I've been doing a little math. And if God continues to move things along without any road blocks, it looks like we could have our children home a lot sooner than we originally thought.
Please pray for us, that the Lord would sort out job details as we look ahead at making some pretty major transitions, and also that He would provide for us financially so that we can afford to pay the adoption bills sooner than we were planning to.
To God be the glory!
October 30, 2009
October 29, 2009
Paperwork Mailed
We got a call from CCI today and we're thrilled to announce that our dossier is ALREADY on the way to Ethiopia! I'm stunned at how quickly all of this is moving forward. We're hopeful that we'll be getting a call from them again soon with details about our little ones!
October 27, 2009
Waiting
It's only been 6 days since we mailed out our dossier and already the waiting seems a little hard at times. I think the fast pace of collecting paperwork these last two months gave me the sense that I was doing something to move things along, and now it feels strange to sit still! So...here are some verses the Lord brought to my attention that remind me He is in control of all things, including the timing of all of this.
Isaiah 14:24, 26-27 The Lord of hosts has sworn: "As I have planned, so shall it be, and as I have purposed, so shall it stand...This is the purpose that is purposed concerning the whole earth, and this is the hand that is stretched out over all nations. For the Lord of hosts has purposed, and who will annul it? His hand is stretched out, and who will turn it back?
Isaiah 46: 9-10 Remember the former things of old; For I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like Me, declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done, saying "My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all My purpose."
What a great God we serve, who rules over all things, whose hand is stretched out over all nations! Lord, help me to rejoice in every circumstance, knowing that You have ordained it and You have good purposes that will stand. May I rejoice in You and be satisfied in You.
Psalm 73: 25-26, 28 Whom have I in heaven but You? And besides You, I desire nothing on earth. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever...As for me, the nearness of God is my good; I have made the Lord God my refuge, that I may tell of all Your works.
Isaiah 14:24, 26-27 The Lord of hosts has sworn: "As I have planned, so shall it be, and as I have purposed, so shall it stand...This is the purpose that is purposed concerning the whole earth, and this is the hand that is stretched out over all nations. For the Lord of hosts has purposed, and who will annul it? His hand is stretched out, and who will turn it back?
Isaiah 46: 9-10 Remember the former things of old; For I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like Me, declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done, saying "My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all My purpose."
What a great God we serve, who rules over all things, whose hand is stretched out over all nations! Lord, help me to rejoice in every circumstance, knowing that You have ordained it and You have good purposes that will stand. May I rejoice in You and be satisfied in You.
Psalm 73: 25-26, 28 Whom have I in heaven but You? And besides You, I desire nothing on earth. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever...As for me, the nearness of God is my good; I have made the Lord God my refuge, that I may tell of all Your works.
October 25, 2009
God as Father: Understanding the Doctrine of Adoption
We were really encouraged by this message on adoption by CJ Mahaney from a conference we went to last year. A friend recently told us it's one of the best messages he's heard!
October 23, 2009
Great News and Prayer Requests
God is continuing to move everything along smoothly and quickly for us. On Wednesday I was able to take our complete dossier to the county clerk and the secretary of state offices. I hardly slept the night before, I was so excited! Here are some pictures of my trip to Frankfort, KY for the state seal:
We mailed the dossier to our courier in Washington DC and she'll be taking it to the US Secretary of State early next week. They should be able to process it the same day, and then the courier will take it to the Ethiopian Embassy. They process it in about two days, and the courier will mail it to our adoption agency, CCI. Once CCI approves it, they send it to Ethiopia to be translated. We're moving right along!
And here's the really great news. I called CCI to check on a little detail before I mailed the dossier, and our case worker Sue was surprised that I was already sending it off. She said that we had been at the bottom of the referral list for a child and she'd written "It will be a while" next to our names. But she told me she would go ahead and move us to the top of the list! We had been under the impression that we had to wait until our US-CIS form was approved before we could get a referral, and that's still more than two months away. But they said we don't need to wait for that at all. Praise the Lord! She couldn't really say how long it will take for a referral to come -- it could be one month or it could be six months. But we trust the Lord's timing. He's been very kind to clear the way for us so far.
In the meantime, there are three things we'd love for you to join us in prayer about...
In the meantime, there are three things we'd love for you to join us in prayer about...
