Tentative Travel Dates!!

We received tentative travel dates from our agency yesterday!! If we pass court on July 27 and all goes well, we will be in Africa from August 15-21 - probably actually traveling from the 14th-22nd.

This makes it so real - it feels so close, I can't believe it!! We have much to do before then and the nerves are beginning to kick in a little, so please pray for us. (well, me, my hubby doesn't really get worked up about much! :)

So excited!!

Change of Heart

Since we started this adoption process, I've had a change of heart.

You see, when we began this journey it was all about wanting to be a purposeful part of God's plan and fulfilling His mandate to care for orphans. We felt like this was a way God wanted to use our family and that He could use us to provide a home and opportunities to a child who had neither.
I still have a huge heart for orphans...I want to work on their behalf and make a difference for them. I am working in our church to start an orphan care and adoption ministry and am so excited to see what God is going to do with that. So, my heart has not changed for orphans.

But, it has changed towards this adoption. Our adoption is no longer about an orphan. It is about our child. Something has transformed in my heart....Elijah is no longer an orphan, he is just our child. He belongs to us. So, this adoption is now about bringing our child home...the child that was chosen for our family and planted in our hearts. Not about orphans.

Of course I realize that Elijah was an orphan and I guess technically is until we bring him home. But, the blessing is ours. We get to love and raise this child. He feels as much mine as our other children do. That, my friends, is the miracle of adoption.

New Court Date

Well, we have a new court date for Elijah!! It is July 27. We feel fortunate that we have been given a new date and that things seem to be moving along in the court system. This indicates that they do have a sense of urgency about getting these children home. Yay for that!! One little possible hitch - MOWA (remember them....the all important agency that needs to write us a recommendation letter to pass court!!) is closed until Friday, July 24, so that gives them ONE DAY to write their letter before our court date on the following Monday. This fact is what is leaving me cautious about getting too excited. Our agency has said, " MOWA begins work again on the 24^th so we very hopeful that everything should be in place for them to complete your recommendation letter by the 27^th." Here's hoping!

I want to be excited. I am not pessimistic, just cautious. Our agency says, "Prepare for the worst and hope for the best." I've heard this advice before...under many circumstances I would give it myself. But this is about a child. My child. I just don't know how to tell my heart to do that. I don't know how to walk the invisible line between hope and caution when it comes to my child and wanting him home. It's a tough road to walk.

So, until then, we will continue to prepare and gaze at our pictures and dream of what it will be like to have him home - and hope that day is coming sooner rather than later!!

More Information....

OK, so today has been a tough one. AND emotionally draining to say the least.

Here's the scoop: Most of you know that MOWA (ministry of women and children's affairs in Ethiopia) has not been writing letters of recommendation for abandoned children within the city of Addis. Elijah was abandoned in the city, so this has affected his case. Our family did not receive the letter from MOWA we needed to pass court.

GOOD NEWS: MOWA has agreed to begin writing letters for these cases. We anticipate receiving a letter the next time we have a court date.

BAD NEWS: We do not have a new court date and MOWA is closing until July 24 for training. (kind of an inopportune time if you ask me, but they didn't consult me!) There is a very small possibility that we will receive court date at the end of this week, but more than likely we will have to wait until after MOWA reopens to find out our new court date. We are still unsure if the courts will close in August like they usually do, which of course could affect our case as well.

Elijah is still ours. He will still be a part of our family in time. It is heartbreaking to think of him growing up without us. It seems senseless. I'm his mom and he doesn't even know me yet. That makes me so sad. However, I am thankful that our case will be resolved in time. I am hopeful for our future as a family and I still very much look forward to the day when we can bring him home!!
Thank you for praying for us.

Court

We did not pass court today. We were lacking one piece of important paperwork. Nothing more to say at this point.....we are just sad. Thank you for praying.

The Count Down is On!!

I made this widget at MyFlashFetish.com.

Testing

This is just a test to see if I can post from my email.....it appears that even the technologically challenged can sometimes figure this stuff out!!

Who knew....?!

Court Date!!

I am happy to report that we received our court date this week! July 7 is the big day!! I was pleasantly surprised as the date was actually a little sooner than I anticipated - that's the kind of surprise I like!

