I know it's been a while since my last post, but here's a few pics of my lil man on his first day of Pre-K. He's 3 and growing fast. He's such a joy!!!

Reminiscing ..... day 1

This song takes me to the place where my son was first born in my heart. The day I told God “YES”. The day my journey to Ethiopia began. All alone in a place far from family, friends, my daughter, and regretting the decision to move to Texas. God spoke to me. For the first time in my life I heard God’s voice. No it wasn’t verbal, he spoke directly to my heart. In a matter of seconds, he directed my mind, my body and soul to adoption.

When someone tells you nothing happens by chance and that everything happens for a reason, believe them. God has a plan for you. Although my journey to Ethiopia officially started in 2007, my story began in 2005. It was in 2005 when I heard about Angelina’s international adoption. Like many people I criticized her for adopting from a foreign country when there are needy children here. Unconscious of the situation in Ethiopia and other developing countries, I assumingly thought it must be a publicity stunt. I was not inspired, amused, or impressed by celebrities who were adopting. I negatively commented about people decisions to adopt children from other countries and I was not alone; there were plenty of people who agreed with me. I guess you could say we were all oblivious to the facts. But God didn’t want me to remain ignorant.

Two years later after meeting and marrying my soul mate, which is another divine intervention. We were transferred to Texas. One week after moving to Texas, my dear husband received orders to deploy to Iraq. At that time I couldn’t understand why I was there or why I decided to stay. I was thousands of miles away from my family, and my husband was leaving. I really wanted nothing more than to go home, to North Carolina. I hated my new job, I hated the house we lived in, I hate the town, and I hated not being with my husband.

Alone, afraid and anxious, I began to questioning everything and everyone. Until the day, I read an article about a family who had adopted three children from Ethiopia. The family was African American, they were not wealthy and lived on a modest income. While reading the article I had an epiphany I began to cry, that’s when it happened. Although, God’s voice wasn’t expressed verbally, within an instance I was enthralled and my soul said “YES”. So there I was, all alone far away from family, friends, my only daughter, regretting my decision to move to Texas, saying “YES ”.

I pulled myself together, logged on the computer and sent an email to my husband in Iraq. The email subject line read “call me”. Well, wouldn’t you know it, he was at the computer and within seconds my phone rang. I answered the phone, and proceeded to tell my newly wedded husband that we were going to adopt a child from Ethiopia. His response went something like this. Adopt; Ethiopia; hold on; are you serious; wait a minute; let’s think about this; where is this coming from; I know you are lonely but damn babe, why Ethiopia? Yeap, that’s what he said. Adamantly I replied, God has directed me to do this, so I’m doing it with or without you. By the end of the call I had his 100% support. Now I don’t think God planned for the conversation to go quite like tha,t but that’s what happened. For me, adopting from Ethiopia was not a decision that I needed to make, it was a revelation.

• 4.6 MILLION ORPHANS
• 1 in 6 will die before age one
• 1 in 10 will die before age five
• 60% of children growth is stunted
• 50% will never attend school
• Literacy rate is 39%
• Doctor to child ratio is 1 to 24,000
• Life expectancy is 49 years
• Lack of clean water

Will your heart and soul say yes, will your spirit still say yes. If he told you what you really need, will your heart and soul say yes?

What God ordains he will maintain.

This says it all

It’s officially official

Today we received Jordan’s U.S. birth certificate in the mail and I can’t stop staring at it. Next on the list, SSN card and US Citizenship. Does the paperwork ever end???

Happy Birthday!

He's growing so fast.......11 months 23 pounds

Jordan

Jordan @ 9 months

Update

It’s been over a month since we have been home. Jordan is doing extremely well. Since day one he has slept through the night in his own room. He only cries when he’s needs changing or feeding. When he gets sleepy he hum’s. A typical day for Jordan begins with him waking up between 7:30 and 8:00. He eats breakfast and plays for a couple of hours. He gets a morning bath, and then he’s ready for his first nap. He sleeps for about two hours then he’s ready for lunch. He has fruit, veggies and formula for lunch and he eats very well. After lunch we practice crawling, standing, walking and do a lot of silly dancing. He’s so tired after play time that he’s ready for his second nap which is usually about an hour. After his second nap he plays on his mat and mostly entertains himself, while I watch HDTV. When daddy arrives home he feeds Jordan dinner and a bottle, then its bath time. Jordan loves bath time; I think his favorite thing is eating the bubbles. He generally eats everything he can get in his mouth. After bath time he gets a little snack mostly because he likes to eat when he notice others eating. Then it’s bedtime around 9:00 PM. When he wakes in the morning he plays in his crib with his blanket and rarely cries. He just waits patiently for me to come and get him. I don’t return to work until March and I know his routine will change once he is in day care. But for now, it’s all good!

We're Home!!!

Pictures taken in Ethiopia

Paying it forward

If there is anyone out there with a referral and would like for me to take some pics of your little one, email me at fredabrown1007@yahoo.com. I’m sending a special thank you out to Tonya, Emily and Carmen for taking pictures of my little one while you were traveling.
We leave next week!!!!!!!!

We are blessed

In less than two weeks we will be on a flight to Ethiopia. I cannot express in words how truly amazing this all has been and it’s only just beginning. Thank you, thank you, thank you God for blessing our family with Jordan.