Court Date Received - Oh My we are moving fast now!

Oh my goodness, we have a court date!  June 16th we will go before the judge in Ethiopia.  I was so shocked when she called.  We had just turned in our Pair approval letter at 9:00 am and at 10:30 Lauren called me with the news only an hour and a half later. We were told it would take 2-5 days to get the court date so we were not expecting to hear this news today.  We are so excited and anxious.  They wanted us to leave a day earlier than we are, we can't have Daniel miss his trophy game.  So we will leave bright and early the next day.   Oh my we have a lot of planning to do.

Also, please pray for Daniels passport. We still don't have it and there is no movement on where it stands right now.  If we don't have his passport in the next week Daniel will not travel with us.  This will crush him. Please pray I can get some answers and get it moving in the next day or so.

Matthew here we come!

Pair Letter Received

We got it.  Just under 2 months we received our Pair approval letter. This is the last piece we have been waiting on and it is here.  We can apply for our adoptive family court date.  It will take 2-5 days to get our court date but we will know when we are meeting our baby boy within the next week!

Please pray for Daniels passport.  Now that we are even closer we really need that to get here.  We were told to plan to travel the end of the month, which is still 2-3 weeks away but his passport has been in process for 4 weeks already.  I have called to check on it but all I get is it is in processing.  I have added the expedited processing so hopefully he has the passport in time.  He will be crushed if he can't go to Ethiopia.

I604 Investigation Complete

The investigation is complete.  In 14 days, the investigation is complete.  This was supposed to take 1-3 months.  I can not believe it, 14 days.  Now we have to wait for the official letter to arrive and we can apply for our court date.  Ethiopia here we come!

MOWCYA Letter - We got it!

The 2nd piece of information we need to get a court date is here!  We recieved our positive MOWCYA letter.  For those of you who followed Daniels journey, you might remember this was a big source of pain.  We didn't pass about 6 court dates because they had not written the letter.   The last thing we need is the Pair approval letter.   

It is funny in the adoption process how you go from waiting, waiting, waiting to things moving so quickly.  It is definitely an emotional rollercoaster and exhausting.  I love watching how our lives have changed and how God is working.  Daniel the ever growing big brother is so proud.  He has his own photo album and every time we get an update with new pictures he adds them and shows them off to his friends and teachers at school.  I can't wait to see both of my boys together!

I604 Investigation Started

Once again I can not believe I am typing this, I just got the email from the embassy in Ethiopia our I604 investigation has started.  We just turned in the information from the RFE yesterday.  The wonderful agent we had at NBC sent our stuff on its way the day she requested the evidence!  Praise God.  We are even closer.

The next steps are the I604 investigation can take 1-3 months.  Once that is complete we will wait for the arrival of the pair letter.  We also still need our MOWCYA letter.  Please pray for both these pieces of the puzzle.  Once we receive them we can apply for our adoptive family court date.

Praying Matthew home one step at a time.

"Seek the Kingdom of God above all else and live righteously and he will give you everything you need." -Mattew 6:33

RFE Complete!

I can not believe I am typing this!  Our RFE is complete and everything should start moving to Ethipoia within a week or 2.  Thank you for praying.  God truly can move the mountains if you ask!

RFE- Request for Evidence

I got the email for the Request for Evidence, which we were hoping not to get.  Good news, while I was driving Daniel to his dentist appointment I got a call from Lauren at our agency.  They had requested 3 pieces of information, 2 of them were a misunderstanding the agent read the paper wrong and the third was just a request for a more legibile translation.  We should have everything requested by the end of the week!  And the agent processing our request has been kind enough to allow Lauren to email the updated translation.  This usually doesn't happen, usually you have to mail in the paperwork. This will save us 2 weeks of processing time in the mail.  Praise God.  Thank you for praying, keep praying the orphanage gets the translation quickly. One more step closer to Matthew.

Also, we have decided that we will be taking Daniel back with us to Ethipoia.  We will meet Matthew as a complete family.  While this is exciting there are a few things that have to happen.  The biggest is Daniels passport arriving.  We have turned in the application today.  Please pray they process it quickly.  We will hopefully be travelling in July so there should be plenty of time to receive the passport.

