Our Little Guy

We received an update on A*. We knew he was small. Now we know just exactly how small he is.


A* weighs a feathery light 28 pounds. He stands in at 31.9 inches tall. At approximately 4 years of age A* is close in size to his brother Jonas at 26 months of age.

It's hard on a momma's heart to see words like wasting and stunted attached to her child. I really want my son home so we can work on getting him growing nice and strong.


Many children experience a quick turn around with proper medical treatment, nutrition, and love and affection from parents. It's termed the Lazarus Effect because of the dramatic improvement. Children who were on the brink begin to flourish.


It's our prayer A* will experience rapid growth upon coming home, too.


May 27th. That's our day in court. Please pray with us we pass and that the US embassy conducts a speedy investigation, issuing us an ambassy appointment quickly.

Waiting for Court

I got word today that we should hear some news about our scheduled court date in 2-5 weeks.

Yes, that will feel like an eternity but I'm prayerful that the Lord will have mercy and make this the ONE thing in this process that happen on the short end of the timeline, for A*'s sake.

The court date could be anywhere from 4-8 weeks from our DTE date. By the way, Our DTE date is our "dossier to Ethiopia" date. We are DTE Apr 7th.

I can't wait to write and tell everyone we have a court date on the books! Plus we've got to pass soon. You guys NEED to see A*'s cuteness!!!!!! It's a must.

It's There!

Our dossier has been picked up in Addis Ababa by the lovely Furtuna. She's the transition home nurse. Dustin and I got to know her last time we were in Ethiopia. I can't wait to see her again!

Please pray with us for a speedy court date so we can get our boy home!

In other news, my really special friend is in Addis Ababa right now. She's living there while she waits for her case to clear court. She's adopting w/ another agency and is mom to 2 ADORABLE little boys!!! I can't wait to meet them myself.

Our families should be meeting up for a little party in Addis soon, here. In the meanwhile, my friend wants to go visit our little A*. I can't wait to have her give me the full report on how he's doing. It is lovely that's she also happens to be a R.N. Yes, she's a very handy friend to have around!

The Last You'll Ever Hear...

... about our dossier is this:

We're DTE today. That's how AWAA abbreviates "Dossier to Ethiopia". What that means to us is that our dossier was cleared by the US State Department and is on it's way via a FedEx plane to Addis Ababa. It should arrive there within two weeks. At which time an AWAA staffer will pick it up and take it to be translated. Once translated a court date will be requested.

I received an email today from our Family Coordinator telling us that May 9th the new Ethiopian Court rule requiring families to be present for their court hearing will go into effect.

We'll see how things will play out for us.

Stay tuned...

A Victory for the Pocketbooks

A victory has been won (at least for one year anyway) on the front of the financing adoptions war.

Everyone knows that, unfortunately, adoption costs a lot of money. Adoptive Parents often battle with their budgets to make way for their beloved children.

Our government offers an Adoption Tax Credit as an incentive for families to adopt. That tax credit was in danger of disappearing.

Now, President Obama has extended the Adoption Tax Credit for another year. To which we cheer Hooray!

You can read about how the adoption tax credits have been extended for one year HERE

On the Dotted Line

A long time ago, Dustin and I told the Lord that if there was no one to be found in Ethiopia to parent A* then a couple, half a world away, would be more than willing; they'd be HONORED!

Dustin and I began this process over eight months ago and WE WILL NEVER STOP. God has made our foreheads like stone in this matter.

After MANY delays in obtaining the necessary paperwork, it is our pleasure to announce that Dustin and I officially cast our lots with A*. While our hearts had already been surrendered to him, we were finally able to sign on the dotted line. YES, YES, YES! We WILL be his parents.

Referral officially accepted!

Because I know you're probably wondering, the time line looks as follows:

• 1-2 weeks for dossier to be sent to Ethiopia.


