Travel!!!!

We will be on one of these in just a couple of weeks!! We will arrive January 25th, and meet our son January 26th!!!

Even better news is that James seems to be completely recovered from the measles! Praise God!

Another Christmas Gift

We were so blessed this Christmas to have news of our precious new son. Almost as great as that news is the other answered prayer we received this week. We will be travelling to Ethiopia with our friends, Katy and Brett, who will also be picking up their baby boy. We have been praying for this since our adoption journey began, and I am truly convinced that all the delays we faced were necessary for God to answer this prayer! I look forward to experiencing the joy of meeting my son for the first time and sharing it with another family we love so much!

He's officially ours!!!!

As I was writing the last post, I received "The Call." Our sweet baby James is officially ours. No travel dates yet, but we're thinking 3rd week of January. Words do not describe how excited and relieved I am to receive this news.

Amazing Love

I have been doing a lot of praying the past couple of days, and God has shown me His Amazing Love, BIG TIME!

As I think about James in Ethiopia, so far away, sick with measles, feeling horrible, I ACHE to hold him. I long to be able to make him feel better, to heal him, and to comfort him. But would I sacrifice Grace Caroline or Drew to be able to have James well, whole, and with me? Probably not. And you might think I was crazy or a really bad mom if I said I would.

But this is exactly what God has done for us... He thought about us so far away from Him, sick with our sin and longed to heal us, comfort us, be with us. And in order to heal me, He sent His Son, Jesus to earth in the form of a baby so that He could die for me. That is amazing love!!

Measles!!

We just found out that James has measles. We know very little except that he is being treated and that he is doing okay. Our court date is tomorrow (sometime after 2AM eastern standard time), and we are sending a letter to have our case expedited for medical reasons to get him home and get him treated.

Please pray that little James is quickly healed with no neurologic side effects from the measles, and that our adoption is finalized tomorrow.

Lifting everything up to the One whose birth we will celebrate next week,

Leann

6 months old/ 5 months waiting

A little late....
Our sweet James turned 6 months old on Tuesday, December 2. I can't believe how long it's been. I bet he's sitting up, or at least getting close. Has he started fruits/vegetables yet? I know he loves his bottle....does he like cereal?

So, 6 things I love about this little guy (and forgive me if I repeat some from last month):
1. The hair....lots of soft curls! He's gonna have a great afro!
2. Those BIG brown eyes
3. His strong will (at least I am told he has a strong will) -- I certainly know what it's like to have strong-willed children.
4. His chubby legs
5. Chubby cheeks
6. Most of all, I love how much Grace Caroline and Drew love him! It melts my heart to see them kissing his sweet face, even if it is only a picture.

Come home soon, little guy! 15 days until our court date!

Travel Buddies?

We just found out this morning that our good friends Brett and Katy Wolfe, who are also adopting from Ethiopia have their (first) court date December 23, only four days after our rescheduled court date. Would you please join us in praying that we will all make it through our December court dates and be in the same travel group? We have been praying all along to travel together, but when we got our referral in July it really didn't seem possible. Now I am wondering if all our setbacks were simply to allow us to travel with our friends?!?!
I just keep thinking how wonderful it will be for our boys to be together at Hannah's Hope, in the Union Hotel, on the plane from Ethiopia, and then when we get back to Cincinnati. And how fun it would be for our biological kids to get to wait at the airport for us to walk off the plane with some of their best friends who are doing the same thing!!

Joy to the world, the Savior Reigns!!

"I wanna hold your hand..."

We recently got new pictures of our sweet boy from Julie, our case manager, who was in Ethiopia for 10 days at the beginning of the month. I wish I could post a picture of our big (and he really is big) cutie so everyone could see his big brown eyes and beautiful curly hair. And I really wish this was my hand he's grabbing in the picture!! It won't be long....

