stamp of approval: dossier acceptance!

good news came down the pipeline yesterday: our agency's corporate office received our completed dossier and EVERYTHING PASSED INSPECTION!
*happy dance*
*high fives all around*
another item checked off the list.  PRAISE GOD FOR HIS FAITHFULNESS!

as we've mentioned before, adoption is the land of "hurry up and wait."
there are gobs and gobs of things going on under the surface for us right now...you know, the duck that's all peacefully gliding across the water while its little legs pumping crazy, chaotic fast underneath?  that's us right now.  *grin*
we'll be sharing more over the next few days, but in the meantime, would you please pray for our family?

romans 5:3-5 is very clear about God's purposes for our life during difficult, tiring, stretching, exhausting times:
"we REJOICE in our sufferings, know that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because GOD'S LOVE HAS BEEN POURED INTO OUR HEARTS through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us."

we also wanted to share a very very cool video called "i like adoption."
watch it and have some tissue in hand.  our favorite quote: "when you're adopted, your parents looked out at the whole world...and picked YOU."
i like adoption.

a cultural lesson in names

we have been discussing the name will we give our ghanaian son.
our original intent was to keep our ghana baby's given name, but his current name is one that would prove to be confusing in our family (you'll understand once we can legally tell you what it is/was).
so, i dug out my anthropological notes from my internship days in ghana and we had a cultural lesson in naming....'cause i'm nerdy like that.

first names in ghana can cover a wide range - just like here in the US: biblical, family names, we-just-like-it names.  there are also a lot of "characteristic" names: patience, happiness, prince/princess, justice, etc.
one of my favorite parts of ghanaian naming is the use of a "soul name."  especially among the akan and fante tribes, middle names are given based on which day of the week a child is born or their birth-order within the family.

*for males*
monday: kojo, kwadjo, jojo, cudjoe
tuesday: kwabena, ebo, kobena, kobina
wednesday:kwaku, kweku, kwiku
thursday: yaw, ekow, yao, yokow
friday: kofi, fifi, yoofi
saturday: kwame, ato, atoaperm, kwamena, kwani
sunday: kwasi, akwasi, kwesi

*for females*
monday: adwoa, adzo, ajoba, ejo, adjoa
tuesday: abena, abia, araba, abina
wednesday: akua, akuba, ekuwa, kukuwa
thursday: yaa, aba, ayawo, yaaba, yaayaa
friday: afua, afi, afia, efie, efua
saturday: ama, awo
sunday: akosua, esi, kisi

*characteristics of each day*
monday's child is the father or mother in the family, nurturing in nature, protective, dependable, organized.
tuesday's child is the planner, neutral in all matters, and very structured.
wednesday's child does not want to be told what to do, knows it all, is vibrant and in control of every situation.
thursday's child is very observant, a good listener, quiet in nature, and analytical.
friday's child is a leader, but very temperamental.  they are the instigator of everything.
saturday's child is the rule-maker and takes control, but self-sacrificing to help others.
sunday's child is sensitive, shy, passive, and a secret keeper.

the anthropologist in me really comes out at times like this.  *grin*  but isn't it fun?  did your soul name match up with your personality?

we'd also like to tell you what name we have chosen for our third son.  we can share it with you because its not in any way connected to him legally right now!




please pray for our solomon matthew cain.





(and in case you were wondering, we will be keeping his given first name as a second middle name.  we really wanted to keep his "soul" name too, but it was just too much of a mouth-full.  HA!)

update from the last 48 hours *GOD ANSWERS PRAYER*

We thought we should share an update on how the Lord has provided just in the last 48 hours since we shared our need for $10,650.
5 dear families (some of whom we do not even know!) have come forward and donated....we now have $4121!!!!  PRAISE GOD!
This means that we have a mere (*grin*) $6529 left to pay all our country and agency fees.  AHHHHH!
Would you please share our story and our needs with those who will pray for us?!

