Dinkua and Birhane

Introducing to you the newest members of the Arthur family!

Friday, July 23, 2010

9 days and counting!!!!!


We leave in nine days! It is so amazing to think that in a few weeks I will be sitting here at my table with little ones around it with me. So much to prepare before we go and bring our daughters home. I did some shopping yesterday trying to get all the necessary little things we "might" need, like Pepto, Tums, Benedryl, etc... And then there is the stuff we will need like hand sanitizer, vitamins, TP, and all that other good stuff. We've got one more paper to get notarized, and then I need to make copies of anything important. I am hoping that I don't forget anything. I have a pretty good checklist, so here's hoping. Please pray for us as we prepare for our trip.

Here is a picture of the transitional center in Addis Ababa where our girls are waiting for us.

Wednesday, July 14, 2010

Praising God!

I received a very encouraging email today from Holt. Birhane was discharged from the hospital on the ninth of July and is improving every day.

Tuesday, July 13, 2010

Hospitalization for Birhane

I got a phone call today informing me that Birhane has been hospitalized with pneumonia. We can only pray and trust the Lord Jesus has her cradled in His loving hands. I am also praying for Dinkua as she is separated from her sister right now. Lord, comfort her tiny heart.

We were also sent a couple more pictures of the girls together. What beautiful, beautiful babies.

Friday, July 9, 2010

Blessing and Trial






Well, it has been quite the week. Monday night the ladies in my church threw me a wonderful baby shower. I was seriously overwhelmed and blessed! There were friends from the speech club our kids are a part of, family and relatives, and dear friends I know from different places. God had given me some very good friends and a family that loves and supports us beyond the call of duty. I had so much fun yesterday sitting in the nursery sorting through things and thanking the Lord for His provision.
The trial came then next day, Tuesday at about 5:10pm. I got an email from our adoption agency saying that our trip had been postponed and that we would be getting a call in the morning. As you can imagine, that was quite a crushing blow. We have already purchased plane tickets and were getting geared up to go and now we were told everything was postponed. Aaah! We weren't sure how long things were held up, so it was a long, very hard night. I knew God was in control, He had never let us down, but I was so disappointed and sad. We got a call the next morning and found out that because of a serious communication problem with the US Embassy and the adoption agencies, there were less appointments available than they thought. All that to say, our group got moved to August instead of the end of July. Some of us are going in the first group and some have to wait until the end of the month. Our Embassy appointment is now on August 10th. I know God's timing is perfect, it is just sometimes hard to get my emotions to know that. "He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, He has put eternity into man's heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end." Eccl.3:11

Friday, July 2, 2010

Friday morning coffee.

It is pretty wonderful to think that in 3 short weeks we will be meeting our new daughters for the first time. July 23rd is the day! Getting an updated picture of them yesterday was fun, I can't believe how much they have changed from the first pictures we got of them. Beautiful!! What amazing things the Lord must have in store for these little girls' lives.
We had a conference call yesterday afternoon with all the families who will be traveling with us to pick up their children. Stephanie, the Africa programs coordinator from Holt, gave us a ton of information about what to expect on our trip. Everything from how much cab fare will be to how much TP to carry with you. It will be quite the adventure.
Well, I have much to do and very little time to do it. Please pray for us.

Thursday, July 1, 2010

Thursday, June 24, 2010

Travel date!!!!

Good news today! We found out that our Embassy appointment is on July 27th. Praise the Lord. We are so ready to go.

Thursday, June 3, 2010

8 months old today!

For some reason I thought the girls were 9 months old. It feels like more time has passed than actually has. A day is as a thousand years!! We are hoping for an update on how the babies are doing and new pictures. It will be fun to see how they have changed. Lord, keep our precious girls safe and healthy until we can go get them.

Tuesday, May 18, 2010

Court Approval!!

We just found out this morning that our case was heard and approved today...which was yesterday our time. Thank you Lord! There is celebration happening at the Arthur home today! So, as soon as we have a visa appointment date in Ethiopia we can arrange to travel. We are praying for that to happen soon so we can bring our beautiful, baby girls home.

Friday, April 30, 2010

Friday, April 23, 2010

Family Welcome Album

I finally finished and shipped the family welcome albums for the girls. I made one for each girl. They will be sent over to Ethiopia and the care givers will show them to the babies. Even though they are still very young, I think it will help them to become familiar with our faces and our house. I took pictures inside and outside of the house and also included pictures of the grandparents. Here is a little sample of the albums.



Monday, April 5, 2010

Fingerprinted and Waiting to Go.

Tim, Kirsten, and I headed up to Portland last Wednesday to USCIS (United States Citizenship & Immigration Services) office in Portland to be fingerprinted. Because Kirsten is now 18, she needed to be fingerprinted as well. We left early Wednesday morning, Tim driving and Kirsten and I sleeping. It worked out well because Tim was supposed to be in Portland for three days to meet with his business partners, and our appointment was on day two of those meetings. We went to where Tim was staying and then Kirsten and I headed out for a day of fun. We had called some friends of ours that we met through our speech and debate tournaments and went to lunch. After lunch we did some shopping at Powell's (coolest bookstore in the world), checked out the Goodwill store (not so good), and then headed over to IKEA. After a snack of meatballs and Princess Cake, we checked out the baby section. I managed to make it out with only one pack of baby bibs...oh yeah, some tealights too. After IKEA, I took Kirsten and her friend Joelle back to their house where Kirsten got to stay overnight and headed out to stay with Tim at a place called Edgefield. Thursday morning, after picking up Kirsten, we headed downtown to try to find the USCIS office. I am very thankful for the GPS feature on our phone. Took us right there. I think we were all expecting somewhat of a TSA experience there, but we were pleasantly surprised. Greeted by large pictures of President Obama and Homeland Security Director Napolitano and a very nice receptionist man, we were quickly checked in and before we knew it we were being fingerprinted. Tim got a very talkative, older Hispanic lady who wanted to know all about the babies and the adoption. Kirsten and I got a very...very quiet, efficient fingerprinting specialist who had both of us fingerprinted before Tim's first hand was done. It was overall a fun experience.
So now we wait.

Wednesday, March 24, 2010

Our adoption story so far...

It has been a little over a year since the Lord placed in our hearts a desire to adopt. We began praying about it and in October we began the long, arduous paperwork process. After several months of waiting and anticipation, the Lord has blessed us with two, beautiful, twin daughters from Ethiopia. Kirsten is so happy to finally have, not one, but TWO sisters! All of us are overjoyed.
The next step for us is to travel up to Portland to be fingerprinted for immigration approval. Then we wait for the court in Ethiopia to approve the adoption. So we have several months of waiting to go. We are praying that everything goes smoothly and quickly. Now that we have seen their sweet faces it is very difficult to wait.
We have been thinking about names as we will be keeping their Ethiopian names as middle names.
I will do my best to update this blog as we have more information. For now we would ask for your prayers as we bring these precious lives into our family.

We have twins!!

Monday evening at around 5pm, we found out that God has blessed our family with 6 month old twin girls.