Miss you Mom.......................

"May the road rise to meet you, May the wind be always at your back, May the sun shine warm upon your face, May the rains fall soft upon your fields, And, until we meet again, May God hold you in the Palm of His hand." Miss you Mom, more than you can ever know......Jayne Anne Keaton (Alderman)
08/25/1948-01/18/2000..................

Ten years ago today, my Mom went home to be with our Lord and Savior. I miss her more than anyone can imagine.

No word whatsoever about whether or not our case was heard in court on 1/14.

Will post when we know something.

No Dice.................

We found out on Wednesday that there was no good news-we did not pass court. That is all our agency knew as of the close of business. They knew if the other families who were also scheduled for a court hearing had failed, were pending, or were re-scheduled-but did not know what *our* status was! Not a lot of useful information :O(

We did find out today that none of the cases that were supposed to be heard this week actually passed. It seems they were all missing required letters from the Ministry of Women's Affairs (MOWA).

Our case has been re-scheduled for January 14th.

Stay tuned.

Oh, and Merry Christmas (Melkam Gena). It is Christmas in Ethiopia.

Wednesday 01/06/10

Wednesday will be a big day for us. This is the day that Chaltu's case is heard in court in Ethiopia. *IF* we pass, we will be her legal parents, and can move forward with the adoption process.

On top of that, our USCIS (Immigration) fingerprints are being re-taken on the same day. Nothing is wrong, they need to be updated every 15 mos until and adoption is completed, so this is the day the government randomly assigned to us for our appointment. Funny these two major events ended up happening on the exact same day-a half a world apart, and without our input.

Coincidence? I think not.

Please pray for positive outcomes for all of us~once we have been notified that we have passed court, we can post pics! YEAH! We just saw three new ones of her today-all the kiddos lined up on potties for a bathroom break. Too cute! Looks like her hair is coming in nicely-and it is all TIGHT curls. I am not even going to TRY to figure it out-I am asking Auntie Dawn for her help!

Check back soon :O)

Christmas News!!!

We received some unexpected news this AM. Our agency e-mailed us late last night to tell us we have a court date in Ethiopia! Our case will be heard JANUARY 6th!

We are still not sharing this info with many people. SO MANY things can happen......Most people know we have been in the process for a very long time, so this is not a top secret activity. However, there are so many unknowns in international adoption, it just does not make any sense to share too much info when we really don't know all that much. There just is not any concrete info to share with family and friends. In fact, I think there are actually many more unknowns than there were with AlinaJayne's adoption from China. With that program, you have definite dates and info in a fairly predictable fashion. With Ethiopia, the entire process is different. We know we have a court date-but we may fail on the first date and have to wait for a second, third, etc. We have no idea when homecoming may be (plus our child will be escorted, adding more time). Spring? Summer? We can't even tell our employers anything yet-we don't have any idea what the timing might be, and it makes no sense to say "hey, we have a court date and we *might* pass court, and we will need some time off, but we don't know when." It makes more sense to wait for real dates-that part of the process is very frustrating.

On another note. A waiting family from our agency is in Ethiopia right now visiting. I forgot that they were going, and forgot to ask them ahead of time to take some pics of Chaltu. I sent them a message the other day after they arrived in Ethiopia-and found out that they had not only already taken pics of her, but they held her for almost an hour! They said she pretty much smiles ALL THE TIME!

So much to be thankful for...........and SO MUCH TO DO!!!

Merry Christmas!

Sent with LOVE!

Part of the fun in this process, is being able to send a "welcome" bag to your new child. The agency asks that you send a couple of smaller toys for younger kids, a photo album, and a t-shirt (or onesie if your child is really young), as well as a letter. We ordered a photo album that was similar to the one that we took to AlinaJayne when we met her in China, and a special t-shirt. Everything finally arrived, so I spent the night labeling photos, filling the photo album, and packing the bag. We figured she was still too young for a letter, so Mama just used a laundry marker and wrote captions in the photo album. Oh.....we had to fit it all in a one gallon Ziploc bag *without* stress. THAT was the hard part!

Here is what we sent.....................

(click on the image to make it bigger)

 

Submitted

On Wednesday 12/2 we received an unexpected e-mail from our agency. The coordinator in Ethiopia notified them that they requested a court date in Ethiopia for our daughter's case. Yes, this is good news-we were told that generally families know in a week or two *when* the date is (and that the actual court date is typically 4-6 weeks after the date was requested). We should be jumping for joy.

