Momma's coming. Hang in there!

This is it! a super new picture of Mussie Orphanage where our little girl is. Inside those walls....through those windows, is our little girl! Wonder what she is doing? Is she crying? Is she laughing? Is someone holding her, hugging her, kissing on her? I can't wait. This picture is from another family from our agency who just visited Mussie. I loved reading her blog and trying to place myself in her shoes. In only a few weeks, I WILL be there!
My little girl is there. ..behind those precious teal walls. Hold on baby, we are coming! We are praying for you constantly! We carry your precious picture with us everywhere we go. It is pasted all over our house. I kiss your precious lips and cheeks every night before I close my eyes. You are in my heart sweetie until I can get you in my arms forever! sleep tight!

Our baby girl is here: Mussie Orphanage. It is located in Southern Ethiopia. It is a single story building that I believe has somewhere around 60+ orphans currently. Last night, I was researching this orphanage and found a blog of a gal who has just returned with her son from there. They were actually there when our little girl had just been placed just 2 weeks ago. It is so possible that she may have even seen her. As I read about her experience, I tried to place myself there. That is so hard to do! More though...my heart cried out. She said that the orphanage had a great need for baby clothing and that the infants and babes wore no clothes during the day but a simple cloth to apparently act as some sort of diaper. She said that the babies were placed in diapers in the evenings so as to conserve the diapers as much as possible. Instantly, I pictured our little girl with no covering. Although the picture I have of her displays her with a cute little outfit, it is highly possible that she was simply dressed for picture day. I have not stopped crying.
I could not help myself today but to run over to Goodwill and find as many onesies, tops, and outfits I could fit in my armload so that we can bring them to the orphanage. I got 17 of them. 17...that is nothing. There are so many needs. I pray for wisdom as we prepare to travel and for the means to get us there and for the treasures that we can bring them.
I will post more later of the process that is still to come. ;)

We got the REFERRAL!

May 7th, 2010 at 2:42pm the phone rang. Chris and I were getting ready to take a quick nap. He had worked all day..been up since 2am. We heard the phone ring. My heart jumped as usual but I was not expecting THIS call. Chris leaned over and glanced at the caller i.d. He said, " It is someone from Twin Cities, MN". I could not tell him to answer it fast enough! He gave me the phone but wasnt sure that THIS was THE call. I could tell he was skeptical, as was I. After all, we have had so many discouragements, it has been almost better to not expect the call than to expect it. Sweet Amy, our sw, quietly said, "Hi, Shannon". In her solemn tone, I was sure she was responding to an email I had sent her earlier this morning expressing more discouragement. I was preparing myself for her comforting words of how we are close to the top or we are almost there....but she didnt say any of this. Instead, the next 4 words will forever be engraved in my memory. Amy said, "Today is the day". Her soft tone was so calm and collect. As I type this, I am crying. It was beyond a sweet moment. I said, "really?"...."yes!", she said. She asked Chris to get on the other line. Funny how it seemed to take.him.forever.to.get.to.the.other.phone. My hand gestures of 'hurry up!' were not seeming to help either!
When Chris got on the phone, Amy sweetly and slowly began to give us the details of our daughter. OUR DAUGHTER! "She is 6 months old. She was born in the Southern region of Ethiopia..." Her history was so beautiful to hear. I clung to every word. I scrambled to write down the details even though she promised to send them via email within minutes. Chris and I looked at each other across the kitchen counter as she spilled every word about our daughter. I couldnt see half the time as tears filled my eyes. "Do you have any questions?", she asked. Nothing..nothing came to my mind. I have been waiting for 2 1/2 years and I had NO questions. "That is okay", Amy said. "Usually there is not much to say at this time." Chris popped up with a question about travel time. Good question, honey! She told us that we would be traveling to court in 2-3 months and then we will travel 6 weeks later to bring her home! Glory to God! We have our girl. Our prayers are that everything goes according to plan: that we travel safely, before courts close, that we pass court, that we bring her home before her first birthday, that she remains healthy, that our children are covered during our travels, that we stay healthy before, during, and after travels, that there are NO complications.
PTL! We got the call!