A new member of the family

Our nephew Hamilton was born November 3. We were able to fly to Memphis this past weekend to meet sweet baby Hamilton. We are thankful we had this opportunity, which is something we could not have done if James were home, or if we were preparing to travel this week.Grace Caroline is truly a baby hog. She loves holding the baby, and didn't want to let anyone else hold him. I think we will have to set limits on holding James!

Proud Uncle Matt!

Vision of things to come. Drew loves to be in my lap as much as I will allow him, but was even more interested when I was holding the baby. I'm sure I will quickly grow accustomed to holding my two boys!!

Rescheduled court date

I talked to Julie, and our court date is rescheduled for Friday, December 19. So we could be spending New Year's Eve on a plane or in Africa. We are certainly praying that our son will be home shortly after the new year begins!! It seems that our file was all in order except for the documents from the Central Authority, and I am assured that the Ethiopian staff is working very hard to make sure that all those documents make it to our files for the second time around. Of course, there is only so much they can do.....after all, they are dealing with a government office. But we are reservedly hopeful that things will go well and we will travel in early January.

Tag

I got tagged by Erin to post the 4th picture in the 4th file on my computer. Not sure exactly what that means, because my computer has a TON of files. I'm a radiologist, so I have pictures of lots of different things. so I opted for the 4th folder in the "my pictures" section, 4th picture there.

This is my precious firstborn son playing at the beach. He loves sand like nothing else!!

Now I tag Jana, Michelle, Bethany, and Mary Beth

Chubby, smiley baby

I just got off the phone with Kendra, who just got back from picking up her daughter at HH Ethiopia. She got to see James and love on him for us! Unfortunately she was unable to take pictures, but we should be getting some from our case manager soon. Kendra said that James is a chubby boy, very happy. He was laying on a couch next to his special mother when she saw him and was kicking his feet and laughing. Oh, I can't wait to hold that chubby, smiley baby boy!!

Major Changes Coming Our Way

As if adding a new member to our family isn't enough, we have been working on, considering, praying about, interviewing for, and finally deciding on another major life change over the past 6 months. Many of you know that Matt will (finally) be finished with his training the end of June after having completed his pediatric infectious diseases fellowship last June and doing an extra research year this year focusing on quality improvement. Over the past 6 months, we have been interviewing at several children's hospitals, trying to determine where God can best use our respective skills. We specifically prayed that God would open and close doors in order to make our decision easy and our direction perfectly clear. He did just that, and on Tuesday evening November 4 we signed our offer letters to.... ARKANSAS CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL in Little Rock, Arkansas!!!

So now the mad dash to July begins, including looking for and deciding on schools, getting our house here ready to sell, putting our house on the market, finding a house in Little Rock, packing moving. Oh yeah, and did I mention we're adopting a baby somewhere in all that?

Rescheduled

Our court date yesterday had to be rescheduled because our file had not yet been reviewed by the new Central Authority in Ethiopia. We were one of 5 families who had court dates yesterday, and the only family who had to reschedule. Although I am extremely happy for the other families (I have become close to many of the families adopting through our agency), I am really struggling to understand why we were the only family who didn't get to have our court date yesterday. Honestly, I am good with the wait: I have moved on and taken my life "off hold." I just wish I knew why not us? I pray God will show us why we needed to wait. If it's merely another lesson in patience, I've really had enough!!

Halloween

Originally Grace Caroline was going to be a mermaid, but that costume was too itchy, so we switched to Belle. Oh the drama of having a 5 year old girl. Can't imagine what it will be like 10 years from now!

Strength will rise as we wait upon the Lord

Strength will rise as we wait upon the Lord
We will wait upon the Lord
We will wait upon the Lord

Our God, You reign forever
Our hope, our Strong Deliverer

You are the everlasting God
The everlasting God
You do not faint
You won't grow weary

You're the defender of the weak
You comfort those in need
You lift us up on wings like eagles

Lyrics by Chris Tomlin

Enough Said!!

