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!
Thursday, November 3, 2011
Six Months Home
Sunshine has been home for six months now, and she is 18 months old. And, boy, is she growing! We just went to the doctor for her 18 month check up and she is in the 50th percentile for height and weight. Last night we were looking at the pictures from our first trip to ET. She was so tiny and just army crawling her way around. Now we can't get her to stop running and climbing! She climbs EVERYTHING! This little one has visible biceps. Is that crazy or what?
My big kids and I have started a list of all her words. AMAZING! But my 15 year old informed me that I'm probably the only one who can understand half of them. I guess she's probably right. How many people know that "o-min-ya" is hamburger and "mon-ya" is water. She has been saying "mon-ya" for water since she has been home. I'm not quite sure where that one came from, but I love it and don't want it to go away, although it is...with each time we say the correct word, she'll switch. We've already lost one of the things she came home with and it makes me so sad. In Ethiopia, one of the main languages is Amharic. Remilita learned that "NAY" sp? meant "come" so if someone said that to her she would hold up her arms to be picked up. After we got home, when we would look at pictures of horses and tell her that a horse says "Neigh", she would hold up her arms. Now she knows that a horse says "neigh" and says "uppy, uppy" when she wants someone to hold her. Gone is the only Amharic she knew. :(
Everyday she puts a smile on all of our faces. God has blessed us with a ray of sunshine in our home every day! She loves to make us laugh and has even started to try to make us laugh. This year was her very first Halloween and she had so much fun dressing up. She loved playing the part of a kitty...sounds and all. I think her favorite part, though, was knocking on people's doors. She loves to do that now and if anyone is in the bathroom, you can be sure she will knock on the door until they come out!!!
Our next adoption journey is moving along VERY SLOWLY. Kind of crazy, really, because I thought all the paper work would go so much more quickly this time. And it has on our end. It's just that we still have to wait for others to do their part. But that's okay. I am learning to enjoy each day. With T-mac being away at school for the last 4 months, only being home for one weekend, and knowing he only might be able to come home at Christmas for a couple days, makes me realize how short my time is with our oldest daughter. She has applied to 5 schools, so now we just wait for acceptance letters and do lots of visits and PRAY, PRAY, PRAY, for God's guidance. Some days I wonder if you could homeschool the college level. Not really, but it would be nice, right? Letting go is so hard, but a necessary part of growing up. I am so proud of them!
My big kids and I have started a list of all her words. AMAZING! But my 15 year old informed me that I'm probably the only one who can understand half of them. I guess she's probably right. How many people know that "o-min-ya" is hamburger and "mon-ya" is water. She has been saying "mon-ya" for water since she has been home. I'm not quite sure where that one came from, but I love it and don't want it to go away, although it is...with each time we say the correct word, she'll switch. We've already lost one of the things she came home with and it makes me so sad. In Ethiopia, one of the main languages is Amharic. Remilita learned that "NAY" sp? meant "come" so if someone said that to her she would hold up her arms to be picked up. After we got home, when we would look at pictures of horses and tell her that a horse says "Neigh", she would hold up her arms. Now she knows that a horse says "neigh" and says "uppy, uppy" when she wants someone to hold her. Gone is the only Amharic she knew. :(
Everyday she puts a smile on all of our faces. God has blessed us with a ray of sunshine in our home every day! She loves to make us laugh and has even started to try to make us laugh. This year was her very first Halloween and she had so much fun dressing up. She loved playing the part of a kitty...sounds and all. I think her favorite part, though, was knocking on people's doors. She loves to do that now and if anyone is in the bathroom, you can be sure she will knock on the door until they come out!!!
Our next adoption journey is moving along VERY SLOWLY. Kind of crazy, really, because I thought all the paper work would go so much more quickly this time. And it has on our end. It's just that we still have to wait for others to do their part. But that's okay. I am learning to enjoy each day. With T-mac being away at school for the last 4 months, only being home for one weekend, and knowing he only might be able to come home at Christmas for a couple days, makes me realize how short my time is with our oldest daughter. She has applied to 5 schools, so now we just wait for acceptance letters and do lots of visits and PRAY, PRAY, PRAY, for God's guidance. Some days I wonder if you could homeschool the college level. Not really, but it would be nice, right? Letting go is so hard, but a necessary part of growing up. I am so proud of them!
Wednesday, October 19, 2011
One Year Ago Today
One year ago today, we received the best phone call ever. We got to see the beautiful face and hear the name of the little one we had been praying for. We now knew who the daughter was that God had planned for our family. We heard the story of how she came to be our daughter. It was a day of both joy and sadness. We were so excited and ready for this little one to join our family, but also knew that someone else on the other side of the world had to go through so much sadness. Laughter and tears... Oh, how I pray that she will come to know Jesus and that He will provide her comfort in times of sadness.
