The current status of things as we wait...

I'm not sure why it is always the little things that make or break things for me. When we first got on the wait list, our boy vs girl numbers were 33 apart. Of course we thought we would get a boy b/c of this. As time has gone (on and on) the numbers have crept closer together. Hard to believe they are now only 6 apart. I'm going on a limb to assume we will be getting a boy...even with our numbers so close. 6 girls would have to come into HH and be referred out before it would be our turn. THE NEXT boy that comes in...is ours!! It is fun to see the beginnging of the end. We have a long journey yet in front of us, but it is fun to see the light at the end of the tunnel. I can now go into a store and drool over the blue things. (and maybe buy a thing or two)  We can't buy any clothes yet b/c we don't know age/size yet. It is fun though to be seriously thinking about our boy!!! I have to tell about my fun deal that we found on crib bedding. We weren't even looking for a crib set. I was looking for some sheets. We had gotten a blue/brown crib bumper this summer. We went out on a limb and spent $5 for it. If we ended up getting a girl, we would just be out $5. Well, we happen to run into some clearance bedding. This whole crib set was $60 clearanced to $36. LOVE it!!!! Got the matching crib mobile for $22 down to $12. Sweet!!! I so wanted to do the room blue/brown. I've planned it for so long. Now with this bedding....things change. We will still do chocolate brown on the bottom. We now will do a sage-like green on the top half. I looked at borders. They are sure expensive. I think we will just do a chair rail with a different color. There is a very talented man in town that is doing some art work for our baby's new room. I had told him our colors were going to be blue/brown. IF there is a lot of blue/brown in his painting, then we will have tan on the top. If not, we will do the green. Something so silly like bedding can make me so excited. I've slowly purchased some other things, but getting this bedding, knowing we are getting a boy, hoping it is soon is just so much fun!!!!
Currently I'm doing okay with sitting at #1. I refuse to get the room ready until we have a picture to stay at. I'm hoping that getting the room done will be a nice distraction between referral and court. We know that our case workers are out of the office this week so I can relax and not freak every time the phone rings. Last I heard, there were no unreferred babies at HH which means our phone can't ring anyway. Hoping/praying that soon some new kiddos come into HH and that it doesn't take long to have their paperwork ready. It still doesn't seem real that we are #1 and that the next baby is OURS!!! I hope our wait isn't weeks or months. We have waited so long. The time to see that precious face is so close. I always refer back to God's timing. We know this will all work out in God's perfect time fream. I hope/pray I can have patience and peace until HIS time is here.

Thanks for following our journey to our little Ethiopian. It has been a long, hard journey that is far from being over. I had hoped we would be home before the school year ended and then we would have all summer to bond. I'm not sure if that is realistic anymore. Time will tell. It sure is fun to listen to everyone that is so excited for us. That means a lot. Thanks for the thoughts and prayers. Please continue.

December numbers

We are #7 for a girl and #1 for a boy! Nice to finally have some movement after so many months with little to no movement. Still thankful for our agency as they have had more movement that many other agencies.

Fun stories about moving to #1

I always have my cell phone sitting on my desk at school. I don't have the sound on at all so I don't distub anyone. ;) Randomly I'll walk by and just see if I happen to have a message. I did this yesterday afternoon and had a message from a good friend of mine, T. It said, "Are you #1!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Okay...this was a question, but it had exclamation marks behind it so I thought maybe this is to say, "You are #1." I thought the exclamation marks were the selling point. I was freaking out. :) I texted T back and said, "Am I?" I was wanting a reply that exact minute, but some people have lives so I had to wait. Ahhh...My school kids were watching a video so my computer was tied up. So I couldn't check any messages. After what seemed like FOREVER, the video was over and I was able to check my messages. I didn't even know where to look as there were so many messages. I happened to see a message from my friend, K, who is directly behind us on the list. She said she needed to text me b/c I was a teacher and probably didn't know anything was going on. I continued to search to see that the family in front of us had indeed received a referral. We were #1!!!! WOW!!!! I was freaking out. Thankfully God gave me a blessing. I had a volunteer in my room helping me out. She told me to go and tell Jason in person and she would watch the kids. She said, "Enjoy the moment." I went down the hallway and shared our news with Jason and all the rest of the teachers. It is sooooo very exciting!! It is even more fun to have the love, support, and excitement from others!!! After school was out, I was able to let the rest of the world know of the news. ;)

I think of our situation and I can't help but SMILE :) We have waited 17 months to be where we are. If you want to see me look like a kid in a candy store, mention our #1 spot to me and watch me just beam!! Love it!!!! I know that we went 2 months without an infant boy referral. I'm not thinking we will have that slow of an ebb, but there have been 4 referrals in December already so I'm not sure if there will be any more. Right now, I'm very comforted in the fact that the next little boy that comes into HH is BABY BISHOP!!!! :) I hope/pray that our wait at #1 is short lived. As far as I know, our agency isn't open from Christmas to New Year's which leaves next week as the last week before January. We can still hope/pray for the Christmas miracle to see our SON'S (ahhh....that is fun to say) face before Christmas. What a truly amazing gift that would be. However, I am really very happy to be in the #1 spot for Christmas.

For those that are wondering, after we get matched up it can be 3 months or so before we get to meet our little one and then 1-2 months before we get to bring him home. Please keep praying. Thanks!

On a fun note, as I'm sitting at the ball game last night it hit me....Jason is the last Bishop so we will now be able to carry on the family name. Tears!!!

We are......

for a boy!!!! (More later)

Faith vs Fear

Our sermon today talked about Faith vs Fear. It was about how the angel came to Mary and told her that she was pregnant with the Son of God! Did she react by Faith or by Fear? I could relate this so much to our adoption journey. We knew this was not going to be an easy journey in many ways, but we took the leap of faith and said "Yes!" to God's plan for us. I can look back on the last 22 months since we decided to adopt and see that for the most part, it has been a journey of Faith. As we get closer and closer to the top of the lists, the Fear has taken over. I don't know if it is necessarily Fear, but being human. For example, FINALLY there was a referral. Finally!!! Yippee!!! It is past due as the last infant boy referral was September 26. It is fun to actually have talked with the family that got their referral. Sooooo excited for them. :) We weren't sure where this put us as there was one mystery family on the list. Well, we found out they got their referral too!!! TWO referrals in a couple of days. Sweet!! (especially after the long, dry spell) We know that we are now #3 for sure. That means only 2 families in front of us. I should be ecstatic! I should be over the moon! I'm not at all. My heart can't do that. Way back this summer, we were so excited to be so close. Since then, there have been some lost referrals. (Those families go in front of us on the list to get a 2nd referral) Also, there has been very little movement. I think my heart is guarded right now. I believe it would be guarded by Fear. Looking at the spiritual side of things, I should be so super happy. Even with all that has happened, we are still closer now than we have ever been. I know this will happen in God's time. I know that I have many lessons to learn as we wait. Then the human side of me kicks in. I'm tired of waiting!!! What an emotional roller coaster ride. Our agency preaches "Ebb and flow" of referrals. Well, the human part of me thinks that maybe these 2 referrals was the flow and now we will sit at a standstill again. UGH! So hard to know how to feel. I do connect the "Fear" part mentioned in the sermon today with being human. Part of me feels guilty b/c I can't help but to doubt. I know better, but my heart still is feeling the way it does. I need to remind myself yet again that even one of the disciples doubted that it was really Jesus standing in front of him. He needed to see the marks on his hands/feet. If one of Jesus' disciples doubted, then I guess I shouldn't be so hard on myself for doing it. I don't know how to feel. I'm excited, but very cautious. One day, I walk by Faith...trusting and feeling confident that it IS God's plan. The next day (or even minute) I walk by Fear...doubting, exhausted from the wait, and wondering if this will ever happen!!! So that is where things are currently. Praying, praying, praying that we get a Christmas miracle and have a referral by Christmas.

