not enough pictures

on account of there not being enough pictures of our little girls, I will add two that we got from a family that traveled to get their sweetie in August. They snapped these precious photos of our cutiepies; we are thankful because we CAN'T GET ENOUGH!!

the days go by...

Well, we decided we better lay out what the next steps our for our family. We have been collecting information over the last few months, waiting with breath held, & now it's time to exhale & get to work.
The courts in Ethiopia will open on September 28, after a two-month closure that happens every year in August & September. At that point, the paperwork for families matched with children in August or September will travel to the judge. We are not sure how quickly they will get to our paperwork, but we are expecting to get a "travel call" about two weeks before we have to be in Ethiopia. The first group of 8-10 families should travel in mid-October, with subsequent groups traveling about two weeks after that, & so on. According to our caseworker, November is more likely than October.
When we travel, we will spend one week in Ethiopia, probably leaving on a Saturday & returning on a Saturday or Sunday. We will have an appointment at the American Embassy (which includes a medical check, I think), visit the birthfamily of our girls, & spend time with the nannies & kids at Horizon House.
We would love to take some donations with us for Horizon House. We will look over the list & probably pick some things to focus on & then spread the word around & see how much we can take for all the precious children there.
In the midst of all this, we are attempting to prepare our home for two more children. We have areas that need decluttered (the bookshelf), reorganized (the storage room in the basement), and "baby"proofed (the "girls" room). Lots more too...
Our emotions are still reeling from the concept of being introduced to our girls, yet working through preparations for their arrival without actually meeting them. It is a pretty amazing experience.
We treasure each word of encouragement from the family & friends surrounding us. We are unspeakably thankful....
I'm including a picture of our big girl with a darling garage sale baby, thanks to our friend Joanna.

Human Pincushions

Yeah, we went the health department routes. Thanks to those that offered advice. I found out I already had Hep B from teaching so I just had to get A, Yellow Fever, Typhoid, Meningitis, and Polio Booster. Sonya started off light today with a few Heps and a meningitis. OH SUCH FUN!! I feel like after all that I should be able to walk through a pit in the remotest part of the third world and still be untouched...but of course they don't really have a 100% protection. Malaria pills are in our future! Can't wait!

I have been playing a bit on the blog...don't really know how to write code. I just am dangerous enough to mess with code and make it look a little different. I found the clock today and was excited to know that I could go to the site anytime and find out what time my sweeties are experiencing. Let me know if you have any ideas.

Dave

Where do they come from?

Through the whole process of finding a place to adopt and such I have wondered what kind of life we would be pulling our kids from. Our desire has always been to be able to be parents to children that do not have them.

We found out that our girls have come from a home where the mom has died from malaria and the father is unable to work and support all six children in his family. It breaks our hearts to see such a thing happen. It is obvious to us that if there were no other options, disease and starvation would be right around the corner in that family.

In doing some searching last night, I was able to find out a little more of the background of the children. Follow along with me if you like:

They are from the Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples Region of Ethiopia, marked in red on the map. You can go to this link to find out more of the details of this region. In that region they come from the KAT Zone. A map of the exact location can be found here (look for it, it is there). When I read through the details of the peoples of that region of Ethiopia, I was struck by the poverty and way of life. When I had traveled to Brazil in '93 I was first introduced to life outside of my comfortable midwest. Everytime I am hit with that realization it makes me want to do more. I was impressed to see in my readings that World Vision is one of the organizations that has helped those living in our daughters' zone. I pray that God will continue to show us ways to make a difference outside of our own comfortable life. And use our children in the same way.

Thanks for your continued support. Still a long ways to go...

Dave

sleep in heavenly peace

You might not know that travel to Ethiopia necessitates nearly ALL the available vaccinations. Unless we want to end up in the hospital by the time we get home, instead of enjoying our precious pumpkins...We didn't know that...and I don't think either one of us predicted how much shots would cost either. We will get going on them right away, because who wants to get 7 shots in one day?
Nothing can take away the feeling of walking on air because we know our sweet girls, but we feel a little shakiness in our stomachs today, because the numbers aren't adding up how we thought they would. God has shown us countless times that we are doing things His way, & He wants to bless us. But we were $3,000-5,000 off in our previous figures.
That shouldn't throw us for a loop, but it takes SUCH a deliberate choice to not fear. We will choose to rely on God's provision because we wouldn't be this far without it. We will choose to not think about what might come up tomorrow.
It's just really hard.
But then all you have to do is look at those sweet sleepy faces. They have lost much of their security, yet they have each other, & they sleep peacefully.
I pray the same for us tonight (and you).

just can't stop blogging now....