We love you so much Sunshine. We went through so many changes in Ethiopian adoptions which made our wait longer than expected. We went through some hard delays from the time we knew your name until we finally were able to get a plane to bring you home. But God was with us the entire time as He was also with you. Some days he carried me through the day because I was not able to make it on my own. God was and is in control. That wait brought us to you. It's hard to believe that on Saturday, you will have been home for 6 months! You have grown and changed so much, but the one thing that has remained the same is your spirit. Your joy is contagious and your laughter spreads throughout our home. Our mornings have never been the same. You greet each one of us by name and with a smile. You make US feel special and make me aware of how I need to treat others. You are truly and blessing, Sunshine.
We love you so much Sunshine. We went through so many changes in Ethiopian adoptions which made our wait longer than expected. We went through some hard delays from the time we knew your name until we finally were able to get a plane to bring you home. But God was with us the entire time as He was also with you. Some days he carried me through the day because I was not able to make it on my own. God was and is in control. That wait brought us to you. It's hard to believe that on Saturday, you will have been home for 6 months! You have grown and changed so much, but the one thing that has remained the same is your spirit. Your joy is contagious and your laughter spreads throughout our home. Our mornings have never been the same. You greet each one of us by name and with a smile. You make US feel special and make me aware of how I need to treat others. You are truly and blessing, Sunshine.
Monday, October 17, 2011
Fall
Fall is my favorite time of year...all the colors...playing in the freshly raked leaves...pumpkins...parades...hot cider...soups and chili...warm soft sweatshirts...football...marching band.... It has been so fun to "introduce" Sunshine to all the fun things our family enjoys this time of year. I am so thankful she is here. I love her so much and can't imagine our family without her. God has blessed us beyond measure.
The girls and I raked leaves last week and Sunshine had so much fun playing in them.
She makes us laugh all day every day. So much joy!
High school homecoming has also been apart of Fall for us for the last 3 years. I have to admit...the shopping stresses me out. Our oldest is 5'11" and it is close to impossible to find a dress that is long enough. This year we shopped in 4 different towns before we finally found one. And then there's the shoes....I did finally figure out that the only store that carries her size is Nordstroms or we have to order them online. Although all of this was stressful and frustrating, it was all worth it when she finally found the perfect dress and shoes. My saving grace was the we had found a dress for Chesswava in the summer, so she was all set. It was fun dressing up and taking pictures. They are growing up so fast!
The girls and I raked leaves last week and Sunshine had so much fun playing in them.
High school homecoming has also been apart of Fall for us for the last 3 years. I have to admit...the shopping stresses me out. Our oldest is 5'11" and it is close to impossible to find a dress that is long enough. This year we shopped in 4 different towns before we finally found one. And then there's the shoes....I did finally figure out that the only store that carries her size is Nordstroms or we have to order them online. Although all of this was stressful and frustrating, it was all worth it when she finally found the perfect dress and shoes. My saving grace was the we had found a dress for Chesswava in the summer, so she was all set. It was fun dressing up and taking pictures. They are growing up so fast!
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| Even R got to dress up and join in on the fun!
We are still waiting for our state to approve our home study. B just asked me last night how long I thought it would be before we got on the wait list. My prediction...unfortunately... 2-3 more months. All in God's time though. We got on the wait list for our first adoption in January of 2010....hoping we will get on the wait list for this next adoption by January 2012...at the latest! But I remember so well how my predictions went with our last adoption, so holding those time frames loosely. :)
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Friday, October 14, 2011
Happy Birthday, T-mac!
Our oldest turned 19 years old on Sunday, and it was the first time we were apart. But we did get to spend a couple hours with him on Saturday. We went to his football game first. When we got there, I took Sunshine down as close to the sidelines as we could get to say Belle. I tried to point T-mac out to her and she looked and looked for him. I wish I had my video camera when she finally found him. She was jumping up and down, waving both arms wildly, laughing, squealing, and saying "Hi, T" over and over. She was so happy to see him and the smile that she brought to his face was priceless. We had a nice dinner after the game and then it was time to say good-bye. I miss him so much, but I think he really likes it there.
Our agency approved our home study this week and now it's off to our state to approve. I forgot about that step...not sure how long it will take...anywhere from 2 weeks to 2 months. So many unknowns in adoption, but the good thing is I know God is in control. I have the hope and assurance that God has a perfect plan...to prosper and not harm. (Jeremiah 29:11)
Our agency approved our home study this week and now it's off to our state to approve. I forgot about that step...not sure how long it will take...anywhere from 2 weeks to 2 months. So many unknowns in adoption, but the good thing is I know God is in control. I have the hope and assurance that God has a perfect plan...to prosper and not harm. (Jeremiah 29:11)
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