Coffee for the Coffeys

Fact: Ethiopia is the birthplace of coffee.
Fact: Ethiopia is the birthplace of the newest Coffey.
Fact: You can buy coffee to help us bring home our Coffey.

Just Love Coffee is a fundraising site for adoptive families. They sell Fair Trade Coffee by the pound, and in sample packs, as well as t-shirts. You can buy 1 pound, or even set up an account to have coffee delivered to your door on a set schedule! The best part is, when you buy from our "store," we get $5 from every bag to help bring home Baby Buna!
You get coffee, we get a Coffey. It's really a win-win, don't you think?

Check out our store here
http://justlovecoffee.com/thecoffeys

We'd love to have you support us in this way!

Papers, Papers, Everywhere.

We went to a coffee shop last weekend, to sort through and figure out what papers we need to sign, what checks needed to be written, what needs notarizing, what we needed copies of, and proof of, and who needed to be contacted, emailed, called, questioned....agh!
Then we invested in an accordion binder.
It's maybe my most prized possession at the moment.
In it we have reading resources, and certified birth certificates, checklists and copies. We have home-study papers, and dossier papers. We have things to be mailed, things to be signed, and grants to look into. This file is as close to our baby as we can get for now, and we are throwing ourselves into it. The binder says: go to the police station, and I go. The binder says: Make an emergency evacuation plan, and Lachlan's on it.
This week we have each visited our doctor's offices to receive our first physicals since high school, with the added pleasure of TB, HIV and Cholesterol labs. We wrote 5 pages each in our "personal surveys". We mailed background checks to the State Police, and the kids and I adventured downtown to get city police checks. WE BOUGHT A MINIVAN. Today, I meet with our social worker for my personal interview, and Lachlan meets with her tomorrow. The kids' have appointments for their physicals in a week.
As much energy and organization as all this takes, I like it. I am participating in a task that will bring home my baby. It's the part after this, when all the forms have been mailed, and my primary task is waiting that I am not looking forward to. I like knowing. I like when things happen BEFORE I think they will.
Ellory was due May 29. Ezra, April 9. Praise God they both came early. I am that psycho pregnant lady who would have physically and emotionally lost it if I would have been pregnant at 12:01 am on May 30 or April 10. I'm not proud of this fact. But I'm aware.
I am the friend you call in your 39th week to verify what tactics to take in inducing labor. I like to, at minimum, believe I have some say or hand in doing something to make my babies arrival eminent.
I.KNOW.I.HAVE.A.PROBLEM.
Adoption should be the ultimate lesson in patience for me. God's good way of reminding me to take a deep breathe and remember that He gave it to me. To remember that He is rightfully and thankfully, in control on Baby Buna, and the perfect timing for him/her to join us in our home.
Pray for patience. Pray for Baby Buna. Pray for Ellory and Ezra. Pray for our personal interviews and homestudy. Pray for the finances of this to all come together. Pray that we would trust in God to provide for all these need and desires.

Meeting One

On Monday night we met our social worker for the first time. I felt like I was going to hear the heartbeat of our babe. It wasn't quite as exciting, and instead of urine samples and that cold belly gel, we were given a stack of papers to fill out, a list of papers to collect, a list of appointments to make, and briefed on all the things we need to rearrange, change, add and/or take away from our home. It was all a bit overwhelming, yet exciting, as we were given tangible "tasks" to complete to come a step closer to our little one, (who by the way we have nicknamed "Baby Buna"--Buna is "coffee" in Amharic).
Next week, Lachlan and I will meet with our social worker alone, for our personal interviews. Before then, we have to fill out personal history surveys, and basically write a college admission essay. We also have to get physical exams and have our doctors verify our health and ability to provide for our baby.
We are scheduled for our home visit to take place June 10th. This will be a financial stretch as all our homestudy money will be due on this date, but we didn't want to put it off considering that our social worker is 8 months pregnant. Her labor would push back our homestudy visit and report until August. Please pray that we would complete everything we need to before her child is born. Pray for us as we work diligently to gather, prepare, write, plan, meet, etc. over the next few weeks, as well.
Stay tuned for some exciting news in the fundraising efforts! We think you will enjoy!

Nana

Last Friday night, our little family was able to celebrate the birth of some close friend's first baby. What a cutie. Israel Comet took his sweet time getting here--he was 10 days over his due date--so we were quite happy to finally meet the little man and celebrate with his momma and poppa at the hospital. When we were almost home, we received a message from Lachlan's Aunt Debbie, that Lachlan's Nana (Nonna) was in the same hospital. She had had a pretty rough go the previous night, but seemed to have made really great progress Friday. Lachlan decided, that although it was already past our babes bedtime, we should turn around and go visit. We hadn't seen Nana since October, when we had all traveled to Texas to celebrate a family wedding.
We had a brief but sweet visit with Nana. Lachlan was able to show off his newly straighten teeth, financially aided by Nana! And we were able to share the exciting news about our new baby!
By Saturday, things turned again, and we were told it would soon be time for Nana to pass. We--and Lachlan's sisters--were all out of town celebrating our nieces' 4th birthday. We were blessed, however to be able to return to the hospital on Sunday, to spend time with family, and say our goodbyes to Nana. She passed, with her children and Lachlan's sister by her side, Sunday evening.
This week has been filled with lots of emotions. New life, birthday celebrations, and death. We attended the first night of visitations yesterday, and will continue this evening, laying Nana to rest on What would have been her 78th birthday, Thursday.
My husband said it well; "Death for the passing believer has certainly lost it's sting, but for those left behind, the sting is still present."
Our hope is that Nana was secure as a child of the living God--that she entered into eternity "sting free". Our prayer is that we remember that this fallen world, full of pain and sorrow and death, is not our home, and that when He returns or calls us home, we will be freed from the sting as well.

