More court dates and Grayson' new ride

Two more families were assigned court dates this past Friday! Yay! Their court date is June 17th! Just about 2.5 weeks away! They received referrals about 3 weeks before us, so, we could still have several weeks to wait, or, we could be assigned a court date any time now. Either way, we're patiently waiting. This part of the wait is so much easier. Sure, it's hard having a picture and wanting a specific child home, but it's also SO wonderful to have a picture and to be praying for a specific, sweet face and name. Please continue to pray with us as we wait to be assigned a court date. Pray that we would continue to feel comfort in God's sovereign plan. We are praying for a June court date.

In more exciting news, Grayson has a new ride. He has strollers and wagons and now he has a bike trailer. Yup. We've been talking about getting bikes and a bike trailer and we finally did it. We bought a couple used bikes off Craigslist and a bike trailer at Wal-Mart. We had a great time! And, it's a much better workout than just taking a walk! We were really huffing it up the hills! The bike trailer seats two and, of course, Grayson has already pointed out that Abram will ride too.

We've also completed our 5th day of potty training. We realized several weeks ago that he would go and use his potty if he was naked from the waist down, like before bath time. So, I started letting him run around without any pants or undies on in the house. Sure enough, no accidents as long as he's naked. This past week, we started working on wearing underwear. He had about 3 accidents a day for the first 3 days and is now down to just one accident a day. But, it's of course when he needs to go #2. No fun to clean up. He's had NO accidents when we leave the house! He definitely realizes he needs to hold it. And, he has no interest in diapers anymore. We had been putting them on at night and last night he kept taking it off! We did get him to settle on a Pull-up at night. I'm not quite ready to change the sheets in the middle of the night! Once he consistently wakes up dry, we'll do the underwear at night. So nice that we will only have 1 child in diapers when Abram comes home!

Grayson's new ride!

I'm still here!

So, I've definitely been slacking a bit lately! Tomorrow marks 3 weeks waiting for our court date. I'm happy to report that we have had an amazing peace about this whole process since receiving our referral. Sure, I have moments where I just want Abram home so badly. For instance, today I was pushing Grayson on the glider and was wishing they were both on it giggling hysterically as I try to tickle them as they go by. But, overall, God has given us comfort in knowing He is in control, and just as He was faithful and brought us our referral, He will give us our court date and someday we will have our littlest boy home.

It really helps that I get to talk about Abram all day long. I try not to constantly obsess over him around friends and acquaintances, but Grayson and I talk about him ALL DAY long. And, I am rarely the one to bring it up. Grayson starts his morning by saying, "Abram sleep in Wall-E bed," or "Abram wear Thomas underwear," or "Abram eat waffles." And, it goes on like this all day long - I'm really not exaggerating. Grayson is already SO in love his baby brother. He is going to be the sweetest big brother!

Time is passing quickly as we are enjoying the summer months. We are officially done with bible study and have no commitments! We've been working in the yard, organizing things in the house, etc. I have this urge to go through every nook and cranny, making sure we are rid of any clutter before we add another person to our house!

We've also been taking weekly walks with our wonderful neighbor, Laura, and her kids. Grayson LOVES it! They are the sweetest kids ever!

I'll leave you with a few pics of Grayson...and, I promise I will try to be better about blogging!

Feeding the fish at the park.

On the merry-go-round.

Coming down the big slide!

Driving the big boat!

Guaca-mal-doo

So a week or so ago we got a new camera that takes HD video. We decided we need to capture some of the things Grayson says or someday we will forget them! Here's a clip of him talking about being born in Guaca-mal-doo and bringing him home to eat, sleep, and play (he came up with this list of things a while back). Enjoy!

Abram's birthday celebration!

To celebrate Abram's 1st birthday, we had cake! Grayson was pleased, to say the least. Here's a short video of him blowing out the candle and wishing Abram a Happy Birthday!

Starting to see some court dates!

A couple people were assigned court dates today! These families had been waiting for their court date since the middle/end of March. Their court dates are for the 9th and 10th of June...less than a month away!!! Please pray with us that this is the beginning of court dates being assigned for a whole host of people including us. Please pray that we would receive a court date in the first half of June! Congrats Ellen and Meredith...it was a long wait!

Happy Birthday Abram!

Abram will be a year old tomorrow! We're still on a high from getting his referral; but, I have to say I don't know that I was prepared to miss such a major milestone so fast! We love him so much already. Grayson goes around telling anyone who will listen, "Abram come!" And, he goes about his day mentioning how Abram will eat Fruit Loops and drink apple juice and sleep in his bed with him, and on and on. Just picturing him in our lives has already brought us so much joy! I do have a peace of mind knowing he is so happy and well taken care of. And, a very sweet family is taking him a photo album with our pictures when they travel next week AND taking pictures for us! What a blessing is has been to go through this process with such wonderful people as support.

