We Need a New Blog Name...

Because this Hollomon three is about to become FOUR!!!!

We are excited to officially announce that we have begun the adoption process once again! But the experience is quite a bit different for us this time around.

On September 18, 2009, on our last day in Ethiopia, we met a sweet 10-year-old (!) boy whom I'll call L at one of the government orphanages we visited. L really latched onto Chris. They were inseparable while we where there. I met L briefly but didn't spend much time with him. L was quiet and tiny, and we thought he was maybe 8 years old (ha!).

Chris asked a lot of questions about L while we were there. L has a tough story, one that I want to protect and not share too much of.

Cut to a few weeks after we were home. For several days and nights in a row, I couldn't get L off my mind. It seemed so odd to me because I had spent so little time with him. Finally, I said to Chris, "You've been praying about L, haven't you?" And of course, he had. Then we had our first of many serious discussions about adopting L.

We began talking to our adoption agency about the possibility of adopting L. We learned that he just turned 11 in December. He loves English and science, and he wants to be a professional soccer player. And he really wants a family.

And four months to the day after meeting sweet L for the first time, we're ready to share with you that we are going to be that family.

We are excited and overwhelmed. We never dreamed we would be going from no children to a 1-year-old and an 11-year-old in one year, and we never planned to adopt two children back to back. The responsibility and the financial obligations are intimidating, to say the least! After a long day at work and when Myles has been cranky, Chris will teasingly ask, "Are you ready to help L with his homework?" You can pray for us about that! :)

But we are so excited that Myles will have a big brother who shares his heritage and can teach him about Ethiopia in ways that we can't.

I don't have an estimate of when we'll be bringing L home. We're hopeful it will be by the end of the year, and the sooner the better, Lord willing.

Please pray for L, Myles, Chris, and me as we prepare for yet another life change. And if you have a new blog name for us, please let me know!

God can do anything, you know—far more than you could ever imagine or guess or request in your wildest dreams! He does it not by pushing us around but by working within us, his Spirit deeply and gently within us. (Ephesians 3:20-21, The Message)

Merry Christmas!

Readoption Day

Home for Three Months

It's hard to believe three months have passed since we returned home from Ethiopia. The time has flown by, and yet it's hard to remember what life was like before Myles.

Our now 9-month-old is 18 lbs 4 oz and something like 27 or 28 inches (I can't remember exactly). The first two months home Myles grew A LOT and tried to catch up developmentally. Now he's in a learning phase where every day he comes home from school doing something different. It's so sweet! Last week he loved giving high-fives. This week he loves to clap for everything. When we were leaving church yesterday, I told him to wave goodbye to the preschool staff and he clapped instead. When Chris got him up this morning, Myles clapped for him.

Myles is still a little behind in that he's not crawling or pulling up. We have a great (free!) early intervention program in our area, so we're going to have him evaluated soon.

We've also discovered that Myles has a strong gag reflex. At Thanksgiving we gave him his first taste of mashed potatoes, and the second they touched his tongue, he threw up. A couple weeks later we tried grits, and the same thing happened. So now we'll be trying table foods while he's dressed in nothing but his diaper. :) He's also starting to act like he doesn't like foods he loved just a few weeks ago, but we keep giving them to him anyway. It's just odd because we've never heard of Ethiopian adoptees having this kind of food problem.

Here's Myles' welcome home video from three months ago. I just can't believe how much he's changed. Or how much one week changed our lives forever.

I Like to Smile; Smiling's My Favorite

Thinking of You

Please pray for this sweet family and this sweet family.

Sometime overnight tonight judges in Ethiopia will issue opinions on their adoptions.

I had the privilege of meeting, loving on, and taking pictures of their adorable babies, and I can't wait for these awesome families to bring them home!

Family Photos

We took our first family photos about a month ago (I'm a terrible blogger!). Myles is already bigger and taller and has lots more hair. :) And the beginnings of a second tooth!











You can check out more photos here (just scroll down).

Myles has his 9-month-old check-up in a week, so I'll post more soon!