The overlying and underlying theme of adoption is waiting. And we find ourselves at it again! Since our last post we were submitted to USCIS (US department of immigration) for the first leg of the "PAIR" process (which is the US side of making our international adoption complete). We anticipated that this portion would take about a month before our case could be forwarded to the US embassy in Ethiopia for the second leg of the PAIR process. However, about a month ago we got a request for more information from USCIS, to be completed before our paperwork can get forwarded on to Embassy. Our agency has been working on getting this information, but we have not seen any progress yet. Please be praying that this information gets completed quickly and that this hiccough in the process will actually help to speed up the other two legs in the process and we are not met with any more bumps in our path!!
On a good note, we got new pictures of our sweet girl today. It looks like she's grown inches in the last couple months! That is so bitter sweet, as we want her to grow and be healthy (which it looks like she is), but it's so sad to see her growing up right before our eyes and we don't get to be there to witness it and experience it with her. But let me just tell you, that girl is CUTE!!! I can't stop looking at her pictures!! I am so excited to get to know her once she gets home!
On another positive note our sheet fundraiser that we've been doing has been tremendously successful and we were able to do two huge orders in the past month. We get a significant amount from the sale of the sheets and that has really added up quickly. We are really thankful for all who ordered sheets and supported us. We also got a very generous donation of tulle from our neighbor and we were able to make and sell about 10 tutus before Christmas mostly to people at Expedia. I also made a couple for my little nieces and maybe a few for sister as well ;). But through all of this fundraising we have been able to save a chunk of money for traveling fees, and a few other unexpected fees that have come up (we've had to completely updated our dossier, instead of just partially update it so some of the elements of that come with fees). We are so very thankful for everyone who has supported us financially and in prayers along this journey! Please keep praying for us, it feels we still have a long way to go.
Monday, December 28, 2015
Tuesday, November 3, 2015
Thank You
I was reflecting earlier today on how many of my friends are either in China or Ethiopia or have just gone to China or Ethiopia to meet/pick up their children! I have also chatted with a couple friends who are in the process of or just completed their adoption from the foster system. I realized that I am so blessed to be surrounded by so many amazing people who have answered God's calling on their lives to adopt! What a hard calling, and what an amzing job you are all doing answering that call! I am so greatful that, with all of your families, at least one more child will get the privlage to experience the joys of knowing their "forever family". I just want to thank you all for the work you are doing for these precious children!
Adoption is hard!
The process of paperwork, and then more paperwork. Then the wait to find out who your child is. And then more paperwork. Then you finally get matched with your child, or see that precious face staring out at you from the pages of "waiting children", and you know... that's my child!! Then more paperwork after that! Then the heart wrenching, aganizing wait after you get matched with your child until you can go get them, then more paperwork! Then the amazing wonderful joy of "gotcha day" and of bringing those little people you've been praying for, and hoping for, and wondeirng about for all this time. What an amazing thing!!
But we can't forget, there is grief, and loss, and fear, and trauma, all mixed into those feelings of love and hope. And hard times of helping your children work through those doubts and fears. And lots and lots and lots of prayers that your children will attach and learn to love and catch up and be OK.
But be encouraged. God is with you! God is equiping you and he will walk you through this journey. He will NOT give you more than you can handle. Sometimes we just need a little help, so don't be afraid to ask.
So bless you adoptive Mommies and Daddies! Thank you for the work you do for your children. I will be praying for you just as I hope you are praying for me!
Adoption is hard!
The process of paperwork, and then more paperwork. Then the wait to find out who your child is. And then more paperwork. Then you finally get matched with your child, or see that precious face staring out at you from the pages of "waiting children", and you know... that's my child!! Then more paperwork after that! Then the heart wrenching, aganizing wait after you get matched with your child until you can go get them, then more paperwork! Then the amazing wonderful joy of "gotcha day" and of bringing those little people you've been praying for, and hoping for, and wondeirng about for all this time. What an amazing thing!!
