We got an update today on our sweet girl. Which if you've been reading for long, arrived early! No complaints here :) AND she is wearing the sleeper & hair bow that we sent to Ethiopia with another adoptive mama who was there last week!
Be. Still. My. Heart.
Baby H has now turned 6 months old and is weighing in right at 15 lbs.
We got our update this evening as I was sitting on the computer, so I decided to ask the program director if, by chance, we had been assigned a court date (hoping he'd still be in the office). To my surprise he responded immediately and told us that our court date is THIS FRIDAY - MAY 31st!
Yes.
Seriously.
A total shock.
It is more than an hour later and I am still shaking.
Can I reiterate how amazing it is to watch God do His thing?
I had no idea when writing the blog post this morning that this news would be coming this evening. (so if you haven't read this morning's blog post - you should now!)
What comes to mind is Ephesians 3:20 "Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work in us. To Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen."
Please join our family in prayer that our May 31st court date goes smoothly (and just so you know, Ethiopia is 8 hours ahead of us!)
So this waiting phase.....who knew it would get harder during each step of the adoption process?
Every week I watch this sweet little gal, who is to be my daughter, grow up in pictures. Her hair is growing longer (& getting curlier), I see new facial expressions, I see the beautiful light in her eyes every week. How grateful I am for these updates - but oh, how they make a mama's heart ache. I want nothing more than to go halfway across the world and scoop her up. To let her know that she is treasured, cherished and will be loved beyond what she can comprehend.
What I never knew, before this season of life, is just how draining waiting can be.
EVERY SINGLE DAY I have give the timing of this adoption over to God. Lay it at His feet. Honestly, I daily have to fight the urge to cling to this process in my own strength.
Even though the wait can be frustrating - I can see just how God is using it for good. My faith is being strengthen as I lean on Him, fervently dig in the Word and hold tight to His promises. I always grow when God takes me past point that I can not survive in my own strength. It has happened before, and I am again in that place. Where I am totally at the end of myself. I can only hold to Him. It is an awesome place to be. To watch Him work. To watch His faithfulness unfold - because then HE alone can get the glory due His name because it has nothing to do with me!
*I realize this is the way it should be daily, depending solely on God, whether in a hard situation or not. But bear with me people - I am SO not perfect. I am human and default to trying to do things in my own strength often, but God's not through with me yet!*
So this Tuesday's Tune is about waiting. Timely, right? I love this song because of the reminder to be active in the wait. Praising God for what He is doing, even when I can't see it yet.
While I'm Waiting
John Waller
Psalm 130
"Out of the depths I cry to you, O LORD;
O, Lord hear my voice.
Let your ears be attentive
to my cry for mercy.
If you, O Lord, kept a record of sins,
O Lord, who could stand?
But with you there is forgiveness;
therefore you are feared.
I wait for the LORD, my soul waits,
and in his word I put my hope.
My soul waits for the Lord
more than watchmen wait for the morning,
more than watchmen wait for the morning.
O Israel, (which I insert - O Cheryl,) put your hope in the Lord,
for with the LORD is unfailing love
and with him is full redemption.
He himself will redeem Israel
from all their sins."
Thank you to all of you that are praying for us and our sweet Baby H during this adoption process. Please continue to pray that a court date would come quickly, so we can go meet our girl.
Thanks again to all who gave during the Give1Save1 week - we raised $1,209. Amazing!
No new updates so far this week. All of Baby H's paperwork has been submitted to court in the past week....so we are just waiting to be assigned a birthmother/finder court date. We really don't have a good idea of what the timeline is. We have seen some adoptive parents, through our agency, find out a court date 2 weeks after they were submitted while others wait 2 months. Ethiopia doesn't have a real consistent way of assigning these dates -
how long you wait can really come down to how you fall in the stack of
paperwork on the judges desk. So please join us in prayer that we will be on the top of aforementioned stack and will get a court date sooner rather than later!
We have watched God work through the timing of this adoption process already and are trusting that He will see us through until the end.
Micah 7:7
"But as for me, I watch in hope for the LORD, I wait for God my Savior; my God will hear me."
....and HUGE thank you's to all who have joined us on our journey by giving - helping bring our baby girl home and/or sharing the link to our story with others! You all are amazing!
So far we have raised a total of $835 so far toward our travel expenses! Wowza :)
We feel so blessed to have the opportunity to be featured on Give1Save1 and get to share our story about the crazy exciting path that God is leading us on. Let me tell you, it is absolutely AMAZING to have a front seat experiencing God's faithfulness in such a palpable way. He is good!
If you haven't had a chance yet, and you still want to help, you still have 4 more days......just click on this link and underneath our video is the button for donations. All donations go directly to our adoption fund to help pay for travel expenses. Our goal is to raise $1,500-$2,000 which would pay for one ticket to Ethiopia!
