Husons' Adoption Journey

Ordinary Hero Fundraiser

2012-02-04T16:41:00.004-06:00

Babycakes giveaway!!
http://babycakesbutter.blogspot.com/2012/02/babycakes-giveaway.html?spref=fb

Hi friends!!

Okay, so there's this adoption conference that
I REALLLLLY want to go to
taking place in March in Georgia!

With the adoption fees still coming,
I can't justify spending the money to
pay for registration and the hotel...

BUT...
I have an opportunity to WIN the trip for FREE!!
And it's a pretty good shot at it too!!

YOU can help me...
AND win a free LARGE jar of Babycakes in the process!!

Here's what you do:

Go to www.ordinaryherostore.org
look around at the items they offer there,
purchase ANYTHING and
at checkout, choose Chrissy Jensen from the
pull-down affiliate menu! Here's the deal. Chrissy and I are joining forces to see if we can work together to win and then we both get to go...cool huh? Please consider helping 2 adopting mama's go to an adoption mama's retreat. So excited!!!

Then go back to Babycakes and leave a comment!

Can't purchase anything??
Could you share about this giveaway within a giveaway??
Share on facebook/twitter/your blog...
and let me know you did...
and THAT's an entry for you!

Here's some of the stuff you could buy to help me win!

Charcoal t-shirt "I'm Gonna Change the World" t-shirt! SO precious!

This shirt just makes me happy!!

So really, I know there are lots of you out there who LOVE any kind of adoption-themed shirt...
conversation-starting accessories...
mission-themed clothing...

You'd be helping
FILL up my heart
at this conference
with 400 other precious adoptive mommies
just before we go pick up our son

Don't forget about the drawing...
Monday morning Chrissy will post who wins!!
Choose your scent...
share the giveaway...

and...

GO!

We are home!

2012-01-19T10:17:00.001-06:00

We are home from Ethiopia. We are exhausted and jet lagged like crazy. I feel just out of it. I will post something good soon.....I hope.

Talk soon

WINNER WINNER CHICKEN DINNER!!

2012-01-08T09:13:00.001-06:00

The winner of the Kindle Fire is Kelly Breidenbach!!! Congrats Kelly!!!

Kindle Fire Fundraiser Ends In The Morning!!

2012-01-07T17:19:00.001-06:00

Hey guys.....we leave tomorrow. Can you believe it? To celebrate us leaving to go meet our son we are drawing for the Kindle Fire. If you have not donated to our adoption fundrasier/kindle fire drawing, please go donate.
http://www.acharityproject.com/f/HusonsAdoptionJourneyFundraiser

We can't wait to see who wins. Check Back tomorrow morning at 9am CST

Blessings,

The Huson 6

This is how I feel today!!!

2012-01-05T13:30:00.000-06:00

2 more days!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

SOON!!!

2012-01-04T22:03:00.002-06:00

We are leaving in just a couple days!!!

EEEEEEKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK!!!!

Enoough said!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Must go pack!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Chat SOOON!!!

Blessings,

The Huson 6

We need you!

2012-01-01T18:50:00.003-06:00

Friends and Family, we really need your help to spread the word about our adoption fundraiser/giveaway.

We are currently at $2149. You are doing fantastic, God is doing amazing things and our family feels so blessed. Thank you to all who have stepped up to help with the fundraiser, spreading the word, and praying for us. I can't wait to tell our son next week how people back home love him and are helping him get home.

We are asking that you share our link to our website to help get the work out to see if we can meet that BIG goal of $6000. I know it is lofty but God can move mountains!

http://www.acharityproject.com/f/HusonsAdoptionJourneyFundraiser

We would also appreciate your prayers for safe travel and for our health we are STILL trying to kick this cold bug. It just won't let go of us. Thanks!

Praising him~The Huson 6

Happy New Year!!!

2012-01-01T17:07:00.000-06:00

We had a very nice New Years Eve with my parents. I worked on Ethiopian cuisine for a big chunck of the day and was happy with the way it turned out...except the injera. Seriously I do not know what to do with it. I could get it too look like it was suppose to but could not get the stuff off the pan. The book says DO NOT USE oil on the pan. So I didn't but oh what a mess. We ended up with injera clumps. NOT HAPPY about that. I will have to do some more research to see what I can change to make it work. Rumor has it that injera is our little boys favorite food. I better figure it out before he gets home. I am leaving you with a picture of the treasures I created!! YUMMMMM!!!!

After we ate we spent the rest of the night playing games and visiting. My kids love to hear grandma and grandpa's stories of when they were kids. We of course had to have some snacky stuff too. SO we had chips, crakcers and many different dips. YUMMY-again! We ate enough that is for sure.

We hope you all had a wonderful new year.

Blessings~The Huson6

2011-12-29T11:37:00.001-06:00

Attention: Ladies and gentlemen to I have some exciting news for you. Some wonderful friends donated a Kindle Fire for us to give away with our fundraiser.

So here is the plan. If you donate $10 you will be put in the drawing for the Kindle Fire. If you donate $20 you get 2 chances, $30-3 chances and so on. SO the more you donate the more chances you have.

Anyone who has already donated atleast $10 will get there name in the drawing. If you doanted $6 just go back and donate another $4 and we will add you name too.
How exciting huh? The drawing will be held on January 8 at 9am so get your donations in boys and girls.

Please share...
http://www.acharityproject.com/f/HusonsAdoptionJourneyFundraiser

If you would like to be entered without a donation please email me.

Blessings,

Nicole

How's it going?

2011-12-28T18:42:00.003-06:00

Our fundraiser is going really well. We are at $1057....crazy...huh? Thank you Jesus for helping us and for sending people our way who are willing to share their money with us so that we can go get our boy. With that being said....we have been at a stand still for the last 4 hours. Honestly, I am worried. Will we make our goal...I am worried we won't. BUT I must have faith that God will make it happen.

Please take a minute check out our fundraiser website and donate $6 for the 6 of us. Your support would be so appreciated.
www.acharityproject.com/f/HusonsAdoptionJourneyFundraiser
Please share our link with your friends and family on FB, email, or blogs. Thanks!

God loves our children/his children he will carry this through. RIGHT?

I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.
John 14:17-19

So in honor of our boy and this amazing fundraiser we are working on; I will leave you with a sneak peak at our boy. Believe me he is adorable.

Our Fundraiser Website

2011-12-27T23:22:00.001-06:00

Good evening, friends. We are getting closer and closer to bringing our boy home and well.....we are around $6000 short. With that large number looming over our head we decided to try a fundraiser suggested to us by a friend.

Here is the website: http://www.acharityproject.com/f/HusonsAdoptionJourneyFundraiser

We will see where it leads but we are certain of one thing....God has his hands all over our adoption and he will get the glory for all of the success of our fundraiser and our beautiful family.

Blessings,
Me

Souper Day

2011-12-26T22:58:00.000-06:00

The pun was totally intended. We had the wonderful vegetable soup I talked about yesterday. IT was wonderful and everyone ate good at lunch. We visited at the table about how smart it is to eat at home and how much money we save when we eat at home. We prayed for our son in Ethiopia; that he would be healthy and happy and ready for the big Meetcha day.
I love how my other 3 love him already. They are ready for him to be home just as we are.

We rested most of the day and I think we may be on the mend from these icky colds. Our youngest is still feeling under the weather so if you could join me in prayer for her health I would SO appreciate it.

We leave for Ethiopia in less than 2 weeks and our son goes to be interviewed at the Ethiopian courts tomorrow night while we sleep. Please join me in praying for our sweet boy. I can only imagine how scared he will be. I will be praying that he feels calm and feels God holding him and know that his mommy and daddy are on their way to hold and comfort him. I pray that he loves us and knows that we love him and that he is coming to his FOREVER family. Soon son, soon.

Blessings,
Me

Back

2011-12-26T12:27:00.000-06:00

We are back home from the Christmas celebration and still feeling under the weather. YUCK!! I need to get us all healthy in less than 2 weeks. We leave for Ethiopia in less than 2 weeks and I certainly do not want my babies sick while I am gone. They need their mama when they are sick. It is a good thing we have Christmas vacation to try to rest and relax and get well.
If you would like to pray for all of our health that would be super. Thanks.

We had a wondrful Christmas with my family. The big kids got notebook computers, our youngest got and indoor trampoline with netting and a kids kitchen, and Mike and I got cash for our trip(which we desperately need). We had a nice time visiting and we ate like PIGS. We had prime rib on the 24 for lunch and then had appetizers in the evening. We tried new recipes and stuffed ourselves. So fun!

Today I made the BEST vegetable beef soup. This is a new recipe that I found on pinterest but it is SUPER. Warm soup sure does help the body heal, I think. I should really start taking pictures of some of this stuff so you can see what I am talking about.

Now we are all resting. Some napping, some watching movies, and some watching football but all resting. We are all a little tired from a few days at grandma's...even the dog.

Christmas Vacation

2011-12-23T23:12:00.000-06:00

Well this Christmas vacation we were lucky enough to get hit by a yucky cold bug. All 5 of us have it. Kenzie had it first, then Mikey, then me, then Mike, and now Macie. It stinks!!! Yucky sinus stuff and sore throat. With Macie's clefts she tends to get an ear infection whenever she gets a cold so we have to be extra observant when she gets sick. So today we took her to the doc. The doc said it is just a cold as of now...so not to worry unless she runs a fever. So the verdict is to just deal with the nasty green snotty nose. I know gross, but folks this is real life no butterflies and glitter here. Just real life!!!
So here is a cute pic of my little sweet heart while waiting for the doc.

Isn't she just the cutest little thing.

So tonight we have started some Christmas festivities. We are making cookies with grandma and preparing for a big prime rib roast for tomorrow. Then tomorrow we will be preparing appetizers for appetizer night....I love that. YUMMY!!! I am such a foody...just love all kinds of different food.
Can't wait to eat! I hope to take pics and I'll post all the yummyness tomorrow.

Blessings~
ME

What's on my mind

2011-12-21T21:20:00.000-06:00

With each day I am finding that this beautiful dream I have been dreaming is becoming reality. I feel like I am living a beautiful dream. When I was a little girl all I ever wanted was to be a wife and a mommy. I wanted to love my husband and children like no other. I wanted to long for my husband to be by my side and my house full of happy children. I am a lucky lady who gets to live her dream-fairytale. How did I get so lucky? I get to have an amazing husband and fantastic kiddos who make me laugh everyday. How did I get so lucky? I get to continue to adopt and be a mom to more children. How did I get so lucky? God is the answer. He has blessed my with my dreams.

