Peace & Confidence

Lord tonight I choose you.....
I choose peace....
I choose your way not mine....
I choose to embrace this gift.....
I choose victory for your glory....

These were the cries of my heart tonight & God confirmed my thoughts, prayers & emotions with this Psalm, tilted.....
(Confidence in the Lord)

Lord, You are my portion and my cup of blessing
You hold my future.
The Boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places;
indeed I have a beautiful inheritance.

I will praise the Lord who counsels me-
even at night my conscience instructs me

I keep the Lord in mind always.
Because He is at my right hand,
I will not be shaken.

Therefor my heart is glad,
and my spirit rejoices;
and my body rests securely.
For you will not abandon me to-Sheol

You will not allow Your faithful One to see the Pit.
You reveal the path of life to me;
in Your presence is abundant joy;
in Your right hand are eternal pleasures.
(Psalm 16:5-11) Amen...Good Night:)

Tomorrow..........

Tomorrow at this time we will have started our journey across the world to partake in the most amazing day of our lives!!! The feelings are unexplainable, but we have never had such greater joy. Our lil' boy awaits his mommy & daddy & soon we will get to meet. Oh how this day has run in my head a million times...WOW! Only God could have created & timed an event like this! Glory to Him!!!
Friends & Family, we don't even know how to thank you, but all of you have made this experience so much more fulfilling. Everyone of you have touched our hearts in wondrous ways! Thank you for the excitement you have for us, for the anticipation to meet lil' man, for the support & love that flowed in amazing ways, for showering us with gifts & showers but most of all for blessing us with your thoughts & prayers!!!! God has heard them all...Sam & I finally get to bring home our baby:))))) Praise God forever & ever...Amen!
We will do our very best to update as we travel.....so follow along:)

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Testing pics now....

Blessings,
Ana Nunez
www.nunezstory.blogspot.com
 

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Sam Nunez

3 days to go....

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH........Ok, well that pretty much sums it up!:)

From Daddy...

Is this real? Are these feelings real? Are the dreams, desires, passions, and yearnings of my heart really manifesting before my eyes???? Is this true? Trying to hold back tears of joy as I write this I continue to ask myself...Is this honestly our time? Can I honestly be at a point where ALL the early hurting, tears, pain, doubt, and anger have faded? Can I really sit back and look at the wanting eyes of my new little guy and say "He's mine!?" Am I really at the point where I get to show a little treasure what love, caring, compassion, fun, laughter, devotion, and hope is? Do I really get to do that? Is this real? The tears are falling........................
The excitment is setting in, but the honesty of overpowering emotions are getting the best of me...the BEST of me. Can this be real? My new little man in MY arms??? Really??? More tears flow.......
There have only been 2 times in my life that I have felt the way I do today. In the locker room before a game with butterflies and nerves ripping through my confidence. And second, on my wedding day. Right before me and my boys took the isle to claim what God had given me in my wife. And now this. A lifelong treasure and sacrifice that is worth every little bit of the process.

Siah...........Hold on buddy, I'm coming!

Just my thoughts and feelings......

9 days to go......

Wahoo..... We officially booked our tickets yesterday...somebody pinch me!!! Not sure how to put in to words all I feel. I have butterflies, nerves, excitement, anxiousness.... but mostly an overwhelming sense of joy in my heart! My baby boy will be in my arms in about 12 days. God is so faithfull! I can't thank him enough for the gift of a child.
For those of you that are following along, we leave Nov 1st at 7:30am. We stop in WA-DC,( 5 hour lay over Yikes!) then make 1 stop in Rome ( no lay over though) Then final stop to Addis Abba, Ethiopia, Arrive at 7:30pm on Nov 2nd (Craziness)

Well, the packing has begun! The packing lists are long & detailed...there is stuff every where in our house. Poor Chewy, he is so confused:( Keep chking the blog, we will posting while we travel.
Count Down....9 days!!!!!

IT'S OFFICIAL!! WE PASSED COURTS!!!!!!!