We are optimistic about passing the first time, but also want to remember that our chances are about 60%. (40% of families do not pass on their first try for a variety of reasons....paperwork, a necessary party not making it to court, judge wanting further investigation into the case, etc.)
As I have told you before, our case is an abandonment case. For about the last 2 months, Ethiopian courts have not been approving abandonment cases because of an ongoing investigation. Well.....great news......they will once again hear these cases as of July 2!! So, we will be one of the first families to go through court with an abandonment case after the investigation. We hope that all will go smoothly, but are mindful that this adds an unknown element to the whole thing. We are thrilled, though, that the courts will be again hearing abandonment cases before our court date - what a blessing!! (if they hadn't, they would have temporarily closed our case on that day and we would have had to wait for a new court date)

Ethiopia is 8 hours ahead of us, so while we sleep on Monday, July 6, a judge will hear our case in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Please pray with us that everything will be in place and that we will have a successful first court date. We appreciate all of you that take the time to read the blog and follow along and especially those of you who will join us in prayer to bring Elijah home!!

Assuming we pass, we will hope to travel at the end of July!! WOW!! We'll also get to share pictures of his cute little face with you.....can't wait!!

Elijah

I have been trying to formulate this post in my mind for the last several days. Trying to find a way to explain the myriad of emotions I have felt since we received our referral. Joy of course, is at the top of the list; as well as gratitude and excitement.

I have stared at these 3 precious pictures we have of our baby for the last 9 days. I know them inside and out. I have fallen completely in love with this little one and I am in awe of how God can weave a child into your heart that you've never seen with your own eyes. Never touched his skin or heard his cry. But he is mine. I feel it in my heart and I know it deep down. I would go to the ends of the earth for this child.

This love I already feel is a gift. It makes me excited beyond words for the day I can hop on a plane and go hold him for myself. (so far, I haven't so much been looking forward to the travel - now I can't wait!) It makes it so fun to plan for his arrival, buy his little clothes, pray for him, and dream about the day he comes home and sleeps in the room we've prepared for him.

It also makes it hard. Hard to look at his little face and miss him. Hard to wonder when exactly we will be able to go get him and wish it could be sooner. Hard to wonder about his well-being and ache to be the one who holds him and kisses him goodnight. Hard for me to think about a court date and hope with everything in me that we will pass in time to go get him before the court closures. I find myself riding a roller coaster of emotions. Excitement and anticipation one moment; nervousness and concern the next.

We have decided to name our little one "Elijah" which means "the Lord is my God". Very fitting, I think. You see, He is the one who will see us through it all - every emotion, every roller coaster, every possible hurdle and joy. And for today, I am trusting in that.

IT'S A BOY!!!!!!!!

We are so excited to have received a referral for a beautiful baby boy yesterday! He is approximately 5 months old and we are in love with him. His medical report says he is somewhere between 11-12 lbs. and about 22 inches long; so he's kind of a little guy right now, but he appears to be healthy. He was slightly malnourished and is receiving higher calorie formula to help him gain weight.

So, what's next you ask? Well, we sent in our referral acceptance today and when our agency receives it they will request a court date in Ethiopia for us. We do not attend the court date, our agency goes for us. We hope to receive a court date in July before the courts close in August. (remember, they close from August - October every year) Then, we hope to pass the FIRST TIME!! Please pray with us about this.

Our agency also told us that ours is an abandonment case, meaning we do not know our child's birth family. If you remember, recently the Ethiopian courts have not been hearing abandonment cases. We have been told by our agency that the investigation that halted abandonment cases is coming to a close and they are now able to request court dates for those children who have these types of cases. We are confident in our agency and trust that they would not have given us this referral if we weren't able to take it to court. They also told us, though, that we will be one of the first families to go through court with an abandonment case after the investigation; therefore we don't know how easy or difficult it will be for us to pass court. Please, please, please, pray with us that we will get through court easily and we will pass the first time. We really want to pass court BEFORE the court closures in August......otherwise we will wait until October for another date.

Lastly, I SO wish I could post a picture of his cute little face, but I can't yet. We have to wait until we pass court to do that. I can't wait to share him with you, though!!!

Eight Months and On Deck.....

We have now been waiting for our referral for eight months.....can you believe it? AND we received our "On Deck" email this week! Most of you are probably wondering what that is.....when you are 1-2 months from a referral, our agency sends you an "on deck" email to tell you that you better get yourself together - your referral is coming! It was so exciting to receive this email! This is actually beginning to feel real.....like it may actually happen!
The good news is that a referral is coming in the next couple of months (unless, of course, something unforseen happens); the bad news is that we will probably receive our referral right before courts close in Ethiopia and will have a long wait between referral and travel. We'll see how all of that pans out...no sense in worrying about something you can't control, I guess.