1. When we get a referral, we'll also get a large bill in the mail. We're thrilled that we'll be able to see pictures of our children sooner, but we're also asking that God will continue to provide for us financially so that we'll be ready for the referrals when they come.
2. CCI mentioned that Ethiopia has been getting a little more strict, so we're hopeful that things will continue to be as smooth and easy as they've been so far now that we're about to begin working with the Ethiopian government.
3. We're praying that the Lord will give us wisdom about how old to request that our children will be. The process could be faster and smoother if we are willing to adopt a child between 1-2 years old, but right now we're thinking our preference would be that both kids are under 1. We're praying that the Lord would either work out a way for us to bring home two children under 1, or that He would guide and equip us if His plans are different than that!
October 15, 2009
Home Study Approved!
The end of our paperwork is in sight!
Our home study has been approved by Adoption Assistance and CCI. We should be getting the approval paperwork soon, and that will complete our dossier!! Just about everything is notarized, thanks to my good friend Brandy. We did have to print our medical reports to be signed by the doctor four times, but now they should be right. Definitely better to catch the mistakes before it goes to the US and Ethiopian governments.
I took off next Wednesday in faith, hoping the home study approval will be ready. If so, I'll be heading downtown with our complete dossier for the county clerk stamp and then to Frankfort, KY for the secretary of state seal. Then it goes by courier to the US Department of State for their seal before being sent to the Ethiopian Embassy in Washington, D.C. Then it's sent to CCI so they can mail it to their contact in Ethiopia. From there, CCI tells us the next steps are:
1. Dossier translated and authenticated in Ethiopia.
2. Case submitted to court.
3. Court date given.
4. Case approved by the court.
5. Case submitted to embassy for appointment.
6. Family travels to Ethiopia.
7. Home !!!
There are lots of other little steps in there, and there can be months and months of waiting time between those steps. But every step is a little bit closer to welcoming our children home!
Our home study has been approved by Adoption Assistance and CCI. We should be getting the approval paperwork soon, and that will complete our dossier!! Just about everything is notarized, thanks to my good friend Brandy. We did have to print our medical reports to be signed by the doctor four times, but now they should be right. Definitely better to catch the mistakes before it goes to the US and Ethiopian governments.
I took off next Wednesday in faith, hoping the home study approval will be ready. If so, I'll be heading downtown with our complete dossier for the county clerk stamp and then to Frankfort, KY for the secretary of state seal. Then it goes by courier to the US Department of State for their seal before being sent to the Ethiopian Embassy in Washington, D.C. Then it's sent to CCI so they can mail it to their contact in Ethiopia. From there, CCI tells us the next steps are:
1. Dossier translated and authenticated in Ethiopia.
2. Case submitted to court.
3. Court date given.
4. Case approved by the court.
5. Case submitted to embassy for appointment.
6. Family travels to Ethiopia.
7. Home !!!
There are lots of other little steps in there, and there can be months and months of waiting time between those steps. But every step is a little bit closer to welcoming our children home!
October 13, 2009
Transracial Adoption, the Gospel, and You
Some thoughts from Dr. Russell Moore on transracial adoption:
As believers in Jesus Christ, we were inter-racially adopted. The Scripture spends a lot of time saying that we were part of the nations, we were those who were, as Paul says to the church at Ephesus, cut off from the promises of God. We were far away but God has brought us near in Christ Jesus. He has given us a new household, and new family with new brothers and new sisters. We are part now of a new tribe, of a new family.
What's happening as we adopt two Ethiopian children is a picture of that. If we were to prize our flesh, our bloodline, our family heritage above the love and transcendence that comes through adoption, we'd really be following the way of the flesh and not way of the spirit, and we'd be cutting ourselves off from the very promises that saved us.
We want our children to know from the beginning that they are a welcome and received part of our family. They are not strangers, and not just orphans with a better home. They are part of our family. There will be some differences, and some conversations that we'll need to have with them so they'll be prepared for the kinds of questions they will get. But what a great opportunity for us to be to training them in the nurture and admonition of the Lord! They will be able to say that they are Ethiopian and they are part of a "Jewish" family through the gospel of Jesus Christ. And if you follow Christ, you too are part of this big, global, household family from every tribe, every tongue, every nation and every language. The blood of Christ trumps the blood of our backgrounds.
Here's another great article Dr. Moore writes on Transracial Adoption, the Gospel, and You.
