PRAYERS NEEDED URGENTLY!!!!!!

There have been some rumors going around as far as the courts in Ethiopia. We are getting more information in regards to all of the possible changes. They are planning to cut court appointments by 90%.  Now they have 40-50 court appointments a day and this new change would have them do 5 court appointments a day total...for all agencies. Prayers are needed sooo badly right now. Lots of orphans. Lots of families wanting to adopt those little ones. Sounds like a win/win situation. I'm pasting a copy of the letter we received from our agency. Thanks so much to all of you that are praying. March 9th is a going to be a day filled with prayer to change the hearts and minds of the Ethiopian courts. God can move mountains. Let's see it happen!!!

Help Us Advocate For Ethiopian Orphans

An Important Update The Ethiopian Ministry of Women's Affairs (MOWA) has announced a proposal to decrease the number of adoptions they will process and approve—even by as much as 90%. They are planning to accomplish this decrease by limiting the number of approved cases to only 5 per working day. This change is currently set to begin on March 10, 2011. Please know that no one fully understands this proposal yet. Our staff, led by Almaz in Ethiopia, are still sorting out what this could mean for each of the children and families that we work with. These children are their passion and they are working on the front lines in this advocacy. Also, this is not limited to AGCI. This will impact every agency and the families that each serve. This means that all agencies are working together in their advocacy making a very strong force that is working on the behalf of children and families. Currently, all agency staff are waiting for the Director of MOWA to return to Ethiopia. Once she returns they will have a chance to sit down and talk over the implications of this proposal. To attempt to counteract this proposal, the Joint Council on International Children’s Services (JCICS) has put a “Call to Action” in place. This sort of international advocacy is what JCICS does, and they do it well. We are strongly encouraging you to read their post below and follow the suggested steps. You can also share this with your family, friends, Facebook friends and church to do the same. It is so important that we are all united in this effort! We are all advocates in our own circles of influence—and it is good to partner with you in this! Thank you again for all that you are doing at this time. You are all valued and important in this process of promoting and preserving the best interest of children in Ethiopia and around the world. God Bless, Hollen Frazier Executive Director

JCICS Call to Action March 8, 2011 Joint Council: Emergency Campaign for Ethiopian Children What You Can Do: 1) Sign the petition to the Prime Minister of Ethiopia, Meles Zenawi – and pass it on! 2) Have you adopted from Ethiopia? Please send us up to 3 photos and 50 words or less with what you would like the Ministry to know about your child – we’ll compile the information and send a book to the Ministry of Woman’s Affairs. Send your photos and stories to advocate@jointcouncil.org by Sunday, March 12, 2011 to be included. Please note that sending photos and stories gives Joint Council unrestricted right to use the information you provide. 3) Share…Please send this Call to Action to family members, other adoptive parents, and everyone you know! Post, forward and share your adoption stories via Facebook, Twitter, and blogs. Make sure you include us in your posts so we can all hear your stories! Here’s links to our pages: Facebook, Twitter and our our blog. 4) Stay informed: Get up-to-date information regarding the situation in Ethiopia by signing up to receive information from us: click here to do so, make sure you choose “country and issues specific information” and “Ethiopia.” And don’t forget to follow us on Facebook, Twitter and our our blog. 5) Help ensure our advocacy can continue: Joint Council is a non-profit and receives no government funding. Please join us in ensuring more children live in safe, permanent and loving families. Donate today!