My dream is becoming real...we are adding another amazing child to our family. In a little over 2 weeks we will be boarding a plane to take us across the globe to our son. I can hardly wait to meet him. But I must admit I am a little worried. He is 5...what if he doesn't like me? what if he doesn't want to come to America, what if he can't understand anything we are trying to explain to him? Will he understand that we LOVE him?
I can't wait to hug him and tell him he is home. We are his forever family.
Son, we coming.

When we were in the beginning stages of this adoption I would hear "This is Home" number 8 on my playlist, over and over and it is an older song. I know that God was giving us a little nudge to get moving because our son was ready to come home. Praise God for letting me be a mommy to all of my children. I am blessed.

We've Been Under the Weather

2011-12-20T20:58:00.003-06:00

Not going to write much today. I just wanted to check in and let you know we are so excited to go to Ethiopia and we have all been hit with a horrible cold/sinus/sore throat thing. We are just doing enough to get by the past few days and hoping to feel better soon. We have A LOT to do to be ready for our trip in a few weeks. Still can't beleive we are going again.

Okay going to go cuddle up with my blankie and a box of kleenexes and vicks

Blessings,

ME

DONATIONS NEEDED

2011-12-16T17:01:00.000-06:00

We leave for the beautiful country of Ethiopia in less than 4 weeks and would like to bring some supplies/donations to our son's care center. Would you like to help us collect donations?
Here is a list of the things the care center is in need of:

. BOTTLES & NIPPLES --evenflo type
. HAND SANITIZER
. DIAPER CREAM
. EXAMINATION GLOVES
. TOYS colorful ones.
. BABY WIPES & FORMULA
.PICTURE BOOKS
. PLASTIC RINGS - the kind you use to attach toys to strollers
. HANGING TOYS for the baby cribsBIG KIDS
. SHOES-- crocs
.Books--picture books

So I give you a beautiful pic of Ethiopia. How we love this country.

Still can not believe we are going to Africa. How lucky are we....God is so good.

Blessings,

ME

Say what...we leave in a little over 3 weeks.

2011-12-15T20:02:00.000-06:00

Yes boys and girls, you read the right. We leave for the beautiful country of Ethiopia in a little over 3 weeks. Can you beleive it? I can't! I can not believe that we will soon meet our son. I hope he loves us.

Today I spent the day trying to figure out when we should leave and come back from Ethiopia. Exciting but a smidge stressful. But thankfull our amazing Travel Agent, Erica Shubin, got us some great tickets. So now I am a bit less stressed. Now on to collecting donations and possible fundraisers. Fundraising....why does that make us all feel like puking in our mouths? My theory is that we just hate to ask for help and that it is a bit embarassing to have to ask for help, ESPECIALLY whe it is financial help. But when it comes to your babies you will do anything; won't you. SO let the fundraising begin. ANY great ideas....send them my way.

Thanks for following our journey. I will keep you posted as the days go on and hopefully...one day I will have something insightful for you. HAHA

Blessings

ME

SUPER DAY!!!

2011-12-14T21:40:00.000-06:00

Hello. Today was a crazy busy day. Our youngest had speech therapy and a doc apointment with the ENT. While waiting for the ENT we got THE CALL. WE are going to Ethiopia again.. YAHOOOOOO!!! I can't wait to get there again and see our son. We have court on the 11 of January. Please pray that all the documents that are needed are there and that we do not have to wait 4 1/2 months to bring our son home.
I have so much to say but am so tired. So I will right more later. Thanks for checking in.

Also, if you would pray for the financial aspect of our adoption too.

Blessings,

Me

Family Fun Day

2011-12-13T20:41:00.000-06:00

Today was a great day. We got a new hot water heater installed so I was actually able to finish my shower without cold water at the end of it. It was so nice!!!!

Then I was able to go run errands alone. I went to the thrift store (which I love) and found some great treasures. I found Mikey a Columbia coat for $7 and a fall coat for $5. I also found him a Woody Doll/toy for .25. He thought he won the jackpot. It was so cute how excited he was. I also found a grater that we can use for making our homemade soaps, for .25. I also found 2 new pizza pans and 2 trays I'm going to spray paint for magnet boards. See.....I had great success.

Tonight we made homemade hand soap and homemade laundry soap. It was so fun and the kids got into it too.

After making the the soaps we decided we better make cookies. So the kids and I worked on that. It was so funny. I needed the kids to unwrap all the Hershey Kisses and our youngest was trying to keep up with the Big kids but her techniques was unwrap Hershey kiss and then pop it in her mouth not the bowl. It reminded me of an I Love Lucy episode.
We finished the cookies and they turned out yummy!!

Great day but NO court date!! Keep praying pleas.

Hopefully court news tomorrow

Great day

2011-12-12T13:40:00.000-06:00

So today started off with a BANG!! I get a text from Kristen saying I should check her FB page. So I go there and on her FB page it said that I had won the Mini giveaway part of their fundraiser. YAY ME!!It is great....3 Africa tshirts, some books, lotions, jewelery. I feel so blessed today!

Check out their fundraiser at http://forsuchasthese.blogspot.com/2011/12/how-would-you-like-kindle-fire.html You could win a Kindle Fire. How cool would that be AND you will help this family bring their daughter home from Ethiopia.

To make my day better....my hubby is home and is working on putting new flooring in the bathroom. HIP HIP HOORAY for that!!

To make it EVEN BETTER...our youngest has had no accidents today and is pottying on her toilet all the time. YAHOO I think we are done with diapers.

To make it the BEST...we got new pics of our little boy in Ethiopia and he is holding the care package we sent him. He looks so happy.

AWE what a good day. Now I just wait for the phone to ring from our case manager to tell us what our court date is so that we can book our tickets and get back to Ethiopia.

Just for fun I will leave you with a picture of our youngest with some funky glasses on being goofy. Just love her like CRAZY!!!

Please keep our little guy in your prayers and pray that we hear about a quick court date.

Blessings

Hello Again!!

2011-12-11T22:03:00.000-06:00

OK--so it has been awhile since I last posted, sorry. I am going to make an excuse because it seems like the right thing to do. haha--so sorry for not posting lately. We have been crazy busy.

All three of our kiddos are very busy with school and other activities so we have been running like crazy.

WE do have some new news.....we are adopting again. YAHOOOO!!! This time an older child, a boy. We are currently in the waiting stage of the process. BUT WAIT isn't that about every stage in adoption. Waiting waiting waiting and more waiting. Anyway, we are waiting to hear our court date. So right now we are just waiting.

Just thought I'd keep you posted. Sorry it has been so long. I will try to do better. :-)

Take care--Me

Hello!

2011-05-04T22:52:00.002-05:00

So another month has gone by and I have not blogged . Sorry. Lots going on here. Ok...I'm trying to do this using my rphone and it sucks. So I will try again some other day.

What are we up to?

2011-04-04T20:42:00.002-05:00

What are we up to you may ask? The answer.....A LOT!!!!!!!!!!!!! It seems that these days we are either taking our youngest to the doctor, therapies, or taking the older 2 to extracurricular activities.

Life with 3 kiddos is surely a lot busier than 2. BUT OH SO WONDERFUL!!!!!!!!!!! We are so happy and so blessed. Macie is adapting very well and so are the older to kiddos.

We are also now in the process of moving. YAHOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We received and offer today that we accepted. We are so excited to be moving to our new home this summer. FUN!!!!!!!!!!!!! Bigger yard and more space for the kids to play in!

I did tell you that I will have some great profound info to write about one day, but as you can see, tonight is not that night. Sorry. Come back another day and maybe I will have some GRAND to say.

Praising God for all his goodness

Quiet Time

2011-03-19T07:03:00.003-05:00

Well, this morning I am surprised to say the the house is quiet and I am awake and not exhausted yet. The past week has been wild to say the least. Tuesday started with early wakings for all of us to get to the hospital to get Macie ready for surgery. Mikey began to feel sick(cough) so we knew more sick fun would be in store for him. Surgery went great for Macie and we were home by lunch time. Grandma and Grandpa came to support us all at the hospital. Grandpa went and got Macie a pillow pet and she loved it. When he gave it to her she hugged it and said awwww. So sweet.
Macie did not sleep this night and my wonderful hubby stayed up with her so I could get rest. Love ya, honey!!!

Wednesday was busy and lack of sleep for all the kiddos was evident by 4pm. No church that night. Kiddos went to bed early. This night I was up with Macie every hour or so. She would fall asleep, rest for about 30 minutes, get restless, and wake up. Add in a lot of screaming and throwing fits too. Anyway, we had a very sleepless night to say the least.

Thursday, Dr apt for Macie. She has sinus infection, bronchitis, thrush and just had surgery so feels icky with that too. Poor baby!!!
Mikey wakes at 12am and spends the next 6 hours fighting a horrible ear ache which Mom joins the fun and sings, tells stories and just about stands on her head to help the poor little guy feel better. He falls asleep around 6, just in time for everyone to wake up at 7.

Friday, We go to the dr and he as horrible ear infection and Bronchitis as does Mom. YAY US!!
/
SATURDAY-how I love you!! All are still sleeping. I finally get to write a post longer than 2 sentences and I am enjoying some mint tea. I am also working on a slideshow of our journey to Macie which we will be presenting at an adoption gathering on this Sunday at 2:30 at Century Baptist Church in Bismarck, ND if anyone is interested in finding out more on adoption this will be a great way. Also, if you just want to come and visit with others who have adopted, are adopting, or want to then come too.

Life is great! Being a Mom of 3 is wonderful!

I can't wait to see where God leads us next. More kiddos? Mission Work? Only my heavenly father knows and I can't wait until he tells me.

Praising Him,

Me

Surgery

2011-03-14T21:42:00.002-05:00

Tomorrow is Macie's first surgery. She will be having tubes in her ears and having her cleft lip repaired. We need to be at the hospital bright and early and our sweety is not wanting to go to sleep. Poor Thing!!!! Please pray for her.

We will leave you with a beautiful picture of our daughter prior to surgery.

INTRODUCING: Macie Lynn Tadelech Huson

2011-03-13T15:07:00.001-05:00

Introducing Her Birth Announcement

Shutterfly has cute birth announcements and Valentine's cards.

View the entire collection of cards.

The Huson 5 (at last)

2011-03-06T16:19:00.003-06:00

Hello! So much has happened since the last time I have written.