Don't forget that if you want to donate, you can email us for our mailing address or visit our online donation site: www.gofundme.com/cainadoption

*********MORE BREAKING NEWS********
this is what a completed international adoption dossier looks like:

we may have killed an entire forest...but we're coming for you, baby boy!

it was with much fear and trembling that i handed over our precious packet to the postal worker this afternoon.  i actually kept a grip on it while i looked her straight in the eye and said, "promise me this will make it.  promise me."  

she sort of looked at me funny like "this is the US postal service.  *of course* it will make it.  its what we *do.*), but i quickly explained:

"this pile of dead trees represents months of work and pain and sweat and tears and toil and HOPES.  it is the main document standing between our family and our third son who is waiting for us in africa.  please.  please.  please.  do not throw into the 'outgoing mail' pile.  cradle it and lay it down tenderly."  

so she did.  she's a cool lady.

it should arrive to our agency on monday or tuesday.  our formal referral acceptance forms should also arrive on tuesday.  all that stands between us and our ghana baby now is time and money.....ok, and a few more documents and a judge's decree and four airplane rides and some immunizations....but really?  we're almost there, peoples.  thanks for hanging tight with us.  keep the prayers coming.  share our story.

*fist pump*

*knuckle bump*

ashley's obsession with red hair *THIS IS IT*

in case you didn't know, ashley has red hair.  and its not something she particularly liked as a child.  at all.  when you're a child, you want to fit in and be the same as everyone else.  with only 2% of the world's population sporting naturally red hairs, blending in can be difficult.  once she got past the junior high years (*shiver*), however, she loved her redheaded-differentness.  and as a mother, she always wanted to pass along her "valuable genetic material" to one of her children.

well, seeing as ethan is our only gene-bearer and he has ever so slight strawberry in his locks, we really didn't think a redheaded cain was in the cards.

but it was an on-going joke of ours that our ghana baby would be the one to have red hair.  its perfectly logical.

this leads us to our very excellent and exciting news:
WE HAVE BEEN MATCHED WITH A CHILD IN GHANA!!!!

*screams*
*fireworks*
*beating of drums*
*more screams*
*tears of overwhelmed unbelief*

yes, we have a face and a name.  we have a few details and PICTURES PICTURES PICTURES.   even a video!!!  AHHHHHHH!

because this precious little one is not "ours" quite yet, we have to restrain ourselves, however.  we will not be able to post any pictures until after our court decree.  but do not despair, that will be sooner than you think.  here's what we can share:

*screams again for good measure*
we will have our third SON.  he is a little 10 month old BOY with the best pouty lips and chubby chubby cheeks.  ethan had some sweet chub on his cheeks, but this african prince has brought the cheekiness to a new level.
he is currently residing in an orphanage and has been there since he was about 3 months old.  he will continue to be cared for by the orphanage until we come and claim him as our son forever.
he will need some medical attention when he comes to the US.
he has red hair.
DID YOU CATCH THAT?  HA!  he has RED.  HAIR.  for reals!  does God have a sense of humor or WHAT?

a few more things we'd like to share with you:
ghana has a three month waiting period for adoptions.  if we lived in country, we would be able to foster this little guy for 3 months and then request a court hearing.  since we do not live in ghana, we will instead demonstrate our ability to support him by paying for 3 months of his care.  this money is included in our "country fee" that our agency helps disperse.

if everything moves super smooth, we could have a court date as early as march.  AHHH!

after our court date, the visa and passport documentation needs to come together.  this will take about another three months.  so.  if every "i" is dotted and "t" is crossed, we could have our little man home as early as may or june.  EEEEEEEK!

but we DESPERATELY NEED YOUR HELP.
this has all come together super fast.  WAY FAST.  we technically have not even finished our dossier...our names were never on "the waiting list."  Lord-willing, we will have our dossier in the mail on FRIDAY.  here's the thing: we need to pay a lot of money RIGHT NOW.  normally, we would have 6-18 months to pull this together, but God in His providence has moved everything forward very quickly....and we are SO thankful for that!  (on a sidenote, He did the same thing with josiah's adoption.  we were told we would wait about 6-18 months and we waited THREE WEEKS.  time crunch on fundraising again!).  would you please pray that God would provide the $10,650 we need to pay our remaining fees?  yes.  that's right.  $10,650.  we have already paid just about that much so, really, we are half way!    we serve a mighty God and we know that if this little one is meant to be with our family forever, mountains will be moved.

we will also be continuing our fundraising to help pay for the $6000ish we will need for our airfare, visas, and other travel expenses.  again, GOD.  MOVES.  MOUNTAINS.  its just money.  a child is a million trillion thousand gabillion times more important and eternally valuable than any amount of loose change we can scrape together.  we truly believe this.

if you feel lead to join us in changing this little boy's life, we would be happy to send you our mailing address or you can visit our donation site here: www.gofundme.com/cainadoption

this is happening.
you are helping.
pray.
share.
pray some more.

did we mention that he has RED HAIR?
:)