But we can't forget, there is grief, and loss, and fear, and trauma, all mixed into those feelings of love and hope. And hard times of helping your children work through those doubts and fears. And lots and lots and lots of prayers that your children will attach and learn to love and catch up and be OK.
But be encouraged. God is with you! God is equiping you and he will walk you through this journey. He will NOT give you more than you can handle. Sometimes we just need a little help, so don't be afraid to ask.
So bless you adoptive Mommies and Daddies! Thank you for the work you do for your children. I will be praying for you just as I hope you are praying for me!
Tuesday, October 20, 2015
PAIR update
I know, I know, I am a really bad blog updater! I'm sorry! Life has a bit crazy, with 2 kids in soccer and after school activities, I'm usually too tired once the kids go to bed to string a coherent sentence together let alone write a whole blog post.
However, I have been meaning to post an update/thoughts post for the past week now, and finally have energy to sit down and do it. Well, last week my little girl was on my mind a lot (as if she isn't always on my mind!!) but this was an anxious feeling and I was sending lots of prayers her way. We have been waiting for a letter from her orphanage since submitting our initial referral acceptance paperwork, and I was getting antsy because I hadn't heard anything about it and it was past the point on our timeline that that should have been completed. So it was making me sad and nervous so I was thinking about her a lot.
Well, finally we got word at the end of last week that the paperwork they were waiting for had come through! Yay! But sad day, they were waiting for a few more documents to be delivered before they could submit our paperwork to US immigration (USCIS). Well, we finally got the word today that they had received everything and it has all been sent off to US immigration to start our "PAIR" process. This is the process that approves us to be the parents of a specific child. I am really hoping that the forms that our agency was waiting for will be exactly what our case manager at USCIS will need to quickly process our PAIR documents and will speed up that leg of the journey. Please be praying that this next stage will go very quickly and that USCIS won't need any more clarifying information from us in order to process it all.
I am in a weird phase right now. We have about 5-6 months until our first trip for Ethiopian court. We were initially quoted about 6 months from getting matched with a child until our first trip to Ethiopia. It's been about a month now, but I am adding on a few extra weeks in my brain's estimated timeline for unforeseen delays. So 5-6 months until we travel to meet her. Part of me feels like that day can't come fast enough and I just want it to get here so I can go get to know this adorable little girl. The other part of me knows the reality of my crazy life and how quickly this time is going to fly by and I'm so nervous I won't have everything done that I want to get done before she gets home. I have come to see how nesting during adoption is very real people!! So continued prayers that we can keep working diligently to prepare for her arrival in just a few short months would be wonderful!
Lastly, we continue our fundraising efforts. We still have a lot of miscellaneous fees, like mailing paperwork, literally, all over the world. Also, in country expenses and of course air fare, when the time comes. We plan on doing 1, maybe two more sheet orders before our first trip. We will for sure be doing another order middle to late November for people who are interested in buying some for Christmas gifts. So please let me know if you're interested in ordering some. Secondly, my mom and I have been making things for a bazaar we are doing at the end of August t o sell. It has been fun getting my craft on, but hard feeling like I don't always have the time to make things, so haven't gotten as much done as I had hoped. If anyone is crafty and would like to donate goods to our bazaar, please let me know! We would love to add it to the table.
Thank you so much for all of your prayers and support. I will try to keep the blog updated as our prayer requests change and as we move along through the process. Also, know that I can't share specifics about our daughter or our case on the blog, but I am MORE than happy to talk about it in person (and show off pictures of course)!!
However, I have been meaning to post an update/thoughts post for the past week now, and finally have energy to sit down and do it. Well, last week my little girl was on my mind a lot (as if she isn't always on my mind!!) but this was an anxious feeling and I was sending lots of prayers her way. We have been waiting for a letter from her orphanage since submitting our initial referral acceptance paperwork, and I was getting antsy because I hadn't heard anything about it and it was past the point on our timeline that that should have been completed. So it was making me sad and nervous so I was thinking about her a lot.
