Can I get a drumroll please?

. . . We are beyond excited to announce that we are leaving in a week to meet our son in Ethiopia!!!! Yes, that's right, in one week! WOW! We're still in shock and praising God for his faithfulness!

Yesterday we talked to AAI and were told that they still didn't know if we would be able to travel as scheduled for our court date, but we should hear news by this morning. Well, the first thing we did this morning was check our email and  . . . nothing! 

I had a crummy morning, to say the least. I had all but given up hope that we would be able travel in October. Colson noticed that I was sad and he came up to me when I was laying on the couch and said: "Mommy, should I snuggle you?" Bless his heart!

But then this afternoon we got an email with the best news ever! Can I just say it again?!?! We are going to Ethiopia in one week to meet our son!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We will be there from October 6th to the 10th and our court date is on the 8th. It will be a short trip and Colson and Vienna will be staying with Melanie and Adam while we're gone. 

Now that reality has set in, I've gotta get packing, confirm flights, guesthouse, etc. I didn't let myself do any of those things before we knew for sure. So now that we're leaving in a week (ONE WEEK!!!!) I gotta get a-packing! Tips, anyone? 

Blah.

Blah. 

That is how I feel.

I have no update to report on Y. We still have heard no word from our agency on if we will be able to travel in October for our court date. To say that I am anxious and worried would be a huge understatement. I'm a mess! This whole waiting with so many unknowns thing is really taking a toll on my emotions! 

We would love to have Y home before Christmas, but as October is drawing nearer, I lose a little more hope everyday. If our court date gets re-scheduled we definitely won't have Y home by Christmas, it will be more like the end of January or the beginning of February. 

I am beyond ready to meet my soon and bring him home. I don't want him staying in that orphanage any longer than he has to be. Of course, he is well cared for there. He has friends, he goes to school, he gets 3 meals a day. But that doesn't ever replace a family. What he needs is a family! 

Your family is coming soon, Y, hold on!

Wordless Wednesday

Urgent Action Needed!

An organization that I love love love is the International Justice Mission. IJM is a human rights agency that secures justice for victims of slavery, sexual exploitation and other forms of violent oppression (click here to learn more). Seriously, they are awesome, check them out and get involved!

I got an email today from IJM saying they need people to help advocate for the passage of the Child Protection Compact Act – critical legislation designed to help protect children in targeted countries from slavery and sex trafficking.

Urgent action is needed because if Congress does not make the CPCA a priority and pass it into law before adjourning in October for mid-term elections, the bill will die.

They need our help! Senators need to hear from constituents who care about ending child trafficking if they are going to make the CPCA a priority.

So here is how you can help:

1. Find out who you Senators are and how to contact them by clicking here. (Find your state in the upper right corner and look for the "contact" section on your Senators' websites.)

2. Make the call - use this sample script as a guide:

"Hi, my name is (NAME) and I'm calling from (City, State). I'm calling to ask Senator (NAME) to vote YES to pass the Child Protection Compact Act (S.3184). This bill would help to eradicate child trafficking, an issue I really care about. Would you please pass my message on to the Senator? Thank you!"

Easy as pie! I just finished doing it. I called through Skype (have I mentioned before how much I love Skype?!) and it only took me two minutes!

Now if you are anything like me, you would normally just not do it, thinking, "what difference does it really make?" But please, don't let it go, don't be apathetic, we need to let our voices be heard. We should care, we should be moved to action, we cannot sit back and do nothing. 

This is an issue I am really passionate about. It breaks my heart, and I know God's heart is breaking even more, to think about these precious little children suffering so much. Please do something, today, right now!

Oh and here is the link to the IJM page asking for action: http://www.ijm.org/nationalcallinday

Also, if you have a blog or facebook, please spread the word! Thanks!

A Fun Night!

While we were at the village there were two big celebrations that the whole village came out for. One celebration was for a young couple that got engaged and the other was for a little boy who recently got circumcised (you can read my post about circumcision ceremonies in Turkey by clicking here). 

These celebrations are SO much fun, Turks sure know how to throw parties! They start around 9 in the evening and go till 2 or 3 in the morning. I could have stayed and watched the dancing all night, but we didn't stay long since our kids were so tired. We did capture some of the dancing on video though. So much fun! 


Turkish Dance from Joel Hildebrand on Vimeo.




Turkish Dance 2 from Joel Hildebrand on Vimeo.

Court Update

I was hoping we would come home from the village to good news, but I'm afraid we still don't know much. We are still waiting to hear if we can keep the same court dates (September 28 and October 8). AAI said they probably won't hear any news until the courts re-open in another week or so.  I am so very anxious to hear news, it has been hard to be patient. We absolutely cannot wait to meet Y, but I'm trying to prepare my heart because there is a chance our court dates could get pushed back. If they do, we probably won't have Y home until after Christmas. Please pray with us that we'll be able to keep our original court dates! Thanks so much for joining with us in prayer, friends!

Village Vacation

Well, it was supposed to be vacation, but I don't know that I would call it that, we were definitely roughing it. And I know how to rough it, but even this was a stretch for me. 

I just don't know how to put all that we experienced in the last 5 days into words. It was a very challenging trip, that's for sure! There were some really hard moments, but some very good ones too. I'm so glad that we were able to go (now if our friends ever want to invite us back again, that's another story).