• 4-8 weeks until court


• After a successful court date (it could take a few attempts) a US immigration investigation will begin which could take anywhere from 2-3 months to complete.


• All this does not take into consideration any delays we might encounter for A*'s visa waiver.

A Redo.

Our dossier (starring in the above photo) arrived at AWAA's corporate office Friday morning. Our Family Coordinator (FC) called that same day and said our Power of Attorney paper had a few different dates on it, and there was a possibility the State Department would reject it.

So, on Friday, Dustin and I ran around town getting another POA notarized, certified at the Secretary of State, and then we overighted it back to AWAA again. It should arrive Monday first thing morning. In time for them to have it couriered over to the State Department.

I know our FC is as anxious as we are to get out dossier to Addis Ababa. It's nice to feel like we're always on her radar screen. She's been with us every step of the way as we've encountered all these delays.

Out The Door

Apparently all I needed to do was write a creepy letter to our mail carrier..... because guess what she brought me today?

Our police clearance letter arrived.

We immediately walked right out the door and shipped off our dossier.

It should be to AWAA's corporate office Friday morning.

YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS! It's done.

Thank you, Jesus!

Hey, Yooooooou!!!!

Hi there, Mail Carrier Lady!!!

Sorry, did I scare you?...

Listen, I gotta cut to the chase, here. I want you to understand that I will be stalking you for a couple days.

It's nothing personal, don't worry!

You might feel awkward, and there may be times you'll feel like crying. TRUST me I understand. Totally.

There's just this paperwork thingy. I need it REAL BAD. It has to do with a boy in Ethiopia. Yea, he's my son and I'm trying to get him home.

The last stupid piece of paper I need should be coming ANY day now. You're the one bringing it (lucky YOU!) so that means all my anxious energy is going to be directed toward you for a little bit. Okay?

Good news is, the letter is coming from Tucson so it really shouldn't take that long.

Once it gets here I promise I'll start acting normal again. And I'll even begin to smile at you once more.




Signed,

The Crazy Lady who waits by the mailbox for you every day

PS- see you tomorrow =)

Progress! ...And then we wait, again.

You won't believe what we got in the mail last Saturday.

Miracle of miracles, in under two weeks we received our I-171h approval!

That's the favorable determination for advance processing of orphan petition.

I know it's an annoyingly long name that provides very little information. In plain speak, our I-171h is the prep paperwork for A*'s visa, and it's THE paper we needed to get all our ducks in a row so we could ship off our dossier and file for a court date in Ethiopia.

In a normal situation we'd be able to send off our dossier, but we're STILL waiting on the AZ court to send back our police clearance letters. Once those are in hand it should be a matter of weeks until our court date is scheduled.

Now, notice I said scheduled. It should take about 4-12 weeks for our case to actually be heard in Ethiopia.

For now we are planning that the rule changes will apply to us and that we will now need to be present in court for the hearing. Because of the added expense of a second trip I have decided that I cannot go to the orphan summit in Minneapolis. I'm very disappointed, to say the least, but it's just not the right timing for me to go.

I am still very unsure what the waiver process will look like with the new rule changes or how long we will need to stay in Addis Ababa when it's time to bring A* home. I'll have to wait and see how things play out.

All in all we're beginning to feel excited. We're holding back the last sigh of relief until we can hold those clearance letters in our hands. Then, we're going to have a major party!

I told our Family Coordinator that I was praying to have our dossier in her hands before the end of this month.

We'll see.

Approval

We got the call. Our social service coordinator has our approved home study in her hands. She's mailing it to us today.

She was frustrated to tell me that the commissioner signed it on JANUARY 27th!!

WHAT!?

We don't know what caused the delay, but we're happy to know it's on its way to us TODAY. Our family coordinator in VA was so excited to get my email about our approved HS she called me ;-) and told me she'd been waiting on it. HA!

A few glitches were still encountered. (Of course!)

