TentativeTravel Date and A Little Inspiration

I received an email today from our travel coordinator saying that our TTD is February 7-14. YEAH!!! That is three weeks away!!! We are planning on leaving the 5th to fly to DC, stay there a night, and then fly out of DC to Ethiopia on the 6th. All of the advice we were given is to go a day earlier so that our bodies can get used to the time difference before we meet our daughter. PRAY PRAY PRAY for the 21st!!!

I thought I would share an interview of Rick Warren that was forwarded to me via email. It has spoken straight to my heart, and I adore his attitude towards life and relationship with God.

People ask me, What is the purpose of life? And I respond, In a nutshell, life is preparation for eternity. We were made to last forever, and God wants us to be with Him in Heaven. One day my heart is going to stop, and that will be the end of my body - but not the end of me. I may live 60 to 100 years on earth, but I am going to spend trillion of years in eternity. This is the warm-up act, the dress rehearsal. God wants us to practice on earth what we will do forever in eternity. We were made by God and for God, and until you figure that out, life isn't going to make sense.

Life is a series of problems: Either you are in one now, you're just coming out of one or you're getting ready to go into another one. The reason for this is that God is more interested in your character than your comfort. God is more interested in making your life holy than He is in making your life happy. We can be reasonably happy here on earth, but that's not the goal of life: The goal is to grow in character, In Christ-likeness.

This past year has been the greatest year of my life but also the toughest, with my wife, Kay, getting cancer. I used to think that life was hills and valleys - you go through a dark time, then you got to the mountaintop, back and forth. I don't believe that anymore. Rather than life being hills and valleys, I believ'e that it's kind of like two rails on a railroad track, and at all times you have something good and something bad in your life. No matter how good things are in your life, there is always something bad that needs to be worked on.

And no matter how bad things are in your life, there is always something good you can thank God for. You can focus on your purposes, or you can focus on your problems. If you focus on your problems, you're going into self-centeredness, "which is my problem, my issues, my pain."

But one of the easiest ways to get rid of pain is to get your focus off yourself and onto God and others.

We discovered quickly that in spite of the prayers of hundreds of thousands of people, God was not going to heal Kay or make it easy for her. It has been very difficult for her, and yet God has strengthened her character, given her a ministry of helping other people, given her a testimony, drawn her closer to Him and to people...You have to learn to deal with both the good and the bad of life.

Actually, sometimes learning to deal with the good is harder. For instance, this past year, all of a sudden, when the book sold 15 million copies, it made me instanfly very wealthy. It also brought a lot of notoriety that I had never had to deal with before.

I don't think God gives you money or notoriety for you to own ego or for you to live a life of ease. So I began to ask God what He wanted me to do with this money, notoriety and influence. He gave me two different passages that helped me decide what to do, Corinthians 9 and Psalm 72.

First, in spite of all the money coming in, we would not change our lifestyle one bit. We made no major purchases. Second, about midway through last year, I stopped taking a salary from the church. Third, we set up foundations to fund an initiative we call The Peace Plan - to plant churches, equip leaders, assist the poor, care for the sick, and educate the next generation. Fourth, I added up all that the church had paid me in the 24 years since I started the church, and I gave it all back. It was liberating to be able to serve God for free.

We need to ask ourselves: Am I going to live for possessions? Popularity? Am I going to be driven by pressures? Guilt? Bitterness? Materialism? Or am I going to be driven by God's purposes (for my life)?

When I get up in the morning, I sit on the side of my bed and say, God, if I don't get anything else done today, I want to know You more and love You better...God didn't put me on earth just to fulfil a to-do list. He's more interested in what I am than what I do. That's why we're called human beings, not human doings.

More Updates

Becky Burk, who was recently in Ethiopia, wrote these updates updates about R. Scout.

Blackwells – your girl is a hoot. She also is very animated and on the go so it's hard to get a picture of her with her in constant motion. Her smile is killer and I just adore her. She played with the families the entire time. She actually was awake when we got there and I walked into the toddler room, she immediately put her arms out to be picked up. She would crawl into people's laps and set up shop J

My fam all laugh at this comment because if you know our kids, you know that they are VERY busy and always energetic. She will fit right in!!! Here is another entry:

Blackwells - R. is such a treat. She's so smiley and want to play with the big kids but gets her feelings hurt easily when they want to take her toys or they won't share. She's a cuddle bug.

Thank you, Becky!!! Your attention to detail and the time you spent getting to know and love on our children is deeply appreciated!!!

Court Date

We got one!!! We received an email yesterday saying that we have a court date on January 21, 2009. If we pass and adopt R. Scout on that date, then we will travel 2.5 to 4 weeks after the 21st. They also told us that if we don't pass court that date (30% of all families don't pass the 1st time), a new date will be scheduled 1 to 2 months after our original court date. To me, that just says how crucial it is that we pass the first time. Please pray for this!!!!!!

We Got Our First Update!!!

I was so thrilled this morning to receive an email from Terra with our first update. Here is what it said:


R. Scout is just about the cutest little thing you've ever seen walking
around. She is SO happy, playful, and fun. She loves to tease, laugh,
and cuddle.

I also received a message from Karen Wistrom:

Your daughter was the most social, smiley, happy little girl. She has got such a great personality and loved to be held and cuddled. Your daughter and Whittier's daughter were vying for the center position on my daughters' laps! She was such a happy, sweet natured little girl. You will be so blessed.