Here is how it has gone:~We have gone to Ethiopia,
~picked up our little girl,
~spent a week in a hotel in Addis Ababa without hardly leaving
~went shopping and got sick (puked out the bus window)
~scared the beggers away by barfing (can't say I've done that before)
~got hit by the puke bug in a third world country
~had an Embassy Appointment,
~spent 36 hours traveling with a 17 month old,
~went through immigration in DC, 3
~flew to Denver on the worst flight ever,
~had a extended layover in Denver because the co-pilot was in at another airport, ~and finally made it back to Bismarck to our beautiful family.

So that was just a glimpse into the excitment of our life in the past 2 weeks. I read all kinds of other blogs and theirs are so sweet and memorable and then you come to mine and it talks about barfing. I bet you are glad you stopped by to check out our blog! haha!! :-)

I hope to add some great insight on something someday but today is not that day. SORRY!

Life is good and we are blessed!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Waiting!

2011-02-13T19:32:00.004-06:00

I bet if I checked my blog the majority of my posts would have something to do with waiting. SO---here we are again, WAITING.

We currently are waiting again. This time we are waiting for conformation of our embassy date in Ethiopia. We were told it could be as early as the 21 or 28 of February. I suppose I really should start to ready myself for the long hall; maybe we won't get a quick embassy and we will have to wait into March. My heart really struggles with this. I want our baby home!

I can not even explain to you how excited I am to go back to Ethiopia. Granted the flight stinks, but the time in Ethiopia was beautiful last time so I expect the same the next trip. AND THIS TIME WE GET TO HAVE OUR BABY WITH US AND SHE GETS TO COME HOME!!!

We are home!

2011-01-31T05:40:00.002-06:00

We got home from Ethiopia on Friday. It is very nice to be home but we are missing our little peanut like crazy. We are trying to combat jet lag. Wow, we had no idea the jet lag would be so bad. We are still trying to get back on the US time zone and sleep when we are supposed to. Today I go back to work which I know will be a huge challenge with still having jet lag.

I hope to write more soon about the experiences we had while in Ethiopia, but for now I just wanted you to know we are home and EXHAUSTED!!!

Waiting for an Embassy date....

us

SOON!

2011-01-18T19:15:00.003-06:00

Baby girl, we are almost ready to leave to see you. Only 2 more days. I can't wait to hold you.

Praying the time together goes slow and the time apart goes SO fast! We love you!!

Mommy and Daddy

I REFUSE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2011-01-14T13:49:00.001-06:00

Do you????????????????????????

**********Turn my music down at the bottom of the page***************

Soon she will be home

2011-01-11T09:09:00.002-06:00

Well, as many of you know, we are approaching the time when we bring our daughter home and when some cocooning will be happening. The way we care for our new daughter will be different then how we cared for our other two kiddos. Because Macie will have had a lot of loss and changes in her life, we will be asking all of you to respect some boundaries we will have to set so that Macie will bond with us. We want her to realize who her little family is. So in saying that we will not be letting anyone hold her, feed her, cuddle her, make eye contact with, change her, or comfort her besides us. I know it sounds strange at first but research shows that this will only HELP Macie attach to us an realize who she belongs to.
Please do not think we are trying to hurt anyone's feelings or being mean, we just want what is best for our little peanut.

We actually will be hunkering down in the house for as long as we can. We know that a week after being home that we need to start doctoring for her, but when we are not doctoring we are going to keep our world very small. We may not have anyone over for a few months and we may not be out an about for months either (except for Dr. appointments).

Please know, that we appreciate all of your support and love you have given us in this process and that we are not trying to hurt anyone.

Please pray for our family and for Macie as we step into our next phase in adoption.

9 days until we go and see our girl

Fundraiser Update

2011-01-10T18:00:00.002-06:00

Well we are doing pretty good on our fundraiser thanks to all of our friends and family. We have raised a bit over 1/6 of our goal. We have raised $650!!!

So, for those of you who donated you should be seeing a necklace in your mailbox soon and they are pretty cute if I do say so myself.

If you haven't donated to Brittany's Hope in Macies honor please consider it. A donation of $10 or more will get you a beautiful necklace and you will be helping us get Macie home.

If you would be so kind would you post our Brittany's Hope information on your blog or facebook. We can use all the help we can get. Our goal needs to be completed by March 2, 2011.

Thanks guys!!

9 days until our first trip to Ethiopia!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ethiopian Christmas!

2011-01-07T21:21:00.002-06:00

Merry Christmas! Today we celebrated Ethiopian Christmas at some friends house. It was so much fun. We had some Ethiopian food created by all the families who have children from Ethiopia. The food was so yummy and the fellowship was great!

Thanks Alicia for hosting. What a great time!!

12 days until we leave to be with our Little Miss "M"

Waiting

us

Gorgeous Necklaces for Your Support!!!

2011-01-03T20:08:00.007-06:00

Ok here is the new plan. We will be giving these beautiful cross necklaces away with any donations of $10 or more.

Let me tell you about these necklaces. A friend of ours has 2 boys 12 and 9. They wanted to help us raise money for our adoption and made all of these necklaces for us to sell. Isn't that amazing. Even young kiddos are getting excited about adoption. I love it!!!!

So go to our Brittany's Hope Webpage and donate $10 or more and we will send you a beautiful necklace made for you by to amazing boys.

Here is our link: www.brittanyshope.org/seedling/Huson/

You will just fill out the donation form online and then I will send you a necklace. I will be sending out on Tuesdays. Thanks for your support. Let's make the goal. $3500. We can do this!

Thanks from all of us!

We did something fun!

2010-12-26T14:12:00.004-06:00

We registered for baby things for Little Miss M.

We have decided to try cloth diapering for Little Miss M. We will see how it goes. I had wanted to try it with our other 2 kiddos but was a little intimidated being a first time mom and all. This time I want to give it a try. So we registered for a bunch of diaper things at Nickis Diapers. If you are considering cloth diapering, you should really check out this website. It is amazing!

http://www.nickisdiapers.com/

We also registered at Target (LOVE that store) and Walmart for all of our other baby needs. We had gotten rid of all the other kiddos things so we are starting from scratch. It is kinda fun though.

If you want to the cute things we have registered for you can check out
http://www.walmart.com/
http://www.target.com/

I don't know about you but I love baby things. It is so neat to see all the things they have come out with since I had our older 2. Wow there are some cool things out there.

Thanks for checking in!

24 days until we head to see our girly

Merry Christmas!

2010-12-25T20:33:00.002-06:00

What an amazing Christmas we had this year. We were with my family at the ranch. The weather was wintery to say the least-foggy, cold, icky roads, and a bit of snow. I would be ok with no snow, but I guess I should just expect snow in I live in the North.

We woke up to find stockings and presents to open. Stockings are always so much fun. Little Miss M even got a stocking this year. She was spoiled by her Aunties, her cousin and grandma and grandpa. She got all kinds of cute clothes, shoes, and sippy cups. It was so fun to open up things and imagine her using them. Only 26 days and we get to see her and hopefully shortly after that she will be home.

Our older daughter got a sewing maching, manequin, and kindle. Our son got a dirt bike, nerf gun, and ipod. They had a very nice Christmas. Hubby and I got gift cards and flip. I am so excited to use the flip for our trip to ET.

This is a great Christmas and I can't even begin to imagine how great the year will be in 2011. We are praising God for all our blessings this year.

Merry Christmas

Us

We Received a Grant (But need your help)

2010-12-23T19:23:00.003-06:00

Friends and Family,

As you know we are getting very close to bringing our daughter home from Ethiopia, hopefully by March. Along with adoption comes a great deal of paper work and of course a lot of expenses, but we are finally in the last stages of our adoption process. With any luck (or God’s blessing) we will have our little girl in our arms and family very soon!

The gift of adoption would have become even more difficult without the help of an organization by the name of Brittany’s Hope Foundation (www.BrittanysHope.org). Brittany’s Hope Foundation helps unite families and children through the gift of matching grants through their Seedling Gift Program. Our family was the lucky recipient of a financial grant which reduced the large cost of our international adoption. Brittany’s Hope Foundation has a mission for helping children with special needs both abroad and being placed for international adoption. They are able to accomplish these goals through corporate donations, the public’s generosity and their Seedling Gift Program.

We are so excited to be able to repay Brittany's Hope as they work tirelessly to bring awareness to these precious children who wait and wait and wait. Please consider supporting Brittany’s Hope mission by visiting our family’s fundraising webpage at www.brittanyshope.org/seedling/Huson and donate in Macie’s honor. Every dollar donated by you will be matched through the Seedling Gift Program, making your gift multiply and grow, bringing more children the gift of a “Forever Family.” For example if you donate $50.00 then we will receive $100.00 from Brittany’s hope if we meet our goal of $3500.00

Thank you so much!

With Love,

The Huson 5

Here is a sneak peak of our beautiful girl.

Court Dates

2010-12-19T13:35:00.002-06:00

I am so sorry I have not been good at blogging lately. Wow things have been busy around here.
We got our court date. We will have court in Ethiopia on January 26. We get to leave January 21. DOn't think that the house will be empty. I have family staying at our home taking care of everything.
We are so excited that we finally get to go see our little girl. She is not feeling very well right now. She has pnuemonia. Poor littl thing. We are hoping that we can bring her home soon after we get home from our first trip.
We are SOOOOO EXCITED to hold our girl!

REFERRAL DAY!

2010-11-29T18:41:00.002-06:00

I thought I would give you a little look into the day we got our referral. It was a beautiful day. God is so good!!!

COURT DATE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2010-11-25T13:16:00.002-06:00

Can I just say----YAHOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Yesterday was Wednesday and it was blizzard like conditions. I was at school and it was after lunch. I teach Kindergarten and the kids were having free choice time when my phone began to ring--"baby now that I found you I won't let you go" I freak a little bit and run to my phone. I had a classroom Aid in my room and I asked her to take over and she gladly did. Just like at home though, when Mama bear is on the phone all the baby bears want to visit with Mama. So I had some little sweeties come over while I am trying to listen to every word Brandi has to say. She of course was very cordial and said how are you and all that jazz and I stopped her mid-word and said "do you have good news for me?" and she said maybe and then said yes. I have court dates for you! YAHOO-I started squeeling, acting like a complete lonatic and my kiddos were staring at me. It was wonderful! She told me about our dates and said is there a better time to talk and I said yes I will call back when my kiddos are in gym and I have a break. I called back 7 minutes later and she told me all the details. We are so excited! We have to wait until January 26 for our court date but we are hoping the days fly by. We just can't wait to be with our youngest daughter.

We are so thankful this Thanksgiving! Thank you Father for all the blessings you have given our family.

