So Close....

By: The Folsoms

We are SO close!
Please lift this handsome young man up in your prayers tonight.
Pray that the Lord will be preparing his heart,
our hearts, and the hearts of our other children.

We are waiting on the US Embassy to approve us.

We are so close!

PRAY for clearance so we can get this baby home ASAP!

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ETHIOPIA

By the Folsoms:

With just a one week notice - we jumped on a plane to Ethiopia to FINALLY see our SON!
There were feelings of excitement, nervousness, and even fear. The trip was a whirlwind! 

Many of our pictures we cannot show because they include other children.
So here are a few....

  

First stop on our trip was Dubai. We stayed there overnight to save us a
couple of thousand dollars on flights.

There we saw: The world's tallest building, a building that had a tennis court on top,
the world's largest mall.... 
Nice EVERYTHING. The airport looked like Las Vegas. It was unbelievable.

My beautiful hunk of a man. ;)

Matt can make friends with ANYONE - ANYWHERE.




FINALLY TO ETHIOPIA!
Matt playing soccer with our son- Yabsira.


This is scaffolding.... say what?!?!







The pictures below are of some AMAZING families that God placed in our lives while in Ethiopia. (Have I mentioned how awesome God is??!??!)
WHAT A BLESSING these families were to us! 


We LOVED Ethiopia.

The streets were alive! The culture is beautiful. Coffee is everywhere. There is no such thing as late. (Which I happen to love!)

The people were beautiful. LIKE FOR REAL! Matt & I said we should open up a modeling agency & start scouting there. Every single day when we walked down the road we saw someone that looked like a model. WHOA. It's insane!

Speaking of insane.... Traffic like I have never seen! Our daily ventures out in a van were both terrifying and mesmerizing. I loved seeing the people, the businesses, the landscapes, the culture as we dodged in & out of traffic daily.

Ethiopians are entrepreneurs! There are businesses and people doing business everywhere. You can buy a soccer ball at a stand that is next to a stand where you can buy clothes that is next to a stand where you can get your shoes shined that is next to a stand where you can buy a goat. You could find coffee on pretty much any street. (which I also loved!)

I loved, loved, LOVED the food. That is one thing that I cannot wait for when we return. (and I am going to attempt to cook some of these dishes!)  Our (AMAZING) guide took us to an authentic Ethiopian family restaurant with live music & dancing while we were there. It is something that I will never forget! (should I post the video of them getting Matt up & trying to get him to dance!???!)


OH MY. My mouth is watering just by looking at this picture. SO GOOD.

Matt feeding me the first bite is supposed to symbolize that he is saying he promises to take care of me. (by Ethiopian tradition) 





These were just after we passed court & Yabsira officially became OUR SON!
PRAISE GOD! 

So now that we are home, I have answered this questions
19 billion times....
"Where is he?!?"
Well, right now we are waiting on the US Embassy to clear us. We should be returning to Ethiopia sometime in August to bring our boy HOME!

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*When we return to Ethiopia we are wanting to take back a few suitcases filled with donations for the orphanage where Yabsira has lived. We are asking for your help!
Next time you run to Walmart pick up ONE extra item. Yeah - just ONE! That's all it takes to HELP & make a difference!
Children's medicines, hygiene items, croc shoes, baby items, first aid items, baby wipes....
If you are interested in making a donation let me know. I can get you a list of items needed.






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COURT DATE

WE HAVE A COURT DATE!!!!!

I cannot believe it!

WE TRAVEL SOOOOOOO SOON!

I cannot believe it!

PRAY FOR US!!!!

-Matt & Courtney

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The Folsom's Adoption Journey: Take Two

Adoption Journey: TAKE TWO
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Our initial adoption journey began over two years ago! It hasn't been the smoothest of journeys. It seemed as if things could go wrong, they DID! Even after all of the bumps in the road our personal case faced, adoptions in the country of Ghana had an entire struggle all their own. If you are keeping up with the adoption world at all, you will find that adoptions are being halted in Ghana and it is unknown when or if they will open in the future. I have been avoiding blogging about this topic because it is very difficult, very private, and I felt like if I announced it it was too official and I was admitting failure or giving up. (this will be a blog for another day...)

We Please know, we are NOT abandoning our initial adoption. But do know that we believe God has provided us with an incredible opportunity to adopt!

Here is our SECOND dossier! 

It is all submitted! (phew!) I am not going to lie, it was a bit daunting starting the adoption paper chase, yet again! But this time, I knew what it meant to get a document apostiled. I knew where to go to get fingerprinted. I had read the books and researched the professionals. Yes, we had another home study!


We CANNOT wait until the day we can share information about this adoption!
We cannot wait to show you all pictures of his sweet face and happy grin!

Trusting in God's perfect plan and timing,
Matt & Courtney

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Poo Day

By: Khylee Forgety 

(I have no other purpose to share this with you all than I needed to write it down for my sanity. After reading it, I laughed and thought some of you might need a laugh today too. So although it is longer than my usual post, stay with me till the end.)


It has been one of those days. You know the kind.  The one where you look back and can only laugh because if something was going to go wrong, it did.

Let me back up though.  Before we had kids in our home, I lived in a fantasy. You all know the one.  