But.......we also found out from our Homestudy agency (a few hours before we even knew a court date had been requested in Ethiopia)that since we need to formally update our immigration approval to reflect the older child we have accepted, as well as a few other specifics that were not addressed in the original homestudy, that we not only need to to this NOW, but should plan to wait at least 90 days for it to be adjudicated. Without the update to our original approval, she may pass court, but will not be able to obtain the visa needed to travel to the US for as long as it takes for the amendment to be done in MI and sent to Ethiopia. Then we are looking at another delay-even if all off the immigration paperwork is fine, and she can enter the USA, we need a second document provided by our home state of Michigan, that gives us permission to take the child from the port of entry into the US (likely Chicago) to our home state in Michigan. Add to that, *this* whole process has been taking about 3 months. And this isn't the worse case scenario-this will all be happening after (I am guessing) several court failures/delays, due to the region in Ethiopia where our new daughter is from.

Needless to say, this is going to be a bumpy ride. And a slow one too. So pull up a chair and wait with us!

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like CHRISTmas!

Hello all!

I am finally feeling like I am accomplishing some of the Christmas season tasks. Tree up-CHECK. Outside decorated-CHECK. Christmas cards designed & ordered-CHECK. Stamps ordered:CHECK! Shopping finished: (almost)CHECK!

Part of my work to get the Christmas cards done was finally taking some pics of AlinaJayne in her Christmas dress. I finally did that today. It took a lot of work, since she is always moving and saying "Merry Christmas everyone, Happy Birthday Jesus!" But I think they turned out okay.

Hmmm....next year I will have two schoochy kiddos to take pics of! Something tells me it will be worth the struggle :O)

 

Giving Thanks............

On this day of thanks, I have so many things to be thankful for. First and foremost, I give thanks to God for always proving me all that I need-I have more blessings than I deserve-in fact, I cannot begin to list them all here.

I have recently found myself giving even more thanks than usual for our daughter. Although I have had "scholarly" articles published nationally, I cannot ever seem to find the words to express my thanks for our daughter AlinaJayne. My cousin sent me a link to this article today-on Thanksgiving no less, and I just had to share it.

I listen to NPR many times each day, and I had no idea that one of my favorite correspondents (Scott Simon) has children adopted from China. He also mentioned Oromia (in Ethiopia) where our youngest daughter (waiting for us) is from.

I will defer these words of thanks to Mr. Simon.

Happy Thanksgiving.

Signed, Sealed Delivered!

......well, on its way at least!

We made it to the Notary, signed all of the forms, completed a questionnaire and scanned all of the documents (oh, wrote another check too), and the official referral paperwork is on its way to our agency's office.

Now what you ask? Wait. And wait some more. Now we are waiting for our day in court. Which could be a few months from now. I try not to think about it too much, but the *real* wait truly starts now. We know who are daughter is now, and it is so hard to know she will be there for another 9 or more months until all of the red tape is done and she can come home. Agonizing.

We are supposed to send her a "welcome bag" containing a shirt, a couple small toys and a photo album-it all has to fit into a gallon sized ziplock bag. We ordered a soft photo album tonight (we got the same kind for AlinaJayne when we went to China), and a T-shirt that says "Special Delivery From Ethiopia." Now I need to find some pics. I need about 12. The problem will be choosing 12 from the thousands I have taken! I'll be working on that this week.

So, this was not a lot to report, but I wanted to share this small step in the long journey to bring our daughter home.

Check back soon.

Signing the referral paperwork

REFERRAL ACCEPTANCE!!

We are beyond thrilled to announce that on 11/16/09, we officially accepted the referral of our second child! Praise the Lord!!

Chaltu is from the Oromia Region of Ethiopia. She is "about 2 years old" (her actual birthday will be decided by the judge at the hearing) and is tiny. She is about 30 inches tall and only about 22 lbs. What a contrast to the AlinaJayne the Chinese Amazon! She is described as a good sleeper who eats well, loves her bath, and rarely cries unless something really traumatizes her. She plays well with others and walks by herself. She has been in care since early October. Due to Ethiopian adoption law, we cannot post a picture of her until after we pass court and are her legal parents. In the meantime, let me just say she is a cutie-bald as can be (shaved-so much for AlinaJayne being able to do her hair right away), but adorable. Big chunky cheeks and huge soulful eyes.

