The Crenshaw Family Blog

YAHOO!!!!!!!!!!!!

2012-01-24T21:20:00.000-06:00

I am INCREDIBLY thankful to post that we were SUBMITTED TO THE EMBASSY!!!!!!! One step closer to our little girl, and this is the LAST part of the wait!!! We are so thankful to the Lord. It was a long road!

Our precious case worker called and I was very guarded when I saw her name...I thought it could be another "medical update..." they always notify us if she is on any kind of medicine, even if it is just for a cold or ear infection, etc. Anyway, she said she had good news and it was a good thing that I was pulling into my driveway b/c I wouldn't have been able to see the road through my thankful tears!

She said that this part of the wait would be the hardest...I am not too sure about that! I could be VERY wrong and I will let you know, but waiting 7 weeks to get submitted has been pretty tough. I am sure that a lot of it was based off of assuming it would look like other files and we would be submitted after 2-3 weeks. Those last 4 weeks of thinking "it could be the week" made for an emotional roller coaster.

Anyway...what does this mean??

Well, every child has to be cleared by the Embassy to get a VISA to come to the US. They have our file and will be reviewing it soon. This used to be a quicker process, but they are really digging deep into each case to ensure that there is not anything unethical going on. So, they will ask for different interviews and then compare that information to the information that is on our file. If it all matches up and they don't question anything, they will clear us to come and get her. They do have the right to send our file to Nairobi for more investigation. I pray that does not happen.

Many are asking about the timeline from here:
-our file was submitted yesterday...Jan. 23.
-The Embassy usually notifies us that they have received it about 2 weeks later and soon after says what interviews they will request.
-The interviews have been taking place about 2 weeks after the request.
-If all goes well, they will clear our case a few days after the interview (after they review it again)
-Usually at this point, families are hopping on a plane a few days after they are cleared!

So, this could still be a long process...anywhere from 3-7 weeks, I am guessing?? Maybe longer if the file is sent to Nairobi. I am praying that it is closer to the 3 week mark!

I am VERY thankful to be in this last step!!!!! Praising God for His love and peace in the wait, and asking Him to bring her home quickly!

We went out for Mexican to celebrate, of course!!!

Speaking of celebrating with Mexican food, we did that last week, too...when our precious son and sweet niece got baptized!! It was very, very special!!!! Such an incredible night! The two of them were so excited to "show everyone that they were Christians!" My amazing husband baptized Austin and it was so very special. He read a letter from us that encouraged him and challenged him in his faith, asked him some questions about his faith, and baptized him. My brother also got to talk about Emily and encourage/challenge her and baptize her! Oh my goodness, it was a memorable night, and I am so thankful for how they have learned and grown and made a commitment to Jesus. I can't wait to see what God does in their lives.

Here is a picture!

Ups and Downs

2012-01-16T23:20:00.000-06:00

This has been a really sweet week.

It started off pretty rough. I started this "crazy cycle" where I would get progressively more excited towards the end of the weekend because I knew that Monday was coming. Monday is the day that AGCI (our adoption agency) can submit files to the Embassy. It has been six weeks, and our file hasn't been submitted. Most are submitted after 2-3 weeks, so I thought for sure it was coming...every week. Then, Monday would come. And I wouldn't get the phone call that I wanted to get, and I was completely discouraged and defeated. I just wanted our little girl home.

Last week was no different, although, we did get a phone call. Just not the one I wanted. My phone showed our case worker's name and I was SO excited!!! But, she was just calling to talk about our fingerprints. Total let down. Sweet her, she has been so compassionate and "with us" every step of the way! I think she will be almost as excited as we are when we get submitted!

So, the night I talked to her I was really discouraged, wondering when we would get to bring our little girl home. It seems like so long ago that we were there, and then the highs and lows of the week were all-comsuming.

I prayed. I was so tired of feeling that way. My perspective was affecting so many other people. It is so easy in this process to focus on the hard things. The pain of the fallen world and fallen system and fallen people. The wait. The emotional ups and downs and the people that you bring with you on that roller coaster. I am so thankful... God so graciously changed my perspective.

I had conveniently forgotten all of the incredible things...God's faithfulness to provide for us. Him allowing us to receive a beautiful little girl into our family. A redemptive story through the pain of loss. An incredibly loving transitional home for her. Food and clothes and everything that she needs right now. A bath for her every night. Sweet women who love her. Her brother and sisters here who ask about her and pray for her every day. An adoption agency who walks us through all of the questions. Resources in our community. Families who are willing to "live life" with us. Extended family and countless friends who love our little girl and have never even met her. God's Word. His Holy Spirit. Even little things like an extra spot in a room to put growing "packing" piles in. Sweet conversations with our children already at home. A finished room waiting for a little girl to be there.

I decided I didn't need to put myself on a roller coaster anymore. She is being loved so much where she is, and I am thankful for that. We are SO READY for her to be home, yes. FOR SURE! But God has shown me so much in this journey, and it surely isn't about me and my emotions. I know there will be hard days, but I don't want to forget why we started down this beautiful and hard path of adoption in the first place. We felt led by the Lord. And we continue to. He is faithful. As hard as it is, I give up all control and rest in His beautiful plan.

That being said, it is 8 am in Ethiopia right now. I am guessing the Embassy is opening soon. I am hoping our agency can submit files today since they were closed yesterday. I am praying that "N's" paperwork is all in order and will be submitted. And, I am really really thankful for the peace that God has given me.

Here are a couple of pictures of her room:

Last day in Ethiopia...

2012-01-06T21:40:00.000-06:00

I haven't really had the heart to write this post, but I figured that I need to document all that I can, so here goes!

We got up and packed everything...big fat sadface :(...

We got to go see our little girl for a couple of hours in the morning. That day she loved those little things that you scratch off the black part and there is color underneath...you know what I am talking about? I have no idea what they are called! She also liked blocks and coloring. She started getting protective over the things that we brought for her (and all of the other kids!) to play with. Even if she didn't want to play with them, she didn't want other kids having them!

We made matching bracelets which someone recommended to help make connections that she is a part of our family. Brian and I both had one on, and we showed her that we had ones that were just alike. We put hers on her and showed her that they were all the same. We kept saying "Mommy's and Daddy's and ____(N)____'s," to try to make the connection. She liked them. I still have mine on, and the other kiddos will have one, too, when she comes home.

She had a GREAT time painting fingernails, too! She loves the doll that we brought for her, and she even painted the doll's nails! Ha! Olivia keeps saying, "Mom, did "N" REALLY paint these nails in Ethiopia!?!"

We made a photo album to leave with her with all of our pictures in it. It was really neat, because it had 5 different buttons you could push (one for each page), so we each got to leave her a "message" that corresponded to our picture. One of the pictures I put in there had a picture of our whole family, and we were holding a big picture of her. We wanted her to connect that she is a part of our family and that the kids in the album are her brother and sisters.

...

Then, back to the hotel for lunch and back for our final afternoon with our little girl. It was tough. She had just gotten some shots, so she weren't feeling so hot, but we had a pretty good afternoon anyway! She looked at her album some more and seemed really interested in it. We pointed to everyone and said their name and played what they said to her. She sat on Daddy's lap for a long time and even let me hold her for a few minutes! That was the only time all week! :) (it's the little things!!!!)

When someone came in to tell us that it was time to go, she was not happy at the moment (from something else that happened, but I can't remember!), so she didn't get into telling us good-bye. It was sad for me, and the bus ride home with all the other families (who had also just said good-bye to their little ones) was silent. I wish we had more time. But, I was glad that she wasn't torn up about saying good-bye to us. She is SO happy there and I am VERY thankful she is so connected to the special mommies and so very loved where she is. I had envisioned it being HORRIBLE to leave her...that she would be devastated...and it just was not like that. I am so glad because the thing that I was most torn up about is all of the pain and loss she has suffered in her little life...I didn't know how she would know that we are COMING BACK. I just thought that she would think we were leaving her, too. So, it was sad for me, but I am so glad that it wasn't sad for her. We just left like we did every other day we were there.

...

The flight home...I felt like my heart was literally ripped in two and part of it was in the US with the other kids and part of it was in Ethiopia with "N." It was terrible. Still is. We miss her so much. Trusting in God's timing. Trusting in His provision. Trusting that He is taking care of her and us. Begging Him to be supernaturally knitting her heart to ours in our time apart.

I can't wait to be back on a plane headed to bring her to her forever home.

Here are some pictures of some people who have been so influential in "N's" life:

This is "T." I NEVER learned how to pronounce her name correctly, so she said I could just call her "T." She is wonderful! She was the expert on our little girl's file/history, and she was SO HELPFUL!!!

This is Was. Everyone LOVES Was! He is our driver, speaks English really well, knows a lot about everything going on, and he is all the kids FAVORITE playmate!!

And...this is the amazing and famous Almaz. OHHH, Almaz!!!!! I heard incredible things about her and couldn't wait to meet her and she truly is so amazing. She loves these children and advocates for them SO well! She is from Ethiopia, but was in the states for many years and felt the Lord leading her back to Ethiopia. She followed Him, and He has done amazing things through her! I am so thankful for this woman!

Day...4???

2011-12-06T11:13:00.000-06:00

Can't keep track now of what day it is!

We had an eventful day! We got picked up at 8:30 to head to court. It was an adventurous ride that wasn't agreeing with Brian's stomach! Poor guy, he felt so sick! After driving through a lot of Addis, we picked up the man who was sort of representing us...in the court room with us. We went to the court then and walked up a bunch of stairs which is way harder than you think at this high altitude :) and waited in the courtroom area for about an hour.

Our orphanage was called, and we went in to where the judge was. We were asked many questions like, "Do you have other kids? Do they know you are adopting? Are you around others who have adopted? Have you received training? Have you learned about Ethiopian culture? Have you met your child? Do you realize that this is FINAL after everything is cleared?" Yes, yes, yes, yes...!!!!!!

She then said that our daughter's case was complete and everything was FINALIZED! AHHH...music to my ears! Thank you, Jesus! We were so thrilled!!!! It was really just the sweetest feeling to hear that. There could have been a number of things that could have led us to not passing, so I was SO VERY thankful to the Lord!!

From there, we went to a market to shop a little and then to an Italian restaurant. It was good, but what we loved was the art that was there! Local artists who sell in a "gallery" that is the restaurant. There were some really cool things.

We came back to the hotel for 45 minutes or so and then got to go back to Hannah's Hope! We had a lot of fun! We played soccer, colored, played with her baby, sang songs, and played ball. Precious time. She cried when we took her from her room to play outside, but she was fine after a couple of minutes. She even gave me a kiss goodbye!!!! :)

Tonight we are getting a GOOD night's rest and waking up to pack and spend the day with our little girl before we head back home. Our flight leaves at 11 pm or something like that, and then we will be back home Thursday afternoon. Pray for our goodbyes if you think about it. I am sure our little one will be JUST FINE...Mommy might not be! :)

WE PASSED COURT!!!!!

2011-12-06T05:20:00.001-06:00

I am so thankful to tell you that we passed court today!!!!! Those were such sweet words to hear..."We have all of your paperwork, and your file is complete. Everything is finalized." !!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Yahoo!!!! That means according to Ethiopia, our daughter is a Crenshaw! Now we just have to go through the US Embassy, and we are hoping that we will be back in this amazing country in a month! There is no guarantee for that...there could still be red tape in that process, but we are hoping!

Thank you for praying! Just wanted to update before we head back to Hannah's Hope to see our daughter for a bit!

Day 3...

2011-12-05T14:42:00.000-06:00

Here is a picture from last night's traditional Ethiopian dinner...

Instead of using utensils, they use a bread that you can unroll and tear off, and then you scoop up the food with it and eat it!

And here is the picture of a "coffee ceremony" that is common here. They pop popcorn, roast the coffee beans right there with you, and then ground them and brew it. They bring it out with incense burning.

Today we went to see our daughter first thing. It was a great time! She continues to warm up more and more to us. Still clinging to her "special mommies" and all things familiar, of course! Definitely to be expected. Her favorite things today were listening to music, playing with her baby doll, playing ball, and "cleaning" my arm with a wipe! She still loves peek-a-boo and gets really giggly! It is the most precious sound! And her voice...LOVE her little voice! It is so cute!

We also got to go to the orphanage where she was very briefly before Hannah's Hope. We wanted to bring a gift to them, so we bought them a goat on the way there with another family that is here. It was quite the experience! Haggling the cost, picking the goat, and then bringing him to the orphanage. It is quite the memory to have! Here is a picture with one of our friends from Hannah's Hope who drives us everywhere...

Tomorrow is our court date!!!! We leave first thing in the morning! Please pray that we pass court!!! We were told to expect that we won't, but there have been some other families passing, so maybe they are all caught up on paperwork! We will see! Praying for great news tomorrow!

Meeting Our Daughter

2011-12-04T13:46:00.000-06:00

Oh my goodness...I don't have all the words (probably never will!) to describe today! I REALLY wish that I could put her picture on here so you guys could see just how precious she is! But...soon enough! As soon as we get her on the second trip, we can!

So... We didn't know quite what to expect and really didn't want to have any expectations for how our little girl (sorry...can't post her name either) would respond to us when we saw her for the first time. We just prayed. Prayed for her little heart that is probably so confused. Only God can give her a peace about what is happening in her life. Only God can know what all is going on in her little mind. Her eyes show a lot...she is so curious, and apprehensive, too.