April Update

It's update time again!  I can't believe how big Matthew is getting.  Please pray as he has had some respiratory issues  but is on antibiotics so he should be fine.  Here is the udpate for this month:

Measurements:

• Weight: 23.5 pounds
• Height: 67 cm

Development:

• He eats solid foods such as mashed meat, fish, potatoes, carrots, cornflakes, pastini, yogurt, mixed cereal porridge, vegetable soup, seasonal fruit juice etc with the above fixed schedule of the TH.
• He rolls from back to tummy and tummy to back.
• He can sit for adequate time when positioned to sitting.
• He is sociable and easy going child.
• He wears size 18-24 months (not sure how accurate this is)
• He will play with anything around him, doesn't have a favorite toy

Daniel is worried that Matthew won't like racing or cars.  What will we do?!?!  That is our life according to Daniel.  His solution, just keep taking him to the drag strip he will eventually like it!  Gotta love that kid and his reasoning.  Oh I can't wait to see the 2 of them together.

March Update

I love opening my email to new pictures with the big brown eyes and crooked smile!  It is update time again.  I love getting updates on Matthews development but my heart aches that I don't get to experience these things with him.  Praying we get to see him soon! Here is the update for this month:

Measurements:

• Weight: 22 pounds
• Height: 65cm

Development:

• He can roll.
• He can support his head and shoulder when he is on his tummy.
• He can sit with support.
• He has a good sleeping pattern; he sleeps for 10-11 hours during the night. He also takes a nap from 12AM-3PM.

The wait is getting harder and harder, especially when Daniel asks when his brother is coming home.  Please continue to pray for Matthew that he is healthy and we can meet him soon.  We are so ready for him to come home!

BRE Court Date!

We just got news that we passed our BRE court date!  This is one of 3 pieces of the puzzle that we need to go to our adoptive family court date, where we will meet Matthew finally.

What is a BRE court date?  Well it is when the birth relatives or finder/police officers (if an abandonment case) go before the judge for an interview. The judge could request additional interviews at times.  In our case he didn't need any additional investigation or police reports so we passed the first court date.

Please continue to pray as we still need our PAIR approval letter and the MOWCYA letter in order to obtain our adoptive family court date.  While we wait we will rejoice that we are 1/3 of the way done with this portion of the process!

Increased wait times

So I just got off a conference call. Wait times have again increased to 36-48 months.  We are at 39 months waiting.  Just when we get close they increase again and it looks like possibly another year.
Another long year of waiting.  My heart is heavy and hurts with an ache to see that brown face with those big eyes, to hold him in my arms and to see Daniel love on his baby brother.  Just when we think we are almost there.

To top off the wonderful conference call news, I had to give 7 vials of blood to update our medical paperwork again.  Oh and the Austintown Police department is being difficult to get our local background clearance checks done.

It is just not a good day and my heart can't take much more today.  Praying God will answer our prayers soon.  We have waited patiently so far.  When will it be our turn, when will we get our baby boy?

I am done with my pity party now, tomorrow is a new day.  As I am reminded "joy comes in the morning".  May tomorrow be filled with joy (and sunshine).

Christmas is always the hardest part of the wait

Christmas is my favorite time of the year.  But when you are in the adoption process it is the hardest time of the wait.  Everyone is shopping, family get togethers, stockings to hang, but in my heart I know while I am going through all these fun traditions a part of my heart is still in Africa.  There is one stocking missing, there is one set of little feet that won't be coming down the stairs Christmas morning, one little face that won't be looking up smiling at me with Daniel while he sneaks just a little more icing from the cookies.  As much as I love this season and this time with Daniel I can't help but stop and think each day about the little boy that I have yet to meet.  Is he safe?  Is someone holding him this Christmas?  Is someone loving him?  Will anyone tell him Merry Christmas?

This is probably the 3rd time in this process I have posted this video but I listen to it every year and cry.  I can't wait for the year that I get to have both my boys under the Christmas tree.

Next year will be the year our family is complete for Christmas.  Until then I will keep praying for the boy that we will meet someday.  May God keep him safe until he is home.

