Pink Shirts & Glitter Nail Polish

In less than 24 hours, I'll be on a flight to Ethiopia to bring my little girl home.

All week, I've been in complete amazement at all God has done to get us here...to this day where I find myself in a yellow bedroom, packing up pink shirts and glitter nail polish.

It was exactly 28 weeks ago that I huddled over my laptop screen on a late-night skype date with my dear friend, who asked me to pray for this sweet little girl who may never have a family. It was 28 weeks ago that the name "Yordanos" was planted deep in my heart where it would eventually bloom into a desperate love for this little girl who dared to pray boldly for her miracle.

Its hard not to think about all of the what-if's.

"What if"... my dear friend had never taken notice of this shy little girl at the orphanage?

"What if"... she didn't sprinkle this prayer request into our conversation that night?

"What if".... I said a quick one-time prayer for Yordanos and went about my week?

"What if"... we would have dismissed the idea of adopting an 11 yr old as completely crazy?

"What if"... our adoption agency refused to take a chance on an older girl with special needs?

I could go on and on and on.

It would have been so incredibly easy for us to miss this, to miss the blessing of making Yordanos our daughter. If God hadn't orchestrated every single second of the last 28 weeks, I would very likely be doing anything but packing up pink shirts and glitter nail polish in a suitcase right now.

28 weeks ago, we prayed that if it was God's will for Yordanos to be our daughter, He would make the path to her clear and open. Since then, we have FLOWN through every open door He has set in front of us and it could not be more clear that Yordi is meant to be in our family.

So today, as I pack up pink shirts and glitter nail polish, I'm so humbled and so thankful and so READY to be bringing home our Yordi to start life together as a family of four!

Its Happening...

Yordi is coming HOME!!

We found out last week that we cleared embassy, and this morning we were assigned an interview date of Monday 8/13. I'm still in complete shock at how quickly this has all happened, but CAN NOT WAIT to get back to Ethiopia to be with our little girl. Our agency will be telling her the good news early next week so she'll have time to process through the emotions of actually leaving her orphanage, her family & her country. I know that she'll be so excited that she's finally getting the family she prayed for, but I'm also sure there will be a lot of sadness in leaving everything she knows and loves to start a new life in America.

I'll be flying out on Thursday 8/9, and arriving in Ethiopia late Friday night. If all goes according to plan, Friday night will be the LAST night that Yordi will be sleeping in an orphanage! I'll pick her up Saturday morning, and she'll be staying at the guesthouse with me until we leave Ethiopia TOGETHER!

As we finalaize our travel plans & costs, we would appreciate more than ever if you would consider sponsoring a piece of Yordi's puzzle. We're SO CLOSE to our $5,000 goal, but still have several blank puzzle pieces waiting for names. One can be yours for only $10.00!





We have been blown away by the love and support we've received for our family & we can't wait to introduce you to our amazing daughter SOON!

Submitted!

In all of the preparations to bring Yordi home, I completely neglected to write that we were submitted to embassy last week! I woke up to the email on Wednesday (July 19th), and that has sparked a new sense of urgency to get everything ready for her to be home! We've been painting her bedroom, setting up her furniture, researching home school curriculum...so much to do! It's actually starting to feel "real" that this is actually happening.

The embassy typically takes ten business days to do their initial investigation, and then they'll issue a response on the next steps in our case. We're praying that response is, "You're cleared to travel!" ...but we're preparing ourselves for the embassy to request an interview with Yordi's birth family. This happens in about 90% of cases with living birth relatives. That interview could take two to four weeks to schedule, so it could still be over a month before we're cleared.

August 1st will be the tenth business day since our submission, so we're hoping to get GOOD news that morning.

On our last day with Yordi, our agency representative told her that we would be back in about two months. Of course, her next questions to him was, "What is the date today?" He said, "June 15th." She started counting on her fingers and very directly said, "July, August...August 15th, they will come!". Of course, he tried to explain to her that it would be around two months, not exactly two months. She smiled and told him again, "August 15th, they will come!"

Praying we miraculously meet her deadline!

Missing Her

Its been twenty nine days since I've seen my little girl.

