One year ago today was a day that forever changed our lives. During this time last year, we were patiently waiting for our referral. I had trained myself to wake up several times a night, in specific increments, like clockwork. Every three hours I would wake up, frantically grab for my BlackBerry to see if I had received an e-mail from our adoption agency. The morning of October 11, 2010, was no different. I was wide awake at 7:00 a.m., grabbed my BlackBerry and saw an e-mail from Sue Hederg with the subject "Mebone Pictures and Medical." That specific e-mail changed our lives in a way that I will never be able to explain.

Sue's e-mail included a medical report and photographs of this precious baby girl named Mebone. In Sue's e-mail she said,"... I am wondering if you are wanting to accept her so that the case can be submitted to court..." As I read that I recall thinking, wait...what...of course we will accept her, why would we not accept the referral? That's my daughter I have prayed so much for, God has chosen her just for me, she was meant to be in our home, why would we not accept her?!?

By far, this journey we call adoption has been the most amazing journey for our family. God has revealed himself in so many ways and has made it crystal clear that Malia was meant to be a part of our family. His plan is the reason we struggled with infertility for fourteen months with NO answers before submitting to his plan to adopt our second child and not our plan of adopting our third child. He again made His plan crystal clear when we became pregnant instantly after returning home with Malia.

Half way through this journey, I began having the urge to write a book about our journey, but just don't know if I have it in me to do so. If our book were to help convince only one family to adopt, it will be worth every bit of sweat we put into it. Not to mention a permanent keepsake of Malia's story. We'll see...

This a post that I wrote several weeks ago, but just didn't take the time to put it up.

Where did we leave off? I think it was our last evening with the Greens. Some of their friends stopped by the house before dinner (Joel & Moriah). Joel is a brother to Christian artist Rebecca St. James. Moriah is working on her debut CD in the Christian world and is the voice of the 'Pop Star' in the new Veggie Tales movie. They are about the sweetest people ever. They played with the kids for a bit and obliged us by singing us a song. Kali and Kaleb also put on a pretty hilarious show for us.

On Friday, Dan-the-man, his wife, one of his grown sons, two of his daughters and little boy came to the Greens to swim and fellowship with us. It was so good to see him again and meet more of his family. I cannot say enough about how wonderful they are. His daughter, Tigist, really made an impression on us in ET. Tigist played and played with my hair on our first trip to ET. Unfortunately, she didn't know any English, so all we could do was smile at each other and hug. We found out on the second trip that Dan was adopting her, and this time she loved my mom. Let me just tell you, when she came running in the door at the Green's, I expected the same happy, quiet Tigist. People, she is speaking in full sentences. I understood 100% of what she said, and she remembered both of us. God is so amazing, and I cannot believe the transformation that has taken place in her. You would not believe the LIFE and the JOY that radiates from these kids. From seeing them dirty and hopeless to vibrant and HOPEFUL, it brings you to tears. Nick was standing in the corner after seeing/talking to Tigist crying his eyes out.

We moved over to the Flores home in the afternoon on Friday. Again, it was such a blessing to see everyone, and the transformation in Abenet and Hanna was amazing. Abenet's English was amazing (he knew very few English words in ET). As someone who is used to seeing delayed/disordered speech/language development, I continue to be in awe of how quickly these kids' language skills have developed. The adults went out to the Cheesecake Factory for dinner, while the kids stayed home with a sitter. The kids had a blast, and the highlight of Kaleb's night was seeing Devyn step in dog poop. He is such a boy.

On Saturday, we at lunch at an Ethiopian restaurant called Abay. It just happened to be our little girl's first birthday, so I had to have her try some authentic Ethiopian food. She actually didn't seem to mind the injera/meat/sauce. That evening, we grilled and had a sweet little party for Malia. Rick and Amanda introduced us to some friends that live just a few blocks away. They, too, have adopted from ET. Their sweet boys have been home about 6 weeks. They also have 2 bio kids, and all the kids had a blast playing together.

The big CCI reunion was on Sunday. We took the kids to Brian and Wendi's church, The People's Church. It was phenomenal. The Holy Spirit is living and moving there, for sure. A family gave their testimony and spoke about the ministry they have started and are carrying out in Haiti. They have lots of kids, I can't even remember how many. One has special needs (was born 16 weeks early - is blind and cannot walk without assistance) and two are adopted from Haiti. Their story was so powerful. Christian music artist Genny Owens also gave her testimony and sang her hit song, "If You Want Me To". In the midst of this amazing-ness, Malia peed all over my shirt. That was fun. We drove straight to the Sodium Center for the reunion after church. The kids had a ball running around and playing with all of the toys, games, rock climbing wall, etc. It was great to meet our adoption worker, Sue Hedberg, and thank her in person for her work in helping bring Malia into our forever family. We were able to see, hug and chat with everyone we traveled with both trips minus the VanNeste family. We sure hope they can come next year! We just have to put an updated picture of their twins, Hannah and Isaiah on here. Talk about cute!

The guys let us girls have a 'girl's night' Sunday evening. We were a bit spent from chasing the kids around all day. We went out to dinner, and I had some amazing lobster tails! Yay for being pregnant and not caring about calories!!