What's New?

2010-11-15T18:44:00.002-06:00

Well, not a whole lot is new. We are just waiting for our travel/court date. We are so eager to go and hold our baby girl. Soon-it has to be right?

We have been busy working on things in the house to keep us busy. We painted our baby girls room this weekend. We didn't do it any crazy color or anything, just lite tan. We are planning on doing her bedding and accessories in pink and chocolate brown. It should be so cute when we are finally done. I can't wait to show it too her. BUT-I guess at 13 months she probably doesn't care what her room looks like.

I am trying to think of other constructive ideas to keep my mind off of getting our court date but am struggling a bit. We cleaned closests(the kids and ours), painted baby girls room, and rearranging the storage room. Any other constructive useful ideas I would gladly accept. Thanks for your support everyone.

Please pray that our court date and travel comes quickly.

WAITING!!

2010-11-11T17:16:00.004-06:00

Waiting, isn't that the name of the game in adoption? Must say this wait stinks but is easier than waiting for a referral. Right now we are waiting for a court date so that we can go to Ethiopia and declare that Little Miss "M" is ours. When we go to Ethiopia for court we will also be able to spend some time with Little Miss "M". We are so excited for that time but even more excited for the following trip. That trip we get go get our little sunshine. How I long to hold her in my arms. I wish I could show you pics of her--she is absolutely beautiful!!!!! We got a picture the other day and she is cheesing out(big smiles)--oh is she our girl. That is definitley a family thing--acting goofy!!

I will write soon I hope, but I have supper that is ready and need to get busting.

Talk soon

ME

Yahoo-We have a GIRL!!!

2010-11-02T12:10:00.002-05:00

We are so excited to announce that we got our referal call on Friday, October 29, 2010 @ 3:18pm. We were completly surprised. We were 4 on the boy list and were sure we were bringing home a baby boy but Brandi surprised us. We were all home because we had just returned home from MI for my grandpa's funeral. We were exhausted from driving three days to get home but were enjoying the time to relax and get ready for new week and a fun evening. Our dear friends were having a celebration for their daughter. She was FINALLY legally their daughter. So we were going to have ane Ethiopian feast at their house. Hubs, kiddos, and I were in the process of cooking 2 Ethiopian dishes when Mike's phone rings "Baby, now that I found you I won't let you go"---------HUH??????? That is Brandi's ringtone. Could it be? He answers the phone and of course she starts out with the regular hi how are you doing stuff. My hubby-says ok Brandi I would be a lot better if you told me you had a referral for us and she says well, actually I have a little girl I'd like to talk to you about. ME-SHUT UP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!(anyone who knows me knows that is an often used statment.) She says--no I will not shut up. We all began jumping around and were so excited. We immediately ran to the computer to hear all about our daughter.. She is 13 months old and weighs 15lbs. I can't show you pics but trust me, she is gorgeous. We can't wait to get her home.
We were able to see her medical records(as little as there was) and see pics and other info about our girl. She is wonderful!!!!! We oohed and awed over her and then we hung up with Brandi about 4:30. It was amazing. I can't believe how God ochestrated all of this. How we were all together, how Mike got the call(I am first to be called but I forgot to turn my ringer on-He always wanted to get the call but I overode that and I was gonna get the call), we were cooking Ethiopian food. It was just so amazing.
God is so good and we are so blessed by our littl Miss "M"

Now patiently waiting for court and travel,

Us 5

October Numbers

2010-10-08T20:40:00.007-05:00

Boy List 13

Girl List 23

Sib List 20 (I know our number went up)

Here's to a great month with lots of movement and our referral!!!!!!

WAITING!!!!

US

Frustration Anybody????

2010-09-29T18:56:00.002-05:00

Pick me pick me! That would be a big yes on the Frustration. We are so ready to get our referral call and yet the phone does not ring. What's up with that? I have heard it said and try to convince my self too that "All in God's time not mine." I believe that statement to be true but it does not make the waiting any easier.

I think the longer we wait the harder the wait becomes.

I want to write some really great inspirational thoughts but right now I have nothing. Just feeling lonely for our babies.

Please pray for our babies. We were told recently that a sibling group is pretty unlikely but not impossible. I would love to see God amaze everyone and bring in our referral of a sibling group. PLEASE pray for a quick referral and court dates.

Waiting,

Us

September Numbers Anybody???????

2010-09-11T20:14:00.009-05:00

I know I live in dream world a lot.......BUT......I thought we would have had our referral by now and that is another reason for now August numbers. I just stayed away. But I have been reminded that you may want to know are numbers for each month. SO--here they are.

BOY 14

SIBLING GROUP 19

GIRL 28

The reason behind the Jan Brett numbers is because she is a great childrens author. I am a teacher after all and this is my month for number design!! YAY ME!!!

Heres to our referral before next months numbers!

Waiting for our babies to come home,

The Huson for (for now)

It's Been Awhile!

2010-09-11T20:06:00.002-05:00

Hey! I AM BACK!!!! Hehehehe!!

This is summer was great fun but also crazy busy. I thought I would feel more rested because I didn't teach this summer. Wrongo-feel just as tired as last year. Maybe it was all the little local trips we went on. We went to Minneapolis for an Ethiopian festival which was amazing. We had a boat load of fun with the will family! Thanks Wills!!!! We went to my parents a few times. It is so relaxing to be at the farm and just watch the world. God is so amazing and WOW he created a beautiful place. We also went to Minot to be with Christi and crew. That is always a BLAST. Mid August a 2wks before school started we went to CA for Mike's mom's graduation from Chiro College. We are very proud of her. It was so much fun to see all the family and take in some exctiting California activites. We spent a day in Little Ethiopia and met some wonderful people and ate some delish food. A week in Cali and then home to be hit reality. Kindergarten open house the day after we get home. I teach kinder!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WOW!! Needles to stay STRESSVILLE!!!!! :) No seriously it wasn't that bad. I had my room mostly prepared before I left so I was really ready just exhausted from the trip.

OK so that is about it for now. I will post again with special news report! (NUMBERS)

The Huson 4 (for now)

Help the children of Korah!

2010-07-30T11:03:00.006-05:00

Some adopting friends from our same adoption agency are trying to raise some funds to help the children of Korah. They are having a fundraiser where you could wina boat load of adoption tshirts and other items and help save lives. Very cool.

Korah is a place in Ethiopia where the people of Etiopia believe "the lowest of the low" live. It is a garbage dump where these people live. It is such a sad story. Please stop by this blog and help bring hope to Korah Kids.

Follow this link to check it out!
http://embracingtheleastofthese.blogspot.com/2010/07/dress-for-cause-sequeland-korah.html

Thanks,
The Huson 4
(for now)

The 4th of July

2010-07-05T21:51:00.006-05:00

What a great day!! We started out by sleeping in until 9:30 and then started getting ready for the day. The town we live in has the best parade in the state (seriously). Anyway, we got ready and headed downtown to the art in the park and then hung out for the parade. At art in the park there were plenty of vendors that were serving fair food. We ate taco in a bag, homemade french fries, philly steak sandwich, wisconsin cheese soup in a bread bowl, italian ice, kettle corn, and homemade lemonade. We ate so much that my stomach was quezzy(sp) but we had a blast.

The parade began and we watched while the kids ran around like crazy trying to gather all the candy they could. It was quite entertaining. :-)
It was a beautiful day mid 80's with a light breeze. So beautiful that I got sunburnt. FUN FUN!!

After the parade we went home to rest for awhile and then had dinner outside on our deck. That was wonderful! We need to do that more. We have a beautiful view of the town and the weather was just gorgeous.

About 7:30 we decided we better go get some fireworks for later in the evening. We got back home and started to set up for our fireworks fun. The dog loved the fireworks-so much so that he went after the smoke bombs-check out his face in the picturs. You can see he has blue and green on his fur. He is so cute!

We had so much fun and stayed up way to late. The kids slept in today and we did too. Sleeping in was such a treat! Thank you kiddos.

We had such a great 4th of July and are so appreciative of this great country we live in. Thank you God and military for the freedoms we have in the US.

Waiting,

The Huson 4 (for now)

July Numbers

2010-07-05T21:28:00.005-05:00

We are slowly creeping up the list for our children. We are so hoping that we can jump some numbers and get our referral before courts close in August. We could surely use some support in prayer form. It is very unlikely that we will get our referral and pass court before it closes. This is where we could use your prayer help-please pray that our babes hearts are ready for us, that they are safe and feeling love, and that we get the referral and then pass court before it closes.

Here are our July Numbers:(In honor of our son's love of cars; here are the #s)

38 on Girls List

18 Boys List

21 Sibling List

Check back soon!

Waiting,

The Huson 4 (For now)

Happy Birthday Kiddo!!

2010-06-26T20:02:00.004-05:00

Today was our oldest's 10th Birthday. I can not believe she is double digits-she made sure everyone was aware that she is "double digits". I remember how excited I was when I turned ten too. Doesn't seem so long ago-but I guess it is.

Well for the day we went to a state park and went to some of the tours of the historical things. Kenz loved it. She is a history buff and loves museums and the history channel. So needless to say this was her thing. Then we went to Panchero's for lunch and back out to the historical place. Then we came home had spaghetti dinner with grandma and grandpa, enjoyed ice cream cake, opened presents and played cards. She said it was a great birthday.

I will add pictures of the fun soon!

Happy Birthday Kiddo--love ya!!

New Numbers

2010-06-13T16:58:00.007-05:00

Our new numbers for June are...

#40 on the girl wait list

#20 on the boy wait list

#23 on the sibling Group wait list

How about creativity for this month??? Good right??? As many of you know my hubby is a HUGE baseball fan and even a bigger Dodgers fan. So I thought it would be fun to honor him in waiting for his children to come home from Ethiopia.
We are getting closer and closer but I do not think my prayer will be answered that we will get our referral and make it to court before courts close. I need to keep reminding myself; All in God's time not mine!!

Waiting,

The Huson 4 (for now)

Getting Ready for Travel

2010-06-10T21:00:00.005-05:00

Don't get too excited; no we are not going to Africa anytime soon. We have started our round of shots so that we are ready for the day we do get to go to Africa.

Check out the shots.

Today we went to the public health unit to get our travel shots. I must admit I was a bit nervous. I have heard horror stories and they certainly have me scared. The nurse was very reassuring and told me if I could handle the shots of steroids for preterm labor and development of the babies lungs when I was pregnant with both of our other two kidos then I could handle this-no big deal.

