Update

I was posting the link to our Amazon fundraiser on Facebook the other day and I realized it has been a VERY long time since I updated the adoption blog.  There are many reasons for this.  First, we have been busy and I don't get a chance to sit down and "catch" up on things like this very often and when I do sit down the blog is not the first thing on my mind.  Second, is the "slow down" or "new normal" has been very discouraging and frustrating and confusing to me.  Lastly, because of this "slow down/new normal" there hasn't been a whole lot to report.

So an initial catch up post, since the last one I wrote was before the garage sale, is that the garage sale was VERY successful again.  It was a very good lesson learned for us.  The first garage sale we had we had a lot of more expensive high quality items donated to us, that we could sell for quite a bit of money (or we just craig's listed because people are usually willing to pay more there).  This year we had a TON of smaller items and clothing donated.  We went into it pretty discouraged and didn't do great on Friday so were afraid that Saturday would be similar, a lot of work without a lot of return.  That we would just end up with a lot of unwanted junk in the end.  Well, Saturday was fairly successful and we ended up selling the clothes for $10 a grocery bag since we had tarps and tarps of clothes on the lawn.  I think that was incredibly successful and we probably brought in over $500 from just clothes (if not more, that was a long time ago).  The other thing we found is that on Sunday we went out to organize and clean up and people were still steadily walking around.  So we ended up making another couple hundred dollars and getting rid of a lot more stuff (by selling things for super cheap).  So in the end even though we had a lot different types of items we still came away with more than $2000, which was amazing!  It was a lot of work and we will probably want to take a break form garage sale's this next summer!   We are still considering other fundraising opportunities though.


I also wanted to update everyone regarding adoptions in Ethiopia as a whole.  As I have written about before the Ethiopian government essentially shut down international adoptions for about 9 months last year and earlier this year while they revamped and put new procedures and policies into place.  Well, back in the spring after about 9 months of no kids getting matched with families or being allowed to come home we were told that international adoptions would continue just probably at a slower pace and with more checks and balances in place.  They also wanted to advocate for kids to find family members or other people in Ethiopia willing to adopt children so they could be raised within country.  This is all fine to us because we obviously want adoptions to be ethical and children to stay within their culture if at all possible.  Well we were excited that June would start seeing some movement, but alas, no such luck.  There have been 0-2 children found eligible for international adoption a month since June.  We have been told that this is not a "slow down" and that we can expect this to be the new normal for us.  Our agencies have been working with the orphanages and meeting with the Ethiopian government to see what needs to happen given this new slower rate of adoptions. 

All of this has been so frustrating and confusing for us.  We really felt called to adopt from Ethiopia and love the country.  However, if we continue at this pace, given where we are on the wait list, we could be waiting 5 to 10 more years.  That is a hard pill to swallow, as we both feel like our "baby clock" is ticking.  We are open to children up to the ages of our children, but it is still so hard to wait as our kids get older and older!  Please be praying for us as we contemplate continuing on our wait verses changing countries.  We go back and forth and one day I think we should just switch to a place with less of a wait and where it seems that there is more need, but then I find that there is no such thing in international (or even domestic) adoption and then I think that God's timing is perfect and as hard as this wait is we will learn and grow from it and that this is what we are supposed to be doing. 

It really all brings me back to why we are doing this in the first place.  It's not supposed to be easy.  We are doing it for the kids.  But why are there "so many kids" piled in orphanages or in foster homes waiting for forever families all over the world, and so many families who are willing to adopt them and love them and be their family yet we can't?  The wait is long, the price is too high, only certain kids are eligible for international adoption in some countries.  It is so frustrating to me, it breaks my heart everyday that I think about it.  But what can I do, beyond what I am doing?  Please pray that I can get to a place of peace in this long wait process.  You could also pray for movement and that all of the kids waiting in the jammed packed orphanages will find forever families and will know the love that they are supposed to know. 

Thanks for still checking the blog.  I no longer post it on Facebook as I want it to be more private, but I still want people who are interested to be able to catch up if they want. 

Fundraising Time!

I feel this post is a lot more happy than the last couple posts I wrote!  We received word a few weeks ago that adoptions will continue to occur in Ethiopia and that paper work would start getting processed again!  We rejoiced over that, but still anticipated a little while before we would see any new referrals happen.  However, surprisingly, over Easter weekend our agency received a few children to refer to families!  This was an unexpected blessing and we are again rejoicing with those families!  This hopefully means that more and more families will be matched in the next couple of months! 

This brings me to the title of my post...FUNDRAISING!!  We would like to raise/save enough money in the next couple of months to have enough to pay the referral fee whenever we do get matched with a child.  We know this may still take some time, but we just want to be prepared so it's not an area of stress when it does happen.  One on going fundraising opportunity we have is that we still have our Amazon link to the right on our blog.  Please use this link EVERY time you purchase something from Amazon, and a portion of the proceeds will go directly to our adoption fund!  This doesn't cost you anything and is so easy to use!  We have raised quite a bit of money through this avenue and I just wanted to remind everyone that we are still raising money this way!  I will try to be better about sharing the link on Facebook, and feel free to share the link on your page as well!  The more it gets used the quicker we get to our goal!

