An update at last

I've had a lot of people tell me they have looked at the blog and nothing has been added. I'm sorry about that. I tried to update it while we were in Ethiopia but we only took an IPad and it is impossible to type on. When we got home I was an emotional basket case and could cry on command, just ask Mike, my mom, Samuel, and Will. Enough with the excuses...

We had a wonderful trip to Ethiopia and truly fell in love with the country. The flight was gross and long, we called it the "tube of torture". The flight from DC to Addis Ababa was 13 hours and coming home we traveled for 35 hours total. We were zombies when we got home and the next day I was running a fever and felt like I had the flu, luckily that went away after 8 hours. The worst part was leaving our son over 7000 miles away. I can't really describe this feeling except it was like leaving a part of our hearts. I would watch the flight map on the airplane and the further we flew away from our son the worse I felt. I'm sure the nice man sitting with Will and I wondered why I kept crying and getting tissues out but fortunately he never asked.

Our son Gabriel (Gabe) Fiker (means love in Amharic) is wonderful and we can't wait to go back and get him. We were so nervous on our first meeting and I can't imagine how he must have felt but he came out smiling and ran down the steps right to us. He called us mom, dad, Samuel, and Will (he had studied his photo album we sent) and gave us all big hugs. Mike and I had worried that when the time came for us to take him home we would be dragging a kid kicking and screaming through the airport but as Mike later said he would have left with us that day. From the moment we met him we knew he was our son and brother.

We also met his uncle on his mother's side and his half sister. This was very emotional and I was a nervous wreck. We met with him on the transition house porch while Gabe, Samuel, and Will played out in the yard. We ask him what his wishes were for Gabe's life and he said he wants him to be a person that helps others in need like we were doing now. OMG!!!! First of all I feel Mike and I aren't doing enough to help others and we need to find ways to be better at this. Most important we feel a great responsiblity to follow through with his wishes. It also worries me because in America it can be difficult not to let all the "stuff" and chaos get in the way. Mike and I have discussed this a lot and are going to make a better effort of teaching our children to help others and not to be so materialistic or selfish. After our meeting we went down where the boys are and took some pictures, I made copies to take back with us so his uncle and sister will have copies. I loved watching Gabe Fiker and his uncle interact, they seemed to tease each other, and I'm so glad we have it on video so he can watch it in the future.

The next step we are waiting for is to be submitted to the US Embassy in Ethiopia. Our agency expects this to happen on Wednesday if all paperwork is ready. PLEASE PRAY we get submitted and things move along quickly. After that the embassy will probably set up a meeting with his uncle to make sure that he is a true orphan, this is usually about 2 weeks after set up. The latest trend has been families being cleared to pick up their child the day of the birth relative interview. Our agency said they will look at when to schedule our return trip after we know when the interview is. If we are submitted this Wednesday I'm guessing we will return 4-6 weeks from then. PLEASE PRAY for our paperwork, our family, Gabe Fiker, his uncle. This process has changed us so much, our family has grown closer to each other and more importantly closer to GOD. I'm so grateful that we were obedient to HIS call for us to adopt we are forever changed.

REFERRAL!!!!!!

We were so excited to announce we received our referral on Tuesday, January 17th and accepted it Thursday, January 19th for our 7 year old son. The reason for the two day delay is his medical information is supposed to be reviewed by a doctor, even though he's a healthy 7 year old, its still formality. So many people have ask me how the course of the evening went so I'm going to try to explain it the best I can....
I was talking to my friend Angie on my cell phone while clipping coupons (yes I'm one of those) and the home phone rang around 4:55. Our home phone rings very little (yes we need to get rid of it) so when it does at this time of day my heart always does a little leap (this is the time of day they call with referrals). Mike answered the phone with his back to me and turns around and says "you're going to want to take this", I knew instantly what it was. I frantically hung the phone with Angie while my heart is beating out of my chest. I take the phone and say hello and our family coordinator Jennifer says "Erin, this is Jennifer from America World and this is your referral call", aaaahhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!! She then says, "You need to get Mike on the other phone so I can talk to you both at the same time". At this point I can't even talk because I'm crying and she says it's perfectly normal. She starts telling us his name, birth date and then I realize I don't have paper or pen so I have to tell her to hold on again while I get these things. My hands are shaking and Mike and I are just staring at each other. She tells us a brief history of him and then says she will send an email in about 20 minutes with all his information and pictures and she tells us he's a cute little guy. AAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!! We then sit Samuel and Will down and tell them, they were very excited and wanted to see the pictures. We thought all along we would get a child younger than Will but he is actually a tiny bit older so we had to make sure Will understood that he was still the younger brother. Will surprised us and said they were twins and the idea has grown on him. He's such a baby I couldn't really imagine him being the middle child. We then called our parents and siblings who were so excited. We sat at the computer and refreshed it about a million times waiting for the email, we couldn't wait to see him. Of course in all the excitement we didn't video our reactions or take any pictures, I always thought we would but this was just such a surprise and I was a nervous wreck. Our son is so handsome, has the sweetest smile, and beautiful brown eyes. I can't wait until he looks at me with those eyes.