Some things we need to do in the next 7 days....

--make a photo album for each girl (we got a "baby" one for Dinknesh) containing pictures of each of us & our home, etc. This will be delivered to the girls soon, not sure when...
--write a letter to the birthfamily & make a photo album to leave with them when we visit them.
--get shots.
--get the girls' medical info. to our pediatrician, who so far isn't returning my call, & meet with him to plan for their arrival.
--make a plan for collecting whatever it is that 1 & 3 year old girls need (why can't I remember??)
--send WHFC a big check...
--sign & notarize a couple of documents & send them to WHFC
--look at the pictures some more!!

we are so excited we can hardly think sometimes!

Well, I can't say the excitement is dying down. We are so incredibly thrilled that we can hardly think...
But I wanted to give more info for anyone who has questions.
I might have been wrong with my "few weeks" estimate. I'm unsure of the exact date they arrived at Horizon House, our agency's home. But they are healthy & strong & adjusting beautifully; our caseworker was there when they arrived & then for a week after & she said they were really warming up & becoming more happy & secure even by the end of that week.
Dinknesh is 28.3" & weighs 22 lbs.
Dagmawit is 36.2 " & weighs 26 lbs.
We are absolutely thrilled but also amazingly surprised to find out how young our girls are. We requested under age 7, & we were the next family that fit these sweet girls, so essentially our agency had to skip over those other two waiting families to match the girls with us. Our hearts go out to the families still waiting, but our wait & the trial of constantly submitting our wills to God's time was sooo, sooo worth it!
Travel time is only an estimate at this point. Our paperwork will be put with their paperwork (they are already officially relinquished) & that big pile will travel to the courts. The courts reopened from a 6 week recess yesterday, so they have lots of these piles to work their way through. It is unlikely, but possible, that we will be able to travel with group #2 (as they call it) which will travel mid-end of October. It is more likely that we will travel with group #3 in mid-end November. The details are in the Lord's hands. Only He understands the implications for our sweet girls in Ethiopia, Dave's time of leave from his job, & our kids here. We just want it all to line up in His time, so we are happy to wait...
Okay so yesterday when I got the call I was canning pears!!! After the call, I was sure I couldn't think of anything else, but I was able to finish the pears...thank the Lord, they will taste really yummy to our new little girls, come February when we can't remember what a fruit-heavy pear tree even looks like!!!
I don't think I know much else right now, but we should get our referral packet in the mail today or tomorrow, so we will update any new info we get then.
Thanks again for all your prayers!

WE GOT THE CALL!!!

Praise the Lord! We got our sweet girls!!!!
Dinknesh was one in July & Dagmawit was three in July!
They have been in the orphanage only a few weeks. We will find out in the next few weeks whether we are part of the (late) October travel group or the (late) November travel group. Thanks for worsphipping the Lord with us!

 

any news is good news....

Well, I was encouraged the other day to pick up the phone & hear "Hi, Sonya. This is Erica from WHFC. This is not the call you are hoping for."
I know that doesn't seem real encouraging, but our caseworker kindly talked through how things are going at the agency (new staff members, etc.) & (most importantly to us) confirmed that the timeline we have in our heads is really quite reasonable!! She said that there are only two families ahead of us on the list & siblings are coming through regularly (a referral given just last week). I was beginning to feel like a really thirsty plant, surviving on mere drops of sustanance. I trust God to have the timing of our referral & adoption in the palm of His hand. I trust Him to know the stars & our sweeties by name. I know the drill. But I hate the waiting.
God is challenging me in the last few days to pray in His will, instead of simply begging for our referral. To really step out & tell Him that He can take as long as He wants to bring our babies home. I am obeying what I hear Him saying & submitting my will & my timeframe to Him as I pray each day. I know He is working on my character & I pray for my heart & head to be soft. Thanks for praying with us. We hope to have the good news by the end of October...