The Britt Family of Five

Helen and her 2 big brothers!

Our sweet angel!

We have returned-this post is going to be quick because sweet baby is napping! Helen is wonderful-she has bonded so well with us all-It was as if she was praying for us as we were praying for her.

Ethiopia was amazing. The people there were so kind-the poverty, however, was devastating-something we will never forget. The orphans living on the street are constantly on our mind.

To the Gladney families waiting-you and your children could not be in better hands. The in country staff was incredible - the foster care centers were so clean and the children were so loved. Travis and Joanna-who we spent the most time with-are top notch...there is no doubt in my mind that they have the best interest of the children at heart.

The Bejoe house was the best-it was like a big family. Helen loved it there and so did we-our driver Tefessa, became a dear friend, and we pray that we will cross paths with him again.

Thank you for the prayers- Hopefully, I can update soon. Merry Christmas to you all.

Baby B....here we come!

My beautiful shower cake made by our good friend (and cousin) Jennifer. She and our other friend, Nicole had a surprise shower for us!! It was amazing!

Buying crackers!

Will surrounded by the 35 pair of shoes we are taking to Ethiopia!!! We are so excited!

Thanksgiving was delicious!!

Well, the time is here. Buddy leaves for Washington tonight and I leave tomorrow. We are flying separately-crazy, YES!! PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE pray for our safe arrival and return!!

I was at the boys' program at school today and thought to myself, one day we will be here watching Helen!! It was surreal-I still can't believe she is my daughter. We cannot wait to meet her and pray for an easy transition. She is a smart little cookie-she definitely has different faces when traveling parents take pictures of her and when the in-country staff does!! She is all smiles when people she is familiar with take her picture and very wary with others. I imagine she is going to throw a few of those looks our way!!

I cannot believe the next time I update our blog, I will have met our daughter, Helen! For those of you waiting, hang in there, it is SO worth it!!!

Love to you all!

Countdown to Ethiopia!

OUR DAY-first "family photo"as a family of five (notice Helen's picture!)

Baby Girl's pink paradise

Hope Helen likes pink!!

Happy Birthday, Nana!!

Picture from a sweet family who went to pick up their tiny baby boy!! Helen has a photo album we sent her in her hands!! We LOVE YOU SO MUCH, Helen!!

This week has been a blur. We have finished Helen's bedroom and made travel and lodging arrangements. Now, we have to pack...!!! Tomorrow we are going to shop for supplies for Helen's orphanage...thanks to many great friends and family, we are going to be able to take more than we originally thought! Thanks to everyone who donated baby supplies or gift cards or money (thank you notes will come...)

We are so honored to take pictures and/or packages to sweet children in Ethiopia waiting for their families. I have attempted to contact everyone who has left us a message. If for some reason, you have not heard from me, PLEASE try to contact me again!! I don't want to leave anyone out!!

Please pray for our safe travels-Two more weeks until we leave for Ethiopia!!!

Here she is.....Helen Gonder Britt!!!

Our little messy Marvin-she fits right in with our family!!

Love her beautiful smile!!

Look at those beautiful eyes-my dad says she has his eyes!!

Our referral picture-what a beautiful little lady!! This one makes me smile every day!!!!

It is a miracle-we have a daughter (and a sister!) Meet Helen Gonder Britt-The minute we saw her picture, heard her name and her birthday (April 16th-Will's is April 19th and Wesley's is April 11th-what about that for a sign!!) we knew she was our daughter!! We are so honored to be her parents. Thank you so much for your thoughts and prayers-We travel to Ethiopia on December 6th-please pray again for safe travels and an easy transition for Helen.

If anyone would like for us to take a package or take pictures of your little ones, (or big ones) we would be glad to.

Thank you again. This has been an amazing journey...and it is just getting started!!

Tomorrow, tomorrow, I love you tomorrow...you are only a day away!!

Telling the boys about our court date!!

Baby B's digs.

Our preacher calls her the chandelier baby-What? Doesn't every girl need a chandelier?

W1's "basketball court"

W1's cool loft bedroom courtesy of my husband and dad!!

Well, by this time tomorrow, we should know whether we passed our court date. Thanks for all of the well wishes and prayers. We are so hopeful that good news is coming our way.