Now a silly, heart-warming story. I made a stocking for this new child of ours. On the top of the stocking, I made the Ethiopian flag. The flag didn't look as good as it could of b/c the top color is green and the top of the stocking was green. I was in Walmart the other day and saw that they had stockings that had white on top. I thought maybe I should get one and re-do the whole thing as the flag would look better on white then on the green that it blended in with. I did not get the other stocking, but thought about it. Well, I got home and got the other stockings out. Hmmm...every single one of them have a green top. :) I guess it is meant to be. I had never noticed the top of ANY of our stockings before. Silly stories like this are small reminders to me that God has this all planned out and that EVERYTHING HAPPENS FOR A REASON!!!!

Depressing November numbers

We got our November numbers. Yep...same as October numbers. We knew that our numbers weren't going to be any different as there have been no referrals for a long, long time. However, getting the "official" word that our numbers haven't changed is hard. Everyone from our agency is a bit bummed. I think it is okay to be bummer for awhile. Then we have to rise up again and realize this is all part of God's plan. We are hopeful b/c we know from "inside sources" (aka: Families currently in Ethiopia) that referrals are coming. There are some kiddos that are there that haven't been referred. :) Also, things are flowing again with court being open again and Embassy appointments, etc...Time to get those cribs cleared out. I keep reminding myself that it has to be easier to wait now than after we have seen the face of our little one. I sort of laugh at that. The wait is never easy. All of it is a challenge. Waiting for something you want so bad is never easy! Hoping to write better news next time.

What is the latest with the wait? Nothing!

Referrals have come to almost a complete standstill. That is always hard on any waiting family, but is that much harder when we are sooooo close, yet so far away. Our wait list numbers were 11 for a girl and 4 for a boy in September. Our wait list numbers were 10 for a girl and 4 for a boy in October. The last sibling referral was 10-14. The last infant girl referral was 10-10. The last infant boy referral was 9-26.  The referral flood gates HAVE to be opened soon!!!!  I'm aware that it could be a long, long time before we get our referral. It is sad, but we do know it is all in God's perfect timing. We never really know when our official numbers are coming, but it isn't looking like they will change much before our November official numbers are sent out. Please pray for peace, patience, and understanding as we wait upon the Lord.

Peder Eide's new CD

This is from an adoptive friend of mine. Please share! Peder Eide is an amazing singer/song-writer who has also adopted a couple of children. His website is: www.pedereide.com. I have a new favorite song by Peder Eide that I know all you orphan care/adoption friends will love too! For those that have attended the National Orphan Summit the last two years, you'll remember Peder Eide as he led worship there. His song, "Why Wouldn't ?" touched so many of our hearts and decisions to adopt! That song is on his Christmas Album, Perfect Surprise which I can't wait to start listening to now that the season is upon us!

Back to Come to the Rescue though I wanted to make sure you know that if you order the CD directly from his website, they are giving a part of the sale proceeds to an amazing program from Compassion called the Highly Vulnerable Children's Fund. It is a crucial fund for children who have been orphaned or suffered abuse. Click on the link for more info.

But that's not all! Peder is letting me start a contest and is going to have a drawing for a free t-shirt and autographed CD for those that help spread the word about his new album, Come to the Rescue! Please help bless his ministry by spreading the word and most of all share the song that will soften hearts to the orphan and motivate people to ACTION! That's my only motivation by starting this contest (I don't work for him!)!! Here are the details:

-Blog, facebook, post on adoption Yahoo groups, share with your adoption agency and/or twitter. Please make sure to include the music video and Highly Vulnerable Children's fund info. You get one entry for EACH thing you do! I am praying this song goes viral! :)

-Send an email to: michelle@pedereide.com and tell her what all you did. Please include the link to your blog post. She will do the drawing on November 19!!!

Thank you orphan advocates and blog friends for helping to get the word out about this song that we pray will impact the life of a child!

Content...for this minute

Adoption certainly is an emotional roller coaster. The highs are pretty high and the lows are pretty low. The last time I posted, I was pretty down. After only a few days, I'm very content. Of course this feeling probably won't last long, but I am happy that I'm content at least for the time being. We had our home study update visit yesterday. Our social worker is so amazing! We are blessed to have found her. We are also so thankful we only have to pay mileage for a 110 mile round trip instead of roughly 500 miles round trip. Yikes! Being an hour away from our social worker sure was easier when we had to make visits to her office and now that she has to come here. She will have to come 3 times once we are home. She is an amazing lady and I just can't say it enough that we are so lucky to have her. I can't imagine sharing this important part of this journey with anyone else. God promised to provide for us if we took the leap of faith and said "Yes" to adoption. This was one way that He provided for us.

While our movement seems to be slow, there are things happening for which I am thankful. Last night I read that one agency hadn't had any referrals for 7 months. Another agency hadn't had any referrals since June. So....even if it slow, there still is movement. There is reason to be thankful. Yes this journey has been longer than we ever imaged it to be. I know that it will continue to be a struggle for us.  So close, yet so far away. We didn't think we would be have to update all of this stuff as we thought we would have a referral by now. Imagine that when we first got on the wait list, we were told 6-9 months possibly up to 12 months. We are into month 15 of just being on the wait list....not counting all the months we did paperwork before that. I believe we made our decision to adopt the end of January 2010. So, who would have thought we would still be waiting?  God has really taught me alot on this journey. Patience and trust!!!! Two very hard things to learn. I can trust, and up until lately, have been fairly patient. I know that I need to let the patience/trust lesson flow into my daily life. It is coming, slow but sure. I am also becoming a stronger person through all of this. We know it will all be in God's time, but sometimes that is so hard. Seriously, I'm ready for it to be OUR time! Ha!! It is hard to live in the present when we know that our family isn't complete. We try to enjoy life at the independent level it currently is at. It is just hard not to think about the future and how things will be. When you are pregnant, I'm sure you are constantly thinking about the future and how life will change, etc...That is how things are for us except we have no due date. It really is challenging to live in the present, enjoy life as independent as it is currently, and try not to think of what life will be like. For now, I'm content with where we are. 

Overwhelming frustration

We FINALLY got our October numbers. We are 10 for a girl and 4 for a boy. Yep, only moved one spot for a girl and no spots for a boy. It is very frustrating! We are so close, yet so far away! I can't even be excited any more b/c it is becoming obvious that are wait at the top is going to be long!!!

I have been amazed at my strength on this journey.I'm a planner. I like to be in control. There is no part of the adoption world that can be controlled or planned and for the most part, I've been okay with that. I have amazed myself with my strength and my ability to trust in God. I've certainly struggled a lot more lately. I think that is the case the closer you get. I'm doubting more and more. I think the bottom line is that I'm tired. Tired of waiting. Tired of thinking of our future. Tired of trying to live in the moment, while thinking our family is not complete and part of us is across the world. Tired of wondering when things will happen. Tired of jumping through more hoops and doing more paperwork. Tired. Just plain tired! Physically and emotionally.

We are in the process of updating our home study. It doesn't expire until 2013, but in order to get our FDL extension, our home study must be updated in the past 6 months. Grrr...We never thought we would be updating all of this stuff b/c we were supposed to be done with this already. HA! Funny!!! We went in to the clinic yesterday. They were great! It is a blessing living in a small town when it comes to things like this. Our social worker is coming on Friday for a home study update visit. Jason and I will leave school for about an hour. It is also parent/teacher conferences. No stress at all or something like that.

