We're back and doing great

We got back from Addis Ababa last Friday and everythings going well. Here's our family picture from our first day back. For the next few weeks, we'll be kinda 'holed up' helping our boy adjust to his new home. The biggest single item to share is that we do have a name for our beautiful little boy. Asher Sitota Coorts. His name means "fortunate or blessed" (Asher) and "gift" (Sitota). We are very blessed to have this gift of a new life in our home.

We both have numerous journal pages written about our incredible week in Ethiopia. It's hard to filter what to share here. We'll have to share more later. We are so grateful for your prayers and support in this adventure.

We got the big phone call

Last Friday our agency called. It was the phone call we've been waiting for. All the arrangments have been made in Ethiopia and we'll be traveling on November 20th. This is moving a little bit faster than we thought it might. We just got the airline tickets purchased tonight and life is moving rather fast for us right now. On November 27th, we'll arrive back in Kansas and our lives will be forever changed. Wow, ready or not, this is really happening!

Every day the fact that we are adopting is becoming more and more real. This last week I went and bought a security blanket and one of those soft-sided photo albums to send to our child. We're putting in photos of us as well as him so he can become familiar with our faces before we meet him. We actually put the blanket in our bed for a while because many books have suggested using scent as a way to help a newly adopted baby feel more at ease. Here's how it works: hopefully the blanket will pick up our scent, our baby will log that scent into his brain as he uses the blanket, and when we go to get him there will be something familiar about us-our smell. Hhmmm...sure hope we don't pick up any strange scents along the way to Ethiopia - airsick scent, hot smelly plane scent, strange morning breath scent. That could throw the whole thing off! Any ways, we are mostly trusting in the Lord to give us wisdom into what he needs, even if we are total strangers to him at first! We've also recieved much wise counsel from others who have gone before us.

There are loads of articles, books, websites, blogs, etc. that we look into here and there too, but mostly we are busy right now applying for grants to help with the costs of fees and travel. Many people cringe at the thought of adopting when they think of the costs involved. We used to as well. Now that we're in the process and see the loads of legal and government paperwork that has to be sorted through plus the necessity of having a reputable agency, it makes a lot more sense. But still, it is a lot. So we're applying for grants - some of them are outright grants while others are matching grants. Basically people we know can donate to our adoption fund through the grant program and they will match the amount donated. This would be our most pressing prayer request for now. Many of these grants run on a quarterly system, which means they will be reviewed in the next month. Please pray for wisdom for the people that will be looking at our applications. More on this, and how you may be able to help, soon.

We continue to talk with our kids about our baby coming home. Aaron is still excited about having a roommate, as he says "because I won't be alone in my room anymore." Of course he's going to want to be alone once there's crying and poopy diapers, but we've talked about that too. They both have a plan for when the baby is crying and its annoying to them. Aaron: "go in the other room!" Audrey: "go get him a toy and try to help him!" Now isn't that a sweet little mommy in training?!

Thanks for your prayers and interest in our family!

Big News

After nearly a year of paperwork, phonecalls and waiting we are on the verge of truly adopting. It's starting to feel real at last! The loads of paperwork are slowly melting away into an actual person. This week, literally tomorrow to be exact, we will be signing papers to officially accept a referral for a one year old boy in Ethiopia. How I wish I could include photos or say much more, but until he's officially ours we're not allowed to post any specific info or photos.

We told the kids last week. I'm kind of glad that I didn't pop out the camera for their little brother unveiling, because I think I'll always remember their eyes getting really big when we pulled out the pictures of their soon-to-be brother!

As excited as we are, we are also very sobered at the adjustment that lies ahead. We have loads of articles, books, websites, seminars, etc. that we have been using and will continue to as we prepare. We are so thankful for friends who have and will be adopting soon. We love our agency! But with all this, we're still going to be a houseful of people adjusting to our new relationships, carving out sleep, and (for Jason and I especially) comforting a little guy who won't have a clue about how he got here and who we are.

It all feels right though...haven't walked by faith at this level in a while!

So we're starting our blog...again. We are more readers than we are writers. Sorry for the long delay for any one who has wondering!



Our adoption plans are moving along really quite fast. We anticipated maybe having a child in our home by next spring originally. Now it is quite possible that we may be traveling to Ethiopia to pick up our child before Christmas...not guarenteed but possible! Now that we are back from our summer project in Juneau we are talking to our agency more frequently. We're finding ourselves all at once excited, nervous, busy, confused, freaked out, and yet at peace. We have no doubt that this is God's plan for adding to our family.



We continually come across more and more confirmation that God is the author of this endevour. Just this week I was talking with a friend from our church who is also pursuing adopting an Ethiopean child. Her and her husband just found out about a local group of Ethiopean Americans in our very diverse college town. This is huge for us as we really desire to incorporate the Ethiopean culture into our family. We are hoping to be able to celebrate some Ethiopean holidays and learn some customs we can introduce in our family - especially the cooking. I'm always excited about new recipes, but this carries a greater than normal significance for me!



Now to give you a few facts: We are 3rd on the waiting list for boys and 24th for girls. This of course means we're closer to hearing about a boy who is available for adoption. Since we didn't specify the gender we are obviously most likely to receive a referral for a boy and therefore eventually have another son! The time that this could happen in is very close. If you're praying for us, pray that we'll have wisdom when we do receive a referral - knowing the right questions to ask, the information we need from the international pediatrician, etc. Also you can pray that Jason and I will be physically in the same place. Upon hearing about a child, we will have a week to look over the photo and info of the child and then we need to have all decisions made. Jason will need to be in Alaska to close summer project in August and we're really hoping that we aren't receiving our referral just as he is leaving for that! Either way, God will give us what we need.



Thanks for praying for our family!

Our Adoption Adventure begins

Thank you for checking out our family blog!
We’re honestly nervous about being adoptive parents, but at the same time excited! Here’s a snapshot of our process of coming to this point. In the summer of 2008, our interest in adoption began to grow. We had tried for nearly a year and a half to get pregnant with no success and the seed was planted for us to consider adoption. We began to pray about it and think about adoption more seriously over the summer.

As we were surfing the internet researching adoption, we found an agency out of Oregon called All God’s Children. The video from their website, called ‘Come Near and Rescue Me’ definitely pulled at our heart strings in our decision making process: http://www.allgodschildren.org/about/videos/

We’ve come to conclude this process to be very congruent with the gospel message itself. Adoption is taking a child without a family and bringing them into a family where they can be deeply loved, accepted, and protected. The adoption process has come to be for us a very vivid expression of living out the gospel. In our current life circumstances, this is where following Christ has taken us.


We have signed on with an Ethiopia adoption program through All God’s Children. We have requested a boy or a girl, two years and younger. Ethiopia currently is one of the most open countries to international adoption. It is estimated that there are 4 million orphans in the country, largely from civil war, poverty, and the AIDS epidemic. That number approaches the combined population of Kansas and Nebraska. I cannot wrap my mind around that fact.

Aaron and Audrey have expressed excitement to the idea of adding another sibling to our home. Audrey especially likes the idea of having a baby around to play with. Audrey even has a few baby dolls and animals she excitedly calls ‘adopted’. She will frequently turn to us when talking about a doll or animal and proclaim “this one is adopted.”

We’ll keep you posted as we progress through the process. For now, we are wading through what one friend has called the ‘paperwork pregnancy’ of adoption. We hope to have our dossier paperwork completed soon and then enter the waiting for referral phase.