I have been in serious nesting mode. W1's room is almost complete-it is so cool-He loves it. (Thanks Pawpaw and Dad B!!) We are currently finishing Baby B's room-it needs some accessories and curtains but it is a pink paradise!!

Some wonderful friends gave us a surprise baby shower over the weekend and we received a ton of supplies for Baby B's orphanage as well as some really great gear for her!! I will post those pics. as soon as I receive them.

Thank you for joining us on our journey to our daughter. She truly is our dream come true!

COME ON COURT DATE!! UPDATED****

W1's unfinished room. See the red in the corner? That has been there for a month!

W1's cool loft bed, just waiting to be finished...

Does this look like a little girl's room to you? Hopefully it will soon!

W2 at awards day. He racked up!

W1 and the crew at awards day!

Two Gladney families passed court this week and will be traveling to Ethiopia in November to pick up their children!! Yeah! One family has graciously agreed to take a package to Baby B. The wait for a court date is getting really difficult...I keep thinking that she HAS to be home by Christmas. It will be so hard without her.

Well, we have such a mess, here. We have been working on W1's new room for 2 1/2 months now. I am getting really frustrated waiting on people who never show up (or answer their phone!) My Dad is ready to finish W1's cool loft bed and we have some neat surprises in store...I just want Baby B to have her own room, not just a pile of stuff in a corner.

Maybe good news is right around the corner. Praying for all waiting for court dates and referrals!! Still stalking your blogs and LOVE to see good news!!

WE HAVE JUST RECEIVED A COURT DATE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! IT IS NOVEMBER 13, 2009!!!! PLEASE PRAY THAT IT GOES SMOOTHLY AND WE ARE ABLE TO TRAVEL BEFORE CHRISTMAS!!!!!!!

A Great Success!

Chillin at the yard sale (notice W2's bookmarks-)

Some of our yard sale contributions!

W2 cleaning up a toy!

Our yard sale for Baby B's orphanage this past Saturday was a great success!! We had 20+ friends and family donate items and we made $800.00 for Baby B's foster care center in Ethiopia. It was so much fun and we had such wonderful responses from strangers who came to the yard sale. Thanks to all who supported us!! We can feel all of the prayers lifting us up!

Courts in Ethiopia reopened on Monday, Oct. 12th. At least one family from our agency has received a court date in a couple of weeks. I keep hoping that the next phone call we get, is Natalie with our court date!!

Have a great week!!

Still here!

Run W2, RUN!!

My little nascar driver

Dad B trying to pass W1!

W2 and his pal since birth, E. She is a sweetheart.

We are staying so busy at the Britt household. Soccer, scouts, tennis, choir, SCHOOL, remodeling and now a yard sale. W1 has decided to do his school project on the orphans of Ethiopia. In conjunction with his project, he is having a yard sale and all of the proceeds will go towards buying supplies for Baby B's orphanage. We have been cleaning out the house and hopefully friends will come through with some donations for the sale. Every little bit helps. We are so proud of the boys for wanting to donate their time (and toys) for such a wonderful cause.

A wonderful family, sent us 14 pictures of our daughter this past weekend (while I was at the beach scrapbooking her life book). They took a care package to Ethiopia for us and it is so neat to see her holding items that we picked out just for her. Our case worker has also sent several updates this week and we feel so blessed to see how happy she is and how much she is growing. She has a head full of beautiful black curls!!!

On a sad note, the courts in Ethiopia are not reopening on schedule so several families have lost their court dates. Please pray for quick, new court dates for them and that we receive a court date soon as well. Thanks so much for all of your thoughts and prayers-you don't know how much they help!!

Happy 17 months, Baby B!! WE LOVE YOU!!

SEVEN SHOTS!!! (each)

Dad B's grandmothers 90th birthday celebration.

Our new hobby-the men all caught a catfish at the same time!!