She was very unsure of us at the beginning. I praise God that she is VERY loved and attached to her special mommies...one in particular. It was precious to see their bond. I longed for her to trust us...to know that we will always love her. But as a child of God, I respond the same way she did. Trusting the things that I KNOW and that are tangible. God is so trustworthy, but I had to learn that. I had to learn that He really is who He says He is. He really will do what He says He will do. And, I am still learning those things! So, today, I am drawn to the Lord more...to TRUST Him more. As I try to put myself in my little girls shoes and imagine what it is like to go through the things that she has gone through and the loss that she has experienced, I long for her to rest in our arms...I long to be Christ to her. I want her to know that our God is a Redeemer. And, I am so glad that she didn't trust us right away...that she doesn't give it away freely.

This trip has also left me amazed at the beauty of God's creation. Watching people in the airport from so many different places, all looking so different...so beautiful! God is so creative!

It has also left me amazed at God's presence in all of our lives. We are all doing different things, going different places. Some suffering, some worrying, some thankful, some angry, some unjust, some fighting on behalf of injustice, some sick, some healed, some joyful, and some with deep pain. He is there. Through it all. He knows it all, and He is with us. That has been amazing for me to ponder.

So we got to hang out with our little girl for a good while this morning, and towards the end, she interacted with us more and more. We got to go back in the afternoon, and God gave us some sweet moments of smiles and even laughter and fun times playing together. We got to see her little personality some while we just watched her interact. She is just so precious. So helpful and loving to the other kiddos.

This evening we got to go to a traditional Ethiopian restaurant and it was so much fun! Singing, dancing, and I even liked some of the food! :)

Tomorrow we get to spend most of the day with our little girl! I can't wait to get to know her some more!

YAHOO!!!!!

2011-12-03T16:37:00.000-06:00

Hello from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia!!!!! We are SO THANKFUL to be here and in our hotel room!! God was so good to give us smooth flights...only one time we had an hour delay, but it all worked out GREAT!

Here we are about to head out of town! The car all packed with 3 tubs of donations and a checked bag for us, too! Thank you to all who donated to our transitional home! They will be so blessed by everything!

Here are some other pictures from the airport and on the way! :)

Below is us going from NJ to Frankfurt, Germany. It was so weird to be flying through time zones and totally missing a significant number of hours! The darker part is where it was night, and then we were flying into the lighter part, which was daytime.

In Frankfurt, I needed some caffine!

Last leg of the trip!!:

Getting so close....

And...we are HERE!

We met up with a super sweet couple who are also adopting through our agency, so they got our picture when we got in!

When we arrived in Addis, we were welcomed with a three hour wait to get our travel visa! Shew!! There is a HUGE conference in town that starts tomorrow, so it was a bit crazy at the airport! But, we made it! Our sweet driver said he waited 4 hours for us!

I look exhausted in those pictures, and I am...so I am headed to get some rest before we meet our little one! :) CAN'T WAIT!!!!!!!

God's is so faithful!

2011-11-27T11:00:00.001-06:00

Just wanted to update everyone and give glory to God that He provided ALL of the rest of the funding that we needed to go get our little girl!! We received an incredible matching grant from Brittany's Hope, and the auction that I posted about was a huge success! the people that bought items were able to have it doubled through that grant! :) I have to be honest and say that when you first see the amount of money it takes to adopt, and then look at your bank account...and see the large discrepancies there, it can be daunting! We asked the Lord to provide and trusted Him to do just that! We have been so privileged to get to see first hand God provide for His children. It has been so amazing!!! He has used individual donors, a yard sale, a grant, and an auction to bring our daughter home! We have been so blessed by the generosity of family, friends, and complete strangers! There are so many people who are bringing this little girl home...not just us! And, words cannot even express how grateful we are!

I am so thankful that our kids are beginning to learn this lesson, too. Last week at church, they were talking about God's faithfulness and I think they asked the kids to tell about how God has been faithful in their lives. This is what Austin did...

(If you can't see it, it says, "Breaking News!! God is faithful because He led the Israelites across the sea. Last year I was waiting for my sister to come to my house. But I waited some more, and now it is 12 days!) He meant it was 12 days (now 5!!) till we traveled for court. Sadly, we still have to wait another month or two till she gets to come home.

Oh my goodness, how this blessed me!! Thank you, Lord, for showing your faithfulness (not only to us, but to our children as well!) through this process!

That was last week at church. This week, I stayed home with everyone in their PJs. The girls have been sick this week, and there is still a lingering cough that I didn't want to pass around to friends! :)

So, here we are...

Making sugar cookies! :)

Want a preview??

2011-11-11T23:42:00.000-06:00

Just wanted to tell you that you can go to my husband's blog to see some preview pictures of some of the art that will be featured at the auction TOMORROW NIGHT! :)

Here is the link:

briancrenshaw.blogspot.com

AUCTION!!!!!

2011-11-10T15:57:00.000-06:00

Come one, come all!!!! We are having an auction (featuring many paintings from my amazingly talented husband, as well as many other donated items!!!) to raise the remainder of the money that we need to travel (twice!) to go get our little girl from Ethiopia!

Some sweet friends of ours are hosting this special event, and we are so excited! Please tell ANYone that is interested in art, auctions, orphan care, or just a date night! It is this coming Saturday night, November 12! See the invitation below!

If you are unable to make it, please pray for the night and that God would bring people and it would be a blessing to others, as well as our family as we prepare to leave!

Want to help me??

2011-10-30T22:18:00.000-05:00

When we go to Ethiopia, we will bring some big tub containers of donations for the transitional home (Hannah's Hope) that our daughter is in. It is a fabulous place with a wonderful staff who love all of the kids there really, really well.

One reason why they are able to provide for the children's needs so well is because of the donations that families bring over when they come.

We would love for anyone to be able to be involved in helping with donations!

I would love to be able to provide for Hannah's Hope so they can continue to do what they are doing so well...caring for these sweet children! Here is a list that our agency sent out with "urgent needs" just last week.

1. Diapers (all sizes)

2. Soy-based Formula

3. Shoes and Clothing for Older Children (new or like-new)

4. Shampoos, Conditioners, and Lotions for Older Children

5. 10-20 three-ring binders (2-3 inch)

6. Cold medications for older children and adults

7. Amoxicillin for all ages (250mg or 400mg)

8. Whole Organic Flaxseed

9. Slash Pocket Folders

10. Laptops, specifically one for the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs in Mekelle, Tigray

11. 2-3 Pairs of Reading Glasses from CVS (actual prescription strength not known)

Here are some things that were mentioned that are on-going needs:

1. Baby Wipes

2. Bibs

3. Hand Sanitizer

4. Kleenex

5. Infant and Children's vitamins
6. Avent Bottles
7. Desitin (diaper rash cream)
8. age appropriate development toys for infants and toddlers
9. Blow up balls/outside toys
10. Sidewalk chalk
11. Bubbles
12. Children's DVDs or CDs
13. Men's and Women's deodorant
14. Good quality electric shaver
15. rechargeable camping lanterns (for when electricity is out)
16. Twin sheets (mainly flats) in children's patterns and colors (solid or print)

If you would like to help us with any of these items, please feel free to drop them off at my house at any time!
If we aren't here, you can leave it on the porch! You can email me, too, and I can pick them up! Thank you,
Thank you, thank you!!!

BIG WEEK!

2011-10-30T13:37:00.000-05:00

This week was fabulous!! WE GOT OUR COURT DATE!!!!!! We will be heading to see our daughter in 33 days! December 2! We are so thankful to have gotten this news. We got our referral on September 21, and then our court date on October 25(almost 5 weeks later).

After we return from court, it is usually 2 months until a family can travel back to pick up their child. So, we are thinking that by Valentine's Day, we will have her home. Of course, sometimes it is much longer than that, and we are praying it is even shorter than that!

We are so thankful that in less than five weeks, we will be able to meet our daughter! We have many lists to check off between now and then, and it is going to be so much fun! Packing, getting our daughter's room ready, getting shots (not so fun), gathering donations for Hannah's Hope (where our daughter lives now), and so much more!

We went out to eat to celebrate. If you know us, you know we love Mexican, of course! We don't love Ethiopian food (yet)! So, our celebration night included one of our favorite Mexican restaurants. I had to show you this picture...

Austin took a bite out a chip and then looked at it and said, "Look! It is Africa!" :)

We were so excited to get that phone call that we could book our flights to see our daughter!!! When I picked Austin up from school, I told him I got a very important phone call that day. He immediately said, "WE GOT A COURT DATE FOR ETHIOPIA!" (Actually he said his little sister's name that I wish I could post!!! :) )

Other fun stuff:

Pumpkin Carving!! Even better...this time next year our little girl (Lord willing!) will be carving pumpkins with us! :)

(our precious, joyful Olivia!)

(Daddy and Austin working on his little pumpkin he picked out!)

We also got to go to the pumpkin patch with the Carrolls again this year! We try to make that a tradition! Here are the kiddos at the growth chart there:

Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

Next Steps!

2011-10-12T20:29:00.000-05:00

We are so thankful for all of the love and support of everyone on our journey to bring home our little girl! So many people are asking what comes next, so I thought I would pass along the next steps to you here.

In Ethiopia, they are translating our documents and information and combining it with the information of our little girl to make one file. It will be submitted it to the courts to get a court date. The courts have been closed for the last two months because of rainy season. They close every year for August and September. They just reopened TODAY!!! We are hoping to hear about our scheduled court date SOON! :)

After we pass court, we will be submitted to the US Embassy. Our Embassy appointment is the final step. We will take one trip for about a week for the court date, and then usually about 2 months later, we will return to Ethiopia for another week (Embassy). On that trip, we can bring our little girl home.

We are hoping to travel sometime in December for our first trip (court), and then bring her home in February or March. One thing that our social worker was very clear on was that this court/Embassy process is VERY unpredictable. You just never know what is going to happen with the court system, extra paperwork or research that they might require, etc. We are praying for no bumps in the road!

So...prayer requests:

Our little girl's safety, health, and adjustment in a different place. I can't even imagine the things that she is thinking/feeling right now. I am sure she is so confused. There will be so much that she has to grieve: the loss of her family, friends, culture... all things known to her. Please just pray that God will comfort her little heart as only He can!
Pray for our family to be prepared for this change...for wisdom for us in parenting each one of our kids and preparing their hearts for their little sister! They are so excited!
Pray for us to pass court quickly and without any problems.
Finances! We are hoping to hear back this week from a grant we applied for to help with all of the travel costs. It is a matching grant, and we are going to have an art sale to raise money for it! more to come on that later...

Thanks for praying for us!!!

THE CALL!!!!!

2011-10-10T21:44:00.002-05:00

The amazing call that changed everything! Adoption can be compared to pregnancy in some different ways...everyone likes to joke that people are "paper pregnant" when they are working on their adoption paperwork. Well, the night we got THE CALL!!! can be compared to looking at our positive pregnancy test. Everything changes. But, you don't even know what will change! You don't know what is in store, but you could not be more excited! You just jump around the room in amazement!

September 21, 2011. Just before 5:00 pm. Brian came home a little early because he was wanting to spend time with us as he had to go back to work that night after the kids went to bed.

(sidenote: Earlier that morning, I had emailed our case worker ("B") with our agency, AGCI, to see of we could extend our age parameters to 0-28 months so that we wouldn't have to redo our homestudy (again!!) as Eliana got older. Our agency typically stays in birth order, and the adopted child must be 10 months younger than your youngest child...essentially, however a birth could happen "naturally" in your family is how they get their parameters. They feel that all of the children adjust better that way. )

So, I was bathing the girls and Brian came upstairs and said "B" called on your phone. Then she called on my phone. She needs to talk to us tonight. I was completely NOT thinking our referral...at first I didn't even know he was talking about our case worker!! Then, he clarified..."B" from All God's Children...

Then, I knew!!! I started crying and saying, "THIS IS IT!!!! THIS IS IT!!!! IT IS OUR REFERRAL!!!!!!" Brian wasn't so sure. He told me to not freak out, that she probably was just responding to my email. I was insistent! I said, " Brian! She would NEVER call on YOUR phone for that!! I know this is it!!!" He said, " Well, call her!"

She picked up the phone right away and said that she got my email (I am calmly saying, "Oh, yes...good..." And then! She said, "But I REALLY want to talk to you about a LITTLE GIRL!!!!" Oh, melt my heart! I couldn't wait to hear every detail! We both got on the phone and she went through all of the details that she knew of. We put on a movie for the kids to distract them, and we asked our case worker every question we could think of! She really wanted us to talk through her age (she is 28 months), as she is older than they originally wanted our parameters to be, and get back with her the next day.

We already knew we wanted to move forward! I think I asked Brian 500 times that night, "Oh my goodness, what are you feeling right now!?!" We sat down to eat about 20 minutes after we got off the phone. We wanted to all look at her pictures together as a family (Our case worker went over all of her info, but then she puts it all together on an email with her pictures and sends it when you get off the phone. They know we wouldn't hear a word she was saying if we could stare at her beautiful pictures the whole time!). The kids are so excited and they talk about her all the time. This morning Olivia made up a song about how we are "going to the airport to pick up _(my little sister!)__" They pray for her all the time, showed their classes her picture, and we talk about what she is doing at whatever time of day it is!

So, we pull up that email with her pictures...oh, melt my heart...we look through the first few, and then there is one that looks like she is looking in our eyes, ready for us to bring her to her forever home! I still think about that moment and tears just well up in my eyes. Our daughter. She is amazing, and I don't even know her yet.