Mike went first. Of course he was brave and showed no signs of pain.

Me on the other hand; I show the pain.

Nothing new

2010-06-08T21:59:00.002-05:00

I wish I had some great news to share, but I don't. We are still waiting for the phone call from Julie saying that she has some sweet kiddos to talk to us about. No such luck yet, but hopefully soon. I am going to be optimistic and think that we will be able to make court before courts close in August. So in order for that to happen, we need to get our referral pretty soon. If you have an extra minute, would you please consider praying for us to get our referral soon.

Praying,

Nicole

Last Day of School

2010-05-26T22:14:00.002-05:00

We just finished out last day of school. Now on to summer vacation. YAHOO! To start the summmer off right, we decided to take the kids to a movie and dinner. We went for the ever classy and appropriate Shrek 4. Overall, it was good. We laughed a lot, which we all needed. We all needed a little stress relief and SHREK worked.

Now it is time for rest and sleeping in!! OH-I am so excited. Then tomorrow is dentist appointment and helping friends move. Fun day!!!

I Love You Summer Vacation! Now could we just get a referral call-I want to bring our babie home this summer! Ok so you may be thinking that I am asking for a miracle, and yes I am. My God is a God of Miracles and I know he can do it. We have been on the wait list for 5 weeks and 1 day. WOW!!!!!!

Patiently we wait,

The Huson 4 (for now)

Could it be?????

2010-05-23T19:46:00.002-05:00

OH YES-YES IT CAN!!! We got our FDL paper in the mail yesterday. This is so extremely amazing and so shows that God has his hands all over adoption too. The thing is it usually take 30-60 days to get it done. We got ours back in 12 days. Can you beleive it? I am starting to not be too terribly surprised with these amazing things. GOD is so good and is showing us how amazing he is and I love it!! The FDL letter basically is a letter from our Govt stating that we can bring our babies home form Ethiopia. From what we have been told, all our paperwork is done and now all we need is that referral. YAY GOD!!

Tonight before you close your eyes would you pray for Ethiopia as they are having elections for the govt today. In the past there has been rioting and hundreds of people have lost there lives. Please pray for peace and justice. Please pray for our friends who are having court in the middle of the night in ET. Please pray for our children in ET that they are safe, loved and ready for Mommy and Daddy to come get them. Pray that we all fall in love at first sight!!!

Happy Sunday,

Nicole

PS Only 3 days left of school

Official Numbers for May

2010-05-15T19:31:00.007-05:00

We received our official numbers for May and here they are. We tried to be creative. I got the kids involved-the numbers were their creations.

Boy List

Girl List

Sibling Group List

We had a very busy, fun day. Both Kiddos had soccer games. So we were at the fields for about 2 1/2 hours then out to Taco Johns to celebrate Little M's goal. Not my favorite food but it was still fun. My parents came to watch the game and then celebrate at TJ's. We then headed home for a nap and then to get ready for our once a month cooking. The kids were excited to help but quickly lost interest. Mike and I made 21 meals. OH-it feels so good to have it done and now we shall just relax for the rest of the evening. What a great day!!!

No baby news yet. STINK!!!! We will post as soon as we get a referral. Could be awhile. :-(

Patiently we wait,

The Huson 4 (for now)

What a great weekend.

2010-05-10T19:31:00.005-05:00

Today we got home from Fargo and our USCIS fingerprinting appointment. We got our fingerprints done this morning and spent the rest of the day shopping and eating at yummy restaurants. We ate lunch at Culvers and the young lady working there was so sweet. She noticed our adoption rocks t-shirts and asked about them. She asked if we had them made and said she would like one. She also told us how cool she thought that we are adopting. You see, she was adopted and said she thinks it is so cool that we would do this for a child. How amazing is that?

Yesterday we got to Fargo and went to a Greek restaurant-YUMMY. Then checked into our hotel and did some swimming and then got ready for some shopping and supper at the Thai restaurant. Once again-YUMMY! We had a great time shopping and enjoyed time together as a family. I feel much refreshed and I think I am ready for the last 12 days of school.

Today we also sent in our application for a Show Hope Grant and in true adoption style, we took pics. If you have time could you pray with us that we are approved for a Show Hope Grant. Thanks!

ALL THE TIME GOD IS GOOD!!!!!!!

2010-04-29T11:41:00.002-05:00

Hi everyone this is Mike. I'm sure some of you know Travis Will, Travis and I Minneapolis,MN to the Christian Alliance for Orphans Summit VI. This church we are at is AWESOME!!! and their support for Orpans ministry is HUGE!! I want to say our wifes are just great for supporting us in coming to learn so much. We send this message to them WE LOVE YOU SO MUCH, Thank you for everthing. We have more great news, we meat STEVEN CURTIS CHAPMAN and his wife MARY BETH and he signed our CD. Travis was going crazy when he meet PEDER EIDE!!!! This day is GREAT!!! Thank You so much Nicole and Ashlie for LOVING SO MUCH!!!

Can I get a WOOT, WOOT!

2010-04-28T17:39:00.001-05:00

So, I told you that we are the Griswalds. That usually if there is something to mixed up it will be. NOT TODAY LADIES AND GENTLEMEN. We got receipt from USCIS that they got our application and to make it even better---------we have a fingerprint date. YAHOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!! May 10 at 9. We are one step closer!!
I am wild with excitment! Thank you Jesus!!! Remember how I told you that My lovely husband sent it to the wrong address? WEll, God worked that one out. Because usually they send it back to you and you start over--not this time!!!!!!!!!!!!! GOD is good!

Excitedly Waiting,

The Huson 4 (for now)

A day with numbers.

2010-04-21T19:25:00.002-05:00

It is crazy how a day change everything. I do have to admit that I thought I would be much more relaxed today than I was. Let me change that, I hoped I would be much more relaxed. Wrongo! I now am on edge to get a referal. Maybe not so much for us, but for the families in front of us. I think if they start moving then we start moving right?
Tonight I am left to figure out the Once A Month Cooking thing. Anybody out there every tried it and liked it. My best friend and I tried it once but then it didn't go much further. Now my hubby and I are going to try to see if we can make a go of it. So Mike brought the kiddos and a friend to church group and I am trying to figure the menu and grocery list (and blog-heheh) and then I am suppose to work on grants for the adoption.
We started something new on Monday. We got rid of cable and our land line inorder to save money for our adoption. So if you need to get ahold of us call our cell phones. It seems like it may add up after a few months. You don't realize how much money you are tossing away just for cable. Our dear friends the Wills tried this and really like the extra family time. I hope it does the same for us. I must admit I enjoy lounging in front of the TV.

We are a number,

The Huson 4 (for now)

AWWWWW, Tuesday, you are a good day!!

2010-04-20T20:10:00.008-05:00

We have numbers!!! Our dossier issues were reviewed today and look to be in order so we are now officialy a number! Our family is so excited! We went out to celebrate tonight. We went to a local restaurant and had a yummy supper and then off to take our oldest to soccer practice and home again. Not to exciting for a great news night, but watch out-when that referral comes to us we are going wild. We will definitly need to do some shopping. I can't wait for that. But until then-this amazing sense of relief and joy will have to do.

Are you ready for our numbers?????

Drum roll please!

Girl 0-18 months

Girl 51

Boy 0-18 months

Boy 33

Sibling Group 4 and under

Siblings 25

OK-So I know many of you adoption bloggers do these great designs for each month you get a new number. This is my first attempt!!! I will be better next time!!

Patiently We Wait,

The Huson 4 (for now)

Week in review.

2010-04-18T16:56:00.003-05:00

Alright so we were overjoyed last week when we finally were able to send in our dossier. I have pictures to share but of course I can't find the usb cord to plug it into the computer. When I find that I will add pics.

Anyway, sent off the dossier on Monday. Brandi called Tuesday to say that AGCI got our dossier and that they will review it on Friday. WOnderful!!

On Thursday, Mike sends off our I600A form-to the wrong address. (I am not sure if I have told you this yet, but we are the the Griswalds-if something can messed up because of error or clutsyness-than it will with us) Anyway, after he beats himself up a bit, I call USCIS to find out what will happen and it seems that in about 10 days we should have our USCIS paper back in our hands ready to be resent. UGH!! Good thing we do not have a referral yet because wow it is going to take a bit to get that FDL in our hands if we keep going at this rate. :-)

Friday I get the call from Brandi, the one that tells us all is well with the dossier and that we are a number, right-wrong. Got the call but Brandi said that we had a few errors that needed fixing. No big deal, we had all the errors fixed and ready for fedex on Saturday. SO Saturday comes and we take the kids to soccer games, go out to lunch with my parents and then run back home to get the fedex stuff. We get home grab our stuff and all of us head to fedex. I am so excited I can hardly stand it. We drive up to fedex and it looks pretty quiet. Guess what-the Griswalds rise again-the fedex store closed at 1 and we were there at 2. URG!! So we run around town trying to find a place that will take our 3 papers to Portland. PLEASE SOMEONE TAKE OUR PAPERS!!! Mike calls the fedex people and with no luck we had to throw in the white towel. We surrender, no mailing today. SO after I threw a mini fit, we went home and made a plan for mailing on Monday.

Today we went to church and then out to lunch with some friends. We had a great time! Thanks guys!!

I hope I have good news for you on Tuesday.

Patiently we wait,

The Huson 4
(for now)

What will the week bring?

2010-04-12T16:34:00.003-05:00

Well, yesterday was an amazing day. Our oldest was baptized at our church. It was so amazing to watch her take this step. She and a good friend of hers were baptized at the same service so it was very special. WOW!! They both had great testimonies and are growing to be great girls. Congrats, girls! I am so proud of you!! Show God's love through yourself!!

We had a house full of people after church to celebrate with her. I can tell you that she felt like a princess that is for sure. I love to watch my children interact with others and to just love life. They certainly love life!!! I am so proud to be their mama.

TodaY, Monday, my hubby texted to let me know the homestudy is in our home. YAHOO!! We are almost to a number. Let's pray for this Friday. We will send in our dossier and homestudy tomorrow in hopes of approval and a number on Friday. I have heard of many families having to do a few adjustments on their dossier before they are able to get on the waitlist. I pray that is not us. Please Lord, if this is your time, let us get on the waitlist this week.

We are getting even more excited with each day, but since Thursday, I have had peace about the timing. I have not been checking my texts and email like a crazy women. I hope I can keep this peace for awhile.

Patiently we wait,

The Huson 4 (for now)

Guess What???

