In case your "wondering".

Is time standing still or is it just me?  I feel like we have had our referral for forever now.  I stare at the most precious face on my refrigerator, on my cell phone, on my computer every day and just wonder.

I wonder if he's well.  I wonder what he likes to play with.  I wonder what his disposition is.  I wonder if when it says "he speaks Sidamo", does that mean he can't communicate with the other kids/Nanny's that speak Amharic.  I wonder if when he saw my picture on Jen's cell phone, that the Lord created a file in his little brain called "Mommy".   Cuz you know, our God is big enough to do that!  I wonder if he'll have a difficult transition.  I wonder if he'll be scared when he meets us.  I wonder if the plane ride home will be a hellish experience.  I wonder when our day in court will be.  I wonder how long the journey will take.  I wonder if he'll make it home by Christmas.  I wonder if he'll love his first CarePackage.  I wonder if he'll wonder who in the world those "feh-rehn-jee's" (what they call white people or "foreigners" haha)  are in the pictures we sent.  I wonder if he and Maliah will be buddies.  I wonder, I wonder, I wonder, I wonder.

The Lord knows I wonder and so a little at a time he sends me blessings along this journey so he can help take away a little wonder I suppose.

1. My precious friend, as I shared in a previous post, was in Rwanda/Ethiopia when we received our referral.  What a blessing she was to visit our sweet boy and bring us photos and video ... ahhhh, did you hear that, VIDEO.  I don't have to wonder what his voice sounds like ... I heard it and I LOVE it!!  
2. Recently I posted our little guy's orphanage name on our agency's yahoo.  Two fellow Mommy's e-mailed me personally with blessings!  PICTURES of where our little "Z" spent many months and the other is mailing me VIDEO of the orphanage.  I no longer will have to wonder what it looked like.       
3. On Saturday, another precious family flies out to Ethiopia and will deliver our first CarePackage.  Inside will be our photo album.  I will no longer have to wonder if he knows he has a family.  I have been assured that his Nanny will sit and share with him "who we are".  Though, I wonder ... will he know what that means and will he likes what he sees so far?
4. I got to send off our first 5 "update questions".  How blessed I am to have an amazing agency that will update us each month on our little boy.  They will also let us know each week if he is sick etc.  Narrowing down the many wonder's to the first five to ask was tough ... but here's what we decided.

• What is "Z" disposition and personality?  Is he happy, does he cry  
  often, compliant or strong willed?
  
• What is Z's daily schedule?
  
• What soothes Z when his is upset?  Or "how does he like to  
  be comforted"?
  
• Does Z play with other children and have a special "playmate"?
• Since he speaks Sidamo, is he able to communicate with the  
  Nanny's or is he learning Amharic or English to communicate?

One thing you may wonder is why in the world I am now using "Z" to refer to "Levi".  Have I totally confused you?  Well, wonder no more.

The Lord gave us the name "Levi".  We know this with certainty that that was to be a portion of his name.  We just never knew, what portion.  When our referral arrived, both Doug and I really liked his given name.  We began to play around with it ... Levi "Z" Martine or "Z" Levi Martine.  yeah, it totally isn't real helpful that I can't actually tell you what "Z" stands for but you'll have to just trust me as I am not allowed to share it on a public site until we pass court.   The kids and I kept calling him "Levi" but I noticed that Doug would call him "Z".  When we had to fill out some paperwork for our travel coordinator, I put Levi "Z" Martine as his name to be.  Doug looked at me and said that he wanted it to be "Z" Levi Martine.  I told him that that was still up for debate.  But, one day, he looked at me and finally said "I don't know what you are going to call him, but I'm calling him "Z".  Hmmmm???  Well, O.K. then, as my spiritual leader, the leader of our family and one who seldom has a definitive position or opinion on things such as decorating, names, etc., it looks as though our Daddy has spoken ... and we no longer need to "Debate" or "wonder".   

So one day I will share his full name ... but until then, when you see me call him "Z", it's because indeed, his official name will someday be "Z" Levi Martine ... in case you were wondering.  

And I LOVE IT!  (Daddy always knows best though don't tell him I admitted it)