Now We Wait

All of our paperwork is complete, and our dossier is in Ethiopia.  All we have to do now is wait.  I'm not gonna lie, I check the waiting list 100 times a day to see if we've moved from position #11 to #10...even though I know that the list is only updated about once a month.  I'm guessing I'll stop checking it as often as time passes.


So why does it take so long to receive a referral if there are SO many orphans?  This is one of the two questions I receive on a daily basis.  I'm so thankful that our friends care, and ask about the process.  Please don't ever hesitate to ask questions.  Another question we often hear is, "Why does it cost SO much to adopt?"  I want to try to answer both of those questions, but please remember, I'm not an adoption expert by any stretch of the imagination.


One of the reasons it takes so long to receive a referral (at least from our agency) is because our agency does their homework.  They believe, and so do we, that the best place for a child to be is with their biological family.  Our agency is committed to researching every child's background to ensure that there isn't anyone else in their family who would be willing to care for them.  This process takes time.  Once our agency is sure that the child/children can't be cared for by any other family members in Ethiopia, they will prepare them for referral.  This process includes visits with the Dr., Psychiatrist, and some blood tests.  Our agency will make sure that all of the paperwork is consistent with police reports from when the child was orphaned or relinquished.


The other reason it takes so long is because we have to operate on Africa time.  Our agency has orphanages and a transition home that they fully support.  The orphanages take in children who have been orphaned or relinquished.  Then, when a child's history has been completely reviewed, and they are ready to be referred to an adoptive family, they can be moved to the transition home.  Once a child/children are adopted, and moved out of the transition home, other children from the orphanages can move in.  The transition home can only house so many children at one time, so this can sometimes slow down the process.  Once a family receives their referral, they must receive a favorable letter from the Ministry of Women's, Youth, and Children's Affairs.  Families are at the mercy of MOYCA's schedule to receive this letter.  Then, a family must appear in court.  Receiving a court date can take a lot of time.  After receiving a favorable ruling from the judge, the Embassy must also approve the case.  When things slow down at the Embassy or in the courts, the entire process slows down, and there's really nothing that can be done...so we wait.  We are daily thankful for our agency, and the care and attention to detail that they give to every aspect of the process.


The second question, "Why does it cost so much?"  I've copied and pasted the expenses below.  Most of the agency fees are more for us since we're adopting two children.  I think it's nice to see it all so that the big number we have to end up with makes more sense.


We are paying MANY people (homestudy agency, AWAA (placing agency), US government, etc.) to do their job in our adoption process.  The international fee goes to support the transition home and orphanages affiliated with AWAA - to pay the staff, run medicals, provide for needs of the kids.  The program fee pays for AWAA staff, paperwork, etc.


If you ever have any questions, please ask.  We're glad to answer anything.  :)

Adoption Expenses:

APPLICATION & PAPERCHASE

Application Fee $250

1st Installment of Program Fee $1,500

Home Study $1,200 - $2,800

Additional Home Study Documentation Prep. Fee $0 - $100

Home Study Visit Travel Fees (could include mileage, hotel, and food costs) $0 - $300

Adoptive Parent Training (2 adults) $175

Documents/Background Checks/Passports $100 - $500

USCIS Fee & Update Fee + Fingerprinting $830

Notarization, Certification & Authentication $400

DOSSIER SUBMISSION & WAITING

Courier Service $150

2nd Installment of Program Fee $2,000

Post-Adoption Report Deposit (fully refundable if all post-adoption reports are returned on time) $1,000

Dossier Service & Translation $800

1/2 International Program Fee (1 child) ••• $3,750

REFERRAL & TRAVEL

International Specialist Consultation $100 - $400

3rd Installment of Program Fee $1,500

1/2 International Program Fee (1 child) ••• $3,750

Trip 1 - Airfare (2 adults) $2,400 - $4,000

Trip 1 - In-Country Travel Package (2 adults) •••• $1,400 - $2,500

Trip 1 - Visas (2 adults) $40

Trip 2 - Airfare (2 adults) $2,400 - $4,000

Trip 2 - Airfare (1 child) $250 - $1,000

Trip 2 - In-Country Travel Package (2 adults) •••• $1,000 - $2,000

Trip 2 - Visas (2 adults) $40

Visa/Embassy Fee (1 child) •••••• $400

POST-ADOPTION

Post-Adoption Visits •• $300 - $1,500

Post-Adoption Visit Travel Fees $0 - $1,050

Post-Adoption Administrative Fee $385

Re-Adoption $300 - $1,000

Post-Adoption Report Refund (refunded in installments as, and only if, each report is returned on time) ($1,000)