That's twenty nine days without smelling her hair, without seeing her dusty little toes peeking out of her too-small sandals. Twenty nine days without watching her run toward the orphanage gates when she sees our rusted blue van pull into the compound. Twenty nine days without feeling her arms tight around my waist and her breath in my ear as she whispers, "Love you mommy."

Twenty nine more days of her life that I've missed.

The reality is that we still have a while longer to wait. We don't know if it will be weeks or still months until she gets here, but we know without a doubt that this separation will eventually end.

....and I'll once again be smelling her clean, braided hair, and painting the nails on those toes that once peeked out of too-small sandals. There will be a day when I get to feel those arms around my waist every morning and when (lets face it) she'll be sarcastically whispering, "Love you mommy." thorough clenched teeth when I won't let her go to that PG-13 movie with her friends.

I may have missed many days of her life, but we have so many days left to live out together. I will never take that blessing for granted.

Help complete our family puzzle!

Its no secret that adoption is expensive. In most circumstances, the fees are due in increments over a long period of time as you progress from step to step through the process slowly. This makes saving for each due date a little more manageable.

Because Yordi's adoption has moved with lightening speed (which we're so very grateful!), we have been submitting large sums of money nearly every week. Combining that with the fact that adopting again so soon after bringing Kad home WAS NOT in our financial plans, we've been honestly struggling to save the last amount that we need for Yordi's travel costs home.

We've been praying about how we can stretch our budget even more (and we will certainly continue to make big sacrifices), but we've also been so humbled and blessed by many people honestly WANTING to help.

We know that not everyone is in the position right now to add a child to their home, and there are some people who have such a heart for adoption yet don't feel that its God's plan for them to adopt themselves. There are other people who have just, flat out, fallen in love with our little girl (which we TOTALLY understand) and really want to play a part in this incredible story that God is writing for her!

When we were visiting with Yordi, we told her that there are lots of people in America who love her and can't wait for her to come home. She got the biggest smile on her face, and she wanted to know names!

Yes...she wants to know exactly who loves her and wants her home. So, we heard about this awesome fundraising idea and thought it would be the PERFECT way to help raise the last $5,000 that we need, and to let Yordi see all of the names of the people who helped bring her home.

So...today, we're kicking off a "Puzzle Fundraiser"!

This fundraiser has the potential to raise $5,000 towards the final agency fees and travel costs, and here’s how it works:

We have created a 500-piece jigsaw puzzle out of a picture that we took while in Ethiopia with Yordi. It’s going to be great to display in her bedroom.....but we won’t be able to put the pieces together without your help!

For every $10 dollars that is donated for this fundraiser, you will be contributing 1 piece to our puzzle. We will then write your name on the back of the piece to symbolize your partnership in making Yordi a part of our family forever. When she comes home, we will put the puzzle together as a family and display it in a double-sided glass frame in Yordi's room as a constant reminder of all the people who have helped bring our family together.

Your piece to our puzzle can be any size!
$10 = 1 piece
$50 = 5 pieces
$100 = 10 pieces

...or please feel free to donate more if that's on your heart! (smile)

You can donate via this Chipin link (click on the small yellow bar at the bottom of the image to be directed to the secure chipin site):




If you would rather donate via check, please leave a comment and I'll email you our address.

Thank you so much for blessing our family with your love and support...and for being a piece of our family puzzle!

July 4th

We had a great time celebrating Independance Day with our good friends. Kad had a blast playing in the park and eating more junk food than he ever has in his life (its a holiday, right?!?)

No matter how much fun we had today, our hearts are still so broken without our sweet Yordi here with us. Praying that she'll be joining us at the park on the next 4th of July...amazed at the fireworks, and eating more junk food than she has in her life.

For now, here's a picture of our "American Girl" from the day she bacame a "Williams"

Happy July 4th from our family of FOUR!

What Happens Next?

Now that we're back in Washington and settling back into "normal" life, I thought I would take the time to fill you in on what's happening in Ethiopia while we're waiting to bring Yordi home.

First, our agency will work to get the official court decree from the judge stating that Yordi is, in fact, our legal daughter. That court decree will then be translated from Amharic to English.

Once the decree is processed, the goverment body in Ethiopia will issue a birth certificate for Yordi...and her legal name will be "Yordanos Williams" (chills!)