There are so many "God details" in all of it...

her name and what it means and means to us (We can't share her name or her picture until she is legally ours...sorry!! But if you see us, stop us and ask and we will show you in person! We can't put anything on the internet, though.)
the age parameters and that I had JUST asked for "up to 28 months" that morning. She is 28 months. Our case worker said, " I just had to laugh when I read that email!"
The fact that Brian is a twin and has experience with twins and how to encourage and give them separate identities (Because of Eliana's age compared to our newest little girl, they call that "artificial twinning").
A couple of weeks after we decided to move forward in pursuing adoption (2009), she was born!
some significant dates in her life and what we were doing at the time

Well, the next day we had planned to go to Nashville (just Brian and I) to go to a conference that ShowHope was doing with Dr. Karyn Purvis. It was incredible. I admire her so much, and I love all of her research, studies, books, videos, and conferences! She has researched and speaks/teaches on parenting children who "come from hard places." Another post for another day, but it is incredible information.

So, we headed off for what Brian refers to as "The Amazing Race," adoption edition in Nashville! We had some time-sensitive phone calls to make and reports to write up on our daughter and her transition to our family. The first part of the day, we were in and out of the conference taking phone calls and heading to office stores to print, fax, etc! It was hilarious looking back!

It was a sweet time filled with so much excitement! We canNOT wait to meet our sweet girl! Just before I started writing this post, I looked back over a little bit of our adoption journey. Trusting in God's perfect will and sovereignty, and sifting through all of the unknowns. Assuming we would get a referral right away, and wondering why we didn't. I know that God already knew this little girl would be a Crenshaw. He has orchestrated every step of her life and ours. Hard times and good times...He knew they would all happen. Any other time we would have gotten a referral, it wouldn't be HER. I can't wait to let all of you meet her!!

Since I can't show yall a picture of her, I will leave you with one from last week. We went to the beach, and it was a sweet time to get away as a family (my parents got to come, too!), have fun, relax a bit after a crazy couple of weeks, and connect! But, we missed her so much. So, I will leave you with this:

I will post all of the "next steps" and prayer requests soon!!

Summer

2011-09-14T15:59:00.002-05:00

The rest of our summer was fun-filled!!

I got to go to camp with the students at our church for the first time!! I have never gotten to go because of the ages of our kiddos, but we decided that with another Crenshaw coming soon (hopefully!), this was the summer to go! It was God's sweet sovereignty because when we first started leading the youth group, the now 12th graders were then 7th graders. These 7th grade girls were in my Bible study before I had more babies and stopped leading a group, so I got to experience their last camp as a high schooler. It was really neat to see how the Lord has grown them. They are amazing young women!!

Here are some camp pics:

Our precious room:

Here are the girls:

And the guys:

There were so many really powerful moments that week where God moved in the students' and leaders' hearts. Towards the end of the week, our incredible camp pastor, Ricky Jenkins, talked about "dreams," and how we all have God-given dreams and to not lose sight of those things. He talked about the older we get, our dreams go from a passionate "God use me to........" to "it would be nice if God would...." He asked Brian and I to share some dreams that God has placed on our hearts. We shared about adoption and what God has done to teach us more about Himself and those in need. We shared about how we would love to see more orphans placed in their "forever families" and also see light shed on the truth of the HIV crisis around the world. Afterwards, we were presented with over $400 for our adoption raised by the students and staff that week. This was so powerful...so amazing to me. I was "ugly crying" knowing that this group of believers (who did not bring "extra" money to camp!!!) rallied together and gave to our family. I am still so humbled and so honored and so blessed. Their generosity is amazing to me. They are a huge part in bringing this little one home.
Moving on, now that I am ugly crying again just thinking about it...

So, while we were at camp, our kiddos were back home with Nana and Pa, and by the looks on their faces, I am sure you can see just how much they were missing us...

Treat for the day...BombPops!!

Making homemade ice cream!

My parents are so thoughtful...they even brought them to go serve others by cutting down fallen limbs from a storm!

Nana taught her to tie her shoes!! YAY!!!!

Going to see Winnie the Pooh!

Yummy breakfast treat: Donuts!

Bowling!

We are so blessed to have them in such great, loving, hands!! :)

We also got to spend some quality time with some of the Knoxville Crenshaw cousins! Here they are at the sprinkler park together:

Mimi and Pops came in so everyone could be together! Here they are with all of the grandkids (minus Luke :( ):

A definite low-light from my summer...my dear friend Christy moved away. Definitely excited about what God is doing in their life and very sad to see them move away. Love you, Christy, and I am so thankful for you!

We got to hang out with this litttle guy for a weekend while his parents were away:

We kept thinking all weekend that he could be the same age as the newest Crenshaw! It was fun to watch the kids play "big brother/sister!"

One more thing we did this summer:

PAPERWORK!! Our home study had to be updated, so we started the paper chase again. I am so glad to have that behind us again. Maybe we won't have to update it again before we go to Ethiopia!!

Praying, praying for that call to come SOON!

Birthday season!

2011-05-27T23:15:00.000-05:00

I am just so ecstatic that school is out! Along with that comes birthday season at our house! We have many birthdays back to back.

Today we celebrated our precious Olivia. Oh, what joy she brings to our family! She is FULL of life, joy, emotions, and spunk! I love it! She reminds me to not be so serious in life. She reminds me to take a little breath and lay down for "just one more song..." or "one more back-rub..." or "one more prayer..." I am so thankful to the Lord for giving us such a healthy, happy girl.

She loves "Tangled," so we had a "Tangled" birthday party today to celebrate her turning five!

Here are some pictures:

Here is the cake table:

Here is pin the hair on Rapunzel:

The birthday girl coloring one of the coloring sheets:

A mini-Rapunzel! Liv didn't want to wear her dress for the party, so her little sis GLADLY wore it!

We were making Pascal (the chameleon from the movie) party blowers:

I loved getting to celebrate Olivia with one of her favorite things. It makes me want to grasp with all of my heart how God celebrates me. He made me. He loves me. He knows my favorite things, too... I love that.

Birthday Video

2011-05-23T20:56:00.000-05:00

I was going through old videos and pictures and I thought this was so cute! When we celebrated Austin's birthday at Mema's house in Newbern with the Crenshaw side of the family, Mimi got some trick candles! It was too funny! Sweet Austin was such a great sport!

My SEVEN year old!!

2011-05-15T21:10:00.000-05:00

A couple of weeks ago, we got to celebrate this guy turning seven!:

What a cutie!

I am so thankful for so much about him, but one of the things I love the most is his tender heart. God has given him compassion for others and a sensitive spirit for Him. He brings such joy to our family!

The apple not falling far from the tree, he wanted a "painting party!" (I am not the artist...my sweet hubby is! More on that later...)

It was so much fun! He had his cousins there and his buddies from school, and each one got to paint a canvas to bring home as their party favor. They did a great job!

Here is his cake:

Surrounding the cake are little cake balls ("paint balls!") It made a LOT, so I put all the extras in little paint cans:

They were yummy!

Here are the kiddos painting away:

And, Eliana looking at all of the finished products:

It was a great time of celebrating our little guy! God has blessed us so much through him!

God is so faithful!

2011-05-15T13:36:00.001-05:00

Of course the title of this is a given...as believers in Christ, we all know this to be true. But, we all experience it in different ways and the "freshness" of this truth in different depths.

My heart is FILLED with thankfulness! I don't know how to put it all into words, but I truly got to experience a miracle last weekend. We had a yard sale that we were preparing for for a long time to raise money for our adoption. We had a TON of people donate a TON of things for it! We got to see the generosity of the Lord through the body of Christ in a tangible way. People not only donated their things, but their time and service to help us sort, gather, bake, set up, organize, sell, and clean up!

There were three families in this thing together, and we all were blown away by what God did!

To recap:

Thursday was set up day! We had two storage units FILLED, plus things at each of our houses and a storage place at an office! We rented a UHaul and got it all there (after almost 12 hrs of moving!).
We had an unbelievable location! We have some friends that live at a very busy intersection and they let us use their yard! How generous! Their whole house/yard were taken over!
We were not going to sell anything on Thursday...just spend the day organizing and setting up. BUT...the Lord had other plans! People saw things coming and they started stopping and buying! At the end of the day, we had raised $3,000!!!!!! WHAT?!? We didn't even remember anything that sold! We looked out into the yard and it was still FULL!!!!
Friday morning came bright and early! It rained through the night, so everything was wet. We were sad, but people kept coming and not one person even mentioned that things were wet or complained! WHAT??!?
My sweet friend Kristin (who was one of the families doing the yard sale with us) said that God used the rain to remind her that it is all about what HE was going to do with this...not about our (wet) stuff, the weather, or anything else. Amen!
At the end of Friday, I think that we had a total of around $8,000!!
Saturday brought some more rain around lunchtime. We covered everything up and hoped that it would stop soon. People continued to come and were shopping under the plastic covers. WHAT??!?
At the end of Saturday, we were overwhelmed with emotion, exhausted, and SO VERY THANKFUL for what God had done. It felt like we were in the New Testament but instead of fish and loaves, we were seeing "stuff" and "money" just multiply. It was amazing. Truly.
A sweet Ethiopian man came!!! He told us pieces about the Ethiopian community here in Memphis, and even the Ethiopian church that he goes to! I can't wait to meet more people from the country our child is from. What a cool way to keep parts of their heritage!
God used this yard sale to provide for other people in need, too, whether it was a flood victim or a family in need of a carseat, or an encouraging word. It was really sweet to watch.
In all, the total from the yard sale was $11,200. Again...WHAT??!? Who raises over $11,000 at a yard sale?!? Thank you, Jesus! And...we still had stuff to help two other families get started on gathering for their yard sale next month to raise money for their adoptions! And, when I say stuff, I mean truckloads!
My sweet friend Wendy (also one of the families doing the yard sale!) sent us an email the week before saying to pray, pray, pray...the theme: beauty from ashes. Wow...did God ever bring beauty from ashes! People donating what they thought was their "junk," to raise SERIOUS funds to bring kiddos home to their forever families. THAT is beauty!

I can't say how thankful we are for the part that SO MANY people played in this! From designing fliers to donating stuff to working with us that weekend to (most importantly) pray for God to show Himself faithful in raising a huge sum for us. So...THANK YOU!!

Here is a picture of us at the end of Saturday....with God's provision!

Oh, the Emotions!

2011-03-31T14:27:00.000-05:00

The emotions in this "adventure" are so unpredictable and all-over-the-page! I am continually seeing that God is the only constant to trust in. Not the next call from our case worker. Not the next email about what is going on in Ethiopia. Not the upcoming date that I have thought we would "for sure get a referral by!"

****Sidenote: yes, I play these little games in my head! Before we got on the list in September, I dreamed that we got a referral the same day. That day came and went. No referral. I thought FOR SURE by the end of 2010. That day came and went. No referral. Maybe on the same day that my sweet niece is born! That day came and went. No referral. Here we are almost in April....You get the picture. ****

Literally the other day, I was talking to our case worker and she was asking how we were doing with the wait. My answer was, "Trusting in God's sovereignty, AND very surprised that it has been this long."

We are surprised.

And we are trusting.

We have already seen ways that we can understand that this wait was "best" for us. Eliana understands so much more now, and could quickly take to the role of "big sister." It will be an easier transition for us and our newest little one because the other kids are older. I know we will see the biggest reasons when we actually see and meet our child. It will be THAT SPECIFIC child that God has had for us. If we would have gotten a referral 5 months ago, it would have been a different child.

Some other things that I keep reminding myself of:

We felt very led to Ethiopia
We felt very led to our agency
We trust our agency very much
We felt very led to the "Positively Chosen" program

In light of all of that, today is HARD. I keep thinking, if HIV/AIDS is such a crisis, why have we been waiting since September for our little one to be placed in our family? There are TONS of children in need of a family, in need of medicine for HIV. So, why? I know the answer to that. And, it seems like a pat answer. And sometimes it is or can be. But, when I let is sink deep in my heart, there is freedom and rest. The answer: God is sovereign.

This morning for whatever reason, I was just frustrated. I went to work out and just listened to worship music. I was reminded that God is God alone. He truly is on His throne. He is trustworthy. He has a plan.

So, I am trusting in that. I really do trust Him. And I want to give Him every ounce of who He made me to be.

Please pray that God would pave the road from where our child is in Ethiopia to our agency's transitional home. That is all that He needs to do! It seems so simple!

SPRING CLEANING??

2011-03-26T11:42:00.000-05:00

I am totally motivated to start CLEANING OUT! Are you??

We are having a HUGE yard sale with another family to raise money for our adoptions on May 6 and 7. We would LOVE all the stuff that you are trying to get rid of! We are making it EASY...we will come pick it up! Big or small items, we don't care. We have access to a trailer to come and get the big things from you!

Please give me a call or email me and tell me when you want me to come and pick it up!

This will be a HUGE help in bringing these children home!!! Thank you!!!!

A Little Encouragement

2011-03-14T22:22:00.000-05:00

We haven't heard a TON of facts about everything that is going on with adoptions in Ethiopia, but what we have heard has been encouraging (that is a relative term..."more encouraging than our original fears" is what I should say!).

Tonight we got an email that said that MOWA (Ministry of Women's Affairs) is now going to allow 20 finalizations/day instead of 5. They used to process 50/day, so there will still be a delay, but it is better than 5!

Through all of this, I have been reminded that God loves all of these children way more than I could even imagine loving them. HE is protecting them, HE is providing for them, and so we are begging HIM to make a way to put them in families. A couple of friends have reminded me of the spiritual warfare in it. Satan wants nothing more than for these children to remain orphaned. Hungry. Lacking trust for anyone, including God. Hurting. Sick. And God wants to put the lonely in families! He wants to heal their bodies and hearts! He is using His children to do this, and the enemy wants a hand in it, too.

Where does this leave our hearts?

