Building the Wyatts

Trying to do better

2009-08-23T19:25:00.000-07:00

I have decided to take a cue from some other bloggers...and try to do short posts rather than long in depth ones. So, in an effort to do just that, here ya go! Caylah started 4th grade this past week and Noah started 3K at a new daycare. They are both doing well and seem to enjoy it. Due to the fact that I just can't seem to get up early enough, or be organized enough, I did not get any first day of school pictures (shame on me), its horrible I know I know. The pictures below or above (depending on how this thing decides to post) will have to do. These were taken last weekend at our niece Ella Grace's birthday party.

Until next time...take care!

Random

2009-07-26T20:04:00.000-07:00

This post will probably be very random, seeing as how nothing has been written for more than 6 months...but such is life. Way too busy, going by too fast, somehow blogging gets pushed to the back burner. Of course, I could be posting instead of checking out everybody else's blogs...haha...I digress :)

Summer has been very busy for us...from GA camp with Caylah, VBS at church, mission trip to West Virginia for Chris, Noah's first visit by himself to Nana's house - the summer has flown by. Only 3 weeks till the kids start school...seems unbelievable.

Quick update on both kids - Caylah continues to grow like a weed. Her foot is now bigger than mine (of course, my foot is only a measly size 5 on a good day, but still). She finished the school year with all sorts of awards and on a 6th grade reading level, straight A's...she has been taking gymnastics this summer and really enjoys it. She moved up to the next level, so she was really excited about that. We are very proud of her and blessed to have such a wonderful daughter.

Noah continues to have an unnatural boundless amount of energy. It makes me tired just watching him constantly move, talk, and just be. His command of the English language is astounding for only being in America for 1 1/2 years. He is so full of energy, life, and enthusiasm. He and I were looking through some pictures Saturday of right after we got home December 2007. I noticed something in them I never saw before, and that was how scared and timid he looked in those first couple months. It made me realize just how far he has come in so many areas, and how strong our bond and attachment to him is. It's like he was always with us. I can't imagine what our life would be like without him.

I have been thinking a lot over the last months about how our adoption experience has changed me. I have come to many conclusions, but one that sticks out is that I must DO something with what I have learned, what I have seen. Is it good that we adopted a child out of obedience to what God called us to do? Yes. But God calls us to so much more....because knowledge brings responsibility. I know now that all the orphan "statistics" are more than that...they are real children who need homes and families...I know because my son was one of those statistics and I saw hundreds more in Ethiopia. My eyes, my heart, my mind, my spirit have been opened to the plight of orphans, here, there, everywhere...I need to do all I can to advocate for them and help in any way that I can. I am not sure exactly what that looks like for us yet, but I know my heart is burdened now more than ever before to make a difference, somehow someway. I am praying God will show me...I know He will.

We are having an Orphan Awareness month next month at church with a love offering taken to benefit Show Hope, Steven Curtis Chapman's orphan support organization. You see, I have had the material for 9 months, but am just now doing anything with it. What can I say, better late than never? I guess so... Please pray that people's hearts and minds will be opened to adoption and supporting orphans in any way possible.

I know this was random...I will try to do better. I don't even know if anyone reads this anymore...we'll see won't we?

Aaahhh...the sweet sound of PEACE

2008-12-19T19:48:00.000-08:00

Caylah and Noah have been, shall we say, very spirited in their dealings with each other as of late. It seems they have truly become brother and sister in this respect. All of the normal things like hair pulling, snitching, hitting, etc, and oh yes even covering for each other have set in. But about 15 minutes ago they asked if they could sleep in the same bed tonight. I said "sure" (I don't think it will last all night). I heard something coming from Caylah's room about 5 minutes ago...I put my ear to her door and she was singing Joy to the World to Noah in the sweetest, most angelic voice (he requires singing and music to go to sleep). It did my heart so much good to hear that....and then she broke into "This Is Me" from Camp Rock in her best teeny bopper voice. And that did my heart good too...