3 Years Waiting....

Well we have officially been waiting for 3 years now.  3 long years waiting for our son and brother.  In our hearts we know that God has the perfect son for us his plan is always way better than ours.  Doesn't make the 3 years waiting any easier though.

This process is so different than Daniels.  So many people ask all the time since we have already adopted once shouldn't it be easier.  The reality is things change constantly.  So far just in this process the wait times and processes have changed 2-3 times already.  The changes are in the best interest of the children, which also extends the wait times.  There are many things we have had to do or learn about that are way different than what we did the fir

Looking back I am sure we will see God's movement in this time of waiting and if we don't I know it was all for his glory in some way.  This next year will be the year we get to see who God has picked for our family.  I just know it, for those of you who are ready and are in a season of waiting here are some scriptures and words of wisdom that I am hanging onto:

Colossians 1:17
"He is before all things, and in him all things hold together"

Patience isn't always learned through the accumulation of trials, but through accepting the trials so patience can have its perfect work

John 14:1
Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God: trust in me.

There are many more but today this is what I am hanging onto.  God will bring him home this year!

Waiting is the hardest part

It has been a long week!  It seems like life is on hold and we are waiting for everything including the weather to change.  We got news last week that the wait times (for a referral) are increasing again.  Wait times are now 36-42 months.  Our wait is at the 28 month mark right now.  We were hopeful to receive a referral by the summertime but as I know all to well, my timing is not always Gods timing and in adoption the timing always changes.  I knew the increase was coming since there haven't been many referrals it seems for awhile and I have been here before, but this wait increase was harder to digest.  It feels like we have been waiting forever.  Daniel is getting older, we just celebrated his 5 year birthday last month (blog post update will come soon), he is starting T-ball and we register for kindergarten this month and all he wants is his brother.  He talks about him all the time.  It's so hard to wait, even though life is full of waiting.  I have spent some time with God this week begging him to help me be ok with the wait (or just bring our son home but one thing at a time).

I thought I would share what he has taught me in hopes that it might help someone else in the midst of their wait.  Just this morning I read this in my devotion:

Know, sisters, He will wait with you if you ask. He will sustain your faith. He will assure you that He is in control. He has a plan and it’s not ours to figure out. He will turn your restlessness into rest. Rest in Him.

All you have to do is ask, he will wait with you, give you peace and help you rest.  Just ask!  Simple yet asking him to help me wait is never the first thing that comes to my mind.

He also revealed in one day the following scriptures:

Being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience - Colossians 1:11

Finding my strength in him.  He has this under control.  He knows the plan but yet my first reaction is complete devistation and my first thought is "this wait is never going to end".  Instead of "God you got this, give me strength to continue this wait"

My help comes from the Lord, the maker of heaven and earth - Psalm 121:2 

Faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see - Hebrews 11:1

When you can't see the light at the end of the tunnel, look for His light and have faith in God.  He can see what we can't.

Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God: trust in Me - John 14:1

My heart has been breaking at the though of at least another year without knowing who our son is, without getting to see that face and hold that hand.  I am trusting in God - while I am not able to hold my son I know he has him in his hands. More importantly my trust in Him gives peace to my heart because he is holding me too.

Search me God and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me. And lead me in the way everlasting - Psalm 139: 23-24 

I laughed out loud when I read this scripture.  Not because it is funny but anyone who knows me knows I can be about as anxious as they come!  At the moment I read this anxiety was taking over and I felt out of control.

Music is a big outlet for me, God speaks through songs on the radio, in my ipod, etc. all the time.  When I need to feel closer I love to get in my car, turn up the radio and worship him like know one is watching. I was listening to Mandisa on my way to work one day and her song "Press On" came on.  I was struggling that morning with the wait and why is it so hard when all we want to do is grow our family. Deep in a me me me mood.  Well the lyrics go something like this:

When I'm alone, when I'm afraidWhen I have had all I can takeLosin my grip, I start to slip away

When I can hear the voice of doubtInside my head screamin loudStrengthen my faith and help me say today, today

I will follow, I will press onEven when the walk feels longYour hands hold me togetherYour love is with me foreverThrough the broken, through the victoryI will praise you through it allAnd run hard til the race doneI'm gonna press on, press on! 