While this paperwork is pending, Yordi will have a medical evaluation by a clinic in Addis that is approved by the US embassy. They will make sure that she is free from communicable illnesses (such as TB) and she will get a series of vaccinations. (welcome to America, sweet girl!) If the doctor is satisfied with her current medical condition, then he will issue a report stating that she is medically approved to immigrate to the United States.

Once our agency has the translated court decree, birth certificate, and medical results, our agency staff will take Yordi to the immigration building in downtown Addis and apply for her passport & visa. It typically takes a week to to get the application approved and the passport issued.

When the passport and visa are received, our agency will submit our case file to the US Embassy for review. An official from the embassy will complete a full evaluation of Yordi's file to ensure that she is truly an orphan by US standards and that the adoption process was completed ethically by all parties (agency, orphanage, adoptive family, birth family, etc). They will respond with their findings within ten business days from submission. That response could be that they need more documentation, that they would like to interview the birth family, or....that we are cleared to travel!

Once the embassy clears our case, we will book flights and go get our little girl!

Obviously, this is a very invloved process that typically takes 2 - 3 months to complete at best. We're hopeful to be back in Ethiopia by the end of the summer, but we're preparing our hearts for the possibility that it could be much longer.

We'll keep you posted as we progress through this post-court paperwork phase, and please pray for everyone who is working so hard to get our Yordi home!

Goodbyes

Goodbyes are never fun, but yesterday was the WORST.

We had to say goodbye to our little girl and leave her in an orphanage while we travel back to the US and wait for the emabssy to clear our case. We're praying this time apart will be no longer than eight weeks.

Our family feels like it has a huge gaping hole that only Yordi can fill, and nothing will feel "right" until we're back together.

It may be a little while before I'm able to talk about our time in Ethiopia without breaking down in tears, so I'm just asking for a little grace as we try to return to normal once we get home. It doesn't in any way mean that we don't want to gush about our beautiful daughter...it just means that I'm a little bit a huge mess without her!

INTRODUCING....

We passed court this afternoon, and are THRILLED to be able to introduce you to our daughter:


YORDANOS ("Yordi") WILLIAMS

We are so blessed to now be Yordi's legal parents in the eyes of Ethiopia, and can not wait to bring her home!

"Metcha Day"

We met "Y" for the first time today, and it could not have been more perfect. We arrived at her orphanage around 3:00 pm, and we waited in the courtyard for her to come outside. All of her friends and nannies watched, with tears in their eyes. It was overwhelming how excited they all were for "Y" to have her moment.

After a few minutes, this beautiful little girl stepped shyly out of her dorm building. She looked across the courtyard, and the moment she saw us standing there she got the biggest smile on her face and SPRINTED toward us. She threw herself into my arms and gave me the BEST hug I've ever gotten in my entire life!

Mike was holding Kad, who had fallen asleep in the van on the way to the orphanage. After "Y" hugged me, Mike bent down and she jumped into his arms. It was so sweet to see Mike holding BOTH of our kids for the first time.

We pointed at Kad and said, "brother". She smiled and put her arms out...she couldn't wait to hold him. It was such a sweet moment.

As we hugged, took photos, and played together as a family, I couldn't help but look at the faces of all the kids who were watching us. We were living the moment that they dream of every single day....meeting their family for the first time. So many of them thinking that it will never happen for them.

I pictured "Y" being one of those sad faces just a few months ago as she watched her best friends meeting their family. I kept thinking of how easily we could have missed this. How we could have let fear and doubt creep into our hearts and smother this miracle before it ever came to be.

I pray that every child in that courtyard gets their moment one day, and I pray for every family who may be feeling a little seed being planted in their heart to take a leap of faith on these kids. I would hate to think that fear and doubt could keep anyone from missing a day like we had today.

We'll be spending the next few days with "Y" at the orphanage. We have court on Wednesday, and we would love if you would join us in praying that every document is there and in order so that we wil PASS court and officially become "Y"s parents!

On our way!

We're coming, "Y", and we couldn't be more excited!!!!

Kad's First "Gotcha" Day

In some ways, it feels like just yesterday we were just walking out of the orphanage gates with our little boy for the first time. Yet, in so many other ways, it feels like he has always been with us.