Gotcha Day!

2008-11-26T17:37:00.001-08:00

Well, well, well. Today is the day. The one year mark. A major hurdle. Ask me if it seems like a year, and if I'm honest I'll say I don't know. Sometimes it seems like just yesterday. Sometimes it feels like it has always been this way. The last year has seen its share of scars, bumps and bruises. We have crawled, walked, run, stumbled, staggered, fallen and gotten back up again. From learning to communicate to learning our love languages, it has been quite an adventure. But there is something about the one year mark that seems binding. Permanent. Not that we ever thought of this as anything other. But there is security in having a year behind you and not only surviving it but enjoying it. Enjoying the building of the relationship. Enjoying the journey. Enjoying the process, the learning, the growing, the ever-deepening sense of family. We are secure in the knowledge that God has given us, through sad circumstance, a beautiful child; and that having him as part of our family has somehow made our family more whole. I can't say that this whole thing was intended or planned. I don't think God WANTED Noah's father to die, or for him to be separated from his mother due to circumstances beyond her control. What I do think is that in the midst of a broken world, God placed it within our hearts to be there for him and for his mother, and placed people in our lives who were willing to help us help them. I think that God has allowed us the privilege of taking this precious child of His into our family, allowing us to love one another as one of our own. And not only that, but to love Him as Christ commanded us to love. This has been an amazing year, a blessed year. And we pray that as we celebrate Thanksgiving with our family and our church family and all those who have borne us up and supported us and loved us, that we will have the appreciation due them. God, thank You so much for allowing us to be part of Your plan to pursue love in a broken world!

Fall Fun

2008-11-14T18:20:00.000-08:00

I must say, I am such a terrible blogger. Life just seems to be much busier at our house these days! I wonder why? I have laughed at several people's adoption blogs I have stumbled upon as of late because they say they are terrible bloggers and are way too busy to blog and they are giving up! I can identify - but I won't give it up just yet. Here are some pictures from our yearly church block party and a picture of our pumpkin "BOO Wyatt". According to Noah, all pumpkins are named Boo Wyatt.

Long time, no post

2008-09-02T19:55:00.000-07:00

Wow, I see my last post was at the 6 month mark home with Noah...the summer has flown by and now we have been home with him for 9 months. We had an absolutley wonderful summer...I will try to hit the high spots...
First off, our daughter Caylah accepted Jesus into her heart during Vacation Bible School this year. We were so excited...Chris got to baptize her (there is a picture of this on the slide show). Second, we had lots of fun in the swimming pool this summer. Noah is an absolute fish in the water - he has NO FEAR. He loves to put his whole body under the water and just thrash around (I don't know a better way to put it). He even went off the diving board (many many times). We took a trip to Folly Beach in between Chris mission trips and the kids had a wonderful time. It was Noah's first trip to the beach. He kept saying BIG WATER and jumping up and down in the waves. I don't know how much of that ocean he swallowed, or how many times he got knocked down, but it did not deter his excitement. Caylah and I took our usual walks on the beach to go hunting for all manner of things alive (she loves any kind of animals). We were not successful, but we did find some pretty shells to add to our collection.
We are back in a somewhat normal routine now (that doesn't even sound right)..Caylah is back in school (a 3rd grader now) and Noah back to daycare. Caylah has started back to gymnastics and she is having a wonderful time with it. Me and Chris are just trying to keep up with them both. Noah's energy is boundless, if I had just one ounce I would be happy. We are now to the joyous task of potty training, which he has mostly just started doing on his own, thankfully.
A few weeks back, we met up with another couple, The Bullingtons, who are adopting a baby boy from Ethiopia and a daughter from China. They live close by..we had a wonderful time meeting with them and hope to make a lasting connection with them. Noah was wide open the whole time we were there...and they didn't change their minds :)
Well, I feel a little better now that I have updated this blog. Everyone elses I read seems to be updated more frequently than mine, but considering I just now got all of the pictures of Ethiopia and Noah printed out (over 150), I feel like I am making some progress.