There are other things going on with some of the families from our agency that makes me think I shouldn't even feel sad that we are at the point that we are at, but man it is hard! Adoption is NOT easy. Someone mentioned to me that it must be easier than being pregnant since I was so sick when I was pregnant. No way is it comparable. This is tough stuff!!!! We know God called us to this journey. We know He will provide and not leave us while on this journey. In the mean time, we pray for peace and for patience.

We know it will all be in God's perfect time and that He is getting all of the pieces to fit perfectly together. A friend from our agency, got their court date. It is scheduled for the day that their son went to Heaven. Proof that God is with us every step of the way.

Another friend posted this on the list serve and it was a good reminder to me:

It's so hard to hear of the struggles we all go through with adoption. For some
reason, God called each of us to adopt, He called us to start the process when
we did, he allowed these things to happen, these struggles during this time, and
it just does not make sense. Praying God's peace - as you continue to wait.
Peace that passes understanding.

Thanks for your continued support and prayers. This has not been easy and I foresee the hardest days yet to come. Thanks for walking down this path with us. It is greatly appreciated.

Inspiring devotion

This was posted on the list serve by a friend of mine. Inspirational. Tired of Waiting on God Tracie Miles

“Isaac was sixty years old when Rebekah gave birth to them.” Genesis 25:26b (NIV)

Do you ever get tired of waiting on God to answer your prayers? Recently, I began to feel a sense of frustration with the wait, and also a little bit tired.
Tired of saying the same old prayer day after day, month after month, year after year. Tired of telling God about the same old problems still going on. Tired of hearing myself pray about the same old problems, leading me to wonder if God was as tired of hearing my prayer requests as I was of praying them.
So I bowed my head and admitted to God that I was simply tired of the wait.
In a heavy state of emotional tiredness, I turned to the crisp, white pages of my Bible. I was hoping God would illuminate a few verses that would jump out of the book and straight into my heart.
I began reading about when Isaac’s wife Rebekah gave birth to twin sons. One particular sentence caught my eye and I read it again and again. My heart leapt as I realized God was using this one little sentence to speak hope into my spirit. He used His spiritual highlighter just as I had wanted.
Genesis 25:26 tells us that Isaac was sixty years old when his twins were born; a simple Bible fact, yet profoundly meaningful to me on this specific day. You see, Isaac had been patient for the Lord to provide the perfect wife; he was forty years old when he married Rebekah. If you do the math you realize Isaac waited twenty years for Rebekah to bear him children! He could have chosen a concubine to bear him a son. But he was a man of great patience who waited on God. Eventually his patient faith was rewarded.
Isaac never gave up hope that his Lord could make the impossible, possible. He had learned that his Lord would provide. So he continued to pray the same desperate prayer for a son, day after day, month after month, year after year. In fact, we learn in Genesis 25:21 that “Isaac pleaded with the Lord” (NLT), meaning he earnestly and strongly prayed about his problem. He did not half-heartedly ask God for a son, he pleaded! He begged. He poured his heart out.
I can envision Isaac passionately pleading to God throughout those twenty years, with out-stretched arms and a tear-stained face pressed against the hot, dirty soil, begging God to answer his prayer.
Isaac was surely tired of the wait, but he never stopped praying or believing that his dreams could come true. And in God’s perfect timing, they did.
If you are tired of the wait, you may be pleading to God just like Isaac. It may take twenty years for God to answer our prayers, or it may only take twenty minutes. But today, let us find comfort in remembering Isaac’s patient faith and take hope in believing that God is not tired of hearing our prayers. Instead, He is simply waiting for the perfect time to answer.

Dear Lord, please help me have patience and faith while I wait to hear from You. Help me live in excited anticipation for the day when I will see how You answer my prayers. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

Updating home study

We got the paper work that we need to complete in order to update our home study. We just plug away at what we need to do even though this is very frustrating!!!! We didn't expect to be on the wait list long enough to have to redo all of this stuff. We have our home study visit scheduled for October 28 at 11:45am. This will only be about an hour long and the kids don't need to be home for it. Jason and I will leave school for that hour. We just have to let our social worker get all of our paper work updated. It will be fun to show her all the changes to the house. :) It will be a long day as we have P/T conferences that day too. As soon as I'm done posting, I'm going to fill out papers. The sooner they get done, the sooner we don't have to think about it.

Waiting and updating

We are starting month 15 of being on the wait list. That doesn't count the months we were filling out paperwork. Some days are easier and some days are harder. We know it is all in God's time. We know that He has it all perfectly planned out. We have been told over and over that once you see that little face, the waiting disappears. (I suppose like when you forget your labor..ha) When we first got on the wait list, we were at numbers 53 for a boy and 86 for a girl. We were told to expect to be waiting 6-9 months with the possibility of it being up to 12 months. They estimate the wait time according to the average of how long the people getting referrals have been on the wait list. So in reality, they don't really know. We have seen lots of changes in the Ethiopian program since we got on the wait list. In the long run, it is probably for the best, but right now we just see it as slowing things down. It is VERY frustrating!!! Imagine being pregnant with no due date.

It is hard to prepare for a new baby when you don't really know how old they will be. We put in for less than 12 months at time of referral. We could be matched up with a 2 month old and then have it be 4 months until we come home. We could be matched up with an 11 month old and then have 4 months until we come home. We could be matched up with a 2 month old and it be 8 months before we come home. I've been fairly patient in the wait. Now that it is looking like we will end up with a boy, the patience isn't coming as easy. I want to buy stuff, but still can't really. We need to know age/size/season in order to shop. It is hard to explain the thoughts that go through my head from time to time. First of all, as a mother, there honestly is not a day that goes by that I don't think about this new child of ours in some way or another. Some times it is on the back burner of my mind, but always, always there. It is better when I'm busy, but it still is never too far from my mind. It is hard to not think about the future. Different things will happen and I can't help but think, "Next year at this time when we do this, we will have a baby." It is a hard concept to grasp. We have been waiting for so long that it still seems so very unreal. It still seems like it may never happen.

Since we have been on this journey for so much longer than we ever thought we would be, we have paperwork to update. Yippee!! Adoption is paperwork, paperwork, paperwork. Our home study doesn't expire until 2013. I was THRILLED about this b/c I was really thinking we would get to avoid this. We have had to redo our USCIS fingerprints. When that happens, we get a new FDL (Favorable Determined Letter) giving us "permission" to adopt an orphan. Our FDL expires in February. In order to ask for an extension of our FDL, our home study has to be updated in the last 6 months. Boo!! So much for being excited to not have to update that. I have been in contact with our wonderful home study case worker "A" from Catholic Family Services. She will need to come back to our house for a visit that will be about an hour long. We have to redo some SD and FBI fingerprints. We also have to update our physicals. Fun times! So we are just getting the ball rolling on this.

I'm still holding out for a referral by Christmas. I have decided no Christmas cards are going to be sent from our house this year. You might get a New Year's or Valentine's, etc....We WILL include a picture of our newest addition. We TRY to rest in the fact that this is in God's perfect time, but sometimes it is so hard.

Someone posted this picture on FB. It is so super cool so I'm sharing it here.

Amazing song

Casting Crowns will be releasing a new CD on October 18th. They have a sneak peak on Facebook. The song is called "So Far To Find You." The lead singer, Mark Hall, wrote it for his adoptive daughter. :)

FDL #2

We had our renewal fingerprint appointment on September 2nd. Today we got our new FDL. :) What a nice relief especially after the confusion with the bar codes on our fingerprint appointment letters. Too bad this isn't even the last one we will get. Our current FDL expires in February. Our home study doesn't expire until 2013. However, in order to have an extension given for our FDL, our home study has to be updated within 6 months of applying for our FDL extension. So...next month we get to start updating our home study. :( I never thought we would be having to update all of this stuff. When we first got on the wait list, the wait was 6-8 months but possibly up to 12 months for an infant girl. We are 14 months on the wait list and they say to expect it to be up to 18 months. Ugh! We never knew this journey was going to be so hard. We know the wait will be worth it in the end.