5 months old, 4 months of waiting

Today is James' 5 month "birthday". He was only 1 month when we got the referral; I thought at that time he was so young, and I'd get to see almost all of his milestones. I wonder what I've missed so far....He should be rolling both ways by now. He probably eats cereal in addition to his bottles.

So...in true blog fashion, 5 things I love about James:
1. His big brown eyes
2. His head full of curly hair
3. His pouty face
4. The way his brother and sister pull his picture off the refrigerator to kiss his sweet face.
5. The way he has stolen my heart and I haven't even met him yet.

Happy Birthday, sweet boy!! Come home soon!

Disappointing News

At the end of the day Tuesday, I received an e-mail from Julie, our case manager, with a follow-up phone call later that evening. Below is an excerpt from her e-mail:

The Ethiopian government has implemented some changes in how the adoptions are being approved. The government has stated that these changes are being put into place in order to reduce the number of children with living parents adopted internationally. In addition to this, the government seems to believe that this added step in the processing will ensure that relinquishments are done in an ethical and legal manner. Recently the Ethiopian Government started requiring all of the relinquishments to go through Central Authority for an additional approval before continuing onto the Courts. Even if AGCI has already previously been scheduled a court date for a family, the file will be required to go back through this new channel before the court date can be approved and a decree given.
Currently we are seeing that the courts are scheduling court dates for more than a month out. We are also seeing that the new Central Authority, which is called the Civil and Social Affairs office, are not sending their approvals before the previously scheduled court dates. For this reason we need to prepare you all, that unfortunately the timeframe of your adoption and travel dates will most likely be lengthened more than the timeframe we have previously been providing to families over the last a few months.

Our agency is not anticipating that any families will travel before the Christmas holidays.

I would like to ask for prayers for 2 things:
1. A miracle!!! Our first court date is Monday, Nov 3. There is a very small chance that we could make it through this first time.
2. The wait. Patience for all 4 of us waiting for James to come home. The kids were really saddened by this news. Christmas will be hard without all 3 kids home. And pray for James while he is in Ethiopia.

Thanks to all you awesome AGCI women and your words of encouragement!! As I told Jana on Tuesday, at least I know I'm not in this alone!

Discouraged

I have really been feeling discouraged the past couple of days. For the past two weeks, I have expected to hear something, anything about court dates, yet every Friday night I go to sleep completely bummed. I am really starting to feel like we were passed over and our file is lost somewhere in Ethiopia and we aren't going to have a court date at all, ever. It's the most horrible feeling to truly feel like I will never get to hold my son. Although my head still tells me that God's timing is perfect and that James is not my child, but the Lord's, my heart is aching with longing to kiss his sweet face.

Beyond that, I am going crazy with not being able to plan my life. With 2 doctors in the house, we usually have a pretty good idea of what will happen at least a month in advance, or else we'd end up both being on call and having no kid coverage. So not knowing if we'll be travelling half way around the world 2 weeks from now is really killing me. And if I'm not in Ehtiopia, I'd really like to go meet my new nephew shortly after he's born!

Apple picking!

Last weekend we went apple picking at a fruit farm north of cincinnati. The kids LOVED it!! I think this will become a Linam fall tradition. I just have to figure out what to do with all the apples.....

Be Still My Soul

Be still, my soul: the Lord is on thy side.
Bear patiently the cross of grief or pain.
Leave to thy God to order and provide;
In every change, He faithful will remain.
Be still, my soul: thy best, thy heavenly Friend
Through thorny ways leads to a joyful end

As I sang this hymn this morning in church, tears were streaming down my face. This is my prayer: "Leave to thy God to order and provide...Be still my soul."

Crazy Dreams

This week I've had two dreams about our adoption both of which have been absolutely nutty! I don't know if it's the stress of waiting or what, because I usually don't remember my dreams.

The first one was Monday (which may have been our court date). I dreamt that AGCI, our adoption agency called us and told us we needed to go to Portland to meet with them face to face in their office. So we went all the way to Portland, only for them to tell us that our court date had been set for October 21, but they already knew that all of our documents weren't going to be ready for court, so we should plan on a November court date.