2010-04-08T16:56:00.004-05:00

Guess What? I called MT about my background check today and Larry told me that it has been processed cleared and sent to my homestudy agency. He further said if our agency needed him to fax it our anything to make things go faster for us then he could do that too. YIPPEE!!! Talked to our Social worker and sounds like we should have our homestudy within a couple days and then off it goes to AGCI. I am so excited. There has been great news all around today. Many families from our adoption agency have either gotten a referral or approved in court. YAY for Thursday!! SO HAPPY!!! Looks like next Friday should be our day to find out if we get on the waitlist or not!! YIPPEE!!!!!

Thanks everyone for praying-it worked!!

Patiently we wait,

The Huson 4 (for now)

Another Bump!

2010-04-06T16:38:00.003-05:00

So we thought we would be sending in our Dossier Thursday and oh, what excitment and relief we were getting ready to feel. NO EXCITMENT about a dossier here. We were told by our Social Worker, who talked to the background check people that the background check is not processed yet! WHAT!!!!!!!!!!!!! Are you kidding me. The guy told me 5-10 business days and we would have it in our hands. That was last Monday. Now he says it won't even leave the state until Friday at best. I was so hoping for the waitlist this week. WAAAAH!!!!!!!!!!!! I am bugged to say the least!!!
I know that looking back I'll see the purpose, but right now------this SUCKS!!! Yes I said that SUCKS!!! If you are my high school computer teacher; yes, I said it SUCKS< SUCKS< SUCKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (I use to get in trouble for saying sucks in HS) OK! So that is how I feel! :-(
No happy ending for this week.
Now I shall go eat a gallon of ice cream and french fries! HAHA

Thinking this bump SUCKS,

The Huson 4 (for now)

Seriously????

2010-04-02T16:25:00.005-05:00

OK-so today is April 2, right? We woke up to a stinken BLIZZARD!!! Only in ND! I swear the snowflakes were as big as my palm. The roads are a mess and of course they are terrible to drive on cause why would the city get out and clean the roads until it quits storming. Ok so it does make a bit of sense but when I am trying to get to Sam's club to get Easter foods it is not so helpful. Anyway, Happy April 2. (HAHA)

(Please excuse the screen-I was not about to walk outside in that icky stuff)

On to better things! We have our homestudy done and accepted by our adoption agency. We are waiting to have the hard copy in our hands so that we can send it in with our dossier. We are praying-please pray with us-that we will have everything to them by next Thursday afternoon the latest. That way they can review our dossier and hopefully we will be on the wait list by Friday. Oh, that would be so exciting. Come on homestudy make it home(haha-that sounded silly). I crack myself up some times.

We are winding down for the school year and I must admit we are all a bit excited. I believe we have 35 days left of school, but whose counting. :-)
We can't wait to spend time in the sun; swimming, picnicking by the river, rummage saling, and all the other fun things that go with the summer.

Patiently We Wait,

The Huson 4 (for now)

My Wonderful Wife

2010-03-25T21:40:00.003-05:00

Hi everyone this is Mike and i'm not sure how all this works, so here I go. I just want to tell you how great my wife is and how hard she has been working. Nicole teaches grade K, then she comes home to our beatiful daughter and crazy boy and to top it all off to me. She runs and runs to take care of us, then she works on all of this adoption stuff. After my accident i'm still home which is hard for me and hard on the family but any way i get migraine headaches evey day and they only go up and down in pain and don't go away. So it makes it hard to get through the day sometimes. So a note to my Wonderful Wife, you are the greatest in the world and i'm so happy that you picked me. It is great how you take such good care of me and our two great kids. I want to tell you Thank You!! and that I Love You!! Thanks for everything! Love always, Michael

Good News-Almost there.

2010-03-22T17:08:00.002-05:00

Ok. So the day started off pretty good. We received an email from my hubbys employer telling us that they were sending his employment verification letter and we should get it in a few days. Well, when I talked to him it was already in our mailbox-yahoo. Then he goes on to tell me that my birth certificate was in the mail too. WOW WOW WOW!! I am so happy but tearful!! I can't believe we are so close to being on the waiting list. We are waiting, for our HOMESTUDY!! I hope and pray that we get it this week. We would love to send our dossier in this week. NOW all we are waiting on is the homestudy. Please pray with us that the homestudy is in our hands by Thursday. OH PLEASE, LORD let our homestudy be in wonderful form in our hands on Thursday. Do I sound desperate? I feel it!

Waiting,

The Huson 4 (for now)

Let's try this again

2010-03-21T07:20:00.002-05:00

Ok, so last night I worked on the blog for quite awhile, and look hardly any changes right-yep! As I was working my heart out, the stinker crashes. I tried to post twice and lost my posts both times. That was my clue that it was time to stop for the night.

I have been a bit achy lately. Aching for our kiddos to come home from ET. That is basically what my blog was about last night. Aching and longing for our kids to come home and be in our arms. I was a lot melancholy this week. Wanting to know about our children. Where are they, who is holding them, are they being loved on, how much do they weigh, how tall are they, do they sleep well, do they know that someone is out there longing for them? I guess I have many weeks to wait-so I will, but I need to admit, I am not a very patient person.

Next on my list-paper work. We have just a few things left on our dossier and then we can send it in and be on the "official" wait list. We of course are being pushy trying to get others to finish the few things. But that is not working at this point. No one, of course, is in as much of a hurry as we are. Our case manager warned us of that.

Today, we will attend church and then back to work on the house. Moving things around to get everyone settled before we get a referral. I know we are way ahead of the game, but I have to be doing something or I will drive everyone crazy with my impatients.

I hope to post good news soon about our dossier.

Impatiently waiting,

Nicole

Nothing New on Tuesday

2010-03-09T17:21:00.001-06:00

It seems like I should have some really exciting news to tell you, but I don't. The most exciting thing I tell you is that we do not have school on Thursday and Friday so Kenz and I are going to paint her new room. We are starting to try to move the kids around so we are ready for the babies to come home-whenever that is. I guess I just have to keep busy so I don't stew over the fact that our dossier is not done (wanted it done by last Friday-waiting on my Birth Certificate and Home Study).

Oh, how badly I want to be on the wait list. To have a number of where you are and have an idea when you get to bring your babies home-must be awesome. I suppose once we are there I will be crazy about wanting to be waiting for a court date and when we have a court date I will be crazy for us to know when we travel. I guess I will just be crazy until our babies come home and are in our arms. :-)

We are doing many different things to fundraise, so check some out and maybe you will be called to buy! YIPPEE!! That would be great! We have yummy coffee, t-shirts, we will have candles soon, and there is always donations. That one is so easy-just click the donate button on our blog and donate away! :-)
OK-seriously, are you just getting sick of us bugging you about fundraising? I would like to say we are done bugging you, but that won't happen until we bring our babies home. SO-if you want to support us, you can contact us and we can figure out the t-shirt thing or you can click on the coffee button or the donate button-CANDLES soon to come. Thanks for just supporting us with prayer and words. It means so much to know that we have people supporting us with their love.

Waiting (not good at patience)

The Huson 4 (for now)

Dossier in process!

2010-03-03T18:44:00.003-06:00

YAHOO! We are in the process of working on our dossier. We can't wait to have it done and handed in so that we can begin our official wait. When we have our dossier in, money paid, and dossier approved then we will be offically on the wait list and the super excitment begins. YAHOO!

We have been cruisng along with the dossier as much as possible. It has been so exciting thinking about the next step in our adoption process.

Yesterday, we celebrated my hubby's birthday. We had steak at a local restaurant and the wait staff sang to him and imbarassed him a bit and that was fun to see. HE got a wii controller for his birthday and seemed to be happy with that. He said the best gift was just being with his family. Love that!

Today, I had a teacher seminar and just felt yucky all day. Another teacher suggested I go to the dr. because strep throat was going around. So, I felt icky enough that I would go to the dr and guess what--I have strep throat and larengitis(sp). Hopefully, I will be back to my class on Friday.

Patiently we wait,

The Huson 4 (for now)

Fundraiser 1 completed!!

2010-02-22T16:21:00.004-06:00

YAY!!!!!!!!! We completed our first fundraiser yesterday. We had a spghetti lunch and a raffle. We had a pretty good turnout. Thank you everyone who came to support us. We had a great time but were exhausted for the rest of the evening. WOW what a lot of work.

We are appreciate all of the fundraiser crew, who put this on for us: Fred, Heather, Stacy, Lisa, Vaughn, Kaitlyn, Kristen, Kristen's Mom, Ashlie, Travis, Emily, Emily B., Sierra, and Kayla. Thank you for all your hard work. And my support staff (haha) you know who you are. I can't thank you enough. You always keep me smiling!!

Our new fundraiser that we just began on Sunday is selling t-shirts. If you would like one they are only $20 I am attaching a picture-they are so cool. Sizes are youth s-m-l and adult s-m-l-xl-2xl. So help support us by buying a shirt. They are black with white print. Please email us at huson@bis.midco.net if you would like to purchase a shirt. You can use any of the following methods to pay for your shirt: write a check, cash or money order. Thanks

We are continuing with our fundraisers so if you have any other ideas; please let us know.

Patiently we wait,

The Huson 4 (for now)

Get Ready for the Fundraiser and GREAT NEWS!!!

2010-02-19T14:58:00.003-06:00

The day is drawing near for our fundraiser. Our friends are holding a spaghetti lunch and raffle/silent auction on Sunday, February 21, 2010 @ 12-3pm. It willbe held at our church Century Baptist Church in Bismarck ND. The address is 205 Colt Ave., Bismarck, ND We would LOVE, LOVE, LOVE to have all of you there to show your support of our adoption. The meal is free will offering so it is a perfect price.

Are you ready for the the GOOD NEWS???? We got our dossier packet in the mail today. YAHOO!!! We have our conference call with our casemanager on Wednesday. Yippee, our adoption process is really starting to feel real. We are so happy!!!

So, we need your help!! PRAY-PRAY HARD that our fundraiser is fruitful and that our dossier packet gets put together quickly, and that we move quickly up the referral list. We appreciate your help!!

We will keep you posted!!

Patiently we wait,

The Huson 4 (for now)

GREAT NEWS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2010-02-16T16:59:00.007-06:00

I should lead you on for a little bit to intensify your excitement but I must tell you our great news. WE SENT IN OUR CONTRACTS YESTERDAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The pictures below are of us delivering them to Fedex.

Our friend Travis had the fedex package already for us so we just needed to put our contracts in the envelope and drop it off. SO exciting!!!