In the course of these last few days I have had so many emotions. I have felt God's favor on me so much that it's overwhelming and I feel I don't deserve it. I have felt sadness for our little guy and all he's been through in his first 7 years of life, I can't tell you his circumstance because he's not officially ours until we pass court but please, please, please pray for him. Our children are so lucky they have lived such sheltered lives. I cried over all the comments on our facebook announcement and the AWAA yahoo group announcement. We could never have done this without all the family and friends supporting us and continuing to support us. Mike and I have felt nervous that he won't like us and won't want to leave with us. All he knows is being taken away and we are just strangers. Please also pray for him to accept us and not be scared. We also knew that requesting an older child is harder to transition after they come home so I'm rereading and memorizing "The Connected Child" by Dr Purvis and Mike is doing the same. Mike and I also both got sick, nothing big deal just low grade fevers and achy and neither one of us is ever sick. It's been an overwhelming but awesome last few days.

Some have ask "what's next?", well... now we get to wait some more :). What we are waiting on now is a court date when we travel to Ethiopia and either hear we pass or don't pass. When you get to court you need the famous MOWCYA favorable letter, if it's there you pass, if not or unfavorable we don't. About 50% of people pass the first time and those who don't usually don't really know the reason and usually pass the second time. We hope to travel sometime in March or April. Please pray we pass court the first time and don't have to leave Ethiopia waiting to pass. After this you wait to get submitted to the US Embassy. This process is taking longer than before and can be 2-4 months after passing court. The government wants to absolutely make sure that these kids are true orphans which makes the process longer but ensures the best is happening for them. We are hoping he's home sometime this summer. Please pray that we receive no delays.

In the meantime we have to get vaccines to travel, Samuel is pumped about the shots, HA HA. We will also be able to take donations with us, when I know what we should take I will pass this along if anyone wants to donate. When America World receives our referral payment they will send us information about sending care packages to our son and we get to ask 5 questions (I think) about him. One of the first things we are buying him is a UK shirt, it will be his first of many :).

Please continue to pray for us and especially our little guy. We are going to need your prayers so much over the next few months. I can't wait to be able to share what God has done in our lives and his life and the circumstances that brought him to us.

4 months down.

Today we have been DTE (dossier to Ethiopia) for 4 months! I received an email this past week from our family coordinator saying that our estimated wait for a referral is still 10-16 months even for a child over the age of 3. So...we have about 6-12 more months of waiting to see our little guys picture. These past 4 months have both flown and crawled by but we know this is God's timing so we patiently wait.

The boys had a wonderful Christmas with all their family. I don't think they noticed we cut back this year but they also didn't ask for much either. Next year we are going to cut back even more and try to do some things a little different. We have a whole year to plan. Hopefully our little guy will be here to join in all the fun.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and are looking forward to fabulous 2012. I hope a new addition comes to the Branger's home in 2012, we'll see...

Melkam Gena (Merry Christmas)!

Merry Christmas or Melkam Gena as they say in Ethiopia. The Brangers are in full Christmas mode with our manger scene up, tree decorated with presents under it, and Christmas music playing on the radio in the car. Christmas is my favorite holiday. It doesn't make me stressed like some. I love the whole season and I start November 1st but I end December 26th. This year with the adoption in the works Mike and I decided to cut back on some things. One of those being our Christmas card.... so this year our blog is our Christmas card.