Other Costs (include doctor visit and related co-pays, social security card, passport cost, postage, long distance phone calls) $100 - $1,000

Sooooo, just how exactly are we going to pay for this?

We've made some great strides over the past month.  We received our biometrics fingerprint appointment.  We'll go September 21, and then we can tie up some loose ends and send our dossier in!  I can't believe it's almost time!  Here's the scary/exciting part...  We are #6 on the unofficial list to receive a referral.  Yikes!!  I kind of thought we'd be waiting for about six months after we sent in our dossier.  That could still be the case, but it's looking like things could move quickly once we get our dossier to Ethiopia.

We couldn't be more excited to get our kids home, but we've been hit with the question this week, "So, how are we going to pay for this?"  We thought we'd have a little more time to save and maybe have some kind of a fundraiser, but if things move quickly, we'll have to come up with a better plan!  We know God will provide.  He's provided perfectly so far.  We feel like we've been obedient to His leading in this, so we know that if it is what we're supposed to do, the funds will come.

We'll keep you posted on our progress.  I don't know how long it takes to get the I-171H, but the day we get it in the mail will be a very exciting day!  We started this process on February 24th, 2011 and it's very possible that we could see our sweet babies' faces by next February 24th, 2012!

Thank you all for reading my boring little blog.  As I've mentioned before, this isn't really my thing, but I want our kids to know that they were very much wanted.  We look forward to the day when we get to hold them!!

Take Hold of the Life That is Truly Life!

I've been feeling so blessed this past week.  We are blessed to have generous families in our church who are willing to share their swimming pools, lake homes, time, resources, and most importantly, friendship with us.  God uses all of us in different ways.  I don't think people know how much of a blessing they are to another family when they share a part of what God has given them.  May MY family live the same way.  We all have something to share, big or small.


 We've also been feeling blessed to have some big prayers answered in big ways:


-We've been praying for Uncle Tim, Aunt Mindy, Grace, Will, and Eden to have a safe trip to Uganda.  They are there as I write this, and have their sweet, baby boy with them.  Now they are a family of 6!  


-We've all been praying for Aunt Mandi's house to sell, and it looks like that is going to happen this week!  


-We've been praying that our Home Study would be finalized so that we could send in our ever-important (not to mention, wicked expensive) I-600A form to USCIS.  This is a huge step in the process, and...We received our Home Study in the mail on Saturday!  I sent it to Dallas the same day.  Let's do this!!


Yesterday, as I was sitting in church, feeling blessed to have the freedom to worship in a public place, I was overwhelmed at how good my God is.  He never leaves, He never forsakes.  He knows exactly what we need, exactly when we need it.  He shared his Son with us.  He is my everything!


God is good, all the time.  He can't be anything else.  So as I'm thinking about all of my blessings, I'm also thinking of those throughout this world who are broken and hurting.  Those who are being persecuted daily for their faith, those who are starving because of a famine, those who are lonely because their families have shunned them, those who are lost because the enemy has deceived them...  Our God is good, He loves us all the same, so why do some people have to hurt?  Sometimes I think that when humans have to suffer, they are more likely to seek God's face.  I have to be careful not to get too comfortable basking in my blessings.  I want to be seeking His face every minute of every day.  I don't ever want to be comfortable with where I am.  I want to be challenged.  I want to grow.  I am so thankful that I can say, "Life is good," but that doesn't mean that I want to ignore what is going on in the world around me.  


My prayer is this, "Lord, daily show me how I can share my blessings with this broken world.  Use me in any way.  I am yours and you are mine.  May my heart always be after yours."

O.K., So Maybe I'm Not So Patient...