We had a huge garage sale this weekend, too. We are using the money we raised towards our adoption fees (again, the cost of this adoption will be $25,000+). Many, many generous family and friends donated towards our sale and we were able to raise $1400 in one day in our very own driveway! The sale happens tomorrow, too. Hopefully we'll get rid of a bunch more stuff!

Please continue to pray for us and our baby as we wait for our referral.....we're getting closer!!

Yes, I am Still Adopting.....

I haven't posted much lately.....I guess, because I don't have much news to report. Ethiopian adoption is experiencing some delays and I guess what you would call growing pains lately. A fellow blogger explained it so well, and if you'd like to read more about it click here. Many families are also not passing court right now as the Ethiopian judges have become much more strict and the referrals have slowed down. I do not know what all this means or how it will affect us.....clearly it could make our wait time longer than we anticipated. I am about to invest in a T-shirt that looks like this:

In case the writing is too small, it says: "Yes, I am still adopting. No, I haven't heard anything yet. But each day brings me closer to my child."

That is pretty much the way I feel. I have resigned my position teaching second grade to stay home with my kids next year. We will homeschooling our oldest three and hopefully getting to know our new addition together. The barrage of questions about our adoption during this time has been exhausting. I know people mean well and I am so grateful that they care enough to ask, so please don't misunderstand. It's just hard because I don't have any answers. Yes, we still hope that our referral will come by the end of the summer and that we will pass court in time to travel before the holidays. But here's the deal with international adoption: there is nothing predictable and the only thing to expect is the unexpected. So, we keep watching and waiting for good news to come and praying for the children and the other anxious adoptive families. We know that our day will come when God plans it and it won't be a day too late!

Three of my greatest blessings....

Haley, 13

Emma, 9 (almost 10)

Hayden, 12

Love This

URGENT NEED: Formula in Ethiopia

Our agency is seeing more malnourished babies than it has in the past due to the rampant poverty and famine in Ethiopia. These babies are literally starving when they come to the transition home run by America World. These malnourished babies cannot digest traditional formula like healthy babies can. They need a special formula called Nutramigen which is easier for them to digest and get the nutrients from.
Tom Davis (author of "Red Letters" and "Fields of the Fatherless") has a non-profit called Children's Hope Chest and this non-profit organization is doing a formula fundraiser. Get this! - It is JUST FOR NUTRAMIGEN and JUST FOR THE MALNOURISHED BABIES IN OUR AGENCY'S TRANSITIONAL HOME!!! Their goal is to raise $12,500 dollars in order to purchase 400 cans of Nutramigen for these needy babies!! You never know, one of these babies could be ours! (or one just like them to come to the home soon!)
If you'd like to help, please go to Tom Davis' blog to read more and give from the link below:

Tom Davis' Blog:URGENT NEED: Formula for Ethiopia

7 months and Cou nting.....

Well, it's official; we've been waiting 7 months for our referral! It's funny how time can seem to stand still and fly by at the same time. Some weeks we see referrals go out and feel so encouraged and excited for the other families.......others we feel like it will never happen. It will, I know!
The current wait is 9-11 months for an infant referral, so you can kind of guesstimate how much longer we have to wait. We appreciate your prayers for us during this wait. We have been able to keep busy with our jobs and kids and have a lot going on in the next month or so, so I am sure that time will go quickly!
Thanks for checking in.

You Can Help in Ethiopia!!

The following post is from Tom Davis' Blog. He is doing amazing work around the world on behalf of orphans and is right now in Ethiopia.

The Poorest of the Poor

Today our team had the privilege of being with some of the poorest people in Addis Ababa. Mother Teresa used to say that by serving the poor she could be with Jesus all the time. That's what today felt like.
The first orphan care point was called "Gospel for all Nations." 42 children are helped by this ministry, but the help is extremely scarce. They don't have any sponsorship or funding coming in. The little they do have is money the pastor takes from his own pocket. Just like Walter in Swaziland...

The children are orphans--sons and daughters of prostitutes.

We went to their homes. We touched their faces. We hugged them as if they were our own.