The second thing I wanted to put out there is that the Tapps Island garage sale is coming up again the first full weekend in June.  We had such an amazing and successful garage sale last year that we would like to do one again!  However, we need the help of friends and family to make it as successful!  We are in desperate need of all of your donations great and small!  Any thing you don't want or need anymore, but you think others would, we would love to have it!!  Please contact myself or Ryan (or my parent's if you live closer to them) if you have anything to donate! 

Thank you so much for all of your support and prayer through this process.  I can't believe we are almost to the year mark of when we started our home study last year!  This waiting part is physically easier than all of the work it took to submit our Dossier, since we don't have to spend hours and hours reading, training or writing.  But it is emotionally draining especially given the slow down that has occurred the last few months.  As I have written previously sometimes it feels that it will never happen and we will never get to bring our daughter home.  We can get so discouraged.  We just need prayer that we can keep persevering in the wait and remember that God has his hand in this! 

Pray for April

I just wanted to post an update and ask for prayer requests.  Some of you may have read my blog post in February about being frustrated and discouraged.  Well, sadly things have not changed on the Ethiopia adoption front.  The Ethiopian government is still not processing paperwork for the children in orphanages.  This means that there haven't been any new referrals, still, since July.  I go back and forth in how I feel.  Sometimes, I feel that this is God's plan so I just need to wait and be patient.  I know these things happen on His timeline and not mine.  Other days I feel so discouraged.  I feel we will be waiting forever for our daughter, and will be really old by the time we get to bring her home! We are praying that April will be a good month! 

The newest news is that the US department of State just sent out a notification regarding the slow down, that seemed as if things have been resolved and paperwork will begin to be processed.  However, there is no confirmation of that on the Ethiopia side of things.  However, the government set up meetings with the Ethiopian adoption program for this weekend.  Friday there was a meeting between the Ethiopian government and all of the orphanages, then tomorrow, Sunday (actually tonight US time) there will be a meeting between the Ethiopian government and all of the adoption agencies there.  We are really hoping that this goes hand in hand with what we found out via the US Department of State. 
My prayer request for the month of April is that these meetings are a good sign that processes have been resolved and that paperwork will resume moving through the system and referrals will start happening again!  I would love to see some of these children waiting in crowded orphanages getting to be matched with their forever families.  It breaks my heart to hear that because of this slow down the orphanages are at capacity and beyond because no one is transitioning out of the orphanages anymore.  I would also love to get a new, smaller wait list number for the month of May!

So please please please this next month add Ethiopia adoptions to your prayer list!  Prayer works, and God can hear us!

Discouraged

Hi friends and family.  I know I haven't posted on here for awhile, and people have been asking us about our adoption a lot lately.  So  I figured I should update everyone on what is going on. 

As I posted previously our dossier got to Ethiopia in December and we became an official waiting family.  Our first number on the wait list was A LOT bigger than we had originally hoped.  This is mostly due to the slow down in Ethiopian courts processing orphan's paperwork.  As I mentioned a while back Ethiopian courts close for rainy season from August to October.  However, for some reason, this year, the courts never resumed processing orphan paperwork after they reopened in October.  Therefore, there have been NO referrals since July!  I guess that the orphanages in these areas have gotten really crowded again, with no kids leaving them.  I have also been told that the orphanages are now talking with the courts and putting pressure on them about processing paperwork too.  So all in all, we have hope that soon paperwork will be trickling through the court system and referrals will resume again.  However, with each passing month it just gets harder and harder.  The wait that I thought would originally be like 18 months, now seems like forever.  It could be over 2-3 years or maybe longer at this point.  I know in reality there is no way to actually predict the wait time.  But right now it seems like it will be forever. 

Caleb told me the other day that he wanted to live with me forever, even after he grew up...I was like no way kid!  You are out of here when you are an adult!  Then he asked about baby sister and if we would get her before he was an adult and moved out.  I had to answer him "man I sure do hope so"!  But right now it seems like that won't be the case. 

Please pray for the orphans of Ethiopia.  Please pray that true orphans will be matched with forever families.   Pray that people in charge will see that children are better off in loving families and not being raised in orphanages.  Please pray that courts will speed up their paperwork processing and that referrals will resume in full force.  Please also pray for my emotional state!  As you can see from the title, I am very discouraged and sad right now.  I knew that adoption was hard and I knew the wait was going to be hard.  But it sucks to be on the long end of what seems like a never ending wait! 

On a happier note I did register for an adoption seminar weekend at the end of February at a church in our area.  It's a huge event with lots of different speakers and breakout sessions.  I am looking forward to learning more and connecting with other adoptive parents and future adoptive parents.  However, it's also hard too, knowing that it may be years before I will actually need any of this information!  Part of me has just gone numb.  It's easier to not think about it.  But I don't want it to be that way.  I want to be thinking and praying for my daughter daily, and preparing for her so that we are able to love her completely when she comes, and equipped to handle any challenges that come our way post-adoption. 

I know God's timing is perfect.  I have to remind myself that constantly.  When we are through the tunnel we will look back and understand.  But it is impossible for me to understand right now. 

Also don't forget that our Amazon link (to the right) is still working.  We will be using it until we have brought our daughter(s) home (who knows, if it does take years and years, Amazon may fully fund our adoption!!!  How sweet would that be). 

Blessings to you all and thanks for listening to me vent yet again and for praying for us!!