How many storm have I been through?How many lead me right to You?Using the pain, the hardest days for my good, my goodSo, what do I fear, God you are with meGuiding my steps todayThrough the mountains, valleys, sun and rainLord, lead the way - lead the way! 

I will follow, I will press onEven when the walk feels longYour hands hold me togetherYour love is with me foreverThrough the broken, through the victoryI will praise you through it allAnd run hard til the race doneI'm gonna press on, press on! 

One step in front of the other, No lookin back, no looking back! One step in front of the other, I'm gonna press on, press on! 

So I am pressing on following God and his plan.  One step in front of the other until the wait is done (which in adoption one phase of waiting means another one is starting).  I am so grateful for God's love, guidance and most importantly patience as it takes me awhile sometimes to remember He's in control!

28 months waiting - 8-14 more to go!

2 years and waiting

We have officially hit the 24 month waiting point and with the wait time increases and lull in referrals I believe we are in for the long haul.  Wait times right now are about 30-36 months.  We know from experience thought that God is doing some amazing things we just haven't seen yet.  

Waiting this time is so much different, it is hard because Daniel is so excited to meet his brother.  He prays for him each night.  When he outgrows some clothes we put them in his brothers room.  One day he was putting a shirt in there and while he was walking he said "Mommy I wish my brother was here."  I said "Me too buddy" then he looked at me with those big brown eyes and said "It sure does take a long time".  He then went about his business like every other normal day.  It sure does buddy it sure does!

I was going through videos on my phone and i found this one from Mommy and Me day at school:

I am so thankful for this video and I can't wait for the day that there are 2 little boys sitting there singing "mommies are for hugging, mommies are for kissing".  If you look closely you can see the picture of daniel we received for his referral right behind him.  This is one of those moments that makes all this waiting and paperwork so worth the wait.

Daniel mentioned to Mark the other day that he wants to go with us when we go to Ethiopia to meet his brother.  This is something Mark and I had talked about and decided that we would take him when he got older and could appreciate the culture and learn more.  Now we are wondering, since his comment that he wants to go because he can't remember.  He sees pictures but he wants to see more.  Is he to young?  This is something we are trying to decide as we wait.  Should we take him?  By the time we travel for court he will be 5. Being honest, since we will be there for the court date and then come home, leaving the baby until the embassy visit I don't want Daniel to think that we can leave him also.

Long story short, we are in it for the long haul.  That is the nature of adoption.  We had "planned" on getting a referral the end of this year but things change.  In adoption you learn to be flexible things can change like that and only God knows the plan.  So we will continue to pray and follow his lead on building our family.

Waiting on God

Wow, I just realized today we are almost at the 21 month waiting point.  21 months waiting for a referral to see that sweet little face with big brown eyes.  Really it hasn’t seemed like we have been waiting 21 months.  Part of me is happy that the wait hasn’t been as trying as it was while we were waiting for Daniel, but on the flip side part of me is sad.  I feel like I had documented every single step in the process with Daniel, this time around I am lucky to blog every 3^rd month! 

The wait is starting to get tougher.  The movement of referrals seems to have all but stopped.  Average wait time for a referral now is around 26-30 months.  So in reality we have 5 more months of waiting to go.  Unfortunately once we receive that referral the wait won’t stop there.  When we adopted Daniel 3 years ago the wait was mostly on the front end (in reality, God had different plans for our journey). Now we will wait for a referral and then wait even longer for court, then come home and wait for embassy appointments (while the child is still in Ethiopia).  Processes are changing which is adding more wait time.  While I understand the need for some of the process changes, some are in the best interest of the children, it is hard.  Every time someone asks so what is going on with the adoption.  All I can say is waiting.  Waiting has become a very normal part of my life.  Waiting helps us prepare, waiting helps us grow closer to God and waiting help us to become a voice for the fatherless.    