The court forgot to include our police clearance letters with the approval and since all our local Police and Sheriff's offices no longer issue letters for private citizens anymore. (trust me we tried them all. I begged and pleaded and finally got so angry I told one rude receptionist "thanks for NOTHING." Don't even get me started about rude government employees. It's enough to make my head spin.)

We're at the mercy of the court once again to get these letters completed in a timely manner for our family. PLEASE pray for us!

Also, the courts stated in our approval that our re-certification had been approved BUT we completely redid our HS and it's not a re-cert. It's a brand new certification. So our social services coordinator is requesting a new letter. But, that portion won't affect our ability to forward our approved HS to USCIS for A*'s visa nor will it affect our ability to send off our dossier. Though, our dossier can't take flight until we get those pesky police clearance letters so, again, please pray with us that those come back quickly.

Good With the Bad

I've got good news and bad news.

So, how do you want it? Bad first? Or good?

Since you're not here to answer me I'm going to go with good first.

I got a call from our social worker. She heard from a clerk at the court that our HS is on our way back there from the commissioner. That implies that it has been approved. The clerk told our SW that she expects to have it returned to our SW by end of next week.

Yeah!

Approved home study= good news.

Okay, strap in my friends. This one's a doozie....

A* contracted Tuberculosis in the orphanage.

And, he'll have to stay in Addis Ababa for six months of treatment before he will be issued a visa by the US government.

I've cried buckets today over that one.

Dustin and I are absolutely crushed for A*. This is nothing we'd ever want for him. We are dealing with much grief and a deep sadness I can't even find the words to describe.

There's even a twisted temptation to feel guilty for not getting to him in time. But we KNOW that God is in control. And so we trust.

Even when it hurts.

Tuberculosis + my son = BAD, bad news.

On My Knees

We're coming up to a point where the delays in getting home study approved could potentially necessitate some other paperwork being redone. This would cause further delays in the process of bringing A* home.

We trust the Lord's timing no matter which way things happen. But, feel we ought to do our part to pray diligently over the paperwork since we cannot ever fully know His ways. We've seen Him work miracles for us in some situations, and in others the miracle was that things didn't go according to our plans and that God could still reign over those circumstances. God was good in each case.

Needless to say I'll be spending some time on my knees in prayer. I thought that while I was down there I'd pray for you all as well.

If any of you would like to add your prayer request to my list please leave a comment and I'll add it to my agenda.

Blessings, friends!

Hurry Up and Wait (Again)

Well, it's been two weeks since we submitted our HS (home study) to the court asking for it to be expedited. Since it generally takes a month for approval I'm assuming we didn't find favor with the commissioner. In my book one month minus a day isn't really expedited service, but that's just me. The fine folks at the court may see things differently.

I was really doing well with all the delays; that is until I took a look at our timeline ticker and realized that A*'s been waiting on us for over six months now.

That number hit me like a sledgehammer.

I think every adoptive family comes to a point in the process when the bureaucratic red tape is maddening. It becomes really difficult to wrap your mind around the concept that 1) a child needs parents, 2) parents are ready, willing, and able, but 3) paperwork or red tape keeps them apart. It just feels completely WRONG.

Yes, the paperwork is necessary, for it prevents abuses and is intended to protect innocent children. I KNOW how important these safeguards are. Yet my mind cannot reconcile itself with my breaking mother's heart. This is my SON. He's not a number on a file. He's not process. He's a CHILD who has lost everything. He's grieving and SICK and he needs a family to belong to; a home where his needs can be met. We are honored and blessed to be able to be that family.... if only we could get him here.

For me, these six months haven't felt too terribly long. I suppose it's because I've been busy chasing papers, reading books and doing the usual adoption preparations. It also helps that I've got the other four kids and a loving husband to to keep me busy. After all the delays we experienced during Jonas' adoption we came much more equipped to peacefully wait the process out this time.

