Crossroads...

This is what the Lord says:  “stand at the crossroads and look; ask for the ancient paths, ask where the good way is and walk in it and you will find rest for your souls…”
Jeremiah 6:16

Two years ago we began a journey that had forever changed our lives. It was a journey that has tested us, stretched us farther than what was comfortable, strengthened our bond as a family and helped us grow in our walk with the Lord. Two years ago we began a journey to adopt a little girl from Ethiopia. Over the course of the past two years we have encountered more twists and turns then we ever imagined. But through the trials the one thing that remained strong and consistent was our belief that God has his hand in our adoption process. He gave us continued assurance through it all that we were filling his perfect will for our family.

Two years have passed and we want to share with you today that God has again brought us to a crossroad where we have the choice to stay in our comfort of what we thought would be for our family or to follow the new course God has presented to us. Because nothing about international adoption is comfortable and easy we chose to stand by the one who makes the impossible possible. Today we are here to share that while our hearts for adoption have not changed, the location has. As of this past week, God has lead us to putting in a transfer to adopt from China. While part of our hearts will always be in Ethiopia, God has made it clear the path for our family and we will continue on knowing he is the author and perfectly of our story.

We will continue to keep you updated on this process as we venture on our journey of bringing our daughter home.

"Mommy, when can I meet my sister?"

“Mommy, when can I meet my sister?”

“Mommy, can go get my sister now?

“Mommy, can my sister sleep in my room?”

“Mommy, can I come with you to Africa when you go get my sister?”

“Mommy, when is my sister coming home?”

“Mommy, is my sister with Aunt Chami?”

 

Every day I am asked these questions…Not a day goes by where Amira is not a topic of discussion. Every day I have to explain to a very loving, excited and compassionate three year old why we cannot go and get her sister and bring her home.  In a way it is sad because every day I have to see the look of disappointment on her face when I explain that it is not yet God’s time for Amira to join us.  But at the same time it is amazing.  It is amazing to witness firsthand how a child can have a heart so incredibly big that she can love someone she has never even met.  Amazing that she has the faith that someday her sister will in fact join our family.  Amazing that at such a young age, she never gives up hope.    

We can learn so much from young children.  To love like they love.  To forgive like they forgive.  To trust like the trust. 

 

Trust.  That is one area of my life that has truly grown tenfold since we began our adoption process Feb 2013.  It has not always been easy to trust God’s plan for our family and I would be lying if I said we didn’t have set backs.  It has been an emotional process, but I trust that every stumbling block and set back has had a purpose.  I trust God has a reason for the wait.  It has been 2 years since we began our adoption journey.  Never would I have imagined 2 years ago that we would be still waiting.  But I trust God has something in store and just like I tell my sweet Evelynn, it is not God’s time for Amira to join us.

 

So while we wait, we continue to jump through all the hoops required to keep our paperwork up to date.  We have recently just updated our home-study as well as update our paperwork with the United States Citizen and Immigration Services (USCIS).  This will keep us up to date for another 18 months as far as immigration is concerned.  If 18 months from now we are not holding our daughter, we trust that God has a purpose for the continued delay.  Also while we wait, we continue to pray.  We pray for our sweet baby girl half way around the world.  We pray for all the children around the world who are orphaned and hurting, that they may know the love of our Heavenly Father and someday be joined with a loving family here on Earth.  And we pray for our family, for the process and for the future our family has in store.  Lastly, we remember to count our blessings, as we are so incredibly blessed every day.

As always, we thank you for your prayers and will continue to keep you updated as we continue forward on our journey of bringing our sweet baby girl home.   

 

 

As I tucked my children into bed tonight, this song came on...it is true for my children who are with us now and some day for the one to join us... Safe and Sound

Moving Forward....

Like most everyone, I cannot believe that 2014 is already coming to an end!  Seems like just yesterday we were bringing in the New Year and here we are less than a month away from Christmas!  While time seems to be going fast in everyday life, the one aspect of our life where it feels like time is standing still is our adoption.  When we began this process in April 2013, we were told it would take around from 6-8 months to complete all of the paperwork needed to ship to Ethiopia (AKA our dossier).   As it turned out, that was a very accurate timeframe for us, because 6 months later we were at the post office shipping our dossier to our agency for them to send to Ethiopia.  Once our agency received our paperwork, they began working on their end to prepare it for departure and on October 18, 2013 our dossier arrived in Addis Ababa, the Capital of Ethiopia. 

