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.

things are moooooovin'

We got an email last week that the referral dates are moving forward. They have now begun matching families who began their wait in June of 2008. Yea!!!! Our waiting date is August 8. So....that is good news. We are getting closer. You know how a cow moves slowly across the pasture? Even when they run, they seem to be moving in slow motion? That is like this process. It is definitely MOOOOOOOO-ving. ..just in slow motion.
In other news, we met our 11th Social Worker the other day. She is quite sweet and has been through the adoption twice herself. She has a daughter from China and a son from Korea, and she just gave birth to a little girl. Our new sw was here to help us begin the process of updating our homestudy. It is a process of a couple of home visits, a billion questions, lots more paperwork, a few hundred dollars, and some more visits to the doctor, police station, etc. Hopefully, this will keep our minds busy on the process and not so much on the lack of progress :).
I am so very thankful for the sweet questions that drift in from all over, inquiring of our sweet little girl. She is so very loved and doesn't even know it yet :). I can't wait to wrap my arms around her precious little self.
My prayers are to keep patient and my eyes on the Lord as He is in complete control of EVERYTHING. How so very sovereign He is. There is nothing new to him. Nothing that gets past his ever seeing eyes. Nothing that He can't fix or undo. I am thankful for my Lord...and thankful for the faithful prayers of my friends and family.
Blessings to all of you!

Miscommmmmmm

Okay....yesterday..the day after I received the news that they were matching June 08 families, we got a corrective email stating that they had made a mistake. Correction, they are still matching families from May 08. Ugh..what a balloon popper. But that is not where the balloon popping stops. I received an email within minutes from our international agency to check with our local agency on the status of our homestudy expiration date. This is to assure that everything will stay up to date as we get closer. I believe they are only valid for one year, which means we are up for an update, but we have never received a call from our local agency. Anyway, I called them--our local agency--- yesterday and asked for our new social worker, Tracey. Our previous sw went on maternity leave earlier this year and will not be returning. Okay..you do remember that through this process we are on our 4th sw from this agency and our 5th sw from our international agency. That means 9 social workers!!! So, guess what they said?!!! "Oh, she no longer works here!!!". At first, I thought I had said her name wrong. So, I jumped in real quick, "Oh...I mean Stacey". .."No ma'am there is no one here by that name." "Oh, so it is Tracey? Wait, where is she? What do you mean she no longer works there? I havent received any notices or phone calls about this? WHAT DO YOU MEAN?!!!!!". I ended up getting some very vague answers about how everyone that used to work in that agency no longer works there. I have been assigned an interim social worker because they are currently brokering out social workers to hold up the firm because there are over 80 families who are currently in their system waiting for little children. CAN YOU BELIEVE IT?!! It seems unbelieveable to me. This is like what happens to other people..not me. And ..of no surprise, my new social worker will be out of the office until Thursday, because she only works on Mondays and Thursdays. How convenient! So, let's recap. We are on our 10th social worker now. You can imagine why you might have found me a few minutes later on my bed crying. This has been an unbelieveable ride so far. All the stories that I have heard of other families sailing through their adoption process, we are not one of them. I have heard of others encountering bumps in the road. But let me just say this...in full faith and confidence...No matter what schemes the enemy may plan to halt, delay, discourage, or rip a part, my God is greater, bigger, better, smarter, and has been victorious in every battle He has ever been in. If my God can conquer the grave...death itself, then minor social worker changes and time delays will not stop His plans for matching us with our daughter whom He predestined to be in our family before I took my first breath. I am feeling better today about the whole thing..yup...better. Will I recommend this local agency to anyone?...uh...probably not :).

We are gettin' closer!!

"Families most recently matched with a child under 12 months of age with few known health concerns began their wait in June 2008."

This was the email that we received today from our agency. This news is tickling to my soul. We began our official wait 'on the list' in August of 08. That means that soon soon soon, they will be getting to the batch of families whose wait began in July and then August. woohooooo!
While the wait has seemed so so very long, and as we have seen other families who signed up after us already travel to get their little ones in ET, we have been diligently praying for wisdom and peace and patience. All the while, we have never felt led to leave our agency....despite the lengthening wait times. God matched us to our little sweetie before we even signed on the dotted line. And He knows exactly how to bring her to us. The closer we get, the more excited I become. The more I realize how none of this in our control. And that is the beauty of it all. For any of us to think that we might have been accidently placed in the wrong family has some revelations a comin'!! No matter what our circumstances, backgrounds, problems, upbringings,etc, there is such a plan over our lives that promises nothing but blessings. I can't wait to bring our beautiful little girl home and hold her and tell her that she is now in her forever family. Awh...sigh....I can't wait to see her face...to hold her hands ..to rock her to sleep and tell her how much she is loved. Soon we will be getting her picture. oh...joy!