Moses meets Joshua

Well, it has been a little over 2 months since Moses has come home, and things are amazing. He is still such a happy baby, and it has been incredible getting to know one another. It feels as though he has been with us for more than 2 months because we all are just so in love with one another.

We did get all of our blood and lab work done for Moses, and he is a healthy little boy! We also got a chromosome test done for Down Syndrome, and that revealed that he does in fact have Down Syndrome. His development has baffled the Dr.'s, he is just so smart. He mimics us, is feeding himself, talking a lot, rolls over and sits up great. He is attentive, and loves to give kisses, and even smiles and giggles when we tell him "I love you". We are having First Steps come to our house to work with Moses with any developmental delays he may have. We are also having tests done on his eyes, heart and GI tract since it is common for people with DS to have problems with these 3 areas.

Yesterday he was able to meet Joshua, the little boy who was adopted by our friends, the Otts, who live in Zionsville. Joshua is also from the DRC, and lived in the boys orphanage of Jamaa Letu. Moses was in the girls Jamaa Letu orphanage. It was really neat to see them interact, and are excited for these boys to get to know one another even more.

21 days

Grandma kathy and Moses
Grandma Kathy and Moses

Sporting Purdue for Aunt Jessica

He loves books!
He was studying the story of Moses

Chillin' at the lilly Gardens

Daddy and Moses



The Lilly Gardens

The fun feeding Eval at Riley
He has impressed the doctor with his mad eating skills
Hmmmm...not sure about that!

Waiting our feeding evaluation at Riley


Aunt Shatasia, Aunt Tori, Uncle Stephen and Grammy Carrol
Grammy Carrol

In 2 days it will be a month since we first held our boy. It seems as though so much more time has passed. Moses is so naturally our son. We seem to have found a rythmn together and are understanding one another more and more every day. A lot has happened since we arrived in Indy with Moses just 21 days ago. He has progressed at an amazing pace, and is doing amazing. He eats well and sleeps well, His muscles are strong, which is amazing, but tough when we are trying to change him and he likes to wrestle :) He sits up on his own, he is beginning to hold his weight up when we put him on his hands and knees. Today he wanted to help me put his spoon in his mouth when I was feeding him. He mimicks us, and is learning at a rapid pace, we are impressed, and so are his doctors, by his abilities! Over the past 3 weeks, we have met our pediatrition, been to Riley twice, celebrated Jessica's (aka Aunt Sugar) birthday, celebrated my first Mothers day, Dedicated Moses at Common Ground, family and friends have been over nearly every day, and we have been on the go. Moses loves people, he loves to go places, his smile says it all! All that being said, we have had much time for rest and getting to know one another intimately. I enjoy dancing with him, reading to him, cuddling, laughing with him. I love rocking him to sleep, I love sharing this with Bill, he is such an amazing father to Moses, and a great husband to me. I love the way Moses responds in uncontainable joy when Bill interacts with him. Moses loves bath time, looking at books, music and cuddling, which has earned him the nickname "cuddle bug". Enjoy the pics!

Baby Dedication

Today we dedicated Moses to the Lord, to our families to help us raise Moses and to the community at common Ground. Baby dedication at Common Ground is a public

recognition of the importance of the parent’s role in providing a nurturing and loving context

where their children can experience the Gospel first hand and grow into a mature and

personal decision to follow Christ. Our participation in dedicating Moses is a time for Bill and I to commit publicly to raise Moses in the way of Christ. It is a time where we are to recognize the importance of our commitment to our own spiritual formation and thus the formation of Moses' spirit as well. Common Ground states their desire is to journey with us, to pray for us, and to help equip us to live out the calling that we have received as parents.

We are so thankful for our family, friends and community who are committed to see that the journey we take as a family is the way God intended it to be.

Deuteronomy 6:4-9 begins with the beautiful Jewish Creed, "Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength." It goes on to say "These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates."

This is what we are committed to, to love the Lord our God with all that we are, and as Jesus also emphasizes with this greatest command, we will also love others sacrificially. We commit to teaching Moses these 2 greatest commands, and we commit to living these commands out ourselves. We know many mistakes will come, and many already have, but we ask for grace, for loving correction and instruction. We ask for continued prayers and love.

Moses' first dr. Visit

Moses' first two days home!

The DRC adventure

4 1/2 hours of sleep last night...My heart and my mind are buzzing. This is it! We leave in 4 hours! Life will never be the same. Bill and I had a date last night, one last night as just the two of us...we went into broadripple to one of our favorite places, the Brugge, we held hands and walked along the Monon. We dreamed together, we laughed and we cried.

Many have asked me what kind of emotions I am having, and each day they seem to change. Currently at 5:30 am, I cry out of thankfulness, joy, excitement and anticipation. Just a few days ago I was anxious, and fearful...2 days ago we still did not have our visa. And, the visa office had our passports and yellow cards. These are essential to travel, meaning, we wouldn't have left the boarders of the US with out them. Praise God that He is intimately concerned with His children. Cami is a friend I have made throughout this process who is also adopting, siblings from Jamaa Letu. Her husband, Ryan, is traveling with us to bring their children home, and Cami is staying in the States with their other 2 children. Well, Cami had a weird/unsettled feeling 3 nights ago about our visas and asked Jilma, our lawyer, if it was ok to call the embassy. So, she did call the very next morning, 2 days ago, to check on the status. The embassy said that Ryan, Cami's husband, and Jilma's visas would be here in time. Bill and mine on the other hand, wouldn't be sent out until Thursday via regular mail! The visas would have never gotten here in time. So, Cami stepped in for us, she kindly asked the Embassy to process our, Ryan's and Jilma's packets asap, she called FedEx, arranged with them and the Embassy a pickup to get our packet here. On top of all she had to do for Ryan's travels to the DRC, she ran to her neighbors to fax information to the Embassy, talked extensively to the Embassy and FedEx to make sure everything was correct, and...yesterday morning we opened our front door and in fell a FedEx package with our passports, visas and yellow cards! Jilma and Ryan's visas also arrived at their homes! Thank you Cami! Thank you God, that You are so intimate with us, and You tell us that we are to cast all of our anxiety's on you because You care for us.

So, everything has been cleared up, we have our passports, yellow cards, visas. We have Moses Birth Certificate correct, all of our Documents are translated. The US Embassy in the DRC will get us in in time and have committed to see us and get us out of there. Moses is legally our son, and we will meet him on the 19th! He will stay with us the entire time.

Please please please pray! We need prayers for our team, Jilma, Ryan, Bill and me. Ryan is bring Solange and Joseph home to Cami, pray for them and Cami and their other 2 children. and pray for Moses. Pray for health, energy, rest, peace. Pray for the children. Pray for safety. Pray for our paperwork, the government to show favor to us. Pray that they will accept all of our money, since we were unable to get brand new money as requested. Please pray. We are thankful to be able to share this journey with you, and can't wait to meet our son! Here we go!!!

Our son is coming home!

Well, it's final! The time has come...We are traveling to the DRC, leaving Indy on April 17th. We have our plane tickets scheduled, our hotel and guest house booked, and will soon have Moses in our arms! It has been a busy past week, getting so many things completed...visas, legal paperwork, things to pack, etc...Life is getting ready to change for the Brileys, there will now be three of us. I look forward to the life that Moses will bring to our home. 12 days, and life as we know it will change :)

Updated pics of Moses

Here are some updated pics of Moses. We are still waiting on the Congelese Magistrate to process our paperwork so we can bring Moses home to us. Please continue praying with us.