It's August tomorrow and I haven't written in some ungodly amount of time, I know. I began our adoption journey with such hope; such earnestness... but it soon gave way to much deeper things emotionally; things I didn't feel inclined, at the time, to share with all of cyberspace. Norm and I hadn't fully realized what beginning the process of adding another child to our family would bring up after having lost a child. So I stopped and gave myself some space. Now, things are not quite so raw, so I thought I'd give this another try. There's perhaps more to tell now anyway and we do so want to keep our friends and family in our adoption "loop."
I changed the name of my blog to this verse in Habakkuk. I love Ubuntu (that one word could encapsulate such truth and grace is a wonder to me), but this verse uniquely speaks to our story. It's the verse I hold onto every day... the verse that speaks to God's plan and a dream long held... that encourages in the waiting that I sometimes think might break my heart... and my anchor in these often turbulent waters of international adoption.
Our "paper pregnancy" lasted-- get this-- 9 months. Our fully gestated dossier was finally delivered in April, 2008. I had been working steadily on our paperwork since last August and had completed it (I thought) three times before it actually got sent to our agency. Each time I sent it in for approval there was something wrong with one document or another. It was quite a learning curve-- Norm and I got very good at being utterly anal about keeping our ducks in a row (Norm's actually quite meticulous in general about such things-- I tend to shoot more from the hip-- and even he was surprised by just HOW meticulous things needed to be). What a wild ride it was!
(We are so thankful for gracious and extremely patient friends, family and notaries who contributed to our paperwork and bore with our aforementioned meticulousness. You blessed... )
By the time our third round of paperwork was rejected, the process had taken so long that some of our documents were expired and had to be redone. Two months later, our fourth submission was approved and our dossier was officially completed on April 8th, 2008. It was then sent to Washington D.C. to be authenticated and then bundled and sent off to Ethiopia in May. I was overjoyed and so relieved! The only shadow on that fine day was learning that referral times had been extended to 6-10 months (it had been 2-4 months when we started) which, translated, means that we will probably not get Kez until sometime in 2009 (up until that point, Norm and I were still holding out hope that we might be able to get her by the end of summer). I cried.
We of course knew it could happen-- our agency had been warning us that as more and more people start adopting from Ethiopia, there would be longer wait times. But Norm and I had both thought that we would be finished with our adoption before things got rolling to that extent. But the Ethiopia program is growing very fast, and our paper pregnancy went very S-L-O-W. Still, we hold out hope for a shorter rather than longer wait, even as we realize that this could very well be a grace to us. We do still need to come up with the second half of our adoption expenses. The money showed up in one form or another for our first three payments... we are praying for the same for our next three. Would you please pray with us for this?
Also-- please pray for Kezia. She's very likely already born, there in Ethiopia, facing who knows what circumstances each day in her very young life. Cover her with your prayers. They carry... they carry...
Thursday, July 31, 2008
Sunday, October 14, 2007
We're getting there
I get an "Ethiopia Update" email from our adoption agency every couple of weeks or so. I received one yesterday. They currently have 21 dossiers in country right now, with 10 families having already gotten their referral. They said of the ten, the shortest waiting period for a referral was 12 days (!!), and the longest was 3 1/2 months. From there, currently, families are traveling to Ethiopia to get their children about 2 - 2 1/2 months after receiving their referral. This gives you some idea of the timeline we will be looking at, though the more families that keep applying for Ethiopian adoption, the slower things will get. When I met with my coordinator last week, she said that Ethiopia is the "new China," that it is the fastest-growing adoption program out there. I felt so happy about this, on the one hand-- it spoke hope to me for some of the 4.8 million orphans in Ethiopia. But honestly, another part of me worried about the possibility of the process slowing down. Waiting, in adoption, is the hardest part.
Last week we had our garage sale to help raise money for the adoption fund. It was hot and rain threatened, but we made $220. Not bad. The best part of the garage sale were the kids-- ours and the neighbor kids. Peter and Sam each sold some of their own things and gave a portion of what they earned to the fund. They also ran the lemonade/snack stand we had (their idea). They told all their neighbor friends about why we were having the sale and those kids became some of our best customers. They just really wanted to HELP, you know? One of the boys even dropped by later in the evening to give me three pennies. "For your adoption," he said, most proudly. I was very touched. The next day several kids asked me if we had earned enough to "get a baby." After all of their enthusiasm, I didn't have the heart to tell them, "Uh, not quite." I just said, "We're getting there! Thanks to all of you, we're getting there." They seemed happy with that...
This week we go get fingerprinted for the Immigration/Dept. of Homeland Security paperwork. Please pray for this. This paperwork takes the longest amount of time to process and is the thing that has the most potential to hold up a dossier. It's the immigration paperwork that will allow Kezia to be brought into the States. It's a good sign that we already have our appt. to be fingerprinted. Please pray that the rest goes as smoothly.
