http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8zQYA6OgyuM

this is so convicting to me, I just wanted to share it with you.

Emma

I am so excited to be able to share a picture with you of our friends new little girl Emma, they got to meet Emma for the first time on Christmas morning. Congrats Aaron & Cacey she is beautiful.

Dec 11 weekly update

Once again this week 3 children were matched with forever families.

another great giveway

head over to geartegang.blogspot.com and check out a great giveaway from a wonderful lady on Etsy. http://gaertegang.blogspot.com/

Baby Emma

our friends Aaron and Cacey will be meeting their baby girl in Ethiopia on Christmas morning. What an awesome present from God. Congrats Aaron and Cacey!

This weeks update

3 referrals this week, 2 girls and a boy. Congratulations to those families.

During the month of November there were 23 referrals.

As of today there are 85 families waiting to be matched with a child.

An update on us, we are so close to being done with this stage of the process, we sent everything down to Indy to get State certified and there was a problem with 2 papers so we are redoing those then we will be done and waiting to be notified of our number on the waiting list. We really don't know how long we might have to wait for a referral, it could be like 6 months it may be a year or even longer. But our hearts are encouraged with the speed things are going, we have to keep reminding ourselves that all of this will happen in God's perfect timing.

Have a great weekend!

Thanksgiving thoughts

As you sit down to your thanksgiving dinner with food a plenty, please remember the mothers around the world who may be struggling,

remember the children who are living in orphanages,

living on the street,

maybe crying out in hunger,

or maybe so hungry that they can not cry.

While no one person can help all these children, you can start by helping one.

This week from Ethiopia

our agency placed 6 children this week with loving families.

CONGRATULATIONS!

Orphan Sunday

Sunday November 8,2009 is Orphan sunday

Isaiah 1:17 — to “seek justice, encourage the oppressed, and defend the cause of the fatherless.”

Steven Curtis Chapman will perform a live concert, anchored by presentations from several leaders in the adoption and orphan care movement, among them Jedd Medefind, who prior to his leadership of Christian Alliance for Orphans worked in the White House Office of Faith-Based Initiatives

We need to be working on ways to start raising awareness about the dramatic need that exists among the world’s children. Over 143 million of them have lost a parent; some 87 million have lost both parents. Most of them live in poverty and have very few chances to succeed in life.

Whether it’s supporting foster care, domestic adoption, international adoption or supporting overseas orphanages and shelters, there is much that we can do as the richest country on earth to support these 143 million children who need help.

The Orphan Sunday live webcast starts at 2:00PM Pacific Time this Sunday, November 8. I hope you check it out!

Finger Prints

Tomorrow we will be going to Indianapolis to get our finger prints done, this is the last major step before submitting our dossier and being OFFICIALLY on the waiting list for our daughter. As of right now there are 90 families waiting to be matched with a precious little one. Thanks for all the prayers, we are so blessed to be a part of what God is doing to bring this little one home.

Thanks to my friend Danielle for offering up another great give away, we won a kids CD from a previous give away and I am sure the boy's are going to just love it. this time it is a scented. plug in wax tart burner. I love to have yummy smelling things in my home. Check it out at

http://gaertegang.blogspot.com/2009/10/scentsy-review-giveaway.html?showComment=1256575778927#c2455155205468513997

check out another great give away from my dear friend Danielle.I think my boy's would enjoy this.http://gaertegang.blogspot.com/2009/10/charlie-hope-cd-review-giveaway.html?showComment=1255210783570#c6285444395438086156

Ethiopia

Ethiopia

Immigration Update

we got our immigration approval in the mail today!!!!! we have a finger print date and that is the last step before submitting our dossier to Ethiopia. YAH one step closer.

GOD IS SO GOOD

This weeks update from Ethiopia

The Ethiopia team is thrilled to have offered 5 referrals on this week and placed another special needs referral on CHIFamilyNet, who is already being reviewed. The break down of referrals is: 3 boys - 3 ½ months, 4 months and 5 months old; one 5 month old girl (special needs) and a sibling set of an 8 ½ month old girl and a 7 yr old boy. All of the families waited just about 11 ½ months to be matched, however the family with the 5 month old boy waited 10 ½ months.