It's hard enough being a foreigner in a big city, but going to a tiny village in the middle of nowhere where we stuck out even more made it 10 times more difficult. We were being watched all.the.time! Most of the time I felt awkward and hoped I wasn't making lots of mistakes or doing anything culturally inappropriate. But even so, everyone in the village was so welcoming. Seriously, eastern hospitality just puts us westerners to shame.

I wish I could take you all there, the village was absolutely beautiful, the pictures do not do it justice!

Our trip started off with a bang with Vienna throwing up 5 times in the car on the 3 1/2 hour ride there. All over me, all over the car, all over her blankie (which, by the way, we couldn't wash for 4 days, but we baby-wiped the hang out of it - hey you got to do what you got to do!) By the end of the ride, she just didn't have anything left to throw up, poor thing, I felt so bad for her. It was a loooooong ride, with 7 of us squished into our friends' little car.

We made it to the village just in time for Ifthar (the evening meal when Muslims break their fast). We all sat down on the little porch and ate and by this time Vienna was feeling better. I wish I would have taken a picture of how we ate. A blanket was laid down on the floor and then a big round tray was brought out with lots of small bowls full of food (chickpeas, rice, fried peppers, yogurt, bread) and we began eating. We weren't given our own individual plates, you just grab a spoon and go to town, everyone eats from the same bowls. We are used to it though because whenever we visit our friends from the village we eat that way.

One thing that I was praying hard for was that we would all stay healthy the whole time. After seeing the way food was stored, prepared and eaten, I was a little nervous that we would all get sick. But we just ate what we were given and God kept us all healthy.


The mosque was at the center of the village and every morning at 5:30 we were woken up by the call to prayer. I usually don't hear the call to prayer in the city since the mosque isn't that close to our apartment, but this village was small and all the houses surround the mosque, so it was LOUD!


On our second day there (after being woken up at a crazy early hour by our friends) we went out visiting. I lost count of how many people we visited, but we didn't stay long at any home. We would walk in, kiss our host's hand and put it to our forehead (a sign of respect to your elders) and then we would be given candy or some nuts and talk for a little. Then it was off to the next house, repeat. In most homes there wasn't much furniture, if any. Everyone just sits on the floor. 


We definitely felt your prayers while we were there, thank you! For the most part, our kids did really great and were flexible even though they didn't nap and stayed up till all hours of the night. The trip was hardest for Vienna (she doesn't do so well on little sleep, plus all the old women tried to pick her up and kiss her and she was NOT having it). But by the grace of God, we survived and even managed to have fun and make some new friends along the way.

Turkish culture is just so different than ours and we're still getting used to it. We never knew what was going to happen in the day, so we just tried to go with the flow. But one thing that was a little hard was that all the men in the village are NEVER home, the women are expected to stay home and take care of the kids (or just let them run willy nilly around the village which most of them were) while the men go out and drink tea and play cards all day and all night. So our friends thought it was a little strange that Joel was helping me out with the kids so much, men in the village just don't do that. I am so thankful for my husband, he is such a good dad!


One thing that I love about Turkish culture is that relationships take priority over time. It's so important to be with people, no matter what you're doing, it's just important that you are together. No one is in a hurry, there's nowhere you have to be, no schedules, no checking your watch making sure you're on time. Life is slow-paced and relaxed.

And I was blown away by just how much everyone works together and shares, it truly was people living in community (kind of how I picture when I read the New Testament - except these people don't know Jesus). They don't have much, but what they do have they share freely with everyone. Their homes are always open. You never know who is going to show up. There were people constantly flowing in and out of the house we stayed at. And they were always invited to sit and eat. And it didn't matter if you didn't have a lot of food, you just share what you have and it always is enough.

I could go on and on, but I won't bore you with details, how about some more pictures?!

I'm so glad I brought bubbles along. Vienna LOVES them!

The squatty potty. I'll spare you the details of my low point of the week, but let's just say it involved a cell phone and the squatty potty. You can make up your own story :)

Joel looks tired and I think Vienna is kicking Colson and he is screaming at her. Lovely.

Colson thoroughly enjoyed the tree swing at our hosts' home

I love this picture of the little boy peeking over the wall. He had fun making funny faces for the camera.

There were always animals roaming through the streets - horses, cows, chickens, sheep, you name it!

Colson and friends

Walking on the main road through the village with our friends

Our kids were EXHAUSTED every night from being up so late and not taking naps.

Love this picture!

Everyone in the village had their head covered, so my friend gave me one of her head coverings to wear while we were there (whoops, you can see my hair!).

Where the villagers got their drinking water (and everyone drinks out of those cups).

One day we went to the local fair. The kids did have fun on the ride, although they don't look so thrilled in the picture.

My sweet boy :)

Vienna loved to wear my head covering. Don't mind my greasy hair, we didn't shower the whole time we were there.

This lady was just so sweet. She sat down and rattled off a bunch of Turkish to me and I just sat there and nodded and smiled. I had no idea what she was saying, the older women in the village were SO hard to understand. It was like they were speaking a completely different Turkish!

This picture reminds me of my childhood :)

The village mosque

Cooking food for the entire village (about a few hundred people). The families from the village take turns cooking lunch at the mosque for everyone in the village, they do this everyday.

A (horse?) skull on someone's fence post

On the way home we stopped at this lookout. It was at sunset and the view was gorgeous!

We could even see some Greek islands from the lookout!

Simply amazing!