Leaving Tennessee was hard. We have such a connection and friendship with Amanda, Rick and the Green clan. The kids also had a hard time. Poor Abenet and Devyn were telling Kaleb over and over that they loved him. There were lots of tears. Little Hanna loved baby Malia, and cried "Baby, baby," the entire way home from the airport. (Sorry, Amanda!) We praise God for the joy of these friendships and cannot wait until we see each other again.

It's been so long since I have posted. I feel terrible as we have had so many faith blog readers. Life is so busy!

Many of you may recall us blogging about Ashli. Ashli is the younger sister to Amanda. We traveled both trips to Ethiopia with Amanda and her husband Rick who adopted Abinet and Hanna. During our venture to Franklin, Tennessee in July, we were honored that the Amanda and Rick opened their home to us.

Our dear friend, Ashli, is still in Ethiopia and is currently working at the orphanage that Malia was at for the first five months of her life. It has been Ashli's personal mission to help the orphanage become a reputable place to care for children who are in such desperate need. When our sweet baby Malia was there, diapers typically (cloth at that) got changed once a day. Bottles were watered down. Children laid in dirty/wet cribs for hours. Ashli has worked so hard to make changes. The orphanage has come a long way since Malia was there.

A little bit of history about Ashli...Ashli went to Ethiopia on a mission trip with Ordinary Hero in in July of 2010. Upon returning home two weeks later, she informed her family and friends that she needed to move to Ethiopia. In three short months, she had her things packed and stored, financials taken care of and a one way ticket to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia booked. Ashli has been there ever since, building the Kingdom that God has called her to build. The lives she has touched are endless! Following is just one story of how Ashli has lived her life for those who need love the most.

I follow Ashli and her work through Facebook and the Ordinary Hero blog. My heart has is completely broken for her after reading what she has gone through in the last couple of weeks. Please keep her in your prayers. Ashli loves each and every child she lays her hands on. God is working miracles through her. A few days ago she sent a message to the director of Ordinary Hero and said:

"Also be prayin for a new baby. I named him Levi. He is so tiny and malnourished! He was found in Wolyta with hiennas!!!! I will elaborate later but he is a MIRACLE!!!!"

A couple of days later she sent this heart breaking e-mail:

"Lastly......the baby with the hiennas, I named him Levi. He got really sick and was on hard core meds! He needed one on one care! Needless to say he was so uncomfortable on Sat night and Sun morn and was struggling to cry. He had dark circles under his eyes and looked horrible. I was taking him to the Dr again Sun morn. At 4:14am I tried to feed him and he wouldnt take a bottle. I held him and sang Jesus Loves Me until about 4:40am. At 4:45am I was holding him and he was making the weirdest faces. As I stared at him I saw the look of panic in his face. I woke someone up and said, "Call the Driver and tell him to come NOW, Levi is gonna die!" At 5am he died in my arms. I ran and got Whitney and she and I did CPR on him but he was gone. Oh Kelly, this may have been the hardest thing Ive ever experienced in my life! Although he was already gone I didnt know what to do other than take him to a hospital so they could officially pronounce him dead. I held his cold stiff body in my arms as 4 hosptials turned us down. As I held him he was secreeting formula from his nose and mouth. His body was completely shutting down and it was making noises. I kissed his cold face and lips and wiped the milk from his cheeks as I soaked the blanket that was wrapped around him with tears. 4 HRS LATER, and the 5th hospital I lost it and said," I am carrying around a dead baby and no one wants to help me, what kind of place is this?" They wrote a death certificate and we went and bought a casket and burried him a few hrs later! Its all just like a dream! Im so numb! I laid him in that casket and put a blanket over his beautiful face and lost it!!! He came so far and then didnt make it, but then I realized yes, because he is in heaven now and Jesus is holding him and he is playing and HEALTHY and happy. The outfit he died in said DADDYS TEAM!! :) He is with his Daddy now. I am trying to just accept that I did what I could do but its so hard."

Can you even imagine?!? I can't help but cry. I cry for Ashli, I cry for Levi, I cry for the world. The story of Levi has kept me up at night and has consumed my thoughts. I struggle to understand and can't even begin to wrap my mind around what Ashli is going through. What's even more devastating is that this happens every single day in Ethiopia. Innocent babies are left to die...left to be eaten by the hyenas.

Ashli's mom, Renee, wrote this poem about Ashli's experience.

Tiny Child Without A Name

Would you weep for me...tiny child without a name,
Born in deepest sorrow, hidden out of shame.
Left alone in darkest night, child without a prayer,
Abandoned in the shadows, does anybody care?

Can you hear me crying? Terror fills the night.
Only heaven knows if I will wake with morning's light.
Will you come and find me, hold me in your arms?
Snatch me out of danger, deliver me from harm?

At last someone has heard me, now I am not alone.
She holds me close and loves me, and takes me home.
An angel on this earth I found for just a few short days.
She prayed me into heaven, and dried my tears away.

Would you weep for me, a life so briefly lived?
Tiny child without a name with so much love to give?

Please pray for Ashli. None of us will ever understand what Ashli is going through. Kelly with Ordinary Hero said is best, "None of us know what it is like to truly live out love like this unless we simply have lived it, seen it, held it. Once you look into the children's eyes, give them a name, see hope in their faces.....then you know....you know you have to do something."

None of the children in the above photos are of Levi.

If you feel moved to help support Ashli and the work she is doing, visit the OrdinaryHero.org and put "Ashli York" in the "Send us a Message Box."

God bless you Ashli. We love you and your family and are so honored to know you!