September numbers

We got our September numbers!!! We are #11 for a girl and #4 for boy!! Actually, there is a family on the list in front of us that is requesting a different age group than us which means that we are technically #3. To put that in prospective....there are TWO families in front of us. TWO little boys to get placed into their forever families before us. AHHHHH!!! It is looking like we will be painting a room blue. It doesn't seem real. We have been on the wait list for almost 14 months. It is hard to be totally excited b/c the reality is that this could still be a long wait. (Possibly months) However, we are closer today than we were yesterday. :) It is time to keep the cell phone charged and close by at all times. Our referral call will be about an hour long. Sooo happy when our numbers actually change b/c there have been months when they haven't. Please continue to pray as this wait gets harder and harder the closer we get. I'll leave you with a thought to ponder. There is a good chance our little guy is born already. ;)

Thank you God!

I contacted USCIS and actually talked to someone that knew what was going on. (Always a plus) We are in the system and do NOT have to go to get our fingerprints done again. THANK GOD!!!! It would have been hairy having to get subs at this short notice. Plus my parents are coming and our church group is singing all on Friday. It would have been crazy, crazy. Thankfully we don't have to worry about it. I will NOT be breathing a total sigh of relief until we get our FDL in the mail. Then I know things are 100% okay!! Thanks for the prayers. God is good!

UGH!!!

We got a letter in the mail today that stated that the bar code on our fingerprint appointment letter wasn't right. It stated that it "may cause substantial delay in the processing of your case to attend your fingerprint appointment with the previously issued notices." That would be fine and dandy if we were going to our fingerprinting appointment that is scheduled for Friday. However, we were able to save that 8 hour trip and did our fingerprints already. UGH!!!! Now what?!?! I'm not quite sure. I sent an email to our case worker. I probably should just call her. I wonder if we are going to have to make the trip on Friday. That wouldn't be fun as we haven't planned on going. Kind of short notice. I guess it is our fault that we got in early. Who would have thought?

On a happy note...official numbers are currently being released. Stay tuned!!

So many blessings

There have been so many blessings in our lives lately that we know can only come from God. When we took the leap of faith to adopt internationally, God gave us the peace we needed to know this was HIS plan and He would provide. He continues to bless us with much reassurance.

First of all, we were in Sioux Falls this weekend for the Lifelight music festival. We recently got our fingerprinting appointment and hoped and prayed we would be able to get in on Friday when we were there. That would be so nice instead of having to make an 8 hour trip for a 10 minute appointment. Well...God blessed us and allowed us to get in weeks early to get this done. WHEW!!!!

I should have updated awhile ago, but didn't. I don't want to go into too much detail in this blog, but there are some other things that have been going on that have been very stressful. I wasn't sure how I was going to be able to handle all of these things. Well, God blessed us again b/c these "situations" have been going very well. It is true that God never gives you anything more than you can handle. I'm so thankful that things are working out so well.

This weekend we went to a free outdoor Christian music festival. This festival draws roughly 100,000 people a day. I did hear that the one concert they estimated 80,000 people at it. Imagine on open field with that many people praising God. So super cool. What an experience!!! I was excited about experiencing this weekend with our girls. Awhile back, I actually connected with a lady from South Dakota that was with our agency and also adopting from Ethiopia. You don't know how rare this is.  There aren't many people in the Midwest even adopting from Ethiopia using our agency let alone SD. Just to connect with someone that lived in the same state and understood the things that come up as a SD adoptive family was so fun. Well....this weekend was our weekend to meet each other in person. Words cannot describe how that felt!!!! I believe all adoptive parents have some sort of instant connect. It is like God ties our heart strings together. It was absolutely amazing to meet "T" and her family!!!! The bond we have is unbreakable. It feels like we have known each other forever!!! I feel so blessed to have her in my life!!! We will have to fly in and out of Sioux Falls for our trips to Ethiopia. She has offered her house to us any time we would need it when we had to fly. This is great since we are 4 hours from the airport and have to make 2 trips. She even offered to keep our girls while we are gone. AMAZING! AWESOME! BLESSED!!!!

As we were at this huge music festival, I saw "T" talking to another couple. Here it turns out it was a family from OUR agency that had adopted from Ethiopia. They have been home roughly 6 months with their little one. We had seen this little girl from time to time throughout the day and commented on how she looked like she was from Ethiopia. It was so exciting to meet a family that I had read about on the list serve. It was great to hug them and see the faces behind the names!!!! This family contacted "T" and told her what area they would be in so that they could hook up. However "T" never got the email. Really?!!? 100,000 people in this open field coming and going and these people are within FEET of us. I'm soooo floored by all of this.

It is very easy for me to SEE the blessings in the adoption world. It is very easy for me to TRUST in the adoption world. It is easy for me to be CALM about things in the adoption world. I know that God is teaching me some valuable lessons. It was very comforting to me to be able to see the blessings in other areas of my life as well. I have learned so much on this adoption journey, but I still have so much to learn. God isn't finished writing this book yet. So thankful for all of you that have been following us on this crazy journey. You are also part of our blessings!!!

Please pray

We have to renew our fingerprints. This has to be done in Sioux Falls which is 4 hours one way for us. We got our fingerprint appointment letters in the mail. We will be in Sioux Falls this weekend. We are going to stop in at the USCIS office and see if they will let us do our fingerprints early b/c we are already in town. Please pray that they allow us to do this while we are there. It sure would be nice to save a trip. The thing that concerns me is the fact that it is the Friday before Labor Day. They might be overly busy due to the fact that they will be closed on Monday. We would like you to join us in praying for understanding by the people that are working to let us "slip in" early since we will already be in town. Thanks!

While we wait

There is a group on Facebook of people from our agency that have adopted or are adopting from Ethiopia. (Great support system) Someone posted on the FB group about what things we should be doing right now. (those of us that our close to the top) One said to work on the "Transition Plan." I had not even thought about that. Well—someone mailed me what was needed in this 8-10 page document. It was similar to our home study questions but these all dealt specifically with things once we get home. I talked with another AGCI mom and she sent me her filled out one to give me an idea about things. It was nice to have the reasurrance that I was on the right track. :) Someone told me the referral paperwork was roughly 100 pages long. YIKES!!! Of course we will want to get this completed as soon as possible. The sooner it gets done, the sooner it get to AGCI, the sooner we get a court date, the sooner we get an Embassy date, the sooner we get home! J So…getting 8-10 pages out of the way will be nice. Besides, the questions are kind of in depth and are way easier to answer now when we are thinking clearly.

The other thing that was brought up was to work on a photo album for the baby.  We need to purchase a baby friendly photo album that will be taken to Hannah’s Hope and left with our little one until we get to bring him/her home. By getting this done now, we will be able to have a family traveling before us take the pictures over so he/she can have them longer. So, I did some searching on-line and got a book ordered. We had a wedding yesterday and we took some pictures with the thought that they would go in this book. It will be nice to have this done also. That way, as soon as we get a referral, we can find a family that will be traveling and they can deliver our book.