Well, finally we got word at the end of last week that the paperwork they were waiting for had come through! Yay! But sad day, they were waiting for a few more documents to be delivered before they could submit our paperwork to US immigration (USCIS). Well, we finally got the word today that they had received everything and it has all been sent off to US immigration to start our "PAIR" process. This is the process that approves us to be the parents of a specific child. I am really hoping that the forms that our agency was waiting for will be exactly what our case manager at USCIS will need to quickly process our PAIR documents and will speed up that leg of the journey. Please be praying that this next stage will go very quickly and that USCIS won't need any more clarifying information from us in order to process it all.
I am in a weird phase right now. We have about 5-6 months until our first trip for Ethiopian court. We were initially quoted about 6 months from getting matched with a child until our first trip to Ethiopia. It's been about a month now, but I am adding on a few extra weeks in my brain's estimated timeline for unforeseen delays. So 5-6 months until we travel to meet her. Part of me feels like that day can't come fast enough and I just want it to get here so I can go get to know this adorable little girl. The other part of me knows the reality of my crazy life and how quickly this time is going to fly by and I'm so nervous I won't have everything done that I want to get done before she gets home. I have come to see how nesting during adoption is very real people!! So continued prayers that we can keep working diligently to prepare for her arrival in just a few short months would be wonderful!
Lastly, we continue our fundraising efforts. We still have a lot of miscellaneous fees, like mailing paperwork, literally, all over the world. Also, in country expenses and of course air fare, when the time comes. We plan on doing 1, maybe two more sheet orders before our first trip. We will for sure be doing another order middle to late November for people who are interested in buying some for Christmas gifts. So please let me know if you're interested in ordering some. Secondly, my mom and I have been making things for a bazaar we are doing at the end of August t o sell. It has been fun getting my craft on, but hard feeling like I don't always have the time to make things, so haven't gotten as much done as I had hoped. If anyone is crafty and would like to donate goods to our bazaar, please let me know! We would love to add it to the table.
Thank you so much for all of your prayers and support. I will try to keep the blog updated as our prayer requests change and as we move along through the process. Also, know that I can't share specifics about our daughter or our case on the blog, but I am MORE than happy to talk about it in person (and show off pictures of course)!!
Monday, September 28, 2015
Surreal
The past few weeks have just been so surreal! In order to officially accept our referral and get all of the paper work started to adopt her, we had to fill out a HUGE packet of documents. We got those FedExed to our agency last weekend so now we are just waiting on paperwork to be completed by the orphanage and the governments, so that should be a waiting game for about a month. Then we will have some more paperwork to complete, and then another wait! I feel like the week we were filling out all of the forms and paperwork I was just waiting for the call saying "just kidding, this isn't real" or I'd wake up and find it was all a dream! Well that never happened, so it must be all for real!! It is amazing how many things have seemed to come together or make sense now, that didn't make sense a few short months ago. God is just so good through all of this I am continuously amazed at how often I see him at work through adoption.
While we wait we are focusing on getting everything ready to add a third child! We are reading books about parenting adopted children and meeting with friends who have shared similar experiences. We just want to be as prepared as we can possibly be for what's ahead. We are also trying to clean and purge our house! This is exciting because we have kept a lot of baby items not knowing if we would be matched with a younger child or smaller child and would need it. But now that we know who our daughter is we can get rid of the baby stuff! YAY!!! It's funny because I already feel like I'm nesting! I just want everything to be ready to reduce the stress in our house when we bring Sister home. I also feel like I have pregnant lady brain! Didn't expect that to happen! I think it's because I am so excited and giddy all of the time, my brain gets distracted easily. So bear with me if I'm acting crazy!
We also got some updated pictures of Sister last week and they were of good quality so I was able to print them off and put them in frames with the boys pictures around the house! WOW, such a small thing, but it just brings a huge smile to all of our faces whenever we pass one of the new pictures. She is just so cute!!
Please be praying for us during this wait. Please pray that our daughter remains healthy and well taken care of. Also pray that her heart and mind are prepared to be joined with her forever family and that she will anticipate that day just as much as we are! Also pray that we can get everything done and learn as much as we can in the next few months, I have a feeling it's going to go fast! Also pray for our hearts and minds (the boys included) that we can prepare for adding another child to our family. Thanks so much for supporting us as always!