Honestly, (I know this isn't the case for everyone on an adoption journey) we have felt since the beginning of this journey that this is about a specific Crenshaw child (or possibly more) that we are fighting for. Although we want to advocate for all orphans and love and serve them well, we believe that every step of this path has been towards a specific child. So, it isn't about Ethiopia. It isn't about the HIV/AIDS crisis. These are important, and God used them to direct us to our child. But for us it is about that child. Precious face and circumstances are unknown to us right now, but we are going to fight to bring him/her home. We are going to persevere through whatever stands in our way and beg God to remove the barriers. It actually empowers us in a way to press on even more.

I will update more when I know more!

And on to our March numbers....we got our new numbers today, too! There is still movement, even in all of this craziness!
Girl List: 50
Boy List: 37
Siblings List: 26

Trusting and Expecting

2011-03-09T21:22:00.006-06:00

What a roller coaster of a week!

Below is a statement about what is going on in the Ethiopian program. It has been hard to process it all, not knowing what is truth, what are rumors, and what could eventually come to pass. We have been waiting for word from our agency. We have been wondering if and when we will get to meet and bring home our child.

Above everything, it has made me take God at His Word: He cares for orphans. It breaks my heart to know that there could be SO MANY orphans left with little food or medical care unnecessarily. We have been asking God to give our agency leaders, the leaders of the program in Ethiopia, and all of the agencies advocating for orphan wisdom in the action steps to take. We are trusting Him to move on behalf of ALL of these little ones. We serve an amazing God, and we are trusting Him in a way we have never had to trust Him before...for our little one across the globe in the midst of all of these uncertainties.

WE NEED YOU TO HELP BE A VOICE FOR THESE MILLIONS OF ORPHANS! And it is easy...

PLEASE read below and take a couple of seconds to sign the petition. We need MANY more to sign it by the weekend!

March 7, 2011

Statement on the Pending Reduction of Intercountry Adoption in Ethiopia

Last week the Ethiopian Ministry of Women’s, Children’s and Youth Affairs announced their intention to reduce intercountry adoptions by 90% beginning March 10, 2011. The Ministry’s plan for a dramatic reduction is apparently based on two primary issues; 1) the assumption that corruption in intercountry adoption is systemic and rampant and 2) the Ministry’s resources should be focused on the children for whom intercountry adoption is not an option. Without further announcements by the Government of Ethiopia, it is our understanding that the Ministry’s plan will be initiated this week.

The Ministry’s plan is a tragic, unnecessary and disproportionate reaction to concerns of isolated abuses in the adoption process and fails to reflect the overwhelmingly positive, ethical and legal services provided to children and families through intercountry adoption. Rather than eliminate the right of Ethiopian children to a permanent family, we encourage the Ministry to accept the partnerships offered by governments, NGOs, and foundations. Such partnerships could increase the Ministry’s capacity to regulate service providers and further ensure ethical adoptions.

The Ministry’s plan, which calls for the processing of only five adoption cases per work day, will result not only in systemic and lasting damage to a large sector of social services, but will have an immediate impact on the lives and futures of children. Moving from over 4,000 adoptions per year to less than 500 will result in thousands of children languishing in under-regulated and poorly resourced institutions for years. For those children who are currently institutionalized and legally available for adoption, the Ministry’s plan will increase their time languishing in institutions for up to 7-years.

Joint Council respectfully urges the Ministry of Women’s, Children’s and Youth Affairs to reconsider their plan and to partner with governments, NGOs and foundations to achieve their goals and avoid the coming tragedy for children and families.

You Can Make A Difference...PLEASE:

Click here to sign the petition now.
Forward this to your friends, family, church, small group, Facebook, Twitter, etc.

Why Ethiopia?

2011-01-28T14:47:00.000-06:00

First off, thank you all for your sweet words over the last couple of weeks! You are all so encouraging!

I have been longing for our little one lately. So many questions flood through my mind: Is he/she born? Well? Loved on? On his/her way to our orphanage? Being fed and clothed? Is the next Crenshaw going to be a boy or a girl?

I love answering questions about adoption, and our journey specifically. It just reminds me of God's specific plan to bring our child home. Each detail of the story was a way that God lit the path for us to walk on to go get our child!

One of the questions we are asked sometimes is "Why Ethiopia?" That is just a part of the story that God has for us and our family. I love this video, though...so I wanted to share it (thanks, Alison!)

An Amazing Gift

2011-01-12T19:08:00.000-06:00

I am always amazed at what God is showing us through this adoption process. He has opened our eyes to more of His heart for His people, the abandoned, the poor, the body of Christ, the widows, the scared and lonely, His heart for US, His sovereignty...I could go on and on.

We are so excited that our agency, All God's Children International, has started a new program called "Positively Chosen." They have seen the great need for orphans who test positive for HIV to be adopted and given the medical care that they need that they cannot receive in their country. There are so many stigma's attached to this virus, but the fact is that it is not the deadly virus that it was perceived to be in the 80's. It is actually only transmitted through 4 fluids: blood, vaginal fluid, semen, and breastmilk. The main ways of transmitting the virus is through unprotected sex, breastfeeding your baby, and sharing needles. It is NOT transmitted through daily living (sharing hugs, kisses, cups, utensils, being sneezed on, pooped on, peed on or thrown up on). Actually, there has never been a case where HIV was accidentally "caught" within the home.

With the right medications, this virus is completely manageable...even more so than diabetes. Can you believe that?!? HIV is more manageable than diabetes! The hard part of this is that it is very manageable HERE but not at all in less privileged countries. So, here, a child could be on proper medications and live a "normal" life. In Ethiopia, a child with HIV would likely die by the age of 2. Wow. I can't even wrap my brain around that. We are so thankful for the new information and teaching regarding HIV.

We are so thankful to be a part of this new program with our agency. It is very new, and they have not matched any referrals with families yet, but they are working hard to get the information out there that they have families who will adopt a child who tests positive for HIV. So, we don't exactly know how this will play out from here. The "waitlist numbers" look a little different for us. We could get a referral any day...or MONTHS down the road. We have no idea. We do know God is sovereignly orchestrating things behind the scenes. We are excited to meet our child and excited to see what the future holds.

I am sure there are many questions mulling around in people's heads as they read this:
* How did you make this decision?
* Are you fearful for the health of the children you already have?
* Does this put people we are around at risk?
* What are the medications and how do they work?
* Are the medications always effective?
* Will this create a financial burden?
* What is the life expectancy of this child?
* How will this effect the child/our entire family socially?
* Does this speed up or slow down the process?
*Can this child still be sick?

We will be happy to answer these and other questions, and engage in whatever conversations you want to have regarding this adoption, so leave comments with questions if you have them. There will be a follow up post on many questions that we have been asked along they way, and new ones that arise.

With that background information, we received an amazing gift a few weeks ago...
"Aunt Karen" writes poems for each of our children for the thoughts she has and the prayers she prays for them. They are priceless to all of us.

A few weeks ago, Karen gave us this poem that she wrote for our adopted child. It is precious.

"Positively Chosen"

Sweet baby unknown to us by face and by name,

Have you cried your first cry or is God still knitting your frame?

Is someone showering you with kisses and tending to your needs?

As we pray for your protection from harm and evil deeds?

Are you a girl or a boy and who gave you life?

Has your body known health or only great strife?

Well, we don’t know your story as its been written thus far

but we certainly know you belong to us wherever you are

...

We were called by the Lord to be a family to you

to choose you and love you all your days through

To seek justice and defend the cause and the case

To father the fatherless as an extension of grace (Isaiah 1:17)

So may you never feel unwanted because of your start

but always know that you were ours, conceived in our heart

...

May your bonds be loosed, and your yoke be broken

May you be set free from oppression, such as God has promised and spoken

It is our bread you will share, such that your hunger will flee

But may you come to feast on The Bread of Life, who died to set you free

It is our house you will live in, providing shelter and a home

But may you enter into His kingdom for eternity to roam

It is our clothes that will cover you, your nakedness unseen

But may His robe be placed upon you, your filthy rags be made clean

May His light break forth within you like a new and radiant morn

May His healing spring up speedily, and may to new life you be born

May His righteousness go before you as you walk the life He planned

May your rear guard be His glory, as in eternal life you stand.

(Isaiah 58)

Please stop and pray

2010-12-12T21:45:00.000-06:00

Words cannot express what I have been thinking, feeling, and processing over the last few days. We know a family, the Harrison's, who have twin baby girls (20 months old), and Evie Grace went to be with Jesus on Thursday morning. I can't even imagine what the Harrison's are going through. I try to...I have bent my heart to Jesus, begging Him to be so tangible to them right now as they walk through this horrific time. Even in prayer, sometimes I just can't find the words. I know and am trusting that the Holy Spirit is interceding for them. I am trusting in God's Word and His character. I cannot get this sweet family off of my mind. I think about a lot of things that are hard and painful, and I cannot wrap my little human brain around them. One thing that has stuck out to me over the last few days is my yearning for heaven. Oh how beautiful to see all things new. When all promises are fulfilled. When there is true shalom. When there is no more sin, and we see our Savior for all that He is. Until then, I will continue to seek God with all that I am, even when things don't make sense.

Please keep the Harrison's in your prayers...Alicia, Jonathan, and twin sister Ramsey.

Here is their family blog: www.threedoodles.blogspot.com

Good Morning!

2010-12-11T22:48:00.002-06:00

Oh, dear! Olivia is definitely my early riser. She has woken up at 4:30 for the day many times. We don't let her get up then, but she can read or play quietly in her room or the playroom when we know she really isn't going to go back to sleep. I also love early mornings, so usually I am up reading, and she is doing something in another room until breakfast time.

Well, this particular morning, I come around the corner and this is how I found her:

Oh, I hope the details show up on this, but this is not my computer, so I had to get the picture on in a different way. Anyway, she was wearing a purple princess crown that she made on her 3rd bday, pink and black butterfly wings, a sleeveless blue princess velour top, a random dress up skirt, pink camo slippers, and a clear backpack as a "purse" with TONS of jewelry in it. I turned the corner, and she just looked at me so normally, and said, "Hi." What? It is 5:30 am. LOVE THIS KID! She keeps me rollin!

My precious girl!

2010-12-11T22:37:00.001-06:00

My sweet littlest girl got her first haircut!! I have actually been begging for this for a long time, because the poor thing has had quite the mullet. Her daddy wanted to let it grow to see if it would get past that awkward stage. Well, it did grow out...but it was still a mullet...just a longer one. Nice.

He finally caved and let me take her to get it cut, and it is so precious! He even agreed! Here are some pics: before, during, and after. Excuse the quality, they were the only ones I had! :)

see: a long mullet. Business in the front, party in the back, as they would say (whoever "they" are!). Sorry, Elle. And, yes, that is me trying to back away to avoid any picture that day!

Sweet Monica (cutting her hair)! When I got there, I told her she was cutting Eliana's hair today and she said, "I'm so excited!" My response: "I am glad YOU are!"

Anyone who knows my sweet girl knows she loves to say "NO!" to anything and everything. I knew this would be a battle. Sure enough, I take a couple of steps towards Monica's chair, and she starts in: "No, Mommy, No, Mommy, No!!!!!" The screaming begins!

Anyone who knows my sweet girl knows her love of sweets. Monica gave her a candy cane, and won her over. She ended up doing great!

Here she is right after the haircut:

You can't tell a lot from the picture, but it is adorable!

Bye-Bye, Mullet!

December #'s!

2010-12-11T22:20:00.000-06:00

We got our December numbers from our agency this week!

Here they are!

Girls list: 69

Boys list: 47

Siblings: 34

In honor of the last day of November...

2010-11-30T22:54:00.000-06:00

I am going to post our November numbers!! Ha! (We get them in the beginning of the month...) For anyone who is keeping up, maybe this will just make you extra-excited because it will look like we jumped a lot in just one week! :)

So, here you go:
On the girls list we are 75
On the boys list we are 48
On the siblings list we are 41

This has been such a sweet journey for us this far, and I am so thankful that the Lord has led us here...on a journey to pick up the newest little Crenshaw in Ethiopia. We pray for protection so often, and just wonder what he/she is doing right now. As we sit around the Christmas tree reading a verse for the Advent season, is he/she being read to? As we kiss our kids goodnight and snuggle with them while we read, is he/she being cuddled and rocked? As we eat and talk around the dinner table each night, is he/she getting regular meals? We think about him/her all the time...and we can't wait to go to Ethiopia!!!

Here are some things from the last month...

Eliana turned TWO! I still can't believe it! She wanted a Minnie Mouse birthday party, so we had a little family get together at the park. Here she is opening presents and then her Minnie Mouse birthday cake!

I am on a different computer tonight, so I can't figure out how to get these pictures positioned right!

We headed to Knoxville a few weeks ago to see family and take Austin to his first UT football game! It was awesome! Here is a picture of all the cousins, and then us at the game!

(LOVE those sweet nephews!)

The next weekend we headed to Newbern to have an early Thanksgiving! We had a great time at Mema's and then Aunt Blair hosted us for Thanksgiving dinner!

Here is a picture of Aunt Blair and Baby Joey (!!!) with our girls:

We had a great Thanksgiving in Memphis, and my grandmother, aunt, uncle and cousins all came up from AL. I have no idea why I don't have any pictures, but it was a sweet time!

We closed the weekend with some Christmas decorating! Here are the kids in front of the tree:

Shew! How is that for a November recap!?! I will post our numbers in a few days when we get them!! :)

New numbers

2010-10-15T14:14:00.000-05:00

It has been a while since we got these numbers, but I have been terrible at keeping up on here.
So...OCTOBER NUMBERS:

Girl list: 84
Boy list: 60
Siblings list: 51

I am so thankful so many referrals have gone out! It seems like now that the courts have opened back up, there has been a lot of movement! More kiddos going to their forever families! :)

Here is a picture of my sweet Eliana thinking that she is as big as her brother and sister (don't worry...she was only pretending...I don't really let her ride in a booster!)