Top of the list

Today is Saturday. A beautiful day. It has been a beautiful week as a matter of fact. But the sunshine seemed not to be shining so brightly on Thursday in my heart. I had just stumbled upon another blogger who had reportedly gotten their referral for a baby girl from ET. Not only that, but they had also gotten their court date already. They are also from TN. They are with a different agency and she had been put on the wait list in February of 2010. She was immediately placed at #19 on the list. And now..just a few months later, she has a picture of her beauty in her hands. This news seemed to penetrate deeply. I do not know this family. I do not know their circumstances. But...it seemed to make my circumstances so much more evident. We have been on the waitlist since August of 2008. We have been given no # on the waitlist. We have no referral. no court date. no picture to hold in our hands. I instantly sent a message to our sw in MN. After my plea for more detailed, comforting information, I decided I could not wait for a reply via email, so I called. She picked up! Amy was incredibly helpful. All in all, she said that we were at the top of the list. She said we are next. They are simply waiting for more referrals to come in from ET. I get it. Each agency is different. What seems odd is the incredible difference in timing for different families.
After I got off the phone, I melted just a bit. I just cried out. Amy had been very helpful, very comforting, very informative of the process. STILL the moment consumed me and I allowed all kinds of emotions to take place. While I know my Savior lives, I couldn't help but to buckle a bit under all the swirlies going on in my brain. Knowing this was taking place, I knew I had to do something. I reached above me to the bookshelf next to my chair and grabbed my devotional. (Notice I did not get up--that might have been too much for me). But thankfully, my devotional sat there waiting for me. As I flipped to that days date, glancing through watery eyes, I knew it was just what I needed. Its message was clear: Be thankful. As I read through it, I was convicted. I was questioning my Lord's ability to run this whole shindig. I was thinking perhaps I had a better plan. Wow. It is good that He doesn't pull back the curtain to the heavenly realms and let me peek in. It would be too much for me to understand. He asks that we live by faith, not by sight. The Lord's ever watchful eyes and careful hands have so tenderly orchestrated every moment leading up to us being at the top of the list. Everything from who our little girl is to who within the agency will be the one looking over her file and ours in order to make the perfect match. We are on our 12th social worker. 12th! It has taken lots of directing to get her to this point!
Needless to say, I am thankful. Tired..but thankful. I immediately emailed my sw back giving my gratitude and explaining my devotional. I wanted her to know how so very special she is in the process to us. The Lord has ordained her to be in this very place in our lives. How so beautiful.
She emailed back not too long after stating how it had made her day! how sweet! The Lord promises as we refresh others, we, ourselves will be refreshed. so true!
In a nutshell, we are at the top of the list. I am praying my next post will bring THE news!

It is Well

On Monday, Chris and I were able to steal away for a night to the Inn at Evins Mill. It is a precious bed and breakfast Inn that is tucked away in a very rural area with beautiful natural landmarks. It was a PERFECT getaway...so very needed for the both of us. The Lord was completely blessing us each step of the way with perfect weather, perfect room with super big porch, perfect food, perfect solitude and quietness of nature. This was SO perfect that I completely forgot to check out our agency hotline update which usually goes up every monday. Guess what? I didnt check it until Tuesday morning! Upon my surprise, I found that they are FINALLY giving referrals for infants to those who started their wait in August '08. THAT'S US!! Our official wait date (which is when our dossier landed in ET) is Aug 8, '08. This precious date of 08-08-08 is also the awesome birth of our sweet nephew, little O AND the birthdate of my awesome big brother! SO...needless to say, it is a divine date. What does all this mean? Well, that we are getting closer. Unfortunately, the dark side to that kind of news can reinstate a new level of anxiety; ie. checking my phone every hour or so to make sure it is ON, making sure my phone is with me at all times, panicking if I have missed a call, etc. This is NOT good. The blessing is that peace comes when you ask for it.
Today, I was surrounded by my precious girl friends in a our ladies leader group from church. I confessed my slight obsession and asked that peace come. Before leaving, they beautifully prayed over me a prayer of peace and contentment and that the call would come in the Lord's perfect timing. Even more so, as the tears rolled down my cheek, they prayed for our sweet little girl, that angels would protect her in every way. I am resting in that peace. I have included a pic from our stay at the Inn of the waterfall that we were so very blessed to enjoy all to ourselves that day. It was beyond glorious. The peace that flowed from that river was unbelievable. There was such a draw, such an attraction that it was magnetizing. Almost like the glow of fire that captures your soul instantly as you fade into its depths of glowing coals, we would just sit there in the beauty of God's creation without words to express. That peace is what I am trying to cling onto as we wait for the call. There is no way we could get any closer as far as notices from the hotline. So truly, the wait is on but so is the peace. It is well :)

A note from our Agency today...

