A Room for Baby "B"

Oh how I have looked forward to having some "baby-ness" around our house! The time has FINALLY come to start transforming our guest room into Baby "B"s nursery! I don't know that there have been two parents more excited to paint, assemble furniture & decorate!

I promise to post a picture of the finished product as soon as its complete, but here are a few pics of the progress so far:

Mike assembling the crib (a gift to Baby "B" from my parents):



...and assembling the dresser (a gift to Baby "B" from Mike's parents)



Here's a picture of me painting -- yes, we went with Baby Boy BLUE! (oh, and L.M. stands for Little Man)




"B"s nursery is already my favorite room in the house. I just can't wait to see our Little Guy curled up in his crib fast asleep...or sitting in his crib wide awake at 2 AM... I just want him home!!

Mourning to Dancing

I've realized the past few days that I've been mourning....not the loss of a person, but the loss of time. Time with my son. Time that I will never get back.

Its interesting that God put this verse on my heart yesterday:

"You have turned my mourning into dancing" Psalms 30:11

When I read that, I kept thinking about how tired I am of mourning and how much I would love to dance! (I tell Mike all the time that I was born to dance...right before I bust a move in the middle of the kitchen that looks more like a seizure)

Well -- I'm happy to report that today I'm DANCING!!

There are "unofficial" reports from Ethiopia indicating that discussions are moving in a positive direction. It sounds like they are seriously considering increasing the number of cases that they're processing and that they are committed to clearing a portion of the backlog of cases that have been accumulating over the past two weeks. We won't know anything official for a little while longer, but we're hoping that these reports are true!

If you thought that was great news, keep on reading because it just gets better....

I got a phone call this morning from another adoptive mom who happens to be in Ethiopia right now picking up her daughter. Her sweet little girl is at the same orphanage as "B", and she got to love on him for us today! Not only that, but she called me all the way from Ethiopia to tell me a little more about our little man. THANK YOU, SARAH!

She said that he is a very happy, healthy, little guy! There are three other babies in his room with one nanny who cares for the four of them. She said that they were playing Ethiopian music in his room and sweet little "B" was smiling and giggling and kicking his feet to the music.

So.... not only am I dancing today, but my adorable little boy is half way around the world dancing too! (I guess he was born to dance, just like his mama -- sorry, Mike)

It was SO good to hear that he's doing well! I'm so, so appreciative to have heard this news first hand from Sarah, and I can never thank her enough for checking-in on him for us and then taking the time to call us right away. She even said that she got a few pictures for us and she'll try to send them soon. God is so good! He definitely turned my mourning into dancing today....and dancing has never felt so good!

This week's events

On Thursday March 3rd, the day after we received our referral, we did this...



...we completed all of our paperwork to formally accept "B" as our son!! By Friday afternoon, March 4th, our agency had already sent our paperwork off to Ethiopia so the team there can begin gathering all of "B's" documents for court. We didn't expect to hear anything back for about a month on the status of our court date, but expected to travel for court mid-July and hoped to be home with "B" by the end of August.

Then, on Saturday (3/5), everything changed. The Ministry in Ethiopia who oversees adoptions made an announcement that they planned to drastically reduce the number of adoption cases they process each day. The initial reports were that they currently process fifty cases per day and the new proposal was to process only five beginning March 10th. A reduction of 90% -- WOW!

You can imagine the concern this sent through the Ethiopian adoption community. There have been petitions, phone conferences, letters written to embassies, campaigns on every social media network that exists. We have all waited on pins and needles for March 10th to see if they would actually implement this new process.

On March 10th, we got a call from our coordinator that confirmed the news we hoped wouldn't come. The Ministry in Ethiopia only processed five cases. Yesterday, March 11th, we got the same news...only five cases again.

What does this mean for us? Well...the more important question is..What does this mean for the millions of orphaned children in Ethiopia? The U.S. Department of State held a conference call for prospective Ethiopian adoptive parents yesterday and reassured us that they are committed to keeping the Ethiopian Adoption program open. They are doing everything they can to understand the Ministry's concerns and to support them to continue to process cases in the best interest of the children in Ethiopia. Its simply not in the best interest of the children for them to remain in orphanages for years longer than they would otherwise.

For us, it means that we might be watching our little boy grow up through pictures and orphanage updates for the next year or more. We are still praying that this decision is overturned QUICKLY. Every two-days that the Ministry processes only five cases will extend our wait time by one month. It will break our heart to love our son from a distance for that long, but we have peace in knowing that ultimately God is in control and His plans are always perfect.

There will be meetings between the US Embassy and the Ethiopian Government on Monday. Please join us in praying for a resolution that best serves the children in Ethiopia who desperately wait for their families.

REFERRAL!!

We absolutely fell in love today....

At 11:31 a.m. our lives changed forever and our hearts are overflowing.

