Amazed...Anticipating...Anxiously Awaiting

For two years, we have been working and waiting for our children in Ethiopia - children we do not know, have never seen but to whom we know the Lord will lead us.  The first of three big days in international adoption are "referral day", the day the anxiously waiting family finally receives a phone call and email with the details and pictures of the child they have been matched with.  The second big day is the "pass court day" when the parents travel to (in our case) Ethiopia,and appear before the courts to formally and officially adopt their child.  Most families pass court on the first go-round, but sometimes more information is needed on the child to be adopted before the adoption can be granted.  The third and last day, often the most exciting and emotional, is the "Gotcha day!!"  On this day, the family has passed medical, received their child's Visa, and may now bring their child home from Ethiopia.   

On Friday I spoke with our case worker at the adoption agency about different financial concerns I had as well as questioned her about referrals given during Ethiopia's rainy season (Aug. 8-late Sept) when the adoption courts are closed.  She informed me that referrals are still received, approved, and given to families during that time but a Court Date cannot be made until after the courts reopen near the end of September.  So, once again concerned about the money, I replied, Okay, well that gives us a month or two before we will receive a referral to raise the money we need to accept it.  To my shock and delight she replied tentatively.. or a few days. (!?!?)  What?!?!  So after a little prodding on my part, she told me that the agency was about to receive more referrals to give out but she couldn't say anything officially to me until the children's files had been approved and released for referral.  But...she said...I will be calling you on Monday!  She did tell me that she didn't want to say too much and get my hopes up, but that it looked very much like a referral was coming our way.  

So, in true Lauren fashion,  I absolutely got my hopes up.  Come on, seriously, what did she expect! We have taken some drastic measures to be able to find the almost $14,000 we need to accept the referral, but by the grace of our most loving Father in Heaven, we were able to manage to gather all but about $500 of the total sum needed.  We also had some wonderful friends and family who were able to help us by contributing to our adoption fund.  I am so humbled and amazed by the goodness of God and the wisdom in his timing.  He has blessed us beyond measure to be able to build our eternal family through adoption.  We are so deeply grateful for our wonderful friends and family who have loved and supported us throughout the wait.  We still have a long journey ahead of us, but we have faith that the Lord will continue to help us bring our children home.  

Long story short?  Stay tuned...we might have some great news to share tomorrow!!  ...But don't get your hopes up!  :o)   

We're Number 1!! We're Number 1!!

Wahooo!!  After more than 19 months of waiting, we are FINALLY #1 in line!!  Well, at least we are first in line for a sibling group or twins, and first for a boy in our age range.  We are, however, fourth in line for a girl.  Isn't that amazing?  We could potentially receive a referral for a child or a sibling group in the next month or two!!  We are so thrilled, but we also have a lot of work to do.

If we receive a referral for twins or siblings, we will be required to wire the agency $13,860 in order to accept the referral and start the process to appear before the Ethiopian courts to formally adopt our children.  Here's the thing...our total adoption expenses will be over $35,000 and we can't do it alone.  I know our Father in Heaven will help us bring our children home, but we need your help too.  

See the link at the right to 100 Good Wishes...it links to our page where family, friends, and other well-wishers can send our children a good wish and make a small donation via Paypal to help us bring them home.  We are also applying for adoption grants and squeezing our budget to continue to put in as much of our own money as possible.  Thank You in advance for your loving support of our family and our children. 

If you are interested in the breakdown of adoption costs, there is a new tab at the top of our blog entitled Adoption Expenses, which will show you the first page of the financial agreement we signed with our adoption agency. 

One GIANT leap of faith

Matthew and I have always been filled with the desire to build our family through the gift of adoption.  In February 2010 we began investigating the process of adopting domestically and internationally...costs, time frames, process, etc.  We decided we would pursue international adoption in the beautiful country of Ethiopia!

We have now officially been in the process with our agency, Children's House International, for two years.  For the last 19 months we have been awaiting a referral.  A referral is a packet of information on a child that meets your adoption specifications for the child you would like to adopt.  A few days ago we increased our age range...yesterday we made a HUGE change. (In my opinion anyway).  After conferencing as a couple - via Skype messaging mind you - and after prayer and fasting we decided to change our child preferences to be as follows:

A girl OR boy between the ages of newborn and 2 1/2 years old, can be HIV+ and can also have minor correctable defects.  We are also approved and happy to accept a sibling boy or girl up to the age of 4.

What is so big about that you may very well wonder.  Well, we have been expecting to adopt a baby girl from Ethiopia for the past two years ...and perhaps we still will, but we felt like we needed to open ourselves up a little bit to allow the Lord to help us find the child intended for our family.  I must say, I am still very excited about this change even though it was a difficult one to make.  A referral could be right around the corner!!  Which of course means <gulp> we need to have at least $9500 ready in order to accept the referral, or more than that if we receive a referral for siblings.  I know God can work miracles, and we are about to need a big one.  

Dossier en route to Ethiopia!!

To our absolute delight, our case worker from Children's House International shipped our dossier to Ethiopia today! She provided us with the FedEx tracking number so that we can follow its progress. For those who are interested, the tracking number is #7971-8975-7096. Now we just need to wait for a referral for a child or children. Our case worker gave us an estimated time table of 3-9 months. Based on what I have seen from reading families blogs working with other agencies, this is actually a pretty good wait time. Some families wait an average of 13 months. I can't believe we started this process in January 2010 and we are finally getting our dossier to Ethiopia. But I must say.... HOOORAYYYY!!!!!!

I finally totaled up our adoption expenses thus far and we hit just over $14,000 with at least $22,800 left to go (if we get a referral for two children). We are still moving forward with adoption t-shirt sales and sewing-craft sales from my Etsy site: www.myladybyrd.etsy.com. So far (thanks to friends and family) we have raised $188. I know that may not look like a lot, but it is better than zero!! That is enough to cover the medical visits for two children required for them to obtain visas. Thank you!!

All of our adoption fundraising money goes into our Zion's Bank adoption account. That means that all proceeds from t-shirt sales, etsy, and donations are deposited there so that adoption funds do not mix with our normal checking account with USAA.