Easton is going to be a BIG BROTHER!!! We're Pregnant!!!

Soooooo, our baby Easton in Ethiopia is going to be a BIG BROTHER!!!!!!!!! We are excited to announce that we are PREGNANT!!!! Our adoption agency has just approved us to complete the adoption and bring Easton Home! We will be a family of four by Christmas!!! GOD IS SOOOO GOOD!!!!!!!

It has been a very hard couple of weeks. We told our agency everything and prayed that they would show compassion and understanding toward us. We had to submit an Action Plan to prove that we were prepared for the responsibilities of two children. Here is an excerpt of the essay we submitted. (We obviously took it very seriously, fighting for our baby Easton!)

Our Transparency

"We cannot, for a second, pretend that we know exactly how things are going to work out for our family. What we can tell you is that we have put our hearts and souls into building our family. As Dr. Purvis from Empowered to Connect states, “We cannot have expectations. We must lay them down and only be fully committed to love our children, giving them everything we have selflessly.” This is exactly what we intend to do for our children. We have committed endless hours of paperwork, adoption training, bonding and attachment researching, our life’s savings and thoughtful planning for our son Easton Fulmer. We set out on this journey wanting to become parents, little did we know that God would pull us closer to him than ever, as we cling to his word and search our hearts for his guidance. We have trusted in the Lord for every step of our journey to parenthood. We are thankful that he has not made it easy but has shown us to trust in Him and put all of our faith in Him.

There have been many days of rejoicing and sadness through our journey. We are thankful for each emotion experienced, as we have grown closer to each other and the Lord. When we found out that Ashlie was pregnant we praised God for creating this miracle. After being told that the possibility of Ashlie conceiving naturally was very low we were shocked and surprised by God’s gracious gift to us. In addition to our happiness, we felt worry and fear. We were in love with Easton and knew that he was our son. We knew that we would have to fight to show that we are his parents and capable of caring for two children. We believe that God purposefully chose us to be in this exact situation, the parents of two children, 9 months apart.

We understand that every couple would not be able to handle this situation. However, we believe that our current situation is ideal to give a loving home to Easton and our biological baby. (We don’t have a name for him/her yet, but plan on giving him/her an Ethiopian middle name. All of the Fulmer’s are now Ethiopian!) We have an amazing support system ready and able to care for each and every member of our family. As we would do anything for our children, our parents are fully committed to sacrificing for us. They understand what it takes to raise children and they are ready to support us by any
means possible. We know that God orchestrated our family members living close to our home and their level of support of our adoption because he knew that we would need them throughout our journey. "

Well, that's it! We are going to be a family of 4!!!!! Now it's time to pack our bags and get to Easton as soon as possible!!!!
We'll keep you updated!!!

Thank you for your prayers and support!
Love,
Ashlie and Ryan