And, they opened up a "Greenline" in Memphis! It is awesome! A paved path for bikers, runners, walkers, etc...all through the city of Memphis. One of the entrances is in our neighborhood, so we enjoyed that with Nana, Pa, Uncle C, Aunt K, and the cousins last weekend! :

long overdue...

2010-09-22T15:04:00.000-05:00

Woo-hoo! I am back with some great news! We are OFFICIALLY ON THE WAITLIST for our child(ren)!!!!!

I am so excited! All of the paperwork that we worked on and waited on...complete...in the hands of our awesome adoption agency! So, that means that we got "official" numbers. Our numbers are:

On the girl list: 94
On the boy list: 66
On the sibling list: 54

YAY! We are on all of the lists, and approved for ages 0-18 months. Some families are obviously only on the girl list or only on the boy list, or only on the sibling list. Some are on all of them. So, if a 4 year old boy is at our orphanage in Ethiopia, he will be referred to a family who is approved for that age in their home study. People with numbers 1-25 might not be open to an older child. Let's say number 26 is...then number 26 will receive the referral for that little boy. So, they don't always go in order and MANY factors effect it: age parameters, special needs, etc. If they give out 2 girl referrals, we could move forward on all the lists if those families are on all of the lists. Does that make sense? I know it is kind of confusing!

So, now what am I doing?? I am working on getting off our USCIS application tomorrow. Basically, this allows our child to get a visa to come into the United States. I am also working on grant applications!

I have one complete and sent in and 2 more are in the works! I just need to pause right here and say how amazed I am at what God has provided for us financially thus far:
We have raised over $14,000 from all of you AMAZING, GENEROUS people out there!!!!!!!! That is so amazing to me! It has been an incredible journey with the Lord to see Him provide through so many...some strangers!...for this sweet life! I would guess that we are about halfway there!! I am not sure the exact total, because it has changed with the now-required two trips. So, that is 5 plane tickets instead of 3, etc. I need to work on those numbers so I can get a realistic picture.

I will keep you updated on the grants and all of the movement on the lists!

Here is a picture of the kids before we mailed off the dossier:

precious song

2010-08-29T19:50:00.000-05:00

I came across this sweet song, and it brought much needed encouragement to me today. Sweet to think about for ourselves and also a sweet refreshing perspective for parenting.

Here are the words:
Long before you drew your first breath,
the dream was coming true
God wanted to give a gift to the world,
so he wrapped it up in you
Every step that you've taken,
every move that you make is part of his plan

You were meant to be touching the lives that you've touched
And meant to be here making this world so much more than it would be without you in it
You were meant to be bringing the gifts you bring
And singing the songs you've been given to sing
You were perfectly, wonderfully, beautifully meant to be
You were meant to be

Long before you took your first walk
and stumbled to the ground
God started telling the story of you
to the angels gathered round
Every failure and victory, and everything in between,
it's all in his hands

You were meant to be touching the lives that you've touched
And meant to be here making this world so much more than it would be without you in it
You were meant to be bringing the gifts you bring
And singing the songs you've been given to sing
You were perfectly, wonderfully, beautifully meant to be
You were meant to be

You are, you are, you are meant to be

For every breath that you're taking, and every move that you make
It's a meaningful life you've been given, so live it well

SO VERY EYE-OPENING!!

2010-08-23T13:52:00.000-05:00

Oh my goodness...
I clicked on this blog that I follow of an AMAZING girl in Uganda, and saw this image:

I was sitting with Austin and just couldn't believe what I saw. That sweet woman is 23 years old. And weighs less than my 6 year old son. He was wondering what all the "oh my goodness, oh my goodness" was about so he starting looking at it with me. He said, "That makes me feel so weird, mom." Yes, it does. For so many reasons: you want to do SOMEthing, you want to know her story, you want to share what we have, you wonder why we have what we have and other people don't, you want to know how she feels, you want to shower her with love through the computer screen, it makes you angry, sad, fearful that she will die, and just "heavy" in general. It is so sad. I just wanted to share to keep us reminded that there is so much that we don't think about day in and day out that is happening around the world. So sobering.

going backwards??

2010-07-18T20:54:00.000-05:00

So, I was so excited to post that last update, because I felt like we were SUPER close to getting on the waitlist. Well, they say to expect the unexpected with adoptions, right?

One of the things that our awesome agency (AGCI) tells us to look for on all of our documents that are notarized (almost every piece of paperwork in the dossier) is that the notary's name matches their signature. Sometimes people are in the habit of signing their nickname or whatever. So...I got everything notarized. Checked the signature...yep! Matches the stamp! I take it downtown where parking is crazy with my 3 sweet, young kiddos to get a document (just one!) county certified. We play all kinds of whispering games to keep quiet while we wait and wait and wait. To hear the news, "I am so sorry, Ma'am, we have a problem. The notary applied to be a notary with the name Missy. Her stamp says Myronette. We cannot certify this." Apparently to certify it (I had no clue) they go back and get their paperwork that was filed to be a notary and make sure they are legit.

WHAT?? I just looked at him with a blank stare I am sure, and thought through all of the documents that have been notarized by the SAME GIRL. All but a few in our dossier. That means we have to redo all of them. Wow. So, we head out the door, and I am feeling so defeated. I thought that that was the last of all of the paperwork.

So, we get in the car, and I am just reminded by the Lord that HE is in control. HE designed our family. HE knows who we will get the opportunity to love, care for, and raise on earth. And even this little detail has so much to do with that. Because of Missy's application...because we got her to notarize most of our things...we will have a different child. God is THAT SOVEREIGN! That is amazing to me.

I press on, being faithful to complete the paperwork and work hard on it...jumping through all of the hoops that we need to to make it to our little one in Ethiopia...and trusting God in His plan and timing all the while.

Now, back to paperwork since the kiddos are sleeping peacefully!!

another update!

2010-07-16T15:05:00.000-05:00

A few posts ago, I updated where we were in the dossier preparation. Here is what we had left, and now what we have crossed out (yes, I added one...):

~~Get some documents notarized (we are doing that this afternoon!)~~
Get our power of attorney county and state certified
~~Application letter (telling Ethiopia why we want to adopt)~~
~~2 more online classes for adoptive parent training~~
take pictures of our house
once it is reviewed....make 3 copies! That is IT!
Get last letter of recommendation notarized

So...I am getting the power of attorney county certified today and sending it off to get state certified. Maybe I will clean the house and take pictures tonight!

Our home study is being revised just a little right now, but is basically approved by our adoption agency. That will also go into our dossier.

It really has been so much easier than I thought! Thank you, Lord! It just took walking through it for it all to make sense. There are just certain things that were intimidating, I think. I can remember when I was in high school going to a college, looking at how huge it was, and thinking, "How do they even know what to do or where to go. This is huge! The professors expect so much out of you, you have to figure out how a meal plan works, what each professor wants, where to buy books without a car, etc, etc, etc." I felt like that with this paperwork. When I first started, I didn't know really what a dossier was...I had heard it tossed around, and knew that is was a bunch of paperwork. But, I didn't know the difference between that and the home study, and when you do what. I didn't have a clue as to what I should do first, what took more time to get back, what to send where, etc. Walking through this process has been an honor. I have loved learning more about adoption and not feeling on the "outskirts" trying to look in. It has been an honor to "chase" after our child and trust God for His sovereign timing in our family. What a HUGE blessing! I praise the Lord for His hand in all of this, and giving us this amazing journey! This is only the very beginning of it unfolding!

Florida!

2010-07-16T14:43:00.002-05:00

Brian got the awesome opportunity to go serve in Haiti last month, and the kids and I headed to Florida to visit Chad, Karen, and the kiddos! We had so much fun! We got to go to the pool, the beach, hang out with cousins, live their "normal" life with them, going to the Y, etc. Brian met up with us after his amazing trip, and we had a few extra days of vacationing with him, too! Here are some pictures from our time:

Ha! We got these things from the dollar bin at Target, and they thought they were the coolest!! Too funny! So, here was naptime in the car!:

Time at the pool! Em and Lil'C are incredible swimmers! It was really fun to watch them!

Eliana wanted to join in the goggle fun:

Beach time!:

Every Friday night on the island, they have live music around this little pond area... here is Uncle Chad and Eliana having a little conversation and eating popcorn:

Some chill time for all the cousins... (can you tell who lives at the beach!?! :) )

on the way home, Eliana wanted to wear the little eye things!! She looked hilarious!:

Thank you, Woelke's, for an awesome time!!! We CANNOT WAIT for you to be here in just a week!

The Carrolls

2010-07-16T14:09:00.000-05:00

My dear friend, Ashleigh, and her hubby brought home their fourth child, who was adopted from Ethiopia. Here are our kiddos and theirs (minus Jones :( ) playing while we were talking about what their parents were doing in Ethiopia that day:

The girls LOVE each other!!

And, the boys do, too! Of course, they were doing manly things like building a house or something...

Here are the Carrolls coming HOME with Abigail!!!!!! I am so excited for them! It has been such a privilege to watch them walk through both of their adoptions! Here is a whole CREW waiting to meet her!

And...here is the first time everyone saw them!:

Charis was SO PRECIOUS...wanting to hold her hand the whole time. She seriously would not let go of her new sister's hand the whole time I saw her!

So, so sweet...a daddy and his two girls!:

Ugh! I just love this family so much! Welcome home, Abigail!

Angels Rejoicing!!!!!!

2010-07-07T21:48:00.000-05:00

I am super excited tonight!!!! Our sweet Olivia gave her life to Christ! The angels are still probably throwing a party!! It makes me awe-filled when I think of our stories of how God woos us, saves us, has patience with us, and loves us!

Here was our tonight...normal day, normal turned up noses at our dinner: chicken pot pie, normal squeals of delight at some ice cream for dessert, normal bathtime...you get the picture...

Personally, I have been begging the Lord for some not-so-normal for a little while now. My "normal" can be trying to do things on my own, not relying on God, not having a passionate prayerlife, etc. Nothing in me wants normal. I want to be radically sold out for Christ. Radically trusting Him. Radically submitted and a source of support and encouragement for my sweet husband. Radically loving and patient with my children. I can do nothing without him. Sure, I can do "behavior modification" for myself or my children, but I do not want that at all. I want what He wants. He is an amazing God. I have been wrestling through that lately and trying to be aware of my self-reliance when I fall into that.

So anyway (that was for you, Carrie!), back to our "normal" night...Olivia was pestering Austin trying to beat him to the stool to brush their teeth. I hear them bickering as I give Eliana a breathing treatment. Austin is trying to be patient with her and then comes in to me..."Mom, didn't you say for me to brush my teeth first and then help Olivia??" Yes..."Olivia, come here, please..."

Olivia (as precious and free spirited and joyful as she is!!!) has had a bit of a new normal lately: SIN. She has been trying to antagonize, disobey, annoy her siblings to get a reaction, struggling with a lot of fear, etc. Well, I sat there on the floor in Eliana's room, and just prayed to myself, "Lord, I have no idea what to do. You need to help me. This is so frustrating. (this has been happening a lot and obviously we haven't solved the problem)." Well, I just started talking about sin, and how hard it has been for her lately, and then talked about how she had power over that if she gives her life to Jesus and trusts him for the forgiveness of her sins and relies on Him for her strength in that...

We just talked about the gospel...what it really meant that Jesus died for her sins...what it means to be forgiven...what it means to live to glorify God. I told her (very seriously, b/c she tends to almost never be serious!) that this was the biggest decision she would ever make...she said she wanted to be a Christian, and wanted to pray with me! So, we did! Sweet little her...oh, it brings tears just typing this! She prayed so seriously and was SO EXCITED to be a Christian! Daddy was gone, so we called him, and then she wanted to send out some texts to share her life change!

Here is a picture of my sweet girl...and my sister in Christ:

Father God, thank you so much for such a great, miraculous night. Your grace is amazing to me. Only through you, we can have peace, joy, love, forgiveness, kindness, repentance. Thank you that Olivia is a Christ-follower! I pray that she would follow you passionately and whole-heartedly ALL the days of her life. I pray that she would obey you not out of obligation, but out of love. I pray that she would have a deep relationship with you and that in the overflow of that, she would love others well and show them who you are. Thank you that tonight, she is a NEW creation! I love you, sweet Jesus!!!

Knoxville Crenshaws!

2010-07-02T20:14:00.000-05:00

I wanted to catch up and post some pics of our sweet time with the Knoxville Crenshaws! We had a great time!

My nephews are super sweet, and it was great to get to be around them! My kids had a ball with them, and there were plenty of tears when they left!!!

Mimi and Pops came in town one day to hang out with the whole gang! Fun memories! Here are some pics:

One day Becky and I took the kids to "My Big Backyard." It was so much fun! The two biggest boys were in the top of the house, and here they are peeking out! I have no idea how they fit up there??:

When Mimi and Pops came, we enjoyed some time outside...had a Star Wars (of course!) pinata, played baggo, ate popsicles, and had great fellowship!

Babies in diapers with popsicles...priceless! Gotta love summer days!

I can't believe we got a picture with Mimi, Pops, all the grandkids, and everyone is smiling!!!! (well, maybe not Eliana...)

One day, Brian and Brent took the biggest boys to a fishing rodeo! They had so much fun, and caught some HUGE fish! (and all on their own!!...the dads could only help bait the hook and put the fish in the net after they reeled it in!!) Austin actually won a bike for catching the biggest fish! We were so excited for him!!