While we wait we are focusing on getting everything ready to add a third child! We are reading books about parenting adopted children and meeting with friends who have shared similar experiences. We just want to be as prepared as we can possibly be for what's ahead. We are also trying to clean and purge our house! This is exciting because we have kept a lot of baby items not knowing if we would be matched with a younger child or smaller child and would need it. But now that we know who our daughter is we can get rid of the baby stuff! YAY!!! It's funny because I already feel like I'm nesting! I just want everything to be ready to reduce the stress in our house when we bring Sister home. I also feel like I have pregnant lady brain! Didn't expect that to happen! I think it's because I am so excited and giddy all of the time, my brain gets distracted easily. So bear with me if I'm acting crazy!
We also got some updated pictures of Sister last week and they were of good quality so I was able to print them off and put them in frames with the boys pictures around the house! WOW, such a small thing, but it just brings a huge smile to all of our faces whenever we pass one of the new pictures. She is just so cute!!
Please be praying for us during this wait. Please pray that our daughter remains healthy and well taken care of. Also pray that her heart and mind are prepared to be joined with her forever family and that she will anticipate that day just as much as we are! Also pray that we can get everything done and learn as much as we can in the next few months, I have a feeling it's going to go fast! Also pray for our hearts and minds (the boys included) that we can prepare for adding another child to our family. Thanks so much for supporting us as always!
Friday, September 18, 2015
WOW!!!! God is so good!
Oh my goodness everyone, it's been a week, but I am still completely in shock!
WE GOT MATCHED WITH OUR DAUGHTER!!!!!
What? What? What? What?
I know, I asked the same thing for about 3 days!!
We were not expecting it at all! When we found out that things seemed to be steadily picking up and that we would most likely be matched with a child within the year, that was a huge batch of information to process! We were still coming to terms with that as we were expecting at least another 1 1/2-2 year wait!
So when our case manager called me last week, I just figured she was calling to introduce herself (as she is new to us, and I had yet to talk to her in person). But when she asked if Ryan was there or if we could conference call him... I knew this was no ordinary check up call!! Sadly Ryan didn't answer his phone, so our case manager just told me the information and then sent us her paperwork. Ryan had to work late and we wanted to review everything together so we waited until almost 10:30 that night to look everything over! I was literally shaky for 2 days after that and just wanted to tell EVERYONE I saw!! I managed to have some self control though and we told our families and a few friends first.
But oh my goodness! We are so in love with her! Even the boys. They just want to look at her pictures all the time (which we kind of do :)) and want to go next week to pick her up. She is the most adorable little girl who is nearly a year younger than Eli. I can't share specifics here because I don't have a private blog, and I want to leave it open for fundraising purposes, but just know we are over the moon.
And to reiterate the fundraising part of my previous blog post, we are starting to fund raise in full force. We owe a "referral fee" that covers all of the end of adoption legal stuff, orphan care and the work our agency needs to do between now and when we bring her home , and it is the biggest fee we encounter in this process. We have saved/raised all but about $3000 of it. Please be praying that the funds will come in!
We also are looking at our first trip to Ethiopia happening in about 6 months! (I get to meet my daughter in about 6 months! Oh my goodness, doing a happy dance!!) But last minute airfare to Ethiopia is a daunting thought, so please be praying for the funding there as well! And then we travel 4-6 weeks later to go get her! Another daunting, but oh so exciting, thought!
See our last blog post for fundraising opportunities. We have been blessed with a generous community around us that has prayerfully and financially supported this crazy journey. We appreciate every single one of you!
We can't wait to show you some pictures, but sadly it will have to wait until after we pass court in 6 months or so. In the meantime we would appreciate your prayers that everything would go smoothly, quickly, all of our paperwork would get to the right person and the remaining finances come in.
WE GOT MATCHED WITH OUR DAUGHTER!!!!!
What? What? What? What?