Well, it has been awhile since I have updated our blog. Everything is going well-we are definately staying busy with school, sports, scouts and church. We still have a lot of remodeling to do but hopefully we will be finished by the middle of October. We finally got (some) of our shots today. Oh, it hurt, but Dad B was proud of me-I did not pass out. We have so much else to do-packing alone could take weeks. No, we don't have a court date but we are VERY hopeful we will get an October date and have her home by Thanksgiving. Wishful thinking...maybe...but I just need her in my arms. Everyday she is growing bigger and bigger and we are MISSING IT!! I am just so thankful for our agency and the caregivers in Ethiopia. The children all look so loved and happy.
Today, Baby B. turned 17 months old. I thought about her all day-especially during the shots-and wondered if she knows how loved she is. Everyone is so excited about her-the number of people who ask about her, send notes to us, and of course pray for us is staggering. We have been so blessed. I am saving everything to create a Lifebook for her to have when she gets older. It makes me sad that we don't know what her first 12 months were like, but we are going to have so many memories together!!
Have a wonderful week. It is wonderful to see the referral list on the FBI getting longer!

Tagged

OK, Tam tagged me, so here goes:

1. I am scared to death to get on an airplane. The last time I flew, I was 18. The next time I fly, I will probably be by myself on a 22+ hour trip to Ethiopia. TERRIFYING!!!!

2. I am addicted to interior decorating magazines. I have so many, and I can't throw them away. The thought of ripping out pages (and saving them in a folder like the organizational magazines say) is unbearable. What if I need to see an article I have thrown away!! Interior design blogs have helped a bit...I don't go to bookstores as much as I used to, sometimes I just surf the web.

3. I had a tubal ligation during my second c-section and regretted it the next day. I knew I made a terrible mistake. I had a tubal reversal in 2007 but in my heart I knew that we would adopt-and here we are!!

4. I am CHEAP!! I won't pay full price for anything. In fact, thanks to all of the magazines I hoard, we have decorated much of our house with furniture and accessories from a warehouse in town that sells a lot of junk. Luckily, my sweet husband can fix anything!

5. I don't like cats. I think they are so sneaky. BUT, my favorite pet is our cat, Winter, aka Mittens, aka Kitty, aka Bootina, aka Cleopatra (we can't decide on a name for her...she is probably one confused cat!) (by the way we have a cat, three dogs, 2 turtles, 3 fish and a frog) She is the best animal I have ever had-She just chills-even though W2 terrorizes her-he throws her over his shoulders like a scarf-I just love that cat-go figure!!!

6. I LOVE sports (especially college football)!!! So many wives complain about their husbands watching too many games on TV but I watch WAY more than my husband does. W1 is a sports fan, as well. He gets up every morning to watch ESPN and he is in a fantasy football league online. I was a cheerleader in high school but would have loved to play football or flag football.

7. OK, last one, I don't know what I want to be when I grow up. I have been a stay-at-home mom for the last 10 years. Before that, I had quite a few jobs, none that I was passionate about!! I am very passionate about adoption so maybe I can explore that field. We will see...I have a wonderful husband who is such a great provider and I have been so blessed to be able to stay at home with our children. Baby B...can't wait for you to get here!!! We love you so much.

TAG to anyone who reads our post!!

Back to School Blues

Heading to school-Nana and Pawpaw made a sign for their first day!

This is what Kitty-aka Bootina-thinks of the sign-I know she did this to torment Nana who does not like cats!

Well, our boys went back to school today. They had a great day-I just missed them so much. We had a great summer together! They are really excited about their classes and I think they were ready to go back, I was just not ready for them to...

The boys had a great time showing all of the teachers Baby B's pictures at open house. She is already so loved by everyone. You can't help but love her when you see her. One of my friends called and said that every time she walks by Baby B's picture, she thinks about how she is going to rule the roost and have everyone wrapped around her finger-(she already does) W2 and I went shopping for her yesterday and he was so funny. He picked out the cutest outfits and at one point when I was scanning items, he said, "Mom, I'm going back in..." and charged back through the aisles. He is so happy about his little sister and I am so thankful because he is giving up his "baby" status.

Have a great week. A family received a referral yesterday...keep them coming, Gladney, we need some more families on the referral list!!

Somewhere over the Rainbow

Referral day! We were driving in the car to go celebrate and saw this beautiful rainbow! What a wonderful sign!

A sweet family traveling at the end of the month is going to take this to Baby B. and give her a big hug for us! The boys picked out the outfit and were so excited!! I hope I will get a picture with our daughter wearing it!