Right now, I’m very calm. We had a case worker tell 2 different families that they had been busy this past week even though we didn’t  know about it. Some families are not on the list serve or the unofficial list so there are some “mystery families” in front of us. Sounds like some of the mystery families have gotten their referrals. Crazy that a case worker mentioned this not only once, but twice as they are usually so tight lipped. I’m quite focused on the new school year right now, so I’m able to remain calm and not dwell on what could come soon! J (I’m hoping it will be soon, but still very realistically thinking it could still be awhile before we know anything)

Some fun news

First of all, I got a text from an AGCI friend telling me she got "the call." WOW!! I was freaking out for her. Tears of joy! She texted me about their new baby girl before she posted it. It was so fun to be in the know so early in this process. It really had me kind of freaking out thinking about us in that situation. There will be so many people to contact when we get our referral. I doubt I'll be able to focus. People that know me well will appreciate this....I'll probably call some people 4 times and others I will forget to call. HA!! Don't worry, I do have a list. So I was having a hard time focusing on things b/t this referral information plus the fact that a couple of families got court dates for November even though the courts are currently closed. I went and worked on some stuff for school. Then I went and checked the list serve to see what the latest was. Holy cow!!! Another referral. This time it was a boy. Not only a boy, but someone that was on both the boy and girl list. Now...I'm really freaking out!!!! Currently we are unofficially 15 for a girl and 6 maybe even 5 for a boy. AHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!! I'm living in the moment right now and am just pumped about the news. However, the realistic part of all of it is that this is very rare. The slow parts are soooo slow. The closer you get to the "front of the line" the harder it is when there is NO movement. I just thought I should share my thoughts from tonight as it is another important part of our journey. Praying hard we don't have to wait up to 18 months (which is the end of January) for our referral.

August numbers



18 months on this crazy journey. 13 months on the wait list. August numbers are 17 for a girl and 7 for a boy. So close, but sooooo far away.

Renewal of fingerprints

We only needed 3 different sets of fingerprints to this point in our adoption process....only 3, wow! (Note the sarcasm.) Today I filled out some more paperwork to renew our fingerprints. This paperwork had to be sent to Missouri. Then they send it to Sioux Falls and give us an appointment to get our fingerprints done AGAIN! We knew we would have to renew these things. It just is so silly, but one of the many hoops to jump through. We will have to renew some of our other things also in the months to come. Fun and games!

A sense of peace

Not only is my heart sad b/c I just don't know when we will finally have our little one in our arms forever, but it REALLY aches for the families from our agency that now have to wait MONTHS instead of weeks to bring their kiddos home. They have met their kids already. They have held them in their arms. They had to leave them a world away knowing they have no clue when they will be back. So sad!!! So, so sad!!!

Church really spoke to me today. Our gospel reading and the sermon screamed at me today!
Matthew 14: 22-33
Immediately he made the disciples get into the boat and go ahead to the other side, while he dismissed the crowds. And after he dismissed the crowds, the went up the mountain by himself to pray. When evening came, he was there alone, but by the time the boat, battered by the waves, was far from teh land, for the wind was against them. And early in the morning he came walking toward them on the sea. But when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were terrified, saying, "It is a ghost!" And they cried out in fear. But immediately Jesus spoke to them and said, "Take heart, it is I, do not be afraid." Peter answered him, "Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water." He said, "Come." So Peter got out of the boat, started walking on the water, and came toward Jesus. But when he noticed the strong wind, he became frightened, and beginning to sink, he cried out, "Lord, save me!" Jesus immediately reached out his hand and caught him, saying to him, "You of little faith, why did you doubt?" When they got into the boat, the wind ceased. And those in the boat worshiped him, saying, "Truly you are the Son of God."

Wow! This couldn't have been more fitting. Peter doubted Jesus many times. He even visually SEES Jesus and doubts that it is Him until it is proven to him. If one of the disciples doubts, then I'd think it would be human for me to do it also. Not saying that doubting is a good thing, but meaning it is a very REAL thing. Peter needs proof that it is Jesus. So Jesus tells Peter to walk on the water. Peter was actually able to walk on the water until he started to doubt! Jesus was able to calm the storm. This was just one of the many miracles that were performed. NOTHING is too big for our God...not an Ethiopian court, MOWA letter, etc...In His perfect time, our 3rd child will be placed in our arms forever. It WILL be hard. God doesn't promise our lives to be easy. He does promise to be with us every step of the way. When we are suffering, Jesus is walking right next to us, holding us through the tough time. I may still doubt from time to time as that is easy to do. However, today I was reminded of the fact that NOTHING is too big for God. When we, as humans, feel it is "impossible, " we must remember that nothing is impossible with God.

I can't understand why things are happening in the adoption world. God wants us to be the father of the fatherless. So, why is it that we are trying to do this and we keep running into obstacle after obstacle? I don't know. I might never know or it may be reveal to us later. For now, I need to trust that God is in control and that things will be okay. I have a major feeling of peace right now. As with all things in the adoption world, that could change very quickly. For now, I will rest with peace in my heart.

What goes up must come down

Hang on! This post could be a bumpy ride. Hopefully it isn't too confusing. I posted already this week and that was a very positive, heart-warming post. This one, not so much. Again, I debated if I should share these things. Then I thought that only people that care are reading this blog, so I might as well let you see the true picture of the adoption world. My last post was filled with the excitement of switching bedrooms now that our new bedroom is completed. It has been a busy week, but I'm happy to report that we can now see all of our living room and can safely walk through it without getting hurt. With switching rooms and shampooing carpets, etc...the living room was a catch all of things. Jason finished the inside of our closet yesterday so today I'm switching things from one closet to another. It will be great to have plenty of room in our closet. Pretty good for a teacher. ;) Way to go, Jason!!!!

Even with all that is going on in our house, my heart is heavy. Last night I was looking at things and I wasn't reallly very happy with the reality that I found. First of all, there is an overall ho-hum with people from our agency. It has been quite some time since there have been some referrals. That is always so disheartening. Also, the people at the top of the unofficial list have been on there for 14 months and they still don't have a referral. We have been on the wait list for right at a year. So--we have a long time to wait yet. Awhile ago, our agency up-ed the wait list timeline to 12-18 months. 18 months for us would be the end of January so I was thinking that we should be getting our referral around Christmas.

Well, the disheartening news keeps pouring in. First of all, the courts in Ethiopia close for roughly 2 months. Today is their last day in session until October. :( During this closure, referrals can still go out and families can still go on their final trip to bring their babies home. (as long as they have passed court b/4 the courts closed)

In March, our world was rocked when MOWA said they were going to cut their case load by 90% and process 5 letters a day. Each family needs a letter from these people in order to pass court. The amount of letters being processed daily has increased!! Thank God!!!! Actually, our agency didn't see a huge slow down b/c they have such a good reputation. :) Now families can pass court and wait for the letters. As soon as the letters are there, then they can pass and an Embassy date can be issued.  Before, if the families went to court and the MOWA letter wasn't there, they would have to reschedule the whole court appointment.

There was a group of families that are currently in Ethiopia that didn't have their MOWA letters there. There is a group of orphanages in the southern part of Ethiopia that have been closed. This group of families THAT HAVE MET THEIR BABIES have to have some serious investigating done since they came from one of these orphanages that has closed. MOWA will work through next week and they too will quit until October. Heartbreaking!!!!

Also--with these orphanages closing in the southern part of Ethiopia, we can only speculate that the referrals will slow down that much more b/c Hannah's Hope will not be getting children from these orphanages.

I know some of this is very confusing especially when you don't deal with the adoption lingo like we do daily. I know that God is bigger than all of this. I know He can and does move mountains. I know that this is all part of the greater plan. I know in HIS TIMING, we will have our perfect little one. Even though I know this things, I feel different. I'm very sad, frustrated, disappointed. Some of you might think that this shouldn't consume me so much. That is easier said than done. For example, even in the midst of chaos in our house with switching of the bedrooms, etc...I still think about our little one a world away. It is hard not to think about. When will we get a referral? Will it be during school? Where will the kids go when we are gone? As I prepare my classroom for another year, I want to get all of my ducks in a row thinking we can be gone for a week or an extended period of time depending on what happens. So many things trigger the thoughts of what our future holds.

