There is a light shining bright at the end of the tunnel leading us to Ethiopia and Amente and Soresa!! The U.S. Embassy cleared us on Tuesday and we have an appointment set for Wednesday, July 3rd. We are so excited to be on our way tomorrow to DC and then on to Ethiopia. Can’t wait to have those boys back in my arms again!
Trenton and Garrett are seeing the light at the end of their fundraising tunnel, too. They have raised over $3,500 for their plane tickets to Ethiopia! Who knew so much money was to be earned in chicken farming and necklace sales. Seriously, a huge thank you to all our friends and family who gave donations well above what the eggs and necklaces are worth. It is a priceless gift for Trenton and Garrett to be able to travel to Ethiopia to meet their new brothers.
On another note…we have been thinking about “American” names for Amente and Soresa ever since meeting them 3 months ago. When we asked them if they wanted American names, Soresa answered “Yes” right away and Amente shrugged his shoulders like he didn’t care. We were wanting to find strong, unique Biblical names like Titus. However, it has been a struggle this time around to pinpoint what we wanted to name them. Believe me, we have been through every genealogy in the Bible! I think we have finally settled on names that just happen to be the same first initial of their Ethiopian names. Amente will get to choose between his given name or Asher. Asher means “happy” and is one of the twelve sons of Israel. Soresa will be Silas. He was a friend to Paul as was Titus. I’m sure he will be our Titus’ friend, too.:)
Thanks for all of your prayers and words of encouragement while we travel this week. We especially ask for prayers for safe travels and the beginning of a strong bond with Amente and Soresa (Asher and Silas).
Yes, we are still waiting. This has been a common theme throughout our adoption process and our blogs! I really do believe that God puts this time of waiting in our journey in order to build up the desire to bring more children into our family. I can tell you without a doubt that the desire is there…and it is overwhelming at times!
We have done some small projects on the room and bathroom that the boys will share. It kept us busy the month of May but now I look at the empty spots where Amente and Soresa will sleep and brush their teeth and I can’t help but pray that this waiting will be over soon!
We were hoping our paperwork would be submitted to the US Embassy for Amente and Soresa 6 weeks from our court date, just as it was for Titus. When 6 weeks came and went we were praying for 8 weeks. At 8 weeks, we were told that we were still waiting for a doctor at the medical clinic to sign off on medical papers. We were pretty confident that the medical report would be in at the 9 week mark but that day came and went without any wonderful e-mails from the Embassy in my Inbox! So, now we have confirmation that all paperwork will be complete and submitted to embassy on June 12th! Praise God! We have been told that things should move along pretty quickly after our paperwork is submitted. So, we are hopeful we are on target to go back sometime at the end of June.
During this waiting, I have come across one scripture over and over again…
“Cast all your anxiety on Him because he cares for you.” – I Peter 5:7
I think that I have seen this verse, read this verse, and heard this verse more over the past month than in my lifetime. God is trying to tell me something! I need to keep hearing it because I have such a stubborn spirit. I can not be anxious about the timing of this adoption, I can not be anxious about how I am going to communicate with my new sons, I can not be anxious about how our family is going to mesh, or even what the house is going to look like with 5 boys!! All I can do is cast it on Him because He is soooo much bigger than all of those things that keep me up at night. He cares for me. He loves me. Why can’t I let Him do that for me?
As always, Brian and I appreciate all of your prayers and encouragement. Countless times an e-mail or phone call from one of you has brightened up our day. It is so reassuring to know that you are on this journey with us!
We appreciate all of your prayers for a speedy trip to Ethiopia. God is good! Brian and I are in our hotel room in Washington, DC getting ready to try to get some sleep before we jump on an airplane to Ethiopia tomorrow. What a way to celebrate Easter! We got the call Monday afternoon that we needed to be in Ethiopia in a week to meet our sweet boys for the first time and go to court to make them a part of our family forever. It has been a crazy busy week of preparing but now we can breathe a sigh of relief that we are on our way to finally see our new sons.
We get asked all the time, “Why are you adopting…again?” My Dad prayed a prayer for us at the airport today and reminded us of the “why” in our story. He included what has become one of my favorite verses in this season of my life:
“Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.” – James 1:27
We will be going to court on April 3rd. Please pray for our safety and that all will go smoothly in Ethiopia as well as with our other boys back at home with grandparents at the helm. We appreciate all of your thoughts and prayers as we go through this process. We know that we are only getting our strength right now through Him who gives us strength.
