The Wait Continues!

Yes, it has been quite some time since I have updated our blog!  Guess that makes me an "Unreliable Blogger".  Let me say though, the end of 2013 was crazy busy and I am not going to complain because I had a busy Fall season with my photography, and that's a good thing.  2014 started out pretty rough for our family.  My Uncle Danny became unexpectedly ill and passed away on March 2nd.  It has been a challenging year.  My priorities were with my Uncle and my Family.  With that being said, I hope you can understand why updating our blog has been a bit on the back burner.

That brings us to today...End of April!  We really thought we would be traveling around this time to meet our baby girl.  You can probably guess that is not the case right now.  Yes, we have moved up on the list and sit at... #6

I know that sounds wonderful to you all and it is wonderful!  But we have been at #6 since January!!  So the number six is not a favorite number of mine at all!  Not that it really ever was ;-)  I hope I can clarify what the hold up has been.

I will try and make it as simple as possible without getting into too much detail of who, what and where (it can be very confusing).  There is SO much along the trail of adoption.  MUCH MUCH paper work on all accounts!!  A small portion of what is needed for a child to be "referral ready" in Ethiopia is a series of clearances and signatures from many people in the country.  This delay was due to many things and resulted in some regional clearances not being signed.  So nothing much happened for the past 4-5 months.  It boils down to some leaders wanted to make some changes in the adoption process.  They have been talking of wanting to put in place some sort of Domestic Adoption program in Ethiopia.  As much as Ethiopia has stolen our hearts and we know our baby girl is there, this is not a terrible thing.  That would be great if more children could stay in their country they were born in through a domestic adoption program.  I can understand why leaders would want to try and make that happen.  So through some meetings that took place over the past few months, they have implemented a new policy that orphanages are now required to seek out domestic adoptive families for two months, before the child will be be considered available for international adoption.  Once that two months is up they will then sign the regional clearances for international adoption.  When we first heard this at the beginning of April we assumed we would not hear anything until at least June.  There were still many questions that needed to be answered.  Last week we received an update that children assigned to our agency that have been in an orphanage for over this 2 month time period will not need to "start over" with that two month time period before proceeding.  This is great news for us since we are at the TOP of the list.  Our agency has been working hard now catching up with a ton of paper work that has been on hold during the past few months.  There were many families that already had referrals that got "stuck" in the middle of this delay.  Been sending many prayers their way and it is so wonderful to finally see their cases now moving forward.  We know a few families that are traveling now and some that will be soon.  Last week when I talked to our case worker it was great to hear that things are finally moving forward.  Now...we just wait some more prayers that we have a referral SOON!!  We are in a good spot being at the top of the list and will likely be one of the next families to get "that call"!!  

It has sure been a journey!  It is hard to even explain the emotions that we experience as a waiting adoptive family.  When you know it is SO close but yet SO far away and you want it SO badly.  As I mentioned earlier, we had always expected to be traveling around this time.  Now, we really pray we will have our baby girl home before this Christmas.  We knew going into this journey that adoption is unpredictable and NO International program is carved in stone.  We are just so happy that there is no talk of a shut down of the program.  This is just a little hiccup in the journey that we need to get through.  

Please send prayers that NO MORE hiccups occur, that our referral comes to us soon and everything runs as smoothly as possible from here on out!!  I really hope to have more updates in the next couple months and will try my best to not wait SOO long to add another entry!!  

I have to end this entry with this great video that an adoptive father created.  People say some pretty interesting things to adoptive parents and I just LOVE this humorous way to explain some common comments and questions that come our way...ENJOY!  

IF YOU WOULDN'T SAY IT ABOUT A BOOB JOB... from Rain City Church on Vimeo.

Sweet "16"

WOW! Here we are at the end of summer and beginning of a new school year.  I can not believe our baby boy started 4th grade today! He is growing up so fast.

I am doing this blog entry using my Blogger App for the first time, so I hope it ends up looking ok. Guess we will find out when I hit "post".

