Ethiopia

There is a lot I could tell you about our trip to meet our daughter and see the country where she was born.....

I could tell you about how poverty stricken Ethiopia is, 

OR

  I could tell you how the people of Ethiopia are some of the most beautiful people I have ever seen and how much I now love the country where my daughter was born. 

I could complain about how taking showers in Ethiopia was less than fun, the beds hurt our backs, and we had to walk 8 flights of stairs to get to our room,

 OR

 I could tell you how every shower made me thankful for clean water, every night at the guest house reminded me of all of the people in Ethiopia that would sleep on the street that night.

I could complain about How we couldn't eat fruit or drink anything but bottled water while we were in Ethiopia, 

OR

 I could tell you how thankful I was for each meal we ate while we were there, because on the way to eat dinner each night we would pass beggar after beggar that had no idea when they would eat their next meal. 

I could complain how we had to walk somewhere to get wifi for our phones, 

OR

 I could tell you how ridiculous it seems now that I have an iPhone and check my email every 5 minutes. 

I could tell you how good it felt to finally get in my bed and take a hot shower when I got home. 

OR

 I could tell you about ridiculously big my house seems, how ridiculously full my pantry is and how ridiculous my life feels now.

I could tell you about how there are 30 kids ages 4-15 at the care center who's parents either passed away or had to give them up,  

OR

 I could tell you how they are some of the most amazing kids I have ever met, how they are all happy, and how I fell in love with every. single. one. of. them.    

I could tell you how the kids at the care center sleep 3-4 to a bed and tuck themselves in every night, 

OR

 I could tell you how tucking my boys into their very OWN beds last night made me want to cry. 

I could tell you about our interesting experience buying a goat, bringing it to the care center, and watching it slaughtered right in front of us,

OR

 I could tell you how excited every kid and nanny was about that goat, and how incredibly thankful they were because they rarely eat meat. 

I could tell you about everything these kids DONT have,

OR

I could tell you about how I saw kids stop, bow their heads, and pray thanking God over a cookie I had just handed them, and how shameful I feel that there are a lot of times I don't truly feel thankful for each meal that I put on our table. 

I could tell you some of the tragic stories of how these kids ended up in the care center,

OR

 I could tell you about how AMAZING the nannies are and how they give those kids SO much LOVE and treat them like they are their own! 

This trip changed my life in so many ways. I am now the mother to a beautiful 7 month old baby girl, I have seen poverty, hunger and disease that has totally changed me. I am in love with the country that my daughter came from. As much as I was ready to come home, I miss Ethiopia. I am forever grateful to the woman who is taking care of our daughter while we wait to bring her home.

Aven Elizabeth Kohout

Two weeks ago, we stood in front of a judge and heard the words, "She's Yours!".  Aven Elizabeth is officially a Kohout! We cannot wait until she is HOME!

Some thoughts while we prepare....

As I pack our bags and begin to prepare to go see our girl, my mind is constantly going back and forth between, "I cannot believe we are going to be holding our baby girl in ONLY 11 days! That is SOON!"  

to  

"This is going to be the longest 11 days of my life! Its going to be FOREVER until I see her!" So yes, I am feeling slightly bipolar these days:)

We are leaving on July 31st and returning on August 8th. We will have a few days of traveling, but we will actually be IN Ethiopia for 6 full days. We will be seeing our baby girl for the first time on August 2nd and going to court on August 3rd. 

This trip is going to hold one of the BEST days of my life and probably one of the WORST days of my life as well. I don't want to think about our last day there. Its excruciating to think about even now, so I can't imagine what its really going to be like once we have spent a week with our girl. We will be leaving on a plane without her. We will come home and wait for probably 4 months while the U.S. Embassy works to clear us to bring her home. After August 3rd she will legally be our daughter, but she will be our daughter living on the other side of the world. It's not right. It's not the way it should be. But this is just the way it is....And we have known that from the beginning. It doesn't make it any easier though. There is no way to prepare my heart, for what I am going to have to do.... except to pray that the Lord would grant me peace, patience, and grace to get through each day while we wait to bring her home for good!

I am choosing to not focus on the HARD parts of this trip. The Lord will give me grace for that day when it gets here. That day is not today. And I am going to have 6 wonderful days holding, snuggling, kissing, and loving on my baby girl! I am going to soak up every minute I have with her as a 7 month old, because when she comes home she will probably be almost one year old! 

How you can pray:

1)Pray for safety traveling and that we will not miss any flights!

2)Pray that every piece of paperwork that is supposed to be at our court appointment will be there!

3)Pray that we will hear those words "She is YOURS!" on August 3rd

4)Pray that the Lord would protect us from sickness while we are there

5)Pray for us as we leave our daughter in another country and fly home without her.

He is Faithful!

WE ARE GOING TO SEE OUR GIRL!!! 3 weeks from today a Judge in Ethiopia will hopefully be telling us that she is ours:) Im still in shock that we have a court date. We were told it would be 2 weeks before we were assigned a court date. I was hoping we would possibly hear NEXT friday (which would still be early).  In the 6 months we have been with our agency, I have never seen a court date given out so fast! The Lord has heard our prayers and we are so thankful that he has moved mountains so we could see our baby girl before the court closure!

Last night I spent the night at the lake with my parents in their new camper. I brought Levi along to "try out camping". We love camping and I wanted to see how he would do. Well...I will spare you the details, but it didnt go so well. Needless to say, I was exhausted so I went back to sleep while Mom and Dad took Levi on a walk. When I finally woke up, I checked my phone to see what time it was and I saw a missed call and voicemail from our agency. My brain was still foggy and I was trying to process why they would be calling me. It went something like this...