So, Happy 1st Birthday Abram! We love you! I think we'll have a little cake and take pictures so he'll have some pictures of his first birthday...even if he's not in the pictures:)

Finally getting around to the details!

Whew! Things have been absolutely crazy around here since 4:06 p.m. on Wednesday, May 6th! Let me start by saying that there is no such thing as a bad day to receive a referral. However, if there was one day last week that would've have been super crazy to get the call, it was Wednesday! I volunteer on Wednesday evenings and Aaron had called earlier to say that he was doing some consulting work right after work. Now, he has not been called in to do consulting for the last 8.5 months...no joke. So, I was on the phone with him at about 4:05; he was leaving work and heading to his next assignment. If I had been thinking about the referral call at all that day, it was the last thing on my mind when someone was beeping in on the other line (thank goodness for call waiting)! I looked at the phone, saw Gladney's number and quickly told Aaron I had to go. The next couple of minutes went like this:

Me: Hello
Jessica: Emily, how are you?
Me: Oh, pretty good.
Jessica: Well, I got your email and I thought these things would be best handled by calling.
Me: (trying to hide disappointment) Oh, okay.
Jessica: Especially when I have a referral for you!
Me: Oh my goodness...I was going to say....if you called me just to talk about my email....!!!
Jessica: I wouldn't do that.

At that point I told Jessica I would call Aaron immediately and he would be home in 15 minutes. I called Aaron and told him to get home right away! I have to say, after over 8 months of waiting, when the call finally came, a peace just kind of washed over me. I was excited, but not sobbing, or hysterical, or about to jump out of my skin. It was just so nice knowing when I would get to see our little boy for the first time. At that point, I felt like I could wait longer if I needed to...as long as I knew when it would be. The uncertainty is the hardest part.

So, Aaron got home just a few minutes later and we sat and waited for Jessica to call back. The three of us gathered in the office and we prayed. We thanked God for the news we were about to receive. We praised Him for giving us the strength to make it to this point in the wait. And then, we asked Him to stand beside us through our call just as He had been doing for the last 8 months. We asked Him to prepare our hearts for some of the things we may hear....some of the heartbreaking news we would most definitely learn about our son. Because, we knew that our wonderful gift of a son means death, pain, and heartache for others. We asked Him to help us be sure that this was the son He had chosen for us before the beginning of time.

Jessica then sent us the emails with his information and pictures. We opened the pictures and just smiled and laughed....he's beautiful! We knew he would have tough shoes to fill seeing as that Grayson is the most handsome, beautiful, stunning little boy I've ever seen. Let me tell you, we now have TWO handsome, beautiful, stunning little boys! He has the biggest, brightest, brownest, olive shaped eyes and eyelashes that go on for miles! He just looks so happy and healthy; such a blessing! When we saw that he is almost a year old we were ecstatic. Grayson will have a best friend and sibling all in one like I do! I can't wait to see what these two will get in to!

We have decided to name our little guy Abram K. Jarvis, keeping his birth name as his middle name. We are so extremely blessed to have the opportunity to bring this child into our lives....so, bring on a court date!!!

The Lord had said to Abram, "Leave your country, your people, and your father's household and go to the land I will show you. I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you. I will make your name great and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you.." Gen. 12:1-3

8 months, 1 week, and 2 days later......

We finally got to see our little boy's face!!!!!!!!!!!!!! That's right, we got our referral call this afternoon at 4:06! It has been a crazy, crazy few hours around here. More details to follow...he is beautiful and he is almost a year old!

Tomorrow marks 2 years home with Grayson!

It's hard to believe that 2 years ago tomorrow, Aaron and I were on our way to Guatemala! So many details of that trip are still so fresh in my mind. We were so nervous, so excited, wondering what life would be like as a family. I could not have in my wildest dreams imagined the joy this precious child would bring to our lives. We are so incredibly blessed to have the privilege of calling Grayson our son.

When you're in the thick of the adoption wait, it is hard to remember that all the months of paperwork, all the months of sitting and obsessing over "unofficial" lists, etc. is worth the wait a million times over. I would wait my entire life for Grayson. And, I know when it's all said and done, I will feel the same about Abram.

Until then, here are some picture of Grayson over the past couple of years. We will celebrate tomorrow with a Wall-E cake that reads, "We're so glad you're home!"

Embassy Day.

Home, at last!

First Birthday!
Second Birthday.