1 Down, 2 to Go!

One of our beautiful boys is officially here! Asher Josiah Brown made is debut Sunday afternoon at 1:08pm. He weighed 7 lbs 3 oz and is 20 inches. Both of us are doing great. Although he was a week earlier than we expected, the birth went great. Thankfully everything went according to our birthplan with no medical intervention. I couldn't have done it without Justin. He was so strong and encouraging throughout the entire labor. We are very thankful to the wonderful staff at Clark Memorial and our fabulous Doula Jackie.

A few people have asked about bringing meals. Our friend Emily from our church has organized a meal calendar. You can sign up using the calendar by going to www.takethemameal.com and use our name: brown and password: 111

Enjoy some pics of our first few days with our new little guy!









Some Kangaroo Care with Dad.



Zoey's first time meeting her baby brother.


Meeting Nana


Intense conversation between Pop and Zoey.


Asher rocking his Dad's favorite hat from Ethiopia


Hanging out with Mimi and Papaw during his first day home.


Zoey and Buddy welcoming their brother home.

Official Date!

We have officially been assigned an embassy date! Justin will be traveling to Ethiopia on August 14th with an Embassy appointment on August 17th. It is so wonderful to finally have this. Being in such limbo has been hard. Hopefully Baby Brown, who is due August 1st, will come on time so Justin can have a couple weeks with him (and me) before he goes.

Great News!

Check out those handsome guys! Yesterday we received the letter we have been waiting for. USCIS(immigration) has approved us to bring the boys home! God is good. It was definitely news that we needed to hear. Next, our file is forwarded on to the Visa processing center and then to the US embassy in Ethiopia. We are not completely sure how long it's going to take, but we don't expect it to be too long.
I spoke to someone in Ethiopia yesterday and he told me that the boys are doing well. We can't wait to get them home. Life is about to get extra crazy, but wonderful at the same time! Thanks for the prayers. I will update when we know more.

Not a Fan

As most of you know, Justin and I attend Southeast Christian Church here in Louisville. We are very blessed with two wonderful pastors who challenge us each week. One of our pastors, Kyle Idleman is releasing a book based on a previous sermon series, "Not Fan, Completely. Committed. Follower." The concept challenges Christians to not just be an enthusiastic admirer of Christ, but to live as he lived and love as he loved. We found out last week that Kyle would like to donate a portion of book sales at the book signing to our adoption. This was very unexpected. A few days before we were stressing a little about the continued cost (mostly travel related). Why should we be surprised that God was going to provide?

More than the funding though, we are so happy that adoption will be highlighted. The article in the Outlook did a fabulous job telling our story. I love that the article expressed how we thought and think of Zoey Hiwot, Chera, and Kenenisa as our children even before they became legally ours or lived under our roof. Making the decision to start the adoption process can be very overwhelming. There are so many possible fears; What will our family say?, Can we afford this?, What if the child we adopt has mental or physical health problems?. Can I love a child that is not biologically related to me? We hope that the message of the book will inspire others to step out in faith and let God lead them to something that will likely be difficult, but may bring more joy to their lives than they could ever imagine.

Having our story expressed in an article was and is something that is uncomfortable. We in no way want it to look like we are anything special at all. Thankfully, the article wonderfully focused on God's plan. Our entire journey as parents was led and constructed by God. I know that we are not completely committed followers in every aspect of our lives. There are so many areas of our lives that we could better honor God. Thankfully, he does not expect us to be perfect. If we were, there would be no need for him.

Please join us tomorrow, May 22, 7:30, during a live web cast/book signing that will be held at Southeast. There will be great speaking from Kyle and Lee Strobe as well as fabulous music with Mark Hall from Casting Crowns. For more info about Not a Fan, check out: http://www.notafan.com/

Happy Birthday Zoey Hiwot!

Today we celebrated the second birthday of our sweet Zoey Hiwot. Since Zoey came so close to not even having a first birthday, today was very significant to us. It's very hard to process what a hard start to life she had. We are so blessed that God saved her life and placed her into ours.

Zoey had a great time. She had pizza and cake, two of her favorite things. Thank you to everyone who came out and celebrated with us. Big thanks go to Amy and her fabulous cake making skills!

Click on the picture to see a few pictures of her day:

Surprise!

It's been a while since I have been on here. Sorry! We have been pretty busy. We have an exusce though. We are expecting another addition to our growing family. This time, we are going the traditional route. We found out late last fall that we are expecting. It was a complete surprise. We hadn't planned on getting pregnant until after the boys were home and settled. As we have been made very aware over the past couple of years, God has his own plans in mind. Although it is a little much right now, I know we will look back years from now and see just how perfect his plan was.

I know many of you are saying; Yes, this is not news, its been obvious for a while that you were pregnant!" Thank you for humoring us! For quite a few reasons, we chose not to share our news. At this point, it is pretty much impossible to keep it a secret!

Everything has went well. I have been blessed to have a pretty easy pregnancy. Zoey will still be the princess of the family, we found out that it's a boy.

No news on Chera and Kenenisa. I spoke to our immigration official who told us he/she had not started working on our case yet. They also let me know that the average turnaround time is now 75 days. He/She received our case on March 16. Good news, I spoke to the social worker at our orphanage. He said that Chera and Kenenisa are doing great. He also explained to them about our delay and that we loved them and missed them. As hard as it is to have to wait for them, I am so thankful that they are happy and healthy. Although an orphanage in Ethiopia is not the optimal place for any child, I do believe that all the staff love the kids and take care of them the best they can.

Thank you for your continued prayers and encouragement! We are so thankful for how much support we have received from everyone!

Apologies and Thank You!

First of all, so sorry to everyone if I have forgotten an event, not returned a call, not returned an email, or forgotten some other thing. My mind has been all over the place lately and I have been even more scatterbrained than normal. Thanks for your patience!

Also, in my last email, I forgot to thank a few people who helped us get our homestudy done in record time. Thanks to Katherine, Trina, Bill, Alice, Cindy, and Dustin. Also, thanks to Susan for pushing those who needed a little encouragement to speed everything up.

Enjoy a picture of Zoey when Brittney and James visited her a little over a year ago.