OFFICIAL!

We got an email last night with the official approval! Now we wait again to be contacted by the Ethiopia Program Director, who will guide us through the next steps!
We are also cleared to begin the home study process, so we will be calling our social worker today to set up our first meeting. The home study segment of the process is approximately $1650, so we will also be working our butts off to scrimp, save and fundraise!
YAY YAY YAY!!!

Money Money Money Money

Today has been filled with research (21c translation: googling) and brainstorming (21c translation: facebook poll) on how to fund our adoption. The first result is direct from our super awesome friend Laura. She suggested we add a paypal donation button, and sent me all the links and such I needed to do so. So, now you will see it in the top right corner.
I got lots of other great ideas form friends, like t-shirts and letters and lemonade stands.
Then I asked Ellory Sue. At almost 4, this girl is loving and giving, and thoughtful beyond belief.
Our conversation went something like this:
Me: Ellory Sue. It's going to take a lot of money for us to bring our baby home. I'm trying to think of some ways we might raise money. You got any?
Ellory Sue: Well, you can have all my money.
M: Ellory, that's beautiful, you are going to be such a great big sister to your brother or sister! I can tell you love them already.
E: Well, I do, and I just want to help. So you can have it all.
M: Do you have any other ideas?
E: We could go to the bank.
M: We might end up doing that, They might let us borrow money to bring our baby home, and we can give it back.
E: I could sell my things.
M: You have things you would want to sell for your new baby? That's a great idea. Maybe we could have a yard sale, and you could have a lemonade stand!
E: YESSSSSSSSSSSSS! I'll say, 'Get your lemonade, take it home! Get your lemonade so we can bring our baby home!"

Then she proceeded to go into her room and emerge with the contents you see in the photo. I halfheartedly apologize if something you gave her is in this pile. You see that big pink tutu? I worked too many stinking hours on that thing, because I wanted to give Ellory a homemade gift for Christmas two years ago. I Made it the BIGGEST, FLUFFIEST, PINKEST tutu this side of the Mississippi, and the girl has touched it a total of 6 times, usually to tell me she doesn't like it. When she brought the pile of things out, there was this urge in me to say, "No, Ellory, not these things, not your things, not the thing I MADE!" And that heart translation would have said: "Our things, my time, this STUFF...it's more important than people. That tutu is more important than your brother, your sister."
How sick is that!? From the mouth of babes I tell ya! My sweet girl understands sacrifice more than I do. And I love that this new Coffey, and Ezra have a sister who would give up everything she had for them!
Tutu anyone?

Closer...

So it's not official-official, but we got an encouraging call from our agency yesterday! In addition to the application, photos, tax documents and contract, we had to have a medical letter sent from my doctor that outlined some medication, treatment, prognosis, etc...Thankfully, they received all the information they needed, on the proper letterhead, with proper signatures...Whew!
And so, yesterday, they called...well, I'll be honest, they returned my call--I might be a total freak when it comes to aiding the process as much as I can--So, they returned my call to let us know that they had all they needed, and they would continue to review all the information and send it on to the Ethiopia Program, whom we should here from "in the next few days." Agh! (I've never been so thankful for concrete dates and times for the pre-natal appointments I had with Ellory Sue and Ezra.) At that time, they will pass on all the information and document checklist of the things we need to complete and gather to compose our dossier.
I should note how thankful we already are for the way this process is stretching us and growing us. First and foremost, we are blown away as we reflect daily on our own adoption through Christ Jesus, as God's children. Not kinda of children, or second thought children, or children-for-now-but-don't-you-mess-up children, but really really God's own. It's one of those things that as Christians we've "known," but are now being blessed with the parable of our own lives.
I had similar feelings when Ellory Sue entered into her 2nd year of life. I felt like I was bombarded by pictures of our Father's perfect, gentle, gracious parenting. On several occasions, I'd set out a "station" of shiny new toys and books for Ellory Sue to play with, and walk to the back of the house to switch the laundry, or prepare lunch. Inevitably, I'd reenter the room to here rumbles and baby talk coming from the bathroom, where Ellory had forgone my "good gift" and opted to play in the bathroom trash. I'd flip, and then beg God for forgiveness, as clear images came to mind, of how I was doing the same--seeking garbage, wallowing in filthy, when His good gifts were before me.
Three weeks into this adoption process, God has been so gracious in showing us that while we have the best intentions and desires, and we are fighting hard for our child, we are still sinful humans. God, however, and His love, desire, intentions and fight are nothing but holy and pure. And he really did wage war to complete our adoption!
We are also learning that even though this child, in our hearts, is already really our baby, as much as Ellory and Ezra were in those first hours we knew they were growing inside me, people will say, or insinuate, or in some other way communicate doubt. The same way we doubt that God could really save "that person." The same way we think there is something we can do to be more of God's child that we already are. As we venture down this road to our child, I am all the more confident in God's free gift of grace on our lives, unwavering in our screw ups and our own doubts, or the doubts of those we encounter--we REALLY ARE GOD'S CHILDREN!