I knew I was in much need of an update but just realized I have not updated since May!  I guess the end of the school year, Little League season and summer kept me busy ;-) Along with a week long stay in the hospital for Ryan due to an infection.  Thankfully he is much better now.  It probably did not help that after some big movement March and April referrals have slowed down over summer. Referrals were still happening there was just not many big numbers.  That is what comes along with the unpredictable process.  Now that I look at my last update, our number from this month looks pretty good in comparison.

Our monthly update number came in today at #17!  Within an hour of getting the update someone announced on our agency adoption FB group that they accepted a referral today. So that then puts us starting September as...

Not too shabby!  Lets hope this is a start to a great month.  We were also informed last month that there are 4 people in front of us on the wait list that are "on hold" for various reasons.  I am assuming that is still the case.  I guess that unofficially would put us at "12".  People can get placed on hold for various reasons. For example, if you get pregnant while on the wait list, that would place you on hold until the birth of your child and that child reaches a certain age.  You stay on the list and continue to move but those on the list after you will jump ahead when referrals come along. Hope that makes sense ;-)  So this was some pretty cool news.

Now lets get real, the closer we get the more anxious we are starting to feel. The 12th of September will mark 9 months that we have been "officially" on the wait list.  If you ever glance over to our "Timeline" to the right and do any math, you will notice it has been 1 year and 5 months since we sent in our official application and 2 years and 1 month since we attending our first informational meeting that starting this exciting journey for us!  We have hung tough, kept busy and stayed positive for all this time so far. Now as we sit at #16, butterflies and impatience are starting to set in a bit.  We are READY to see our baby girls face, paint and decorate her room, shower her with pink outfits, girly toys and most of all be considered as a "family of 4"!  The nightly dreams of "referral day" become more often and seem more real to all of us as we move up on the list.  CL will often describes how he will feel the day he comes home from school and finally gets to see a photo of his baby sister. He has the whole thing planned out in his head (he is so stinking sweet).  

With that all said, as I look back and realize 9 months has passed since we officially were added to the wait list, time really has flown by.  I feel our time will be coming soon :-)  Our agency has noted the past couple months that there are close to 25 referrals waiting on documentation.  Keep in mind that it takes time for referrals to be ready.  So much goes into it.  But it is nice to hear that so many children are close to joining their forever family. And one of those babies could be ours!  I truly feel that we will be blessed with a referral and know who our baby girl is by Christmas.  So please keep the prayers coming. Thank You all for following us on our journey and always taking the time to ask how the process is going.  

HUGS...

Moving Fast!

April was a GREAT month for Ethiopian waiting families at our agency!! There was "15" referrals!!  We are so happy for the many families that we consider our "new friends".  So now your wondering where that puts us on the list?? Drum Roll...

It is so exciting to see things moving quickly!  Those who may be confused that the math does not add up, that 15 referrals should place us lower than 24.  As I mentioned in my last post, the list is generated by families, so when 15 children were referred some families have been referred 2 children per their requests.  Hope that makes sense to you all.

I was so excited to get this update out, but I wanted to wait to get confirmation from our agency.  The list is not listed by family names.  It is listed by gender and age of requests, so when so many referrals happen I can get confused to where we are, LOL.  I am usually right on, but just always want to confirm that I am right.

Our agency also noted in our monthly email that there are 15 more referrals close to being ready!!  All I can say is WOW...How amazing!  As excited as we are to see this happening, we have to keep a level head in this process.  The adoption process is so unpredictable sometimes.  Although we all would love to see the referrals keep coming, it could slow down for a couple months at some point.  You just never know :-)

Ethiopia courts have a "Court Closure" that begins near mid-August for about 6-8 weeks.  This is due to the rainy season that causes power outages and in country travel to be difficult for birth moms court dates.  If we are blessed to get a referral as soon as June/July we could get caught in court closure.  So realistically we are still looking at closer to end of year.  But again...you never know. 

