Oh, how I wish I had time to write more on my blog.....sigh.... On March 1st we got our court date. It will be on April 10th. We are so excited that things are moving along smoothly so far. So needless to say, I have been trying to get ready for our trip.
We have booked our flights and B-man is going with us this first trip. I am so excited for him to see the beautiful country where his two little sisters are from. He is beyond excited. So now it's on to getting his shots done. B and I are still good from our last trip, so all we needed to get were malaria meds. Right now I am trying to shop for donations...which it seems that the older kiddos at our agency's TH need clothes and shoes. I've also been gathering things to send to our daughter until we can bring her home. We have had 2 families send us pictures of her already and it is such a blessing. I love her beautiful smile and can't wait to be able to hold her!
The other part of traveling is getting everything ready to run smoothly here at home while we are gone. That is the part that overwhelms me. I know our big girls will do fine, but this will be the first time B and I will both be gone at the same time and I worry about our youngest. I know the grandparents are excited about this time with their grandkids though.
Our newest exciting news is that we have a positive recommendation letter already!!! Although it's not a guarantee that we will pass court, it's a necessary piece that was missing when we went to court for our first adoption. We waited 7 LONG weeks for that letter to arrive so we could pass court.
I stand in awe with how smoothly everything has gone so far. We still have a long ways to go and we still could hit some major bumps in our journey but God is doing great things and hopefully we will be able to bring our daughter home soon!
Thursday, March 15, 2012
Tuesday, February 14, 2012
REFERRAL!!!!
February 8, 2012 at 2pm I got a phone call from our family coordinator from AWAA. I had just talked to her the day before so I thought that maybe she had another question for me. I was so wrong about that! She was calling to talk to me about a beautiful 7 year old little girl. I was in total shock. After praying about possibly changing agencies or doing a concurrent adoption and having those doors closed, I had prepared myself for the long wait of over a year for a referral. I had just prayed the day before, asking God to please help me with this wait because I am NOT good with waiting. God had it under control the whole time! Why was I surprised??? 12 days!!! When I thought that it would be so easy the second time around to get all the paperwork finished, it took 5 months! I was so discouraged during that time when we had to wait for each review of our home study and then dossier. It was taking forever in my mind and yet, it was all in God's plan. He knew our "LindyLou" and He was creating the way for our paths to cross at the perfect time. God has taught me so much through both of our adoption journeys and I am still learning to put my trust in Him. When we got the call, B was out of town in meetings and I didn't get to talk to him for 4 hours! So I had this awesome news and didn't have anyone to share it with. How sweet it was when we finally connected and got to celebrate together. We decided not to tell our other children until the next night when he would be home.
The next evening when everyone was home, we gathered them around the computer. We opened up the document with LindyLou's picture and they were beyond excited and kept saying, "really?? for real??? are you serious???" They were definitely surprised.
And now the wait continues, but at a different level. Now we have seen the beautiful face of our little girl. We have heard her story, and we pray for her little heart. Oh, how my heart aches for the losses this little one has had to go through. No child should have to go through so much pain. In the months that we wait to bring her home, we ask God to prepare our hearts to meet hers right where she needs us. We pray that God will prepare her little heart to meet her forever family.
We expect it to take at least 6 months to bring her home. At this point we are waiting for a court date. Our agency estimates that we will get a court date 12 - 16 weeks from referral. So we could be traveling for our first trip to meet our little girl and go to court sometime in May or June. Did I mention that I'd like it to be sooner??? :) We also have to hope and pray that all the documents needed for our case arrive in the courts on time so we can pass court the first time. Otherwise, we could get rescheduled another court date 1 -4 weeks later. After we pass court, our agency will then gather all the necessary paperwork to submit our case to the embassy. Unfortunately, this is where things have really slowed down in ET adoptions. If there is a living relative, the embassy will request an interview with them. This could be 3 - 6 weeks after all our paperwork was submitted. If they are satisfied with all the paperwork and the interview, we will travel for our second trip, to bring LindyLou home. If they are not satisfied, our case will be sent to Nairobi which is another 2 - 4 weeks before we would get clearance. I am praying that the time between our first and second trip is not long. Our little girl is old enough to understand when we come and go but how can she trust that we will come back...and the longer she waits, I can't imagine how her heart would feel.