The second one was Wednesday. Let me give some background first.... When you travel to get your child, you normally get the child the morning after you arrive. The child then stays with you for the rest of the trip. So in my dream, we didn't get our child when we arrived. They made us wait until we were about to leave. Then, instead of our sweet, beautiful, healthy James, they told us we had to take a 3 year old who was trach and ventilator dependent and had some sort of genetic syndrome. Not that a child like that isn't worthy of a home, but it's not what we agreed to, or what we are approved by the US government to bring home. So we had to come home empty-handed. I just kept wondering where my James was and no one would tell me.

Thankfully, I know these are dreams and not reality. I honestly have gained (again) a real peace about the wait and have faith that James will be home in God's time.

OPERATION PRINCESS HAIR BEGINS!

Meet Abby. She is a beautiful little girl adopted into a loving family from Guatemala. Now she is also a dear little warrior fighting for her life. She was diagnosed with Leukemia and life suddenly took a radical turn for this amazing family. Her concerns of which princess dress she should wear have turned to whether she will get poked or be able to keep her food down today.
This is sweet Abby right now....Just one of the MANY things she has been forced to give up is her GORGEOUS princess hair and it makes her very sad.... What is it like to be the mommy that has to tell your 3 year old that she has to take medicine that will give her horrible sores, make her throw up constantly, and cause her to lose her hair? What is that like? What is it like to watch tears slide down your sweet baby's cheeks even in her sleep cause that's how much it hurts.

What we can do is give Abby back her princess hair. It's expensive and not something this family needs to worry about during this stressful financial time of paying for medicine and gas and hospital bills. We can not make this all go away but we can give Abby back her hair and make her smile.

OPERATION PRINCESS HAIR BEGINS!

Monthly Call

We received our monthly call from Julie, our case manager, last night, and I have no news to report. We are still waiting. Which was surprisingly good news last night. Several of the families in our position had their court date this week and did not get the official decree. They had to reschedule their date, and the next available time is November due to the huge backlog of families from the courts being closed.
As far as I know, our court date has not yet happened. Julie thought it might be mid-Oct (next week?) but wasn't sure. So we are praying that everything is in order in our file when it is our turn to go to court (actually the orphanage director goes for us with our POA), and we will get the decree first try. Hopefully the next post will have good news, like dates!

Virtual shower

A friend of a friend of a friend ....Amy is expecting 5 babies.... Yes you read that correctly. FIVE! Nope- no typos. She is expecting 5!!! The due date is projected to be 4-6 weeks from today and she just found out she was going to have 5 more babies 2 days ago. :0) AMAZING! You think THAT is amazing??? Wait till you hear this...


she already has 7 children at home. Oh yeah. Now we are talking. Now she will add 5 more beautiful babies to their family. Now this family needs 5 more beds, 5 more car seats, 5 more dressers, 5 more seats at the table, clothes for 5 more, etc. etc. And no, they have no idea what they are going to drive! The new kiddo's are a sibling group of five coming to them through the foster system -but they are no longer foster children because this precious family is adopting them. They are ages 5, 4, 3, 2, and 1.

If you're interested in learning more, click here

Thanks for your help!!

New Pictures!!

We got a CD in the mail with about 50 pictures of James!! He remains so incredibly cute, I can't wait to hold him!!

Grace Caroline started crying last night after her soccer game. she hadn't wanted to play, and Matt and I got pretty frustrated at her refusal to participate, so I thought she was crying because she thought we were mad at her. When I hugged her and asked her what was wrong, she said "I miss James! I want him to come home right now. I can't wait." So I am praying that time flies and he comes home so soon. I can't bear to comfort her in that sadness too many times, because I feel the same way!!

Happy 4 month birthday to our sweet baby boy!!

Grace Caroline's birthday extravaganza and COURTS ARE OPEN!!

