long overdue...

Woo-hoo!  I am back with some great news!  We are OFFICIALLY ON THE WAITLIST for our child(ren)!!!!!


I am so excited!  All of the paperwork that we worked on and waited on...complete...in the hands of our awesome adoption agency! So, that means that we got "official" numbers.  Our numbers are:

On the girl list: 94
On the boy list: 66
On the sibling list: 54

YAY!  We are on all of the lists, and approved for ages 0-18 months.  Some families are obviously only on the girl list or only on the boy list, or only on the sibling list.  Some are on all of them. So, if a 4 year old boy is at our orphanage in Ethiopia, he will be referred to a family who is approved for that age in their home study.  People with numbers 1-25 might not be open to an older child.  Let's say number 26 is...then number 26 will receive the referral for that little boy.  So, they don't always go in order and MANY factors effect it: age parameters, special needs, etc.  If they give out 2 girl referrals, we could move forward on all the lists if those families are on all of the lists.  Does that make sense?  I know it is kind of confusing!

So, now what am I doing??  I am working on getting off our USCIS application tomorrow.  Basically, this allows our child to get a visa to come into the United States.  I am also working on grant applications!

I have one complete and sent in and 2 more are in the works! I just need to pause right here and say how amazed I am at what God has provided for us financially thus far:
We have raised over $14,000 from all of you AMAZING, GENEROUS people out there!!!!!!!!  That is so amazing to me!  It has been an incredible journey with the Lord to see Him provide through so many...some strangers!...for this sweet life!  I would guess that we are about halfway there!!  I am not sure the exact total, because it has changed with the now-required two trips.  So, that is 5 plane tickets instead of 3, etc. I need to work on those numbers so I can get a realistic picture.

I will keep you updated on the grants and all of the movement on the lists!

Here is a picture of the kids before we mailed off the dossier:

precious song

I came across this sweet song, and it brought much needed encouragement to me today.  Sweet to think about for ourselves and also a sweet refreshing perspective for parenting.



Here are the words:
Long before you drew your first breath,
the dream was coming true
God wanted to give a gift to the world,
so he wrapped it up in you
Every step that you've taken,
every move that you make is part of his plan

You were meant to be touching the lives that you've touched
And meant to be here making this world so much more than it would be without you in it
You were meant to be bringing the gifts you bring
And singing the songs you've been given to sing
You were perfectly, wonderfully, beautifully meant to be
You were meant to be

Long before you took your first walk
and stumbled to the ground
God started telling the story of you
to the angels gathered round
Every failure and victory, and everything in between,
it's all in his hands

You were meant to be touching the lives that you've touched
And meant to be here making this world so much more than it would be without you in it
You were meant to be bringing the gifts you bring
And singing the songs you've been given to sing
You were perfectly, wonderfully, beautifully meant to be
You were meant to be

You are, you are, you are meant to be

For every breath that you're taking, and every move that you make
It's a meaningful life you've been given, so live it well

SO VERY EYE-OPENING!!

Oh my goodness...
I clicked on this blog that I follow of an AMAZING girl in Uganda, and saw this image:

I was sitting with Austin and just couldn't believe what I saw.  That sweet woman is 23 years old.  And weighs less than my 6 year old son.  He was wondering what all the "oh my goodness, oh my goodness" was about so he starting looking at it with me.  He said, "That makes me feel so weird, mom."  Yes, it does.  For so many reasons:  you want to do SOMEthing, you want to know her story, you want to share what we have, you wonder why we have what we have and other people don't, you want to know how she feels, you want to shower her with love through the computer screen, it makes you angry, sad, fearful that she will die, and just "heavy" in general.  It is so sad.  I just wanted to share to keep us reminded that there is so much that we don't think about day in and day out that is happening around the world.  So sobering.

going backwards??

So, I was so excited to post that last update, because I felt like we were SUPER close to getting on the waitlist.  Well, they say to expect the unexpected with adoptions, right? 

One of the things that our awesome agency (AGCI) tells us to look for on all of our documents that are notarized (almost every piece of paperwork in the dossier) is that the notary's name matches their signature.  Sometimes people are in the habit of signing their nickname or whatever.  So...I got everything notarized.  Checked the signature...yep!  Matches the stamp!  I take it downtown where parking is crazy with my 3 sweet, young kiddos to get a document (just one!) county certified.  We play all kinds of whispering games to keep quiet while we wait and wait and wait. To hear the news, "I am so sorry, Ma'am, we have a problem.  The notary applied to be a notary with the name Missy.  Her stamp says Myronette.  We cannot certify this." Apparently to certify it (I had no clue) they go back and get their paperwork that was filed to be a notary and make sure they are legit.

