Finally... progress!

We we received an update this week that three children joined forever families through our agency in the month of August.  I hadn't heard from our case worker in several weeks, so I decided to call for an update.  I was thrilled to learn that we are now #10 on "the list".  She also said that she knows of 5 referrals coming in now, which means we will very quickly jump to #5, assuming all referrals pan out.  Finally!  Progress!   It felt like we have been at #16 for so long, and all along we were moving up the list and didn't know it.  We've been practicing patience as best we know how, and so today's news truly felt like a little reward for staying focused and engaged in the present.

We've really been enjoying reading books to Addison recently that offer opportunities to talk to her about the adoption.  There is only so much she can grasp as a 3 year old.  My cousin sent her one of my childhood favorites for her birthday last month- "Corduroy".  For those of you that haven't read this one, it is a sweet story about a teddy bear in a store that gets overlooked by shoppers due to the missing buttons on his overalls.  A little girl sees him while shopping with her mom and returns the next day with all her money to buy him.  She takes him home and immediately starts to fix his missing button, while telling him she likes him just the way he is, but thinks he will be more comfortable with the new button.  This simple story has given us wonderful opportunities to talk to Addison about bringing home a child in need of a home and family, who we will love and accept unconditionally.

Tonight, I read another book, given to us by our agency, "A Mother for Choco".  Choco is a little yellow bird, with big cheeks and striped feet who goes animal to animal looking for his Mommy.  Each animal turns him away saying, "but you don't look like me".  Addison compared herself to Choco and his potential parents and said, "I have big cheeks!  Just like you Mom!"  (She is so right!)  Choco is eventually taken in by Mama Bear, who have lots of children that don't look like her- Ali the Alligator, Piggy the Pig and Hippy the Hippo.  Addison then went and found her favorite stuffed animal "Bear" and held him up to the pages to show that they matched (she is so smart!).  We then talked about how her sibling won't look like us, but they will be ours and we will love them all the same.

I love talking to her about her soon-to-come-sibling, our soon-to-be child and we treasure praying for him or her with Addison each night.

Waiting hasn't been necessarily easy, but the comfort that comes from putting the details in God's hands has been abundant.  I have moments when I long to have our child in our arms and worry about how much I'm missing out on their life at this moment- first steps, learning words, not being able to comfort them when they fall.  Occasionally, it's difficult to see others bring their child home, or celebrate and share in our friends' excitement who are expecting.  Don't get me wrong, I'm so excited for them!  It's just the flesh in me begins comparing and asking the "what about me?" questions.  But then I remember, that's God's story for their lives, not for ours.  And His story for our family is still unfolding, not to mention way better than we could ever script ourselves.  We also take much joy in the extra days, months and years that we have one-on-one with Addison.  This is priceless and we know we can't get it back once it is gone.  She's one incredible little girl that brings so much life to living, so we are definitely enjoying this extra time with her that we wouldn't have otherwise.

"Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and He will make your paths straight". Proverbs 3:5-6

Prayer needs:
Pray that our child is getting the care and love that they need
Pray for our emotions to be protected as we anticipate a referral soon
Pray for the mental and emotional preparation that needs to take place in us in the upcoming months
Dare I say pray for patience?  Even though referrals are coming in pretty quickly, adoption laws change in September.  There is a lot of uncertainty around how these new regulations will affect timeframes and the overall process.

Family of 4?

Many of you have already heard our exciting news!  But if you haven’t, let us be the first to share…. We are adopting!

This may not surprise some,  yet others may be wondering… why are they adopting?  After all, we already have a biological child, and we are likely able to have more.    Well, we chose to grow our family through adoption, for a few reasons.  We have always felt that adoption was a part of God’s plan for our family, we just were not sure of the ‘when’.   God talks about caring for orphans in His Word.  There are many ways to care for orphans, and adoption is just one of those ways.  God has blessed us with so much, that the question of “Why Adopt” for us, was more like a “Why Not?”.

After much thought, prayer and research, we have narrowed our adoption country down to Ethiopia.  Ethiopia is one of the poorest countries in the world, with the largest number of orphans due to poverty and health reasons.  We started the adoption process earlier this year with the help of a wonderful agency.  After completing truck loads of paperwork, 12 visits to our favorite notary, three home study visits and a few trips to get finger printed, we are thrilled to announce that we are number 16 on a waiting list of adoptive parents!  

So the big question from everyone has been, "WHEN"?  And of course, we don't know.  The next step is to receive a referral from our agency.  This could happen next month or a year from now.  There are a lot of changes happening with how the government is handling adoptions, both in our country and in Ethiopia, that could influence our wait time.  Once we receive a referral, we will travel to Ethiopia to meet our child and go to court.  We will most likely then come home for a few months, and then return to pick up our child and finalize the adoption.  I know… meet them and then leave them = heart wrenching.  But God is in the details and has an amazing plan in all of this.

We are excited, anxious, scared and hopeful. We realize that this will not be an easy journey.  But we are committed.  We are so early in the process, yet Carter has already lost sleep and gone through a whirlwind of emotions over the last several months in getting even to this point. We covet your prayers and welcome you to join us on this incredible journey we are about to embark on.  

Here are some things you can be praying for:

• Our child! Given the age range we are open to, our child is most likely born, but may or many not be in an orphanage yet.  Pray that they are getting food, that they have shelter, and are getting hugs from somebody.  
• Pray for the caregivers at the orphanages that our agency works with.  I can imagine they are overwhelmed with the number of children and lack of resources.  
• Pray for preparation on our part.  We have a TON of books to read and research to complete in preparation of adopting.  We know we will never feel fully prepared, but pray that we are diligent in trying.
• Here's the ugly one… patience!  This is a slow process with little foresight.  Also, changes in the process are inevitable, so pray for patience with any changes that come our way.