Last night even though I was a bit down in the dumps about the slow down of everything, I sat down with the girls' first and middle names seeing if I could come up with a create middle name for our baby combining their names. I didn't really come up with anything, but did come up with some cute middle names for the girl name we are thinking of. We will be using our child's given name as a middle name also, but I'm thinking we want to give him/her an American middle name as well. I find it strange that in the middle of all of this that I would randomly think of names. Crazy!!

So...the real picture of the adoption world is not pretty. It is not for the faint of heart. Your day can start out great and end on a pretty crappy note or vice versa. It takes a little piece of news from others from our agency to make or break the day. Even when you don't realize you are thinking about the journey, you still think about it. Our 3rd child is always on our mind and in our hearts. We hope that God reveals him/her to us sooner than later. We hope that He grants us strength and patience as we wait. Like my last post talked about God providing and His plan unfolding before us. It is easy to see that, but it is hard to believe and trust that everything will work out like it is supposed to.

PLEASE pray for everyone involved in the adoption of our newest child. Please pray for the courts, MOWA letters, people that are researching the cases and orphanages. Pray for the birth parents that make the hard decision to give us their children b/c they can't afford to care for them. Please pray for everyone in every stage of adoption. It is not an easy journey even though we know the end result will be great!

A few weeks ago, we were estatic to realize we were in the teens for a girl and in single digits for a boy. Reality had hit that this was really going to happen. Now all of this happens and I can't help, but to sit back and wonder if this will really happen. I guess we wait to see how things play out.

As the pieces continue to fit perfectly

Lots has happened in the past few days. First of all on Saturday, Jason and I got to sleep in our new bedroom!! :) We will never have a new house, but we got a new bedroom. It was/is sooo exciting!!! We started this bedroom add-on project last summer. What a relief to be able to move in. Jason is still working on the closet. It will be nice to have lots of extra space.
After over year of waiting for someone to come and cut the cement for Micala's egress window, her room is completely back to normal. :) I already posted about the window getting put in. The 2x4s have gone up and the insulation has been put in. The paneling has been put back up and the final coat of paint has been applied. This may seem like something little, but keep in mind that her room hasn't been complete for over a year. Little things, but Saturday was a big day in our world!!!
I was working part time as a dietary aide at the Nursing Home. I have been there since March of 2010. I knew that I wouldn't keep on working once school started as it is just too hard for me. I've been on the fence as to when I should quit. I kind of thought I should keep working for a couple of weeks into August. Well...I decided to quit at the end of July. I was going to help unload the truck and stock shelves on Thursdays through the school year and maybe help out where needed. My boss had me sign official quitting papers. I was kind of let down b/c I wasn't going to stay on staff. Funny b/c Saturday night was my last shift there while Saturday night was also the first night in our new bedroom. Yesterday and today I have spent LOTS of time going through things and moving things from bedroom to bedroom. I have a huge mess! However, I'm so thankful that I am now done with working my part time job so that I can give 100% of my attention to the projects going on at our house. What a blessing in disguise!

A recap of the bedroom situation in our house: Jason and I get the newly built on bedroom. Lexi will be moving to our old bedroom. Lexi's room will be the baby's room. Micala will be staying in her own bedroom in the basement. So imagine the mess with switching rooms. Yuck! Lexi currently has a twin bed, but will be getting a bigger bed when she moves into her bigger room. We got a full size mattress and box spring given to us. (someone was going to throw it away) We needed a frame and happened to get one at a garage sale for $1. :) Then came the dilemma of sheets. We didn't want to buy brand new sheets for Lexi's bed. However, I hadn't found any at garage sales. I looked at Amazon, Ebay, Walmart, etc...All of which were way higher than I had hoped for. Man sheets are expensive!!! We were just going to hold tight for awhile and see what we could come up with. Well, it turns out that a friend of ours has held on to her daughter's old bedroom set for years and it fits!!! So we got the whole bedroom set for $10.

Tonight there was a knock at the door. It was our new neighbor who was going through her daughter's clothes and wanted to know if we wanted them in case we got a girl. She had 2 full totes of clothes 0-2. If I didn't take them, she was going to take them to Salvation Army. What a blessing!! We have a friend that has given us a few small boxes of clothes from her son.  I feel such relief now having some clothes from each sex. I've always had the concern of missing "rummage season" and finding out if we need pink or blue and then having to buy everything new. Now...I don't need to worry about it. We will at least have a small pink and small blue "stash" of clothes so not everything has to be new.

This might have been a very boring post. Actually, I debated and debated about even posting it. I wasn't sure if anyone would really care to read about this. I'm just floored with all of the pieces that have just been falling into place. This truly is God's plan and He is certainly providing for us. It is AWESOME to be on this end of it and seeing things play out. Adoption certainly is NOT an easy journey. It is way harder than I ever thought it would be. God told us from the beginning that this was His plan and He would provide. I'm human so I have to doubt. Believe me, I still doubt from time to time. However, it is just totally overwhelming to me to see how the pieces continue to fall into place. Should I have doubted God's plan? To be honest, some days I wonder. I really wish I could be as trusting with all areas of my life as I have been with the adoption world. What a learning experience this is for me. God's hand is in so many of our daily blessings, but sometimes we are so busy looking elsewhere that we miss it. So, as silly as this posting might have been, I couldn't help but to post about the daily blessings we have received lately. Our God is an awesome God. I'm so glad He is unfolding His plan to us. Wow!

SOOOOO thankful for our agency

There are so many different adoption agencies out there. How do you even begin to pick one? We are so grateful for our wonderful and amazing agency All God's Childrens International. (AGCI) Sure it made things a little crazier with our home study since they are based in Oregon, but it has been so worth it. What a blessing!!! It seems the wait might be a bit longer with AGCI, but they certainly have their ducks in a row. When dealing with all the things they deal with, it is so important to have the i's dotted and the t's crossed. I am a member of a group on Facebook of people from our agency. I had to share one of the recent discussions held.

"Thankful for our agency. They must be doing things right...I have some friends with other agencies and they are seeing LONG wait times for court and embassy both. Really really long. We are blessed!!!"

"They DO do things right! When we were there for our embassy appointment the lady we interviewed with was shocked when we told her our court date and then asked what agency. When we said AGCI she nodded and said ohhh yes, they have it together. Also while we were there we met a family at the airport, they asked us how long our court to embassy was, when we said 4 weeks they said they had never heard of less than 3 months for their agency."

"A family in our church with *** got their referral in early May I think and is still waiting on a court date. She was told not to expect one until court reopens. I wonder what other agencies are not doing that AGCI is? I'm am so thankful things seem to be going so well with AGCI and that we chose them."

"Praise God! This is such exciting news. So excited for what He is doing through AGCI and Ethiopia!"

"I think a lot of it has to do with how well they get to know each child and their case. When children aren't in a transition home and the people fighting for them hardly know them I think it makes a huge difference. ***** and the staff KNOW these children, even when they are working hard, running all over Addis they take the time to go outside and play with them and love on them. I think when you learn a child like that it makes you want to fight harder for them."

