It has been a month for good reason...

before diving into all the excitement that has been our lives lately, I will just tell you why I haven't been around.  I have been spending all my time trying to memorize this verse :)

because I miss him. 

I have tons more pics of him, but I haven't gotten to them at all yet. 

Introducing our third son. Elijah Yosef Whitis.  

LOTS MORE ON THIS. :)  Couldn't hold back on this photo though.

First, we went to Kentucky and saw all our family we have been missing out on seeing since we joined the army 7 years ago. Now that we are out we wanted to take advantage. We went to Lexington, where our families are, and our friends (the sweeneys) who also adopted from Ethiopia came to see us. Our friend Kevin from the Army happened to be nearby so we got to see him too. Just awesome! We went to Ashland KY to see B's mom's side of the family. I was introduced to Zumba. :) WE went to London, KY to the family farm. We saw Briar's tree and his spot. I loved it. We hiked around the hills surrounding the farm as a family of three (four with briar...). It was wonderful.
Directly following the trip to Kentucky, we flew to Dallas, TX for one of my best friend's weddings (my sweet Hayley). It was beautiful, gorgeous, just a dreamy day and weekend. We loved all of it. We enjoyed meeting all of Hayley's friends (the six chicks) who we have been dying to meet as a group for years. If I lived in Dallas, I would be best buds with all of them. She has a wonderful group of godly women in her life! Finn got two pink eyes while we were there and Brandon ended up in the ER for a bad skin infection. No problem, but it did complicate things a bit. our sweet friends (the flynns) moved to Texas and came to visit us, and it was AMAZING to see them again. Such a wonderful blessing to see and spend time with them.
We got back, pooped out from all the travel, and left five days later for Ethiopia to meet our son. No big deal. 2 hr drive to Atlanta. 2 hour flight to DC. 12 hour flight to Ethiopia. 1 hour drive to guest house. Shoooo. Finn was a trooper. The fligth home was the same, except 17 hours for the main flight.
I will post about 20 more times to explain how that went. But to sum it up, it was wonderful. Right now, I am fighting jet lag and dealing with my sweet finn who has been cheery but throwing up and pooping quite a bit. I think we've got a stomach virus, maybe even a parasite called giardia, that is very common in Ethiopia. It is supposed to naturally rid itself ...but can take a couple weeks.
Oh, and did I mention that when we arrived home we thought we might have bed bugs (a girl had them after staying at our guest house a couple months ago, and then I had some suspicious bug bites)...so we have been boiling all our clothes and washing them...then drying them twice ...before bringing them in the house.
All this to say....life is out of control :)
I have not touched any of my Ethiopia pics, although I am dying to!
My heart hurts and misses my boy. B's heart seems to be in "block it out" Army mode. So, that can make things tough. Sort of grieving in my own weird way.
Our house is on the market and someone is coming to look this afternoon....so I am trying to rid myself of pukey clothes, boiled clothes, trashbags full of things to unpack that have been quarrantined....all while cleaning (which I am not the best at, self admittedly).

In other news, our beloved University of Kentucky Wildcats brought home another national champtionship the night we returned. Which was AMAZINGLY EXCITING.

Photos and lots of details to come.
Thanks for checking in!!!

God is so good.
We are so blessed and thankful to be a part of the Lord's huge plan for eternity...for all of us.

So today..

I heard Brandon singing, "Glory Baby".
He was singing, "and we miss you every day, we miss you in every way..we can't wait for the day when we will hold you, we will hold you"
I said, "I love that!"
(I like to know when he thinks of Briar, as his ways are often less obvious than mine)
He said, "Yeah, I think of it often.  It is the song that plays the most in my head".
I love him.
Do you have a song that plays in your head?
I don't.
It makes me laugh that Brandon does.
But I do miss Briar.
We were sitting around tonight and I told Brandon that I miss him.
I'm ready for him to come back now.
I know that is not going to happen. It's not the way it's supposed to be. I'm okay with that most of the time. Really. I was telling someone today how FILLED WITH JOY I am to know that my son is worshipping the creator.  To know that he will never deal with some of the troubles in this world. All he knows is love. Perfect love.
But sometimes I just long to hold him again. To feel his little legs in my hands.  To touch his fingers one by one.  It's not going to be in this lifetime, because I already had those moments. We won't get them again.  And we will always cherish them.  But, sometimes I wish that I got to do it again...sooner..
and I think that's just fine.

Isaiah 41:10 

 ¹⁰ So do not fear, for I am with you;
       do not be dismayed, for I am your God.
       I will strengthen you and help you;
       I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.

It breaks my heart...

Did you hear Haiti was hit with a 6.1 AFTERSHOCK today? Do you understand the devastation there? I was in this country twice...in two different parts of the country... in college....several years ago.  When we got off the plane, at the airport (below), it smelled like rotting flesh and sewage. (This is where the PRESIDENT of the country and the PRIME MINISTER lived for two days after the earthquake)
This was before the earthquake. This was normal life. These people are suffering, and have been for YEARS.  Their market is open air with food in the reach of the place a donkey stands for hours. The donkey serves as their transportation and food carrier up the mountain.  They bathe and drink water from streams where cows drink and urinate.  I could go on and on...
We walked miles to give a lady in a hut on top of a mountain some medicine. She had dirt floors. A hut the size of my bathroom. She smiled. She hugged us. She was joyful.

When things like this happen, or for example, after I visited Haiti, I chose to ignore the need. Ignore the pain. The suffering.  I befriended these people. I left them my clothes I wore. My shoes. But not my heart. Why? It was too hard. Too heartbreaking. I couldn't handle the loss and pain these people had. So I chose to ignore it.

 

This girl and I played soccer (futbol) every day. She followed me home. She waited at the gate for me each morning. I visited her home.  She is real. She has no clothes. No food. She might not even be alive anymore.  I can't ignore it anymore. I wish I could, because I hate seeing the pain. Part of me thinks that if I don't watch the news, it won't be real. That is true, right? I sometimes do that to the war on terror.

Click here to donate..

If you're interested in giving.... I'm not trying to be a billboard for giving.
But honestly. Pray for them. Pray for their safety. Pray that they might see light and hope.  I was watching Oprah today and Wyclef was saying that at night the people just sing. They sing praise songs. Really? Could you praise God in that? Because it sounds easy, as I go crawl into my warm bed after using my real, porcelain toilet and have a nice little huge piece of chocolate and grab my glass of water. It's not as easy when you think of the wretched smell (it smelled like a homeless person who never showers....in every corner of the country), when you think of the violence there.....
We need to pray. As a body of believers we are called to pray. 



Isaiah 43:2 (New Living Translation)


 2 When you go through deep waters,

      I will be with you.

   When you go through rivers of difficulty,

      you will not drown.

   When you walk through the fire of oppression,

      you will not be burned up;

      the flames will not consume you.

Praying for Haiti as I go to sleep tonight.  Even if you don't or can't give. Pray for them.