He has grown and changed so much in this past year and its been such a blessing to watch his little personality emerge. I don't know how God intends to use our strong willed, goofy, loving little boy as he grows, but we're so blessed to have a front row seat to watch it all unfold!

I thought it was appropraite, as we celebrate Kad's first "gotcha day", to debut our adoption video.

So, here it is: Our journey to Befekadugeta!




Happy Gotcha Day, sweet Baby Kad. On June 7, 2011, you made us parents for the very first time. Now, here we are, hours away from boarding a flight back to Ethiopia to meet your sister. It has been an incredible year, and we couldn't imagine life any other way!

Plans are set

We officially have set plans and tickets booked for Ethiopia.

We will be leaving on June 7th (which happens to be Kad's first "gotcha Day") and coming back on June 16th. We're flying Emirates Air from Seattle to Dubai, spending the night in Dubai, and arriving in Addis on June 9th. If all goes according to plan, we will be meeting "Y" for the first time that afternoon.

I can't believe we'll be hugging "Y" next week. It still seems like a dream!!

Oh...and we're taking Kad with us, so our entire family will be on the same continent together for the first time.

June 7th can't get here soon enough!!

We have a COURT DATE!

I CAN NOT BELIEVE IT!

We were at Pike Market today, and I realized I missed a phone call from the infamous "703" area code. Mike had walked down the street to buy diapers for Kad (because, yes, I completely forgot to pack some). I thought maybe our agency had some question about our paperwork or a general program update, so I returned the call. There was no way that we could be getting our court date since our dossier just went to Ethiopia on May 11th, right?!?!?

WRONG!

Not only do we have a court date, but our court date is only THREE WEEKS AWAY!

On June 13th, we will be appearing before a judge in the Ethipoian court building and (hopefully) becoming "Y"s legal parents forever!

This seems like such a dream! We were praying to go before court closure, but we didn't think there was ANY possible way we could be going in JUNE!

Right now, we're just enjoying this miraculous moment and trying not to think of everything that we need to do to get ready (plane tickets, packing, etc).

We'll be meeting our little girl SOON -- Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!

Amazed

I want to write this post, just so I remember how amazed I am today, but I'm so in awe that I honestly don't even know the words to write.

We needed $6,500 by today to pay our agency for our dossier submission fees. Keep in mind that we just paid an outrageous amount of money in early February for our initial agency fees, another huge sum that was due on April 3rd when we accepted our referral and now...we need an additional $6,500 and we were given the due date of Friday by midnight to pay online. If we couldn't pay at that time, it would delay our dossier going to Ethiopia. Ugh.

Adopting again so soon after bringing Kad home was not in our financial plan. For his adoption, we had saved and saved, knowing that we would have nearly two years to pay for his adoption in full. For "Y", that's simply not the case.

"Y" is very literally waiting for us at this point. Her file is ready to be submitted to court, but our dossier needs to be there and translated before we can move forward as a family and get assigned a court date. The thought of ANY delays made us feel sick, but we also didn't have the entire $6500 to send tonight. We feel strongly that we shouldn't enter into debt to pay for this adoption, so we've just been praying that somehow, God would provide this enormous sum of money. I think our exact prayer was, "Lord, please just let money show up in our mailbox without any effort or inquiry on our part."

Well...he did it.

Today, we got a check in the mail for exactly $6,500! The full amount we need TONIGHT to submit our dossier.

We've never been the recipients of such incredible generosity, and it just affirms to us that although we have at times thought about how crazy it is that we're adopting again so soon, we're right where we're supposed to be and doing exactly what we are supposed to be doing.

We've always been told that "God funds what he favors", and this is the first time we've experienced that so personally.

To the donors of this incredible gift....your love for our family and for our little girl is overwhelming and so, so humbling. We can't thank you enough for so tangibly helping us bring "Y" home!

Out of Our Hands

I can't begin to tell you how excited we are to say that our dossier (the mountain of paperwork we had to compile and send to Ethiopia) is out of our hands and on its way to our agency in Virginia. Once they look it all over one last time, it will be couriered to Washington DC for authentication by the Department of State and the Ethiopian Embassy.

Then...it will be on its way to Ethiopia! Our official DTE date ("Dossier to Ethiopia") will be May 11th.