Grace Caroline had cupcakes at school with her Kindergarten class. We brought Drew over to join the party!!
After the school party, Momse and I took Grace Caroline to get a "princess" manicure and pedicure -- She thought she was really hot stuff!!

Wednesday evening (on her birthday) Grace Caroline had the first soccer game of the season. She loves playing goalie, and her friend Allie plays forward (and even scored a goal!!).

The BIG birthday party was at Run, Jump, N Play, one of those bouncy places. Everyone had a blast, especially the birthday girl!

On another note, but almost as exciting as our oldest turning 5, Ethiopian Courts reopen today. We are praying that everything goes smoothly (and quickly) as the courts reopen and begin reviewing files, including ours.

UPDATE!!!!!!!

We got an update on our baby boy yesterday!!!!! 4 new pictures and a CD in the mail with lots more!! Our son weighs 14.3 lb at 3 1/2 months, which is 75th percentile on the American growth charts. I had bought him size 3-6 months clothes, thinking that he may be a little small (since that's what I've been told by our adoption pediatrician and Matt who works with her), but now I have to take everything back!! Oh well, now I get to pick out more cute baby clothes!

These are the notes that we got about him:
[He] has a very strong will, the special mothers have learned to be always ready with a bottle to give it to him right when he asks for it, if not, he gets really upset, and his crying is quite loud. With this said he is a complete joy and we all love him. [He] is doing well, but growing unbelievably fast and fattening up as well. He has started talking (baby talk).

He'll fit right in with the Linams! Now we'll have 5 strong-willed people in our family instead of just 4. He's definitely one of us!

The one bit of news that made me a little sad is that they are preparing us for longer delays for travel than we had expected. We are hoping to get more specific information in the next couple of weeks, but for now, they are saying not to anticipate travel for 3-5 months! Please pray for us as we continue our wait.

Ethiopian Celebration

For Matt's birthday, we went to an Ethiopian restaurant here in Cincinnati. The food is served family-style on a large piece of flat bread (injera) that tastes a lot like a non-sweet wheat pancake, with the same spongy texture. Matt and I really liked it (I actually LOVED it), but the kids thought it was too spicy. I think we just ordered the wrong dish for them to like it, though. maybe next time.....

Two more weeks!!!

As I had hoped, the month of September has flown by so far. So much so, that I've been very delinquent on updating our blog.

Things of significance so far this month:

1. Labor Day weekend we traveled to Memphis to spend the holiday weekend with the Eggers family. This is a family tradition since Hamilton's (Leann's brother) birthday falls near Labor Day every year.

When we arrived (after 10 hours of travel time flying, but that's another story) we went directly to Hamilton's football game. The kids were very excited to see him after the game!

The next day, we went to the Delta Fair, where the kids had a ball riding all the super-sturdy fair rides and feeding farm animals!

2. Grace Caroline's First day of kindergarten!!!! What a big girl. She is loving every minute and even wants to go sometimes on Mommy's day off!

Painting the fish that will be used to mark her attendance.

This is what happens when you leave a 5 year old and a 2 year old unsupervised with paint!

Wake up sleepy head!! It's time for your first day of Kindergarten!

All ready to go. We had to go to 4 different stores before we found just the "right outfit" for her first day! Of course, she spilled milk on it at lunch and ended up in bike shorts and a t-shirt (hugs for $1) for the rest of the day!

Signing in

Hugging her teacher, Andrea. "Bye, Mom!"

3. Interviews for Matt at Vanderbilt and Little Rock. Interviews for both of us in Charleston, SC.

4. Ike. Yes, the news didn't lie. There was a hurricane in Cincinnati, OH. Thankfully we did not sustain significant damage and our power was restored quickly.

Things yet to come this month: Matt's birthday, trip to Knoxville for the TN-Fla game, Grace Caroline's birthday. Maybe October will bring some rest. Probably not, though because then we'll need to pack for ETHIOPIA!!!

