Communication

We spoke with our agency yesterday and we are getting closer to finishing all of our paperwork. The things that are holding us up are out of our control. We have to wait for things to come in the mail. Oh Lord, grant me some patience.

Orphanage in Ethiopia

This is a video of one of the orphanges in Ethiopia, LeToukoul. This is the orphange that our agency typically works with when placing children. It sure does remind me of how lucky I am. So many children...please join us in praying that ALL of these children find a "forever family".

LeToukoul
Uploaded by willld

Le Toukoul
Uploaded by willld

Beautiful adoption song

I'm inspired daily by new people that I meet online that adopt and their stories. God has placed a calling on so many to reach out to the children in need and God bless them. As I read another new blog today, I saw this video. It's very touching, thanks Lisa.

This is the full music video of "When Love Takes You In", performed by Steven Curtis Chapman in his album entitled "Declaration". Keep in mind, this song is a love letter to Chapman's adopted children ... and also a higher metaphor for the souls lost in the journey of life.

Waiting...Waiting...Waiting

I'm still waiting for our fingerprint results to come back in the mail so we can send in our completed paperwork. I hope there are no surprises! Just kidding...I'm going to go take a chill pill and wait some more.

Fashion for a cause!

You all know how much I love to shop. I wanted to show you a few cool items that you can buy that raises money for important causes. So if you know anyone that loves to shop too, forward this on.

• The first cause is the FEED Project. This organization works to fight world hunger. Lauren Bush is the honorary spokesperson. When you buy this t-shirt it feeds 100 kids. To find out more visit:

http://www.friendsofwfp.org/site/pp.asp?c=7oIJLSOsGpF&b=2626137

and

http://www.marieclaire.com/world/charity/feed-kids

They also sell bags...

• The second cause is: (Product) RED. (RED) was created by Bono and Bobby Shriver, Chairman of DATA to raise awareness and money for The Global Fund by teaming up with the world's most iconic brands to produce (PRODUCT)RED branded products. A percentage of each (PRODUCT)RED product sold is given to The Global Fund. The money helps women and children affected by HIV/AIDS in Africa. There are many products on the website, here are a few:

For other great websites with Fashion for a Cause, check out:

• CoutureCandy.com
• Signorelli
• OmniPeace

Happy Shopping!

Telling Savannah

Today was a big day, I told Savannah the age range that we would be adopting from. She of course has known about the adoption and has been involved in the process thus far. I thought she was going to take it hard that we would not be adopting someone closer to her age, but she didn't. Rick and I have tried hard to keep her very involved in this whole process and let her feelings and thoughts be heard. Our conversation was sweet and memorable. I asked her how she felt and she said she is excited and she may even write something later on the blog to share her feelings. I'm so lucky to have such a great kid! We are so blessed!!!

Older child or Younger child...that is the question?

We had many discussions as a family on whether to adopt a younger or older child. We were initially thinking that we should adopt an older child because we thought that they might need a home more than infants as we thought more people adopt infants. We thought we would be getting a child that was around 10 years old, but through many emotional events and sleepless nights, that is no longer an option for our family.We had a great social worker that conducted our home study and educated us on the subject. I also did a lot of research on my own. We found that there are just as many infants in need as an older child as you will see from my post below, called Why Ethiopia? We have had much council and prayer about this issue and we have decided to get an infant or toddler. There are too many factors to discuss on this blog and they are very personal but we appreciate all of your support. We are very excited!

Timelines

I spoke with our adoption agency today and they gave me an update of the time lines for the adoption. After the dossier paperwork is approved and sent off to Ethiopia (Don't really know how long this will take. It depends on how long it takes to get all the supporting documents and home study back), it will need to be approved by the courts. After the approval, it will take up to 3 months to get a "referral" of a child. Once a referral is accepted, it will be another 2 months and then we go to Ethiopia to pick up the child.

So basically, by the time the process is over, it can be compared to a 9 month pregnancy but without the morning sickness. (ok, maybe not)

Paperwork, Paperwork, Paperwork!!!!!

So much paperwork! When we started the adoption process our agency said to try not to get overwhelmed when the paperwork came in the mail. The hardest part isn't filling a bunch of papers out but it's waiting for all the supporting documents to come back to us that we have to include in the packet in order to move forward. There is a couple other things we still need to do. We need to get new passports. I filled out all the paperwork a long time ago but it seems to be hard for us to get off work to go apply and the local office is open from 10:00-4:00. (for people who don't have jobs)
Rick saw the blog for the first time tonight because he has been sick. It's so great to go through this together. I'm hoping our daughter Savannah will write a few things too. We have kept her involved in the whole process as much as possible.
I was running her around all evening to gymnastics and church. Every time I take her somewhere I try to imagine what it will be like to when we have added another family member. I think I should start going to bed earlier than I do now so I can have more energy. I can't wait!
Hopefully I will get some more paperwork done tomorrow after work. It seems like the paperwork "hole" never ends.Good times.

