HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY

Happy Mother's Day!

We have had a wonderful weekend of preparation/hard work/fun while getting ready for our Ethiopian Adoption Garage Sale Fundraiser. Thank you to everyone that has donated items for us to sell next weekend! We did a lot of organizing, pricing, and logistics so that our 5 a.m. start to next Friday and Saturday will go as smoothly as possible. Our garage is full of items which has been tough on me (being the handy man, workshop type of guy I am.......mmmghmm) to get the lawnmower in and out once a week! HA!

Today for Mother's Day we went to church and then came home and had a picnic, complete with basket and french onion dip in our living room as we are having Kansas winds here in Tennessee and we didn't want to blow away. It was a great lunch. Casey got two bouquets of flowers, one from each of her daughters as well as an afternoon watching the movie "Bella" with her adoring husband while Ella Bean took a nap. By the way, go rent "Bella" it is a great movie and fitting for mother's day etc. Check out the pic of Ella with her mom's flowers.

We ask for continued prayer as we are wrapping up paper work and raising funds to get our baby home soon!

BIOMETRICS

Wanted to let everyone know we had our 3rd and final homestudy interview last week and it went great!  Our social worker came to our house and took a tour, asked some questions and visited with Ella.  Ella was quite the charmer coloring pictures and hugging her!  Today we went and got our biometrics (finger prints etc.) done in Nashville.  Both of these are major milestones as they are key pieces of the adoption dossier.  While getting our fingerprints done today Casey got teary eyed. (there wasn't any ink, just a digital finger printing machine so it wasn't like she got it in her eye)  It really set in that this process is moving right along and we are continually pushing so that we can get our little girl home asap.  We are doing our part to give us the best chance of getting her home by the holidays (originally we thought the earliest would be February of next year), that's what we are praying for, feel free to join in!

the 1/2 marathon

The race was great and thank you all so much for your prayers that morning. I would love to know what kind of day our African child had that day. I imagine it was peaceful and fulfilling!

My time was 2 hours 15 minutes. Even though that's not my p.r. I was pleased with the finish because it was better than I expected. Ty and Ella cheered me on along the way as they always do! Ella wore her hot pink running shorts and white shirt just like Mommy! I was so excited to get to the finish line because they always have yummy snacks waiting for you there. I was totally prepared to eat a guilt-free Krispy Kreme! Well-there were none to be found! But don't worry, later I over did it on the chips and salsa! YUMMY!

Thank you again!
Casey

RUNNING FOR HER

From Casey:

If you know me, you know that I am a runner. I have been running for about 10 years. For the last 6 years I have done at least one full(26.2 miles) or half (13.1 miles) marathon each year. I love running!! I think a lot during my runs, it's a very peaceful time for me. This year most of my training runs have been spent thinking about adoption. When I started this training season in January, adoption was something I would dream about. It has now become an exciting reality! I think about Africa and our daughter over there the whole time I'm running!

Tomorrow, April 26th, I will be running the Music City Half Marathon in Nashville. The race starts at 7am. It should take me about 2 hours to run the race . Ty and Ella will be there cheering me on along the way.--- And this is where you come in. We are asking that during that time, you pray for our African daughter and our entire adoption process. And just whatever you feel led to pray about. We have witnessed the power of prayer in our lives and want this entire situation to be powered by prayer.

So... PLEASE PRAY APRIL 26TH 7-9AM


Ella and I made this shirt for me to wear during the race!!

Thank you in advance for your prayers.

The Morgan 4

ADOPTION UPDATE AND THANKS

Things are going great...we are just up to our necks in paperwork. But I am thankful for this because I feel like there is something we can be doing. Ella is excited for her little sister and prays for her everyday. Many have asked which adoption agency we are using and it is Christian World Adoption. As of today, they are our official agency. That's also very exciting!! Other than that there is not too much to report.

We want to sincerely thank you for you love, support, prayers and financial support.

Many of you have ordered coffee or sent money and that is greatly appreciated. We hope you love the coffee!! We will be doing that fundraiser during this entire process so feel free to order more in the future.

