Drumroll Please....

And now for the biggest news...

We have decided to adopt again...

From Ethiopia...

Another little boy...

And we're SO EXCITED!!!


But, the great news doesn't stop there...

We have already...

been matched....

with a sweet 3-year old little boy!!!!!!!!!!

Can you believe it?!?!?

We were matched on October 21st and have been busy paperchasing ever since.  We have everything in for our homestudy and are only waiting on 2 things for the dossier, one of those being the approved home study!

WOOHOO!!! We're going to Africa again and I can hardly wait. We will have to travel twice this time; Once for court and stay in country for abour 48 hours and then the second trip we stay for almost a week for the embassy date. Brad and I will travel together for the first trip and I will go back alone to bring home our new little one.

PLEASE keep us all in your prayers as we go through this journey again. Somedays, I'm so excited I could just burst and other days, I get so down about how long everything takes, that I could just cry. We all pray for him to stay healthy and be happy, but it's so hard not to see him and let him know we're coming. We just need to keep the faith!

We love you sweet child!

Lots of Updates & Pictures

Where do I begin...

Let's see, we've missed soccer, football, volleyball, homecoming, Halloween, and more. So, I will share the pics...



Muluken playing soccer in New London in August thru early October.

He LOVED it and couldn't wait for Saturday mornings!

Noah played junior pee-wee football (#17) on Saturdays in August thru October too! His favorite guy (DAD) was his head coach!

Cassie's homecoming dance was on October 9th. She went with a group of friends to Ihop for dinner (really?!) and then danced the night away. The top picture is of Cassie, Mark and Hailee. The next photo was Cassie and Mark, and the last one of course, is Cassie & Muluken! She was so pretty!

Jordan played her first year of volleyball for the 7th grade girls team. She loved it and I LOVED watching all the games. Cassie actually was mad that I traveled to the "away" games and accused me of not making it to all of her softball games last spring. UGH!

And of course Brad had to get into all of the fun and excitement this fall. Brad had knee surgery in September and was on crutches. He thought he would be a "tough guy" so he wouldn't use his crutches to coach football the day after surgery and boy did he pay for it. So, I made him use the lovely motorized cart at Walmart. He wasn't happy when I took away the crutches!

Really?! It's Been Two Whole Months...

Where has the time gone?!?!? I just can't believe I haven't been here to share all the happenings of the Rucks family. Before I get to all the exciting stuff, I want to share another blogger's thoughts. Again, I could have written this post but not so eloquently as her. PLEASE take the time to read this.

Taken from http://godwilladd.blogspot.com/

Celebrate National Adoption Month By Making a Difference

Speaking of November, did you know November is National Adoption Month? I'm sure it is also a month for a bunch of other (way lamer) stuff.


James 1:27 says "Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world." Pure and faultless ... does it get any better than that? In our churches we spend lots of time, energy and money on FAR less important things. So, in honor of National Adoption Month, let's brainstorm some ways we could all "look after orphans in their distress." I certainly don't believe everyone is called to adopt an orphan. But, we ARE all called to, in some form or fashion, look after orphans. How can we do this? I'd love for folks to chime in, as I'm sure I'm just barely scratching the surface of ideas.


Adoption. Obviously, one awesome way to look after an orphan is to make one (or two or three) less.

Sponsor a child. There are lots of great programs, like Compassion International and World Vision (and I'm sure lots of others that I'm not familiar with) who address the issue of orphans in one of the most crucial points ... before they become orphans. Programs like these help with the needs of kids while they are still with their parents. Due to some of these sponsorship programs, good parents are able to continue to parent their dearly loved kiddos because they are getting assistance with basic needs (needs we cannot even fathom here in the good ol USA).


Become a foster parent. Our country needs good, loving foster parents BAD.


PRAY for the orphans. BEWARE, sometimes God does crazy things with your heart when you do this.


Help a family trying to adopt. I know lots and lots and lots of amazing adoptive families that would never have been able to adopt had it not been for people to come along side them with generous donations. Don't know anyone trying to adopt? Donate to an organization like Show Hope who helps adoptive families pay for some of the costs along the way


Educate yourself. Did you know there are an estimated 150 million orphans in the world? Did you know there is a horrible outbreak of Cholera in Haiti right now, probably creating many more orphans? Americans spend more time talking (and reading) about one drug-crazed, in and out of jail, 20-something, used-to-be movie star than they do about 150 MILLION orphans! If this is you (been there, done that), change your news source. Read about missionaries like this (and support them).


Be an advocate in your church. Don't know how? Check out some of these great websites:


Cry of the Orphan


Orphan Sunday (which is NEXT SUNDAY, by the way)


The Global Orphan Project


"While many American churches are worrying about the lighting on their stage, or fussing over the displays in their foyer, children are suffering in orphanages, groaning...aching...for someone to come redeem their lives."