We feel so blessed that God would choose us to be LindyLou's forever family. To Him be all glory.
The next evening when everyone was home, we gathered them around the computer. We opened up the document with LindyLou's picture and they were beyond excited and kept saying, "really?? for real??? are you serious???" They were definitely surprised.
And now the wait continues, but at a different level. Now we have seen the beautiful face of our little girl. We have heard her story, and we pray for her little heart. Oh, how my heart aches for the losses this little one has had to go through. No child should have to go through so much pain. In the months that we wait to bring her home, we ask God to prepare our hearts to meet hers right where she needs us. We pray that God will prepare her little heart to meet her forever family.
We expect it to take at least 6 months to bring her home. At this point we are waiting for a court date. Our agency estimates that we will get a court date 12 - 16 weeks from referral. So we could be traveling for our first trip to meet our little girl and go to court sometime in May or June. Did I mention that I'd like it to be sooner??? :) We also have to hope and pray that all the documents needed for our case arrive in the courts on time so we can pass court the first time. Otherwise, we could get rescheduled another court date 1 -4 weeks later. After we pass court, our agency will then gather all the necessary paperwork to submit our case to the embassy. Unfortunately, this is where things have really slowed down in ET adoptions. If there is a living relative, the embassy will request an interview with them. This could be 3 - 6 weeks after all our paperwork was submitted. If they are satisfied with all the paperwork and the interview, we will travel for our second trip, to bring LindyLou home. If they are not satisfied, our case will be sent to Nairobi which is another 2 - 4 weeks before we would get clearance. I am praying that the time between our first and second trip is not long. Our little girl is old enough to understand when we come and go but how can she trust that we will come back...and the longer she waits, I can't imagine how her heart would feel.
We feel so blessed that God would choose us to be LindyLou's forever family. To Him be all glory.
Friday, January 27, 2012
DTE
Dossier mailed to Ethiopia (DTE)!!!! Having to do our second adoption with a different agency means learning new adoption lingo. DTE was one of the first I've had to learn. In our first adoption, when our dossier was approved, we were put on the wait list. With our new agency, we are put on the "wait list" when our dossier is mailed to Ethiopia. It's been approved since last Friday so having to wait another week to be put on the "wait list" is a little frustrating. There have been so many more unexpected waits this time through...sick leaves, vacations, holidays, etc. Even in the end when we held on to our finished dossier and big payment for a few weeks, prayerfully seeking God's guidance on what direction we should go. Should we look at other agency WCL or change countries? In the end we have decided that God called us back to Ethiopia a year ago on our first trip to Ethiopia to meet our daughter. He already knows the children He has for our family and we are choosing to trust Him. It's so hard to see the faces of children who are waiting for a family. I just want to bring them all home. And My husband is no help because he just says OK. UGH!
So now we wait. Our parameters are much different this time. We are requesting a child either gender 0 - 7 years or siblings 0 - 7 years. We have no idea how long we will wait. There are just no guesses at time frames when your parameters are so broad. There are many families ahead of us. Our fingerprints expire March of 2013 so my guess is we will need to get that done before our child comes home.
So many changes. We took Belle for a college visit today. She visited the school that Bill and I both graduated from...just a few miles away from where we live. She has cut her choices in schools down from 5 to only 3; so we are getting there. We are praying that God leads her to where He wants her to go. I can't believe she is graduating from high school this year!! Time has flown.... Turning 17 this month really hit me. I think it's going to be hard for her to go away to school because she loves her family and she is especially fond of her little sister. Love to see them together...they have so much fun!
So now we wait. Our parameters are much different this time. We are requesting a child either gender 0 - 7 years or siblings 0 - 7 years. We have no idea how long we will wait. There are just no guesses at time frames when your parameters are so broad. There are many families ahead of us. Our fingerprints expire March of 2013 so my guess is we will need to get that done before our child comes home.
So many changes. We took Belle for a college visit today. She visited the school that Bill and I both graduated from...just a few miles away from where we live. She has cut her choices in schools down from 5 to only 3; so we are getting there. We are praying that God leads her to where He wants her to go. I can't believe she is graduating from high school this year!! Time has flown.... Turning 17 this month really hit me. I think it's going to be hard for her to go away to school because she loves her family and she is especially fond of her little sister. Love to see them together...they have so much fun!
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