Thought we’d share this video. Titus has settled in extremely well! He gets pretty tickled in this video as he’s watching Trenton and Garrett wrestle. We’ve only heard him laugh like this a couple of times…but it’s pretty contagious when he does it!
It’s hard to believe that we have been home with Titus for nearly two months now. I have been wanting to write for some time to share my thoughts on how things are going since we’ve been home. I guess you can see (by how long it has taken me to write) that life with an infant back in the house is busy! I’ll try to tell you as much as I can without being too long-winded.
We arrived home on April 27th to an awesome welcome home party at the Louisville Airport. It blew us away to see all the people there who wanted to show their love and support to our family and meet Titus for the first time. Titus had slept so well on the plane ride to DC and after our 11 hour lay over in DC he slept the whole way to Louisville. I think he was still partially asleep when we got to the airport in Louisville. He looked very stunned to see the crowd there to say the least!
After all the crying and hugging at the airport we were off for the first night with Titus in his new home. The boys couldn’t wait to show him around – although, I’m not sure he was paying attention to anything but his crib at 11pm. We soon learned that Titus liked to be up every 3 hours and needed a bottle to go back to sleep. I felt like we had brought a newborn home from the hospital. We didn’t know how to hold, rock, or comfort him, and he made it very clear from his cries that he didn’t care for our efforts.
After a few nights, we got better at the comforting but the bottle was the only thing that would put him back to sleep for good. When we went to the pediatrician for his check-up, she assured us that at 20 lb., 8 month old baby doesn’t need two 8 oz. bottles in the middle of the night. We came up with a plan to wean him down from 2 to 0 bottles at night. In one week, we had achieved success. Unfortunately, he was still waking up quite a bit in the middle of the night and during his naps with dirty diapers. I didn’t remember this with my boys, but chalked it up to not remembering much about their baby days 9 years later. We found out in the next few days, however, that there was a reason for the dirty diapers – Titus had Salmonella! Thankfully, the doctor prescribed some medicine and in short time he was feeling much better, and we were all sleeping much better!
After getting Titus’ tummy taken care of, life has gotten a little more predictable and a lot more fun! I am not a homebody so being able to get out an about with Titus has done wonders for my mood. The boys and I have enjoyed getting out between Titus’ naps for runs to the park, zoo, library, errands, etc. Titus seems to enjoy the trips. He actually loves his car seat. I was expecting him to have a hard time with being confined, but he hasn’t had any trouble adjusting to it at all.
Speaking of adjusting…I know that we are only a few months into our new family dynamics but the adjustment to having a baby in the house seems to be going great. I said great…not perfect! We are all still trying to get used to the naps, feedings, and constant busyness that a baby brings. However, the smiles that we get from Titus in return for our love and care of him make it all worth while!
Thanks for your continued prayers for Titus and our family. God put it on our hearts nearly 1 1/2 years ago to love an orphan and take him in as a part of our family. We know that only through God’s miraculous love for us can we love each other. He gave us the ultimate example of what that love looks like through his son, Jesus Christ. I feel like we have just grazed the tip of the iceberg of what this love looks like in our daily lives. Let us know how we can pray for the journey that God has put you on to love others as well. We would love to be a part of your journey as you have been a part of ours.
Congratulations to Brigette Stapleton of Newport News, VA for winning our Myrtle Beach Condo Auction Fundraiser! Brigette’s winning bid was $700. We want to not only congratulate Brigette but also thank her for her generous donation to our adoption of Titus.
A huge thank you also goes out to our friends, Jeff & Karen Omer, for offering up their Myrtle Beach Condominium for this fundraiser. Obviously, this would not have been possible were it not for their generous offer.
Last but not least, thanks to all of you that help spread the word throughout Facebook. The fact that a friend of a friend that we have never met is now supporting us in our adoption process, is truly amazing and humbling! We sincerely appreciate all the support and prayers of all of our friends past and present that are joining us on this adoption journey! THANK YOU!!