WHAT??  I just looked at him with a blank stare I am sure, and thought through all of the documents that have been notarized by the SAME GIRL.  All but a few in our dossier.  That means we have to redo all of them.  Wow.  So, we head out the door, and I am feeling so defeated.  I thought that that was the last of all of the paperwork.

So, we get in the car, and I am just reminded by the Lord that HE is in control.  HE designed our family.  HE knows who we will get the opportunity to love, care for, and raise on earth.  And even this little detail has so much to do with that.  Because of Missy's application...because we got her to notarize most of our things...we will have a different child.  God is THAT SOVEREIGN! That is amazing to me. 

I press on, being faithful to complete the paperwork and work hard on it...jumping through all of the hoops that we need to to make it to our little one in Ethiopia...and trusting God in His plan and timing all the while.

Now, back to paperwork since the kiddos are sleeping peacefully!!

another update!

A few posts ago, I updated where we were in the dossier preparation.   Here is what we had left, and now what we have crossed out (yes, I added one...):

• Get some documents notarized (we are doing that this afternoon!)
• Get our power of attorney county and state certified
• Application letter (telling Ethiopia why we want to adopt)
• 2 more online classes for adoptive parent training
• take pictures of our house
• once it is reviewed....make 3 copies!  That is IT!
• Get last letter of recommendation notarized

So...I am getting the power of attorney county certified today and sending it off to get state certified.  Maybe I will clean the house and take pictures tonight!

Our home study is being revised just a little right now, but is basically approved by our adoption agency.  That will also go into our dossier.

It really has been so much easier than I thought!  Thank you, Lord!  It just took walking through it for it all to make sense.  There are just certain things that were intimidating, I think.  I can remember when I was in high school going to a college, looking at how huge it was, and thinking, "How do they even know what to do or where to go.  This is huge! The professors expect so much out of you, you have to figure out how a meal plan works, what each professor wants, where to buy books without a car, etc, etc, etc."  I felt like that with this paperwork. When I first started, I didn't know really what a dossier was...I had heard it tossed around, and knew that is was a bunch of paperwork.  But, I didn't know the difference between that and the home study, and when you do what.  I didn't have a clue as to what I should do first, what took more time to get back, what to send where, etc. Walking through this process has been an honor.  I have loved learning more about adoption and not feeling on the "outskirts" trying to look in.  It has been an honor to "chase" after our child and trust God for His sovereign timing in our family.  What a HUGE blessing!  I praise the Lord for His hand in all of this, and giving us this amazing journey!  This is only the very beginning of it unfolding!

Florida!

Brian got the awesome opportunity to go serve in Haiti last month, and the kids and I headed to Florida to visit Chad, Karen, and the kiddos!  We had so much fun!  We got to go to the pool, the beach, hang out with cousins, live their "normal" life with them, going to the Y, etc.  Brian met up with us after his amazing trip, and we had a few extra days of vacationing with him, too!  Here are some pictures from our time:

Ha!  We got these things from the dollar bin at Target, and they thought they were the coolest!!  Too funny!  So, here was naptime in the car!:

Time at the pool!  Em and Lil'C are incredible swimmers!  It was really fun to watch them!

Eliana wanted to join in the goggle fun:

Beach time!:

Every Friday night on the island, they have live music around this little pond area... here is Uncle Chad and Eliana having a little conversation and eating popcorn:

Some chill time for all the cousins... (can you tell who lives at the beach!?! :) )

on the way home, Eliana wanted to wear the little eye things!!  She looked hilarious!:

Thank you, Woelke's, for an awesome time!!!  We CANNOT WAIT for you to be here in just a week!

The Carrolls

My dear friend, Ashleigh, and her hubby brought home their fourth child, who was adopted from Ethiopia.  Here are our kiddos and theirs (minus Jones :( ) playing while we were talking about what their parents were doing in Ethiopia that day:

 

The girls LOVE each other!!

And, the boys do, too!  Of course, they were doing manly things like building a house or something...

Here are the Carrolls coming HOME with Abigail!!!!!!   I am so excited for them!  It has been such a privilege to watch them walk through both of their adoptions! Here is a whole CREW waiting to meet her!

And...here is the first time everyone saw them!:

Charis was SO PRECIOUS...wanting to hold her hand the whole time.  She seriously would not let go of her new sister's hand the whole time I saw her!

So, so sweet...a daddy and his two girls!:

Ugh!  I just love this family so much!  Welcome home, Abigail!