WE'RE HOME!

I can truly say I am thankful to be home even though I left a part of my heart in Ethiopia. Oh I can't wait to share the stories. The trip was amazing and so life changing. My eyes now see a different beautiful part of Jesus. I feel like I have had yet another transformation within my soul and I see my home and life here in such a new light. We are just all so blessed to have so much... we have too much. After a long journey we are home safely. Our family is adjusting well .. Jonas is a true gift, a miracle baby who I think God has HUGE plans for. He lights up people wherever we go. He greeted everyone on the plane with his huge dimple smile. He locks eyes with you and instantly you are in love. Random strangers want to hold him because he is just so contagious. He is not the lucky one in this family... we truly are. I can't wait to see what he is going to teach us about Joy. He seems to find it throughout every hour of the day. What a gift and I'm so thankful for the Lord to trust me to care for His precious child. He's just so beautiful not just on the outside but his soul seems so wise.

Brooke has a true mothering heart. God has given her this gift of being a little natural loving caring miniature mom. She fell in love with Jonas the minute she saw him. She is an amazing helper and not over bearing at all. Her instincts are right on for what Jonas needs...they are truly amazing for a little 3 1/2year girl. Today she looked at me with her big blue eyes and said MOMMY thank you for bringing baby Jonas home I'm so glad he's here with us. The first morning she woke up at 5:30am and heard baby Jonas and I downstairs. It was like Christmas for her... she feed him his bottle, changed diapers and got him dressed with me. Brooke is truly overjoyed with all of this new experience. I can't wait to see how many children she will have or how many she will adopt one day.

Parker is doing GREAT! As for most of you know he has been a mamas boy ( which I can say I LOVE) He is doing great with all of this MUCH better than I thought. When we were driving back from the airport Parker had some many stories he wanted to share with Jonas. He talked to him the whole way.. so sweet. I told Parker tonight he could be my helper tonight and get Jonas' bottle and he was very excited about the responsibility. Jonas was sad in his bouncy seat and I caught Parker loving on him saying it's going to be ok.. oh it melted my heart. I think more than anything Parker missed us and family time. He has just had this HUGE content smile on his face since we have been home. I think his love language might be spending quality time. The minute I held him in my arms at the airport he said I missed you. Oh and how I missed them .. I don't think I could ever be away again that long.
Tonight we went on a walk after dinner and I looked at Scott and said I feel like I'm in a dream. I could have never dreamed in a million years of how wonderful my family is and how smoothly things are going. Granted I know there will be bumps and hard days but oh the good days will always out way the bad. If any of you know my story you know I have prayed to God my entire life that all I wanted was a family of my own and God gave me my desires beyond my dreams. God knew he had this perfect family of 5 just waiting for me. I'm so thankful I can see how truly blessed I am. Thank you Lord, I'm in awe of your amazing love for me!!
As soon as I am caught up on some sleep and adjusted to being home I will share everything about our trip .. this blog will be my journal

This banner was on our front porch when we got home .. Thanks PA and KIM!

Our first walk as a whole family including Lucky dog:)

All our precious children finally together

Thanks Rachel, Danielle and Kelly for the stroller we got it when we got home .. It's perfect and we have used it everyday on our walks Love you girls

Pure Joy

I just received these pictures tonight-I just love them. These are from the very first time Heidi and Scott had Jonas in their arms. So, so precious! He is the cutest thing. The joy just radiates from all of them. What a beautiful sight!

Heidi said that he is an even bigger blessing than they could even have imagined. What an awesome God we serve!!!!

Please continue to pray for safe travels as they will be leaving Ethiopia in just a few hours to begin their journey home.

Pictures!!!

FINALLY!!! Finally we get some pictures around here. I had given up and figured I'd just have to wait to see the happy family at the airport. Lucky for me and all of you, Heidi and Scott were able to get these great pictures out today. Now as I mentioned, I had the privilege of meeting this beautiful boy in January. I kept telling his mommy and daddy that he was the happiest baby in the whole care center (maybe in all of Ethiopia). They have confirmed my observation and say he IS the happiest boy. They said they couldn't get him to go to sleep last night because he wouldn't stop laughing!

It is so nice to see pictures of him in his mommy and daddy's arms. Things are almost as they should be-just a few more days until the whole family is together. You can just see the joy in all of their faces to finally be together. Adoption is such an amazing gift. The love you feel for the precious blessing that God has bestowed on you is hard to describe. What an honor for God to have chosen this family to raise and love baby Jonas.

