iPad Giveaway

We are raffling off an iPad 16GB to help bring our girls home. Let me know if you would like to purchase tickets. You can call me at 217-778-0200, facebook, or email at tbodine@prairieinet.net
If you know of anyone who you think might want to join in the fun, I can send you extra tickets to sell.
Thank you!!!!!!

Win an iPad and help bring our little girls home from Ethiopia.

Tickets $10 each or 6 for $50
★ Grand prize - One iPad 16 GB
★ 2nd prize-1 pie a month for a year from Pies by Inge
★ 3rd prize - dessert of your choice from Pies by Inge

Drawing to be held on September 25th.
Winners will be notified by phone.
Thank you!!! The Johns and Bodine Families

Perfectly Said...

My wonderful friend and business partner, Jennifer, is also adopting. Think about that.....both of us will have babies around the same time...what are we going to do with the bakery??? We joke that we will strap them on our backs and bake. We may have to....The whole issue is bonding. The experts say to cocoon your self for several months. Meaning, show your child that YOU and the immediate family are there for them, be the sole provider for food, love, comfort, etc. The kids in an orphange are so used to having anyone meet their needs. It's a big change to go into a family situation. Anyway, it's going to be tough running a small business. We just can't shut down for 2 months. We really aren't sure what we are going to do yet. Anyway, I digress.....
The point of this post was to lead you to my friends blog. We have had many people question us about the "cost" of adoption. Well, honestly we don't know for sure where the money is coming from...other than God will provide. It's a leap of faith. But when you feel so strongly about something you just do it. Honestly, this adoption will cost us 30+ thousand. Probably even more so, since we are adopting two girls. We will get a tax return once the adoptions are final so that will help. But you know what, it's weird. But I am totally fine with NOT knowing where the money is coming from. I am totally trusting in God. It feels so good. Anyway, check out Jen's blog, she expresses my feelings perfectly about the money question. She has a teacher background so she writes beautifully, but she is also a little kooky, so she makes me laugh all the time. Enjoy!

http://johnsfamilyadoption.blogspot.com/

Yes, that's chocolate all over her hands.....baking is a messy job!!!!

Court Date!!!

We received word yesterday that we have been assigned a court date!!!!! Which was a huge surprise since the courts are supposed to be closed. So maybe there is one lone person in there doing a little work. We got an email saying that the birth parent court date was scheduled for October 20th and we need to appear in court on November 19th. Which is a big gap....most times the 2 court date are only a few weeks apart. Not sure why our dates are spread out.....But our agency also said that they are working on getting "our" court date (along with some other families in the same situation) moved to the same time as the birth parents. Which means a month earlier!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I can not put enough exclimation points to show how excited I would be to go in October. We won't know for awhile if the date will be changed, so for now we have to hold off buying plane tickets. Another reason I would love for our date to be moved to October would be because of work. Thanksgiving is our busiest time of year. The week prior and of Thanksgiving is insane. And of course our date right now is the Friday before Thanksgiving. Poor Jennifer....she can not bake a zillion pies by herself...well, let me clarify that....she could totally bake a zillion pies by herself....she is a super sonic baker...seriously, she is so fast that half the time I don't even know she put a pie in the oven until I open it to put one of my pies in and the space is filled. So, Jen could totally do it, but she would be a crazy women and her family might have to put her away....So for all of our sake's...pray that our court date gets moved to October. The sooner we go to court, the sooner we are able to bring our girls home.

Settling in for the long haul.......

I haven't posted for awhile because it's been kind of quiet. It just got quieter....As of this weekend, the Ethiopian courts are now closed for the rainy season. So even though our case has been submitted to the courts, we probably won't hear of a court date until the end of September-beginning of October. I was so wishing we would hear of a date, but I think we are in for the long haul now.....

There is so much going on in my mind, I really don't know where to start. I guess one thing I need to say is that I can't believe how in love I am with my babies. My heart aches for them. I look at their pictures a million times a day. We have them all over the place. My computer screen saver is pictures of the girls....I just sit and watch as it changes.....and smile. They are so sweet and beautiful. We did get some family background this past week about the girls. Of course, it's sad...but it helps me understand where they are coming from and why their parents needed them to find forever families. There are also some age differences in this paperwork compared to the earlier information. So we really don't know how old the girls are.....Ava is either going to turn 3 or 4 in December...not sure which. And this info says that Eliza turned 1 in June. I guess we will have to see them and compare milestones to really judge how old they are once we get them home. We also received a video of the girls!!! Sue took video of the kids when she was in ET. It shows Liza crawling and smiling. She has the longest eyelashes ever!!!!!! And Ava is all decked out like a "girly girl". She has lots of bows in her hair and she is wearing sparkly butterfly wings. She looks tiny on the video and so stinking cute.

I have been working on the girls bedroom. I put together Ava's bed and rearranged the room. It's tight fit, but I'm sure they won't care. As soon as I get the finishing touches on the room I will post pictures. I also bought a car seat for Eliza. Still looking for a seat for Ava...just not sure of her size and age. I have been worrying about the car situation...We have an 8 seater, but with 2 car seats-it is going to be tricky for the big kids to climb in the third seat. Not sure how we will configure that......I keep teasing Darren that I may have to go back to the big Suburban. I loved that car, but my Pilot is much easier to drive and park. Maybe a 12 passenger van....Hannah would die of embarrassment....we will see... Also, as we sat down for dinner last night, Darren points out that our dining room table only seats 6 people. Well, that's a problem. I have my grandmother's old antique table that has several leaves with it. I think maybe someone along the way made extra leaves to fit, but didn't worry about matching the wood or stain. Wondering if I could get it refinished to all match? Or would that end up costing me as much or more than buying a new table? What's a girl to do?????? Well, I have several months to figure all of this out.

For now, I ask for prayers. Prayers that Ava and Eliza stay healthy and safe until we can bring them home. Prayers that we as a family cherish this time together and prepare our home and hearts for a big change. The best change, two special little girls.