We continue to be blown away by the generosity of our friends and family during the fundraising portion of our adoption! We feel so connected to all of you who have helped us through prayer, coaster sales, the Thirty-One party, and general donations. This has been a humbling experience to say the least. When we started this journey, we knew we would have financial obligations but didn’t begin to realize how blessed we would be to have friends walk this road with us by contributing to those obligations! It means more than we can ever express in words to know that we have such a strong support group right now!
With that said, we have some very generous friends, the Omers, that have offered to put their condo in Myrtle Beach up for auction to help us with our fundraising!
The condo is available May 13 – 18, 2012 and is located in the Shore Crest Vacation Villa 1 located on the Atlantic Ocean in Myrtle Beach, SC. The villa has a partial ocean view. It can sleep up to 6 people with 2 bedrooms and a living room with a sleeper sofa. The villa also includes 2 baths, kitchen, and laundry. Additionally, the resort includes a winding lazy river, outdoor heated pool, indoor pool, hot tub, fitness room, game room, and internet access. Anyone have Spring Fever? To see more information on the resort, please click here.
We will hold an email auction for this property. See instructions/information below on how it will work…
Bidding starts Saturday, March 17th
Bidding ends Saturday, March 24th at 6:00pm (based on email time stamp)
All bids should be emailed to cassieborgman@att.net
We will update our blog daily with the leading bid. On Saturday, should we have several bids throughout the day, we will try to update the blog as often as possible.
The winner will be contacted, at the latest, on Sunday, March 25th. At that time, we will share the Omers’ contact information in order for the winner to finish the the final details with them.
If anyone has any questions/concerns, please contact Cassie at cassieborgman@att.net.
The boys are trying to shore up the last of their money to fund their airline tickets to Ethiopia to help Cassie and me pick up Titus. Their newest creation (with the help and research of their mother) are 3 different coaster sets available for sale.
The coasters were created using white tiles with black and white pictures sealed onto the tops of the tiles with white felt backing. The coaster sets currently available are pictured below. To see a more detailed view of the tiles, please click on the picture set below.
African Landscape (Coaster Set #1)
African Adult Animals (Coaster Set #2)
African Mother & Baby Animals (Coaster Set #3)
All proceeds from the sale of these coasters will go directly towards the boys’ trip to Ethiopia. If you are interested in purchasing one of the above coaster sets, please email Cassie at cassieborgman@att.net. Please be sure to provide the following information in your email:
Name
Address
Phone Number
Email Address
Set(s) you would like
Donation Amount
If you are interested in keeping up with the boys’ progress, be sure to visit the Adoption Fundraiser tab on this blog.
Brian and I have a friend from college that is a Thirty-One rep. For those of you that don’t know, Thirty-One is a faith-based company with a mission to help others. Our friend, Cindy Newland, has a heart for adoption and has offered to have a special catalog/online sale of Thirty-One products to help raise money for our adoption. 100% of the profits from this sale will go towards our adoption of Titus!!
Thank you for considering purchasing something from Thirty-One in order to help fund our adoption. Below is some additional information that Cindy asked us to share with you…
– To shop and order directly online, go to www.mythirtyone.com/CindyNewland. Click on “Place an Order” in the top menu; then choose “Shop Now” next to the Cassie and Brian Borgman Adoption Event.
– For questions or to order by email, contact Cindy at newlandcindy@hotmail.com.
– If you would like your order shipped directly to you, there is an additional $4 charge per order.
The new Thirty-One Spring catalog is now out! You’ll find lots of organizational helps and items you can personalize for yourself and for gifts. All personalization is a $7 flat fee per item.
February’s special is great…for every $31 you spend, you can choose any one item at 31% off; it can even be the most expensive item in the catalog! When selecting the item to receive the 31% discount, add an “S” to the end of the item number and the price will be reflected once the minimum $31 is reached.
P.S. Feel free to share this with any of your friends that may have an interest in ordering something from Thirty-One as well.
Trenton and Garrett are seeing the light at the end of their fundraising tunnel, too. They have raised over $3,500 for their plane tickets to Ethiopia! Who knew so much money was to be earned in chicken farming and necklace sales. Seriously, a huge thank you to all our friends and family who gave donations well above what the eggs and necklaces are worth. It is a priceless gift for Trenton and Garrett to be able to travel to Ethiopia to meet their new brothers.
Borg Man's World 