They did pass through their Embassy appointment yesterday, so everything is set for Jonas' homecoming.

I pray that these pictures will be contagious and spark a chain reaction of families answering God's call to care for the orphan. May this sweet child grow to love God and serve Him and be a mighty light for His kingdom.

We Have News!

Ok, so patience is not my virtue. As soon as I posted the previous post, I received this message from Heidi's mother-in-law.

Just wanted all to know that we heard from Heidi and Scott today. The electricity has been out for 2 days as they are working on the front of the building so there were no phone calls or internet access. They are so happy and excited. We could hear the baby in the backround laughing and it sounded like he was saying Dada! We couldn't believe it! The kids were so happy to hear from them as the last time was on the video call on the internet from Dubai. Brooke kept asking..."do you have baby Jonas, do you have baby Jonas?" Parker was just excited to know that Scott gave baby Jonas his Thomas the train that he sent with Scott! Scott said they are trying to get some pictures up on the internet to send but that the internet was worse than our dial up so it is pretty slow. They still haven't found any wireless connections.

Thanks for praying for them and the kids. The kids are doing amazing. They are not skipping a beat. We were able to spend a long weekend at the beach with their cousins , Aunt Dana and Uncle John so they were busy and well loved.

We will let you know if there is any further news.
Love
Debbie Armstrong

No New News

No news is good news as they say in the adoption world, but I am just dying to hear from Heidi and Scott about their first meeting with Jonas. I have literally been stalking my own email inbox waiting for an update to no avail. If everything went as scheduled, they should have met Jonas on Monday and have, I'm sure, been enjoying him ever since.

I find myself counting the hours between time zones and thinking about what they are probably doing now. Right now, they are probably getting that sweet boy ready for bed. Because we were just there, it is so easy for me to picture them at the guest house with him-sitting out in the court yard, down at the main table for breakfast, gazing out at the same scenery that we just experienced and mingling with the gracious guest house staff. I imagine they are soaking up every minute of it-of course this is all just speculation because I haven't heard ANYTHING:).

I've been trying to give them their space, in case they are just too busy to bother with email, but I think that there must be a communication issue. This morning, I finally caved and tried to call them. I called over and over and only got a busy signal, so it may just be that they are unable to call or send email right now. Power outages and internet connection failures are very common in Ethiopia.

So, I will leave you all with this picture of our homecoming with our two girls. We were so glad to have Heidi and her family at the airport to welcome us home. Notice the cute Africa shirts (handmade by Heidi). We will all be sporting our shirts once again to welcome little Jonas home on Sunday!

Ethiopian Update

While Heidi and Scott are in Ethiopia, they've asked that I (Jessica) post to their blog for them. I feel honored to return this favor as she posted for us while we were in Ethiopia in January bringing our daughters home. I'll be updating as I get information from them.

This morning I received an email from Heidi. Their flights have gone well, they are soaking up the culture and loving being among such joyful people. She is taken aback by the level of poverty and living conditions they have seen. It really is an unimaginable thing to see hunger, homelessness and despair on such a large scale. But as she said, amongst the unimaginable suffering, their is joy. That is what makes Ethiopia such an amazing place. The people there are the kindest, happiest and most generous that I have ever had the privilege to be around.

Her heart is full of emotions as she takes all of this in and as she and Scott prepare to meet their sweet baby boy on Monday. We were blessed to meet him when we went to get our girls and he was truly the happiest and most content baby in the whole room. God could not have picked a more beautiful boy for them or a more perfect family for Jonas.

Please continue to pray for them. They are traveling to Mekele today (the region where Jonas was and where our agency has another care center). They will be playing with and loving the children their and setting up new cribs for the baby room. Pray for continued safe travels, health, and of course a wonderful first meeting with their beautiful boy.

I've posted a few picture from our trip to Mekele. I thought it might be fun for you to see where Heidi and Scott are today.

We're leaving on a Jet Plane...

Our bags are packed at 49 1/2 pounds! We couldn't go over 50 pounds.Mission accomplished:)

We are ready for our next adventure. I'm having my friend Jessica update my blog with any new information while we are gone. I leave you today with this video to inspire you. We can make a difference!



James1:27 Pure and geniune religion in the sight of God the Father means caring for the orphans and widows in their distress!