This was the BEST early Christmas EVER!!! This will definitely get me through another 4 weeks!

Just in case you noticed, I had to take the "Through The Green Doors" title off my blog as our agency has moved the transition home to a bigger facility. This is great as the new facility will be able to hold more children so referrals will happen more frequently!!!

Almost Four Weeks

It's hard to believe, but it has almost been four weeks since we got our referral. Our coordinator told us that we would be contacted within two weeks, but that has not happened. In the meantime, we have been praying for R. Scout like crazy. Since she is a toddler, we have to brace ourselves for some transitional and attachment issues. PLEASE pray with us that God would be preparing our hearts and R. Scout's heart to one another. We also have been enjoying new pictures taken by families picking up their children. I cannot tell you how much I appreciate them. This week the Hutchinsons sent us pictures of R. Scout receiving her care package that we sent with them. When she was looking at the photo album (of us) I wish I could tell you that she had the same reaction that we had when we saw her. Quite the contrary actually. If I could give her words, she might be saying something like "Is this who I'm going to be living with?". HA! I am hoping that really she was interrupted in something that she would rather be doing. Reguardless, it is fun to see her many expressions as there is quite a range (quite like a typical toddler).

Thankfulitus!!!

I've got it bad my friends!! I have so much to be thankful for... a great husband, THREE wonderful children, and FANTASTIC FRIENDS AND FAMILY!!!

We have been struggling with a name for our 16 month old. She has a beautiful name that was given to her by her bio family. As of right now, we are going to keep that as her first name and use Scout as her middle name. We cannot share her name (or photo) on this blog until she is legally adopted in Ethiopia. Speaking of this, we have not heard any info from our agency. Hopefully we'll hear something next week letting us know when our tentative travel date is scheduled. We are praying and hoping that our court process in Ethiopia will be expedited and only have to go to court ONCE (some families have gone over 6 times)!!!!

This wait for me is definitely harder than waiting for the referral. I stare at R. Scout's picture at least a dozen times a day. I just want to hop onto a plane and go get our girl!!! I have a lot of respect for the families who received their referrals in the summer and had to wait until October or November (some are still waiting) to pick up their kids... that is painful to think about!!!

A Little More Details!!!

Pheww!! What a past couple of days the Blackwells have had!!! I did not realize how much my world would change in such a short time. Last Friday started off a little rocky as my son was not feeling very well, and I was finally wearing down and starting to feel like we might not ever receive a referral. Through most of this journey, I have really tried to keep an upbeat attitude, but it came to an end last Friday. During my lunch break, I gave in and had myself a little pity party, shed a few tears, and complained to my steadfast husband, who was at home taking care of our sick child. By 2:30, I had shuffled the last of my students out the door, and I was beginning to think of all the things I had to do over the weekend. I noticed one of my dear friends, Kristen, down the hall preparing for our daughters' Girl Scout meeting and decided I would help her set up. She was setting up in a room that is only used for meetings and such. I noticed the phone was ringing, but decided not to answer it as I thought someone dialed the wrong phone number. Moments later our school secretary speaks through the room's intercom system and said that I had a very important phone call. My heart skips a little, but I decide that this is probably a parent or one of my bosses needing something. I answer the phone, "This is Kelly Blackwell". I hear a pause, and I know it's our referral call. I hear a voice, "This is Terra Bailey. I have Kevin on the line and this is your referral call". I cover my mouth and instantaneously I start to sob uncontrollably. Kristen rushes to me and asks if I am okay. Terra begins to inform us that she is looking at the most beautiful two and half year old baby girl and her birth date was in '07 (Jamie Jo later helps me realize that she indeed is only one and half years old). I am still sobbing profusely but manage to mouth to Kristen that we have a baby girl. Terra continues to give us more information of what to expect in the future, and I can only get out "thank you and I'll see you at home, Kevin". I hang up and can only think of how fast I can get home. I rush into Hally's classroom and motion for her to get her things and go. She, fortunately, was packed up, and only had to swing her backpack over her shoulder and zip off. When we get into the hallway, I squeal out that we got our baby girl. She starts to giggle with extreme delight and cannot stop. I have only heard and seen her laugh like this one other time, and it was when she first saw her baby brother, Brady. All the way out to the car, we are being applauded with congratulations and hugs from friends at work, and Hally is still giggling until she finally succumbs to tears of joy. The ride home seemed like the longest trip we have ever made to get home. We got behind every slow car out in Branson, and we had to back track and take another route to get home due to a car accident. When we finally get home, Hally and I rush to the basement, where Kevin and Brady are waiting, and we all have our eyes glued on the email with the subject stating "today is the day". Oh, indeed it was. Click. We saw the most incredible set of brown eyes and radiant smile on a little one year old. Picture after picture, she is literally beaming off our computer screen. There was no doubt in our minds that this was our child. I know that it sounds weird but she actually looks like us. She has an expression, almost facetious, that our son gives a lot and that is when I knew that this was a Blackwell!!

What now? The process of finalizing paperwork and arranging travel plans is a definite, but the time line in which this will be done is not being disclosed to us at the present. We are praying for Godspeed, and we are asking that you would do the same!!!