I know, I asked the same thing for about 3 days!!
We were not expecting it at all! When we found out that things seemed to be steadily picking up and that we would most likely be matched with a child within the year, that was a huge batch of information to process! We were still coming to terms with that as we were expecting at least another 1 1/2-2 year wait!
So when our case manager called me last week, I just figured she was calling to introduce herself (as she is new to us, and I had yet to talk to her in person). But when she asked if Ryan was there or if we could conference call him... I knew this was no ordinary check up call!! Sadly Ryan didn't answer his phone, so our case manager just told me the information and then sent us her paperwork. Ryan had to work late and we wanted to review everything together so we waited until almost 10:30 that night to look everything over! I was literally shaky for 2 days after that and just wanted to tell EVERYONE I saw!! I managed to have some self control though and we told our families and a few friends first.
But oh my goodness! We are so in love with her! Even the boys. They just want to look at her pictures all the time (which we kind of do :)) and want to go next week to pick her up. She is the most adorable little girl who is nearly a year younger than Eli. I can't share specifics here because I don't have a private blog, and I want to leave it open for fundraising purposes, but just know we are over the moon.
And to reiterate the fundraising part of my previous blog post, we are starting to fund raise in full force. We owe a "referral fee" that covers all of the end of adoption legal stuff, orphan care and the work our agency needs to do between now and when we bring her home , and it is the biggest fee we encounter in this process. We have saved/raised all but about $3000 of it. Please be praying that the funds will come in!
We also are looking at our first trip to Ethiopia happening in about 6 months! (I get to meet my daughter in about 6 months! Oh my goodness, doing a happy dance!!) But last minute airfare to Ethiopia is a daunting thought, so please be praying for the funding there as well! And then we travel 4-6 weeks later to go get her! Another daunting, but oh so exciting, thought!
See our last blog post for fundraising opportunities. We have been blessed with a generous community around us that has prayerfully and financially supported this crazy journey. We appreciate every single one of you!
We can't wait to show you some pictures, but sadly it will have to wait until after we pass court in 6 months or so. In the meantime we would appreciate your prayers that everything would go smoothly, quickly, all of our paperwork would get to the right person and the remaining finances come in.
Thursday, September 10, 2015
Things are Picking up
Hello everyone! I have some great news about Ethiopian adoption. Things are really really picking up over there. This past year has brought a steady stream of "referrals" (children getting matched with families)!! We have felt God's voice telling us to "wait" and stay in this process even through the slow down (or stoppage) that started before we were even considered a waiting family. We knew we could be looking at a 3-5 year wait, and we were preparing our hearts for that since we weren't expecting that going into the process at all! Well, the past few months has really been encouraging as we've seen more and more children getting matched with families, and our number on the wait list has continued to drop swiftly.
Most recently, last week, we found out that our adoption agency is anticipating that everyone currently on the waiting list will be matched with a child within the next year!! Since we are not at the bottom of the list that could be significantly sooner for us! When I found this out, I've been a bit giddy ever since! We had the mindset that we would be waiting a few more years, and to find out that it will be WAY less time than that freaked me out but made me really excited as well!
However, in all of this freaking out excitement the reality side of my brain kicked in and I realized we have not raised all of the funds we will need to accept a child and travel to Ethiopia (twice) within the next year!! (oh my goodness panic attack!) However, we do have several on going and one upcoming fundraiser I'd love to remind you all about.
First off, we have an adopttogether account (there is a link to our page on the right side of the blog). This is way people can give a tax deductible donation to us to help bring our daughter home. Any amount big or small helps!
Another ongoing fundraiser is our Amazon referral program. (Again the link to it is on the right of the blog). As I said in the previous paragraph, EVERYTHING helps! With people's consistent remembering to use our link, we have earned about $40 each month since we started doing it! at first it didn't seem like much but over the past 2 years, it's really added up, and we put that money directly into our adoption account. This is a program that really picks up this time of year too and goes strong through the Christmas season! So we will probably be reminding people about it more over the next few months.