"wow, mom let me sleep late"

"I have a missed call from a Georgia area code"

"our agency is in GA!!"

"why would they be calling me?"

"It couldnt possibly be for a court date"

"It's WAY too soon"

"I hope nothing is wrong"

All of this while fumbling around trying to push the right buttons to listen to the voicemail from an unknown Georgia number. Then I heard my adoption coodinators voice and her say "Hi! I have good news!"

Best. Words. Ever!!!!

I barely heard the words, "you have a court date of August 3rd", before I started sobbing uncontrollably! I think I have been guarding my heart against getting super excited about possibly seeing our girl so soon. I have been hoping in the Lord that He would do this for us. But I have been trying not to get my hopes up in the event that the Lord decided something else was best for our family. All of the emotions that I have been holding back came flooding out, as soon as I heard that voicemail!

We were assigned a court date of August 3rd. We will fly to Ethiopia a couple of days in advance. Pray with us that all parties will have the needed paperwork at our court date and that we will PASS! 

Thank you SO SO SO much to all that have faithfully prayed for us and that we would be able to see our girl before the courts close!

SUBMITTED!!!

God has heard our prayer for the last 3 months or 12.5 weeks or 89 days (however you want to look at it!) We were SUBMITTED TO COURT yesterday! We are praising the Lord for taking us to this next step!

Whats Next?

We wait for 1-2 weeks to hear what date they will assign us for court and then we get on a plane HOPEFULLY 2 weeks later to GO. SEE. OUR. DAUGHTER!!! Which means HOPEFULLY we will be with her in ONE MONTH!

How Can I Pray?

The courts close Mid-August for 6 weeks. We desperately want to get a court date and see our girl before the courts close! If we don't get a court date in August, we will most likely go in early October, which is entirely TOO LONG TO WAIT! Pray that the Lord will allow us to go see our girl soon. I cannot stand the thought of her being 6 weeks older or having to be in Ethiopia any longer than she has to be. She needs to be HOME!

The Lord has not let us down yet, He has continued to answer our prayers,  so we are confident that He will not dissapoint us now! We covet your prayers and are so blessed by the amount of people that are joining with us in praying our baby girl HOME!

"But God has surely listened and has heard my prayer. Praise be to God, who has not rejected my prayer or withheld his love from me!" (Psalm 66:19, 20 NIV)

Weekend Getaway

A couple of months ago, while watching 4 precious boys play in the park, our dear friends and us decided we needed a vacation....or at least a weekend getaway. We weren't sure how we were going to make it happen, but we decided we would pick a date, find someone to keep our kids, and THEN we would decide where to go. We picked a weekend, had grandparents that gladly agreed to keep our boys, and decided to rent a cabin in Boone for the weekend!

Sara and I have been friends since elementary school. We went to middle and high school together and then were roommates our first year at Liberty University. Our husbands also went to Liberty and have been friends every since. I am so thankful for our friendship over the years and that now we are raising our boys together.  Brody, Levi, Logan, and Landon are quite the crew:) Things can get pretty wild and crazy with the four of them, but we love every minute of it! 

Last weekend we enjoyed a getaway with just the grown-ups. I have only done this one other time since we had Brody.... and I think we need to do it more often:) It was such a relaxing weekend. We grilled out, slept late, went tubing down the river for 2 hours just the four of us, ate dinner out, hiked, shopped the outlets, slept late, lived in the hot tub, and LAUGHED more than you can possibly imagine. It was so good for all of us. 

6 months

Our girl turned 6 months old last week. I got over 50 new pictures of her last week, from one of the 5 girls that join with me in prayer each morning. She was the first of us to travel to Ethiopia and she took so many pictures for us! I even saw a few pictures of "A" trying to sit up by herself. This does my heart so good! Its pretty normal for the babies to be slightly behind developmentally because they are in group care. So I was thrilled to see her doing "6 month old things"!

I think for the first time I truly realized how much of her little life we will miss. In my head, she is still three and a half months old, because that was the age we first saw her. To know that she is already 6 months old and trying to sit up on her own are hard to wrap my head around! Especially since we haven't even held her yet. It's hard knowing we will miss many of her first milestones, but knowing that we will be there for the rest of her life makes it worth it! We are coming, sweet girl!  

I received updated measurements of our growing girl this week that were taken the day before she turned 6 months old. She is 15 lbs 2 oz and they say she is 27 inches long (but I dont think thats right when I compare it to her measurements 2 months ago) She MAY be 27 inches including her head full of curls!

This is an email I received from the mommy that visited our girl and took all of the pictures for us. Once again I am blown away at the bond formed with other adoptive parents and so thankful for the amazing people I have met during this process!

Jana, Your little girl is a little chunk-of-love, and she was not afraid to be held and didn't cry once while I was there!!!  Really.  I laid my hands on her, and prayed over her that God would infuse his Holy Spirit into her body, mind, and soul and draw her near to him every day.  That he would place a shield of protection over her, keep her safe from anxiety, safe from illness, and enveloped in love from the caregivers and all who come into her path.  I prayed with her hands in mine that she would open her heart to know you as her mother,  and to know that she is already loved beyond her understanding by our God and her earthly family.  She gazed into my eyes, she rested her head on my shoulder, and I laid her back into her crib and she fell into a cozy slumber. I continue to pray for your process, our process, and our other IAG sisters in Christ for God to bring these blessings home soon!