DID YOU KNOW...
that Ethiopia's religious roots are Judaic. The Queen of Sheba, after traveling to meet King Solomon, brought Judaism back with her to Ethiopia. Later, Ethiopia was converted to Christianity. Today most Ethiopians practice an orthodox form of Christianity similar to that of the Greek Orthodox Church.
Last week we had our garage sale to help raise money for the adoption fund. It was hot and rain threatened, but we made $220. Not bad. The best part of the garage sale were the kids-- ours and the neighbor kids. Peter and Sam each sold some of their own things and gave a portion of what they earned to the fund. They also ran the lemonade/snack stand we had (their idea). They told all their neighbor friends about why we were having the sale and those kids became some of our best customers. They just really wanted to HELP, you know? One of the boys even dropped by later in the evening to give me three pennies. "For your adoption," he said, most proudly. I was very touched. The next day several kids asked me if we had earned enough to "get a baby." After all of their enthusiasm, I didn't have the heart to tell them, "Uh, not quite." I just said, "We're getting there! Thanks to all of you, we're getting there." They seemed happy with that...
This week we go get fingerprinted for the Immigration/Dept. of Homeland Security paperwork. Please pray for this. This paperwork takes the longest amount of time to process and is the thing that has the most potential to hold up a dossier. It's the immigration paperwork that will allow Kezia to be brought into the States. It's a good sign that we already have our appt. to be fingerprinted. Please pray that the rest goes as smoothly.
DID YOU KNOW...
that Ethiopia's religious roots are Judaic. The Queen of Sheba, after traveling to meet King Solomon, brought Judaism back with her to Ethiopia. Later, Ethiopia was converted to Christianity. Today most Ethiopians practice an orthodox form of Christianity similar to that of the Greek Orthodox Church.
Sunday, September 9, 2007
The Home Visit
We had our home study visit last Tuesday and it went well. Easy and uneventful, actually. It was almost anti-climactic after all the hard work preparing the week before. Thanks so much, Mom and Dad D. for all of your help!
I only have a few more things to do for the home study to be complete, then on to the dossier which, now that I've seen all that's required, is a bit daunting. Every single piece of paperwork I gather must be notarized, then certified (by the state of FL), then authenticated (in Washington, D.C.). Until now, I thought you only needed to notarize to make things "official." Who knew?
If I do not hit any serious snags in gathering our documents, we are hoping to have the dossier complete in six months. It currently takes 2-4 months (though timelines are always subject to change) to get a referral, which is a picture of Kezia and any information that they have about her. Once we have the referral, we should be able to go and get Kezia within a two month period. That would have us travelling to Africa in the summer of 2008, and would allow us, once we returned to the States, to travel to Michigan in order for our families to meet Kezia.
I am also hoping to get things done well before next summer because Ethiopia has a rainy season from August through October. All government agencies are closed during this time, so no adoptions happen during these months. If we do not travel before August, we will not be able to get Kezia until November, at the earliest. Please pray that we will be able to travel to Ethiopia before the rainy season.
DID YOU KNOW...
I only have a few more things to do for the home study to be complete, then on to the dossier which, now that I've seen all that's required, is a bit daunting. Every single piece of paperwork I gather must be notarized, then certified (by the state of FL), then authenticated (in Washington, D.C.). Until now, I thought you only needed to notarize to make things "official." Who knew?
If I do not hit any serious snags in gathering our documents, we are hoping to have the dossier complete in six months. It currently takes 2-4 months (though timelines are always subject to change) to get a referral, which is a picture of Kezia and any information that they have about her. Once we have the referral, we should be able to go and get Kezia within a two month period. That would have us travelling to Africa in the summer of 2008, and would allow us, once we returned to the States, to travel to Michigan in order for our families to meet Kezia.
I am also hoping to get things done well before next summer because Ethiopia has a rainy season from August through October. All government agencies are closed during this time, so no adoptions happen during these months. If we do not travel before August, we will not be able to get Kezia until November, at the earliest. Please pray that we will be able to travel to Ethiopia before the rainy season.
DID YOU KNOW...
- There are currently 4.8 million orphans in Ethiopia due primarily to poverty and disease.
Tuesday, August 28, 2007
We're paper pregnant!
We sent our adoption application out on August 12th and last week received word that it has been approved by Children's Hope International. We are thrilled!
Later in the week Children's Hope gave us referrals for the home study... we've chosen a social worker and our appointment for the home visit is Sept. 4th. Last week we also received our first batch of paperwork from our social worker and from Children's Hope (for the dossier), thus officially launching our "paper pregnancy." For the next several months, this will be my primary occupation-- chasing the paper trail until it leads us, finally, to Ethiopia.
