Okay, So, Big Stuff Around Here!!!

The end of January marked two years since we'd begun the process of adoption from Ethiopia, referrals were few and far between, and considering we had about 67 families in front of us, we knew we were now looking at a good 2-3 more years to finish the adoption, and longer than that for siblings. On that day we finally decided it was time to look at other options.

After a month of praying for clarity and leading, and researching 50 or so agency/country combos, we still weren't finding the right fit, it was all much too complicated... that is, until yesterday!!!

Yesterday the wonderful social worker who has performed our last two home studies emailed me and said she'd thought of us that afternoon when she heard that another agency was opening a couple of new programs in Africa. Well, it turns out that yesterday they launched a new program in Ghana, and because we found out when we did we had the opportunity to be the very first in line!!! So to Ghana we go!!! 

The extra great news is that it should be a much faster process because we're the first family, maybe 6 months?!?! That's just a guess, but it should be really fast!! And we're still adopting two young children, which is something we thought we'd have to give up on. We've heard good things, and are excited to work with our new agency. They've been bending over backwards to help us get our paperwork in order as fast as possible.

Praise the Lord for His amazing, mind-blowing provision!!! He is so good!!!

9 months

Yesterday was nine months on the wait list. Nine months. That's how long it takes to grow a baby!!! Here's the deal though, we're waiting for two kids, so we'll just keep on truckin' :)

Also, this is National Adoption Month, and this Sunday is National Orphan Sunday, which is super cool, seeing as there are way too many children in this world without families!!! See http://orphansunday.org/ for more details.


9 months unofficial wait list stats:
#50 overall (-3 families on hold)
#26 willing to accept siblings in our age range (-3 families on hold)
#16 specifically asking for siblings in our age range (-3 families on hold)

Waitlist 2.0 = Double the pleasure, double the fun :)

Last week we had the last of our paperwork sent in and we were placed back on the WAIT LIST!!! Our new, adjusted wait list date is January 31, 2011. Basically, we take the 6ish months that we had been waiting when we went on hold, subtracted them from the date we got back on the wait list, and now will use that date to determine our place "in line" as we wait for our babies...

...wait a minute, did you catch that?!? 

That's right, people, I said  BABIES!!! We are now waiting for siblings!!! We're expecting 2 children under the age of 3, and since we've still left the gender question pretty open-ended, there are a lot of possibilities, so we'll have to wait and see who God has for us :)

You might be wondering how this all came about, or when/why we made the switch, so let me just tell you (because it's totally all about God's glory). When we were preparing to go on hold, we knew we'd have to redo a bunch of paperwork (insert sad trombone: wah, wah..) but on that evening, right before talking to our case worker, as we were driving to have a little getaway at the beach, it occurred to me.. that's the exact paperwork we'd need to re-do if we wanted to change our child preference profile. Eureka!!! Lightning had just struck my brain!! We already knew we wanted to adopt from Ethiopia more than once, why not just do it at the same time?!? And the moment I had that thought, and I shared it with my husband, it was all over :) We were like the Grinch, our hearts grew 2 sizes, we now had two children waiting for us in Ethiopia, and there was no looking back!!!

I'm suddenly reminded of this post that I wrote so long ago:

"But as we were walking out I asked him (very dramatically) if he ever felt like he just HAD to have everything we see that's from Ethiopia, and he very sweetly replied "Nope, I just need one thing from Ethiopia." "Or two," I said. "Or two," he replied. "Or three," I whispered. :)"

... little did we know!!!

All glory to God, who put us on hold for a moment, so the love in our home could increase for a lifetime!!! He knew what He was doing, he knew what we needed. He cares about us, and loves to give us good gifts. I will trust Him all the days of my life!!!


Unofficial Wait List Stats:
-56th overall (-4 families on hold, so really we're 52nd)
-27th of those open to siblings in the same age range as us (-3 families on hold, so really we're 24th)
-15th of those specifically asking for siblings in the same age range as us (-2 families on hold, so really we're 13th)
-The longest waiting families have been waiting 16 months for a referral, as opposed to the 7.5 months people were waiting when we first started the process, but this delay is in the name of higher ethical standards, and we fully support the Ethiopian government's new added precautions.