It is officially the 4:59pm of March 2011

Feeling bummed today, the idea that maybe we could be able to travel this summer for Baby Girl is slipping out of my hands as today passes by. Trying to stay positive, but really just need some good news here....

Overwhelmed reading this tonight....

http://buildingtheblocks.blogspot.com/2011/03/sometimes-we-find-it-easiest-to-look.html

Thank you Amy for this honest accountability.

When you keep moving but your really about a mile back...

That is what I think of when I see this picture.... You keep moving, even though really your body feels about a mile back on the track.

I have been on this ride lately, still moving forward faster than I know what is going on sometimes. The weeks seem to fly by, and before I knew it, we are almost done with March. Just 29 days ago I woke up praying for this month to go as slow as possible. The reality of getting a referral this month and traveling to Ethiopia before the Raining Season of closed courts was exciting. Now as we only have 2 1/2 days left of March, I am feeling like its 4:59pm...

For those of you have or are adopting, I think you know what I mean. When you are waiting for "THE CALL" of a referral, every morning seems to bring new hope and excitement. Then at 4:59pm, you start feeling the disappointment of another day gone by without any news. So this week seems to be the 4:59pm of the month of March.

Wow, as I am reading this, it is so depressing... Amazing how you know certain things. I am confident in God's timing of this process and I know that He is caring for our baby girl while we wait to bring here her. BUT actually resting in a peaceful knowledge of those things is really really hard.

So I keep moving, moving so fast I sometimes can't remember what day it is, but my mind and body feel about 6 months behind.

I am going to stop throwing my bummed mood out into never never land now and try to get somethings done around the house.

Feeling the delays this week...

Seems like I have not posted in a while, guess that it might be that I wanted to wait until we had solid news either way. Because that looks like it might be happening for some time I have stolen a recap from my friend's the Roth's blog, mostly because she did a great job and too, I am tired. Just kinda tired ya know?? Anyway here it is...

We have been in contact with our agency this week.  We haven't learned a whole lot but we do know a few things...
- referrals are still happening (a 6 month old baby boy was matched this week)
- 16 children were matched with families last month.  And, there are only 2 families ahead of us on the discussion boards.  
- new people have been hired within the Ethiopian court office who are now working on the backlog of court cases
- the time between the court date (first trip) and the embassy appointment (second trip) will likely be much longer
- there are rumors of an increase from the number of only processing 5 per day.  But, this is only a rumor!!!  
- God is in control!  That pretty much says it all! 


In a way, my mood matches the storm that is currently blowing trash cans down the street..... hopefully it blows through quickly. 

9:06am.... Ethiopia Time

In my mind, 9am seems like a great time for meeting, right? I am awake, even though its 11:06pm our time. I know there are many other adoptive parents awake right now doing what I am doing. Praying over the meeting that will take place, if its not already happening, in Ethiopia today.

Today, there will be the appointing of a new Head of Adoptions at MOWA
Today, the US Ambassador to Ethiopia will do his best to communicate the desire to assist in the care reviews
Today, Joint Council will present the petition that is still being signed... 36 thousand people and counting...!!!
Today, we are prayerful that our Mighty God will speak hope and love through the people attending this meeting
Today, we are praying for resolution that ends in the best interest of the children of Ethiopia.

Please pray with me tonight..... if you are suddenly awake when you normally would be sleeping, please take that as God calling you to your knees.

Thank you to each of your signed the petition! You all have been amazing and the support and love has been overwhelming. Thank you for reposting on your Facebook and Tweeting!!

I know God speaks to me through songs that I have heard or love to sing... right now...
"Amazing love, how can it be? That you my King would die for me. Amazing love, I know its true, its my joy to honor you, in all I do, I'll honor you." Michelle Kim

That is my prayer tonight... someone might need to remind me of this from time to time

Specific Prayer Requests

So we have been asked, because if you are not a total stalker of the situation like I am, what are some specific things that you all can pray over and for during this time of confusion and decisions in Ethiopia. So here is what we are praying for specifically and would love for you to join us!

1. First and Foremost, that decisions being made are in the best interest of the children of Ethiopia. Regardless what that means for waiting families.
2. A change in staff at MOWA is scheduled to take affect March 14th, 2011. We are praying over this positions. Over the person whom it will be assigned to this position. We are praying specifically that this person would have a heart for the Children of Ethiopia and will keep their best interest in the for front of their mind during this time of transition.
3. We are praying that MOWA will accept the offer of assistance from a non bias, non-government, non-adoption agency, like Joint Council on International Children's Affairs. This assistance would likely entail some technology, training and additional staff in the review and approval of adoption cases. YOU CAN HELP WITH THIS IN A TANGIBLE WAY!!! SIGN THIS PETITION!!!
4. We are also praying that through this time, waiting children will still be given a high priority as their circumstances are much more time sensitive and potentially life ending should their cases be drawn out over several years.
5. We are praying some some very special families whom we are honored to travel this road with... Josh and Sara Lyons and my sweet friend Rachel and her hubby Ben and their daughter Willow. This has been a time of fear and frustration for these people who mean a lot to us and we are praying for peace over their homes.
6. We are praying for a meeting that will take place on Monday, March 14, 2011 between the US Ambassador to Ethiopia, Ethiopian Government  and MOWA.