You are getting so close to a referral so hopefully I’ll be able to call you soon! We did receive a good number of referrals this month so that was very encouraging to see some movement.

Like sands through the hour glass...

It is getting to the nail biting, clock ticking, sand dribbling moments around here. SURELY our time is coming closer. Today, we found out that there were 14 referrals given out last week. 14! 14! Okay, there was absolutely NO indication whether these were infants, toddlers, sibling groups or what. That is where the mystery lies. The last news we were given was that there were less than 15 families ahead of us. I am assuming that means infant referrals since our sw indicated that they were already jumping ahead of us to give out older children referrals. So, there is no way of knowing exactly how many infant referrals were given out last week. Unfortunately, the agency does not believe in being specific AT ALL. So..this means waiting. Gee...waiting. What a thought. Oh sure..I will just wait. no problem :). I never thought of that. Whew. That is all I have to do.
I will have to say that there was some victory today. I mean, I did not check the agency website for the update as soon as I woke up this morning. And I did not check it 10 minutes after that or 10 minutes after that, or an hour later, etc. I actually FORGOT to check it this morning. I consider that somewhat of success. I have been slightly obsessive about checking it every Monday morning. ..just slightly. If the laptop is conveniently located at my bedside, I barely open my eyes to pull it close to check for the update...never mind that the office isn't even open for business yet. That doesnt cross my mind until AFTER I have checked it a couple of times. Then I usually try to hold myself off until atleast 9am. usually no news. So, I wait until 10 and check it again..and then 10:20, 10:30, 11. Usually by 11am, it has been posted. But today, I didnt even check it until 4 pm! Do you see the victory here?!!! I had actually prayed last week that I would let it go. That I would not be so obsessed with counting the numbers and trying to guesstimate the possible week or even day that we might get the phone call. I waited until 4pm! Please, please hold the applause. Save it up. I am believing for even better news to come.
Continue to be praying for the Ethiopian govt to be blessed by the adoption agencies that are working in ET right now. There have apparently been some mishaps (details unknown) of families getting through half the adoption and then pulling out. This has created a new policy that was put into place last week that will require us to travel TWICE before picking up our little girl. This was not sweet news to my ears. But as my wise husband announced, "Hon, we are still getting our little girl. So what if we are traveling twice to get her. We are still going to bring her home!" Wise wise words. My worries fled. We are just praying that the country will not shut down or create more difficulties for families in the adoption process.

Referral Update

Our agency posted the latest hotline update from last week. Only ONE referral was given out last week. I promptly sent an email to our sw who replied quickly and said she has no real answers as to the reasons for the slow progress. She confirmed that there are less than 15 families ahead of us. This is NOT the number that I had been configuring. As a matter of fact, I was convinced it was less than 10. But the reason is because, as the sw also confirmed, that they have gone out of order to other families past our date because they had requested older children. So...if it they continue to give ONE referral per week, then we could be looking at a good THREE MORE MONTHS. This just makes me get on my knees harder. Whatever the circumstances are that are surrounding our little girl are of utmost importance. I dont know what is going on with her...her birth, her mother, her safety, her care. My prayers are that the Lord hastily put a protective shield around her. That He send a host of angels to comfort her. Aaaagh...my heart is aching, my throat is hurting. May the Lord bring her to us soon.

The Hard Truth about conditions for Women in Ethiopia

I am part of several blog groups that discuss and support Ethiopian adoption. I just ran across a blog article that describes some of the hard truths that surround so much of the difficult lives that women face in Ethiopia. I have read some of these in the past, but it was good to get a refresher to remind myself of some more areas to pray for when I lift up that precious country. If you want to read the full article, click here. I am including a brief clip of the truths below which describe some of the very reasons that women in Ethiopia are currently using sticks to abort babies. It is a sad truth this is rampant across the area. These beautiful women, some very young girls are faced with horrors that we can't really imagine.

Poverty

The statistics – and the realities of life in much of Ethiopia – are harsh. Over 85% of Ethiopian women live in rural areas where poor families are primarily engaged in subsistence agriculture. Over 65% of the population of 75 million people live below the poverty level. One in five children will not live to see their fifth birthday. Life expectancy is not quite 55 years. Nearly half of the population is undernourished and famine is a recurring problem.