The next step is a court date, which *may* be filed in the next month or so. I know there have been many delays and failed court hearings for babies referred from this region due to new, stricter guidelines. In fact, we were approved for a baby aged 0-30 mos, and the agency called to say we need to update our homestudy to reflect that we are approved for a baby as old as 4 years old-we JUST updated it on 10/23 (sigh). So it looks like they are anticipating delays!

We are not making this public on Facebook for privacy reasons. In all honesty, not all of my FB friends are privy to this info. All updates will be posted here on the blog as soon as we receive them.

We are expecting to receive the official referral package tomorrow. We are hoping for some more pics-we only have one! Deciding on a name now. we thought we had it figured out, but now we are back and forth between two.

The wait has a whole new twist now!!

Praying that the Lord will keep her safe until she can be home forever.

Check back soon!

A year?

I haven't been posting a lot on this blog lately. I guess there has not been a whole lot to report, so I have just avoided it so I would not have to be reminded of this seemingly interminable wait. However, I was reminded by a friend today that I needed to update this blog (thanks for keeping me in line Katie Jo), so here it is :O)

Saturday 11/14 will mark the one year anniversary of our DTE (Dossier to Ethiopia). Sometimes it seems like just yesterday that we were paperchasing to bring our second child home-but at the same time, it feels like an eternity. We've already had a homestudy update, and we just received a reminder from our agency that we will need to be re-fingerprinted soon-and that we'll need to file for an extension on our I-171 if our child is not home by May. MAY?!!!

We have watched as the wait for a referral gets longer (like in did when we started in the China program in 2005), other families receive referrals, court dates, travel and get settled in at home. Here we still are..........

I do want to share some info. A few weeks ago (11/2), we received a referral for a beautiful 2 or 2 1/2 year old girl. We accepted her file for review, and discovered some potentially significant medical issues. After a lot of talking, e-mails back and forth between the agency and more talking, we decided we had to decline the referral (referral/declination #2). We asked for more medical info on her, but could not easily obtain it. The agency director e-mailed us and asked us if we wanted to wait for more medical updates on this child, or start waiting for another referral. We said we just wanted to wait for another.

However, we could not get her out of our minds. Yes, it appears she has some major health issues-a few of which Matt and I are unlikely able to provide for (and we may not even have been approved for), but we felt that maybe the Lord was placing this child and our "second guessing" on our hearts for a reason. We had already told the director we could not proceed, to put us "back on the list," but it just did not *feel* right (keep in mind I am all about trying to control EVERYTHING). We e-mailed the director and asked her to not refer a new child to us right now, and that we wanted to wait for more testing/results, and a consultation with an International Adoption Physician before a final decision was made on this child. The physician will be reviewing the medical records this weekend.

Please pray for us as we prepare for the report from this physician. Pray that the Lord will guide her and give her knowledge as she reviews the complex medical facts. But most importantly, please pray for this child in Ethiopia, and for all children in need of forever families.

Please also consider supporting one of these organizations that provide orphan support. It isn't about one person giving a large sum-but about many people doing a small part.


Love coffee? Check out how you can support an orphan in Ghana, China, Ethiopia or Thailand . Find out how you can help orphans in Ethiopia, Colombia, Vietnam, Russia or India. Or HIV positive orphans.
Need Angel Gear? Just need to do some last minute Christmas Shopping?

We do have one request. If you are also on Facebook, please do not post any public comments to our wall with specific info about this or any other referral. That's not to say that general comments about the wait, etc, are note welcome-they are! Just no "specifics." We are trying to keep details private. Detailed private e-mails and private FB messages are great!

So there is the update. Thanks for dropping by and check back soon!

The Waiting is the Hardest Part.........

No wonder the Tom Petty song "The Waiting" keeps running through my head like a CD stuck on repeat. Come on, you know the song I am talking about "The waiting is the hardest part, every day you see one more card, you take it on faith, you take it to the heart, the waiting is the hardest part."

I really hate to complain, as I pride myself on being so much more patient now than I was even 5 years ago. But come on already! It seems like forever since we started the adoption process (July, 2008 but who is keeping track). Dossier sent to Ethiopia 11/14/08. We had been given info in July that there were children in care in Ethiopia who would be referred to families soon. Well, those were slow in coming. In fact, there were a couple of families who had their dossiers in to Ethiopia a week or so before ours, and they just got their referrals. I know we are next, but it seems like we have been *next* for the last six months!