"I have a friend with another agency who got their referral in January, and after several court dates, their MOWA letter JUST arrived about 2 weeks ago. Now their agency told them it could be TWELVE WEEKS before their embassy appointment. I was appalled!" (Currently it is about 3 months from time of referral until the first trip which is court and then another month until the second trip which is the embassy appointment)

What comfort it gives us to know that we truly are using THE BEST agency out there! They can so much about those kids. I've heard time and time again how wonderful the special mothers are in the orphanage. We are so blessed to have our child at an orphanage that is NOT average! Praising God that He guided us to picking the right agency. Yet again, I stand back and say "Wow!" :)

God continues to provide

At the beginning of this journey, God told us that He would provide and we trusted in Him. Time and time again we have been given the proof. We have waited almost a year to get an egress window cut into our basement. We finally got someone that would get the project done. We were needing to rent a cement cutter. We were going to have to get this saw from Aberdeen which is an hour away from us. (one way) The rental place charged $30 an hour, but was going to make us some sort of deal since 2 hours of the rental would be just in traveling. We "accidentally" found out that someone in town had a cement cutter. ;) The blade wasn't as long as we needed which just meant that it had to be cut from both the inside and the outside. We were able to rent this saw from the people in town that had it. How awesome is that!?! We ended up having to pay $50 total. While we had the saw, the guy that was doing the work for us, got permission to use it at someone else's house for a very small project. So, that means that we only had to pay for half of the rent on the saw. Again, I stand in awe. God proves to us yet again He will provide!

Some Ethiopian facts

I found these facts on a fellow AGCIer's blog. I did ask permission to copy them. Thanks, Kelly!

*Annual per capita income is less than $160
*47% of the population lives below the poverty rate
*Average Ethiopian woman gives birth to 5.9 children
*1 in 10 children die before their first birthday
*1 in 6 children die before age 5
*Malnutrition is the cause of more than 1/2 of all child deaths
*Average life expectancy is 48 for men, 50 for women
*1 physician for every 34,988 people
*1 in 4 women dies in childbirth
*Only 50% of children attend primary school (K-3)
*Average class size in government schools – 85-100 children
*Overall literacy rate is 42%
*Estimated number of street children:100,000 nationwide
*It is Estimated that approximately 4.4% of the population in Ethiopia is infected with AIDS and that there are approximately 1 million AIDS orphans
*There are over 5 million orphans total in a country with a population of 74 million

It is time!!!

I was beside myself waiting for our official numbers. That was silly since I was pretty sure what numbers we were at. I looked at what other people had for official numbers and compared them to the unofficial list. Also--hearing people's numbers that were close to us confirmed it, but I wanted to hear FOR SURE!!!! So there were 2 sets of siblings referred according to the list serve. One doesn't move us and one does. There was a boy referral at the beginning of the week that wouldn't be in the official numbers yet. They don't become official until the paperwork is complete. The family that got their referral at the beginning of the week had some "mystery" families in front of them so we really aren't for sure how many spots we really did move.  No matter what....we are for sure teens and single digits!!! (Even if our official numbers don't reflect that) AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH Soooooo exciting!!! I can't believe it. I really haven't gotten too excited before now. Yes I would have periods of excitement, but when you are looking at months and months and maybe years down the line, it is hard to get too excited. Things are becoming real now! I am trying to live in the moment. I'm trying to just be happy. However, there is a part of me that can't help but to think that pretty soon the referrals will stop. There have been super quiet months in the referral world with 1-2 referrals the whole month. Ugh! I have purchased a few things as far as travel goes such as Pepto, Immodium, etc...I can't buy too much baby stuff as we don't know pink/blue, etc... Well, it time to sit down and make a serious list of things to buy for travel. I want to buy some of these things now. I want to spread out the costs. I know once we get a referral, then we will need to do the diapers, formula, clothes, etc...I did some rummaging this summer. I thought it would be so hard to resist baby items. I really didn't find too many things that I could have gotten. I was thinking of maybe finding onesis or burp rags, etc...I didn't find anything so I had no urge. I think that was God's way of telling me to save my money and buy what we really want when we know what we have. :) We are sooooo lucky b/c we have a friend that has given us a crib, car seat, booster seat, potty chair, gate, and high chair. I was freaking out about missing deals on rummage sales. I was freaking about having to buy ALL clothes new when we found out. Well.....I think since we have gotten all of the other big things given to us, I can buy new things and not feel bad. Wow! Wow! Wow!! So exciting!!!!  Finally this is real! Finally we can see the light at the end of the tunnel. It may still be months before we get our referral, but reality has hit me that this is really going to happen. It is SO exciting!!!!! There are about 4-5 families ahead of us that have requested a boy, girl, or siblings. That means that if they get referred a girl, the girl AND boy list moves. I know this may be confusing for those of you that don't deal with this all of the time. Feel free to ask any questions. I love to talk about it. :) It is time to get shopping for those silly little things that we will need. Most people wouldn't be excited to buy travel tissues, Lysol wipes, etc...but buying all of those things means we are that much closer to bringing our little angel home!!! :) It is time! It is time!!!!!

July numbers

We got our July official numbers!!! We are numbers 20 for a girl and 10 for a boy. Woo hoo!! :) It is finally starting to become real. We started this journey at numbers 86 and 53. It is hard to believe they were 33 apart and now are only 10.  Actually we are probably lower on the boy list for sure. There was at least one referral recently that wouldn't be on the official list. To make it official, our agency has to have the paperwork completed. I'm already excited to see what our August numbers are. Things are flowing, flowing, flowing. Praying that we don't hit the ebb because we tend to get stuck in that.

These crazy days

This journal is written to inform others of our adventures as we journey down the road to our new little prince or princess from Ethiopia. It also will be a cherished gift to our newest child as he/she can see all we went through before having him/her in our arms forever. So, I think it is only fair to post this. Yesterday some people got their official July numbers. I checked and checked my email almost constantly hoping to get the official word of how much closer we were to our little piece of heaven. We didn't hear anything yesterday. :( More people are getting their numbers today. It HAS to be our day too. I'm not doing too much today. I do have my email, Facebook, and list serve all open. This sure makes it easier to check all of the time instead of always logging in. I think the obsession might be "normal." We are getting closer. Closer, closer, closer. As we get closer, the anticipation grows. This is becoming real!!! Before it was sooooo far away. Now it is still far away, but our goal is so much closer. The end is getting closer. We are SO excited to see what God has in store for our family.

Construction update

I'm sure you have probably forgotten that we had a construction zone in our house. ;) We added a bedroom to our house last summer. It has been a slow process, but that is to be expected when Jason is doing a lot of it on his own. We had the outside of it done before the snow began to fall. It is taking a long time to get the room actually completed. First we were delayed due to the cold weather. Mudding requires the temp to be warmer than we could keep it. Then Jason's schedule was so crazy. We decided that we were in no hurry so we would wait until after school was out to work in their. Well, we got the walls painted. :) Jason has started to trim the windows. The exciting news is that the carpet is finished!!!! Woo--hoo!!!! We now wait for the electrician to come and hook up the heaters as well as the outlets. It is coming. Slow, but sure. Like I said, we know we have plenty of time. Having the carpet installed is big news!!!! :)

FINALLY some good news

Honestly, I've been down about the whole adoption thing. We have been on the wait list for 11 months. That isn't counting all of the months we spent getting paperwork ready, but just the actual wait list time. It is so frustrating when there is such a need. Plenty of good news with people from our agency passing court and getting their Embassy appointments to bring their kiddos home. ;) Still, the referrals have been so slow! It seems like there might be one and then it is weeks before another. Soon our orphanage will be empty and I'm not joking about that. My opinion is that things are slower in the referral world b/c our orphanage wants all of their ducks in a row before they match a child up especially when the courts are requiring so much more paperwork.