But, I'm really hurting for A* right now. Because our paperwork was vague we don't know how long he's been in the orphanage. I'm not sure sure, but I think he may have arrived in June. By the time we arrive he'll have been there for almost a year. (O Lord please let this not take any longer than June!!!)

I'm sad that he's been waiting so long; sad to know we've been working on getting him home for over half that time. I want A* to get to the doctors waiting here who will take GREAT care of him. I want him to meet his brother and sisters. Dustin and I want what all waiting adoptive parents want, which is to jump in and do the actual work of being a mom or a dad to A*.

For now, I keep praying God uses this time to prepare us even more for A*s arrival, so that when he come home we'll be the best parents we can be. If every minute apart somehow means we're being better equipped to take care of A* then it helps, a little, to redeem the time.

I'm back

It's was a tiring trip home from my Grams' funeral. I arrived home around 1am Friday morning and awoke at 5:30 am to head into surgery for Rory. She had a tonsillectomy and adnoidectomy (that is what it's called, right?). We were back home by 9am-ish and I hit the sack utterly exhausted. I had assumed Rory would want to nap with me as well, but she stayed awake the WHOLE rest of the day.

I've got a sinus infection which has kept me company along with a constant dull ache in my head for about 3 weeks now. One of these days I will find the time to make it in to see the doctor and find out what can be done about this nonsense.

I'm waiting for our Home Study to be returned to us. I'm praying it's any day now.

That's all the news I've got people. I hope next week is more exciting with news of approvals and shipping off paperwork, etc.

We'll see.....

Pictures

We received new pictures of A* thanks to some friends who recently travelled to Addis Ababa.

WOW! is all I can say. A* looks completely different. He's gained weight, which is a wonderful thing! His face has filled out and his body looks plump. A* is also sportin' an adorable belly on him now ;-) The eyes remain the same- bright, huge almonds. Oh, and the hair! It was buzzed in his referral pic. Now he's got a head full of loose curls. His hair is so much looser than Jonas'

It's amazing what six months will do for a kid.

It breaks my mommy heart that he's had to wait this long. I can't help but think of all we've missed out on already.

It shouldn't be too much longer now....

A New Way to Help Vanya

I always love it when God presents me with specific opportunities to help a child in need. Vanya is one such opportunity.

Circumstances have been presented to us which enable us to assist little Vanya in finding a forever family that will cherish him. Had God not brought our very special friends to Ukraine and allowed my friend Alisha to volunteer with Vanya we never would have known of his existence. Now that we have been made aware of his needs we simply cannot turn away. We MUST do something!

But, we need your help, because we can't do it alone.

To that end a blog button has been created for Vanya. It links up to his blog. There is also a chip in button. Now friends of Vanya can donate funds toward his adoption through Reece's Rainbow (If you aren't familiar with this organization you should check them out!). Let's put a little money where our mouth is and make it even easier for his forever family to bring him home!!

The pastor at our church tells us he and his wife are always teaching their kids to "see a need, meet a need." In Vanya I see a great need. Together we can make a difference for this boy!

I'm, so excited to see what God will do through your generosity.

Blessings Through The Back Door

When I posted last things were looking pretty discouraging. Our home study had been delayed through the holidays and with the new year came the possibility of having to redo some of our paperwork. The problem with redoing some of the paperwork was that some of the particulars might take a few more months to complete.

After receiving some mixed communication from our family coordinator originally indicating Dustin and I could be at risk of losing A* (because of his having to wait so long.) Dustin and I were extremely concerned for the stability of this adoption. Thankfully we spoke with the director of programs at corporate who assured us nothing was at risk related to A*.

Long story short, it seems the very stressful 24 hours we experienced Wednesday- Thursday was actually God's provision sneaking in under the guise of trouble. I had been talking on the phone with my sweet sister when she made a comment which was straight from God's own mouth to my ears, for when she uttered the words everything within me stood at attention. She expressed the idea that it was possible that all these irritating events were intended by God to be blessings, and that now we were in the forefront of every one's mind at AWAA while they were all simultaneously working to get things moved forward.

