Well…no word of a move to the new orphanage yet and no phone call yet either. Talk about suspense! It is frustrating and stressful to say the least!

While we continue to pray and wait, I wanted to share some things I have read from the book, “A Sane Woman’s Guide to Raising a Large Family” by Mary Ostyn.
The book opens with this great quote:
“How can there be too many children? That is like saying there are too many flowers.”
-Mother Theresa

Other great points in the book:
-Parents of large families are the richest people in the world.

-The decision to grow your family consists much more than adding up noise, groceries, and laundry. You also have to factor in the multipliation of hugs, the many more funny sayings, and the additional joy of witnessing each child succeed at each new phase of life.

-”Not only is it possible to raise a large family without going broke or crazy, it can also be a joyous, deeply satisfying adventure.”

-”I’ve wondered why people seem so interested in another family’s choices. In many cases they’re simply seeking to validate their own choices.”

-”Each time we have adopted, we have not done it out of some misguided savior complex, but because we wanted another person to hug at night, another face at our table, another little one to teach to talk and walk and ride a bike, another person to rejoice over as she or he grows and learns.”

-”With a little frugality, a large family can be totally manageable, even on a moderate income. To me, frugality is not deprivation. Frugality is freedom.”

On what children really need:
“What do our children need most from us? They need love. They need food, clothes, and shelter. They need clear expectations and responsibilities. They need time just to be kids. They need faith in a power higher than themselves. But they do not need huge allowances, rooms of their own, TVs in their rooms, and brand-name clothes.”

On Sharing rooms:
“Living in the Western world gives people a skewed persepective about the amount of space needed to raise a family. In the 50’s many families lived in two-bedroom, one bathroom houses that were no more than 1,200 sq. feet. And then, most families had four or five kids. Young children shared a bedroom for many years.”

“For an even more recent perspective, you only have to visit another country. All over the world, people live in spaces that Americans would consider unacceptable. In Ethiopia,  families of 8 or 10 people live in one-room mud huts. Ideal? Of course not, but it works!”

“Kids who share rooms during childhood are learning all sorts of useful life lessons. They are better prepared for the give and take of room sharing as adults when they get married. They also have a chance to develop sibling relationships in a way that is not possible when kids hole up in separate sanctuaries all over the house.”

In closing:
“In a big family, you’re never alone.” This applies to ALL of life’s ups and downs!

Tonight I was looking at the boys’ pictures with Evan and I just cried. How I want this to work out and how I want them to be home with us, a part of our loving family! Who knew you could get so attached to someone you have never met in person. I feel like I’ve know them their whole life and already feel like their mama too! Oh God, please open some eyes and make the right thing happen soon, for we all have the boys’ best interest at heart.

We need your prayers that the boys are moved soon to the new orphanage so we can move on with the process and apply to get a court date.   All the kids (around 60) have been moved already, with the exception of a few.   I know for sure our boys and my friend, Lori’s kids are still left at the old orphanage, but that there are 8 or less kids still there.   The ones who have been moved are getting to apply for court dates and some (4 families, including my good friend Melissa) have gotten court dates for May 18th.   This is what still needs to happen:

1. The move

2. Apply for a court date

3.  Court date is assigned (1-2 weeks after applying for one)

4. Wait for court date and pray you pass the first time!

5.  Travel 3-4 weeks later to Ethiopia to go to your embassy appt, meet your child/children, and bring them home!

Please pray for the boys’ move and also for our family, as it has been a challening week for us.   We have faced some more obstacles, that I will share in a few days hopefully.  Everything is in God’s hands right now and we are giving it all up to him, praying desperately for the right thing to happen- for these boys to come home and be a part of our loving family!  Pray for a positive phone call next week, Monday or Tuesday  (before Rick goes out of town) so I don’t have to take it on my own.  We need your prayers!

Thanks to all those who have already been praying, I have a sense of peace about our situation that I surely didn’t on the day it came about- Tuesday.  

I have also been reading a great book,  “A Sane Woman’s Guide to Raising a Large Family” by Mary Ostyn, a parent to 10 children, 6 of whom were adopted.   It’s awesome and so true- I wish every American parent would read it to get a new perspective on what kids really need in life!

Thank you for your prayers and support!

I learned of another little girl who was moved to the new orphanage this weekend and am so happy for her adoptive parents to be!  We’re excited for you both,  Lisa and David, and wish you a court date soon!   Another fellow AWOP family from Wisconsin, Rona and Rick, got great news as well- their 18 month old little girl and 12 year old girl were moved as well!   I pray for a court date for their girls and their family too!

Hopefully this means that they are moving a handful of kids every few days and that our boys will be moved soon too!

I read this great quote on an adoption forum I’m on this weekend that I wanted to share too!  “Adopting one child won’t
change the world, but it will change the world for one child.”  -unknown

It’s nice to think we’ll soon be changing the world for two children!

Have a good week- we hope to hear some great news this week!

This week we learned that children who had originated from an area known as Soddo had been moved to the new orphanage.   We also learned that it would take about 2 weeks to get a court date once your paperwork transfer was complete.   Those whose children have moved do not yet have a court date even, but should very soon!   Four of the children moved were children being adopted by mom’s that are in the prayer group with me- I am so excited for them!   Congratulations to Melissa, Melinda, Julie, and Jill!   Amy, Lori, and I and our families are still waiting for that great news!   It means you’re one step closer to a court date.  We also learned that Abdissa, the attorney for CHI will be here in the states for 2 weeks or so starting tomorrow.  We’d love to meet him but don’t have the time or money to travel to Washington state at this time.   We were reassured that there are two assistants to him still in Ethiopia handling all the court stuff (we sure hope so, especially since SO many are waiting and hoping for a court date to be given any time)!

