Pictures of Zoe- (Finally!)

Here is my beautiful girl! Finally you get to see the new love of my life Zoe!
We got our approval today from court. We are so excited!!

Here is our first picture we ever received of Zoe. This was our referral picture.

Here are pictures I got of Zoe about 1 week before we met her.


Here is Zoe with Jacqui. She is our Rep here in Rwanda. She bought Zoe this cute little pink dress to wear.

Here are some pictures of Zoe yesterday. This is our first meeting. I blogged yesterday how the meeting went, so today here are the pictures.



Here is Josh in our hotel room playing with Zoe. We were only able to play with her for about an hour. She loved the stacking cups! She is so quiet. I wonder what will happen when she gets home to our loud family.

She didn't cry at all today. I think that we took her during nap time though as she was very tired. But she wouldn't let anyone take her away from me. She would hold on so tight.
I am so lucky! I am so excited to show you my beautiful daughter! I can't wait to bring her home to meet her brothers and the rest of her family!

Meeting Zoe and Court Date

Well, it finally happened. I still feel not quite so real right now. Today I got to hold my beautiful daughter Zoe. She is so cute!!!
So, let me give you a few details first regarding our situation. We were to have a court date on Monday and we arrived Tuesday night to find out that they decided to have a holiday on Monday so we didn't have a court date. We found out that they wanted to schedule our court date for next monday. So today we met with Zoe for a couple of hours and then went to the court house to try to get stuff done. Lucky us, our lawyer convinced the judge to let us go to court today!!! And tomorrow we get the ruling!!! We are so lucky that everything worked out. So basically that means that I can't show pictures yet of Zoe until our ruling tomorrow, but then I can show you pictures. Here are just a couple of pictures until then. Here is Josh with our guide Lynn and our lawyer.

Here is the entrance to the orphanage. It is well known for the blue color throughout the entire orphanage.


Now on to meeting Zoe.
So we drove to the orphanage and waited for the nuns to bring her out. Finally she came out and we saw her walk up with the nun. It was amazing to see her in real life. I went down and picked her up and of course she started crying. She kept pushing away from me and trying to get away, but I wouldn't let her. I kept holding on and rubbing her back, while rocking her back and forth whispering words in her ear. Finally she just fell asleep in my arms. Josh and I held for about an hour and 1/2 before she woke up. She woke up in my arms and at first was a little nervous and then suddenly she was clinging to me. She was holding me tight. When I leaned in a little towards her, she leaned her entire body against mine. She was so quite, didn't say one word, however she just keep holding on to me. It was just as beautiful when I gave birth to my first two boys and I got to hold them for the first time.

We finally had to go to court and it was so sad to say good-bye, but the good news is that she didn't wat to go back to the nuns. She was clinging on to me and started crying again. She wanted me. I was so sad and happy at the same time.

I told her that I would be back tomorrow. We go again tomorrow morning to be with her and then we will go back to court to get our ruling. We are also going to try and get our travel documents together tomorrow so we can have Zoe come home and sleep the night with us. I'll keep you posted on everything.

For those of you waiting patiently for your little ones- just keep holding on. It will happen. And it is the best thing in the world.

Thanks for your prayers! Things are going so well. We hope they continue. Please continue praying that Zoe will continue to bond with us and that we will be able to get all of our paperwork together soon.

We love you all!!!!! And hopefully tomorrow we can show you our little girl!!!

Leaving the hotel

We are sitting in the lobby waiting for our ride to the orphanage. We are to meet the nuns at the orphanage at 10:00. That is 39 minutes.
Counting down. So excited!
Happy birthday Zoe!!!

We made it!

We flew into Rwanda tonight. The last hour I was so anxious to just be here. When I got off the plane and was walking outside in the moist damp air to the airport I began to feel very emotional. I almost started crying I was so happy to finally be in Rwanda. It has been a long time waiting (between china and Rwanda) for my daughter to come home. And she is right near me. Breathing the same air I am breathing. Looking up at the same night sky. Tomorrow morning my rep from Rwanda will pick me up at 9:00. Her name is Jacqui. I look forward to meet her. After she picks us up we will head to the Home of Hope orphanage. In around 12 hours I will meet my dear sweet beautiful girl.