We saw video!!!

We just saw video of our sweet boy!!! The video was taken 3 weeks ago, when he was 2 months old, so he's not doing much besides sitting in his bouncy seat sleeping. We did get to see a yawn and a stretch, though! So cute!! Can't wait to hold that little guy.... Thanks, Sharon for the video, and thanks Dianne for calling us and telling us about it!

New Pictures!!

Another group just got back from Hannah's Hope and I got new pictures on e-mail! Thanks, Charissa!! When I saw the pictures, every part of my being wanted to reach through the computer and hug, squeeze and kiss him. Waiting is so hard. I wish I could post the pictures. His beautiful curly hair and his big brown eyes are his two most drawing features, and the ones everyone who has met him talks about. Can't wait to hold you in my arms, little man!! It won't be long.....

Drew with his baby

Finally... A picture of Drew with his baby doll! You can't see from the picture, but this doll is so well-loved. He sleeps with him every night and takes the doll on every trip we go on. "My baby" he calls it!!

Another group travels

Another group leaves today to go get their sweet children! We are praying for your safe travels and look forward to seeing more photos of our boy!

Montana trip July 2008

Every summer, the Eggers/Linam clan, or some part of us heads to Big Sky. This is Lone Peak, which we can see from our condo.
Drew has a special place in his heart for "Doc." It's done wonders for my dad -- just look at that smile!
One of the days we were there, we hiked up to an Alpine lake, fondly called "Rat Lake." Thankfully, we did not see any rats or other similar animals. We did, however, enjoy a wonderful picnic lunch beside the lake.
Drew wasn't crazy about this backpack. That's okay, though, because next summer it will be our other son riding in it!! I expect him to be lighter than Drew -- he was pretty heavy!!
I think this was the kids' favorite part of the trip. We took a hayride to an outdoor cookout complete with strolling cowboy musician! Drew was trying to join in the music by playing the guitar on his shirt.

My favorite part of the cookout was the S'mores they had at the end -- we got to roast our own marshmallows and everything!

I don't think I've ever seen a brother and sister who love each other as much as these two. And they already love their baby brother, too. It's so sweet! Every time Drew sees pictures of him, he blows him kisses, and Grace Caroline can often be heard saying "I love J so much, and I haven't even met him yet!" We all feel the same way -- can't wait to hold you sweet boy!

Words to cling to

A group of families was in Ethiopia last week while we were in Montana. This is an e-mail I got from one of the families who was kind enough to take pictures! Thanks so much to Karen and Sharon for the updates and pictures. We are looking forward to the video!

Leann,
oh my goodness, i just met J and he is SOOOOO CUTE. I got several shots of him. He was sleepy at the end and I got a photo of him pouting, bottom lip curled about to cry. He has so much hair. He is sooooo little. Very adorable little boy with alert eyes. Very alert baby . . . looking around . . . blinking at the flash on the camera. And I saw his special mother holding him too, and she was super loving to him.

I wish I was a blanket!

In the bottom right corner of this suitcase, you will recognize the blanket that I made for our sweet baby boy! It is packed and ready to go to Ethiopia Friday. Wish I was going too!! Thank you so much, Sharon!

AGCI picnic

Yesterday we went to a picnic hosted by our adoption agency, All God's Children. Heather Radu, the founder of AGCI flew from Oregon to attend the picnic and briefly spoke to us. She spoke to us about the vision of AGCI, which I think is just amazing, and why we chose them as an agency. This is their vision statment, and should be the vision of all believers: "God has called us to passionately serve the world's forgotten children by creating hope through life-changing ministries." Wow!!

I have to admit, it was a little hard to be among all the adoptive families knowing that we have a son we can't bring home for another few months. People kept asking us where Grace Caroline and Drew were from!!

Not our son... he belongs to some friends.

This is our friend Dan and his son Sam. They have been waiting for their daughter to come home from Guatemala for almost a year -- it was really hard for him to be there yesterday.