I felt that what my sister had said was the truth. And, after being blessed by the prayers of our friends in the AWAA YG (yahoo group) I had a new perspective.

Through the events of this week I was able to practice how to remain calm and still in those moments of trouble and dig down deeper with the Lord to see what He's really up to. I realized it's not just about God working things out and removing obstacles so that our paths will be smooth and straight. It's about getting to know Him in the process and enjoying His presence and goodness in the meanwhile. It's about the peace that is able to hang right alongside deep emotions of grief. It's about being human and truly not knowing what methods God will use to manage the circumstances of life, nor what twists and turns it may take, but trusting by faith in the Source of every good and perfect gift.

I feel I gained a little better understanding of that this week.

Needless to say, by Friday almost every snag that had cropped up against us was resolved. It was if entire icebergs had been melted before our very eyes. God's blessings were coming in through the back door. If I hadn't remained watchful I think I would have missed that understanding. I wouldn't have been able to sit with the Lord while He worked things out. I would have allowed the peace that was available to me to pass right by.

As of Friday our current status is that our home study (HS) has been submitted to the AZ court along with a letter requesting the commissioner expedite our case in light of the fact that A* is waiting (I hope, too, that they informed him of A*'s special medical concerns as well). If the commissioner is feeling generous he may expedite our case. I have to say that I sense that the Lord will cause him to be amiable toward the idea and that our paperwork will return to us quickly. If our paperwork is returned quickly every indication is that we will not have to redo the paperwork which would be time consuming and cause delays. This means that our dossier could be in Ethiopia very soon.

News From Addis

A friend of mine is in Ethiopia right now picking up her daughter. She emailed me to tell us she had visited with A* for a bit. She writes:

I just have to say A* stole my heart. I can't wait for you to bring him home.....
A* seems reserved but very sweet. He seems very bright. He loved all his toys. The first thing he got out was the teddy bear and gave it a hug. He also liked the train and it sounded like he called it a car, but maybe the word for train sounds like car, I don't know. He really liked the light thing and once I showed him the little button that turned on he pushed it over and over again.

I got video of him looking at your precious book, but I was loud outside so I don't know if you will be able to hear him on the video or not, but he was so cute with the book. I would point to you and say mommy and he would point to you and say mommy. He would look and point and repeat what I showed him. It was precious.

What a wonderful gift to be able to read those words this morning! Yesterday was a particularly difficult day on the adoption front. While things aren't moving any more smoothly this morning I felt this update was a gift from the Lord. I had been very concerned about A*'s health. While she doesn't give details about how he's doing at least I know A* is at the Transition Home and not ill in a clinic. I'm sure if he were unwell she would have told me.

Please continue to pray for our paperwork as we have encountered some snags. I never thought we'd still be waiting at 5 months, especially since things were moving at warp speed initially, but alas we are.

I was able to hear from our Social Services Coordinator that she has submitted our home study to corporate today for approval. If all looks good they will approve it and send it back to her to be submitted to the court tomorrow. She also mentioned that she would add a request for the judge to push our paperwork through quickly since A* is waiting on us. I pray He will be favorable toward expediting our case since she explained it large depends on his mood at the time.

That's all for now. We shall see what else the day brings ;-)

Last Year At This Time

On this day last year Dustin and I were meeting our son Jonas for the first time. You can watch the video* here.


We travelled with an awesome group of people who will forever come to mind at Christmas. We shared such amazing, life changing events together. I wish somehow I could hug them all today and share once again the joy of our experience.

You can visit some some of their blogs:

Stager Family

Burk Family

Caldwell Family

*Disregard the date at the beginning of the video. We were in Addis for a week before meeting Jonas working with some friends at Hope for the Hopeless. All those busy days bled together. When and I made this clip after we got home I guessed at the date and got it wrong. Thankfully sources more reliable than myself straightened me out.