I know all this waiting is part of a bigger story.  God has plans for this child, plans how he will use our family while waiting and plans to grow us closer to him.  Looking back now on our journey to Daniel, the waiting was one of my favorite times, though if you would have asked me while I was waiting I would not have answered that way.  During the waiting is when I felt closer to God than ever. I needed him, without his strength I would not have been able to wait 11 months to hold my baby.  He was doing big things in that season of waiting.  He worked in our hearts to want to be a bigger voice for the fatherless, to want to reach out to those who were going through the same things we were, to be a support for others who struggled with the wait.  There are a lot of unknowns, things out of your control during the adoption process.  If you are anything like me that doesn’t work well.  But God is in control, God knows the unknowns and God will get you through. 

So while I am waiting, I will continue to worship God. I will continue to praise him and I will continue to stand in awe at the works his is doing in our lives through this journey.   The waiting has helped me see just how marvelous God can be.   I listened to this song below everyday on my way to work while I was waiting for Daniel.  Now I have begun to listen to it again, to help remind me while I am waiting I will wait in obedience and trust in God’s plan:

God has this covered.  He has the perfect child picked out just for our family.   Daniel prays every night for his baby brother in Africa.  I pray that through this wait our 4 year old will be able to learn what it means to wait patiently on God’s plan.   I fully believe in God’s plan, his timing is definitely not always our timing, his timing is not always easy but his timing is ALWAYS definitely better than anything we could have planned.   I just have to remind myself when I get selfish and want my timing to be his timing, to just breathe and wait. Good things are coming. This is the scripture that I am clinging too today:

May the God of hope fill you with joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. – Romans 15:13

Please pray with us for the movement of referrals, that kids will be united with their Forever Families.  Most importantly please pray for patience and peace as we wait on God’s timing for our story.

Adoption is hard.  Adoption is an emotional roller coaster. Adoption is so unbelievably worth it because Adoption is part of God’s Story!

9 Months Waiting

Nine months waiting! I can't believe it has been 9 months since we submitted our paperwork and were finally DTE for adoption #2. Some days it seems like "Wow it has been 9 months already" and some days it seems like "it has only been 9 months". 

The wait is so different this time.  It is always in the back of my mind but I am not completely obsessed with checking the yahoo groups for referrals and court dates.  I am not constantly checking my phone thinking today might be the day I see that 703 area code pop up on my phone.  Maybe it is because (based on wait times) I know we are only 1/2 way through the wait. 

The wait is the hardest part of adoption.  Especially for someone with control issues like me!  I do not like to be the one who has no control over when this piece of paper moves or when the I might see a picture.  When I think about this I have to laugh because sometimes I think God gave me the passion for adoption and heart for orphans because 90% of it is all out of my control.  There is nothing that I can do to speed up the referral process, there is nothing I can do to make an organization sign a letter, etc.  With adoption you sit and you wait.  I have learned a lot about waiting and patience through both processes.  The biggest lessons I have learned are:

1. I am never alone - even in the roughest times when I feel like He is not listening or not there, He is.  Probably more than ever because I need Him.

2.  I can handle more than I think I can - God won't give you something that you can't handle.  Your head might be saying "Oh no you can't do this or you won't make it through".  Trust me you can.  With the first adoption I said that once we got Daniels referral and picture, if I got stuck in court closures I would not be able to handle it. Well guess what not only did we get stuck in court closures, we didn't get to hold Daniel until 11 months after we first saw his picture.  I made it through, not by my own strength but by leaning on His!  I learned a lot about myself during that time.  I have complete and total faith and trust in God, I have a great support system of family and how to make the most out of a rough situation. 

3.  God's timing is way better than mine!  - the biggest lesson I have learned through adoption is God's timing is way better than mine.  His plan is always better even if I don't agree with the timeline.  If you just sit back and wait He will bless you more than you can even imagine.  We waited what seemed a lifetime to have Daniel and start our family.  But that lifetime (that wasn't so long) was so worth it and I can't imagine life without him.

So we have 9 months at least left of waiting to see that precious face of a baby boy with big brown eyes and a brilliant smile.  What will we learn through this time?  I can't wait to find out and see what God has in store for our little family.  I already have a hint of big things to come...