International Pediatrician

We need to have an international pediatrician review our child's medical information when we get our referral. I've had this on my list of things to do for quite some time. No there isn't a huge rush, but it is something that I'd like to have crossed off of my list of things to do. Our agency has recommendations as to who to use. We are also on a List Serve with others from our agency who are also adopting from Ethiopia. I posted on there to see if someone had a good experience and if they recommended a certain pediatrician.  It sounds like there are some great ones out there. I had one that we were going to use. I had called their office 2 different times and left messages and never heard anything back. That kind of bothered me, but yet I understand we aren't a huge priority at this point. I emailed a pediatrician from Ohio on Sunday night. I had some questions to ask her b/4 we made any decisions. Well, by this morning she had already written me back. :) She has adopted 3 kids from China. She asked if it was okay if she replied to my questions tomorrow as today she was at a swim meet with her kids and she didn't like to write lengthy emails via her phone. Wow!!! I'm impressed she'd take the time to write me back. I'm about 99.9% sure that this will be the one we use. It is so comforting to know that she cares enough to make time for us. This is EXTREMELY important when the time comes to use her to review our child's medical information. This may seem like no big deal, but it is just another one of those puzzle pieces that God is fitting together perfectly.

Warm fuzzies

My heart is so warmed after the events of the day. First Micala had an orthodontist appointment. I'm not sure how the conversation came up, but we started talking about our adoption. They were so excited for us. It is always fun to talk to someone about our adoption journey. It is even more fun to talk to strangers about it. Why should they care? Yet they do and it is so heart warming.

Then I had an appointment with my "old" doctor from Aberdeen. She was our doctor when I was pregnant with Micala 13 years ago. I wanted to meet with someone concerning travel meds. I have read so much from the people from our agency that have traveled. I had a list of possible meds, but really needed some guidance as to what to actually take. I couldn't really go to our local clinic as they don't deal with the third world country travel. This doctor of ours has been to Haiti so knows a thing or two. I know traveling is very far off. However, I already had to take the afternoon off for Micala's appointment. I always try to schedule as much as I can when we go to Aberdeen. So we talked and she wrote down all that she would prescribed when the time comes. All I have to do is call when we know we will travel.  It was great to see her again and I feel so much comfort having this taken care of.

Once upon a time, I was looking into pediatricians in the area. I did some internet searches and did some emailing. The lady that read my email, has been helping us ever since. God sent me an angel. This lady has been a true gift to us. She has helped us in so many ways. We needed to get Hep. A shots, but we couldn't get them in Bowdle. She made the accomodations for us to come and get them done in Aberdeen. She made sure it worked for us. She has been an AMAZING resource for us!!! She works for Sanford Clinic that had a name change recently. They have some t-shirts with the old clinic logo on it. They can't use them, but are giving them to us to take to our orphanage. They are good shirts, they just can't use them. Today, I finally got to meet our little angel. She took me around the clinic and showed me the ins and outs of the building. I met lots of people that knew me. This lady had talked about us in a meeting to make sure it was okay that they give the shirts to us. Again, it was almost overwhelming to meet these people that didn't know us, yet cared so much and were so excited  for us!! I know all of these things are mini blessings from God. He told us that this adoption was His plan for our family. We accepted the challenge even as hard as it may be. It is humbling to sit back after a day like today and see how God really is showing us what we knew all along---that this is His plan for us and that He will provide.

February Numbers

We got our new numbers for February. VERY, VERY slow movement. We know the referrals are coming. Let the flood gates open. Praying for those that are sitting so close yet still have to wait. Time and time again we hear how the timing has been perfect. We are holding to that.

Welcome to our new blog!!

I haven't done too much with our blog b/c our old one ALWAYS locked up. I decided to start a new one, but I will just be posting from now on. I will not be going back and trying to get all the past stuff on here. At least you can follow our story from here on out. Here's hoping. :)

December numbers

I haven't been blogging much at all b/c my blog always locks up. It seems silly to spend lots of time on it if nobody can read it. Our December numbers are: 53 for a girl and 32 for a boy. Even though the boy numbers are so much smaller, they are certainly moving WAY slower.

November numbers

LOTS of movement this month. Yippee!! I do expect things to slow down as many families need to go through their court process. Lots for the courts to catch up on after being closed for 2 months. Hoping the referrals keep coming. Fun and exciting to see so many kids being matched with their forever families! :)