We are very excited to announce that EVERYTHING is official. Our little King is finally coming home! We were notified today that we passed court in Ethiopia and we are traveling November 2nd! We understand that mass amounts of prayer, thoughts, and anticipation were displayed during this time of waiting. Our hearts are full to know that there are sooo many people waiting for the day we step foot on US soil with our new little man!
With that being said...We would like to introduce all of you to our new found king! Josiah Desalegn Ramon Nunez!

Make photo slide shows at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Faith Tested

Today I feel a lot of anxiety as we wait to hear if we passed court in ET. All we know it will be sometime this week. So every day I'm anticipating the call. I've already had to "unknown" calls on my cell...My heart seriously jumps out of my body when I see that! God's love is amazing in the things he does to reassure us he is with us.
One of the unknown calls today was actually a woman from a program that we have helped out in the past & she just called to say she was praying for our family today & asked what specifically they could be praying for....Um Hello! Wow, Thank you Lord I needed that call:)
Also while I was working & was calling one of my nurses about a shift and her son "Josiah" answered the phone. Not that big a deal, but the yearning for my son is so intense these days, that just hearing his name melts my heart
None of this means we passed court or anything, but It just gave me some peace in mt heart and reminded me he knows the plan and regardless he will carry us through the rest of the way just as he has up until this point. And that he has his care & hand upon Josiah until we come!!

Last night as my family & I went to church. my heart was convicted that my eyes need to stay focused on Him. And just like I desire for my son to come home so bad. He wanted me to remember that I should desire Him to come back with the same anticipation for the day of His return. That will be a glorious day:)
I gotta remember God is bigger than all of this & His ultimate plan will unfold for the lives of these children to come home to their Families. Just like I've learned & am always learning...All in his timing, not ours.
My sweet Josiah, I pray.....
" May the LORD bless you and keep you; May the LORD make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you; May the LORD turn his face toward you and give you peace." ( Numbers 6:22)
Mommy and Daddy are coming soon:)

Results of Fundraiser & Statistics

The sweet families we met. We will all have our babies soon!!! Thank you Holly & Kari for sharring your babes with us. It makes it so real to see them in the arms of their new loving families:)

Over the weekend we were blessed to be apart of a Fundraiser event in our own home town,that a local family & friend had put together to raise $$$ for ET orphanage & Transition home. It was amazing!! We have recently been told that formula for babies in ET is low & its also low in the orphanages where most of our children have come from ( Kids Care). This is so heart breaking to know how much we have here & how little they have there. My heart wants to so bad save them all. I know that's not possible but with people like the AWAA families, the hosts ( the VanWetten Family) & God all things are possible.

Saturday night was a great turn out of families and doners at the fundraiser dinner. Families flew in from different places including our Coordinator Duni & her family all the way from Virginia to come speak on the needs of these children & the need for families to adopt. We also learned that there are 3 other families in the Pt, Vancouver area that are also in the adoption process:) . We had a blast getting to know each other. The VanWetten family did an amazing job putting together a dinner. They also had a silent auction & beautiful slide shows. One was in memory of a baby girl (Julia Grace Alem Joner) who has recently passed away. She was in the TH and caught a pneumonia. The Joner Family so gracefully shared their story with all of us. It just makes you realise how precious children are & even giving a little helps so much when you think that just a little formula, or medicine can save a life of a child that was supposed to come home to her forever family. God has cared for the Joner family during this time & has blessed them again with another baby girl Jalene:)

Well , God is sooooo good. They were able to raise & pass a check to our AWAA family coordinator for $40,000.00! All of that money will go directly to diapers, wipes, and formula for the orphans at the Transitional home and the Kid's Care orphanage.

Please keep these precious children in your prayers &that the ET program will continue to be fruitful so theses children have a chance to have a better life!

Long time friend Theresa


Caleb & Dietrich
Baby girl~ Zoie representing the children back in ET

Nathaniel.....Is such a love muffin'. Too Cue!!!
Duni's son Caleb...what a ham:)
Our wonderful coordinator Duni. She fights hard so we can all get our children home!!
What a night...exhausted!!!

A few Statistics:

The needs of children and families in Ethiopia are staggering. Nearly 15% of children are orphans, 800,000 due to AIDS. Four out of five people in Ethiopia live on less than $2 per day, and Ethiopia is listed in the top 10 countries for the worst human development index worldwide. Only 6% of births are attended by a trained attendant, and one in every 13 Ethiopian children dies before reaching a first birthday.

