4 months

Today we celebrate 4-months waiting for our referral! We're getting so close! We're at the stage of "the wait" now where we carry our phone with us everywhere waiting for it to ring at any minute. I know we could still have a few weeks or even a couple months, but knowing we're #2 on our agency's list has made us anxiously await that call even more. We're hopeful that we will not be writing a "5-month waiting" post!

"The List"

I love it when people ask us how the adoption is going -- some people are afraid that it may make us upset or impacient, but its our favorite thing to talk about so please keep asking! The most popular question we get (after, "have you heard anything yet") is, "How much longer?". Trust me, I wish we knew!

Since we've started this process, I've been creating an "unofficial" list of the other families adopting from our agency. The list is totally based on informal conversations with other families, emails, posts on chat groups, updates from our coordinator, and family blogs. Everytime someone mentions where they are in the process, I make a note in "The List". I have to admit that its a pretty impressive operation.

What started out as innocently tracking where we might be in relationship to other families has turned into graphs, charts and detailed statistical analysis. I'm so out of control with this data! I have determined things like, "Our agency averages 1.3 referrals a month" and "42% of all referrals come in the first ten days of the month" (you get the picture). Although this sounds a little obsessive and border-line creepy, it has been encouraging to watch our name move up that list.

This week, we're THRILLED that there has been some movement and I get to actually update my list. Not one, but TWO families in front of us received referrals on Monday. One family got matched with a little girl and the other with their little boy. We're so happy for them! I'm also happy to let you know that according to "the list".....we're now #2!!!!!!!!!

Certified

This post is to inform all family, friends, co-workers, and the general public that should any of you choke, pass-out, fall from extreme heights, go into cardiac arrest or respiratory distress, experience a puncture would, strain, sprain or fracture...we're there for you! That's right, Mike and I spent eight hours in training yesterday to get certified in CPR and first-aid. We thought these skills would be useful once we had a little person in the house. Here are a couple pictures of us demonstrating our new training.

By the look on Mike's face, you would think that he didn't like the fabulous sling I made him:



I hope to NEVER have to do this in real life:


Thanks, Red Cross, for a great (although very long) day of training!

Church

Those of you who know us at all, know that we are passionate about serving God in whatever way He has planned for us (hence the whole adoption journey!). What you may not know is that since we've been married, we've really struggled to figure out how "church" fits into that equation for us. Don't get me wrong...we have always gone to church on Sunday mornings. We sit in the pew, sing praise songs, shake hands, listen to the message, and then go home. Sunday morning church just wasn't clicking for us. Our church was big (really big), and the reasons we justified joining a church of that size was because they offer so many great programs and ministries. The ironic thing is, that because a church is that size, its really difficult to get plugged into those ministries and programs. I know it works for a lot of people and we love the mission of that church, but it wasn't working for us.

When we were in Uganda, we were blessed with the opportunity to spend a Sunday morning in worship at Kingdom Preparation Church in Juba. The church was a tiny shelter with tin walls and a tin roof. It had a dirt floor and one small light bulb dangling from a thin wire in the middle of the room. Despite all of that, there was something so beautiful about that space. This was our first church experience in Africa and there are absolutely no words to describe what that was like. It taught us that church is not about the size of the building or even if you have a building at all. Its about the hearts of the people in that building and God working through them to do His will. We spent four hours that morning praising God with our brothers and sisters who put our faith to shame and we left there having been forever changed.

This is a picture of Kingdom Preparation Church:


Since then, we've been searching for a new church -- One that would fit our need to truly LIVE the gospel not just preach it. We've been attending a new church for the past few months, and we really feel like this could be our new church home. Not only do their beliefs align with ours, but they have tons of adoptive & foster families (and we love that!). Do you want to know something else crazy....the message yesterday was "Honoring God while you Wait". Could there have been a more perfect message for us?!?!?

3 Months

Its now been three months since we formally submitted our Dossier to Ethiopia. I wish I could say that there has been tons of activity, several court dates assigned and a few referrals this month....unfortunately that's not the case.

The courts in Ethiopia close every year in late summer for the rainy season, and this year they've been closed since early August. When the courts are closed, things in "adoption-land" really slow down. The great news is that the courts will reopen on Monday (September 27th), so we're hoping that there will be some activity late next week. For now, we'll celebrate one more month down....and we're hoping we're at least halfway through with the wait!

Indianapolis Gathering

Have you ever met a group of people and it just felt good -- like in an "I hope that I know you for a really long time" kind of way? That's the best way to describe how we feel about some people we met this weekend.

Let me fill you in on a little background information. We found out about a church in Indianapolis who has started an outreach ministry to Ethiopian adoptive families. The pastor of this church, Pastor Yosef, immigrated from Ethiopia and truly has a heart for adoption. Once a month, he and his congregation organize a gathering for anyone who has adopted or is in the process of adopting from Ethiopia. Each meeting has fellowship time for the families to get to know one another, a lesson about Ethiopia (culture, cooking, language, etc), and refreshments.

We went to our first gathering this weekend, and we met some of the most welcoming people. We met two families (one from Avon and the other from Danville) who were so sweet and supportive. We also met another family adopting from our agency who we hadn't met yet -- small world! It just felt good to be there in a room full of people who know exactly what we're going through. They've been through the same anxiety, excitement and frustration and are now on the other side -- home with their sweet children.

I look forward to the day when Mike and I are taking our child to these gatherings. They'll play with other kids who look like them and share his / her heritage. We'll learn more about the culture of the country who gave us this amazing gift, and we'll offer encouragement to other families who are where we are now...waiting. I'm so excited for that day, and I'm so grateful for Pastor Yosef and his congregation and all of the wonderful families that we met this weekend who I hope will all be life-long friends for us and our child.

Happy New Year!

No, I haven't completely lost my mind with all of the waiting -- yesterday really was New Year's Day in Ethiopia! Ethiopia follows a completely different calendar than we do. Its called the Ethiopian Ge'ez calendar, and the new year begins on September 11th (except in leap years when its celebrated on September 12th). My favorite thing about the Ethiopian calendar....it has thirteen months as opposed to our twelve, so yesterday in Ethiopia they celebrated the beginning of 2003! That means I'm seven years younger in Ethiopia!