As believers in Jesus Christ, we were inter-racially adopted. The Scripture spends a lot of time saying that we were part of the nations, we were those who were, as Paul says to the church at Ephesus, cut off from the promises of God. We were far away but God has brought us near in Christ Jesus. He has given us a new household, and new family with new brothers and new sisters. We are part now of a new tribe, of a new family.
What's happening as we adopt two Ethiopian children is a picture of that. If we were to prize our flesh, our bloodline, our family heritage above the love and transcendence that comes through adoption, we'd really be following the way of the flesh and not way of the spirit, and we'd be cutting ourselves off from the very promises that saved us.
We want our children to know from the beginning that they are a welcome and received part of our family. They are not strangers, and not just orphans with a better home. They are part of our family. There will be some differences, and some conversations that we'll need to have with them so they'll be prepared for the kinds of questions they will get. But what a great opportunity for us to be to training them in the nurture and admonition of the Lord! They will be able to say that they are Ethiopian and they are part of a "Jewish" family through the gospel of Jesus Christ. And if you follow Christ, you too are part of this big, global, household family from every tribe, every tongue, every nation and every language. The blood of Christ trumps the blood of our backgrounds.
Here's another great article Dr. Moore writes on Transracial Adoption, the Gospel, and You.
October 12, 2009
God's Kindness
Eight days after we filed our US-CIS I-600A form (Application for Advance Processing of Orphan Petition) at a local office, the agency announced that new applicants need to mail in their form to the main office in Texas. We were able to just make an online appointment with our local office to turn in our form and get fingerprinted the same week. This new procedure would have added time to the process if we'd turned in our form just eight days later than we did. We're so glad the Lord is already answering our prayers to prevent delays!
October 4, 2009
The Hunters
Today we had lunch with Trent, Kristi and Madalyn Hunter. Trent and Kristi went to Ethiopia to bring Madalyn home in August and they'll be headed back to Ethiopia to pick up their son Carson, Lord willing, later this year. We're thankful that God has crossed our paths, and we're looking forward to a great friendship!
It was wonderful to meet Madalyn -- I think she's the first child we've ever seen from Ethiopia. Not only that, but she came from the same transition home/orphanage as our children will be coming from! Here are a few pictures of our afternoon together.
It was wonderful to meet Madalyn -- I think she's the first child we've ever seen from Ethiopia. Not only that, but she came from the same transition home/orphanage as our children will be coming from! Here are a few pictures of our afternoon together.
October 1, 2009
Paperwork Progress
The adoption process is completely new to us, and we really had no idea what to expect. I figure that's the case for most people. So here's a little detail on the less glamorous side of adoption -- the paperwork:
We mailed in our application to the home study agency first. We're using Adoption Assistance because they came highly recommended by a local church we trust. A few days later we got a letter back from them with a list of things to collect before the home study itself. Within a couple of weeks we had all those things ready to go. They asked for copies of our birth certificates and marriage license, letters of recommendation, background checks from all the states we'd lived in over the past few years, child abuse registry checks, letters from our employers, copies of our federal and state tax returns from the last three years, a letter from our bank, a letter from our water company, copies of our drivers licenses, medical documentation and a few other things. I told hubby I thought adoption was turning out to be easier than I'd heard...we were able to gather all this stuff pretty quickly and easily. I have to admit, I was motivated too. Most of my spare time went into trying to speed things along if I could!
We got in touch with Adoption Assistance to let them know we had just about everything ready and they scheduled our first interview for the home study. We met with a wonderful social worker, Missy, at Starbucks and she asked some pretty general questions about us, our families and our parenting ideas. It turns out that her husband is a student at the same seminary as hubby, and they've adopted two children from Guatemala. We scheduled the second half of the home study for this coming Tuesday, and she'll be coming to our apartment to look it over. You can be sure this weekend you'll find us at home cleaning to get ready for her visit!!
Somewhere along the way we started collecting the few things we needed for our adoption agency application. They asked for five letters of recommendation, a picture of us and copies of our passports. We knew we'd be using Celebrate Children International (CCI) in Florida. That's the place Adoption Assistance recommends. They're a Christian agency and they are able to process adoptions through Ethiopia more quickly and for less money than other agencies. I let the CCI case worker know our stuff was on the way, and she was really kind to give me a user name and password to log in as a client on their website so I could see what we needed to be collecting for our dossier. I'd heard the word dossier thrown around but I really had no idea what it meant.
