the break-up...

So here we are...about to submit our dossier. This is the ultra exciting packet of paperwork that is given to the foreign government of the country we are adopting from. The forms included prove such things as the following: we are not murderers, rapists, robbers, etc., we have a house, money, medical insurance. Once the dossier is completely compiled it's sent to our agency where it's shipped all over the place for extensive authentication and then on to the intended country of adoption. Here is what I've suddenly found myself panicking about...not breathing into a paper bag sort of panicking, but deep in the back of my mind I have been asking myself and God...'is this whole Ethiopia thing reallllly going to work out?" All the news coming out of our originally intended country has sounded very gloomy lately and it seemed as though we might be waiting a loooong time for a baby if things didn't change. We have been very interested in adoptions from Uganda, but they require about a month of travel, which has seemed so impossible. So last night, after a whole day of stressing and pulling Chad down into the dumps with me, after spending so much time in front of the computer researching Ugandan adoption that my eyes were completely glazed over, I gathered myself together and wrote my dear social worker a beautiful and heartfelt break-up letter. I told her how lovely the agency has been to us. I told her that if only things were different in Ethiopia we would not have to be looking elsewhere. However, we had devised a plan, and unfortunately, unless she could give us some hope, it looked like we were over. I went to bed thinking of her reaction as she read the email upon arriving at work in the morning, sure that we're her favorite clients, so naturally she would be devestated and try to talk us into staying, right?


Well...kind of. First thing this morning my phone rang, and sure enough it was our case worker, Lesley. I listened for the sound of tears in her voice, but she definately sounded as though she was holding it together (good for her!). I asked if she had gotten my message and she assured me that she had. Then she said this, or something like this, "Christina, let me say one thing; here at Arise we are advocates of adoption, not one specific country, so if you feel that God is leading your family elsewhere we will support you in that and help transfer you to another agency. However, if you're scared because of all the things that have been in the media about Ethiopia slowing down, I will just tell you to settle down." As it turns out, things in Ethiopia are running just fine. The slowdown of processing 40 cases each day down to 5 only lasted two days, and things are already picking up and running smoothly again. Well, I'll admit I felt a little silly. We talked for nearly an hour as she gave me all the details that she's aware of and I sheepishly admitted to her that I may have overreacted a tiny bit.


Now, 24 hours after devising a rather elaborate plan to move our entire family to Uganda for 4-6 weeks (which a dear friend assured me was an utterly crazy thing to do), we are back on track and almost ready to submit our dossier to ETHIOPIA!! As I write this I feel very confident that Ruby is in Ethiopia as we speak and that our Heavenly Father has been guiding us there this whole time...unfortunately, I'm not as good at following patiently as I had originally thought.

Hoping to have more updates soon!

hello, bump in the road...

rumors are swirling and petitions are circulating and the state of ethiopian adoptions is uncertain. this is all true. a statement was released earlier this week stating that as of march 10th, the ethiopian ministry of women's affairs (MOWA) would be cutting the number of adoptions processed each day from 50 down to no more than 5...that's a decrease of up to 90%. naturally, as waiting adoptive parents, we have been unsettled by this news. however, there are two issues here that need to be addressed, one not important than the other: 1. ethical adoptions are a MUST. 2. children who have truly been orphaned and who have adoptive parents waiting, NEED to be sent home so that they can be loved and nurtured. we are choosing to believe that the ethiopian government truly wants the best for it's children and is working to find a good balance for these two issues. for now, chad and i are just sitting tight. i've said it before and i'll say it agian, we serve a God who is seriously in control of our adoption process. HE has made it clear to us over and over agian that he is in this, and we do not believe that he has opened so many doors just to have them slam shut. we have discussed the possibility of switching our paperwork to another country, but for now we're just keeping our knickers on and watching the dust settle, hoping that this is no more than a little bump in the road. please pray with us for ruby, wherever she is, and for the many, many other families who are uncertain about this outcome and are waiting to bring little ones home. 

dark days

over the course of this past weekend chad and i have been on our knees for the family of one of my dearest lifelong friends who's nephew was hospitalized after a freakish household accident. three year old julius hetrick went to be with his heavenly father this past sunday morning. though an entire community had begged God for a miracle, HE decided to take julius home to be with Him. in the midst of their pain julius' parents, kenneth and lindsey, made the decision to donate julius' internal organs, making sure that other parents who were pleading on behalf of their children's lives were granted a miracle. words cannot express the depth of our family's grief for the entire hetrick family. we are covering them in prayer and want them to know that they are loved. over the last several months chad and i have been working to raise money to bring our new daughter home...our needs have been met as they have arose and we have been blessed. for now, we would like to ask anybody who is looking to donate funds towards a family to do so to the  julius hetrick memorial fund created to alleviate financial burden for kenneth and lindsey as they look to relocate their family from the home where they experienced such loss. please continue to pray with us for 'peace that passes understanding', that only our God can give.

Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.
- John 14:27

details...

i generally think it's a bad idea to talk about money, i think it almost always makes people feel akward, that being said, here i go...


one of the things about adoption is this: it is expensive. it doesn't matter where you're adopting from or your reasons for doing so, embarking down the road to make a child a part of your family will cost financially. when chad and i decided that we were moving ahead with this adoption, we took one look at our bank account and realized that we would never-ever be able to afford to pay for the whole thing out of pocket. when we had our very first conversation with lifeline (the agency we began the process with) their director said this to us, "those who God has called, He will also equip." i knew when he said those words that they would be important for us, and sure enough, we have needed so much 'equipping' already. we've needed direction in decision making, courage to speak openly about special needs, and finally this week, we needed money. our adoption nest egg had been put to good use to get the adoption off of the ground, and suddenly it was time to file our i600a, a round of paperwork and fingerprinting that costs $890. we also found out today that we cannot waste any more time in applying for our new passports as they're needed for our dossier...another $270 to boot, which brings us to a grand total of (drumroll please) $1160. needed. now. let me tell you, i was not entirely sure where that money was going to come from. we have applied for several grants and a loan from abba fund but we are in the waiting period for those results. imagine my surprise when a series of checks from all different families started making their way to us just this week and they total $1110(!!!) that left us just $50 short: no biggie, right? ironically, i also happened to check the status of our just love coffee account earlier today and i'll bet you can guess how much is in there, yep, $50(!!!)! i just had to share this because it was yet another reminder of how little chad or i are able to do on our own. i'm am so grateful...really more than i can express, that there are so many people who are bringing ruby home...people who are giving and praying and just thinking about her and talking about her, so that even though we don't yet know who she is, she is not forgotten. i'm so humbled to be serving a God who is clearly paying attention to all of our little details, and certainly caring for our ruby, wherever she is.