Exciting news!

Last week, Briana and I went to see the movie Julie and Julia. It was cute. If you are not aware, it's about a women, Julie, who cooks her way through Julia Childs cookbook and blogs about it...EVERYDAY. It dawns on me that people actually write on their blogs everyday. Now, between blogs, Facebook, Twitter, work, home, and family, I have no idea how people get the time to BLOG everyday. Most of you know I am not a fan of FB and you maybe see me once a week throw something on there.

My new thing will be to post once a week on this Blog. It's intended for friends and family to keep up with the adoption, but since I have a capitve audience (of about one I am guess. ha!) I will post something else. Maybe interesting facts about Ethiopia, and funny family story (which usually involves, a child, a pet, or some sort of injury). This way I can train you all to come out to the Blog, so when it comes time for updates on the adoption you are already checking the site.

Onto the Exciting NEWS!!!

We got an update on our daughter waiting for us in Ethiopia. Our referral photo can't even really be called a photo. It was the size of a postage stamp and Xeroxed so many times that all we could see was a silhoute. Obviously to us it doesn't matter what she looks like because between this photo and about 3 sentences of information we decided she was the child for us. However, after all this time of paperchasing and paying money out for this and that I didn't realize until yesterday how much I needed that photo. It's my tangible evidence that I do have a daugther and she is not just a paragraph on a piece of paper.

Let me tell you. She is absolutely, 100% gorgeous! She looks healthy and happy. She is smiling and already missing a front tooth! (That makes me a little sad, I am missing the milestone of no front teeth). Not only were we blessed with a photo, but a 6 page assessment report!!!

I can not share her photo with you online or any personal information, but Iwill tell you she is beatiful, an intelligent girl and loves to jump rope! Our family was so excited last night gathered around the computer. We printed off her photo and put it at the empty chair at the table and from now on she is with us in spirit until she can be with us forever!

When is forever going to get here you ask? Well....FOREVER...ha! We are waiting for our final piece of paper from the government and then we can send our whole dossier off to the main agency and they will make sure it's complete. It will be sent to Ethiopia, where it will be translated. This takes about a month. Right now best guess is January-February time frame. Of course, with adoptions nothing is set in stone. It's like trying to nail jello to the wall.

Thanks for all your continued prayers and support!

HUGS and LOVE~ The Grabers

2009 Annual Family Camping Trip

Average July temps for MN/WI - 90's
Temp for our camping trip (average) 50's !

Yikes it was a cold one, but yet another great time. Funny how great company, family, food, and a little firewood (okay lots of firewood) can turn your mind from the cold weather into a great weekend!
This year we camped at the same place as 2007, which is an Army Corp of Engineers campground just 60 mins east of the cities. We had the pleasure of being joined by our usual suspects and for her 2nd Johnson family camping, a returnee, my friend Nicole from NM and her son Joshua (age 4). I think Joshua had the best time ever!

We ate great food, pretty much 24/7 and played lots of games (you are looking at the 2009 cribbage champion), searched for the 2nd annual Yule bucket (found by my Samantha) and talked and talked. We even got my dad's iteranary for his 2010 hike along the Applacian Trail.

I didn't get any pictures, but there were people in the group lurking with cameras so I hope we can get a few copies of that and I will post.

It was fun to get our minds of the stresses of adoption and tell family and friends of our new daughter who will be joining us on 2010's annual family camping trip!

Still paperchasing

Just so you don't think we fell off the face of the earth. Right now I am scrambling to gather paperwork from far and wide. I actually do sit down with my SW and go over everything we have collected so far, make sure we have it all and it will pass (notaries signatures, dates, etc...). If it is all good and I can send it off for state sealing and then off to the main Bethany office for final approval and then off to Ethiopia! It sounds so far away but the next couple of weeks lots of things will be determined.

The summer is going much faster than I would like, but loving July so far.

Prayer requests: I can't be specific, but we have a major hurdle to overcome please keep us in your prayers while we try to handle it with the Lords grace and timing.

Quick Facts:

Quick facts:

The average cost of an international adoption is $25,000-$30,000
According to UNICEF, there are over 100 million orphans worldwide

"He who can reach a childs heart, can reach the worlds heart." Rudyard Kipling

Happy Anniversary

Happy Anniversary my love! 18 years. What a ride! Thank goodness we aren't the ones in control as we would have crashed and burned years ago!

Ecclesiastes 4:9-12
Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their work: If one falls down,his friend can help him up.But pity the man who falls and has no one to help him up!
Also, if two lie down together, they will keep warm.But how can one keep warm alone?
Though one may be overpowered,two can defend themselves.A cord of three strands is not quickly broken.

It's most definately a girl!

Our social worker came over last night for our homestudy visit and she brought news that I didn't think we would hear for more than two more weeks. M* is offically our daughter. Well, as official as she can be. She has been put on hold for us while we complete our dossier paperwork. We are excited, humbled and feel so blessed!! I want to shout from the rooftops and tell you everything, but I can't (due to some country regulations). that's okay, whatever it takes to bring her home is fine with me. Bring on the burning hoops we need to jump through!

It's a GIRL....maybe...

Doug and I have decided to pursue the adoption of a six year old girl that resides in Ethiopia. Please pray for her and for us while we try to finalize things in the coming weeks to make her officially ours. Right now we can only say we want to pursue her since our homestudy isn't done yet.
We are very excited. As soon as I am able I will share more about her. Due to Ethiopia restrictions I can not post a picture of her or her real name. In fact, I can't post those things until after we are home with her.
Thank you for your continued prayer and support. We need it now especially!