Introducing...

We are SO SO SO excited to introduce to you our little lady!

Today in a very warm court room at 2:30pm we officially welcomed 

Ezri Mbali Faith Stromberg

 into our family!! 

We are officially a family of 4 and we are SOO beyond happy!!! 

We love you to the moon and back sweetheart! 

And what you all have been waiting for....

Many many many more pictures to come! 

be blessed

shaeline 

sunny days... quiet moments...

We have had mostly sunny days in SA and have very much enjoyed it!! Yesterday was a little cloudy and windy but we sure made the most of it! Cooled off our cottage, enjoyed the outdoors and got lots of cozy cuddles from our littles! You would have thought we were in Canada with how we had to dress our little lady up! She enjoyed it very much!

Yesterday and today we have had our little lady with us at our cottage for the day! She has done so well and we are so blessed with our beautiful children. Solomon just adores her and even though he has had small moments he still says at the end of the night "I sure do love my little sister". He is such a gentle hearted little man and we have been so blessed to see his love for his sister! 

Today is a beautiful sunny warm day! We are LOVING it! Little lady is sleeping and little man is having so much fun swimming with daddy. I love hearing his giggles from afar and his chatter! Everyday he shows us without knowing it how blessed we are to be his parents!! And we love that we will have another little one to share our love with. 

Tomorrow is court so that means that tomorrow is the day she officially becomes a Stromberg! That also means tomorrow we get to introduce our little lady to you! Name and pictures!!! We can't wait to show her off! It also means tonight we have a party for her at Hope House. This is an evening for others to come say goodbye to this beautiful little lady that has crept into their hearts. Prayers for all of them would be so appreciated as I couldn't imagine what they will be feeling! We are so blessed to be welcoming this little lady into our family but she will be experiencing loss and trauma at the same time. Adoption is beautiful but it doesn't come without loss. Prayer over the whole evening and day tomorrow would be so appreciated! 

Anyways, I thought I would take these quiet moments to update you on our beautiful adventure! This afternoon our host is taking us to the Durban beach front for a little while. It will be nice to get out! Here are a few pictures of our little man LOVING the pool!!! Tomorrow we get to share pictures of BOTH of our kids!!! :)

Have a wonderful day and

be blessed!

shaeline

what a wonderful whirlwind...

It has been a wonderful whirlwind last few days! Lots has happened and there is so much more to come! But I would love to recap the last few days for not only you who are following our journey but also for myself so I have some documentation for our adoption adventures as well! So here it goes--

Wednesday- Friday were quite long and exhausting days. Who knew that travelling with a 3 1/2 year old was so much more exhausting than by yourselves :). We did expect it but it was still a long few days! Solomon however did incredible!! We flew from Saskatoon to Toronto (rockstar) then we flew Toronto to London. That was an overnight flight and surprisingly he slept the whole trip. He hadn't had a nap that day, we didn't leave Toronto until 11pm and so he was quite exhausted which worked out in the end. Then we had a 9 1/2 hour layover. Our original plan was to go and explore the city of London a little bit BUT after some paperwork issues in Toronto we decided to stay put and enjoy the play area that the London airport had. Even though we didn't leave the airport we still had to get our tickets and so there was again some paperwork confusion. 

We apparently were in the fuzzy zone of this whole UBC and long form birth certificate. We had applied for it almost 15 months ago and still did not receive it. Because of names not matching on certain documents we didn't even have a letter from the consulate. All was told we were good to go so at both Toronto and London they had to confirm the million pieces of paperwork I had were good enough. And so they were (PHEW!). 

After London we flew to Johannesburg. The longest flight out of all of them. He played hard in the London airport with no nap again but as we were waiting to board the flight he fell asleep. This meant he slept for a bit but was up for quite a few hours in the middle of the night. This flight was the most exhausting but we made it! 

Once we got to Johannesburg we went through customs where they didn't even bat an eye about Solomon's passport, (we thought it was weird) but now we were officially in South Africa. Just an hour later we hopped on our last flight to Durban. Many emotions were flying through our minds and bodies. Excitement, anticipation, exhaustion, happiness etc. What a busy few days!