Thank you to each of you have checked in with us over the past few days... especially our families, Deanna & Jimmy, Emily. Your words of encouragement and prayer have done more for my heart than you will ever know.

All day my sweet Savior has been speaking words of comfort to my soul... this keeps coming to my mind

Update from Conference Call this Morning

This morning the US State Department had a conference call with several other US and International Agencies.
Here is the update 

Please keep praying with us!

ኢትዮዽያዊት ወጣት ከሞት ወደ ሕይወት Project Hopeful (NBC-Today Show)

A URGENT CALL TO ACTION... my family and friends... !!

I have delayed in blogging the last few days as things have been changing so quickly and we have been uncertain of the future of our adoption. As you all know, this has been a long road for our family and we have continued to pray that this road that God lead our family down with end with Grace being home with us. That might not happen...

Here is the short version:
*****The Ethiopian agency that handles the processes of review and approval of adoptions for the Ethiopian children has decided to only process 5 cases per day. This is a 90% cut in cases reviewed.
*****What this means is two things, one significantly more important than the other.*****
MOST IMPORTANT---- With fewer children allowed to the leave the country to waiting families, the orphanages in Ethiopia will have to turn away children. There is no way to handle all the children coming into the system without some children getting families. This will leave them to fend for themselves on the streets of Ethiopia. Devastating result.


The wait time to adopt a child from Ethiopia will be closer to over 2 years... for most of the children in Ethiopia, this could mean that they would be matched with a family and then because of health and the conditions of the medical system would not live to be brought to their families wait for them.

What can you do?? I am pleading with you, each of you. Please sign the petition which has been put together by the Joint Counsel of International Children's Services.


Because Blogger publishes stats for my blog, I know I get over 1000 hits per day. Even if just half of you signed the petition and then asked a few of your friends to sign the petition you could change the actions taking place in a country that means the world to our hearts!! Please join me!

PLEASE REPOST THIS ON YOUR FACEBOOK, TWITTER & BLOG!!!

Walking down the path... no matter where it leads

While my heart has been in absolute turmoil since this weekend regarding the status of Adoptions going out of Ethiopia, I have to admit, they are selfish worries. I am a selfish being and I am repenting of that. The very Word of God that I have entrusted my entire being to clearly says DO NOT WORRY. (Mathew 6:24) What then am I saying to and about my amazing God if I continue down a path of worry? If I am honest, I am saying "I don't trust you". I hate that of myself and I am going to change it.

I am so blessed by my new friend Rachel... she is an waiting adopting Momma like me and we are about the same length into the process as her and her husband. This morning when I texted her in a panic the words of encouragement she sent back were more than I could have asked for. From her text to me this morning:
"I think our fight is "not of against flesh and blood" we have felt God's call and been obedient! We are walking His will and regardless of where the road leads there is no better place...."

A random "road" in Ethiopia

So here is me, confident in our obedience to follow God's calling on our lives to adopt and walking down the road no matter where it leads.

I was also blessed by this blog post that I read today from an adoptive Dad. His words of calm and priorities have been a blessing to me today. If you are here on my blog because you are adopting from Ethiopia and are trying to fuel your anxiety about the situation, then I pray that the words of my friend Rachel and of the blog above touch your heart and grant peace.

I would love to hear back from you all.... adopting or not... on times of fear and frustration and how God met you there and walked with you down the path He so clearly set you on.

Delays and More Delays

I am blogging to keep my mind and eyes away from the Forum of other adoptive parents. The frustration and fear can be overwhelming for me and I know other waiting Momma's are feeling the same thing. Best not to put all these frantic, frustrated FREAKING OUT Momma's in one place ya know??

There has been so many rumors in the past two weeks about some significant slow downs in the Ethiopian program. It seems that there might be truth to those rumors. Our initial thoughts that we would be allowed to travel twice and come home with our daughter in the next six months seems like a life time ago. For now, until we hear directly from our Agency, we are just praying.

All time lines are out the window, we don't know when we will know anything at all. We don't know when we will travel and we don't know when this will be all over and we will be home with our daughter. Until then, we are praying for her safety and that she, who ever she is, is being cared for and loved.

Please be praying for our family during this time of waiting to know what the plans for Ethiopia are. Please pray for all the other families waiting for a match. Please pray for the families who have been matched and are waiting to travel. Please pray with us.

A project while I am waiting....

So I know that I blogged last week about my mission to provide needed items to the orphanage where our sweet little princess will be staying while we wait to bring her home, the response was overwhelming! Thank you to all who responded with words of encouragement and commitment.

We have received a list from Ethiopia and have narrowed it down to some urgent needs. Please see the list below... If you live in another state or another part of California and would like to be apart of collecting these items on behalf of our sweet little girl, please let me know! I would be happy to send out a family photo and list to you as well as custom t-shirt to say "Thank you for reaching beyond what we could have". Loving each of you and your willingness to pray over our little girl and family while we have been on this crazy journey.

This came directly off the list that was emailed to me today.

1.      Hygiene and skin care Supplies/Urgent/

• Toothpaste
• Baby body wash
• Diaper (Large Size 4,5,6)
• Wipes
• Diaper underwear (I think this might mean Pull-Ups??)
• Aveno lotion
• Shampoo & Conditioner (these little chocolate babies need special shampoo)
• Liquid Soap
• Hair bands
• Bath Towels  (medium size)