These are the details:

I had decided to take the afternoon off work and I was on my way home when my phone rang. The number came up "Unknown" on my cell phone, so I had no idea that this was going to be THE CALL. When I answered, I heard the sweet voice of our coordinator saying, "Krista -- this is Kim from Bethany and I have a little boy I want to talk to you about."

That's right -- WE HAVE A LITTLE BOY!!

I instantly just melted. I had tears running down my face, so I pulled over as Kim proceeded to tell me details about our son. I did my best to take it all in, but I honestly just got his age, weight, length, and what orphanage he's in...and that's all I could handle. I think Kim knew I wasn't getting most of what she was saying because she said, "Why don't I just email this all to you, and you can call me when you're ready to discuss it." Great Idea!

So, as I sat on the side of the road praising God for this remarkable gift, barely able to see through my tears, all I wanted to do was tell Mike. This was not "over-the-phone" information, so I decided to drive back to work and get to his desk to tell him in person. He obviously knew I was emotional as soon as he saw me, and all I could get out of my mouth was "Ki..Ki...Ki...Kim called". We went into a conference room, and I just lost it. We both did -- it was amazing. We prayed for our son and thanked God for blessing us with this news at such an unexpected time.

We immediately left work and drove home to review his information. I can't even explain how it felt to see his picture for the first time. He's beautiful. Absolutely perfect. We love him more than words and we can't wait to bring him home!

Here are the stats on Little Boy "B":

Age - 5 months
Weight - 14 lbs
Length - 26"

My favorite comment on his assessment is "He likes to giggle and play with his toes" ....seriously how adorable is that?!?!?

We legally are not able to share his picture until after we pass court, but you can take our word for it that he's absolute perfection with a round little face and big brown eyes. Now, we have lots of paperwork to complete to formally accept his referral and then we wait to be submitted to court. Thank you all for your prayers and encouragement!! We would appreciate if you will continue to pray with us for our Little Guy's health and for everyone who's taking care of him right now as he gains a little weight. We'll keep everyone updated as we hear more.

God is so good!

Hope

One of my closest friends sent me this quote last week when I was really struggling:

"Hope does not necessarily take the form of excessive confidence; rather, it involves the simple willingness to take the next step." Stanley Hauerwas

Its March 1st today. I turned yet one more page in my calendar and looked ahead in curiosity if this would finally be the month that I can put a big red circle around a date and write in bold letters "REFERRAL". I don't know...but, like the quote reminds me, I'm just going to keep getting up each morning, going through my days in obedience, putting one foot in front of the other in hopes that the phone will ring with our good news.

It also gives me hope that this friend, the one who sent me the quote, is about to celebrate being home for one month with their beautiful (seriously...BEAUTIFUL) daughter from Ethiopia. Their family is a constant reminder that all of the waiting, the disappointment, and the setbacks will ultimately result in slobbery kisses, toothless smiles, and chubby little hands reaching to be picked up.

So we wait, and we hope...one step at a time.

"BIG" defined

Last Sunday I made the prediction that it was going to be a "BIG" week....and I love being right! Here's a rundown of the "BIG" things that happened:

First: "BIG" did mean "REFERRAL"....just not a referral for us. Our agency group has not had any infant referrals since October, but FINALLY one of our families was matched with a two month old little boy on Monday. Seeing some progress after so many months was "BIG"!

Second: I had a really, really tough week waiting (honestly, the hardest yet), but I have the most amazing friends and they stepped up in a "BIG" way with their prayers & encouragement. Thank you all for letting me fall apart for a few days (and for reminding me that its okay to fall apart!). My heart overflows with love and gratitude in a "BIG" way!

Third: Some dear friends of ours have been waiting for news in a situation and it finally came! I know that's really vague for those of you reading, but it was "BIG"....actually it was "HUGE"...and we are praising God for His deliverance this week!

And Last (but not at all least!): I have a close friend who has a burden for children who have waited far too long to have a family. Watching God grow and stretch her and her husband as they walk through the adoption process has been amazing. They made "BIG" progress this week, and it gives me chills to imagine what their family will look like later this year...oh, the possibilities! Its just a reminder to me how "BIG" our God is and how much "BIGGER" His plans are than our own.

So even though this week didn't bring about our referral, It was a "BIG" week in so many ways, and we're still hopeful for some "BIG" referral news to share soon!

8 Months

That's right -- Eight months ago today we submitted our dossier and we're STILL waiting for our referral. Each month gets a little tougher, so its no surprise that this one has been the most difficult. We have had a lot of changes in the last eight months -- changes in coordinators, changes in agencies, changes in the process -- and, we're just so relieved that this month has brought a little more stability.

We are working with a wonderful Christian agency, we have a coordinator who is willing and able to answer all of our questions (Thank You, Lord!), and the process seems to be more clearly defined than it has been recently. There were times last month when our question "When will we get our referral?" turned into "Will we get our referral?", but the activity this month has given us a renewed sense of assurance that WE WILL GET A REFERRAL!!

We are faithfully trusting God, but honestly we're also just really tired of waiting. I think that sums up our status this month, "Tired but Trusting!"