Ethiopia--Round One

On the night of our story night we collected $4000 for our adoption expenses.  Since that night we have received over $20,000 in total donations!!!  That is enough money to pay for our agency bill and for most of our first trip to Ethiopia.  We are praising God and giving thanks for all of you who have given to make this happen.  We are blessed!  With donations, we are also delivering six bags of essential goodies to the Care Center!

This last month has been a whirlwind for our family.  Two weeks ago Dave's father passed away.  He was declining in health for some time and we knew the end was near for him, but it was still a shock as we were hoping he would meet our children from Ethiopia.  Last week we spent the week in Colorado to attend the funeral and time with family.  My mother-in-law, with help from my mom, has graciously offered to fly out to CA to care for Matthew and Zachary while we are gone.  

On Monday, February 20th we will leave to head to Ethiopia with Caleb and Katie.  We are ecstatic to finally meet our children for the first time and spend precious hours bonding with them.  Our flight leaves at 4 pm on Monday, we land in Dubai about 11pm for a seven hour lay over and then head onto Ethiopia in the morning. We will meet our children on Wednesday. We attend court on February 28th when we will officially adopt our children in Ethiopia.  Unfortunately, we will not be bringing our children home with us this time.  The US Embassy needs to clear them and issue them passports and visas before they can come to the US, it could take 2-3 months.  

Reed Jolley, our pastor, is currently in Ethiopia teaching professors at a Seminary in Mekele (area  our son is from).  We have the privilege of spending a day with him in Addis Ababa where he will be able to meet our children.  We are excited to have someone in our lives enjoy this sweet experience with us. 

Lastly, here are our prayer requests:

• Safe travels
• Precious bonding time with our children, particularly communication since N and G will each speak a different language and of course we speak English!
• We pass court without a hitch
• No one becomes ill while in Ethiopia
• I (Tracy) have had back pain for 10 months.  I endure the pain with ice packs and walking.  I am extremely anxious that my back will worsen on the trip without the ability to care for it properly.  Pray that the back pain would subside and God would heal my back.
• Opportunities to share God's love with people in Ethiopia
• Sweet time with other families also adopting. We are all staying together in ET and will attend court together.
• Matthew and Zachary to not be anxious while we are gone. (Especially Zach) 
• my mother-in-law and mom who are taking care of M and Z

Our Referral: Finally

Dear Friends and Family,

We are so excited to announce that we finally received our referral today for our two children from Ethiopia.  Our son, G, is 4 years old. We believe he is probably older than 4. Our daughter, N, is 2 years and 9 months old.  Our children are not blood related, but they will soon be brother and sister.  There is a strong possibility for 5 kids in AYSO soccer next year. 

We have been asked many questions so I thought I'd do a FAQ's section to answer all of them.

How are you feeling?

Elated, overjoyed, anxious, and completely overwhelmed.  When we received the call, we cried the whole conversation and it felt surreal.  Wow, we were finally here, the day we have been dreaming about for years.  I was and am also torn with emotion, broken hearted, as our children are orphaned for a reason, they have lost their parents.  In both cases, the moms are alive, but have handed them over to the orphanage for reasons unknown.  This is the hard part of adoption and one that grieves my heart.  I know, though, that this is right and God ordained, even though is it painful and so hard to grasp.

Can you see a picture of them?

We do have pictures of them, but due to sensitivity of how they can be shared, they are not allowed to be posted on blogs or Facebook, we will only show them in person.

What's next?

Our agency will submit our paperwork to the Ethiopian government and we will be granted a court date. This could take about 3-6 months to happen.  We will go to Ethiopia for a week for the court date.  Then we will return home for about 2-6 weeks and then return for our embassy appointment. After that, the children will return home with us.

Are you okay with the ages and genders?

Yes, we are.  We have thought long and hard about the disrupting of the birth order of our family.  Zach will be squished in the middle of the two and we are at peace about this.  We knew that this was a huge possibility.  We have always felt that when the time came we would say "yes" to whatever God placed in front of us.  

How can you pray?

First, let's praise God for answering prayers and in the mean time teaching Dave and I how to be patient. This has been a refining six years of waiting and I am very thankful for what I have learned.

With that said, pray for more patience as the next six months will be hard to wait for our court date and embassy appointments as our children will be in the care center. 

 

Pray for our children who are in different orphanages and that they will have a smooth transition to the care center in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia's capital (run by our agency), where they will wait for the adoption to happen.

Pray that the remaining money we need to complete this adoption will be provided.

Pray our adoption will be completed by March.  That is when our homestudy will expire, which means more money, paperwork, and time. 

Pray for our children!  We are uncertain of medical, behavioral, and emotional difficulties.  Pray for their protection.

Pray that God would prepare our family for this next part of the journey. The hardest work will be when the children come home due to tough transitions and emotional damage the children might have endured. 

How did our kids respond?

They are sooo excited.  When the call came, we were all able to gather around the computer and look at the pictures of our children and listen to the details. They have been waiting a long time too.  Katie loves that she is going to have a sister.  Matthew remarked, "Wow, 4 boys!"

Are they related?

No.  N is in a orphanage in the west part of Ethiopia near the Sudan border, 17 hours away from the capital city. G is from an orphanage near the capitol.  In the pictures you can tell, that they look very different from each other. 

Are the kids healthy?

Yes as far as the reports show they are healthy.

Do they speak English?

No, they don't.  They will start learning English when they are transferred to the Care Center, which is the place where they will wait for the adoption. I have been told by many adoptive parents that they will pick up the language very fast when they come home. 

What will we do with our kids when we travel?  

We are hoping to have Caleb, Katie, and Matthew travel with us on the first trip. Matthew is really concerned about any shots he might have to get, but I think he will get through it and go with us!  We will travel alone on the second trip. 

How much money do we need to raise before we go?

We have covered most of our agency fees and will need to cover all our travel costs and a fee other embassy costs at this point.  It could be between $15,000-$20,000. 

What will their names be?

We are having a family discussion about this soon.  We believe that we need to give them new names. 

What size bus are we going to need?

A BIG one!

Will you still homeschool?

I love homeschooling and until it stops working we will keep doing it.  Katie and Caleb are starting to become more independent which makes it more feasible for me to continue.  

Thank you so much for partnering with us in this very long journey. We are so grateful for each of you and especially for your prayers.