Packing and more Packing

I feel like I've been packing for a week now...oh wait, I have!! It's never ending and I don't like packing because I'm just not good at it .. I get very distracted and forget what I was doing so it takes me a long time. Plus with twins running around it's hard to stay focused:) I was so excited to get some supplies and fun toys for the kids in Mekele which I ordered from Oriental trading company, one of my favorite toy magazines. We plan to be there this Saturday and Sunday before we go to the capital of Ethiopia, Addis Ababa, which is where we will meet Jonas for the first time. I have so many crazy emotions right now. One minute I'm totally excited jumping up and down and wanting to scream then I'm sad thinking wow I'm leaving my kids for so long! Then i get a wave of worry that turns into anxiety and then I think of those cute little dimples and smile and it all turns into pure joy again:) Also, I keep thinking about just going to Ethiopia and seeing the country.. I know it's going to change our lives forever. To meet the people and experience the culture excites me so much. I can't wait!
I have been emailing with the other families we will be traveling with and I think we are going to have a great group sharing in such an unforgettable experience. I'm so looking forward to meeting them and their children. Oh there is so much to look forward too. Another one is that I get to spend 11 days with my sweet husband catching up on life. It will be a great time spending so much one on one time together. I could go on and on about all I have been thinking and dreaming about. My mind has been a roller coaster and my heart is about to burst with emotions. It will be nice to have peace once he's in my arms.
I'm sure I will post a farewell message on Wednesday but until then, back to packing:)

The meaning of Jonas

I can't tell you his original name yet .. not until we get him home in 20days:) but our agency told us that an English version would be Jonas.

I read the book in the bible and it seemed to be perfect to represent him.

Jonah (or Jonas)
Jonah, was born in Israel. He was called by God to preach repentance to the capital city was Nineveh. However, Jonah rebelled. Jonah didn't want to preach to the pagans of Nineveh. So, Jonah tried to escape God's plan by fleeing on a ship. But Jonah was thrown overboard and swallowed by a great fish. Later, the fish spit him out on the shoreline. Then, finally, Jonah obeyed God's command and went to Nineveh to preach. His preaching was successful and 120,000 people in Nineveh turned to God in obedience, sparing themselves punishment from God. Jonah's time inside the fish is used as an example of Jesus' burial in Matthew 12:38-41. The basic theme of Jonah is that God declares His love for ALL men, whether they are Israelites or not. Jonah was unable to love the Nineveh people properly, but God desired nothing for them but their salvation, and so He sent a prophet Jonah to preach repentance. Jonah, means "dove". The Bible's book of Jonah is the 5th of the twelve minor prophets.

The main purpose of this story was to show the extent of God's GRACE. To send a message of salvation is for ALL people.

So after reading the book in the bible I knew it was the perfect name for him. Now we have decided to decorate his room to remind him the meaning of his name.

I wish someone was playing Apirl Fools

It sure does feel like April fools for the past few weeks around here. None of the picture do these things justice... or show the frustrating emotions that come along with it. 1st accident was the garage door came down as our trash can was outside the line a little bit and the door hit it and jammed up. We were heading out of town and our garage door would not shut now! Luckily, Scott was able to rig it where it would finally shut.

Next a big wind/rain storm came through and ripped our NEW grill cover.

During a different storm a few days later our nice umbrella blew away down the street and the trash man threw it away.

Our next incident was from a pre-existing bumper issue from my car that we never had fixed. I was coming back from my sister's and the protective pan under the car decides to fall off and drag against the ground in a HUGE storm. It was pulling my car so badly I couldn't drive it home. I was about an hour a way with my kids and my husband had to pick us up.

He got under the car and duck taped it to be able to drive it home. We took it to the repair people and we're finally forking out the $1500 to fix it all. I couldn't get a good picture but you can see the classy duck tape.

While that was happening I dropped my cell phone for the hundredth time.. it now has some major issues and I need to get a new one. Plus my husbands car window on the driver side goes down and stays down.. it gets stuck. The other night I had to drive it home will the full window down in the cold. REALLY? You ask me .. YES really this has all happened oh but there is more...

Then this is the icing on the cake last night. My husband heard a loud bang went down stairs to find this mess. A shelf in our office was riped out of the wall and everything went flying. He came to bed and told me not to worry. Of course what did I do ..worry. I couldn't go back to sleep thinking we are under attack. I told Scott and he agreed but we are thankful that we see it and can now laugh it off and not get us down for what is about to come.

No Broken car, garage, car window or cell phone, no ripped grill cover, no shelf falling, no big mess to clean up can get us from getting to you baby JONAS! We need all your prayers right now .. prayers of protection.