Today was filled with good news. The biggest news was that there were a few referrals. :) Also, we heard from our agency. Back in March, MOWA was going to only process 5 court appointments a day. We really didn't see this so much. However, it seems to be that our agency was getting processed through a bit faster b/c they have such a good reputation. Well, today we got OFFICIAL word that MOWA will be processing 10 cases a day! :) Woo-hoo!!! Let's get this process going already. ;)

It is nice to finally have some good news. Hopefully we are going to have referrals flying out left and right. We can only hope.

Ethiopia Special Update: June 22, 2011

Update on MOWA Case Processing Dear families, We wanted to share with you all some positive news that we received today from our staff in Ethiopia! Our staff have shared with us that the Ministry of Women’s Affairs (MOWA) office has indicated that they are currently processing 10 cases per day. Of course, this is great news for us all to hear! Now, we may see that this change does take some time to go into full effect, however we wanted to share this great news with you today. Another piece of great news is that we have received word today that one of our pending court cases was approved today after their official approval letter was issued by MOWA. We are excited to be celebrating  this amazing news with the family and hope that you will join us in celebrating the continued movement of our cases and more importantly looking forward to welcoming home more children with their forever families soon! Although we know there are still many unknowns surrounding what the processing of adoptions will look like in the future, and timelines specifically, we are excited to hear about these positive developments! It is our prayer that we’ll continue to see improvement in the coming weeks to months as all parties involved refine and implement the best procedures moving forward for the kids we serve. We will continue  to closely monitor each of our cases as they move through the court process and will keep all of you updated on any new information. In the meantime though we hope this adds a little joy to your Wednesday!

June numbers

We got our official numbers for June. They are 27 for a girl and 16 for a boy. We thought we were going to be at 25 and 15. Well we have someone that keeps track of the referrals. As soon as there is a referral, the lists move. However, as far as our agency goes, it isn't "Official" until those families get their paperwork in. So...for sure in July we will be at least 25 and 15. :)

Things have been very slow in the referral world which is very disheartening. However, many families have passed court. There are also many that have been given embassy appointments which is the clearance they need to go and bring their little ones home. We are certainly rejoicing with the fact that postive things are happening...we just wish there would be more referrals.

This summer has been super crazy and busy. It sure helps to keep my mind off the fact that we aren't even close to getting a picture of our new little one's face. However, even in the middle of all of the chaos, it is always in the back of our minds. What parent would ever be too busy to not think/hope/dream about their newest child?

We got an email from our case worker that really does sum things up well. I'm going to share it with you as it sums things up way better than I ever could. "In closing, Kiersten recently completed her first marathon and in hearing about her experience, it had us thinking about all of you and this crazy beautiful race of adoption you are running.  Particularly for those of you in the waiting stage of the adoption process, this long race I’m sure may seem overwhelming and exhausting at times.  Some of you are now on mile 22 of your wait.  Your knees are giving out, you’re exhausted, and you are ready to stop running.  Others of you are on mile 3.  You are feeling good, strong, but looking up at the long road ahead.  Regardless of where you find yourself at in this race, I’m here with encouraging words to root you on…and to offer you a little “Gatorade” of course!  J  We will, and have, encountered obstacles along this race, but today I just wanted to encourage you to keep putting one foot forward in front of the other.  Each step forward is one step closer to that finish line!"

Please continue to pray for all involved on each step of this journey. There have been some major changes in the Ethiopian program. There have been some positive things happening. There is also still very much uncertainity. Thanks for your love, support, and prayers. They are appreciated greatly.

May numbers

We got our official May numbers. We are 27 for a girl and 18 for a boy. It is hard to believe that when we got on the wait list the end of July the difference b/t our girl and boy numbers was 33. Now look at the difference. Crazy! Although the current wait time for a referral is 9-12 months, they are preparing us to wait up to 18 months for a referral due to all of the changes. The only way they predict how long the wait will be is based on how things are currently going. Since things have changed with the courts and they are processing the cases more in depth, we don't really know how it will all play out. It is a wait and see game at this point since the ones that got referrals after the new "rule" about the courts are still in the process.

Once upon a time, we thought there was a small chance that we would have a referral by the end of the school year. Well, that has come and gone. Then we thought that maybe by the end of July we might have a referral since that would be a year on the wait list. Now I'm hopefully thinking it might be by the end of this year. I certainly hope it is sooner than that, but I've found it is easier to plan for it to be longer. It would be a nice surprise if it ended up being shorter. It is also less disappointment to err on the side of too long. Time will tell. One of my favorite songs plays over and over in my head through all of this. The song is "Everlasting God." The first line that repeats is "Strength will rise as we wait upon the Lord." So very true!

Currently there are about 17 families from our agency that will be traveling in the next week or two for court appointments. That is great to see. It shows that the courts are still processing cases. Now if we could get a huge flow of referrals. I've learned after 7 weeks without an infant referral that I'll take one every so often instead of none for a long time. Slow progress is better than no progress. It certainly is time for there to be a huge amount of referrals going out.

Now that school is out, we will be able to concentrate on getting our new bedroom finished, Lexi moved to our old bedroom, and the baby's room done. :) I can't wait to share that on here with all of you!!!

Thanks for the thoughts, prayers, and concern!!! We are so thankful to have so many people on this journey with us.

Struggling with the wait

I haven't updated for awhile. There isn't much to say. We wait and wait and wait. We are trying to be patient, but there are days when that is really challenging. The wait is hard enough. The wait is even worse with all of the unknowns with the courts. There hasn't been an infant referral for about a month and a half. The waiting is a little bit easier when you know others are getting good news and we just have to wait our turn. When we took the leap of faith and said yes to God's plan for us to adopt from a different country, we had no idea what this really meant. We had no idea what a journey this would be. Wow!!! I've mentioned the roller coaster of emotions before, but with all that is going on it is more than that. The thoughts that go through our heads are unreal. Awhile ago I freaked out a bit thinking about the delay that could happen with the change in the courts. It didn't take me too long and I was thinking rationally again. Lately I've been doubting again. It is hard to sit back and say "It is all in God's timing." If there was some movement with referrals it would be a bit easier. We know God led us to this. We know this is His will for us, but some days it is soooooo hard to not let the human part take over. Today I felt rather calm about things. That means nothing as tomorrow things could be so different. One thing that I have really learned is how much the adoption journey plays into my emotions of every day life. What is going on in the adoption world can make things in our every day life better or worse. Some people might say we shouldn't think about it so much. Well, this is OUR CHILD that we are thinking of. It is OUR CHILD that we are waiting for. It is OUR CHILD that we long for and that our heart is aching for. So can you tell me that you could just go about life and not think about your child? Imagine being told you have an amazing gift waiting for you. This gift will change your life. It will bring you so much happiness. Yet....you have no idea when you will get the gift. It might be months or it might be years. Even if you are thinking in terms of this "gift",  any time you have to wait is too long.Imagine waiting years for this gift. Heartbreaking!!! So, I'm pregnant and expecting, but have no idea when the due date will be. Will it be in 2010? 2011? Only God knows. I do ask for prayers for patience and understanding as this wait is sooooo hard.

Tonight when I put Lexi to bed, she read a devotion that was quite the God brick for me.

April 27
"Perfect Timing"

There is a right time for everything. Ecclesiastes 3:1
It's not easy to be patient when you want something to happen. Waiting for your
birthday to come or for summer to start can be so hard! But God has a time for
everything. He made the seasons long enough for flowers and trees to grow. He
made the days long enough for both work and play. When you get impatient,
remember that everything happens exactly when God wants it to. His time is the
perfect time.

God's in control of the days and the seasons. He plans it all for the greatest
of reasons.


I thought it was interesting that this devotion came up now in the midst of my
impatience. Interesting also that my 9 year old said, "Mom this is like how
things are when we are waiting for our kid." This is what Jesus means when He
says to have faith like a child.