The next picture is of the kind fedex lady. I asked if we could take her picture and she said how about I take yours. I of course said that would be great and then we'll take your picture too. After I told her our amazing news she was up for a picture. She was so sweet giving us congrats and wishing us the best!!

We are so blessed and so excited today. We got the call from our agency saying that all looks great and who our case manager will be. For all you AGCI fans out there, our case manager is Julie. I can't even explain the excitement we feel tonight!!

Thank you Lord Jesus for this amazing journey.

Don't Forget our Fudnraiser this weekend at Century Baptist Church In Bismarck!!

Waiting for our baby,

The Huson 4(for now)

Girl Day

2010-02-12T12:03:00.002-06:00

Today, my daughter and I are having a girl day. The boys are having their own too. Anyways, I have a ton of things planned for her and I am keeping most of them a secret. She knows we are going out to lunch and off to get our fingernails done. But I am taking her to a clay creation store. She has been asking to do this creative clay thing for months and I have put it off. Well, now we have our own time and are going to take advantage of it and go make some beautiful pottery. I will post pics when we get them back. We will also be going for coffee and a bit of shopping. Tomorrow we are planning a day of shopping with another girl friend of ours. We should be busy until our boys come home.
I hope everyone has a great day-we are going to enjoy our day off of school together.

Patiently Waiting,

Nicole

Adoption T-shirt Search

2010-02-03T21:43:00.002-06:00

Help!!!!!!!!! We are trying to find some cool adoption shirts to buy. WE found one that says adoption rocks which is way cool, but I am unable to find a place to purchase it. Not only does it say adoption rocks, but it also has Africa on it. Anybody know of any cool adoption t-shirts out there. I would love to buy them from adopting familie who are using t-shirt sales as a fundraiser.

Speaking of fundraiser: we are having our spaghetti luncheon fundraiser on February 21, 2010 at 12pm. Our fundraiser will be at Century Baptist Church in Bismarck, ND (205 Colt Ave) and will run from 12-3pm. There will be food and a silent auction. Please come and support our adoption. ;-)

No new news on the adoption, but I will post if anything happens.

Waiting,
The Huson 4 (for now)

What's Up

2010-01-24T17:21:00.004-06:00

What's up? Not much. We are still working towards our adoption but things are slow. We are hopefully having a spaghetti luncheon fundraiser in mid-February. We are hoping this will help move us forward. We are also doing a ink cartridge and cell phone recycling fundraiser. If you would like to contribute to either of these fundraisers, just let me know. We would love any support we can get.

We are very anxious to see what God has planned for us. We will keep you posted on any new happenings. Praise God for his guidance.

Waiting,

The Huson 4 (for now)

1 Month and Counting

2010-01-14T18:58:00.003-06:00

Well, I thought I should post something beings it has been awhile. School is going great, I teach Kindergarten. I took 20 students (2 were gone) sledding today. It was really fun and the weather was amazing. We actually got warm being outside. Must be all the times we had to haul our sleds back up the hill. I got my work out for the next month in. (as most of you know, I dread exercise)

Anyway, Mike is still feeling yucky from the car accident and still is not back to work. POOR GUY!! He sure is getting sick of being stuck at home.

NEW fundraising idea: We are collecting ink cartridges from printers and old cell phones and recycling them. I am hoping we raise thousands of dollars through this fundraiser, but I guess hundreds would be great!! :-) If you live in our area please email me and I can pick them up if you wish to participate or you can drop them off at our church(email me I'll give you the address). A friend of ours is trying to get a spaghetti supper fundraiser started so hopefully that works too.

Our count down is coming-1 month today and AGCI needs to have our $ and contracts in hands. I really believe God has his hands all over this journey. A very wise friend of mine said "God does not lead you into to something without leading you through it." Isn't that amazing. I totally feel that way. He would never have put us in the adoption world if he didn't fully intend to lead us through with our babies in our arms.

Patiently we wait,

The Huson 4 (for now)

PRAY!

2010-01-05T19:21:00.002-06:00

PLEASE PRAY FOR OUR FUNDS!

Well, time is starting to tick by faster, so it seems, and we still are lacking the funds for our contract fees. Mike is currently not working because of the accident, which put a bit of a kink in our adoption plans. WE are bummed!!! I know they say that in adoption you must be patient, but I have come to realize I STINK AT BEING PATIENT!!! Now with Mike's accident it seems that there is little hope that papers will be done in time. We have until February 15, 2010 to have the funds and notarized paper to our agency, AGCI. So, unless a miracle happens, we will be starting over again.

I have been watching other blogs today and have found my heart is very tender. I see that other families have brought there babies home and I just cry. I am so happy for these other families, but feel sad for us. I know that is selfish but I must be honest. I want our babies home!!

I remember something I heard Beth Moore say once, "Sometimes you need to bury your face in the carpet and pray, girl" and that is what I did. Lord please here my cries!

I am anxious for the day when I can look back at this time and see the plan God had for me. His plan is always much better than mine-a dear friend told me that not so long ago.

Waiting(notice, patiently is missing),

Nicole

Yay, we are home!

2009-12-27T18:59:00.004-06:00

Today, we finally got home. We had a safe trip home with little excitement on the trip.

When we got home we had to run to Wal-Mart to pick up some groceries but also to pick up some primer for the "toy room". We are conferting my craft room to the kids toy room. I emptied it today and took off the trim. Tomorrow I will prime it and then we will see where we go from there. I hope to go get the paint tomorrow. Not sure if it should be pale yellow or pale blue. I want the room to feel larger than it is. I also would like to put some new carpet in it. We will see. We got some Lowes gift cards for Christmas, which was a perfect gift.

I hope everyone had a great Christmas and is enjoying time with family and friends.

Patiently we wait,

The Huson 4 (for now)

Blizzards Stink!

2009-12-26T19:02:00.002-06:00

Well, this morning we decided to head home from Mom and Dad's, the weather was not great but better-we thought. We left the ranch and got about 1 mile away when we found ourselves stuck in a snow drift in the middle of a gravel road. We called the ranch after leaving 5 minutes earlier to declare that we were stuck and could use some assistance. 10 minutes later Dad arrives with the tractor and pulls us back to the ranch. We of course decide that we will stay another day and hope to make it back to town for church tomorrow.

Cabin fever is setting in for all of us. Ready to get moving. We were planning to prime the new toy room today and hopefully paint tomorrow. Doesn't look like that will happen. We have a lot of moving around of rooms to get things ready for the new addition(s) to our family. We know we have awhile to wait for them to be here but I just need to do something to prepare for them. I need to feel like I have some control. :-)

Have a safe and warm day!!

Patiently we wait,

The Huson 4 (for now)

Merry CHRISTmas!

2009-12-25T12:08:00.002-06:00

I can't believe that Christmas is here already. Where does the time go?

Today, we celebrated this beautiful holiday with my family at my parents' house.
There is a blizzard hitting our area riight now and there is no travel adviced in most of the state.

The kids got so many presents it was unbelieveable. It is so crazy in this country how much we have and when I think of our children in Ethiopia that have so little I feel so sad. It amazes me! My heart is so happy and sad today. So happy for our saviors birth and all the blessing we have in our life. But I am so sad for our babies and all the people who are without this holiday, whether they are without gifts, family, our any of the other wonderful things we take for granted. I am sad for them and will be praying!

Thank you Lord Jesus for the amazing life you have given me. Lord I ask that you let all of those with out--receive what they are in need of this holiday. I also ask that you wrap your loving arms around all the orphans in the world. Lord let them know that people do love them and that their forever families are on their way. In your mighty name I pray! Amen.

Patiently we wait.

Thankful and Prayerful

2009-12-21T18:35:00.004-06:00

We are in the process of helping Mike recover from the automobile accident. He is currently doing physical therapy and hydrotherapy 3-5 times a week. He is eager to feel like himself again. He struggles with a lot of back pain and hip pain since the accident. Please pray that he is feeling like his old self soon. We are so thankful that Mike is alive and just having to focus on therapy at this time. Praise God for keeping my husband safe.

We are currently in the waiting game. We are at the point where we need to get our contracts into AGCI but are having to wait because of the accident. Please pray with us that the funding comes before our due date. I just want to get all our papers in ASAP and go to Ethiopia and pick up our babies. I just can't help but try to rush all of this!

I need to keep reminding myself "in God's time, not mine". You could pray for that too. That I take it one day at a time and quit trying to rush this.

Patiently Waiting!!!

Nicole and Crew

WOW! What a couple of days!

2009-12-10T12:12:00.001-06:00

Well let's catch up. Tuesday started out like every other day-busy. Got kids to school headed to work and all seemed well. Mike was at work but was to be home before my outing with other adoptiong moms. I was eating lunch at school when I got a call from Mike's phone and then a hang up. So I call him and he tells me he has been in a car accident. The vehicle he was in ran into a snow plow on the interstate. OK-so I did what all wives would do FREAK OUT! I was at school was some what under control but would be telling someone what happened and would loose it. Anyway, we were reunited at about 8:30 that evening. He was fine just banged up, bruised, and in a lot of pain. Needles to say, God's hands were all over this. All the men survived and walked away from the hospital with just bruises and bumps. PRAISE THE LORD!!!

Today we are so thankful and would like to remind everyone that miracles do happen!!

Patiently Waiting,

The Huson 4 (for now)

Monday, Mondy, MONDAY!!

2009-12-07T18:21:00.002-06:00

As you may have noticed today is Monday. Another day in paradise!! We are still waiting and praying for the special $ number to come in. WE have been so blessed in the past week to receive support financially and emotionally form friends. Which is sneaking us closer to our number.

Last night Mike and our oldest went to the Toby Mac concert. This was a Christmas present for both of them and they had a blast. They came home last night so excited and our youngest and I were already sleeping. :-) Well, we had planned that we would all go to the concert but once we had made the final decision to adopt we decided not to waste money on things that were not terribly important. Our daughter kept hinting on how much she would like to go and finally we decided that it would be a great gift. So, they had an amazing time. I was so glad she had such a great time and of course so did my hubby.

No exciting news on the adoption front, hopefully soon.

Patiently we wait,

Huson 4

What has changed?

2009-12-03T18:27:00.002-06:00

NOT MUCH HAS CHANGED!!

It seems like we have a plan or think we do and it gets distorted some way. We have all of our contracts ready for notarizing and our $ then it goes to our agency. Once that is all in we wait for our homestudy to be finished and to get our dossier done.