We also placed 3 of our waiting children. One who is Heb B+ and an older sibling set of 2 boys.

Congratulations to all of the families and children

give away

another great give away at geartegang.blogspot.com

http://gaertegang.blogspot.com/2009/09/marie-madeline-studio-giveaway.html?showComment=1254249005448#c5017224974474091186

at the geartegang web site this is doing an awesome give away . check it out.

http://gaertegang.blogspot.com/2009/09/labyrinth-balance-board-reviewgiveaway.html?showComment=1254248437939#c4606694698923561970

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!

Ethiopian New Year (Enkutatash)

September 11^th Ethiopia welcomes in the New Year ! The year 2002!!

Ethiopia still retains the Julian calendar, in which the year is divided into 12 months of 30 days each and a 13^th month of 5 days and 6 days in the leap year.

The Ethiopian calendar is 8 years behind the Gregorian calendar from January to September and 7 years behind between September 11 and January 8. Enkutatash means the “gift of jewels”. When the famous Queen of Sheba returned from her expensive jaunt to visit King Solomon in Jerusalem, her chiefs welcomed her back by replenishing her treasury with inku or jewels. The spring festival has been celebrated since this early time, and as the rains come to their abrupt end dancing and singing can be heard at every village in the green countryside; but Enkutatash is not exclusively a religious holiday. Today’s Enkutatash is also the season for exchanging formal New Year greetings and cards among the urban sophisticated - in lieu of traditional bouquets of flowers. It is a time to express hopes and dreams for the future. Meskerem (September) is seen as a month of transition from the old year to the new

This weeks update

The Ethiopia team is happy to announce the referral of two children this week. The children are both boys, ages 8 months and 11 months. The families waited 12 months and 11 ½ months respectively to be matched. Congratulations to them all.

Dossier/ Goverment paper work

So we received our information packet on Friday, I was so excited I dove right in and started reading over everything and getting myself all organized , I was ready to tackle the world.....the more I read the more overwhelmed and stressed I got, so much so that on Sunday night I was looking for papers in my sleep, evidently they were under the mattress :-) Nathan got a good laugh out of it.
But Monday is a new day, and I am so pleased with what got done today I got at least 3 things finished and 2 more partially done. I just keep reminding myself that God is in control, he has orchestrated this whole thing and will not leave us hanging. Please pray for me, that God will give me wisdom in understanding all of the legal stuff, and patience to not rush through things. I need to remember that all things happen in God's perfect timing ( not mine)

Baby we miss you

This makes me so excited for the day we will bring our baby girl home.

TIME LINE

July 2 2009: our 1st meeting with Gateway Woods.

July 30 2009: Home study visit.

Aug 19 2009: Accepted into the Ethiopia Adoption program with Children's Hope Intl

Aug 28: mailed all release papers to CHI

Sep 16: Home Study Complete.

Sep 18: Immigration papers mailed

Oct 2 : Immigration approval, apt for finger prints.

Jan 2 2010 : Mailed Dossier papers

Jan 14 2010: Waiting family #80

Dear Little one

My Precious baby, you are not even born yet and we are so in love with you.

I think of you everyday, praying that God will watch over you and care for you, that you will grow to be healthy and strong.

love your forever family

We Are In

We just got the phone call that informed us that we have officially been accepted into the Ethiopia Adoption program. WOW !!!!! excited does not even begin to cover the way we are feeling right now.

GOD IS SO GOOD

August 19, 2009

Dear Nathan & Christa Miller

Congratulations! Your application for adoption has been approved by the Program Director.

We will be mailing out your approval packet today or tomorrow with instructions on how to proceed.

We are very excited for you, and wish you well as you begin your adoption journey!

Gloria Akers

The Intake Department

Children’s Hope International