The place was filthy and filled with stench but we knew God had us there for a reason, to see what Jesus looks like is the worst of circumstances.

I met an 18 year old sex worker with a baby. She was really a beautiful girl and one of our team members asked why she sold her body.

"So I can have food to eat," she replied.

Nobody should be forced to sell themselves so they don't starve.

The second home we visited is called Shalom, it is a place for street kids. These kids have been abused in the most horrible ways. The boys and girls have been raped and most of them have HIV/AIDS. One boy had TB so bad he coughed the entire afternoon.

They slept on the hard wood floor of this run down building trying to stay safe from the evil that waited for them outside the door.

One saint of a lady named Telagne has given her life to serve these kids. They have absolutely no support. I asked her where they got money for the little food they had. She said, "from my wages." I was awed by her sacrifice.

We canceled the rest of our plans for the evening and decided to have a HUGE pizza party complete with Coke, Fanta, and bananas!

The kids said to us, "we've never had a Coke before."

Tomorrow we're buying them mattresses, blankets, shoes, and food. Oh, my heart is broken for these kids. They are just children, 7, 9, 12 years being the oldest.

At the end they asked if they could pray for us. Are you kidding?

We stood in a circle and they stretched out their hands toward us, blessed us, and prayed for us.

I've never been so humbled.

I saw the Kingdom of God in a new light today. I long for Christ to come back not so I can have a mansion in the sky or to get my eternal reward, instead I want him to come back so these children don't have to suffer anymore. No more pain, no evil perpetrated on them day and night, no tears, ever again.

If you want to help with the expenses for the shoes, food, blankets, and mattresses (we're buying these things out of pocket right now in Ethiopia), just give online at put "Shalom Ethiopia" in your note. GO HERE: Children's Hopechest

Drawn From Water

I stumbled across someone else's blog post about this amazing organization and just had to share it with you. Drawn From Water is rescuing children in Ethiopia. These children are born into the Kara tribe in southern Ethiopia. The tribe is intensely superstitious and believes they must kill children they believe to be cursed. It is heartbreaking. Go to their website to read the whole story.....those who started this orphanage for these children and rescued them from being drowned in the river are an incredible example of what it means to be the hands and feet of Jesus. I am inspired by their story and challenged to be more like them. They saw a need in these children and did something about it. Amazing. Be sure to click on "get involved" to see what you can do to help!

Drawn from Water from Drawn From Water on Vimeo.

More Kiddos....

AWAA has several families in Ethiopia to pick up their kids this week!! If you'd like to follow along, their blogs are listed below:

Kulps
Luncefords
Kobys
Joneses
Rovangs
Crowells
Moffatts
Bartels

YAY!! :)

Worthy

Acts 4:12
12 Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”

I borrowed the following post from the "I Support Adoptions" website......we've heard some of the statistics before, but I think is important that we remind ourselves so as not to lose sight of the reality of the orphan crisis.

Abandoned and Orphaned The best available estimate is that 143 million children are abandoned and orphaned worldwide. Less than 1% of orphans are adopted.

Can you make a difference in the life of just one?

Orphanages There are anywhere from two to five million orphans in orphanages worldwide, an estimate that is in-line with the Human Rights Watch World Report. The vast majority of orphans are found in third world nations.

Child Trafficking and Slavery There are more slaves today than any other time of history, many of whom are children. It is estimated that 1.2 million children are trafficked every year for exploitation purposes such as forced labor, commercial sexual exploitation and other forms of slavery.

Orphans In Africa Since 1990, the number of orphans from all causes has decreased in Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean, but has risen by 50% in Sub-Saharan Africa (from 30.9 million to 53.1 million). The government of Kenya predicts that within the next 10 years, 1 out of every 5 children will be an orphan.

The Most Vulnerable and Alone Every 2.2 seconds, a child loses a parent due to war, natural disaster, poverty, disease and other causes. Every 15 seconds, a child somewhere in the world dies from a water-related disease such as parasite and worm infection, diarrhea or typhoid.

At-Risk Children More than 1 billion people live on less than a dollar a day. One of our goals at I Support Adoptions is to prevent children from being abandoned or placed for adoption and help biological families care for their children.

Resources: UNICEF, UN, SOS, Feed the Children

Six Months

Yep, that's right.....we've been waiting for 6 months now! So, I am guessing another 4 months or so before our referral. The most recent referrals have been given out approximately 10 months after people's DTE dates. Now, of course, if you'd like to pray that it is sooner, we won't stop you!