Here are the fishermen:

What a fun time we had!

Making Progress!!!

2010-07-02T14:33:00.000-05:00

Everyone has been asking for an adoption update...here it is! YAY!

Okay, I am SO CLOSE to having ALL of our paperwork done!!! I must say that when I first got started, it was all just overwhelming. I had heard from almost everyone that there were mountains of paperwork involved in an international adoption. So, I had some weeks that I was just paralyzed, and didn't do anything! With life and three other kiddos, I felt like I had to "stop" everything and turn on paperwork. Then, right when I would get going, someone would wake up from a nap or dinner would need cooking or whatever. I say all of that to say that there were a few times that I just sat down to knock some things out. And...it wasn't that bad!! At all!!! If I could do it all over again, I would not be so intimidated to be paralyzed in it. I think it would go quicker. I realized (after I was done and looking at it) that I could just do one paper at a time...that was okay...just put it in the "completed" pile and check it off. Sometimes I feel like I wouldn't make any progress if I did it that way. I guess I am too "high-closure!"

Anyway, here is what I have been working on:

4 online classes for adoptive parent training completed!
adoptive parent training handbook completed!
the home study is completed...it just needs to be revised a little and sent off for approval!
all birth certificates and our marriage license are in!
My passport renewal has been ordered!
We have all had physicals and gotten our medical forms notarized!
Our criminal check is done!
Our employment verification letters are done!
All of our letters of recommendation are done!
Our financial statement is done!
Our power of attorney is done!
Our post adoption commitment letter is done!

Still have left to do:

Get some documents notarized (we are doing that this afternoon!)
Get our power of attorney state certified
Application letter (telling Ethiopia why we want to adopt)
2 more online classes for adoptive parent training
take pictures of our house
once it is reviewed....make 3 copies! That is IT!

I CAN'T WAIT TO BE WAITING!!!!!!!!! I think about that sweet child so much!

As far as finances goes...we have raised $14, 024!!!!!!! WOW!!! Thank you, God!!!!! We have truly been brought to tears at this provision from the Lord! So much sacrificial giving...thank you all SO MUCH!

I need to number-crunch, but with the two trips that are now required, I think we need about $12,000 more. Do your thing, God!

SUMMER!!!!

2010-06-05T14:29:00.000-05:00

I LOVE SUMMER!!! AHHH!!!! Love it!!! No real schedule, time to relax and play, road trips, time with cousins, time with friends, fun activities, pool time, flowers, warm sun, fresh cut grass...LOVE IT!

We are excited about our time together as a family with Austin out of school. I have some projects on the list of "to-dos," but really just trying to enjoy the "moments!" Along with summer comes some arguing with siblings for sure, so we are focusing on some new rules and trying to seek the Lord to change hearts! (We all need more of Him and less of us! Amen?...we need to put others above ourselves and respond in humility...amen?) So, you can pray for all of us about that! I do NOT want behavior modification in out kids (or in us!), I want heart change...a deeper understanding of the gospel and God's grace and love.

Anyway, here are some fun pictures from our summer so far:

I am not kidding that we were so desperate for a pool a few weeks ago that this is what we used:

(Liv and ES)

I can't believe they thought this was fun...or that they thought it was a pool...I guess it is the little things!

Having a ball at the pool! I LOVE those big grins!

Here is some family fun at Putt-Putt:

(Nana and Austin riding gocarts)

(Daddy and Livi)

(Nana and Pa with the kids on the bumper boats!)

(Eliana had fun watching!!)

After some fun at the pool, Austin decided he wanted to lay down on his towel. His little sis cuddled right up, and Olivia was soon to follow! It was too cute, I had to capture it!

Happy Summer!

Another big day!!!

2010-05-30T14:55:00.001-05:00

It has been a party week for the Crenshaws! This is our first experience with end of the year school parties! We had so much fun! Austin's teachers helped them make class t-shirts with a self-portait of all of his classmates...they were super cute! Everyone wore them to a bowling party to celebrate a great kindergarten year! Here is a picture:

I am so thankful! What a great year! Thank you especially to Mrs. Lindsey and Mrs. Perry!

One to the birthdays...

We got to celebrate my sweet hubby with the family with his favorite: pizza and heath bar cake! Yum! Here are some cute pictures:

Brian blowing out his pretend candles...

And Olivia trying to make sure he is surprised with his present:

We love you so much, Brian! You are an amazing leader of our family....thank you for all you do!

And last, here are some pictures from Olivia's birthday party. We had so much fun! She wanted an Ariel theme, so we had all kinds of water fun...slip-n-slide, pools, and games. We love you, sweet girl! It was so much fun to celebrate you!

(Above): some of the kids ready to slip-n-slide!
(Below): Mr. John made Daddy do the "Pin the flowers on Ariel" since it was his birthday, too! It was so funny!

Liv with Mommy and Daddy about to blow out candles:

Eliana "reading"...ha! :

Just having a conversation with Jones:

On her new bike!:

Happy Birthday, Brian and Olivia!

Big day for the Crenshaws

2010-05-26T22:25:00.000-05:00

Big day here today!

First, my sweet girl turned FOUR! Yay! Oh, Olivia...she is FULL of life, joy, and love. There have been a number of times lately that she just keeps giggling and giggling and giggling, and she says, "I am so full of joy in the Lord in Christ!" Hilarious! Don't know where she got that (especially that wording!), but I love it! It is very true. She is filled with the Joy of the Lord. She loves people well, she is becoming more and more of a servant, and she is so nurturing (I think that her little sister would say she is a little TOO nurturing...she thinks she is her mother, trying to carry her around, etc.). It can make me so frustrated to hear Eliana squeel in anger, but at the same time, I am so glad that she has such a nurturing spirit. She really loves her and wants to take care of her. She just doesn't know how. Poor Eliana...

To start the day, I got to take her on a date to the donut shop. Here she is, with the four purses she wanted to bring:

And, the two donuts she chose:

Oh, what a cutie! She brings light and love and joy to my life! :)
Daddy brought her home some flowers, but I haven't gotten a picture of that yet. Saturday is her Ariel party, and I will post some pictures afterwards.

Another reason it was a big day:
Austin's LAST day of kindergarten! Oh, my! I canNOT believe that he will be in first grade. He had a great year. We are so blessed to have been at the school he was at, and to have had the sweet, precious teachers that he did. He grew a ton in so many ways. This was our first experience with any school, and it definitely was a great one!
Here is a picture of his first day of school....

And today, on his last day of school...

Looking forward to a great summer!!!!

Deal finders...

2010-05-24T14:46:00.004-05:00

You will LOVE this blog! She is a friend of ours from college, and I just found this! I am so excited! Check it out:

www.mavenonamission.blogspot.com

My SIX year old!

2010-05-24T13:32:00.000-05:00

Tears, tears...my boy is SIX!!!! Wow...time has flown by. So often lately I have just been looking at him, remembering so well rocking him when he was a baby, singing to him, playing with him. I can't believe how grown up he is. My heart is FILLED with thankfulness! Lately I have just been laying down with him on his bed, and he talks about "being in first grade" or "next year when I am seven..." UGH! The tears start flowing! He wants to be assured that they are "happy tears," and I tell him I am just so proud of him and so thankful to the Lord for him. Last night, I told him, "I just can't believe that God gave YOU to ME and DADDY!" That is how I feel...so blessed!
Anyway...before I talk about my FOUR year old (more tears...) in a few days, I wanted to post some pictures from Austin's Star Wars party. We have back to back birthdays in the spring around here!

It was such a fun day! Filled with laughter, light saber fights, games, rain, and tornadoes (seriously...)!

We had:

a "Death Star" cake (thank you, google...I had no clue what that was or how to make it!!)
"Wookie Watermelon"
"Pretz-abers"
"Galactic Pizza"
"Yoda Soda"

Here is his cake:

Here are some of the young men after they were trained as Jedi's!

Instead of presents, they all went around and gave Austin one word that describes him. It was a fun new tradition we started...we will make a "wordle" out of it and keep them throughout the years. Some kids got creative and wrote their word in a card or picture for him. So sweet.

I hope you know how special you are, Austin! We love you so much!

Cousin time!

2010-05-20T22:42:00.000-05:00

We got to spend some time with almost all of the cousins in April! How fun! We are SO VERY BLESSED to have an incredible family! We love getting to spend whatever time we get with them!

Here are all the kiddos in Knoxville:

Thanks, Crenshaws, for a great long weekend! :)

And, Case got to come with my awesome brother for the week (Sadly, Karen and Em stayed behind)
Here is a trip to the zoo:

(I guess the girls were really interested in the elephants!)

They loved playing in the water almost as much as seeing all of the animals! :

At our home study, our social worker was asking about our support system and what our family relationships were like. It really made me so thankful to the Lord for the family we have. We are truly so supported by them. I am even more thankful to call them all FRIENDS! Love yall!

Another step!

2010-05-20T22:28:00.000-05:00

Just a quick update to say that the first home study meeting went great! Thank you all for praying for us! We used Adoption Assistance, Inc. out of Smyrna, TN. Our social worker there is great! She is super sweet, super easy to talk to, and super efficient! We were really thankful to find her (thanks, Ashleigh!)! Our first meeting with her was actually at her office, and then she will come here in a couple of weeks for our visit at home. Then, she will write up our actual home study which takes a couple of weeks. So many people have asked what they do to write up the home study. At this first meeting, she basically just got to know Brian and I. She asked us how we got to this place of wanting to adopt, our highs and lows and how we dealt with those in life, important people in our life, how we grew up, etc.

The person that reviews these home studies (and our adoptive parent education that we need to complete) is actually getting married and will be gone for a few weeks. We are trying to get all of this in by June 1 so that she can review it before she leaves, but if we don't get it completed in time, it will set us back a few weeks. One thing that I know is that God already knows what children are in our family. He is sovereign in the timing of all of that, so we are just trying to be faithful to get it all done, but not stress if the home study is not finished by then.

We got some great children's books from her, along with another book I am anxious to check out: "The Connected Child." There is so much for us to learn!!

...ITCHING to meet this sweet little one...

Thank you for praying for us!

A Small Step

2010-05-15T20:19:00.000-05:00

I was so excited to find our FBI fingerprinting results in the mail when we got home today!!! It has been taking as long as 12 weeks to get them back recently, so I was gearing myself up for a LONG wait. I even called last week and they said they could not tell me where in the process it was until it had been in their hands for 8 weeks. It only took 6 weeks for us to get them back! Thank you, Jesus! One step closer to meeting our child!

Please pray if you think about it...our first home study visit is on Tuesday! I am excited to be another step closer! I am wondering what all we will talk about! My goal is to have all of the paperwork from the dossier complete by the time the home study is complete, so we can just send it all off! I cannot WAIT to be WAITING to get that referral!!!! I know that it will have a completely different set of struggles and difficulties, but it still seems like we will be a lot closer to bringing home the next Crenshaw.

Some awesome news: our great friends, The Carrolls, passed court in Ethiopia, so their little Abigail is officially a Carroll!! You can check out their story here. We can't wait to meet that sweet girl!

B.A.D. days

2010-04-28T21:09:00.001-05:00

Shew! It has just been one of those days...or...a series of days. I don't really have any reason why, but apparently I have passed it on to my sweet oldest child. I have just been down. Maybe sin. Maybe flesh. Maybe hormones. Regardless, I have just been "blah." I realize that there are a lot of people in this world that could be throwing a pity party...I am not one of them. There is not one single reason for me to be depressed. But, I have been a bit that way, and when that happens, it spirals downward quickly. My thoughts go from, "I am a terrible mother" to "I am a terrible wife" to "I am a terrible friend" to "I am a terrible child of God." So, I realize how ridiculous that last one sounds...quite the oxymoron. I mean, when are "apple of His eye" and "terrible" synonyms?!?

Whenever I have these feelings, I realize that just around the corner, God usually has something big for me to realize, or something for me to understand about Him that I never have before. This morning I felt like that was coming. I had some sweet time with the Lord and didn't feel 100% but at least trusted Him that He was going to help me along the way today, with or without the "feelings." It was a good morning...until I was trying to get the kids in the car for Austin to get to school. I snapped...too much fighting, too much disobedience, so Mommy got frustrated. And then felt terrible. Really terrible. I kept thinking...when I disobey over and over and over again, God doesn't snap. He loves. His kindness leads us to repentance. Oh, how I want to parent as God parents me. I apologized and felt so broken.

Here is where A's day started: right when he walked in the doors of school, his teachers said. It was bad. REALLY bad. Terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day. Note home with lots of details of not honoring the rules. Wow. Here is where I have two options: let a five year old's behavior bring me back down and find my identity in it, OR let it be an opportunity of growth. Option one: I mean, if he is a great kid, then he has to have great parents, right? Wrong. And, if he is a disrespectful kid, he must have terrible parents, right? Wrong. I feel like so often if we are honest with ourselves, we really can find our identity in our children's behavior. Everyone wants to hear that your child is loved by other people, but it shouldn't ruin your world if they have a terrible day, or even is seen as a "wayward child." Option 2.: It should point you to Christ. Jesus, what is the root here? Is his love tank not full? Is he not feeling well? Is he just in need of seeing what sin is to understand what your grace is? The reality is that Austin has a precious heart for the Lord. I know that He has his hand on his life, and I can't wait to see him grow and change in God's grace. I would take a bazillion horrible days, knowing that he loves the Lord.

Okay, so while A is having a terrible day, I was really trying to listen God myself and trust Him to turn this ship around. And, I decided to get my haircut. REALLY cut. So, call it over-spiritualization, but this was really helping me. I told myself and the Lord that as I chopped my hair, I was chopping all the impatience with the kids and selfishness in life in general. I was so sick of myself. Here we go, God, take me on a new, deeper journey. Yes, I totally know that I will never be patient and selfless all the time, but work with me, here...it was a good, tangible picture for me...