It turns out the dossier is a pretty big deal. Thankfully, some of it overlaps the home study paperwork. I'm SO glad I saw the dossier checklist before we handed over original copies of our home study application! And CCI has editable documents on their website that are making my life a lot easier. I think we've got all of it ready except the home study approval, which we're hoping to have in about three weeks. Then it needs to be notarized. The Lord has graciously given us two friends that are notary publics. How good is He?? I think after that we have to take it to the the county clerk and then the capital of KY to have it authenticated. Then we make four copies -- one to send to Ethiopia, one to Washington DC, one to CCI and one for us to keep. We haven't gotten that far yet, but we'll figure it out along the way.
In the meantime, we filled out a US government form to request citizenship for two immigrants. We went downtown and had to be fingerprinted when we turned it in. First time for everything! I guess the FBI will run background checks to be sure we're not criminals. This form takes 75 days to process once they have our home study approval, then we'll be eligible to receive referrals. So we're hoping in January we might have a referral -- a picture and medical history of our children.
We're also working on a baby registry, grant applications, getting life insurance and this blog. It's been a whirlwind!
We look forward to the day when we can tell our children how much we were eagerly anticipating their arrival as we labored to bring them home!!
We mailed in our application to the home study agency first. We're using Adoption Assistance because they came highly recommended by a local church we trust. A few days later we got a letter back from them with a list of things to collect before the home study itself. Within a couple of weeks we had all those things ready to go. They asked for copies of our birth certificates and marriage license, letters of recommendation, background checks from all the states we'd lived in over the past few years, child abuse registry checks, letters from our employers, copies of our federal and state tax returns from the last three years, a letter from our bank, a letter from our water company, copies of our drivers licenses, medical documentation and a few other things. I told hubby I thought adoption was turning out to be easier than I'd heard...we were able to gather all this stuff pretty quickly and easily. I have to admit, I was motivated too. Most of my spare time went into trying to speed things along if I could!
We got in touch with Adoption Assistance to let them know we had just about everything ready and they scheduled our first interview for the home study. We met with a wonderful social worker, Missy, at Starbucks and she asked some pretty general questions about us, our families and our parenting ideas. It turns out that her husband is a student at the same seminary as hubby, and they've adopted two children from Guatemala. We scheduled the second half of the home study for this coming Tuesday, and she'll be coming to our apartment to look it over. You can be sure this weekend you'll find us at home cleaning to get ready for her visit!!
Somewhere along the way we started collecting the few things we needed for our adoption agency application. They asked for five letters of recommendation, a picture of us and copies of our passports. We knew we'd be using Celebrate Children International (CCI) in Florida. That's the place Adoption Assistance recommends. They're a Christian agency and they are able to process adoptions through Ethiopia more quickly and for less money than other agencies. I let the CCI case worker know our stuff was on the way, and she was really kind to give me a user name and password to log in as a client on their website so I could see what we needed to be collecting for our dossier. I'd heard the word dossier thrown around but I really had no idea what it meant.
It turns out the dossier is a pretty big deal. Thankfully, some of it overlaps the home study paperwork. I'm SO glad I saw the dossier checklist before we handed over original copies of our home study application! And CCI has editable documents on their website that are making my life a lot easier. I think we've got all of it ready except the home study approval, which we're hoping to have in about three weeks. Then it needs to be notarized. The Lord has graciously given us two friends that are notary publics. How good is He?? I think after that we have to take it to the the county clerk and then the capital of KY to have it authenticated. Then we make four copies -- one to send to Ethiopia, one to Washington DC, one to CCI and one for us to keep. We haven't gotten that far yet, but we'll figure it out along the way.
In the meantime, we filled out a US government form to request citizenship for two immigrants. We went downtown and had to be fingerprinted when we turned it in. First time for everything! I guess the FBI will run background checks to be sure we're not criminals. This form takes 75 days to process once they have our home study approval, then we'll be eligible to receive referrals. So we're hoping in January we might have a referral -- a picture and medical history of our children.
We're also working on a baby registry, grant applications, getting life insurance and this blog. It's been a whirlwind!
We look forward to the day when we can tell our children how much we were eagerly anticipating their arrival as we labored to bring them home!!
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