Illiteracy

Ethiopia has among the worst rates of school enrollment for girls in Africa. The literacy rate for girls and women in Ethiopia is just 35%. When girls and women have access to education and are able to read, their status and the wellbeing of their families improves significantly.

Violence against women

In Ethiopia, almost 60 percent of women have been subjected to sexual violence including rape. Abortion is linked to violence, as approximately 25% of women seeking an abortion are pregnant as a result of rape. Ethiopian women face further violence in the form of early and forced marriage or marriage by abduction. Although it is hard to believe, an estimated 72% of women are married by abduction, a practice that often involves rape. According to one study, 85% of women believe their husbands have the right to beat them if they burn food, refuse sex, or go somewhere without their husband’s consent.

The Hotline update...for the week of Feb 8-12

The weekly program hotline is intended to provide a brief overview of recent referral activity, travel and other news in the Ethiopia program. Referral and travel activity that directly affects you will not be posted here until you have been notified. Please remember to contact your Ethiopia specialist for more information specific to your adoption process.
• 1 child was referred to 1 family
• 4 children/3 families passed through court
• 0 children/0 families court dates were postponed
• 6 families arrived in Ethiopia to complete their child's US immigrant visa process for 10 children.

• CHSFS confirms that several families have assigned court dates through February 18.
• We estimate that the wait for referral for children newborn to 24 months of age may now be approximately 16 - 24 months. The referral wait time for children over two years old may now be approximately 3 - 15 months.
• Families more flexible with regard to age, gender, number of children and known medical issues can expect a wait toward the shorter end of this range.
• The future wait time for either an older child or a sibling referral remains difficult to predict.
• Families most recently matched with a child under 12 months of age with few known health concerns began their wait in July 2008.
• Please note that there is no wait for referral when adopting through our Waiting International Children (WIC) program.
• The current wait from referral acceptance to travel has ranged between 4-6 months, with several variables unique to some cases impacting that timing.

SO, WHAT DOES ALL THIS MEAN????!!!
Hanging in there! So, now there is apparently less than 9 families ahead of us. woop woop! In the meantime, I MUST add a picture of what is currently going on our lives other than adoption waiting. It is SNOW!!!



We are thrilled. I have to say that though, that I am not opposed to the kids having school every now and then despite the white stuff. We are getting super crazy creative around here to keep it interesting. Today, it is rubberband guitars and homemade wholegrain pancakes. This is just breakfast, folks. I will have to keep you posted about the rest of our day!!

less than 10 families ahead of us!!

Okay, since my last post, I have been keeping close tabs on the referrals going out weekly to families. To date, there have been 15 referrals sent out since the last post. That means that we are down to 10 families or less ahead of us!!! It has been interesting to see the progress...slow as it is, but it is a sure indication that the Lord is making sure we get the right little girl for us. Two weeks ago, there were 10 referrals given out which had knocked us down to 10, but last week, there were 0 referrals. What a huge disappointment. So, back to waiting patiently, which as I tell my little one, "that is waiting with a smile on your face!". I am trying super hard to not concentrate on the "is today the day?, could it be?, I can't imagine!!, what am I going to be doing when we get the call?, what if I am in the car and not near my computer?!!". All of those questions may seem silly but they are totally comforting and yet super time consumers when you are THIS close.
My heart is thrilled though to still be hearing of more and more families adopting in our area. My prayer is that more and more families will capture the vision that these precious children, whether here, there, or anywhere, need loving families to take them in and love on them. We are not here on this earth to simply live life to the fullest and get all we can get out of it. We are not here to partake of every life opportunity so that we can say "We did it!". Nope...we are here to bless, to serve, to love, to grow, to help, to disciple, and to care. It is so easy to think about ourselves, how we are being neglected, how we are being deprived of this and that. BUT spend 10 minutes..no just 3 or 4 looking at the lives of children who are being held in orpanages all over the world who may not even get one meal a day, whose clothes (if any) are ripped and dirty, whose feet are not clothed with warm fuzzy socks or right sized shoe, whose arms need someone to wrap around, whose hearts are waiting for their opportunity to live in a forever family. Then, then...hearts might change, but only if they are willing to accept the responsibility that comes with an open, loving, giving, caring heart. Some of us might even feel a little empathy towards such a vast number precious children, but not the calling. Okay, then what? Just turn a blind eye? NO, my prayer is that those that are willing but maybe not called to adopt, will atleast search the possibility of helping in some small way other than lending a nice comment here and there. That may be simply sponsoring a child through an organization like World Vision or Compassion International. Or perhaps traveling across the globe to help build a well or shelter for orphans. Would it be possible to visit the local shelter downtown or soup kitchen and serve to families who have no home? I shall step down from my soap box. I know the Lord is doing amazing things in the hearts of His people. I heard just recently a quote from John Piper that I shall bless you with, "The U.S. Census Bureau predicts that by 2042 (32 years from now) minorities will make up more than 50% of the population. We do not look with alarm or threat on this. This is the way heaven will be. “You were slain [Lord Jesus], and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation” (Revelation 5:9). "