OUR ADOPTION FUNDRAISER

One of my favorite things about adopting is that we get to receive the blessing of a new child and I don't have to stop drinking coffee!! As a mother of an almost 2 year old, my coffee is very important to me. Ty says I'm addicted. I tell him, "No, I just love it". Well, truth is, it's a little of both. I know most of you love coffee, too and now I'll get to the point of this blog...

I'm sure most of you know that international adoption is very costly. We are trying to get creative with ways to raise funds to help with the costs.

We are proud to announce we have teamed up with an amazing company, 963 Missions, for our adoption fundraiser. The 963 Coffee Project helps farmers receive fair wage for their crop and helps people raise funds for their mission by doing a coffee fundraiser.

We have tried their product and it is AMAZING. It is very fresh and ORGANIC! The coffee comes from all over the world and is then roasted in California and sent to you within a week of roasting. You really can taste the difference in the freshness!

To order you can click on the link on the right of this page that says 963 Coffee under OUR ADOPTION FUNDRAISER. We will receive a portion of your purchase that will go towards our adoption.

• Just be sure you get there by clicking that link. The last numbers in your address bar should be 10226 when you click on the link. This is our affiliate ID #. This is how they will know that we receive a portion of your purchase. I was told shipping may be a little cheaper if you have it sent to a business. Also, ordering more than one bag at a time helps off-set shipping costs. And while your at it, order some for a friend, too. The packaging has some wonderful pictures and would make a great gift!! Trust me, it's great stuff. If you don't mind send me an email if you do order this way just so we know that it's all connected correctly. caseyrmorgan@hotmail.com

• You can also order directly from us if you live close by and we will deliver it to you. The price for the coffee will be $10 per bag and $2 shipping for your total order. If that is what you want to do then please email me your order at caseyrmorgan@hotmail.com

So why not get yourself some awesome coffee, help a coffee farmer and help us with OUR ADOPTION FUNDRAISER!!!

If you have any questions just post them as a comment or you can email us directly at caseyrmorgan@hotmail.com

Thank you for your support!!

HOME AND ABROAD....

We completed our 1st of 3 home study meetings this past Friday and it went great! We really like our social worker for her candor, knowledge and care for us and our child. Which brings up a profound and simple truth that was brought to our attention by a good friend of ours that has gone through this process before.....OUR CHILD IS OUT THERE, NOW WE JUST NEED TO GO GET HER!

By the way we are requesting a girl, from Ethiopia, Africa! All this while knowing we need to be flexible and sensitive to the path as we walk down it. Why a girl? Why Ethiopia?.......why not?

Ethiopia is one of the few stable countries in Africa with a government that understands the need and the duty to help the 5 million orphans left in the streets and orphanages by disease, hunger and extreme poverty. God has called us specifically to the adoption ministry and we don't want to sit idle while others experience correctable famine, sickness, suffering, loneliness, and tears, all too often the case in Africa. Ethiopia has one of the highest rates of FGM (Female Genitalia Mutilation) mostly due to tribal rituals, in the world. Not to mention the oppression of women and the lack of opportunity for orphaned girls based on cultural views and practices. Again, if this path leads elsewhere we are open but this is where we stand right now.

Ella has made it a practice of saying "sister, sister" lately so we are excited to see her as the loving sister just as she is the loving daughter at 22 months old. Her newest and favorite book for right now couldn't have been more ironic. It was sent to us from the organization "Imagination Library", we just say "Dolly Parton sent us another book!" Random books come once a month for free and this one was called "Big Sister, Little Sister" and it came the day of our home study! Ha!

I (Ty) wrote a song when Casey was pregnant with Ella about the potential/dreams for Ella and where her "Little Shoes" may go some day. I seem to be inspired during that "pregnancy" period whether it's biological or not and was struck by the feelings of abandonment that many orphans have at some point in their lives and how I don't want our children, any of them, to ever worry or wonder about losing mine or Casey's love and wanted to express it through music. I began writing the song and had titled it "MY LOVE WON'T WALK AWAY". I then stumbled upon Isaiah 54 in "The Message" translation of The Bible and the verse that God says, "MY LOVE WON'T WALK AWAY". I have finished this song and look forward to recording it soon to be a message to my kids and a reminder of God's love for us.

We are beginning our journey to go get our baby!

We ask for your prayers at

HOME AND ABROAD!

The Morgan 4