The Children of Ethiopia Need YOUR Help!

It Only Takes 1 Minute to Help 5 Million Orphans

TODAY 5 million orphans of Ethiopia need YOU to be their voice. Your signature of hope on the petition to the Prime Minister of Ethiopia can make a difference.

SIGN THE PETITION NOW

With the government of Ethiopia announcing plans to slow their international adoptions by 90%, many children will now be forced to spend an extra 5 to 7 years behind the doors of institutions without the love and care of a family.
This slowdown will also jeopardize the ability of adoption service providers to continue their donation of orphan care and family preservation assistance to over 1.2 million vulnerable children and families throughout Ethiopia.

You Can Make A Difference. Click here to sign the petition now.

Forward this info to your friends, family, church, small group, Facebook, Twitter, etc.
We want to get 250,000 people to sign this petition by Monday. As I type this, there are 16,577 signatures.

PLEASE TAKE ONE MINUTE to answer God's call to be a voice for the voiceless, to defend the cause of these Ethiopian orphans.

6-Months Home and Nearly 1-Year-Old

As of today, we have been home with Abraham for 6-months! Time is such a strange creature for in some ways it has gone so quickly, and yet, I can hardly remember what life was like before his arrival into our family.

I've read several blog posts recently about how difficult adoption can be, what a hard time some moms are having adjusting to their new little one(s)...and I don't want to minimize those experiences because I know those moms have written from their hearts. But, for me, "being real" about welcoming Abe into our family means telling you that it has been an incredibly easy transition for me. Though many warned that I might not "feel love" for Abraham right away, I haven't found that to be the case at all. I look at him and everything about him seems right, familiar, desirable, like I just know he is mine. Now maybe it's just because he's a singleton, not twins like I'm used to, or maybe it's because he really is a pretty laid back kiddo/good sleeper/good eater, but I can honestly say that I haven't had any negative feelings surrounding his arrival into our family. That might sound untruthful, but I'm telling you - it's true! (Of course, the arrival of Baby #4 in August might not go so smoothly...but we'll take that as it comes!)

In only 10 days, Abraham will be a year old! He is so close to walking, has 3 (almost 4) teeth, loves clapping and cheering for himself (he makes a sound that sounds like "Yyyyyaaaaayyyy"), he loves playing "SO big" and raising his hands in the air. He really dislikes having his nose wiped, and anytime I leave the room for a minute. He sleeps 12 hours at night, and is still taking 2 good naps for me in the daytime. We're down to 3 bottles a day; his favorite foods are bananas, green beans, and crackers, oh, and daddy's pancakes! Ev and Syl are such good big sisters to him, though Sylvie did say the other day, "Mom, I hope our new baby in your tummy is a girl baby." And I asked, "Why's that, Sylvie?" She said, "Because girl babies aren't so loud and fussy as boys!" HA. I tried to explain that wasn't necessarily true, but I'm pretty sure she didn't believe me. :)

Also, good news: In our state, an adopted child has to be living in his/her adoptive family's home for 6-months before re-adoption can occur. We have contacted an attorney, and have a meeting with him in the coming weeks. So, hopefully we'll have a court date in the next month or two, and can complete this last step in the adoption process. We do have one more post-placement visit with our social worker this summer too, but after that, we will be done and all will be finalized. :)

I'll leave you with a few new photos...




"SO big!!!"



Sylvie (L) and Evelyn (R), bundled up for some winter playtime



SO handsome!



Abe and Daddy are headed out to play too!

O, The Things People Say (and Our Big News!)

Now that we've told our families, our friends, AND our Facebook "friends" (plus entered into the second trimester), I figured it's about time for a blog post...

Yes, we are expecting Baby LeFeber #4!!!! And we are SUPER EXCITED!!! I'm due early August (would that be the week of band camp, Nathan's busiest week of the entire year?!? Um, yes. Were we in Ethiopia during band camp last August?!? Um, yes. At least we're consistent... :)).


O, the things people say (and I'm sorry if you're one of the people who said any of the following comments, and now I'm mocking you...be assured, you are forgiven!)...

Comment #1 (and by far, the most popular so far) - "Oh, you're pregnant! I hear that happens a lot right after people adopt!"

Polite Response to #1 - "Yes, I'm sure it does happen that way for some people..."

What I Really Want to Say to #1 - "Actually, we chose to prevent conception by using super annoying condoms every time we had sex for a year and half because the adoption agency we were using did not allow adoptive parents to become pregnant during their adoption journey or the entire adoption would be finished and all of the time, energy, and money we had put in would be lost."

Comment #2 (in 2nd place) - "This must be such a SURPRISE for you!"

Polite Response to #2 - "God's timing isn't always our own..."

What I Really Want to Say to #2 - "Um, no. It really wasn't a surprise to us at all. When a man and a woman have sex without using protection, it is fairly common knowledge that they may conceive a child. We both learned about this amazing phenomena in health class some time ago, and knew that when we stopped using those super annoying condoms, a baby would likely be the result."

Comment #3 - "Now your family will be complete."

Polite Response to #3 - "Well, we haven't made any final decisions about that yet..."

What I Really Want to Say to #3 - "Why do you think it's ok to tell us how many children we should welcome into our family? Or to hint that, if we want to have more than four children, something may be wrong with us? Maybe we will want to have another biological child, maybe we will want to adopt again, maybe this will be our last child; we don't know for sure, but please don't assume that you know our perfect family size. You don't."

Phew. It felt good to get that off my chest. So far, I've always opted for the polite responses...Nathan says I should be more honest, and use these opportunities as a way to "educate people," but I must say, it's hard to speak calmly and rationally when all I can think about is, "Are you seriously saying this to me?!? Do you realize how rude you sound at this moment???"

Let me reiterate: We are INCREDIBLY excited about the life of this new little one!!! We are not surprised by this new development in our lives. We chose to adopt, not because we couldn't have more biological children, but because we felt God's leading to do so. And please don't die of shock if, a few years down the road, we have another announcement or two, like "Baby LeFeber #5 is coming" or maybe even "Baby LeFeber #6 is coming." We don't know exactly when our family will be "complete."

I really do feel better writing all of this down. Thanks for listening, folks. :)

All of the Cuteness You've Been Missing...

I feel like I should begin every blog post with an apology...yes, I know it's been FOREVER since I've posted, and I know what it's like to wait with great anticipation for another post as I have other friends who blog just about as (in)frequently as I do...I just find it hard to LIVE life, and BLOG life simultaneously, and LIVING has most definitely taken priority.

That said, I did want to throw a couple of photos out there for your viewing enjoyment...and I do hope to blog about more of the day-to-day in the near future, but...no promises on that one as of yet!




Messy Abe :)



Wet Abe :)




Ev and Syl's 4th birthday party - a PAINTING party! A good time was had by all.




Mama and Evelyn at the Party!




Happy Abe :)




Happy Abe and proud big sisters!



Not so much in the cuteness department, but a photo to document Nathan and my 3-day get-away to KC in celebration of our 10th wedding anniversary! (A big thanks to G for keeping the kiddos during our time away :)).