We got picked up from the airport by the lovely Tezz who is just the best!!! We were so excited to see a familiar face! We drove into Durban and went straight to Heaton where we got to see another familiar face! Shayne welcomed us and made us feel at home at once.  

South Africa right now is in one of the worst droughts they have ever seen. It hasn't looked to badly in Durban but north and inland towards the game reserves apparently its bad. The dams are emptying quickly. So that means that there are water restrictions in Durban. They have said they will turn the water off from 9pm-4am and they have a restrictor thing on their water line to prevent us from using too much. This made our Friday a little tricky when we wanted to get cleaned up from 2 days of travel! Solomon had a bath in about 2 inches of water, Josh had a shower and when it was my turn I got to washing my hair and the shower had stopped. I finished up my shower in the sink where I got just enough water to rinse my hair out! It was not my hopeful relaxing evening but we made due!

Saturday was THE DAY! We met our beautiful girl for the first time. We got picked up at 8:30 by our social worker who was another wonderful familiar face that we got to see!!! She drove us to Hope House and as we got out of the car I just had this anticipation and anxiousness all at the same time. I can't speak for my husband but these moments are just so surreal. When you see your child for the first time in person! There is nothing that compares. 

Her foster mom was holding her and I picked up Solomon so he could meet her. He said "Hi, your so cute. Momma- can I go jump on the trampoline?" As much as I wanted him to have this instant connection I needed to remind myself that this is a lot for a little guy. So he was off and playing. 

We went inside and sat down. We visited (again with some more wonderful familiar faces) and just sat, played, let her come to us when she was ready and enjoy watching her smile, giggle, be goofy. She is so sweet!! (We can't wait to show her off!!) We spent the day with them on Saturday and then on Sunday we went to church and again enjoyed the day together on Sunday. Although on Sunday Josh and I decided to both go back to Heaton for naps with Solomon. We were still trying to get our bodies sorted from the time change. Little man has sure figured it out but our sleep hasn't been the greatest quite yet.

Today was a beautiful day! We woke up a bit later, enjoyed breakfast and went to Hope House for the morning. A little bit later in the morning we woke up our sweetie and fed her an early lunch and then took her to her appointment. After her appointment it was our first time having her back to Heaton with us as a family of four. 

When we got inside the cottage and sat down with our kids on the floor I just looked at Josh and said this feels soo good. Our beautiful family! We played and played and ate some lunch then played some more. She chose not to nap this afternoon which turned out fine because she was EXHAUSTED by bed time. We gave her a bath (which she loves) and lotioned her up and even did her hair! (Not to the extent that it will need to be but it was worth a try and she did amazing!!) We then had supper, some more quiet play time and then our afternoon was over. It was time to take her back to Hope House where she will spend the night. Those moments are always so hard but we also know that it's for a time. And it will be good for her in the long run. 

Tonight we are exhausted. But we look forward to tomorrow when we get to pick her up for the WHOLE DAY!!!! Then Wednesday we have her until supper and then there is a party for her because the very next day is our court date!!! I can't believe that we are so close to keeping her in our arms forever! 

Some of you may wonder how our little man Solomon is doing. He is doing very well! He has a few moments of being home sick and wanting to go back home but with all that he has encountered the last few days he's holding himself together quite well. He definitely has had his moments of being home sick and wanting mommy and daddy together but he also seems understanding when we can't. Today he was helping her with toys, guiding her away from the driveway, kicking the ball to her, building towers for her. He is so good with her! We are truly blessed!!! We will continue taking it day by day. If issues arise we will deal with them when we get there but right now we are focusing on these moments and they are truly wonderful!!

Overall, our family is doing well! We are 2 days away from court date and we can't wait to introduce or daughter to all of you!!! 
Thank you for your prayers, support, encouragement and love!!!

If you are willing to send up a little prayer for our family these are some areas that we would love continued prayer for: 
1. Prayer for Solomon. That he continues to adjust well and that he continues to settle in to what life will look like for the next 4 1/2 weeks!
2. Prayer for our beautiful daughter. That she adjusts well and that court goes well on Thursday!
3. Prayer for the foster moms that have been caring for her. That their hearts will be held and that they will feel comforted and peace throughout the next few weeks! This is a hard time for them as well. 
4. Prayer for Josh and I as we begin to get to know our daughter and to continue making special time for Solomon. This new challenge of making sure both our kids get what they need. This is new to us so prayer is always welcomed! 