Six Month Musings

2008-05-28T19:48:00.000-07:00

It dawned on me today, that as of yesterday we have had Noah for six months. As I was reading to him before bed last night, or should I say he was reading to me, I was struck by just how much he has learned in 6 months. The particular book we had out was a word book that has lots of pictures with words underneath the pictures. For example, a picture of a shoe with the word "shoe" underneath it. This book has probably close to 100 different pictures and words and Noah can name probably 90% of them correctly. It has everything from body parts in it, to pictures of airplanes, the beach, colors, shapes, and he gets them all correct. And when he stops to think about one he is not sure of, he pauses and says "Um....I don't know". It is so much fun to get to see him start to string words together and make sentences. On another note, on Memorial Day we had a cookout/swimming party at a church member's house. This was Noah's first trip in the pool. At first, he was terrified, but eventually he put his feet in, then his hands, and then he JUMPED in. Thank goodness Chris was there to catch him. After that, we couldn't get him out. He ducked his head under the water and blew bubbles and tried to float and rode a float. He had a blast. And I would be remiss not to mention Caylah's fine jumping skills - she got up the nerve to jump off the side of the pool and I was really proud of her. We are just truly blessed from God with two wonderful children, and I thank Him every day.

It's Official....He's a US Citizen

2008-05-17T19:27:00.000-07:00

As of May 12, 2008 Noah is officially a US Citizen! The judge signed all the paperwork, now he is a citizen and he is officially Noah Eyob Wyatt!! To celebrate we took him out for pizza (his favorite food) and then we got him these cute flags and got his picture. What a happy day!!!

Caylah Turns 8

2008-03-13T18:17:00.000-07:00

I know it's hard to believe, but Caylah turned 8 today! I'll let the pictures tell the story.

Remembering Two Years Old

2008-02-27T18:58:00.000-08:00

We have been home with Noah for almost 3 months now. It hardly seems possible that it has been that long - each day flies by so quickly. I am reminded daily it seems by some small thing that he says or does, of just exactly how far he has come in so many areas since we first got him. He is actually developing manners - he says please and thank you (well, occasionally, but we are working on it!) I remember when all he would do if he wanted something was scream VERY LOUDLY or stomp until he got what he wanted. He is also learning not to SCREAM all the time - he used to only have one volume, but he is learning he does not have to scream to be heard. I have lost track now of how many words he says because he is adding them faster than I can keep up with. I used to have a list I kept, but it got too hard to keep. But, of course, he is 2, and he has learned the word NO. This is his favorite word and he likes to use it all the time!! It seems so long ago since Caylah was 2. I am sure she threw tantrums and got into things, but this little guy keeps us on our toes. He is NEVER STILL. Even in his sleep - which thankfully has gotten better over the last few weeks. He runs EVERYWHERE he goes. I wish I had half the energy he has. He climbs up things very quickly, dives off furniture, digs in the trash, hides things....I am telling you I cannot turn my eyes off him for 5 seconds. I need about 10 sets of eyes and legs to keep up with him. But he has an absolutley wonderufl sparkle in his eyes and when he laughs it will melt you. Of course, he is very smart and he knows the power of his charm and he will use this on anyone to try to get his way. He is such a ham and a clown. And, oh the faces he can make. He has to in particular - one we call the "Gary Coleman" and the other we call "Bill Cosby" (see the photo above -this is the closest we have to it so far). We keep trying to capture them on camera, but Noah won't cooperate. I can see that when he gets in school he will probably not get an A in conduct. He is terrified of all animals except for birds and squirrels - these he thinks are very funny. He loves music and loves to dance. He has learned the "chicken dance". But he is just so happy overall, and when I think about our first days and weeks with him, I realize how far he has come and how blessed we are to have this little miracle. I know this is long but I just wanted to give everyone an update on him. So many have asked, but I have been too sleep deprived to post....

Family Photo, As Requested!

