Feruk!!!!

So we crept along the waiting list over the past 10 months....then came the call we had been waiting for:) We were visiting family in Naples, FL, so the timing couldn't have been more perfect! We had our agency rep on speaker and we sat together as we opened our file of our baby boy!! What a feeling it was to see his sweet face for the first time...I laughed and cried and laughed some more!!! There was so much joy and love in that moment!! I can't wait to be able to share his sweet face and I am even more anxious to hold him and not have to let go!!! We hope to take our first trip to Ethiopia in November.

Dossier Waiting List

The way our agency does the waiting list is by numbering dossiers as they arrive in Ethiopia. This gives us some idea as to the number of families in front of us. Not all families in front of us are requesting the same age/gender of children.  In the past month our agency has referred 7 children to 7 families! We know the timing will be perfect for our family!!!

Our dossier is currently #23!!!!!

Feeling overjoyed today!!!!

Very exciting day!!! Our dossier (paperwork) has made it to Ethiopia!!!!

We are finally on the waiting list!!!!!!!!!! Now to pray for patience!!!

"It is a poverty to decide that a child must die so that you can live as you wish."

Mother Teresa

The Dossier

We sent our dossier today (to our agency rep)!!!!!!! Lots of hours of hard work are in that envelope:) It's exciting to send it off...one step closer to meeting our baby boy!!!

ETHIOPIA!!

Well, a lot has happened since our last post. To make a VERY long story short...over the summer our journey has changed directions. We are now adopting, with the same agency, from Ethiopia!!! We are so excited! Our hearts have been drawn to this region due to the extreme circumstances that devastate this area. Ironically our World Vision child (who we have supported for the past 7 years), Tesefenesh, is also from Ethiopia. This change has not put us behind any, we are actually moving along a little quicker. We now have USCIS (federal) approval, which is a big step. We are now working constantly on our dossier, which is a packet of notarized and certified papers that will go to the government of Ethiopia. We hope to have this complete in the next month or two. We wanted to thank everyone for their continued support and prayers as we continue with this process!!

http://www.westsandsadoption.org/ws/countries/ethiopia/transitional-home-guest-stay/

(Transition Home in Ethiopia where we would stay during our two, week long trips.)

Heartbroken...

It went very quickly getting the additional medical records from Taiwan. We had them by Monday morning and submitted them immediately to our adoption doctor, Dr. Staat. We knew we needed to act quickly because our agency rep informed us that the younger children (he's 6 months) do not stay on the lists long. She was able to get back to us hours later....with the worst case scenario. We knew that it was not even a question, we could not accommodate his condition. We were devastated. It is so hard to be emotionally involved and have to say no to a precious child! Our doctor was wonderful. She was able to give us comforting words. She too had turned down two separate referrals and has adopted twice. Adoption is not for the weak of heart! Thank you for all your prayers and support!!

11.1

Ok, finally an update! I wasn’t forgetting to write, we just haven’t had any interesting news:) It’s a lot of ‘hurry up and wait’.  We would like to ask our family and friends to pray for us this week. We have received a referral of an adorable little boy. We have sent his medical records to our Doctor (who heads up the International Adoption Center at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital) for review and have consulted with her yesterday. There are a few things we need more clarity on before we make an informed decision to accept this referral. This information needs to be requested from the orphanage. We are very anxious at this point. We are beginning to fall in love with this precious boy, but don’t know how many other families from other agencies are following our same path or if his medical issues are too great for our family. This is the time that we trust our “Forever Family” is in God’s hands! It’s just so hard not to become emotionally involved when dealing with children. We hope to get a little more information in about week. Please pray for wisdom, discernment, and peace!!

The Kiddos:)