The kind of tough part is- we got our hopes up again thinking we’d have a court date by the end of the month and now it’s not looking that way.   First our kids need to be moved to the new orphanage, then they need to have all their paperwork transferred, and then is the approximate 2 week wait until we are given a court date.   So that means we might not hear of a court date for another month.   We’re now “guessing” that our court date will be for June and we’ll travel in July sometime.   We also have to keep in mind that there are only 2 days per month now that you can get visas from the US Embassy.   The kids also have to be tested for TB and be negative before you can travel (a new US regulation on children from Ethiopia).   What’s next?

This has been a roller coaster of a ride with lots of ups and downs.  We’re hoping to have another big up sooner than later!

Trying to stay patient is so difficult!   The prayer group was helping me out a lot with this, but I once again have found myself disappointed and frustrated!  If I have learned nothing else, I’ve learned that it is never in your timing and not too get too excited too soon!

Hopefully the next update will bring some joyous news!  Thanks for all your prayers and support- they sure do help!

This week wasn’t full of news, but we did get a couple emails saying that there is progress being made.  The staff in Ethiopia are working day in and out to get the paperwork transferred to the new license so the kids can be moved to the new orphanage and court dates can be given out.  The kids have not been moved to the new orphanage yet.   That could be this week or next.  One or two people have received court dates and it looks like up to 7 more could this week.  I don’t think it will be us, as it looks like it may be children that came in together last spring from a region called Soddo.  This might be good news for a good friend of mine in my prayer group, Melissa and her husband who are adopting a little boy who’s about a year old!   I’d be so happy for her!   Any progress is progress, so we can’t complain.  

One kind of not so great piece of news was that the U.S. Embassy has now limited the days you can get your child’s visa to 2 days per month.  It had been four days.  This makes travel planning a bit less flexible because you will have to be there one of the two days a month that they have chosen for your visa appointment.   Oh the joys of adoption!  you would think that since Ethiopia is becoming a more popular country to adopt from that they would increase the number of days, not decresase them, especially with court dates picking up pace finally, but not so!

 Hopefully this week will bring some great news, whether it be for us or for any of the other wonderful families waiting so patiently as well.

I bought a sign this weekend that says, “God doesn’t give us what we can handle; God helps us handle what we are given.”   This pretty much sums up our whole experience and will help me get through each week!

We were also told this week that we would be receiving a DVD of the boys in the mail.  We were so excited!   Well, it came Friday!!  It was a good end to the week.   It was basically the pictures we had received last week, but live and very short.  But, it was nice to see it live!  They seemed very happy and VERY alert.  They followed objects and toys around with their eyes quite well!  The one thing we did notice is that they will probably be quite behind developmentally.   Most babies are sitting up by this age.  They still look to need support when held.  Their smiles are beautiful and they were cooing a bit, though there was a lot of noise from other kids in the background, so it was hard to hear anything.  Michelle showed them our photo books and onesies we sent to them.  One thing we are stumped on is that she introduced the first baby as Jonah, which we believe to be Elijah.   Looking back at their referral pictures we got in October, it is easy for us to tell which one is Elijah and which one is Jonah.   Either she made a mistake or their pictures were not put on the correct referral.  We’re not sure what to do about this, but I guess we’ll have to wait and see when they hand them over to us on the day we pick them up!  Crazy.

 Another great thing, CHI finally received a court date for their first AWOP family!  It has been a LONG time!  It was not for a child at the Hosanna House, but it was at least for another AWOP family…that means ours are coming!

It was a good week with lots of news and nice surprises!   We’re hoping the next couple weeks will bring the same, as far as news!

Hi!

It was a good week for the adoption!   Last weekend I started a prayer/support group with 5 other women adopting through AWOP/CHI.  It has been awesome to get to know them better and to share our fears, worries, and joys.  It’s nice to have other people’s kids to pray for and to have more people praying for our kids too.These women inspire me to be better and to give everything up to the Lord…it’s so encouraging!

Also, on Monday, we got an email update from Michelle at AWOP.  She said that she has been in touch with the Ethiopian staff twice a day and since the license issue seems to be taking so long, they have now decided to use a different license they applied for in the fall.   All the kids’ paperwork needs to be transferred to that license.   The new license is called “Tsega,” which means “Grace.”   AWOP’s new orphanage, therefore, will be called “House of Grace.”  All children’s paperwork is currently being transferred to the new license and the kids will be moved within the next 2-3 weeks to this new orphanage in Addis Ababa.  The pictures we saw of it look great!   It is spacious, with room for 80 or more children.  It has two kitchens (one will be used to prepare meals and the other to clean bottles and prepare formula).  It has several bathrooms, including two with western toilets and bathtubs.  There is a garden so the older children can learn to garden and care for animals.  There is also a school room.  A teacher will be hired once the children are moved, and they can begin lessons.  Having all the children in Addis allows them to have immediate access to good medical care and enables AWOP staff to get updates on the children more easily.  The new house manager will live on the compound and supervise the other staff and ensure everyone is doing what they are supposed to do.  His name is Alazar and he is a Godly young man who is taking this responsibility very seriously. This was all good news- very exciting to know that the court date will be coming soon and that the boys and all the other children will be moved to “House of Grace” soon.  It is a huge relief that they will not have to move to a random orphanage, as plan B originally stated.    Now all the kids will remain together too, which is nice!

Things are moving and it is getting closer…finally!   YEAH!