...back to Austin...he gets in the car from school...tears and apologies for his terrible day. I told him that I was sorry for my reaction this morning and I told him what I told myself and the Lord in getting my haircut. Sweet boy. He just looked at me through tears and said, "Mom...I need a haircut..."

Oh, I hope tomorrow is a better day. Thank you, Jesus, that you are a trustworthy God, who loves us on good days and bad...and just the same on each. Thank you that we can't earn our way to heaven. Thank you for showing me grace through my sin. Have your way in my life!!!!

great article, great perspective!

2010-04-25T15:38:00.000-05:00

I read this article today and thought it was really great. There are so many incredible things about adoption...so many spiritual parallels of how God has adopted us into His family. A sweet, tangible picture. God CHOOSING us! God COMING AFTER us! God PURSUING us! Amazing love, active love, selfless love!

At the same time, there are many difficult things about adoption. This article speaks to some of the hardships and grief involved. I have struggled through some thoughts of why adoption plays out the way that it does sometimes...why a child has to be abandoned...why putting a child up for adoption is the answer if money is short...why pain and heartache have to be involved. A dear, wise friend told me as I was struggling through one of these qusestions one day, "You know, God never intended to grow our families this way. It is a broken system because we live in a fallen world. And at the same time, what an amazing picture of God's love for us..." (maybe that wasn't word for word, but you get the idea!) That has stuck with me as we walk along in this journey!

Check out the article, and if you think about it, pray for us and our little Crenshaw far away!

Updates!

2010-04-21T13:20:00.000-05:00

I was so blessed by my friend Michelle yesterday who wanted to know more details of our adoption and the process. I told her that I really want to document it, and at the same time, right now it just seems like my updates would go something like this:

Turned in this paperwork
Completed that paperwork
Looked up what I needed for this paperwork
Contacted _____to fill out _____for that paperwork

...you get the idea...
But, she said she didn't care and wanted to know the details, and I know that I will want to look back and see all of the details, too.

So, this might bore some of you, but here is what I have been working on:

Ordering the rest of our birth certificates for both our dossier and home study

**In case you are wondering what a dossier is...I get that question a lot and had no clue myself before I started all of this, here you go:

dos·si·er (ds-, dôs-) n.

A collection of papers giving detailed information about a particular person or subject.

[French, from Old French, bundle of papers labeled on the back, from dos, back, from Latin dorsum.]
So, basically it is a collection of paperwork that presents us as a family to the Ethiopian government.

A home study is sometimes called an "adoption study," and is a written report containing the findings of the social worker who has met on several occasions with the prospective adoptive parents, has visited their home, and who has investigated the health, medical, criminal, family and home background of the adoptive parents. The purpose of the home study is to help the court determine whether the adoptive parents are qualified to adopt a child, based on the criteria that have been established by state law.

ordering and receiving our marriage license
getting our tax returns for the last 3 years
asking employer for a letter verifying the details of Brian's employment
asking for letters of recommendation
going to dr.'s appointments and getting the necessary paperwork (we still have Brian's left)
getting medical information about our biological children
getting a TBI criminal check
getting our residential history form completed so that our social worker can do a child abuse check
signing other paperwork for our home study agency

To work on in the NEAR future...

getting my passport renewed
completing adoptive parent education
scheduling our 3 home study visits

And, there is plenty more, but that is what we are working on for now!

***********************************************
For some reason, today I feel encouraged and "connected" to this sweet child. As I do some of this paperwork, it makes me long to be able to see our child. It makes me pray all the more for him/her. I LOVE getting to do it (even though it can be hard to carve out time) because it makes me feel like I am fighting for this little one each step of the way, and we are getting closer and closer (even though it is still far away!) to meeting him/her!

If you think about it, pray for us in this paperwork season...that I will balance this and my kiddos at home well, not being in total "task mode." And, pray for our little one who is still far away from us!

I will leave you with a picture of my sweet boy, who is about to be SIX! AHHH! Here is his "star of the week" poster that he made for his class:

Out of the heart the mouth speaks...

2010-04-12T22:45:00.001-05:00

Okay, so I debated and debated about putting this on here, because I have seen some of these that are just mean, and I feel so sorry for the person filmed. BUT, my sis-in-law and I laughed so hard at this this weekend. She said, "I think it is very telling of her heart for Jesus since she is rapping the gospel while she is ~~high as a kite~~ heavily medicated." I agree...sweet her...and she just wants to tell everyone to "take JC everywhere you go..." She rocks it with Carmen!

Hope it makes you smile!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oS3Olh9DnaE

I don't know how to make that little video pop up instead of the link. Anyone know?

Some Family Pics...

2010-04-07T21:54:00.000-05:00

Just wanted to post some recent pictures!

This was all of us with Mimi and Pops before church on Easter...what a fun time we had with them here! They got to spend most of the weekend here, so it was so special for the kiddos!!

We had an egg hunt at Nana and Pa's house after lunch. They make everything so much fun! Austin and Livi were super excited to EACH have found a SPECIAL golden egg! :)

Like mother, like daughter...this is how I found Eliana one day when I walked into the kitchen:

If you know me, you can guess what is dribbling down her chin. If you don't...then here is another angle:

Yep...she was just digging into a bag of chocolate chips!! Wonder who else does that?!?

And...here is Mimi and Olivia working on our traditional "resurrection cookies" the night before Easter!

Reflecting

2010-04-05T20:47:00.000-05:00

Wow...spring definitely has a way of making you reflect. I am so thankful! Spring reminds me of new beginnings. Easter brings up just a whole slew of emotions and feelings...Christ died, FOR ME. It was because of MY sin that He was nailed to the cross. He bled, FOR ME. He was tortured FOR ME. He was separated from the Father, FOR ME, so that I don't have to be. That is amazing to me. I am so thankful...and in awe of what that really means!

One thing that I have been thinking of recently is that we are "the aroma of Christ." Last year, I heard a woman speak about discipleship. In her talk, she said, "Ladies, do we SMELL like Jesus???!!!!?? I mean, really, if you are walking closely with God, seeking Him wholeheartedly, then you should SMELL like Jesus!!" (or..something along those lines...not a direct quote!) Well, honestly I thought that was kind of cheesy...but, then I recently came upon 2 Corninthians 2:15-17. I am sure she talked about it that night, but I was probably stuck the cheesiness of smelling like Jesus...

Those verses say: For we are the AROMA of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing, to one a fragrance from death to death, to the other a fragrance from life to life. Who is sufficient for these things? For we are not, like so many, peddlers of God's word, but as men of sincerity, as commissioned by God, in the sight of God we speak in Christ.

Wow...I really should SMELL like Jesus! To my family, friends, community, to the cashier at the store, to the guy that cut me off on the road, to those who believe that Jesus is Lord and those who don't. The Word says that to some it is a fragrance from death to death. It also says that people will reject us because they reject Jesus...thus the aroma of death to death. And you know when you smell something that is just AWESOME...like blooming flowers, a good perfume, coffee brewing in the morning, a yummy homecooked meal...doesn't it just bring a joy in life??!! I want to SMELL like Jesus...bring joy and encouragement to those around me (whether I am rejected or not).

God gave me such a reminder of this the other day when I was running. I run in a really beautiful area getting to see and smell all of the awesomeness of spring. I live in an area that is more run down. Honestly, it doesn't smell so nice all the time. There are stray animals all over the streets, trash in yards and streets, weeds instead of flowers, etc. This day when I was running, I took the usual route. On the way back, I crossed a street that lead into our neighborhood, and literally, it STUNK. I want that to change. I want that to change because Jesus is letting off a beautiful aroma through believers. I pray that He won't be rejected in the community around us. I love our neighborhood, and I want to see the aromas start changing.

I love that that verse says "who is sufficient for these things?" ha! No one. Not me! But goodness...GOD IS IN ME! Now that is powerful. I want to live in THAT power. His power.

I just HAVE to put this picture in, because I LOVE this tree! It is one of the first things to bloom, and it was such a reminder of all things glorious to me this year:

And, that is finally the finished product of the house!! Praising the Lord! We will get some landscaping in there soon!

The kids enjoying tree-climbing:

FINGERPRINTING...

2010-03-23T14:03:00.000-05:00

Wow...that is pretty much the word I have for yesterday's adventure!

We went to go get fingerprinted for our FBI background check yesterday. It was quite the adventure. We had to go to the jail downtown, so we got the directions, made sure we didn't need an appointment and headed down there...all five of us. It was comical...Austin came from school (he has to wear a collared shirt, tucked in, belt, etc...), the girls in their bows with bright, grinning faces and we walk into ...well...the jail. It was rough! Wow...the looks that we got! They were screaming (with the looks on their faces), "What are THEY doing here?" (Little did they know that we can hold our own in a jail setting!)

The guy in charge before we went through the metal detectors just looked at me and said, "Boy! You look a little heavy, so let me explain some things to you..." Ummm...HEAVY? I HOPE he was saying the wrong word...maybe he meant "inexperienced?" or "green?" or something along those lines...but HEAVY? What is that? I ate too much today? What? Anyway, he made sure that I knew we could bring NOTHING in (no cell phones, bags, purses, etc.). Just a liscense and diaper for the baby. Sweet Austin wanted to bring in his battleship game and looked at the cop in hopes that he could. NOPE.

We FINALLY made it back to the fingerprinting room after we got patted down for weapons and the ladies back there just wanted to ooohhh and ahhhh over Eliana. Fine by me! It got us out of there quickly! On the way out, there was a lady ranting and raving about something they wouldn't let her do, so she stormed out and dropped her sunglasss on the way out. Austin was so concerned about her glasses. He picked them up and brought them out to her, and it totally changed her attitude. Funny how a little child can do that! Thank you, Austin!

So, I am about to send those off...we will see how it goes!!

A few pictures...

2010-03-13T09:03:00.000-06:00

Eliana is finally officially walking as of a few weeks ago!! At first she would ONLY walk to M and Ms (I think she might be wired a little like me!)! Here is a picture of her chasing an M and M:

And, I thought that I would put a picture in here of our snowman we made with our ONE great snow in Memphis! It was so much fun! But, hopefully all of the snow is gone for the year. We are so ready for spring!

Taking something "normal" and making it AWESOME!

2010-03-12T20:08:00.000-06:00

Okay, as a mom, I of course LOVE for people to take an interest in my children...get to know them, love them, ask about them, etc. When you have a baby-sitter who will do that, and really use the time to minister to your children and teach them more about Jesus...well...then...you have just hit "Baby-sitter JACKPOT!"

That completely describes my friend, Megan Staggs, who loves to baby-sit and she has taken this "normal" thing and made it extraordinary. She truly has a mindset to further the Kingdom of Christ through a ministry of baby-sitting. She has decided that she can disciple younger girls through this venue. She teaches them what parents want/need in a baby-sitter. She teaches them that it is an opportunity to glorify God. So, she started a business called Sojourn Sitters. PLEASE check it out HERE.

If you don't know Carolyn McCulley, she is a speaker and author who is really great. She has recently met Megan and written a blog post about her. Check it out HERE. Megan shares her story, and writes it much better than me!

Changes!

2010-03-11T14:22:00.002-06:00

Well, for all 2 of you who follow this to hear our journey, I apologize for my lack of posting!! No excuses, but updating the blog has become last on my priority list! We have been packing, moving, unpacking, getting settled, and just doing life. We are finally a little more settled, and I am catching up!!

We were incredibly blessed to get to live with my parents for 7 months while we built a house! It was such a sweet time for all of us, and I am so grateful! We are also grateful to the Lord for the blessing of our new house! We have been busy getting to know our street, neighbors, and unpacking the last of the boxes.

As for our adoption update...
On Feb. 18th, we officially sent off our contract with our agency, All God's Children International (AGCI)!! We are so excited to be a part of their program in Ethiopia. This is Livi and I on our way to go mail it off!

About a week after we sent it, we got a huge notebook of information to go ahead and start all of our paperwork. Just look at these precious faces!! :

Some of you may have heard of some recent changes that are being made in the process of adoptions from Ethiopia. Even though I don't know every detail of the why's and how's of our government and their government and all of the things that are going on, I do trust that they have the best interest of the children at heart. And because of that, I am willing to do what we need to do. It seems like quite the battle to adopt, but I feel like if we ever feel beat down, the Lord gives us another weapon to fight with.

There are two major changes that we are dealing with right now.

One of the changes has to do with an extra form that needs to be filled out that might add a little bit of wait time in the adoption process. This form has been a requirement for adoptions in other countries for a long time, and our agency is very familiar with it. You can click here to read what was issued from the U.S. Department of State.

The second change seems to be a little bigger deal...we are now required to go two times to Ethiopia. Before now, someone was allowed to represent our family to begin the court process. Then, the adoptive family would travel once the adoption was cleared through the court. NOW we will travel to meet the child and start the court process, then fly home and wait to be cleared through their government and then go back to bring the child home. Again, I trust that at the end of the day, children are being protected by new laws being put into place. This makes it tougher for us both emotionally and in purchasing more plane tickets. I can't imagine going and meeting our child and then flying home without him/her. But, we have been led by the Lord through this whole journey. We are confident in that, so we just move forward in fighting for the newest Crenshaw! Please be praying for us!

Some new family pics and updates will follow!...

Tricks for snow...

