A special testimony

I hope this blesses you as much as it blessed me when I watched it on a friend's blog...

just want you to know...

that God really IS faithful--just in case you were having your doubts, lacking in assurance that this is true...it IS true.

As you all know, we have been waiting for a referral since February with little to no news during that time. And two nights ago (on the 25th) around 11:00pm I checked my email as we were heading to bed (like I do every night). There was a letter from Susan, our adoption consultant. I knew that it wasn't a referral because when you get a referral from our agency, they call first and send the file a bit later. But, of course, I opened the email, referral or not. Susan acknowledged our long wait (she was gracious to say that we were weathering it patiently--she's so kind in her exaggeration!), informed us that there are still no babies to refer and then said that she was attaching an informal referral she thought we might want to consider-- informal mainly because it is unlike the description of the referral we were waiting for---But, of course, we opened it...

And inside we discovered two of the sweetest children we have ever seen...a brother and a sister, ages 2 and 1...they had come to the care center at the beginning of May (thus explaining the LONG wait since February)! We were definitely taken aback at first and after reviewing the information and talking for a while, we went to bed--only I woke up at 4 unable to sleep...I prayed and prayed, looked over their file, at their sweet faces, and prayed and prayed. I was in turmoil--on the one hand I was elated and confident that these were our children...on the other hand, I was thinking about all the logistical reasons this would be 'pazzesco'(crazy)...so many thoughts (many trivial) were going through my mind in this chaotic conversation with God...

"But Lord, our car only has one extra seat! and what about how hard it is to make ends meet NOW without dipping into savings each month??" I will provide, I have proven myself so far haven't I? I will provide, I AM Jehovah-Jirah.

"Can we handle older children who have been through, and may remember, pain like we've not ever experienced?" I am the bringer of Joy in the mourning, the great Healer, I AM Jehovah-Rophe.

"Our friends will think we've lost our minds! It might alienate us here." I am with you, I AM Jehovah-Shammah.

"What about all the sickness and critters that come home with older children?" I know your children, I watch over them and you, I truly see you, I AM El Roi.

"What about the baby carrier I bought? and how in the world will we afford to travel ANYWHERE with 5 children under 8?" I will meet your needs, I am sufficient, I AM El Shaddai.

"Lord, Jared and I only have 4 hands, HOW will we even cross the street????" I am with you, I AM Immanuel.

and each time with each worrisome question, the Lord soothed me with Himself. He is so good to me, so faithful to our family. We feel so blessed--overwhelmed, but incredibly blessed.

Jared made the comment with a big grin on his face (after I was feebly asking WHAT God could be thinking in changing the 'plan' like this) that this is so like God to do this--to take a good, God-encouraged plan (adoption) and up the ante (so to speak), stretching us outside of our comfort so that we are completely depending upon Him--because up until now, we had made decisions based on what we felt we could 'handle'...isn't that embarrassing, convicting, and reassuring all at the same time? Well, it was for me at least :-) I think I'm becoming the queen of feeling at LEAST three emotions at one time lately.

So we sent in our official acceptance of the referral and hope to wire the money today as well. We are praying now, not just for our (hopefully) children living in Ethiopia, but for us to receive a court date before the rains so that we can go and get them sooner, rather than later.

I know that it can be frustrating to not get to see pictures, etc. But for legal reasons, we are not allowed to share many details like their names, birthdates, history, and NO identifying pictures until after we pass court and they are legally OURS. So have patience and pray with and for us--the sooner we pass court, the sooner you get more information :-)

Thank you for continuing to walk this journey with us...if you have questions, email me at hebrews1014@gmail.com. I can't promise I can answer them, but I'll do my best!

lots of time in between...

And we are still waiting. Before we mailed out our dossier, there were tons of babies. We got emails from our agency urging us to finish up our paper work because there were so many children that some were in danger of going on the waiting children list because there were no paper-ready parents...so we scrambled, sent it all in, the papers flew over the big blue ocean and arrived to a full waiting list and no babies...and that's where we have been for 2.5 months now. To be fair, the agency estimation on referral wait times is somewhere between 3-4 months...so technically we are still 'ahead' of schedule. But it seems like we are behind, because so many people receive referrals much more quickly than this--which, I guess is why our agency warns against comparing your timeline to those of other families ahead of you in the process...good advice, impossible, but good.