We follow an "unofficial" list on our Yahoo group of people waiting for referrals. We say "unofficial" because there are some people who are working with our agency who don't choose to be a part of the YG, and so there are always mystery families. Our agency does not put out an official list, so this is the best we can do! (we have some pretty good spies, though!)
Anyway, according to that list we are approximately 13 in line for an infant boy and somewhere around 20 for an infant girl. Pretty exciting to watch your name slowly creep up the list!! Here's hoping for lots of April referrals!!!

Passed Court

We've had some exciting times with our agency recently - LOTS of referrals in March and several who have passed court recently! Below are a few of the blogs with pictures of their kids that I could find. Enjoy!

The Kulp Family
The Rutland Family
The Rothermund Family
The Van Druff Family
The Jones Family

from ashes to africa

I spent part of my Spring Break this past week reading this amazing book! Josh and Amy Bottomly have written a very candid memoir about their marriage, infertility, their journey to adoption and their love for Ethiopia. Along the way, they discovered God's heart for the orphan and their own hearts for social justice and to follow God's call to care for "the least of these". They discovered the blessing of adoption and ultimately their son, Silas.
I love to read people's stories. I also love honesty and realness. This book has both! Whether you are adopting from Ethiopia or not, you will love their story and be inspired by their journey. I definitely recommend!

AWAA Families United with their Children over the Last Year

This video is full of families who have adopted through America World from Ethiopia over the last year. It gives me hope that it will, in fact, come true for us some day as well! Enjoy!

What if all lived like this.......

"Set God-sized goals. Pursue God-ordained passions. Go after a dream that is destined to fail without divine intervention. Keep asking questions. Keep making mistakes. Keep seeking God. Stop pointing out problems and become part of the solution. Stop repeating the past and start creating the future. Stop playing it safe and start taking risks. Expand your horizons. Accumulate experiences. Consider the lilies. Enjoy the journey. Find every excuse you can to celebrate everything you can. Live like today is the first day and last day of your life. Don't let what's wrong with you keep you from worshiping what's right with God. Burn sinful bridges. Blaze a new trail. Criticize by creating. Worry less about what people think and more about what God thinks. Don't try to be who you're not. Be yourself. Laugh at yourself. Quit holding out. Quit holding back. Quit running away. Chase the lion!"

from "In a Pit With a Lion on a Snowy Day" by Mark Batterson

More to Give

This family decided they had "more to give" and discovered the blessing of adoption. Enjoy their story....may we all contemplate what more we have to give.

Global Food Crisis - Will You Help?

We are in the middle of a global food crisis. In all of our abundance, you and I may hardly realize it. The fact is, though, it affects the world's poorest families everyday. The current crisis is being called more rapid and devastating than any other in history. The cost of food has increased dramatically and it affects the poor in the most profound way. Here are some hunger facts:

• One person in seven goes to bed hungry every day.
• One-third of the world's population is undernourished.
• There are 25,000 starvation related deaths each day.
• Each night more than 300 million children go to bed hungry.
• More than 4.4 million children die from malnutrition each year. (taken from the Compassion International website)

HOW CAN YOU HELP?
Compassion International has set aside Wednesday, March 11 as Global Food Crisis Day. Click on the link below and it will take you to their page where you can do your part to donate to help fight the global food crisis. Donate what you can - big or small - and make a difference!

Just to keep it interesting....

We are requesting an infant of either sex. In the past, this has always meant that we would most likely get a referral for a baby boy. Lately, though, there have been two families (that I know of) who have requested either and then received a referral for a girl. Hmmm.....I guess nothing is certain with international adoption! We are completely fine with either one, so it doesn't really matter. It just keeps things interesting!

Purposeful Waiting

Well, I'm a day early, but as of tomorrow (March 3) we will have been waiting for 5 months for our referral! I cannot believe it. We should be a little more than half way on that wait! I hope the second half of the wait will go as quickly as the first.

While we wait, I have had lots of time to soul search and think about what is next for me. I will be resigning my position at the school I teach at to focus on our family. I have mixed feelings about this....I am more than thrilled to be home again (I was home for almost 9 years when my kids were little) and am excited to be home with our new little one as well. I also have loved my time at Judah and have made lots of good friends there. I will miss my days there.

