Lots of Questions...

It seems that adoption is full of questions... questions by us, questions from the people we love, questions from complete strangers. The questions by us are the ones that seem unanswerable. The questions from everyone else, those make us think.

Most recently I was asked (this is not the first time for this question) Why did you pick Ethiopia? I am working on this.. not becoming hardened to these really important questions.

Before Ricky and I had made the decision to adopt I could honestly say we were not "globally aware". Not in the way that we wanted to be. We knew there were "things" going on in Africa but only from the movies and a few friends who had been there. We knew that it was poverty stricken but only from the Infomercials asking for a small donation. But the trust is this: We didn't know. We had no idea. 


The more we researched and the more we asked the tough questions to ourselves the more our major question of "Why would we do this" turned into "Why wouldn't we do this?" Because of the rules regarding blogging about our adoption country I am limited to what I can share with you here regarding the status of Ethiopia and Africa as a whole. But I can share with you this.

THERE IS A HUGE NEED. A NEED THAT GOES BEYOND OUR AMERICA UNDERSTANDING OF NEED. 
Below are some links if you are interested in find out more about the country of Ethiopia, we would love for you to fall in love with this country as much as we have and then change a life with your knowledge.

http://www.unicef.org/infobycountry/ethiopia_12162.html

http://www.unicef.org/infobycountry/ethiopia_31288.html

http://www.unicef.org/infobycountry/ethiopia_30783.html

Why wouldn't we?   

A world away... and the only thing to do is pray!

There has been some major things going on in Ethiopia the past few months.... these issues are thankfully not involving our agency. But you know the drill, when one person or organization does something unethical, then everyone else is grouped into that category.

Over the past several months there has been a large investigation conducted by the US Embassy into the agencies who are conducting adoptions in Ethiopia. Thankfully, our agency was the first to be cleared and has been able to continue with referrals and court dates. There has been some major slow downs though after that.

Let me explain, the first trip to Ethiopia will be for our Court Date. At this court date we will officially adopt our daughter. But then we will have to leave her there. Prior to this major investigation families were able to travel back to Ethiopia for their Embassy appointment about 6 weeks later. This is where things have changed.

Now, instead of know about when we will travel back to Ethiopia to have our Embassy appointment and come home with our daughter, we will not know until the week before! This means on a Wednesday we will get an appointment for either the following Tuesday or Thursday! I can not imagine how crazy that will be for us... Plane Tickets, Child Care for the kids, Time off work! PACKING!! This short notice alone will mean we will again pay double for our plane tickets to ET.

All of this can and has made me so upset. The uncertainty of when we will travel and if we will be one of the families where a "field investigation" is assigned has made me a little crazy! =) All of that said though, I have been on a journey and I know that God is bringing me to a place of rest and peace.

So here is what I have been thinking about....

I really feel like the Lord is asking us to step up our prayers. I have been sensing a lot of warfare among Ethiopian adoptions the past few weeks... We started on the journey because we felt a tug on our hearts to provide love and a family to the children of Ethiopia. We bathed our decisions in prayer and were led by the Lord.

It just feels like the enemy has meddled his way into the Ethiopian program at large to bring divsion, confusion, and hopelessness to a system that needs unity, clarity, and hope. I feel like I need to focus my prayers towards the latter and keep my focus on what God originally called us to do... provide for those in need. 

Pray that things are resolved in each level of the process from the orphanages all the way up to the embassy. 

So after much thought, I want to ask you all for something... ! 

Please pray and fast with Ricky and I on February 9th...

We would love to know who is praying with us for our sweet baby girl, so if you are so inclined, please comment below. 

Could this be the week??

So from the beginning I told myself that this would be the easy part. Being done with all our paperwork and doing life like normal just waiting for a phone call. Well I was totally wrong! This waiting is making me a crazy person. After our last meeting with our social worker, we were told that she thought we could be done with everything, meaning traveled twice and home with Grace in six months.

That was a month ago.... and we still have not heard anything.

I am thinking last week was so horrible because we were off all week. We stayed home most of the time (which was lovely) but that leaves a lot of time to think.

So instead I am watching other people's Adoption stories on YouTube.... crying like its me! Ha! Here are a few of my favorite ones... thought you might like to see them too

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5rmGKLS8hMg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3vlLR24M53s

Hope you enjoy as much as I do, and I pray that you are moved by these families.

HOW MUCH LONGER!!!

We really had a wonderful Christmas... but I could not get past this feeling like I was missing one of my babies... All day it just felt like something was missing and I could not come out of the funk. I had a few moments of tears while I thought of Grace and how far away she is. I thought she would be here by now....? God's amazing timing is everything and I am thankful for that, I am working on being patient with the timing.

So anyway, there it is... me missing Grace again and we haven't met yet. Praying that she was safe this weekend while we all comfortably sat in our jammies and opened gifts...praying that God will use our family in a mighty way to change lives. That we would stop being so comfortable and start being used.

Thank you Lord for what you have given my sweet family and the blessings of our life, please radically use us to change lives around us. You know I want to.... we are waiting for your calling. Protect my sweet Grace.... please Lord, make this part of the process faster... I can't take it anymore. Help me trust YOU! - Amen

In order to keep life interesting...

Carter broke his little arm yesterday! After an ER trip, a visit to the Pediatrician and a nap we headed to Los Angeles to Children's Hospital to be seen by a Pediatric Orthopedic Specialist. We were so blessed to have someone we love very much treat us to a hotel the night before the appointment so we didn't have to spend 4 hours in the car with Carter being miserable.

After all of that.... a sling is what the doctor ordered. Because of the location of the break.. they can not cast it. He broke his Humerus at the top and all the weight of the cast below it would be more trouble than good. So we have orders to make sure he doesn't act like a regular boy for at least three weeks. No Running. No Jumping. No Climbing. No Wrestling. Hmmmm..... I am not sure how this will all play out.

Here are a few pics from our adventure over the last 36 hours =)

Everyone LOVES an Ethiopian Girl....

  Just been thinking about my baby girl so much this Holiday Season.... missing someone I have yet to meet is a weird thing for me. I guess its exciting and a little sad all in the same moment. Excited for this little girl that I am all but googy over and sad for a the time that we are missing. We don't know anything about her. We don't know her age. We don't know her Ethiopian name. We don't have any information about her medical history and to be honest... it doesn't at all mater to me. I LOVE HER!!!

ACCEPTED AND WAITING!!!

We got a wonderful phone call yesterday... really it was wonderful!! Our social worked called to tell us that our paperwork had been translated and accepted by Ethiopia's Women and Children's Affairs. This is such wonderful news as we are now officially on the waiting list to be matched with our sweet little girl.

How it works now: We wait! There is nothing else that we can do at this point, we are just waiting and praying that God will match us quickly with the little girl that He has already picked out for our family. I have no idea how long the wait will me... 6 weeks, 6 months... 8 months... 12? I don't know, but I am resting in the peace that God has His perfect timing already in motion.

Will you please pray for our family while we wait?!