We also have the sheet fundraiser, where we sell very soft and very comfortable sheets for $35 any size with a variety of colors to choose from. We have done well with that and have done 2 orders since we started it in June. We are looking forward to do an order or two more before Chirstmas (Remember they'd make GREAT Christmas or wedding presents for people)! If you'd like to order or have more questions about this opportunity please contact either Ryan or myself and we can answer any questions you have.
Lastly, my mom and I have decided to do a craft fair in her area in November. We both have a few different items we are working on and trying to build up our supply to sell. All of the proceeds of that endeavor will go directly to bringing Sister home (Thanks mom for the idea and the help!) If you are a crafty person and would like to donate items for us to sell that would mean the world to us! Please contact either myself or my mom if you have any questions about this endeavor as well!
Again, I am so excited to see God's faithfulness in Ethiopian adoptions! It has been so amazing in this season to get to witness children getting matched, families going to meet their kids, and finally getting to bring them home (a few families traveled just last week to bring their kids home). I am also so excited and nervous to know that we could be matched with Sister in just a few short weeks or months! Please Please Please remember us in your prayers! Thank you friends and family for all of your love and support through this process!
Most recently, last week, we found out that our adoption agency is anticipating that everyone currently on the waiting list will be matched with a child within the next year!! Since we are not at the bottom of the list that could be significantly sooner for us! When I found this out, I've been a bit giddy ever since! We had the mindset that we would be waiting a few more years, and to find out that it will be WAY less time than that freaked me out but made me really excited as well!
However, in all of this freaking out excitement the reality side of my brain kicked in and I realized we have not raised all of the funds we will need to accept a child and travel to Ethiopia (twice) within the next year!! (oh my goodness panic attack!) However, we do have several on going and one upcoming fundraiser I'd love to remind you all about.
First off, we have an adopttogether account (there is a link to our page on the right side of the blog). This is way people can give a tax deductible donation to us to help bring our daughter home. Any amount big or small helps!
Another ongoing fundraiser is our Amazon referral program. (Again the link to it is on the right of the blog). As I said in the previous paragraph, EVERYTHING helps! With people's consistent remembering to use our link, we have earned about $40 each month since we started doing it! at first it didn't seem like much but over the past 2 years, it's really added up, and we put that money directly into our adoption account. This is a program that really picks up this time of year too and goes strong through the Christmas season! So we will probably be reminding people about it more over the next few months.
We also have the sheet fundraiser, where we sell very soft and very comfortable sheets for $35 any size with a variety of colors to choose from. We have done well with that and have done 2 orders since we started it in June. We are looking forward to do an order or two more before Chirstmas (Remember they'd make GREAT Christmas or wedding presents for people)! If you'd like to order or have more questions about this opportunity please contact either Ryan or myself and we can answer any questions you have.
Lastly, my mom and I have decided to do a craft fair in her area in November. We both have a few different items we are working on and trying to build up our supply to sell. All of the proceeds of that endeavor will go directly to bringing Sister home (Thanks mom for the idea and the help!) If you are a crafty person and would like to donate items for us to sell that would mean the world to us! Please contact either myself or my mom if you have any questions about this endeavor as well!
Again, I am so excited to see God's faithfulness in Ethiopian adoptions! It has been so amazing in this season to get to witness children getting matched, families going to meet their kids, and finally getting to bring them home (a few families traveled just last week to bring their kids home). I am also so excited and nervous to know that we could be matched with Sister in just a few short weeks or months! Please Please Please remember us in your prayers! Thank you friends and family for all of your love and support through this process!
Monday, June 1, 2015
Sheet Fundraiser
Hello friends and family,
Ryan and I
recently learned of a new fundraising opportunity from some other
families with our adoption agency that we thought sounded interesting!
We have partnered with Sanders Collections to offer very nice sheet
sets at a very reasonable price! You can get your choice of twin, full,
queen or king sheet and cal king sets in a variety of colors for $35 for any size and color!
Here is the order form with available colors: Clara Clark Sheets Order Form.
 |
The feedback regarding these sheets is that they're very soft and comfortable to sleep on and people love them!