Okay, I feel better now. The logical and rational me knows NONE of this is in our hands. I know there is still a lot to do before our second child is home forever. And I know, as a believer in the love and power of our Lord Jesus, it will all work out in HIS time....not mine. No matter how whiny I get, or how sorry I feel for myself. Each and every time I look at our precious daughter from China, I know it will all work out as it should.

I have found myself going back to the song by John Waller "While I'm Waiting." It is from the Fireproof movie soundtrack, and I find the words so comforting. I try to sing this really loud when I start to hear Tom Petty!

I'm waiting
I'm waiting on You, Lord
And I am hopeful
I'm waiting on You, Lord
Though it is painful
But patiently, I will wait

I will move ahead, bold and confident
Taking every step in obedience
While I'm waiting
I will serve You
While I'm waiting
I will worship
While I'm waiting
I will not faint
I'll be running the race
Even while I wait

I'm waiting
I'm waiting on You, Lord
And I am peaceful
I'm waiting on You, Lord
Though it's not easy
But faithfully, I will wait
Yes, I will wait
I will serve You while I'm waiting
I will worship while I'm waiting
I will serve You while I'm waiting
I will worship while I'm waiting
I will serve you while I'm waiting
I will worship while I'm waiting on You, Lord

Whose timing??

Okay, I am not complaining. Or maybe I am. Or maybe I am just reporting.

Anyway-as you all know-Matt and I had our adoption file on hold for a while this spring. Well, not that I'm obsessing over it-I know it is a process, and that there are many variables. Add to that, there is still a lot we want to get done before our newest family member joins us. But come on already-according to the ticker on our blog- it has been 114 days, 5 hours and blah blah since we went back on the waiting list. Seriously.

We had heard a week or so ago that 4 new infant girls came into care at the orphanage in Ethiopia, and that our agency would hopefully refer them *last* week. Well, they did not. We are next in line for a referral, and I know for certain we were not missed. Not that a referral now would mean a sooner homecoming. The Ethiopian courts are closed until sometime in October anyway. It would just be nice to see the face of our new child.

Then again......I suppose if we had referral and knew who our child was, I'd be worried about her being there waiting to come home, running around like a mad woman preparing, and running around a little more. I guess I will wait patiently, enjoy my family, get settled into my new job, and wait some more.

I know God's plan and timing are perfect. However, if I didn't gripe once in a while I'd be someone else !

Stay tuned.

Thankful Thursday-07/30/09

Five months after the accident, Matt was officially discharged from physical therapy. For anyone who is not aware of the ordeal, just follow the link to my posting.

I have found myself stopping very frequently in the last few weeks, to reflect on the events of that day, and being reminded of how lucky we all are. Matt could have very easily not survived..........but he is still here. It was very possible that he would never be able to walk again, or function in a capacity similar to what he was capable of before the accident. But he CAN walk, drive, work in the yard, and wrestle with our daughter. He can climb steps, jump, and RUN!! His amazing recovery even surprised his Physical Therapist. PRAISE GOD!

The economy is shaky and very scary for many of us, and because of it, we have had to make sacrifices (like most Americans). We have both had to endure changes in work hours, have had to adjust out budget again, and then trim some more. But he is STILL HERE to weather the economic changes WITH me!! I thank God DAILY for that.

I am also so very thankful that through all of the cutbacks at our places of employment, he has been able to keep his health insurance, and all of us have been covered. He desperately needed physical therapy. Although we have not yet received a final billing statement, the cost is well into the thousands, and we never could have afforded that without insurance. His physical functioning was hinging upon a rigorous schedule of exercises, strength training, conditioning, and the skills of a highly competent therapist. None of this would have been possible if he would have lost our insurance. Nor would the pre-school physical and FIVE immunizations that Alina Jayne had today.

I am thankful that we have our home, food on the table, vehicles to drive, and each other, as well as our close relatives and friends.

So many things to stop and be thankful for-this day and every day.

God is so good-in the good times and during the trials.

Thanks be to God.................................

Wordless Wednesday

Visa Day!
05/18/06-Shamian Island, Guangzhou China

(you can click on the collage to enlarge it)