Here's what we face now: With the delay in referrals possibly being another month or two, that will push us up against the rainy season in Ethiopia, which lasts for several months, somewhere from the end of August to close to December, and NO court dates or Embassy dates are assigned because everything shuts down for the rains. All of this means that we could receive a referral for baby girl in July and not be able to go and get her until December or January! (that is a teeny bit exaggerated as I can't remember the exact rainy season, but...Yikes!) Talk about hard waiting, I think it's hard to wait now and I don't even know who she is...I can't imagine how difficult it is once you have a face, a name, etc.

So please join us in praying for patience and for peace in the waiting...that we will continue to trust God in a big way with the timing of all of this. He has a wonderful plan, the perfect child for us, and it is ALL good...we want to be renewed in our trust and faith as the waiting wears us down. So please be faithful to pray for us. We need your support :-)

Thank you all.

more hiccups

Ah, yes, the path of adoption is peppered with speed bumps...hiccups, if you will.

The hiccup of the moment comes in the form of government re-evaluation of their country's adoption program, laws, process, and US investigation of the 70-something agencies that adopt out of Ethiopia. Our agency was the first to pass investigation thankfully, but it has, nevertheless, made things go more slowly. All of this will also be changing the process (mainly with the visas) and requirements for adoptive parents (all adoptive parents may be required to travel twice), we are not sure how many of the changes will directly effect us, but since we have yet to receive a referral, we may face the bulk of these as we may not be far enough along in the process to squeak by unaffected. We are fortunate, though because most countries, when facing major overhaul such as this, will completely halt the entire program while they work things out...that could take years. So we are thankful that this has not been the case and there is even a rumor floating around that the Ethiopia government is going to lobby the courts to put all of this off for a year...we will see...there are tons of rumors out there right now.

So that's the latest explanation of why you haven't heard much from me lately...Sorry about that. We wait and we watch the emails and we pray.

Thanks.

Dossier IN Ethiopia

Yep, you read that right...the dossier has reached the other side of the ocean and is where it is supposed to be in Ethiopia!

Now we just sit back (HA!) and wait patiently (double HA!).

Our waiting brings both feelings of joy as well as an inspired urgency to be on our knees for our baby girl.

Joy from the obvious freedom from the paper-trail, knowing that things in that area have settled into place!

We were not contacted immediately with a referral because, most likely she is not at the care center yet...which means she has not been found, turned over, or whatever the case might be... so please pray for her as she indures whatever her situation is...pray for her health and for her safety and for her to feel God's protective arms wrapped around her...pray that God will already be working in her heart, preparing her for us but ultimately preparing her for Him!

Sorry I don't have more news...but little by little!!

The dossier is ON ITS WAY!!!

That's right, we got the word today from Susan (our consultant) that our dossier has been completed and shipped to Ethiopia!!!!!

We are BEYOND thrilled!!

We know that there are difficulties to come and loads more waiting times, but to have this massive portion of paperwork complete is amazing and relieving! I always wondered if we would truly be able to build a complete dossier while living overseas, and I am so very thankful to the Lord for working it all out!

So what's next? I'm not quite sure exactly, but I think we wait for a referral now. So, with that in mind, I would like to give you a new list of ways you could pray for us:

This settling on a referral process is horribly daunting. It looks to me like 'choosing' your child...and I SO do not want it to be like that. So I'm asking you to pray that the Lord gives us both overwhelming assurance and peace when we encounter our referral-- peace that drives all doubt and fear out of our minds. That we would have wisdom to know the correct questions to ask about the information given on the child and that He would direct us to a good doctor to review their file.

Please ask that we be presented with the perfect child for our family.

Pray for her health and safety--it could be months before we receive any information on her so it could be that she has not made it to the care center yet...pray for her.

Pray for us as waiting parents--bind satan from attacking us with doubt and fear of inadequacy--pray for our family's continued unity. Pray for patience for all of us.

Thank you for holding the ropes for us!

Little by little

So, I got an email this afternoon from our adoption consultant telling us that they have received all the documents from Italy and we are just waiting on the letter that has been mailed from Oklahoma to get to the office in GA. Hopefully we will have a completed dossier VERY soon!!!!!!

Thank you for your continued prayers!