Also to sweeten the deal if
you arrange an order with your local friends and family and purchase 12
or more sheet sets we will give you one of your sets for free!
Ordering
is easy: You can either fill out the order form above and email it to me, or simply email/FB message me directly and I will
add it to the next order I do! I hope to do an order in the
next week or so depending on the response I get.
If
you are out of town (from us) and we must ship to you I will add the
price of shipping onto your order as well. But if you order 12 or more I
can have the shipment sent directly to you for no shipping costs!
We can accept Paypal payments too. Just make it payable to Ryan's email: ryandhowell@gmail.com. Use the "Send Money to Family and Friends" option and we won't have to pay the 10% fee.
We can accept Paypal payments too. Just make it payable to Ryan's email: ryandhowell@gmail.com. Use the "Send Money to Family and Friends" option and we won't have to pay the 10% fee.
Tuesday, May 5, 2015
Progress
Again it's been too long and I apologize about that! It has actually been an exciting few months for Ethiopian adoption. Since sharing my last blog post back in November, we have seen quite a bit of movement and quite a few children being matched with forever families. That was very encouraging to us to see some movement in the wait list and also to see that some of these children stuck in orphanages will have some hope and will get to come home to their forever families!! Please be praying for these precious children the ones coming home and the ones stuck in orphanages. Wouldn't it be wonderful if all of those precious babies could be matched with a loving family! Caleb has been praying for that every night.
I know in my last post I had mentioned that we were contemplating switching countries. Well, we prayed about it, and talked about it, and researched it a lot. I feel that it all boiled down to the fact that we still felt our heart and our child(ren) are still in Ethiopia. As long as this wait is and may become, it is still in God's hand and it is still what He called us to do. So we will persevere through this wait and we will lean on Him when we need to, and trust in Him always. From what I hear the wait is so worth it and God's timing is perfect. So we can just believe in that and rest in that truth until the day comes. Right now I will just enjoy my boys and keep praying!
Also, some people with our adoption agency have designated Sunday night being a night of prayer for Ethiopia. We pray at 7:30 PM (Pacific time) on Sunday night. If you would like to join us in praying that would be amazing! Some suggestions/prayer requests could be:
As always, thank for your support and for praying with us through this journey! As I say every time, I will try to update more regularly! I am hoping there will me more "exciting" things to share in the next few months!!
I know in my last post I had mentioned that we were contemplating switching countries. Well, we prayed about it, and talked about it, and researched it a lot. I feel that it all boiled down to the fact that we still felt our heart and our child(ren) are still in Ethiopia. As long as this wait is and may become, it is still in God's hand and it is still what He called us to do. So we will persevere through this wait and we will lean on Him when we need to, and trust in Him always. From what I hear the wait is so worth it and God's timing is perfect. So we can just believe in that and rest in that truth until the day comes. Right now I will just enjoy my boys and keep praying!
Also, some people with our adoption agency have designated Sunday night being a night of prayer for Ethiopia. We pray at 7:30 PM (Pacific time) on Sunday night. If you would like to join us in praying that would be amazing! Some suggestions/prayer requests could be:
- The children in orphanages waiting for forever families
- The children who have been matched and are just waiting for the paper chase to end so they can come home.
- The orphanage directors and nannies that they will have the resources and energy to care for all of those little ones.
- The government officials (both Ethiopian and US) who approve cases and process paperwork. That they will be able to quickly and accurately process that paperwork so that the process can move quickly and efficiently.
- All of the families who are in process and waiting for their court and embassy dates that God will give them rest and patience while they wait.
- For all of the waiting families that we can have rest and patience while we wait, and that more referrals come!
- That more girls start being approved to come home. We have seen mostly little boys being matched, and there are a lot of people at the front of the waiting list who are waiting for girls, so it would be amazing to see some of them getting matched as well!
As always, thank for your support and for praying with us through this journey! As I say every time, I will try to update more regularly! I am hoping there will me more "exciting" things to share in the next few months!!
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