A word on the financial front: Christianity teaches that we are to take care of, as Scripture says, "the orphans and the widows." I believe that if something is asked of us by God, then with it comes a promise of His provision for that thing to come to fruition. This promise is something Norm and I are holding on to and take very seriously in regards to the call to adopt. I know God will provide the money for this adoption and I intend to blog about just how He goes about doing it. I hope it will encourage others who are considering adoption, as the stories of other couples financing their adoptions have encouraged Norman and I.
On that note: Our first payment (cost of the adoption is broken up into approx. four large payments, due every three months or so, over the course of the time it takes for the adoption to go through) is due this week. We have money in our adoption fund-- several hundred of it coming in recently and from unexpected sources (I found two uncashed checks that I didn't know I had; I got a check from a consignment shop in Ann Arbor that I sold things at from time to time; I got a reimbursement check from my former workplace...). We couldn't project what we would owe for the first payment until our application was approved and we decided on a home study agency (costs vary). When I tallied up our first payment, it was exactly the amount we had in our fund.
God is good.
Later in the week Children's Hope gave us referrals for the home study... we've chosen a social worker and our appointment for the home visit is Sept. 4th. Last week we also received our first batch of paperwork from our social worker and from Children's Hope (for the dossier), thus officially launching our "paper pregnancy." For the next several months, this will be my primary occupation-- chasing the paper trail until it leads us, finally, to Ethiopia.
A word on the financial front: Christianity teaches that we are to take care of, as Scripture says, "the orphans and the widows." I believe that if something is asked of us by God, then with it comes a promise of His provision for that thing to come to fruition. This promise is something Norm and I are holding on to and take very seriously in regards to the call to adopt. I know God will provide the money for this adoption and I intend to blog about just how He goes about doing it. I hope it will encourage others who are considering adoption, as the stories of other couples financing their adoptions have encouraged Norman and I.
On that note: Our first payment (cost of the adoption is broken up into approx. four large payments, due every three months or so, over the course of the time it takes for the adoption to go through) is due this week. We have money in our adoption fund-- several hundred of it coming in recently and from unexpected sources (I found two uncashed checks that I didn't know I had; I got a check from a consignment shop in Ann Arbor that I sold things at from time to time; I got a reimbursement check from my former workplace...). We couldn't project what we would owe for the first payment until our application was approved and we decided on a home study agency (costs vary). When I tallied up our first payment, it was exactly the amount we had in our fund.
God is good.
Wednesday, July 25, 2007
First blog and what's in a name?
I wanted to start this in order to stay in touch with everyone-- having just moved far away and all. And also to share our adoption journey. I've been so blessed by the blogs I've been reading of other families adopting from Ethiopia. There are some amazing people in the world.
We decided to adopt from Ethiopia because we felt led to. God's heart breaks for Africa, and He has given us a bit of His mighty heart for that place; for the suffering that is happening to so many in Africa. Reading the Ethiopian blogs, I can see He is giving His heart to many.
I have been praying for a name for our baby... felt like I needed a name for her to be real to me; an actual person and not a dream that I have held in my heart for so long. A few weeks ago the Lord gave me the name Kezia, which is Hebrew for "sweet-scented." Kezia was one of Job's daughters and her and her two sisters were the first women in Scripture to receive an inheritance from their father (daughters in Hebrew culture were not given an inheritance, it was given only to sons. Go Job!). The Lord said to me (not audibly; He speaks to my heart) that although our Kezia will be an orphan, she has an "inheritance," and it is equal to that of any child born to us biologically. Additionally, Kezia was the daughter born to Job after his restoration; after he had lost his other children and everything else. So, too, our Kezia comes to us after the loss of our own child, and shall be a part of our restoration.
After that word, Kezia was birthed instantly in my heart. She is as real to me now as Peter, Samuel and Eliyana. Can you love someone who may not even be born yet?
Yes.
We decided to adopt from Ethiopia because we felt led to. God's heart breaks for Africa, and He has given us a bit of His mighty heart for that place; for the suffering that is happening to so many in Africa. Reading the Ethiopian blogs, I can see He is giving His heart to many.
I have been praying for a name for our baby... felt like I needed a name for her to be real to me; an actual person and not a dream that I have held in my heart for so long. A few weeks ago the Lord gave me the name Kezia, which is Hebrew for "sweet-scented." Kezia was one of Job's daughters and her and her two sisters were the first women in Scripture to receive an inheritance from their father (daughters in Hebrew culture were not given an inheritance, it was given only to sons. Go Job!). The Lord said to me (not audibly; He speaks to my heart) that although our Kezia will be an orphan, she has an "inheritance," and it is equal to that of any child born to us biologically. Additionally, Kezia was the daughter born to Job after his restoration; after he had lost his other children and everything else. So, too, our Kezia comes to us after the loss of our own child, and shall be a part of our restoration.
After that word, Kezia was birthed instantly in my heart. She is as real to me now as Peter, Samuel and Eliyana. Can you love someone who may not even be born yet?
Yes.
The answer is yes.
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