So here is the story. I plan to go get my fingerprints done today after work. Keep in mind they fingerprint 2 days a week and only one day I can get to because of work. Anyway, I drive down to the police station today to get my fingerprints done and what do you know. Sorry no fingerprinting today. We have training in that room so we won't be able to do fingerprintin. Seriously, are you kidding me!!!!!!!!!!!!
UGH!!! So that is where the distorted plans come into effect. Make a plan and it gets changed. I am so bummed.

Another thing on my mind tonight is my baby/babies in Ethiopia. Who are they are they born yet? I was reading another AGCI families blog and am so excited for them and hope we have the same fate. First of all it took them only 7 months to complete their adoption and secondly they will be bringing home a 3 month old baby. How does that happen? Seriously, if anyone knows how you can get your adoption done that quickly and can bring home a 3 month old, could you tell me. That is so amazing to me.

I guess that is all I have for now. Hope to have great news next time I post.

Patiently waiting,

The Huson 4

What a few days we have had!

2009-11-30T17:49:00.003-06:00

We went to my parent's place for our Thanksgiving and it was pretty good. As always, Mom made great food and the kids ran around and had a blast. My parents and our family had a BIG discussion on our adoption. Some people are not as excited for us as we would like but I guess we can't make everyone happy. We went home Friday in order to get some things done in our house. We got our Christmas tree up which looks just beautiful and just spent time together. I love that time.

Yesterday, we had a regular Sunday; church, lunch with friends, and then home again. We did some more decorating too.
After supper, I got a hold of a lady who was selling a bunch of baby stuff and of course I wanted to see what she had and so did the kids. So we all loaded in the van and headed to her house. We got some great things for baby Huson. You will find a picture of our youngest and our dog trying out our snugli. So cute!

Today was just as successful. We went to school and work. I left work early for a doctors appointment. Then a good friend of mine, who is also adopting called just to visit, which was so nice. She had so many postive things to say that just made me feel great. And then to make it even better, when I got home, wouldn't you know it; our dear friends from Minot sent us some $ towards our adoption. Thank you so much (you know who you are) What a blessing.

I feel very blessed this evening. I am so grateful to our awesome Heavenly Father for all our blessings. Thank you Father!!

Tuesday-Not much to say!

2009-11-24T17:59:00.003-06:00

Today, I had a great day at work. (I teach kindergarten) I have such an amazing class. I feel very blessed. Anyway, Mike was home yesterday and spent most of the day trying to find some finance possiblities and we think we might have an option. So let's see what it brings. We are just waiting for the funding to send in our contracts. Once the money is with us, we will send in our contracts and wait for our Dossier packet. I can't wait. I might be calling on some of my Adopting Mama's to help me with this. There are so many questions about some of the forms. Lots and lots of paperwork. I will be excited to get it started though.

We were starting our Christmas list tonight and Mikey asked for a bunk beds for he and his brother to share. He also asked for a comforter that is black and red and one for his brother too. I love how he is already looking out for his little bro and he hasn't even met him yet. I wish more adults had a heart like this kiddo. He is such a caring kid.

Kenzie also asked for new bedding for her new room. Room switches will occur before the new baby/babies get here. She is excited for the new room and to be the "BIG" sister. Hopefully, we can work on it over Christmas vacation.

I hope you are all having a great night!!

Patiently Waiting,

The Husons

Longing

2009-11-21T21:30:00.003-06:00

Tonight while the kids are in bed and the family is downstairs watching football, I sit and wonder. I am wondering if our baby is born yet, is he or she content, are they crying, are they loved and do they know how much Mommy and Daddy love them already. We would do anything for you. So as I sit here tonight, getting all sappy and longing to hold our baby, I pray that he or she is safe, healthy, and loved.

Lord protect our baby until we can and let him/her feel much love! Please keep his/her birth mom healthy and safe. Please, let her realize how much of a blessing she is to this world. How she will positively impact our life and how grateful we are for her. In your name I pray.

Please pray for our baby and that we can go get him/her soon.

Blessings,
Nicole

The Weekend is Upon Us

2009-11-21T16:44:00.003-06:00

Yesterday, Mike's Dad and grandma came up to visit. It was nice to be able to show them our house and be able to catch up. It has been awhile since we have seen them. They were sure surprised at how much the kids have grown.

Our oldest is a book junky and while out and about convinced grandpa to buy her another book which she is currently reading while lounging in the living room. Our youngest on the other hand as great grandma in the yard. He is showing her how high he can kick a ball. She is of course being the very gracious grandma and seeming thrilled with his abilities. The men went out to run some errands and I am getting ready to start supper. Lasagna, french bread, salad, and corn or green beans. Not sure which sounds better right now.

I have not had much time today to be blogging. I love to watch other families blogs, to see how their journeys are going. I just sob like a baby when I watch the videos of their gotcha day. I keep dreaming about ours and know that it will be a while before we hold our baby/babies in our arms. I must remind myself often "all in God's time, not mine" God has led us here, he will not abandon us in it. We will get to Ethiopia and get our baby. I can not wait for that day!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I guess I best run so I can check some other blogs before I need to start supper.

Praising Him,

Nicole

Patiently(kind of) Waiting

2009-11-19T12:09:00.003-06:00

Today, I am home with my youngest. He is sick. We have watched transformers, which I must admit is NOT my favorite movie. Huge car robots-really. Not my thing!! Well, while he rests, I have decided to do some things to keep my mind busy. I made the meat mixture for gyro sanwiches, which is now in the fridge resting. I will make gyros tomorrow for supper. I love them but they are impossible to find here. I also have been working on grant and loan applications. WOW there is a lot of paper work in these. I am filling out application for the ABBA fund and Lifesong. I hope they are able to provide was with some support.

I told someone close to me that we were adopting from Ethiopoia and they were less than excited. Could you join me in prayer for them so that their heart will be open to our child.

We praise God daily for this journey he has put us on. Thank you Lord Jesus for all the gifts you have given us.

Paper work and appointments

2009-11-17T18:19:00.002-06:00

I texted Mike yesterday afternoon to see if we had gotten our orientation packet and the answer was no. :-( I was a bit disappointed. Then I came home from work and the packet was here. YIPPITY DO DA!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I was so excited and so was the entire family. After I calmed down a little and everyone had a chance to hear-I must admit I was screaming with excitment-I then call Erin to see about making our orientation conference call. I thought it would be atleast a few days and she said I have time this afternoon. (NO WAY) I say sure-30 minutes later she called and we got our orientation call done. YAHOOOO!! What a great day!!!!!!!

Today, I tried to schedule our doctor apointments and get things organized that we can get done now while we wait for $7,390 to just land in our laps. :-) We have so much to do and I just can't wait to get it done. A friend of mine who has gone through all of this before has given me a list of things to start getting ready. In doing this, we are hoping that it won't take 2-4 months to get our Dossier done.

Thanks for listening! Keep praying for us PLEASE!!!!!!!!

So excited to bring home our Ethiopian Babies!!!!!!!!!!!

Patiently We Wait!!!!!!!!!!

Praising God Through It All,

Nicole and Crew

WE ARE APPROVED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2009-11-14T08:01:00.002-06:00

So after what seemed like forever, we are approved through our agency. We are so excited! I must tell you how the day went when we found out we were approved.
The day started out CRAZY! Mike was of course out of town with work and the morning started out wild. Mikey was being a sleepy head and would not get ready for school, which then in turn added to the lateness of the morning. The kids were dropped off 5 minutes late to school and I arrived at work 10 minutes late which drives me nuts. I really like to be on time. But I guess when your 5 time does not matter so much. Kenzie of course, in her true spirit, just goes along for the ride helping when encouraged to. So get to work and feeling pretty lousy and my 12:00 I had to go home. I had a fever and just felt icky. Came home crashed in bed until around 3:45 and at that time Mike was home and had taken 2 phone calls. One was our friend from church who is also on the Orphan Ministry and the other was from our adoption cordinator. All seemed well just a few questions and comments. Then at 4:30 we get a call from our coordinator saying welcome to AGCI. YAHOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I screamed and acted like a crazy women for a few seconds and then calmed down enough to hear what she was saying. All I can say is praise God!!!! We have switched countries to Ethiopia and could not be more excited. So here we are today and we have our last Homestudy visit at 10:30 and then off for more paperwork until we are told of our next step.

Thank you for all the prayers!

Still waiting for final approval

2009-11-07T13:11:00.002-06:00

So, here we are 9 days since my last post and still nothing has changed. Well, I guess something, more disappointment in the house. The longer it takes for this approval the more frustrated we get. The thing that is hanging us up right now is the finances. Our case worker is telling us that we need to specify where we plan to get the money to pay for the adoption and then list the amounts from each entity. We send it in and then it is not what she wants so we go back again. We have done this about 5 times and it is getting old. But we will do what we need to bring our babies home. Right now we are asking for prayer and lots of it!! We need a lot of prayer for our finances and that we will soon be through this first process. Thanks for your help! I hope I have some better news to post soon!

Waiting~The Husons

Approval-Kinda

2009-10-28T20:17:00.000-05:00

So, we finally got the call from our agency. They said we were approved but needed to have a more detailed plan on how we were going to finance the adoption. OK-we just need to make a more detailed plan on funding-no big-right!
Then we started talking the fees and all and we found out that our adoption should run on the high end of $10,000 more than we had planned. Back to the drawing board, I guess. Much prayer is needed at this point.
This news kind of stifled the good news. Wow crazy what money can do isn't it!

I took Mikey and Kenzie to the bayou bash at church for fall festivities and they had a blast. Of course they came home with a bunch of candy and goodies. So fun to see my kids enjoying life so much!!

Our God is an awesome God!!

Orphan Ministry

2009-10-27T17:18:00.000-05:00

A few families from church, who are or have adopted, are starting an orphan ministry. We are so excited for our first meeting with them tonight. I will let you know how it went tomorrow. Also, tomorrow is the big day. We should here from AGCI tomorrow afternoon!!! YIPPEE!!!
Please keep praying for our finances. We have a big chunk of money due in a month. YIKES!

Patiently Waiting-Us

AGCI Gets Application

2009-10-26T17:34:00.000-05:00

OK, so we mail our application to AGCI on Friday afternoon around 4pm. We ask the postman when will they get the application and he says Tuesday or Wednesday. So we patiently wait-right!!
Today, I get home from work and there is message on our machine from AGCI. They just wanted to call to let us know that they received our application and will review it Wednesday! ARE YOU KIDDING ME, THAT IS 2 DAYS EARLY!! Is God's hand in this or what!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Praise God!
I will post again on Wednesday to let you all know if we are accepted or not!!
OH-Happy Day!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!