Seeing Her Face

After verbally accepting this referral, they told us that we would be emailed her detailed information and some pictures. They called us that evening to tell us it had been sent. I had just jumped in the shower when Luke got that phone call. So, while washing my hair I hear Luke yelling, "They're here!!! They're here!!! Get out of the shower!!!" I jumped out immediately, (wet and soapy) threw on a towel, and huddled around the computer with Luke and Maddie.
I knew from other peoples experiences with seeing their childs picture for the first time, that it was possible we may not feel an instant bond or attachment. This wasn't our experience. We saw that face, and knew she was the daughter that God had planned for our family. She is beautiful, and most definitely "precious" as had been described by our caseworker.
Zema, we already love you, even though we know very little about you. We can't wait to meet you, to bring you home, and to have you in our lives as our daughter and Maddie's sister. And we are so ready to see that face in person, cause we have barely taken our eyes off of the two photos that we have of you!

The Call - Part 2

As I mentioned in my prior post, this child, as far as I was concerned was already ours. Luke, on the other hand was not instantly convinced... I immediately called him after getting off the phone with our agency and breathlessly explained what I had just been told. Of course, I was expecting a similar reaction to what I was feeling. I should know my husband better than that though...His response was exactly what I should have known it would be: Logical. He kept on saying, but Laura we've been planning on siblings this whole time...that is what we wanted...we've waited this long, we should keep on waiting. We ended the conversation deciding that we would take the day to pray about it (keeping in mind that Luke was in school all day surrounded by a bunch of needy punks....amazingly he did find time to spend with the Lord). I then called my caseworker back to let her know where we were at and ended up learning some more about the situation. I found out from this conversation that the child in question was a little girl, around 2, and absolutely precious (true). She also informed me that there were 7 other adoptive families ahead of us in the process who were also wanting siblings, but that Luke and I were the couple that was chosen for this child. They had asked us first. Wow. Well, to make a long story (somewhat) short, Luke had been praying all day that the Lord would show him a sign and make this decision clear to us. This was the sign he needed. As soon as I told him what our agency had said about us being the first match to this child, he knew. She was ours.
Another lesson that the Lord has taught us through the past few years: He is in control. We might think we know what we want. We might think we know what is best for us. We thought siblings was His plan for our family. We thought that was what we wanted. But, we also would have never in a million years imagined that adoption would be such a passion in our hearts. It was not what we wanted...at all. Thank you Lord that you know what we need, you know what is best, and even though we are at times stupid and ignorant; you remain faithful to us.

The Call

Most of you reading this have probably already heard the story of our referral day...If you have, this entry isn't for you. It's for Zema. I want her to someday be able to read, if she ever doubts it, how much we wanted, longed for, and prayed for her. Zema, we love you so much and we will never forget the day that God brought you into our family...
First of all, as I mentioned before nowhere in our wildest dreams did we imagine getting a referral this soon. Our agency had told us that the wait time was somewhere between 12-15 months from the time all of our paperwork was turned it. As you can see from the ticker up top, we were still a good 5 months away from even the low end of that estimation. So this news came as a complete shock to us.
Thursday morning was when I received the call. I was doing laundry and didnt hear the phone ring, but did hear the answering machine beep. I went back to the bedroom, and the message said, "Laura, this is A from Bethany and I just needed you to call me when you get a chance." Now, at this point in our process there is no real reason for communication by phone with our case worker, and I knew that. So immediately my heart stopped....not only that but I was on the verge of heart attack...shaking (literally), heavy breathing, seriously I almost vomited because I was so excited. So, I kind of floated to my files to find a phone number to call her back on. Has it ever happened to you, when something unbelievable happens and you literally have to pinch yourself to make sure that you are awake? I had seen that happen to people on movies before, but never actually experienced it myself. It just seemed to surreal. I mean I had played this moment over and over again in my head, but now was it actually happening? I began to second guess the reason for the call...maybe she just had a paperwork question for me...
When A and I finally got ahold of each other, this was what was said " Hi Laura, I had a question for you," *oh shoot, she seriously just had a question for me!?* "I just was contacted by our Ethiopia coordinator and I know you and Luke and wanting siblings but apparently there are several young single children (2 and under) who are needing placements right now and we were wondering if you guys might be interested?" *um yes, I am half way to Ethiopia right now!...* But I responded, " wow, well I will have to talk to Luke tonight so we can pray about it together, but I will call you back tomorrow." However, A said "well actually is there anyway you can let us know today, because there is a specific situation that we need to know an answer to today.?"
As I am typing this, I'm realizing what a long story this is all typed out! I will finish the rest in a part 2 post....

The Big News!!!

This is one post that I have been so excited to be able to write...We are overjoyed right now because the Lord has once again proven His faithfulness to us. On Thursday of last week, we received a phone call from our adoption agency saying that there was a child right now in need of placement, and would we be interested in accepting that referral? Most of you know that Luke and I were hoping for a sibling group, so this took us a little off guard. After a day of praying about this we decided that yes, once again we were wrong about what the Lord had for us. We decided to accept the referral. Want to hear about our new little one???
We are happy to announce that Zemanesh, our new daughter will be joining our family in just a few months!!! Zema (as we are calling her ) is two years old. At this time we are unable to post pictures of her, as she is not legally ours yet, but believe me when I say that she is BEAUTIFUL. She has big dark bright eyes with LONG eyelashes (just like her older sister, although the similarites probably stop there :) She is healthy, and seems to have been well taken care of. We can not wait for you all to meet her!
I will post later this week more details about what is to come, but we wanted to go ahead and share our good news for now!
Thank you all so much for your prayers and encouragement. We are so blessed to have such a wonderful support group of friends and family! Please continue to pray for our little one, for this time of waiting until we can go to her and bring her home. It breaks my heart to know what she is probably experiencing right now. Pray that she will feel her heavenly Fathers arms around her, holding her until we can. Pray that she will feel Him wiping her every tear, and soothing her fears. We know that He is faithful, and we claim that He is the Father to the fatherless. Thank you for praying!

Adoption Cookbooks!!!

Our cookbooks are finally in!!!! All 330 of them!!!! If you want one, send me an email at lukebrosius@aol.com or contact me on facebook.
Thank you to everyone who sent me recipes, gave me ideas, or kept me accountable in getting them done! We are so blessed!

Christmas Party

Every year we have a Christmas party with all of the kids that I watch. Here are some pictures from 2009.
We made snowman ornaments...

The older kids all made "cake in a cup" gifts to give to someone...

We played a "find the candycane" game, and read the meaning of the candycane...

We acted out the nativity...boy, was that fun...

Maddie, as "The Angel" and Cora as "Mary"...

And we exchanged gifts!

Search and Find

Our little Madelynn is learning how to spell....See if you can find some of the words that she is teaching herself. (*I promise she did this all on her own, these are not things that I am encouraging*)