It is not a secret that us adopting families get some interesting comments and questions.  I would love to use this blog to educate people about adoption.  I have so many ideas for blog posts. Such as tips for family and friends when our baby comes home and to answer most common questions.  Please feel free to ask what ever you would like. I will always try my best to answer.  So many people are curious and/or think they know what they are talking about when they have never researched anything (that is always a favorite).  We just ask...before you judge or have an opinion, just ask ;-)

I would like to end today's post with expressing how grateful we are for so many people in our lives.  Our bowling fundraiser was fabulous and we have had many donations come in.  Words truly can not express what this means to us.  We really could not do this without you all!!  The cost of adoption is so overwhelming and donations and fundraising is a huge part of it!!  We hope people know that you are a huge part in our baby girls life already.  We Love You All!!

HUGS

Referrals, Referrals

So excited to see our number go down! 

We are so happy for so many families this past month.  There was 7 referrals!!  Your probably wondering... how could there have been 7 referrals and we only moved 4 spots?  Well, when families are requesting 2 children, that plays into the equation when moving on the wait list.  In our last update from our agency,  it was mentioned that they are expected to have some really good months coming up with referrals.  There is about 20 referrals in the works and several of them are expected to come in the next 4-6 weeks!!  So we should see a lot of movement on the list in the coming months.  That is so exciting for many :-) 

We have our bowling fundraiser coming up on April 13th.  We are very excited for this and pray that we have a good turnout.  We have also had a couple donations come in and feel so grateful for them!!  This event and the donations have meant so much to us it is hard to express how thankful we truly are.  I just can only hope that people truly know what it means to us.  That the words "Thank You" is coming right from our hearts! 

FEELING SO BLESSED!

Hugs,

Bowling Fundraiser

We are excited to have our Bowling Fundraiser soon

Bring the whole family and join us for a fun day of
Bowling for our Baby Girl!

Saturday, April 13, 2013
1:15pm-4pm
$15.00 kids 13 and under
$18.00 age 14 and up

Lodge Lanes
46255 I-94 S. Service Dr.
Belleville, MI 48111

2 Games Cosmic Bowling ~ Shoe Rental ~ Pizza ~ Pop ~ Raffles

Please RSVP to reserve your spot by April 10, 2013

kimdkrat@gmail.com
Please include your name and number of attendees and contact info

You can pay using the "donate" button on the right of this page or

I can message you with an address to send payment too.

We are very excited to be adding to our family through adoption!
We appreciate your support, love and prayers more than you know!

Please let me know if you have any items to donate for raffles

HOPE YOU SEE YOU THERE!!

More Q & A

Q~ Will we have the opportunity to meet the birth parents?

A~ IF it is possible, we will take the opportunity to meet the birth parents or any birth family members.  Our agency will guide us in some questions for us to ask.  We will always be open with her about her story.  There will be a time where she will ask questions and want to know as much as we can tell her.  When this time comes, it is important to us to have as much information as possible about our little girls birth family and where she is from to share with her.  We also hope to visit the area of Ethiopia where she is from.  Gather as many photos as we can during our journey there to make a special book for her to hold close to her heart.  It is important to understand that our child's background and personal history will be her story to share when she is old enough and chooses to do so.

I would like to end this post with a beautiful song I saw on another ET adoptive mom's blog...Enjoy!

HUGS! 

Two Steps Forward

March Wait list Update

 

We go into March moving out of the 40's and entering the 30's.  Although we have moved just 6 spots since officially going on the wait list in mid December, it seems like a milestone that we have moved out of the 40's. 
The Ethiopian team at our agency had recently visited Ethiopia.  They came back with some great information for all us waiting families.  I LOVE our agency!  It says so much that they took time out of their every day lives to visit a country that by far is not a luxury vacation for them.  To visit the orphanages and people that they work with in the whole Ethiopian adoption process for us all.  We really appreciate them!