Hope you enjoy the pics...

They had decorated the bulletin board when you walk in with posts from our blog on the adoption and pics of us

John and I sharing after our video

Caren praying!

Wonderful family who came out to support us!!

Fun Times October 23!

2010-10-01T09:05:00.000-07:00

John and I are having a fundraising dinner on Oct. 23 at 6 p.m. at Wesley. Our friend, Jason Harwell, will be playing with the band The Justice League. Check out what Jason posted on his web site for more info...

http://www.jasonharwell.com/help-us-make-one-less-orphan

If you live in or near the Athens/Atlanta area, we would LOVE to have you there! You can RSVP to dunnadoption@gmail.com (preferably by Oct. 8)! We really need your prayers also. We have never done anything like this before, so we definitely need grace, favor and wisdom. Please also pray that people would come!

Having a Yard Sale: What NOT to Do

2010-09-28T16:29:00.000-07:00

So John and I attempted to have a yard sale on Saturday to raise money for our adoption. It didn't go so well, but we definitely learned what not to do when having a yard sale. Hope someone can learn from our expertise:).

What NOT to do...
1) Do not have a yard sale. OK, so we're just kidding on this one, but we definitely learned that we are just not yard sale people. We're take-everything-to-Goodwill people:).

2) Do not forget to put the day of the week of your yard sale when you advertise in the paper. Yes, we actually did this. We didn't realize until Friday night that our ad (which ran in the paper for three days) did not say what day of the week our yard sale was! We put our address, what we were selling, mentioned raising money for adoption, put the time...but no day! Yikes!

3) Do not use hard-to-read signs given to you by the newspaper or a marker to write on them that can't be read from more than 5 feet away. We worked hard on getting our signs ready, only to realize when we drove by them later Friday night that you could not read them! Kinda defeats the purpose of the signs.

4) Do not have a yard sale in a cul-de-sac. We love our new house because it is in a quiet, peaceful cul-de-sac that only neighbors and visitors drive down...exactly what doesn't help when you're having a yard sale.

5) Do not be overly ambitious and plan to have your very first yard sale from 7 am until 3 pm. We finally packed up at noon since no one had been by in over an hour.

6) Do not wait until the night before to start pricing your items and organizing everything. You will stay up way too late, have to get up way too early and generally just be grumpy through the process. Not that this happened to us or anything:).

The ad we placed in the paper was $23, so we were just praying a few hours into the sale that we wouldn't lose money! Thankfully, we didn't but let's just say the Lord is not choosing to provide for our adoption through a yard sale:). We won't do it again, but we definitely made some memories and had a good laugh about it all. Enjoy the pics...

Mini Vacation

2010-09-24T11:38:00.000-07:00

Quick adoption update: We had our adoption physicals last Thursday and both passed with a clean bill of health. Definitely something to be thankful for!!!!! We also had our first meeting with our social worker last Friday. It was tiring (two hours of someone asking you questions just kinda drains you!), but we think it went really well. Our social worker is incredibly nice and made us feel very comfortable. We very much feel as though we're a team in this process, which is nice. Funny story: after she left, I saw her walking back up the driveway and just assumed she had forgotten something or needed to tell me something. I opened the door and she said, "I just wanted you to know that you have an armadillo in your front yard!" I didn't even know we had armadillos in Georgia so I had to take a picture. Maybe it's not an armadillo but it sure looks like one!

We have to space out our other home study interviews because in order to comply with state law, we cannot have completed the interviews too much earlier than when we receive our FBI clearances. Those are running 12 weeks to get back (yikes!), which means we will probably get them back sometime in November. Really hoping we get them back sooner though! Prayer request: we are having a yard sale tomorrow morning to hopefully raise some money! Please pray for us...we have no clue what we're doing:).

I was able to go on a mini vacation last weekend to Hilton Head with my dad, stepmom Sharon, stepsister Katy and her husband Santi, half-sister Keeley and Keeley's friend Marcy. Unfortunately, John couldn't go because he is saving up all his vacation days to go to Ethiopia twice. Good reason:). I took Monday off, so I was able to be with my family Saturday through Monday. It would have been nice to stay a whole week with them, but I was thankful for the short time I had. Any time at the beach is good:). Got to take two long walks in the morning on the beach, eat great food and spend time with family. It was definitely the refresher that I needed in the midst of the craziness here right now. Here are some pictures of the house. I had never stayed that close to the beach before...it was amazing!

View from the back porch

Back of the house

Backyard:)

Santi, Keeley and Marcy boogie boarding

The Great Paper Chase

2010-09-12T13:00:00.000-07:00

We have begun what is know in the adoption world as The Great Paper Chase. It is exactly what it sounds like...gathering TONS of paperwork! Right now, we are simultaneously gathering paperwork for our home study and for our dossier that will be sent to Ethiopia. The paperwork we are gathering includes birth certificates, marriage certificate, record of 911 calls made (none thankfully but still have to get the record), fingerprints galore, bank letters, employer letters, medical reports, etc, etc, etc, etc, etc, etc, etc. Seriously. At times, I have felt like this...