When it arrives, it will be translated and registered with the government office there and then our file will be joined with "Y"s and submitted to the Ethiopian courts. We're so hoping to get a court date before they close for the rainy season in August. We know its a long shot, but God has made this adoption process move at record pace so far and we're praying He choses to get us a court date with the same speed!

Today, we're celebrating this HUGE milestone of submitting our dossier and being one step closer to meeting our little girl!

REFERRAL!!

What?!?!?

That's right, Michael and I are THRILLED to announce that our little family is growing, and Kad is soon to be a little brother.

What?!?!?

Yes...LITTLE brother. We just accepted the referral of the most beautiful eleven year old girl we've ever seen. We've spent months trying to work out the details, and just when we thought there was no way it was going to happen, God worked it all out in a way only He could orchestrate. We're so amazed and humbled that He has chosen us to parent this sweet little girl.

To fill you all in on the story to this point, remember a few posts ago when I was telling you about my friend Mary meeting her kids for the first time. (if not, please take a minute and read it here) Well...her oldest daughter's best friend. The one who thought she would never have a family.

She does now!

It has been an amazing journey that should have never worked out the way that it has, but God obviously intends for her to be our daughter.

We first heard about "Y" on January 18th. Our hearts broke for this little girl, and we began praying for a family to be open to adopting her. Well...just five days later, Mike said (completely out of the blue), "Is it crazy if I think I'm supposed to be "Y"s dad?"

Ummmm....YES! But, crazy works for us!

So, we began praying specifically that if God intends for "Y" to be our daughter, that He would make the path to her clear and open.

First, we had to find "Y" an agency that would comfirm if she truly was "adoptable" and accept her into their program. There are very few American agencies that work with her orphanage, but we found a great Chrsitan agency who agreed. Ironically, just two weeks before we heard "Y"s story for the first time, we had already sent off for an information packet from them. The agency is America World Adoption based in Virginia, and they are WONDERFUL!

Next, we had to get accepted into their Ethiopia program, pay a TON of agency fees and complete a homestudy. At the same time, our agency would be working to complete "Y"s file so that she was eligible for adoption. The chances of our home study and her file coming together at the exact same time were slim to none. Its a good thing God does his best work with "slim to none" odds :)

"Y"s file came together in three weeks, and we got our home study done just two days later. And last week, on April 3rd at 8:12 am, we got the official referral call!

"Y" will soon become our daughter!

I'm so excited to tell her one day how desperately she's wanted, how fiercely we've fought for her, and how faithful God has been to all of us as we worked to become a family.

Adopting an eleven year old wasn't anywhere in our plans, but we're so grateful that God's plans are always so much better than our own!

We still have a lot of hurdles to jump as we complete our dossier and wait for a court date, but we're so excited to be one step closer to bringing "Y" home to her forever family!

You're getting your miracle, little Ms. "Y", and we're so blessed to be getting ours too!

Something BIG

God is up to something BIG.

I can't fill you in yet on the details, but stay tuned

...you aren't going to want to miss this!!

"Older"

I've been really struggling to come up with the words to write about a subject that has been on my heart since leaving Ethiopia. Its something that not a lot of people in our adoption circle talk much about and something that I was honestly a little clueless of until I saw it with my own eyes.

Older kids.

As young as twelve.

On the streets.

No family.

No hope.

No future.

I knew in my head that there were older orphaned kids in every country, but I just didn't reconcile the "knoweldge" of that fact with the "reality" of it. While I was living at Kad's orphanage, I had the blessing of interacting with the older kids there.

{Side Note: By older kids, I'm not talking sixteen, seventeen, or eighteen year olds. In orphanage terms, "older" means twelve to fourteen year olds. The very fact that being twelve years old classifies you as "old" is a tragedy in iteself.}

I would spend days singing with these kids, painting their fingernails, playing soccer with them. They had names -- "B" and "A" and "H" and so many others. They were sweet and smart, funny and outgoing. They would have me laughing so hard that I would forget the lack of sleep and stress of caring for a baby alone in Ethiopia. They loved Kad and would tell me stories about praying for him all night when he was sick and how one "older" girl, "B" (an eight year old) would actually go with him to the hospital so he wouldn't be alone. They are caring, wonderful, amazging kids.

...but they don't have families.