All of my life I've always been told that my best asset is my patience.  Well, we can just throw that out the window right now.  Through this process I've learned that I'm NOT patient.  I'm very patient with my kids, with my husband, with my friends, with anything really.  Jeremy gets frustrated with me.  He says, "Nothing ever bothers you."  Well I'm bothered.

We started this process on February 24th.  My sweet Grandma Foy's birthday.  Now we're coming on 5 months and our dossier is nowhere near being ready to send off to Ethiopia.  I'm frustrated, anxious, maybe a little annoyed, and upset that we have to send our home study back to the state of Illinois for a second approval.  The approval will take another 2-4 weeks and it probably won't be sent off until the end of next week.

In the beginning, I was told that this home study process takes 4-6 months and of course in my head, I was determined to have it done in 4 months.  Now we'll be lucky if it's all said and done in 6 months.  Boo.

We thought we were good to go on Monday, and then Jennifer from America World sent me an email to let me know that our Social Worker needed to meet with us one more time.  We thought we were golden after two meetings with Whitney.  Whitney didn't realize that Ethiopia requires 3 meetings.  Bummer!!

I put on my brave face and emailed back, "It's OK, God's timing is perfect.  It will all work out."  I know that He has His hands all over this.  I've begged Him to, and I trust that He has heard my prayers.  Maybe it's best for me to finish some more of my classes before these new babies come to our family.

So that's where we're at!  Waiting.  I think that's the name of this game.  I'm OK with that.  I'm going to enjoy every day of this life that God has given me, knowing that He's got it all under control.  Now I just need to be patient...but I sure hope we can still get in under that six month mark.  :)

I am not a blogger, but...

So here's the deal... I have NO idea what I'm doing!  You wouldn't believe how long it's taken me just to set up this bare bones, ugly little blog!  I'm trying.  

I've never been a scrap-booker, blogger, “journaler,” you know, anything that requires creativity or sharing my feelings and thoughts.  I'm going to give it a whirl because the last time we met with our Social Worker, Whitney, she suggested that we document our story for our future kiddos.  So, I'm doing this for you, kids. I'm going to try to document how we evolved from a family of five to a family of seven.  It looks crazy to even write it.  But, Jeremy and I feel like that's what we've been called to, a love that looks crazy on paper (or my laptop screen) (and probably to most people in the "world").  We know that God will turn it into a beautiful story.

I agonized over what to call my blog and finally came up with Psalm 68:6, "He places the lonely in families."  This was long after we had decided to adopt, and it struck me.  I tried to look into a few commentaries about the context of the verse and what I've found is that he is most likely talking about the the Israelites.  After they escaped from Pharoah, they were scattered and some were separated from their families.  They were sometimes welcomed into a different family.  Another said that it he is talking about God welcoming the lonely into His family.  That is our goal.  We want to be loving parents to our new kids, but more than anything, we want them to know that God desires to welcome them into His home.  We want them to know the love of Jesus and His grace that saves them.


I'll never forget (well, actually I hate saying that because I probably will. Jeron says, "It's just a figure of speech, mom.") the song by Wayne Watson (whom you've probably never heard of) called "It's Good to be Lonely."  The lyrics talk about how it's OK to be lonely every now and then to see that God is really ALL we need.  When we feel like there's no one in this world who will love us, when we fail at some noble pursuit, when there's no one to go home to... our God is ENOUGH!!!  But, what if someone doesn't know God?  They don't have the same opportunity to realize that He is all they need.  They are just truly lonely.

I want our bio kids and our adopted kids to know that God is always enough.  I believe our adopted kids have the advantage here. They're coming from a country rich in love, rich in tradition, rich in culture, but they don't have access to all of the material things that we have.  The fact that we're Americans is a blessing and a burden.  We have to be on our toes at all times, making sure that we're not letting something that we have access to, replace our need for our great God.  

Our three sons have been taught and shown the love of Jesus.  I hope that our ET kids have been given the same blessing, but if they haven't, we feel blessed to know that we will have the opportunity to share that with them.  Someday our Ethiopian kids will be able to tell us their story. I'm sure it will include some times of loneliness.  My prayer is that all five of our kids will know Jesus intimately, and that they will never know true loneliness again.