2010-01-07T15:23:00.000-06:00

Well, some of us in Memphis were REALLY hoping for snow!!! The weathermen were predicting it and the kids were HOPING! Austin's teacher told him to turn his pj's inside out and backwards. At first he said, "You can do it, Mom, but I want to see my starwars!" Well, after ALL of us wore inside out and backwards pjs, he thought it was hilarious and decided to go for it. Here is a pic of the kids (yes, even Eliana's were inside out...we couldn't get them backwards, though!):

Before we headed to bed we also flushed ice cubes down the toilet (we had heard that worked, too, so why not try every method!), and dreamed of throwing snowballs at each other the next morning.

Well, it WORKED! There was about 1/20 of an inch of snow! Not enough to scrape the whole yard and make a snowball, but enough for a ton of wrecks on a road of southern drivers! :)

Too bad the kids didn't get out of school! :( I was hoping to have a family fun day in the snow!

AMAZING

2009-12-17T15:41:00.000-06:00

Wow...this post was so amazing!

Please check it out...think about it...and be blessed, challenged, and encouraged!

CLICK HERE

Lucy Lane

2009-12-10T21:52:00.000-06:00

I wanted to pass on a really encouraging blog that I read...

The family lives in Nashville, and Kristi has been such an encouragement to me in motherhood and the adoption process. You have GOT to watch Lucy Lane's "Gotcha Day" video that is on her blog. They also went through AGCI and their video is now on the website. I am in a puddle of tears every time I watch it!

Enjoy...

http://weloveourlucy.blogspot.com/

My ballerina

2009-12-08T14:29:00.000-06:00

Olivia had a little "trial" class for ballet this semester, and it was ADORABLE! They had a little recital last week, so I wanted to post some pics. I will work on getting a video posted, but I have to have the hubby help me!

Sweet little one...I just loved their tu-tus!!!!

She is in the middle right by the teacher...I was impressed she actually DID it!!!

Here is a family shot:

And all the grandparents with the ballerina:

250 for 100

2009-12-07T22:05:00.000-06:00

*******If you don't know about our adoption journey, please feel free to go back a few posts and hear our hearts.********

The more we move forward in the process of adoption, the more amazing people I meet, read about, hear stories from, etc. And, the more I hear, the more my heart swells for orphans. There is so much more need out there than I ever would have dreamed.

We are so thankful that God has led us down this path. We are so excited to be in process to go get our child(ren). I know that there is a long road ahead with many joys, fears, insecurities, excitement, and anxiety all coming to the surface...even after we bring our child(ren) home. We went to a meeting last night about adoption and one of the "leaders of the pack" who has adopted four children said that the "pre" adoption part is the easy part! I am sure that is so true...and I can't wait to find out, because that means that we will have one HOME!

We know that there are many people who do not feel led by the Lord down the road of adoption at this point or ever. There are some that we know who are in process right now. There are some who are dreaming about adopting or fostering. There are some who have not even thought about the orphan crisis in the world. There are some who would love to be a part of orphan care in some way, but not by bringing children into their home. I know that there is a place for everyone in the spectrum of "caring for orphans." I am so glad that we have the body of Christ to meet different needs at different stages, whether that be walking alongside of people, encouraging people, giving to orphans, feeding orphans, adopting orphans, praying for orphans, etc. I DO know that God said, "I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you (John 14:18)." He is using His body to care for orphans and "defend their causes ...and maintain their rights (Ps. 82:3)" God models adoption with us...He promises to not leave US as orphans...and He has come to us. Praise the Lord! All that being said...right NOW our part (the Crenshaw's) of caring for orphans is adopting one or a couple of children.

To be honest, there is so much excitement in this whole process, and then fear from the enemy will hit me, and the lies flood in, "What are you doing? You do NOT have $25,000 to bring these children home. Don't get your hopes up...it will never happen, and they won't come home." And then, the TRUTH floods in,"...these are GOD'S children...GOD'S creation...and GOD owns EVERYTHING in the world. HE will provide..." We know that it is God who has led us down this "interstate."

Okay, so here is a challenge for you...we are calling it the "250 for 100 challenge." If we can get 250 people to give $100, we can bring our child(ren) home! Are you interested? Are you in? Of course there are so many needs...finances are just one of them. If you are interested in being a part financially, email me at erinwcrenshaw@gmail.com. So...250 people. That seems SO MUCH MORE manageable to my heart of little faith than $25,000. I don't know why...it is the same thing, but it just does. (Don't feel like $100 is set in stone...more or less is of course SO appreciated...)

An incredible God moment is that MONTHS ago, some friends of ours just felt led by the Lord to give us $100. She thought it was so random...and now that is the first $100 towards this adoption. God is NOT random. I feel so loved by Him!

This idea came from an AMAZING family...and AMAZING 11 year old who started raising money to adopt her soon-to-be sibling with Down Syndrome. It is a truly remarkable and inspiring story. I asked them if I could "adopt" (no pun intended!) their idea, and they said that they would be honored. You need to check them out HERE for the whole story...you will be blessed! No, you will be BLOWN AWAY by this sweet girl and what the Lord has done.

Maybe the Lord will use this idea to fund MANY adoptions for friends near and far in the future! The hurdle of finances seems like it is a big barrier to so many people that are wanting to adopt. So, maybe this will multiply and the affects will be rippling YEARS down the road as people continue to give. But, for now...are you willing to be a part of our 250 for 100 challenge? We would be honored! Email me if you are interested and I can get you some details!

Please pass this along to anyone you think would be interested at all. We are praying that God will do big things quickly so we can bring home our kiddo(s)!!!!

Mail!

2009-12-05T14:50:00.000-06:00

Yay!! We got a UPS package today! Here is what came:

And...here is what was inside!:

Ugh! Just look at that precious face!!! I can't wait to go through all of this paperwork in our orientation packet:

So fun! Now...I am off to read!

YIPEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2009-12-02T10:11:00.000-06:00

Can you tell I am excited???? We just got accepted to the Ethiopian program with All God's Children International!!!!! In talking to a couple of people, even my sweet hubby, they thought that was just a given, but for some reason for me it REALLY marked a HUGE moment for us! What still seemed like a dream now feels like reality! I got a message from the sweet woman we have been working with with AGCI saying,"Congratulations! You are officially accepted...." and I didn't even hear the rest! I was cheering and crying saying "woo-hoo! woo-hoo!" Olivia said, "Why are you sad?" I told her I was so excited I was crying because we get to adopt a brother or sister! Well, she thought that was the case all along of course, so she thought we were on our way right then! :) I WISH!

But, I am so excited to meet with our social worker and get going on everything! I am anxiously awaiting our orientation packet in the mail!!!!!

So...has been our timeline to date:

always...God moving our hearts toward adoption...

April, 2009...began praying more intentionally and seeking God for His specific plan for us in adoption

October 20, 2009...met with a woman from a local agency and God really used this meeting to lead us to Ethiopia.

October 20-26...talked to numerous people and researched adoption agencies and programs with Ethiopia...decided to apply with All God's Children International!

November 20, 2009...sent in all of our information to AGCI!

November 23, 2009...they got our application, met with their team, and we realized we were missing some key letters from doctors/counselors. So...on to waiting for those!

December 1, 2009...they got the letters, met together and accepted us!!!!!! WOO-HOOO!!!!!

Lord Jesus, thank you so much for leading us down this road. I am so excited! I want to travel TODAY to go meet the next Crenshaw(s)! We ask that you lead us each step of this way. Give us wisdom, discernment, and few "snags" in the process. We love you and thank you for adopting US. Thank you for this beautiful picture of your grace, even though it isn't how you intended to grow families. You are using it for your glory. We love you!

And, here is a copy of part of the email we got!:

Hi Brian and Erin,

I am happy to welcome you to our agency as an applicant to our Ethiopia program! We have reviewed your application and have approved you to move forward with AGCI. I will mail your Orientation Packet today via UPS and you should be receiving it within two to four days. Enclosed are the contract agreements for the program and your next steps in becoming an adoptive parent.

Yipee!!!!!

Journeying

2009-11-10T19:37:00.002-06:00

What a perfect month to start a new blog and share our journey with adoption...National Adoption Month! Who knew that we had a National Adoption Month?!?

We just wanted to document part of the road that God has us on. We are officially starting the adoption process!!! God has laid it on our hearts for quite some time, but the journey hasn't been exactly what we thought. We started researching and talking a lot more about starting the process a year and a half ago...right before we found out I was pregnant with Eliana! :) Well, since that sweet little blessing was on her way, we obviously were not thinking about adoption quite so intentionally. Recently, though, we have prayed, thought, researched, and looked more and more into it. The Lord has brought SO MANY sweet stories to our attention and recently literally we can NOT get adoption out of our heads! On our "getaway" anniversary trip a couple of weeks ago, we immersed ourselves into learning more. All along the way, God has shown us more His heart for orphans, widows, and the poor. We feel like this is a tangible way for us right now to show the love of Christ. We are excited, anxious, sad about the orphan crisis worldwide, and burdened all at the same time! As we began talking to agencies, we narrowed down our choices of countries. Honestly, we were open to numerous places, and God has sovereignly led us to Ethiopia! We have chosen an agency and started paperwork and will hear if we are accepted within the next couple of weeks.

We have so much opportunity to seek the Lord right now...
-on behalf of our child(ren) ...(yes... we are open to sibling groups) for their protection and the people taking care of them. It is so weird to think that there could very well be a Crenshaw alive right now across the globe waiting to come home!
-for the Lord to protect our marriage and biological children
-for the finances...excited to see how God is going to provide the $25,000ish!
-for the patience! I am sure the process will be longer than we would like for it to be! I have heard that paperwork is a lot and the process can be a long one!
-attachment with the newest little Crenshaw!
-...just to name a few!...

As we were dreaming/talking about all of this, we were amazed at what a HUGE issue worldwide this is. There are 143 MILLION orphans worldwide. Unbelievable...makes me so sad to think that 143 MILLION children do not have somewhere to call home. This number of 143 million is overwhelming. Here are some interesting statistics to think on...

-143 million orphans worldwide

-100,000 orphans in the US

-2.5 billion Christians worldwide

-using a median cost of $20,000 per child, the amount to adopt every child in the world would be 2.9 trillion

-The Iraq war is likely to top $3 trillion. And that's a conservative estimate according to Washington Post 3-08.

-If every Christian worldwide pitched in to adopt a child it would cost about $1,200 per person

-if every Christian in the world adopted 0.06 of a child, there would not be an orphan problem in the world

-of the 143 million orphans worldwide almost 5 million of those live in Ethiopia (a country similar in size to Texas)

-almost 4% of the world's orphans live in Ethiopia

-population of Ethiopia is approx 78 million (about 6.5% of the country are orphans)

There are SO MANY issues that go along with all of this...poverty, orphans, human trafficking, sickness, hunger, death just to name a few. We realize that this is just one small step in a HUGE world-wide epidemic. Hopefully the Lord will walk us down many other avenues in this battle before us. We long to help with just orphan care in general, and right now the Lord is leading us to adopt.

As you can see, we loved talking about how we can care for orphans worldwide. We are really excited about this journey that God has us on! Please join in praying with us.

I loved this video I saw. It just HIT me all of the sudden and watched with tears streaming down my face that these are REAL pictures of REAL people in these REAL situations. People REALLY live like this. Oh, Lord, never let this burden leave my heart. I want my life to be about changing these lives for your glory.

Isaiah 58

2009-11-07T21:33:00.003-06:00

First blogspot endeavor...Everyone I know uses it, so it must not be that hard, right? I will find out! Bear with me while I try to change and move around and see what works. There are some old stories and posts on my other blog, but we have a new journey that we are starting (I will give details soon, but we are adopting a precious little one from Ethiopia!), and with that, I thought it would be a good "transition time" for blogging, too!

So, why I-58? The "I" is for interstate...this road we are on. The road of our life and journey with God. May be cheesy, but that is what we Crenshaws can be sometimes! :) There are ups, downs, twists, turns, and smooth flat areas. We welcome them all and will strive to obey and glorify Him. We really want our lives to count for something for the Lord. With that being said, the "I" is also for Isaiah...Isaiah 58! We want our lives to be a "true fast" for Him. The beginning of Isaiah 58 goes through a lot of RELIGIOUS things we can do for God...seeking God daily, delighting in knowing His ways, fasting, humbling ourselves, etc. God's word says "behold, in the day of your fast you seek your own pleasure" (we do it for ourselves...for what we will look like to others...for what we will feel like). Religious things aren't acceptable to him. The "appearance" of righteousness is not acceptable to him. I don't want to seek my own pleasure...

He says the fasting that He chooses is this: starting at verse 6: to loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the straps of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke. Is it not to share your bread with the hungry and bring the homeless poor into your house; when you see the naked, to cover him, and not to hide yourself from your own flesh? Then shall your light break forth like the dawn, and your healing shall spring up speedily; your righteousness shall be your rear guard. Then you shall call, and the Lord will answer; you shall cry, and he will say, "Here I am." If you take away the yoke from your midst, the pointing of the finger, and speaking wickedness, if you pour yourself out for the hungry and satisfy the desire of the afflicted, then shall your light rise in the darkness and your gloom be as the noonday. And the Lord will guide you continually and satisfy your desire in scorched places and make your bones strong; and you shall be like a watered garden, like a spring of water, whose waters do not fail. And your ancient ruins shall be rebuilt; you shall raise up the foundations of many generations; you shall be called the repairer of the breach, the restorer of streets to dwell in. (ending in v. 12)

There is so much richness in all of that. I will go into more pieces in more detail, but I just wanted to introduce us a little...

Here are a couple of fun family shots...

We love the beach...

Daddy and Austin riding gocarts!

Brian and I on a weekend getaway trip!

Pumpkin patch!

We like to call this "hollywood!"