I am so tired and I really need to get sleep as tomorrow will be a busy and amazing day. Next time I write Zoe Nicole will be part of our family.

Thank you for everyones prayers to get us this far! Keep praying that everything will run smoothly here for us as well as at home with my boys who I already miss.
Good night!

Quick update

So we flew to Belgium and spent the night last night. It was freezing cold here. We relaxed and spent the evening reading and resting as this will be our last night to really relax. Now we are at the airport waiting to board our plane to Rwanda. In 24 hours we should be with Zoe.

We get in late tonight so we won't see her until tomorrow morning.
Is this real? I keep pinching myself as I have had this same dream so many times of going to get Zoe.

I'll post more soon. We are almost there!! We are coming Zoe!!!

Can not believe it is almost here!

How is it possible? I still keep pinching myself to make sure that this is real. Can we really be leaving on Sunday? Will we really see Zoe on Wednesday? I am so happy that I will soon be united with my daughter. I have Zoe's items all packed. The hardest thing was picking out which cute outfits to pack. I just need to say I am so excited for all the girlie clothes I have. My friend Jen even made me the most amazing little bracelets for her tiny wrist.
I am just finishing my packing (it wasn't near as fun as packing for Zoe). I have lots of lists and I am slowly checking one item off at a time.

I am also trying to spend as much time as possible doing really fun stuff with my boys! Luckily they travel a lot (Calvin has already been to Africa) they know that we will be gone and home soon. They can't wait to meet Zoe. Tomorrow we are taking the boys to see the new Alice in Wonderland. They don't have school as this week was Parent Teacher Conference. I hope they like it! I hope I can pay attention to the movie! All I can think about is how excited I am to be in Africa.
I will really miss Calvin. He has drawn Zoe and I some fabulous pictures to put up in our hotel room. I will miss his crazy morning hair and all of his silly faces he makes. He has the best laugh I have ever heard in the world.

I will really miss Martin. I love when he falls asleep and is so peaceful. This is one of the few times I can pick him up and just hold him and he doesn't squirm to go play with toys. He is my comic relief and my company all day long. It will be hard being away from my boys.

We are so lucky as my parents are going to be taking care of the kids. Calvin and Martin are so excited that each morning this week they ask if we are finally leaving so they can stay with Nana and Papa.

So soon and I will be incredibly blessed with a beautiful daughter. How am I so lucky?

Court Date, Birthdays and Showers

We finally got a court date. YAY!!! Zoe will be officially ours on March 8th. I am so excited that is one week from today. After that day I can post pictures of her. So, even though her court date is on the 8th we have decided to depart for Rwanda on March 7th. We won't arrive until the evening of March 9th. We will then be able to pick her up on March 10th. The reason why I am pushing this is because she will turn 2 on March 10th. I want to be there for her on her birthday. I am so excited!!!! So, even though I can't show you pictures of Zoe yet, I thought I would show you pictures of her nursery. This is my new favorite room in my house. I had so much fun decorating it. We also got some new photos of Zoe this past weekend. All I can say is that she is beautiful!!! I look at her picture all day!
And of course I will be blogging the entire time we will be in Rwanda and Kenya picking up our daughter.

Here is Zoe's crib. I know I can't seem to get enough of pink. The funny thing is that I have never been into pink. When I was a child I was and always have been a tomboy. I don't know what is happening to me, but I am really into pink. So, it's ok that her room is painted pink and her crib is even pink. I love it!!!

This is one of my favorite ways to decorate. I take rustic stars and paint them and cover them with scrapbook paper and ribbon. I have huge ones on my door for every holiday (my Easter ones are out right now) and smaller ones around my house. The Z above her crib is of course for Zoe. The crown I found at Rod Works. It isn't supposed to hang, but I had Josh drill a hole through it and into the wall. I then drapped thin white fabric around the crib. I also found the other 2 crown hooks at rod works. I have loved decorating this room!!!!