Once we were officially DTE (dossier to Ethiopia), it was time to begin our next countdown.  At this point in our journey, our adoption agency indicated that once we had submitted our paperwork to Ethiopia, we would be matched with our daughter within 18-24 months.  Therefore, at that time we anticipated we be meeting our little Amira by April 2015 at the earliest or by October 2015 at the latest.  However, as time went on our agency has increased the wait time for families to be closer to 36-42 months and they indicate it is possible for this wait time to continue to increase.  Therefore, at this point and time we are have no idea what the exact timeframe will be when we will be united with our little princess on the other side of the world.  Typically, when people ask when we will be bringing our little girl home, I usually say “we have a long road ahead of us but God is in control.” 

Plain and Simple....God IS in control.  He always has been and always will be.  He knows the exact day, the exact hour, the exact minute we will be brought together as a family.  And while I wish that day was today, his timing is perfectly planned.  He is watching over our journey and our family…all 5 of us.  So until that day comes, we will continue to move forward and pray for guidance and wisdom for our journey.  We will also pray for Amira, for her safety and that she knows she is loved by a family that has never seen her face and a God who knows every hair on her beautiful little head. 

That all being said…we are currently reaching the point in our journey when our paperwork begins to expire.  Because of the long wait times for adoptions in Ethiopia, we are given the option to either let our paperwork expire or keep it up to date.  The benefit of letting everything expire is that it will save a little cash in the long run.  However, once we are matched with our daughter, we would not be able to move forward with our adoption until everything has been updated.  Also from what I understand, updating expired paperwork is almost like starting the paperwork process over again.  Because of these reasons, we have chosen to keep our paperwork up to date.  It may cost us a little more in the long run but we do not want any additional set-backs, such as trying to quickly renew paperwork, to extend our wait of meeting our daughter.  Therefore, this past week Nic and I visited our friends at United States Citizen and Immigration Services to update our fingerprints.  We passed J .  The next step will be to begin the process of updating our home study, this will be a little more in depth then sticking our finger on a computer screen.  However, we will cross that bridge when it arrives in January 2015 as we are taking one step at a time.  We have learned in this process the importance of celebrating every victory, no matter how small.  God is good. :)  

Thank you all for your continued support and prayers.  We will continue to keep you updated as we move forward in God’s time.  Have a very Merry Christmas and a safe and Happy New Year!!!

GOD BLESS!!!

 

On our way to get fingerprinted for the second time. :)

 

 

And so it begins...

I cannot believe that it has been a year and an half since we first began our adoption process back in early 2013.  It feels like just yesterday we crossing all the “T”s and dotting all the “I”s…then checking and double checking and triple checking all of our paperwork before we sent out our “official” request to adopt (aka our Dossier).  But the reality is, several seasons have come and gone since we shipped our Dossier to Ethiopia on October 18, 2013.  For those of you who may not know, our Dossier took us around 6 months to complete.   It required a large amount of time, a little frustration, a lot of signatures, notary stamps, social worker visits, more background checks than I even thought existed and much more than I can list in a “brief” summary.  But above all, it required a lot of faith in the one who called us to adopt and to him we give thanks because we could not have done it without his amazing grace.

That all being said, it is hard to believe that we are already to the point where our paperwork is beginning to approach its “expiration” date.  I sit here tonight writing a letter to the Department of Homeland Security, requesting our first update for our fingerprints (which expire in December).  I cannot believe it is already that time.  I cannot believe how slowly we are moving up the waiting list.  It breaks my heart to see our the little progress we have made in the past year.  But we know who is in control..... After our fingerprints, we will need to update our homestudy and our “pre-approval for citizenship” paperwork.  These updates will given us an additional 15 months for our fingerprints and 18 months for our homestudy and citizenship paperwork.  I hope and pray that by time that rolls around, we will not need an update as we will be completing our adoption and bringing our little girl home. 

As much as it hurts, I know that God is good.  He is faithful.  And most importantly for us right now…his timing is perfect.  We pray for Amira everyday, where ever she may be and we know we are not the only ones who do.  Our Heavenly Father hears our prayers and is protecting her and keeping her safe until the time HE decides to bring her home to be with us.  So until then, we will patiently wait and pray. 

 

Thanks for your prayers and support.

Our Story

Gods timing is perfect.... I have heard that statement more in the past year and a half than I have in my entire life. While at times it is hard to accept I know whole heartedly that it is the absolute truth. Whether it be in the waiting stages of adoption or other aspects of our lives, God's timing truly is impeccable. We may not always realize it at first but during the wait God uses the time to allow us an opportunity for spiritual, physically and emotional growth. I know I am not the same person I was in April 2013 when we began this journey. I have grown so much stronger in my faith and love for my heavenly savior than I ever thought possible. I praise The Lord for this journey and for the days to come because I will continue to grow in my faith and continue to share the love of Jesus Christ with others. 