Ever since we started this adoption journey, I have felt God tugging on my heart to do more for the cause of the orphan. This has sometimes been dismissed by others as "just needing to get my baby", but that's not it. I feel a strong desire to be purposeful and to work towards helping these children - even if it's only a few. I, of course, cannot even put a dent in the number of orphans in the world, but I long for God to use me to make a difference to the few I can help.

After much prayer and thought, I am stepping out to begin an orphan ministry at our church. I do not yet know exactly what it will look like or who will come along side me, but I have a passion and excitement about the possibilities. We are in the baby beginning planning/brainstorming phase and I will be attending the Orphan Summit in April to learn more about how to get started.

I know that many of you reading are also adopting or care about orphan causes and are possibly involved in similar ministries yourself. If you are, I'd love to hear your ideas and stories. If you are local and want to get involved, let me know that, too!

My hope and prayer is that this time waiting will not be wasted. My hope and prayer is that somehow God will use our experiences and our adoption to intrigue others and that they might consider the possibilities for their own family. My hope and prayer is that we will make a difference.

Four down....

Our dossier has now been in Ethiopia for four months!! Four months down, maybe 5 or so to go until we see a picture of our little one! In some ways the time has gone quickly and in others it seems so long ago that we sent our dossier off. It is encouraging to know that we are almost half way there,though!
Please keep Ethiopian adoption in your prayers. Ethiopia is definitely experiencing some growing pains....their court system is struggling to keep up with all the requests for court dates for adoptions and it seems that more people are not passing court the first time they go through. (Reminder: our agency will go to court for us in Ethiopia after we receive our referral - we must pass court in order to travel) The laws and expectations of judges in Ethiopia are changing all the time as they figure out how best to serve the children of their country. It is a challenging and exciting time to be a part of Ethiopian adoption. It is wonderful that more families are adopting these precious children, and yet difficult to be in the middle of it and have the process slow down.

God's Call to Care for Orphans

I started this blog for a couple of different reasons.....first, to keep our family and friends updated on our adoption. But, I also want to address God's call to care for the orphans of this world. God does give a clear call for Christians to care for "the least of these".....it's not something that's "nice" to do and it's not something that is a choice. We are all to have some part in it. So, today's post will focus on giving you opportunities to be a part of this great call.

There are several things we call all do to care for orphans:
- Pray. Pray for provision and for how God would use you to care for them.

- Be the one God uses to provide for their needs.....this might mean to send money, to send supplies or fill another need. There are lots of organizations you can do this through. I will post some links at the end of the post.

- Support those who are taking part in orphan care.....this could be a missionary, a foster care family or someone who recently adopted. They'd love to have your help and prayers.

- Provide a safe place. Become a foster family.
- GO - Go to where they are and show them God's love. You can take mission trips through your church or other organizations, such as Children's Hopechest and Compassion International.

- Sponsor a child. This includes monthly financial support as well as your letters and encouragement.

- Become a big brother or sister with a local agency and spend time with someone who needs a good role model.

- Become their forever family.....discover the blessing of adoption. Don't let your fears and reservations rob you and a child of the blessing of being a family.

- Mobilize others - gather those around you and brainstorm how you can work together on behalf of the orphan.

Ready to get started? How you start isn't important.....that you do somethinig is.
Here are some reputable agencies that all have wonderful opportunities for you to serve:

Red Letters Campaign
Children's Hopechest
Vision Trust
World Orphans
Warm Blankets
Shoes for Orphan Souls
Compassion International

Our adoption agency:
America World

If a brother or sister is without clothing and in need of daily food, and one of you says to them, "Go in peace, be warmed and be filled," and yet you do not give them what is necessary for their body, what use is that?
James 2:15, 16

Darling Baby.....

The Joner family has passed Ethiopian court and has posted a video of their beautiful baby on their blog - you must check it out. She's adorable....
This family has already been through so much. They received a referral last summer for a precious little girl named Julia who passed away before they could go get her. Since then, they received a referral for this little cutie, Jalene. We are so happy for them!
Here's their blog:

http://www.babyjalene.blogspot.com

Praying for Abby

Hi Friends,

I have been following the journey of a little girl named Abby..... the video below tells her story. Please join us in praying for Abby and for her complete healing. I pray that God will choose to glorify Himself in the healing of this little girl and provide she and her family the strength and peace I'm sure they are needing.