I got this dress form from Pottery barn. However, it was black and it didn't go in her room. I painted it white, threw on some neclaces and added a tutu with some flowers and ribbon. I don't know why- but this is one of my favorite things in her room. I guess because it is so girlie. I also put a mini dress form and tutu on her bedstand. After having only boys, I am really excited for girlie stuff!!

Here is Martin hanging out in Zoe's room. Josh did the beadboard in her room. I love it!!! The fairies on the top shelf in the corner belong to my sister Nicole (who Zoe is named after).

This will be Zoe's first doll. I will be bringing this doll with me and give it to her on her birthday. It comes with a little backpack for her to carry her doll and it is already filled with doll clothes, bottles, etc. Perfect for a little girl. Isn't it so sweet (I got it at American Girl). Also the cradle the doll is in was mine when I was little. However, I painted it green (the same color as the beadboard in her room), sanded it down and stained it. I'm so excited to pass this on to my daughter.

Here is Zoe's dollhouse. It is so cute and already filled with furniture and dolls that represent all of our family. Although Martin is amazed with this dollhouse and is constantly telling me where his doll will spend the day.

Martin just turned 4 and we had a superhero birthday party for him. We had so many kids come to Martin's birthday party that we did a bunch of the activities outside in our heated garage. They shot bad guys, made superhero masks and beat the batman pinata. We had so much fun! Everyone dressed up as their favorite superhero. Martin was Batman. Some of the girls came dressed as their favorite princess as they can still beat bad guys (as seen in Shrek).

All the little super hero's gathered around our kitchen table ready to scarf down the cupcakes. We had so much fun. I love our neighborhood as there are so many young families and tons of kids. We had 14 kids show up for Martin's birthday party and believe it or not some couldn't even come. It is a blast! And everyone is within walking distance of each other. If you can see out the windows there was a huge snowstrom going on during the party, but luckily no one had far to drive and we were all safe and warm inside fighting bad guys.

Martin eating his yummy super hero cupcakes

I still can't believe that Martin is 4!! How did that happen. Here we are as a family. We celebrated Sunday night with my parents and siblings. We had a lot of fun. Josh made a yummy meal and the boys got to wrestle with Uncle John. This was a perfect evening for the boys!! This will be our last family celebration without Zoe. I'm really looking forward to Easter. Even though she won't understand why she is looking for eggs and why I want her to sit on a big Easter Bunny's lap, we will all be together!

My friends did a Zoe celebration shower for me. We first went out to dinner with all the girls. Here we are at the Blue Lemon. It is such a yummy restaurant. We had a good time and I still can't believe we all fit together one one table!!! I have such good and wonderful friends! They have been cheering me on this entire time we have been trying to bring Zoe home.

Look at my kitchen!!! Isn't it amazing. I had to cut out part of it as it had a picture of Zoe and I can't post it yet. But this is what my friends did for me!!! So cute! After dinner we came back to my house as some of the girls were going to help me make my baby announcements (or actually toddler announcements) for Zoe. It was such a huge help. Now I only need to add a couple things before I can send them out!

I got to open presents for Zoe and got the cutest stuff. Lots of really cute outfits and hair bows. And I even got some mini girlie fingernail polish. I love it!!! So much girlie stuff is wonderful!!

Here are the adventurous ones who stuck around at my house to help me make Zoe's baby announcements.

Here are two of my best friends Jen and Trish. They are the ones who did the baby shower for me. This is their silliest face since it was finally almost over. Of course they are going to kill me for posting this!!!

So soon and we will be in Rwanda. I can't believe it. I will be able to post pictures of Zoe next monday (yay!!!) and then I will keep you updated on our trip. Please keep us in your prayers that everything will run smoothly for us and that Zoe will be able to do ok leaving the orphanage and coming home with us.

We are so grateful for all of your support, love and prayers that have been sent our way. We are so lucky to have amazing friends and family!!

By the way, if anyone is interested in sending money donations please let me know. Since there is only 2 of us we can only take so much luggage to Rwanda, without it costing too much. We are still bringing items such as formula, cloth diapers, and clothing to the orphanage, however we would like to buy a lot of items while we are there. We would like to do a truck load of food as well as more formula and other items they might need. If you would like to add anything please let me know.
Thanks!!!