It plays out something like this:
My children wake up at 8:00, refreshed and rested and ready to listen.
Breakfast is home made, biscuits and gravy, of course.
I prepare it with ease, and answer all my littles request with patience and kindness.
I sit and drink my coffee, feet propped up.
I read them books. We do crafts. We only eat local, prepared from scratch food. 
Nothing, and  I mean nothing, ruffles my feathers.  
The house is magically clean, all the time.
Cool, calm and collected, that's me.
Think Martha Stewart meets Mother Theresa. 

And here is my reality today:
5:30 a.m.: A child wakes up for  no reason at all other than just because it is Sunday.
Since it is Sunday and I am a minister's wife, I am by myself.
Like any good mother, I set up the netflix, give a stern command to remain on the coach and be quiet and put myself back to bed.

7:30 a.m. I better get up now or we will be rushing.  I let the dogs out, get the smallest out of his crib, take the trash out and discover the gate to the backyard is WIDE open and the two little furballs are nowhere in sight. 

Open gate = home free

Doned in nothing than my night clothes and flip flops, I frantically call for the dogs and start walking down the street. Nothing.

Run inside, tell the kids whats up, give a stern "be good" and then run out the front door.

Spot Capo crossing the street. Be still my heart. And starting lovingly calling her name. Dumb as rock that dog, she comes running and I scope her up. One down, one to go.

Go back to check on the kids, where are they? O, you know, they had to get that music box down from the chest of drawers, and coincidentally knocked off lamp. Whatever.

Go to my purse to get the keys out of it.  And what do you know.  My sweet husband didn't put them back after he had to use them last night. 

For the love. Could anything go right?

Frantic call. Frantic call. Frantic call. Nothing.  He is practicing the band. 
Finally an answer. Annoyed, stressed, worried, I say (maybe scream? It is kinda fuzzy): 

Me: Where are my keys? The dogs are out!
Adam: I'm coming, I'm coming home now. Sweet, he is always so sweet to me even when I don't deserve it. 
Love that man more every day.

Gather the kids in their pajamas.  Put on their shoes. Throw some granola bars at them. The search party is ready.

Adam comes home, and goes out to look for Luna.  All I can think about is the big bad world she is traipsing around in.  She doesn't know to look both ways before she crosses the street. She is fluffy baby,  not a street dog.

The car pulls up, she is home. Praise the Lord!

All is well. Until it isn't.

Me and the littlest are just vacuuming the floor (don't ask, my OCD is a discussion for another day, cleaning is how I handle stress) and I look over and the princess has something brown on her princess dress.  I look down, and see it.

Poop. Dog poop. Multiple pieces.  

And one that is smashed into the floor.  Of course in all their escapades the dogs had forgotten the reason they were supposed to be outside in the first place.

Strip down sister and put her in the tub, requesting her not to touch anything. And please, just this once, don't drink the bath water.  

Round the corner to do some damage control and I see two little feet sitting. Sitting in the poop.  And not just sitting but holding a nerf gun and swirling it around in it.

For.the.love.

Strip kid #2, look at him and angrily say something about not playing in poop. That's nasty.
And as if it couldn't get worse, as I am taking off his diaper, I see something brown.  Yep, more poop.  Thanks little man for dropping a huge load.  Your timing couldn't have been better.

After an obscene mound of diaper wipes, and another strong reminder to not drink the bath water. Project clean the dog-poo commenced.

And at the end of it all. I just had to laugh. Perfect, as much as I want to be, does not describe me, or our family. It is not our reality, it is a dream. Thank you Jesus for loving us despite our messiness.
Our reality....pre-poo discovery. Just keeping it real. 

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Forgety Family: Update



I received a birthday card from one of my aunt’s back in March, who is so sweet and always sends me a card, with a comment that she misses the updates on the blog.  And I thought to myself, “Has it really been that long since I updated? I just posted last week.”

Well, it’s been more like 4 months. Whatev.

So…here is quick recap of our adoption progress over the last 4 months:
·         January 9th:  Received our updated number of 76
·         February 16th: Received our new number of 74
·         April 9th: Received our new number of 67

Nothing terribly exciting but still progress none-the-less towards bringing our kiddo(s) home.  We are about to have to start the process of updating all our paperwork/fingerprints/etc.  and that thought alone makes me have a mini panic attack.  

Breathe. Breathe. Breathe.

Until then we are hanging out with our two small tator tots that:
  • are learning to use the big potty,
  • like to give hugs straight out of the bath tub while they are still soaking wet, 
  • call us "Ty-lee" and "A-don", 
  • like to pray about their poop, 
  • change clothes at an alarming rate, 
  • throw wild-eye hissy fits because we cannot magically produce juice at any given moment in time, and on command
  • and love us despite all the flaws Adam and I have.


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Forgety Family: Our First Number


By: Khylee Forgety

WE FINALLY GOT OUR NUMBER!

(Back in September, but life has been crazy with the two extras at our house,
so thanks for the grace and prayer)

This is a big step forward for our adoption process and we couldn’t be more happy to finally be at this point.  But what does it mean?


In Honduras, the process for getting a referral is a little bit different than other countries.  Everyone that is adopting from the country gets put on ONE BIG list.  We are #81 on that list to get a referral for a child.  As families lower on the list are assigned a referral than our number will drop.  It could drop one, two, or five numbers or not drop at all. 


So now we wait.  Wait for that number to get lower and lower. 


Thankfully, we have TWO little rugrats at the house keeping us busy by teaching us how to kiss boo-boos, play dress-up and horsey, fix kid friendly meals, and how to be a parent.

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