Three Months!

Today marks our three month mark of waiting!
For those of you who are keeping track - our curent wait time is 8-10 mos for a referral.
So, 5-7 months before we will see a picture of our little one! (Those of you who follow international adoption knows that this can change at any time and referral tends to happen on the longer end of things!)
Three months down.......???? to go!

Food for Thought

This video is not intended to make any of us feel guilty for the good lives we enjoy. It IS intended to make us think of how we can make a difference and about being good stewards of what we have been given. If each one of us made small sacrifices, the impact could be great.

Happy New Year!

Well, here's to 2009! I am thankful for my blessings in 2008 and that God has led us down this path of adoption! Here's hoping that we will ring in 2010 as a family of six instead of five!

Happy New Year to you and yours!

Not much new on the adoption front for us......it seems that wait times continue to get a little longer. There's really no way to know if this trend will continue or not. During this time of waiting there will not be much to report about our personal adoption - we will not really hear anything until the day they call us with our referral. We are involved in a great yahoo group where we can follow along with other families who are also adopting through our agency from Ethiopia. Through their journeys and wait times coupled with the information on wait times our agency gives we can try to guesstimate what our wait time will be. Right now, the wait (from the time our papers went to Ethiopia (DTE) until we get a referral) is about 9 months which would put us at getting a referral sometime in July. There is really no way of knowing for sure, so it's just a guess.

While we wait I continue to contemplate what God would have me do on behalf of orphans. He has certainly given me a heart for them and I feel there is something else for me to do...I just don't know what it is. I will continue to seek out what it might be. In the meantime, I hope to encourage all of you to also think about the same.

Below is part of an article I found about Ethiopia and it's orphans:

Ethiopia to see sharp rise in orphans running households: NGO

Nov 7, 2008

ADDIS ABABA (AFP) - Ethiopia will by 2010 see a four-fold increase in the number of orphaned children aged between nine and 19 who are heading families due to AIDS, poverty and conflict, a local NGO said on Friday.

Some 225,000 households will be run by children, up from 77,000 in 2005, Addis Ababa-based African Child Policy Forum (ACPF) said in a report.

"This is going to be an explosive problem," said Assefa Bequele, the agency's director.

"In some households, the oldest child is also the principal care-giver to a terminally-ill parent," said the report.

Ethiopia is one of the world's poorest countries. The government estimates that 1.5 million Ethiopians are infected with HIV, while the World Health Organization says nearly 2.8 million are infected.

Can you imagine? Children running homes.
My intention is certainly not to sound preachy here, but it is to make you think. It's to make us all think. I really do believe that God wants to use us to care for "the least of these". He tells us so. Children and those who cannot care for themselves are closest to God's heart. They are the people Jesus spent most of his time with. Do our lives look like Jesus' in this way?

Please join me in searching for how God wants us to respond to what we now know. If you are interested in continuing the dialogue and sharing ideas, please leave a comment - I'd love to hear from you!

Merry Christmas

I did not manage to get Christmas cards out this year.....so please consider this our holiday greeting!! Merry Christmas!

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Shoes for Ethiopia!!

TOMS shoes is donating a pair of shoes to Ethiopians for every pair you buy - One for One. They are working towards raising 30,000 for Ethiopia! You can help by shopping - get a great pair of comfy shoes for yourself while helping someone else out - Just in time for Christmas, too! This video will help explain why it is so important to have shoes to stay healthy.


So help by shopping.......talk about an easy way to help!

While I'm Waiting....

It's been two months since our dossier was sent to Ethiopia - we're so busy the time has gone quickly, but waiting isn't easy. The current wait for an infant is 7-9 months. (more like 9!) So, we are looking at waiting another 7 months or so until we see a picture of our baby.

I found this song (from movie Fireproof) and it describes perfectly how I feel about our wait. Enjoy.....

Counting my Blessings.....

Jesus and his sacrifice for me, my wonderful husband, three great kids, my parents, my siblings, family, friends, church family and the freedom to worship, God's grace, peace, days at home with my family, dinners spent together, home, music, our school, health, purposeful employment, God's calling to Ethiopia, our child there and their family, lazy summer days, girlfriends and good conversation, chocolate, sunsets, walks on the beach, education, opportunities to serve, the kids in my class at school, godly co-workers and their friendships, a warm sweater on cold days, hot baths and hot cocoa, fires in the fireplace, cool fall days and the changing of the leaves, snow days, the freshness of spring, holidays to gather together, my Wednesday night Bible study, beauty of all God has created, His promises, my marriage, cookies, good smelling candles, cell phones, hearing my kids laugh and watching them grow, forgiveness and God's faithfulness......just to name a few.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Wondering What You Can Do To Help?