We want to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas season and hopefully next Christmas we will be a family of five.

What's new...

We wanted to thank everyone who donated, helped, came, prayed... for our dinner/silent auction fundraiser. We raised $5100 toward our cost. It's amazing how God works... when we receive a referral for our son we must pay $5500 to accept it. :)

I don't know if you can see the detail on Samuel and Will's shirts in this picture but they are super adorable. They have the outline of Africa with the word brother in Amharic (official language of Ethiopia). They are both very proud of this shirt. Will ask me the other day if his little brother will be here for Christmas, I sadly had to to tell him no. I also told him he probably won't be here next Christmas either and we need to pray that he is being loved and taken care of every chance we have. Will is now ready to share his room and can't wait to have his little brother in the bottom bunk of their "new to them" bunk beds.

Please continue to pray for our family.

Auction Items

I promised a list of auction items to all those coming to our event Saturday, October 8th. Hopefully there will be more added before that night. So to those who like to preshop here they are.............

• UK basketball tickets


• basketball and t-shirt signed by John Calipari


• U of L basketball tickets


• PF Chang's gift card


• Charleston, SC basket


• one hour photo session with Elizabeth Johnson


• hats and scarves made by my Granny and Aunt Betty


• Anytime Fitness one year membership


• Club Fitness one year membership


• 2 signed prints


• Thirty One bag


• Just Jewelry set


• Mary Kay basket


• Buffalo Trace basket


• Rusk hair care basket


• UK market tote


• Bullitt East basketball camp for next summer


• Bullitt East soccer camp for next summer


• Bullitt East baseball camp for next summer


• Little Caesars gift cards


• Hometown Pizza gift cards


• restaurant gift card


• Mega Cavern gift card


• Premier Jewelry set (necklace, bracelet, and earrings)


• hair cut and style from Stephanie Langley


• cakes by Toni Dorris and Julie Howlett


• frog and 2 monkey stuffed animals made by my mom (adorable)

• aprons made by my mom, Granny, and my aunts


• Vet dental cleaning

I'm terrible at this...

I'm terrible at blogging. I feel like I have nothing interesting to say especially now that we are playing the waiting game. Our dossier has been in Ethiopia almost a month now. We have no idea how long this process will take for a referral or picture of our little man. Our agency is saying 11-17 months for boys. There are many of us out there waiting for referrals, it's a hard wait but all in God's timing. The idea that I have no control over this hit me two weeks ago and anyone that knows me knows I like to have MAJOR control. I had a hard week, rainbow Twizzlers were my best friend. Then last Monday it hit me that it's OK for me not to have control over this, God is in control and that is way better than anything I could do. I used to always pray for patience, they always say be careful what you pray for.

I have had many things to keep me busy. Samuel is in full 4th grade swing which means tons of homework and difficult science test, so we have been studying hard. He's also running cross country which he likes, one day he hopes to run a marathon with his Dad. Will's 1st grade work isn't so daunting, plus he's my come home, do homework and not complain kid. He's loving soccer this season and his team is amazingly good. Mike says we are winning it all. GO WIZARDS!!!!

I've also been keeping busy with our big dinner/silent auction fundaiser on Saturday, October 8th. Mike's mom Janet is doing all the food for our meal and she's amazing so I don't worry about that at all. Mike and I have been asking for donations which neither one of us feel too comfortable doing. We have collected quite a few so I'm excited. Once it gets closer I'll post what they are so those that are coming can "preshop".

Something close to my heart that I want to share is the impact that this adoption has made to my boys. They are so excited for their little brother to come home (what a lucky boy to have two sweet brothers). They also see the impact that God has on their lives with this adoption. Samuel was asking me the other day about missionaries around the world especially Ethiopia, we had a lengthy discussion and he said that it would be cool to be a missionary. Will said he would get tired of walking and talking, that's my Will. They pray every night for their brother and tell everyone about him. I have also made them aware of the trials that he may be going through now and how when he comes home he might be sad or angry. They told me they would help him, play with him, and share their toys. I hope it's that easy. I'm so thankful for these two sweet boys I have and the love they have in their hearts.