This past Sunday, Nic and I had the opportunity to meet an amazing couple in Texas who recently brought home their son from Ghana Africa. Again God's timing is completely remarkable....only our Heavenly Father can bring together two families, both with the heart of adoption, in the massive state of Texas, in the same terminal on the same flight. Oh did I mention this family lives at most an hour from our home??? I can hardly wrap my mind around how amazing this encounter was and we now have another family we can connect with in our area. Praise The Lord.  As they shared their amazing story the one part that really stuck out to me is when they said every trial, every set back and every day they waited was all a part of what makes their story.  They waited almost 2 years after they were matched with their son before they were able to bring him home. This does not include the time they waited from when they began their adoption journey. That wait, while hard, was a part of their story. It was also a part of their son's story. While they may not  have known why, God had a purpose and reason in mind for that wait.  That really hit home as we are approaching the year mark from when we submitted our paperwork to Africa. Just like our new friends from Chicago, God has a plan for our life and for Amira. We might not understand God's plan now but it is all written out above and this is our story.  Adoption is not about us, it's all about him and all the Glory to God when that day comes when we bring her home. So let me share with you our current chapter of our adoption entitled...,

Chapter 10: Behind the scenes of the wait:

As of now we are up to date with everything. December 2014 our paperwork in which we submitted will begin to slowly expire. In December we will begin the process of updating our fingerprints. As long as we do it within a certain time frame this update will be free for the first renewal. Starting in January 2015 we will begin the lengthy process of updating our home study. This means updated health physicals, financial status, employment, the works. This update will cost between $250-$500, however, it is necessary as our home study expires in March. Also expiring in March is our immigration paperwork. This first update, again if done in the proper time frame is free.  I know the cost of adoption is troubling and hard to understand for a lot of individuals. And that's ok. However, God is faithful and will provide. I know the time frame of waiting 2-4 years is hard for people to understand given the large amount of orphans in Ethiopia alone (around 4.5 million). And that's ok to feel that way. It took me a while and lots of praying to get to the point where I am at peace with this wait.

It's all part of our story.  We will learn, we will grow, we will cry, we will shout for joy and praise The Lord. This is our journey, our story and we are grateful for everything and everyone who is a part of this path. 

Thank you all for your thoughts, prayers and donations. As time continues, we will share with you every chapter as God intended.

God Bless. 

And the wait continues...

Hi everyone!!

I know it's been a lot time since we have written an update but the reason being nothing in our Ethiopian adoption has changed. We are currently in the waiting process of our adoption where we sit back, wait and pray. In a way we are like a pregnant couple anxiously awaiting the arrival of their little one. The only difference between us and pregnancy is that our time frame is unknown and unpredictable.  When we first started our adoption process the wait time was "estimated" to be between 18-24 months once our dossier was sent to Ethiopia. We began our paper chase in April 2013 and submitted our dossier to Ethiopia October 18, 2013. Over the course of the past year, AWAA (our adoption agency) has expanded the wait time from 18 months to now some where between 36-42 months. Yikes a year and a half wait has turned to 3 to 3 1/2 year wait.

I know that time frame seems a bit unusual given the large amount of orphans in Africa and as much as I want to see, meet and bring home our little princess - we know Gods timing is perfect. I truly believe we are finally in a place where We have accepted and are at peace with this reality. We know that we are following the path predestined for us and we will wait patiently, pray unceasingly and hold on to the hope that God will one day make us a family united.

As always we appreciate and are grateful for your support and prayers and will continue to keep you updated as time goes on. 

Have a wonderful day and God bless!!

4 months DTE

Good afternoon!!!

We are happy to share that Ethiopia will not be closing international adoption. Praise The Lord!!! There will be changes in the international adoption process but these are being implemented to protect the children's well being. Basically from what I have gathered, Ethiopia is going to get more strict to ensure that unethical practices, outcomes and/or situations will be eliminated. While I know this will make our process more difficult, I cannot argue with added procedures that will protect the safety of the children in Ethiopia. In my eyes, if extra paperwork protects just one child from an unsafe environment than it is worth the extra work on our end.

So where are we 4 months DTE??? Other than new paperwork in the future not much has changed. 

But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently. 

Romans 8:25

This basically sums up everything with our adoption. We pray for her, long for her and think of her daily. We cannot wait for the day until we see her sweet face, but until that day, we will wait patiently knowing that God is in control.  

We want to thank everyone who has supported us along out journey. We know in our hearts Amira is alive today. She is probably around one year old, although she probably did not celebrate her birthday. She may not even know the exact day of her birth because many of those records are not kept where she is living.  How wonderful it will be to shower her with affection and love when she arrives. How wonderful it will be to tell her she is valued and loved; that she is fearfully and wonderfully made!!! But until that day, we will pray she knows the love of her Heavenly Father above and her family in Chesterton Indiana. Until that day...we will wait patiently. 

God bless!!