Why Ethiopia?

The question that I get a lot is...Why adopt from Ethiopia? Why don't you adopt a child from the US? This is a sensitive subject for some people. All I can say is, I truly believe that God gives is the desires of our heart. He has put Ethiopia on our hearts for a reason. As many of you know, I worked in many orphanages in a third world countries as a teenagers during the summers vacation from school. I have memories at those orphanages of children not knowing their name or age because no one ever told them what it was. I remember the large number of innocent children with little supervision or love. Most of them had no opportunities to make it in life. Completely heart breaking. Maybe this is a factor in why I want to adopt Internationally.

Below is a powerful video on International Adoption.



According to UNICEF, Poverty deprives children in their early years of life to adequate food, clean water, and medicine.

Startling stats:

• one out of every 20 children born alive die in their first month of life


• one out of ten die before reaching their first birthday


• one out of six die before reaching their fifth birthday

According to the Embassy of Ethiopia, the country currently has a literacy rate of about only 33 percent. With a population of 65 million, 39 percent of the population lives below the poverty line. As disease spreads rapidly, more than 1.5 million people are infected with HIV/AIDS annually.

Other Ethiopia Statistics:

• 52% of children in Ethiopia are stunted because of malnutrition
  


• 1.5 million people are infected with AIDS (6th highest in the world)
  


• 720,000 children have been orphaned by AIDS alone, and there are 4.6 million orphans in Ethiopia
  


• 24% of the population of Ethiopia has access to safe drinking water (this includes the cities, the rural areas are - as you can imagine, much worse off)
  


• The median age in Ethiopia is 18 years
  


• In 2006, a mere 731 Ethiopian children were adopted by American families (do the math: of 4.6 million orphans in the country, this is far less than significant)
  


• Per capita, Ethiopia receives less aid than any country in Africa
  


• In the 90s the population (3%) grew faster than food production (2.2%)
  


• Drought struck the country from 2000-2002 (first year no crops, second year no seeds, third year no animals)
  


• Half the children in Ethiopia will never attend school
  


• 88% will never attend secondary school
  


• Ethiopia's doctor to children ratio is 1 to 24,000
  


• In 1993, after 30 long years of war, Eritrea broke from Ethiopia and became an independent nation leaving Ethiopia landlocked without any major seafaring ports
  The average income in Ethiopia is less than $100/yr

This is probably more info than you needed but I could just go on and on. Having said that, I know that Ethiopia is not the only country in need but it's the one that we feel led to.

Map of Africa

Bonding

I have read so many articles and websites about adoption and how to bond with adopted children. It has helped a lot to have an experienced social worker who conducted our home study that has also adopted multiple children herself and has a lot of insight. While I was doing some research, I came across this poem that I wanted to share:

The Gift of Life

I didn't give you the gift of life,
But in my heart I know.
The love I feel is deep and real,
As if it had been so.

For us to have each other
Is like a dream come true!
No, I didn't give you The gift of life,
Life gave me the gift of you.

--- Unknown

The Beginning

Where did it all start? Well, it's all kind of a blur...here is how I remember it. About a year ago, out of the blue, Rick asked me if I had ever thought about adopting. I was speechless and for those of you that know me, that is a rarity. My heart was beating so fast because I never thought that adopting was something that he had considered. What made it so crazy is that I had also thought about adoption for a while but wasn't sure if Rick would think I was crazy. Rick stated that we have been blessed with so much and why not share our blessings and love with someone less fortunate. "What a wonderful man I married", I thought to myself. We had a few conversations about it and then didn't talk about it for a few months as we were busy moving to a new city, new jobs, Savannah in a new school, and building a new home.
After we got settled, Rick brought up the adoption topic again. We talked and prayed about it privately as we were not ready to tell family yet.
4 Months later... we were visiting my mom in MO and she asked if we knew anyone who would be interested in adopting a girl from Russia who needed a family. Rick and I looked at each other in disbelief. What a random question. We couldn't believe she was asking us when she didn't even know that we were considering adoption. WOW!
3 months later...Although we decided not to adopt from Russia, we did decided to move forward with the adoption process and finding an agency to work with. After doing a lot of research, we felt the Lord was leading us to adopt from Africa. After telling a few close family members of our decision, it turns out that most of them were not shocked at all and almost predicted what I was going to tell them before the word "adoption" even came out of my mouth.
Rick may have a different version to share, but this is how I remember it. Never the less, I'm beyond excited to add a family member, grow to the many blessings I already have and fullfill what I know is a calling from God. Thank you Jesus!