2008-01-02T12:49:00.001-08:00

A Wonderful Christmas Present

2007-12-30T19:19:00.000-08:00

Wow...what a whirlwind the last 2 months have turned out to be. We traveled to Addis to pick up Noah on November 25th and returned home with him on December 1. We were blessed to stay at the Addiskidan Baptist Guest House - what an amazing place run by amazing Christians. Alayu and Kidist and Hannah will forever be in our hearts. Our lives have already been blessed so much by our new little guy. It has been challenging and tested us on every level, but God has proven faithful to His promise to see us through this. While there are struggles, there is joy and peace that is greater than the struggle. Here are a few pictures of Noah. If you scroll down and look at his referral picture, I think you will be amazed to see the difference a month at home can make.

We're Going to Ethiopia

2007-11-15T20:15:00.000-08:00

At long last, the day we have waited for is almost here. Our embassy date is Tuesday November 27th, we leave next Saturday the 25th to go pick up Noah. I don't think there are adequate words to describe the absolute chaos and sheer joy that we feel right now. If I can get my head on straight later on to write about it, I will. Just wanted to share with everyone the happy news for now.

He's ours!

2007-11-01T17:27:00.000-07:00

Awesome news today, folks! Noah Eyob Wyatt is legally ours! The courts approved the adoption! So now we wait for the U.S. Embassy in Ethiopia to call and let us know when our travel date is. The estimates we got from our adoption agency are 2-4 weeks! And now, what you've all been waiting for: a photo of the newest member of the Wyatt family! Trust me, we'll share more when we get them!

Exciting Times

2007-10-19T13:47:00.000-07:00

Well, this has been an eventful last couple of weeks. First and best news is, our caseworker called and gave us our 1st court date of November 1! This is AWESOME considering the courts only opened back up on October 11. This is the hearing where the judge will decide whether or not Eyob is officially our son. Please be in prayer that all will go well. This is the most important date so far.

We were also able to go to the Steven Curtis Chapman concert last night in Aiken, SC and meet him and thank him personally for the grant we received from his organization, Shaohannah's Hope. The whole night was just awesome and the work he is doing on behalf of orphans all over the world is absolutely amazing and inspiring. He signed the back of of Noah "Eyob"'s picture so that we can show him once he gets here.

Thank you all for your prayers and support. Keep them coming - we are getting so much closer.

The Time In Ethiopia

2007-09-27T06:30:00.001-07:00

Referral of Child

2007-09-17T19:14:00.000-07:00

August 29th, 2007 was quite a day for us. We got a referral of a little boy, a little over one and a half years old. He was beautiful, and from the first click of the mouse that opened his picture, he had my heart. It is the huge brown eyes that really get you. Feels like they are piercing you right through the screen. The only problem was, that we needed more funds to accept this referral. Our caseworker told us we had 10 business days to decide what to do. We prayed about it intently, asking God that if this was the child He had for us, to show us the way to get the extra money. WITHIN ONE DAY THROUGH THREE DIFFERENT DONATIONS, the money was provided. We continue to stand in amazement at miracle after miracle of God's provision in our adoption journey thus far. Although, we should not be amazed. God is always faithful, He knows what we need. Now, we wait for the courts to open back up in Ethiopia, hopefully in 1 1/2 more weeks they will be open. We are praying for a really great Christmas present. Can't wain until everything is "official", and we can show him off on this blog page. Thanks to everyone for their prayers and support. We love you all and you mean so much to us.

Shaohannah's Hope adds to our hope!

2007-07-30T21:05:00.000-07:00

We got notice that we have received a grant from Shaohannah's Hope that we have recieved a grant in the amount of $3000! That's a big step closer to being able to send our dossier! We also have a commitment from a church member to donate a substantial amount in August, which we are profoundly grateful for! This leaves us between $3000 and $3500 away from completing the financial obligations of the adoption, which will enable us to send our dossier and begin receiving referrals. Please pray with us that this goal is reached soon, as the Ethiopian courts will be closing soon.