Newborns dying before age 1, from 1995-2000 (2005)
1 in 10

Children dying before age 5, often from preventable diseases, from 1995-2000 (2005)
1 in 6

Main causes of early childhood deaths (2005)
Diarrhea and pneumonia

Orphans, 2003 estimate (2006)
4 million

Children under age 5 stunted from lack of nutrition (2006)
Over 50%

Josiah's Room

Yea, Josiah's room is done. We had so much fun putting it together. Well I had fun, Sam is tapped out of Projects around the house! He has been such a good sport helping me with all the details of getting the room ready:) We didn't realise all we had to do to prepare for this little bundle to enter our lives. Its hard to believe we really have a nursery in the house. I have envisioned this room for so many years & now it's here!!! All we need now is our lil' King Josiah!

FYI****These pics aren't totally updated because we have been given so many other wonderful things from our showers to hang in his room, but these were taken prior. But the room is done! The pics also don't do it justice, so come by & take a peek:)

Putting the crib together

Thanks Mom for helping:) Thanks Natalie for helping paint!

And of course...Sam has the "BABY force 1's" & "Air Max" on display:)

Our Forever Family...
The 3 Monkey's.....Thats us:)
All his friends await him! Including Chewy:)

"Mom please stop"I had to put him in the crib (Hee Hee)....Not a happy dog~ He is mad at mama:(

Abuelita

I lost my precious grandmother yesterday:( This is my Dad's mom~ this was my Nonna!

My heart is so sad and aches being so far away! You never truly know when it will be your last time of seeing someone when there is such a great distance between you. But God gave me the chance to see her a year ago when I went back home to CR. And then this summer my mom was blessed to see her again & show her Josiah's picture. Her 1st great grandchild! She loved him so much already and wanted to meet him so bad. When I talked to her on Tuesday she was so excited to learn that we were traveling in just a few weeks and she was going to be waiting to meet him! She said when she st saw Josiah picture in her amazing Italian accent.

" Well, I didn't pick you Josiah, you picked me to be your great grandma"

My grandmother was the most beautiful woman. She was Italian and from Royalty. She would always captivate me with her stories of Italy & the castles they lived in. She was a true Fairytale but so real and so exquisite in her ways. She was graceful, beautiful, classy, kind, gentle and all about Love:) That's where my family says I get my love & mushiness.

She has a true love story too with my Grandpa too. He was the love of her life & now they are together again in the most Majestic Kingdom of all!!!! And know she is with her true King~ our God.

From the begining Sam & I always wanted our sons middle name to be Ramon after my grandfather & its actually Sams middle name too. My grandmother was so excited when we told her this. She said it was like her Ramon was back.

We were so captivated by the name Desalegn that we wanted to honor that too being Josiah's given name.

Well today we want to honor mi Abuelita Gabriela & mi Abuelito Ramon and also bless our 1st son with his name..... Josiah Desalegn Ramon Nunez!

****Abuelita te amo con todo mi corazon, Tu me llenaste con tanto amor en mi vida y siempre me hacida sentir tan especial. Nunca se me va holvidar los memorias de chiquita asta ahora. Solo el hecho de que tu dijeras mi nombre con tu bello acento Italiano me demostravas to amor hacia mi. Tu forma hacer fue muy especial y lo tendre guardado muy adentro de mi corazon!!*****

Su Nieta y Bisnieto para siempre,

Ana Laura y Josiah~ Ramon:)

Another Family Shower:)

Thank you sweet families for coming out & showering us with Love! We had a blast sharing our resent updates & spending time with all of you. Hope you all enjoyed my Mom's home cookin' too!! All of you hold a huge place in our hearts...Thanks again:)

Have you noticed the theme of Josiah's showers yet...... Safari/Jungle~animals

Love the monkey sign...Its perfect for his room!



Ma & Pa passed down Sam's childhood Christian Mother Goose book. And the Guardian angle print for Siah. We were so touched!!!!

Oh yes, Monkey luggage tags:)