Shopping with Nana!

One of the pictures we sent to Baby B. We were laughing thinking that she is going to wonder who that hairy looking boy with the big ears is!! Buddy the dog is a ham!

This is our last week before the boys go back to school and we find out who their teachers are tonight. I cannot believe the summer is over!

We had a great weekend at the lake and yesterday we went back to school shopping with Nana-
They will look spiffy for their first day back.

We keep looking at Baby B's pictures and love her so much! When the boys go to school, I am going to start painting rooms-We are still working on W1's room - thanks to my Dad it is going to be so cool-a real "tween" room.

Have a great week!

From the mouth of my oldest babe

"Isn't she the cutest baby ever?"

"She is a joy to our family."

"We are so blessed!"

"When I grow old, I am going to adopt 20 babies from Ethiopia!"

"Isn't she the cutest baby ever?"

"She is so cute, I can't stop looking at her!"

"W2, give me those pictures back, I can't stand it!"

"She sleeps all night long-from 8 to 5!"

"Isn't she the cutest baby ever?"

--W1, 10 year old, proud biggest brother of Baby B

(W2 loves her so much, too-his favorite saying is, "She is definately kin to me-look at her throwing that toy!")

Baby B...here we come!

Seeing our baby girl for the first time!

These two love Baby B!

Yesterday I told Dad B this was our week-and it was!!! We have received a referral for a beautiful, spunky 16 month old little girl who has stolen our hearts already. We are so thrilled to finally see her little face. As W1 used to say, "Her's a beauty!"

The call...today was crazy-racing to get W2 to camp then W1 went to my moms while I worked. I was so hot and kept thinking about how good the pool would feel. When we got to the pool, I was playing ball with W1 thinking about how I could stay in the pool all day-(It has to be the hottest day of the year) when I see Dad B hobbling down the stairs. I thought it was weird but went to meet him. He said that someone wanted to speak with me and to push talk on his cellphone. Well, the 817 area code popped up and I hung up-Dad B said "don't do that" and I started screaming and crying and hugging him. Everyone at the pool thought something was wrong- W1 was running in circles, of course W2 was still swimming oblivious (having the time of his life as he later told me). I finally calmed down and called Natalie. She told us she had a referral and then I asked her how long she would be in the office. ( in my head I was thinking, we could swim for a couple more hours----WHAT!!!! I have been waiting for this day for so long and I wanted to wait-seriously, I think I was in shock)-So, after I pulled myself together, we raced home to see the most beautiful little girl in the world. She looked sad in the first pictures, but then she was so happy-in one picture, she is even throwing a toy- and W2 said, "yeah, she is kin to me!" W1 is so excited and keeps saying, she is the most beautiful baby ever and has called everybody.

Well, that is all for now. Thanks to all who have prayed for us-please continue, we still have a long road to hoe.

Coach Bob McKillop, you are the best!!

Now, can you loan us the $50,000.00+ per year it is going to cost us to send W1 to Davidson!!
W1 went to Bob McKillop's basketball camp at Davidson College last week and he had a blast. Coach McKillop had each boy write down their dream and W1's was to go to Davidson and play basketball. I know a little about this dream because I wanted to go to Davidson like my dad but my SAT's were not high enough. I was devastated!!! Maybe W1's dream will change, but once Davidson grabs a hold of you, it is tough to get it out of your system. Can we say, SCHOLARSHIP!!

On a parental note, I would highly recommend the camp. Coach McKillop doesn't just put his name on it and let someone else run it-he was there everyday encouraging the boys and coaching them. He is a fantastic coach.

W2 is at a day tennis camp this week and he enjoyed the first day-it is so HOT here so we are inside for the rest of the afternoon.

Dad B is going to have to have knee surgery next week-please say a prayer for him, he is really worried about it-(his dad passed away from a heart attack after knee surgery) Please keep us in your prayers-

Still no news about baby B-maybe this week...
Love to all

W1 with his new hero-Bob McKillop

W2 at tennis camp-maybe this is his sport?!

Can you tell how much these two missed each other-5 mins together after 6 days and they were fighting-boys will be boys-