And We Wait

2007-06-04T19:42:00.000-07:00

I think this has been the hardest part of the whole process so far. We have 99% of our dossier done, homestudy complete, have received my passport, even got our I171H form which normally takes months to receive. Now, we are just scratching our heads, waiting, and wondering how we are gonna pay the rest of the money needed to bring our little boy home. God is really, really teaching us what it means to rest in Him. We have applied for 3 grants, and we prayerfully await the response from these organizations. We probably will not know anything until August, as the board members for the grants only meet once a quarter. But hey, who knows? Everything else has happened quicker than anticipated, so maybe we will hear something good soon. We were asked to send additional information for Shaohannah's Hope, which I think is a very positive sign. Shaohannah's Hope is Steven Curtis Chapman's organization which gives adoption grants every month to many families. Steven Curtis Chapman has adopted several children and has a heart for adoption. We are praying that God will show us wisdom as we ponder the best way to tackle this obstacle.

So, for now, we wait and expect big things soon!!

Things Are Moving Along

2007-04-26T19:11:00.000-07:00

Just to give everyone an update - We are working on our dossier items, and are close to having all the forms we need. We received our offically done and approved homestudy about a week and a half ago, and we have since then been working furiously on applying for grants. We received our appointment at the United States Citizenship and Immigration Service to be fingerprinted. I am still trying to figure out why we have to do this, but all I know is it has to be done if we want to bring our baby home. it is absolutely amazing to me how much information we have had to soak in our little brains - it seems so easy at first. haha. That will take place on Tuesday, May 1st. We sent off some of our dossier forms to be "authenticated" on Monday. We were told this takes at least 6 weeks, well, guess what, we got them back on Wednesday of this week. 2 days. Wow. So, it seems that all of a sudden things are moving along more quickly than before, which is very exciting and also nerve wracking at the same time. God has provided for us wondrously thus far...your prayers mean more to us than you can know. It is so wonderful to know we have people who are behind us on all levels, whether it is through prayer, encouragement, or financial support or all three. Caylah has drawn a picture of her and her little brother for us to take over when we go get him. Little things like this make it seem closer every day. Well, that's all for now folks.

God Is So Good

2007-03-21T19:17:00.000-07:00

Today we received word that another donation has come into CWA for our adoption account. I continue to stand in awe of God and the way He works to accomplish His plans for our lives. I also sent over our last piece of paperwork to complete our homestudy yesterday. Now, we are just waiting for the caseworker to write the draft and send it to us for approval. So, in the meantime we have begun working on our dossier, which at first seems daunting, but then I realized (BIG SMILE) that I already had a LOT of things that are required due to gathering it for the homestudy. Boy, do I love to check things off the "lists" they give you. I do not think it is going to take a very long time to complete the dossier, however you have to be "paid in full" with the agency before they will send off your dossier. So, at this point my biggest prayers are that the financial end of things will come together. I know they will because God is in control and I know He will show us exactly what we need to do. There is a song the local Christian radio station has been playing by a group called Down Here, called "Little is Much". I love the line that says "Little is much when God's in it, and no one can fathom the plans He holds." It has really become MY SONG the last few weeks.
On another note, to end this random blog...last night I was on the CWA weboard, and I visited a fellow adoptive parent's blog page. She had the video posted from where they actually went and met their children for the first time. The place she went is the exact care center our child will be at. It absolutely gave me cold chills to watch it, because it gave me just a brief glimpse of what it might be like one day when I am actually there. If anything, it encouraged me to carry on. When you see someone else's end result and joy, it gives you strength too.
Robin

Special Package

2007-03-06T19:26:00.000-08:00

Today when I arrived home there was a UPS package (thanks Jamie Franklin) under my front doormat. It was from CWA - it had several items that the CWA team got for it's adoptive Ethiopian families while they were in Ethiopia in January. All the items were handmade - a beautiful basket, necklace (which took Caylah about 2 seconds to put on), an embroidered tapestry, and a drawing of an Ethiopian mother and child. This was such a wonderful surprise, because it made me think that all of these things were handmade by people who were just like my future son. It is somehow like having a part of him already here with us, even though we have no idea who our son is at this point. Talk about a wide range of emotions!