2 more months..perhaps

We are in the middle of updating our homestudy. It has been 2 years since we started the process and it is time to go through all the hodge podge of paper work again. It is not as detailed but still tedious and time consuming. There is nothing fast about getting five family members physicals with specific qualifications needed on the paperwork. Especially during school and with an office who isn't very comfortable drawing blood from children. So, then, there is the trip to the hospital lab where they are super pros. But first, you have to check the kids out of school again and on a different day because the two other two hour doctor visits in the office took up all your free time. I am not complaining. Doing all of this is worth it. It is. Today, we had to trek across town to the sheriff's office to apply to get police clearance letters. We will pick them up on Friday when they are ready. Liam got a cool sheriff's badge, of which he was proud to wear all day! After that, we traveled down to Spring Hill to get our FBI, TBI fingerprinting done. This is NOT the same as the immigration fingerprints which are done in downtown Nashville. NOPE. same fingers, just different prints. go figure. :).
We are almost done with some of the other items on our checklist. We need to get a carbon monoxide detector...and get the kiddos to write a letter about how they feel about getting a new sister. We need to make tax paper copies and insurance copies and oh...drive across town to pick up our lab results from the doctor's office. It seems to be a lot of running around and honestly, it seems like nothing is getting done because you know what? ...our little girl isnt here yet. BUT boy...she is worth it. My prayers are nonstop. I am praying for her safety and health. I pray for blessings over her mom. I pray for her care at the orphanage. I dont even know if she is born yet. But...I have a feeling she is. Something very strong in November came across me. I could be very wrong. I chalk it up to mother's intuition. We will see :). In the meantime, we wait. trying to wait with patience and fewer tears and more faith. Today we got an email from our social worker. She offered words of encouragement and a hint that we are about 2 months away from a referral...for REAL. She gave no definite numbers but indicated strongly that there are fewer than 25 families ahead of us. Considering that there are currently over 425 families signed up with this agency, we are pretty high on the charts. I cant believe it.
I would love to hear from you if you are keeping up with our news. I love the support that we have been getting from everyone. It has certainly been a God-send. It has been a long 2 years which was reportedly only supposed to be 6-9 months. We appreciate every word of hope and support, every prayer lifted up on behalf of our sweet little girl. Blessings to you!

Moving closer

I believe it was the week of Christmas or the week before that I found out that the agency is now making referrals for families whose wait times started in July of 08. It took them about 6 weeks or so to get through June. It is really up in the air how long it will take them to get through July. The agency refuses to give out information like how many families are in the waiting times for each month, or how close you might really be. It has always been this ever extended time span. Originally, it was 6-9 months. That quickly moved to 12, 14, 16, 18 and now 24 months. For us, it should be around the 18 month range...but again, we are just waiting for the Lord on this one. I have a feeling that our sweetie is born now. I have been praying for her fervently. I am hoping and praying that they will travel quickly through the July referrals and onto the August families. That is US!! So, we COULD hear something really soon ...like in the next few weeks. That is my prayer. :)
In the meantime, I am excited to announce that our friends from church will be traveling in 2 days to go pick up their son from ET. They have a sweet story. Their time span has been less than 6 months. God matched them with a precious 6 year old boy who is anxiously awaiting his forever family. I am excited for the Wortons! Can't wait to hear how their trip goes. I saw them at Walmart the other day making last minute shopping trips before they leave. So sweet. I can only imagine how crazy it will be when we are just days away from meeting our daughter. Actually, I can't imagine. It seems so surreal right now.
My next blog, I will tell how we have given our sweetie a name.