We come home from work most nights and work on paperwork, so I have to continually remind myself of the reason why we are doing this....to bring our little one home from Ethiopia!!!!! Definitely a good motivation!

John and I have our adoption physicals on Thursday and our first meeting with our social worker for our home study on Friday. The meeting with the social worker will be in our home for 2 hours. We will be interviewed and she will make sure that our home is an environment fit for a child. After this, we will have individual interviews and one more joint interview. PLEASE PRAY FOR US THIS WEEK!!!! We really need the grace and favor of the Lord. Also, we sent off our paperwork to get FBI clearance about a week and a half ago (to make sure we haven't been charged with any felonies or anything like that!). It can take up to 12 weeks to get the results back and our social worker cannot finish our home study (which means our dossier can't be finished) until we get these results back. We have heard that the FBI office is taking longer than usual to return the results, so please pray that our paperwork would be processed quickly and easily!

I have been trying to do things lately to help it sink in that we are really bringing a little one home. It's easy for me to get overwhelmed by all the paperwork, finances and tasks sometimes. John and I have been looking through baby names books, which has been so fun. I also wrote a letter to our little one that I wanted to share...

To our little one in Ethiopia...
Oh, how I love you! I haven't seen your beautiful face yet, but my heart is overwhelmed with love for you. Daily I wonder where you are, what you are doing, who is holding you, loving and protecting you. I wonder if you have even been born yet! Every day is one day closer to the day the Lord unites us as a family. I can't wait to hold you close to me, to feel your skin, to kiss your cheeks, to smell your wonderful baby smell. I pray for you every day, that the Lord would protect you, keep you strong and healthy, surround you with His love and already begin preparing your little heart for the day we meet and for the day we take you home to be with us--your forever family. Hold on, little one. Be brave and strong. We are coming for you! God will fight for us and bring us together in His perfect timing, in His perfect way. We are coming, little one, we are coming!

Love,
Mommy

Adoption and Wesley Updates

2010-08-29T11:15:00.000-07:00

Thanks to all of you for your kind words of congrats. Really means a lot to us! We have been very busy the past two weeks working on paperwork for our home study. We both had to answer 11 pages worth of questions about ourselves, sign a ton of papers and write extensively about our cultural background, traditions and beliefs, as well as the ways in which we're preparing ourselves to be a transracial family. We learned A LOT over the past two weeks! We're also still chipping away at our online adoption classes. We have to use another agency for our home study since our adoption agency is located in Washington state. We're using Families First and so far, we've had a great experience with them. I have asked them many ridiculous questions...seriously a lot...and they have been very patient with me. This process is so complicated and can be very overwhelming when you've never done it before! It's nice to be working with people who extend grace to you in the midst of your cluelessness:). Please pray for favor as they begin processing our first round of paperwork. Our first meeting with the social worker should be soon, so I'll keep you posted about that!

I haven't been able to give an update on Wesley stuff since we started back, so here we go! Our two weeks of Intern Training went so well. We went with less-is-more this year, and we were very thankful for that. I got to teach several times, which is always fun. We had our first Wed. night service last Wed and had 1,250 students come! You can't really tell from the picture below, but the room was packed!

First Wesley service...packed with people from here all the way to the stage!

I'm very excited about my prayer staff this year. I have 12 amazing guys and girls who really have a heart for prayer, and we are working so well together already. We went on a short retreat last Friday/Saturday to one of my dad's hotels in Atlanta. We spent Friday night hanging out and went to this great coffee shop in Atlanta right on the Chattahoochee River Saturday morning. The goal of the retreat was simply fellowship. We pray a lot together as a staff, and it's a lot easier to pray with people that you know! John got to come too, which was great. We really did have a great time together. Check out the pics below...

2010-2011 UGA Wesley Prayer Staff

I am also discipling eight girls this year. I want to introduce them to you because they are such a huge part of what I do at Wesley. I have the privilege of pouring into their lives, encouraging them, praying for them and supporting them in whatever way that I can. I always have room to grow as a discipler, so I would appreciate your prayers in that! They are such wonderful, beautiful women of God!

Leah with her husband Aaron. She is a third year intern (second year as a women's ministry intern). Second year discipling her.

Rachel. She is a second year intern (prayer intern last year and freshley prayer intern this year). Second year discipling her.

Addie. She's a third year intern (Pure ministry and administration). Second year discipling her.

Christina with her husband Stephen. Christina doesn't work at Wesley but Stephen is our Freshman director. I discipled Christina when I was an intern years ago and we have started meeting again.

Hillary with her husband Elliott. They are both second year interns (Hillary for Redeemed ministry and Elliott for worship) and they just got married this summer. This will be my first year discipling Hillary.

Erin. She is first year intern (youth) and this will be my first year discipling her.

Megan with her husband Jerry. They are both first year interns for Freshley and just got married this summer. First year discipling her.

Kristin with her boyfriend Stephen. Kristin was the prayer leader at the Baptist Collegiate Ministry last year. We met last year at an ministry-wide prayer event. Second year discipling her.