Also, the homestudy visit went very well. We only have a couple more documents to gather before it is complete, and then the next fun part of completing the "dossier" and waiting for immigrations approval....YIPEE.

My heart grows more and more excited everyday, and my faith is tested more and more every day...Thank you Jesus!

Yet more homestudy news!

2007-03-01T18:16:00.000-08:00

We have more news on the homestudy! It will be Friday, March 2nd at 6pm. We appreciate your prayers! We're excited, as this is a major hurdle. We also got our case manager assigned to us. We're excited about that, too, as she is from Ethiopia herself and will be able to answer a lot of our questions about the culture. So please keep us in your prayers!

Homestudy News

2007-01-25T21:03:00.000-08:00

We received a call today saying that we can have our homestudy done in the first part of February!!! YAAY!! It is little things like this that make you feel like you are actually getting somewhere in the process. Thanks for the prayers and support!! Keep them coming :-)

A Stark Reality

2007-01-23T21:19:00.000-08:00

Why are we adopting from Ethiopia?

2007-01-23T20:19:00.000-08:00

James 1:27 says, "Pure and undefiled religion before our God and Father is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself unstained by the world." This verse was the beginning of our journey towards adopting a child. When we first felt the call to adopt, it was something we had been praying about individually. When we realized that the Lord had placed the adoption of a child on both of our hearts, we knew that we had to follow Him in this special calling that He had placed on our lives. When we first started talking about adoption, we were completely open as to where we should adopt from. After much prayer, and much research on the numerous adoption agencies available, we knew that we were called to adopt internationally. We made the decision to go with Christian World Adoption. After talking to them, we knew that we were supposed to go to Ethiopia. The verse listed above calls us to care for the fatherless. We wanted to help a child that had little hope of finding a real home. Statistics showed us that an orphaned boy from Ethiopia had a slim chance of finding a home.

Thus, our decision was made, and our journey began. If the adoption process teaches you anything, it is patience - patience in understanding the process, in filling out mountains of forms, in obtaining and waiting for the necessary finances to materialize. And it also teaches you about God's provision and timing, specifically that we must wait for His plans to come together, and trust that His timing and will is what is best for us. This is much easier said than done. Patience is not our strong suit (though Chris has more than Robin), but it is becoming a little easier as we begin to realize that adoptions just take time. We know we will bring home the child God has for us in His timing, and not ours.

At this point, we are just about to have our homestudy done. This is an important step in the adoption process. After we have our homestudy done and it is approved, then we can work on our "dossier". This is a word we hear over and over, and it is basically your life history handed over to the Ethiopian government. The orphanages that we are working through in Ethiopia require that the child go to a Christian home, and they just want to make sure the child is going to a loving home. After we complete the dossier, it is submitted to Ethiopia. Once they accept it and approve us (usually within 3 months of receiving it), then we will get a referral. WHAT A DAY THAT WILL BE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We cannot imagine what our emotions will be on that great day. Imagine how it would be to see the face of someone you have prayed for and has been in your heart for so long. AWESOME!!!

We know that no adoption is without its challenges and we have been working hard to educate ourselves on issues that can occur with international adoption, particularly when the child is of a different race. We have been reading the book Adoption Parenting, and been learning about ways to attach with your child, feeding issues, sleep issues, ways to discipline children who have not necessarily come from a loving environment. We want to honor the culture that our child comes from, as that is extremely important for the adopted child. It is also important to realize that we can honor his heritage while building new family traditions.

Well, hopefully this long first post has brought everyone up to speed on where we are at, and where we hope to go. Everyone has been so supportive and loving, and we thank you for that from the bottom of our hearts. It means more to us than you could know. We will keep the blog updated with all the new and exciting developments as they occur, and we are sure there will be many!