Thanks for following along and we can't wait to share pictures and so much more about our little girl!!!
be blessed
shaeline

And we're off...soon

There have been many late nights the last little while trying to gather all of our things, pack them, unpack, repack etc. 

The list seems to go on forever. I am taking a few minutes to just say that in 15 hours we will be taking off on our first flight of 4 to get to South Africa to get ready to meet our baby girl. 

I can't believe that this day has come, yet again. It feels so surreal with so many emotions. Solomon is talking constantly about seeing his baby sister but I also think is feeling the sense of change coming on. 

I will be blogging throughout our time in South Africa but I will be offline for a few days. (It's taking us 2 full days to get there!) We will be sharing more information (name, pictures, age etc.) after our court date! So stay tuned for an adventure!

Would love prayer for a few things and some of this may be repeated from the previous post but here it goes:

1. That our travel goes well. That Solomon does well, is able to sleep and that all his paperwork will be fine as we make our way through many different airports.

2. Prayer for all of our hearts to be open and ready for the first time we meet in person.

3. Prayer for our little girl that God will be preparing her for this gigantic change in her life. 

Thank you for your support, encouragement, love, prayers and so much more. This journey is truly not done alone and we are so grateful for the community that has surrounded us! 

IF anyone is interested-- we have 3 more spots left on our LAST heart!! Leave me a comment, message me or touch base with me somehow if you are interested in getting your name on that puzzle! 

We have been so blessed beyond just the puzzle and we recognize that so many of you that have supported us in other ways have been a huge blessing to our little girl too!! (We have kept track as best as we could :)) 

Thank you from the bottom of our hearts for all the support that has been given. We truly could not have done it without you! 

be blessed

shaeline

Preparing

Nothing prepares you for the call and nothing prepares you for how much you need to get done before you travel. 

I had apparently forgotten about all the small details from the last time because my lists just seemed overwhelming. When we got the call for Solomon we had 4 1/2 weeks to prepare. This time it was just under 3 weeks as we didn't know our court date until a little bit later. We wouldn't have it any other way but there is sure a lot to think about. 

Now that we are only 5 days away from travelling it is becoming a bit more real. 
First it was being done work (check that off the list and get a bit more real). Then it was "we leave in just over a week" (are you serious??!!). And now its "5 days until we leave and one week, one day until we meet our beautiful daughter." 

This is for real. It's really happening!!!! 

Last night I started packing for our beautiful little girl. I dream of what she will look like in the precious outfits so many people have blessed her with. Packing makes it real. Packing tells me that this trip is coming and that our lives are going to be forever changed again!!!

And we couldn't be more excited, nervous, overwhelmed and joyful! 

A few weeks ago we weren't sure if our son, Solomon, was going to be able to come with us. We phoned many people, many times each day to try to figure this out. Finally right before we booked flights we got a few people confirming that he would be able to travel with the right paperwork. So here we go! We booked, our whole family will be together for the whole time!!!!!!! 

Considering this wasn't quite what we had been prepared for we are ECSTATIC!!!! 

So many pieces to the puzzle are starting to fall into place. Some with extreme hard work and some with just the right amount. But it's coming together and it's going to be wonderful! 

If you are willing to send up some prayers we would love to ask for them: 
1. Prayer for Solomons paperwork to all be wonderful and good and that there will be no issues.
2. Prayer for Solomon as he is about to have a life changing event happen in his little life by getting a sibling.
3. Prayer for our daughter as she is also about to have her world completely rocked and changed.
4. Prayer for us as parents to be in tune with our children to know what they need and when they need it.
5. Prayer for all of our hearts to be prepared and ready for one another during this time.
6. Prayer for safety over all of our flights.

And I am sure there is more items for prayer as we are getting closer to the travel date. I do plan on keeping up with blogging our adventures so stay tuned and keep checking back! 

be blessed
-Shaeline