We were incredibly blessed to get to live with my parents for 7 months while we built a house! It was such a sweet time for all of us, and I am so grateful! We are also grateful to the Lord for the blessing of our new house! We have been busy getting to know our street, neighbors, and unpacking the last of the boxes.
As for our adoption update...
On Feb. 18th, we officially sent off our contract with our agency, All God's Children International (AGCI)!! We are so excited to be a part of their program in Ethiopia. This is Livi and I on our way to go mail it off!
About a week after we sent it, we got a huge notebook of information to go ahead and start all of our paperwork. Just look at these precious faces!! :
There are two major changes that we are dealing with right now.
One of the changes has to do with an extra form that needs to be filled out that might add a little bit of wait time in the adoption process. This form has been a requirement for adoptions in other countries for a long time, and our agency is very familiar with it. You can click here to read what was issued from the U.S. Department of State.
The second change seems to be a little bigger deal...we are now required to go two times to Ethiopia. Before now, someone was allowed to represent our family to begin the court process. Then, the adoptive family would travel once the adoption was cleared through the court. NOW we will travel to meet the child and start the court process, then fly home and wait to be cleared through their government and then go back to bring the child home. Again, I trust that at the end of the day, children are being protected by new laws being put into place. This makes it tougher for us both emotionally and in purchasing more plane tickets. I can't imagine going and meeting our child and then flying home without him/her. But, we have been led by the Lord through this whole journey. We are confident in that, so we just move forward in fighting for the newest Crenshaw! Please be praying for us!
Some new family pics and updates will follow!...
Addis Ababa Time
3 comments:
good to hear from you! glad you're still there :-) i know... so much info to process yesterday! we're going to call into the conference call today too, just to hear if they know any more yet... glad you're getting settled!
Thanks for the update. Love you and Ethiopian Little Crenshaw!
Caught wind of this via the Carrolls....I know that means more funding and certainly more challenges due to being separated during travel from various members of your family (potentially you and bdog, the 3 kiddos here, and the one (or more) over there). Know that we are praying with you for the Lord to walk ahead of you, sort it all out for His glory, and in the end weave a unique story for this(these) precious child(ren). I keep thinking of Lazarus and how Christ didn't go right away and that it didn't make sense but in the end more came to know him b/c of the delay....my prayer is that more people would have the privilege of joining you all financially in bringing this child home due to the increased financial burden, and that ultimately more lives would be changed b/c of the wait (i.e. more time for people to hear), and for you all to meet MORE people due to multiple travel dates...people that need to know Christ and to be burdened for orphans.
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