In fact, for three of them that I loved dearly, they never will.

How do I know this? Because I watched them age out of the orphanage while I was there. The big metal gates opened, and they walked out without the hope of a family or a future.

It sounds harsh, and it is. But, it isn't the orphanage's fault that this age-out process exists. Its mine. And yours. And everyone else who doesn't welcome one of these "older" kids into our home because they're afraid. Or because they wait and wait for a cute, cuddly baby.

I don't say this to condem anyone. Keep in mind that Mike and I waited eight long months for Kad's referral. I get sick to my stomach every time I think now about how many older kids walked out of those gates during that time. Please don't misunderstand, I know that babies deserve families too...trust me...I have one sleeping in the room next to me right now. And, when families pray about the child that God has planned for their family, I know that some times He directs them to check the "healthy infant" box on the agency application. I know that. But, I also know that sometimes He nudges our heart to stretch a little more than what we're comfortable with, and that can be a very scary thing to acknowledge and act on.

Our friends Mary and Bob are the first couple that made that fact so real to me. They started their adoption process intending to adopt one little girl with special needs under the age of three. God had drastically different plans. And, through their obedience, they are soon to be the proud parents of three kids from Ethiopia -- a three year old boy, a six year old girl & a nine year old girl! To say that their faithfulness is inspiring would be the understatement of the year. It has been such a blessing to watch their family story unfold.

While I was talking to Mary last week on skype (yes...that two hour conversation on Mike's birthday), she was telling me about meeting her kids for the first time. I cried as she described her girls running through the courtyeard and throwing themselves into her arms, showering them with hugs and kisses. These "older" girls, who waited for YEARS, dreading the next birthday that put them one year closer to the other side of those gates, just met their MOM and DAD.

And then, Mary told me about their oldest daughter's friend who watched from the sidelines all week, in tears, knowing that families for kids her age are few and far between. She was witnessing her fairy-tale moment...only unless she gets a miracle, there will be no happily-ever-after for her.

No body to run to across the courtyard.

No arms to fling her little body into.

No kisses & hugs.

No, "I love you so much" whispered in her ear.

It will never be her turn.

I don't know what the Lord is doing stiring this up in my heart all over again, but I know that He intends for us to pray for these kids, to advocate for them, to make others aware that they exist. That they, just like the cute cuddly babies, deserve a family.

We're not all called to adopt, but we are ALL called to love and care for orphans...of ALL ages. Please pray along with me about what our role is in loving these kids!

Happy Birthday Dada!

Today is Michael's birthday. Typically we would have maybe gone away for a long weekend or at least gone out to a nice dinner...but having a little one around makes celebrating birthdays a little more low-key. We spent the day at the zoo and then went out for a quick dinner before we had to put the Little Man to bed.

Oh, and then wife of the year here, spent the next two hours skyping with her friend Mary who just got back from Ethiopia visiting her three kids.

Someday we'll be back to long weekends away and nice dinners, but for now...moments like this make it all worth while!

Happy Birthday, to the best dada on the planet! I love you more and more every single day!

Melkam Gana

Today is January 7th, with is the date that Ethiopians observe "Gana" or Christmas. Yes, it is celebrating the exact same thing as traditional Christmas...the birth of Christ...its just observed on a different day.

What I love about Gana, is that it truly is a religious holiday. The entire day is spent celebrating at church and worshiping the true miracle of the virgin birth of Christ. Everyone wears white robes or traditional clothing, symbolizing the purity that comes with our new birth in the Lord, and after church they spend time feasting with their familiy and friends.

We're so blessed that our family is so deeply intertwined with the Ethiopian culture and community, and we will be celebrating Gana each and every year.

This year, our adoption play group in the midwest had a huge Gana celebration. Since our house sold in Indiana and closing just happens to be the first week of January, Kad and I were able to make the trip to Ohio to attend.

This was the first time I was able to introduce Kad to the group of families who have supported us and prayed for us as we journeyed through the adoption process together. It was such a sweet time of celebration for so many reasons!

Kad is his traditional Ethiopian outfit (a gift from his Aunt Birtukan):

All of the Ethiopian kiddos (this was a tough group to photograph!):

Melkam Gana (Merry Christmas) to all of our friends and family in Ethiopia!