May25th
Thanks to all that have blogged, facebooked, tweeted, and retweeted about our t-shirt fundraiser. At this point, we’ve sold roughly 150 shirts, which means about $1800 for our travel fund. THANK YOU!
If you would like to order one, please do so NOW, as we are placing our last order with the printer on Wednesday.
The winners of our giveaway are Cimbrey and Sheri! We’ll be contacting you soon.
May18th
Have you heard the news? We passed court! Evelyn Amenech Picker is officially, and forever, our daughter! We are so thankful to our God who redeems the orphaned and sets the lonely in families.
We are hoping to travel to Ethiopia sometime in July or early August to bring Evelyn home.
So . . . in an effort to ramp up our t-shirt fundraiser, we are having our first, and perhaps only, GIVEAWAY! On May 25, we will draw two names to receive a free t-shirt (you pick the size).
To enter the contest, do the following:
1) Blog, tweet, or facebook about our t-shirt fundraiser. Include this link in your post: http://www.caseypicker.com/shirts
2) Leave a comment on this post telling us what you did.
That’s it! We will enter you one time for each posting (so if you blog, tweet, and facebook you will get three entries). Please make sure to leave a comment as that will be our only way to track who is entered in the contest.
Spread the word about our t-shirts and help us raise money to cover our travel expenses!
May16th
Early Tuesday morning, while we are still sleeping, our adoption case will be heard in an Ethiopian court. I can’t believe that I was writing this same post almost exactly a year ago. You were faithful to pray for us then, and we’re asking you to again. We are still trusting in the same God, who has had Evelyn picked out for us long before we knew anything about it. We know that our case is in His hands, and that we will pass in His perfect time.
It is very common for adoption cases in Ethiopia to be delayed or postponed, but we believe that our little girl needs to come home very soon, so we are asking God to hear our prayers and allow us to pass. Please join us in praying specifically for the following:
We may not hear an outcome from our hearing for several days, possibly even a week, but we will let you know as soon as we hear.
“O Lord, let your ear be attentive to the prayer of your servant, and to the prayer of your servants who delight to fear your name, and give success to your servant today, and grant him mercy in the sight of this man.” Nehemiah 1:11
“I call upon you, for you will answer me, O God; incline your ear to me; hear my words. Wondrously show your steadfast love, O Savior . . .” Psalm 17:6-7
May8th
. . . to my own sweet momma, who taught me what it means to mother . . . to my precious grandmothers who have poured unconditional love over every moment of my life . . . to my wonderful mother-in-law who raised an amazing man and who has been so kind to me . . . to all of the women who have “mothered” me for my entire life, aunts, aunts-in-law, grandmothers-in-law, teachers, mentors, friends . . . to my high school and college friends whom I’ve had the great blessing to watch become mothers . . . to all my “mommy” friends, sisters-in-law, and Bible study partners.
I could never be a good mother without all of you. You have shown me what it means to love, to sacrifice, and to pray for my children, to say “I’m sorry,” take a deep breath, and start over in the morning, to keep giving and keep going, when it feels like there’s nothing left. I can make one more peanut butter sandwich, clean up vomit in the middle of the night, and read one more story because I know you’ve done it too. I know with every tear, every smile, every laugh, you’re right there too, enjoying the amazing, challenging, and bountiful blessing it is to be . . . MOM.
Your encouragement, your wisdom, and your faith inspire me. Happy Mother’s Day!
May1st
This week was Caleb’s 4th birthday. On Tuesday, we woke him up with cinnamon rolls before the kids and I went to Bible Study.
That evening, Casey and I took him on a special “date” while Josiah stayed with Grandma. We went to eat at a Hibachi Grill. Caleb had a wonderful time and loved watching our chef chop, toss, and spin everything. Caleb ended up eating almost an entire plate of fried rice. Yummy! After that, we went to see Oceans at the movie theater.
Today we had friends over for a small birthday party. After tornadoes ripped through our area all night last night, we were expecting to have to move our outdoor party indoors. But the weather cleared up for a few hours this afternoon, though it was incredibly hot and muggy, so we had a few games outside before coming in for cupcakes.
Here is Caleb with some of his best buds.
Check out some of these same kids at his 1st Birthday party.
It’s hard to believe how much they’ve grown in what seems like such a short time! I’m so proud of my sweet little boy. He is such a blessing in our home!
On the adoption front, we received the news this week that we have a court date scheduled for May 18. We’re praying that we will pass court on that day. It is pretty common to be postponed or rescheduled, but please pray that we will pass! Once we pass we will be able to travel to bring home Evelyn 6-8 weeks later! Oh, I can’t wait to get that girl in my arms!