Traveling Families

This week is an exciting week as several families will be traveling to pick up their new little ones in Ethiopia! I only have blogs for a few of them, but if you'd like to check in on their journey next week, here they are:

Armstrongs
Gambles
Juvinalls
VanWettens
Pridemores

(Note: The Juvinalls are from Normal, Illinois for those of you who live close to us. The VanWettens just traveled a couple of weeks ago to get their 1 yr old daughter and are now going back for their older daughter!)

Enjoy!

Disappointing News

Today we got some disappointing news about our possible wait time. It may be longer. :(

We had been expecting that we might get a referral in May and travel sometime in July. While that is not completely out of the question, it is looking less likely that that will happen. Referral times have slowed down as of late. Let me see if I can explain it to you.....

Ethiopian courts close for 2 months from August - October. Families must pass court before they are able to go and get their children and bring them home. If they are not able to get court dates due to court closure, the transition home they send the kids to once they are referred stays full (because people aren't able to travel to go pick up their children). As long as the transition home is full, they cannot move any more children there to prepare them (paperwork, physicals,etc.) to refer to new families. So, there is a slow down in referrals. In a nutshell, this is what has happened. So, we are looking at a longer wait time because of this slow down.
Normally, this wouldn't be that big of a deal, except for the timing for us. It is likely that we may receive a referral too late to receive a court date before courts close next August, which means we would not travel until this time next year. Yikes!

Our agency is making some changes in the program and we are hopeful that this might help, but no one really knows.

Am I disappointed? Of course. Do I wish it were sooner? Yes.
Heres the thing: I have zero control. Nada. Zip. Zero. What are you going to do?
There really is no hurry except I want to know our baby - I want to hold them and have them here. I can't wait for that day. Until that day I'll just have to trust that it's all in God's timing....He'll work out the details and the day will in fact come!

Ways to Pray

Lately, several people have asked me about where we are in our adoption and how they can pray for us (I LOVE that question!). So, being ever so grateful that people want to pray for us, I have compiled a list of things that we would appreciate prayer for:

• For our baby's health (probably in utero....?) and for proper nutrition and provision for all it needs for healthy development
• For our baby's birth parents. I cannot imagine being in their shoes and wonder often what it is they are going through.....do they know they will have to give their baby up, are they living in extreme poverty, are they sick, will the mother die in childbirth? Adoption is a wonderful thing, but unfortunately it always begins with a loss.
• For peace and patience as we wait and anticipate the many changes that will be yet to come for our family.
• Financial provision for this adoption. God is so good, and so far we have always had the money we needed when the next payment came due. We are fully expecting that He will continue to take care of us in this way!
• That we will enjoy these last months as a family of five and not wish our time away!
• Lastly, pray for the orphans of this world and how God might use all of us to care for them.
  

As for the other question of where we are, the answer is: WAITING
We will not hear anything else or really have any new news until next spring - probably May at the earliest.
Thanks for your prayers - Have a great week!

One Month Down!

It has been one month today since we were officially DTE!! One down, six (+ or -) to go until we receive our referral!

Ethiopian Food!

Our family went today to try our first taste of Ethiopian food. I am both happy and relieved to report that we liked it - all of us! I was a bit nervous because I am not all that adventurous with my food tastes, especially with spicy food, but it was great. We tried different dishes with beef, chicken and lamb. Yum!

Ethiopian food is served on a sour flat bread called injera. You use the injera to grab or soak up the stews, meats and vegetables. Some of it is quite spicy, but we told them we were first-timers and I think they went a bit easy on us! It was a lot of fun to experience this little piece of the culture. There were some other Ethiopian men in there eating at the same time, so it was fun to try to listen as they spoke to one another in Amharic (one of the main languages in
Ethiopia). We told our server (I think also the owner?) that we would be traveling to Ethiopia, hopefully next summer. He said, "Oh, you must be getting a baby!" I told him that we were and he replied, "Well, I hope you'll get more than one!" We left promising to be back someday with the newest member of our family!