Also super exciting this week - one of my adoption pal mom's from Texas is meeting her baby girl tomorrow and is en-route right now! Her daughter is in the same transition home as ours and she is acting as courier for us and taking a care package to our little gal - we are hopeful that Christi will get to see her and we might get to know just a bit more about our baby! AND today is the day we typically get pictures and stat updates from the transition home on Baby H :) Fun Thursday!
Today is the start of the week we are a Featured Family on
GIVE1SAVE1
What is Give1Save1? Good question! Give1Save1 is a blog that was started by an adoptive mom. The idea
is simple. Helping other adoptive families raise funds for their adoptions. This
mom realized that not everyone can do a lot, but everyone can do a little. So every
Monday a different adoptive family’s video is featured on Give1Save1 highlighting
their adoption journey and readers are asked to give $1 – just $1 – and then
help spread the word virally. Click here to watch the video of our
family’s adoption story.
If you’ve found your way here from over there, WELCOME!!!
Here is a
bit more of our story…..
Adopting is something that had been on our hearts for years, beginning even
before we were married. We have been active for years with City Union Mission’s
at Tot Lot (a week long summer camp for 4-6 year old underprivileged kids from
K.C.’s urban core). In working with countless children that come from such a
place of need, many of them being foster kids, God had put in us the desire to
open our home to a child in need.This
plan always seemed very far off, because we had our own young children at home.
However, this past summer God spoke to both of our hearts and let us know that
the time was not later, it was NOW.“The plan” had always been to foster to adopt
when the time came, but just as we were surprised that God was leading us to
adopt now, we were absolutely shocked
to feel Him leading us toward international adoption.This was something that had never even been
on our radar.It had never been part of
"our" plan. Seriously, the cost alone is enough to scare away the
well-meaning. However, we know that where God leads, we follow. What He calls
people to, He provides for.
So here we are! Our family is so excited about bringing Baby H into our home
through international adoption! It has been amazing going through this process,
our faith has grown so much watching the faithfulness of God and waiting on
Him. Adoption is such a picture of how we have been adopted into God's family,
and we can't help but be excited about living that out and using this
opportunity to share our faith with others!
The last financial need that we have for this adoption is for the remaining portion
of our upcoming travel expenses. Adopting from Ethiopia requires 2 trips to the
country for us – one for court and one to pick up our daughter after she passes
embassy (2 months or so later) to come home for good.We already know who our daughter is, our
paperwork has already been submitted to the Ethiopian court system, and we hope
to be taking our first trip this July!
So we invite you- friends, family, and friends we have yet to meet - to be a
part of Baby H’s story. She will soon be an orphan no more. By giving $1, $5 or
$10, or whatever you feel called to give, you will be helping to bring a little
girl into the love, care & protection of a family.
*Please know, your
social donations are just as important to us! Help spread our story, our video
via facebook, email, twitter and other
social media outlets.
It actually began on Mother's day eve - my mom, Tori and I got to spend all the evening together - dinner at Chipotle (yummy and cheap!) and then went to the Kansas City Music Hall to watch Ibsen Dance Theater's "big girl" dance recital (also free) It was so fun to just be out with the ladies and have a whole evening to ourselves!
Jason and the kids orchestrated breakfast in bed for me this morning - Tori even topped it off by letting me use her bell.
She then provided me with a list of how many times to ring it for each thing that I may want.
Get ready. Here is the list.....spelling courtesy of Tori :)
1x for more food
2x's for more drink
3x's for anuthr napkin
4x's for a kiss
5x's for a huge
6x's for a booke
Cute, right?
Joel however woke up sick last night with a 101.5 degree fever :( Poor buddy. Jason woke him up so he could be part of the breakfast delivery. Then Joel proceeded to curl up in bed on my lap and fall back asleep. Ahhh.....there's nothing better. I was overjoyed to sit eating breakfast, cuddling my sweet sleeping almost 5 yr. old and not have to worry about time or rushing around or getting breakfast for others, etc. Seriously, the best gift ever. It was a precious wonderful moment - though I wish that Joel wasn't feeling sick.
AND we have the added excitement and anticipation of our Give1Save1 week starting tomorrow!
What a day.
Can't help but think how next mother's day Baby H will be home. So exciting :)
I know, bear with me people, this has turned into a busy week on the blog!
We just got our 3rd set of updates on Baby H. Still cute as can be. She was even wearing a dress in one of the photos. So sweet. Baby H is now weighing in at 14.1 lbs. and is 24.4 inches long. Not to bad of a size - but crazy to think my two boys weighed 15 lbs at 2 months of age - but they were insanely large. Tori was always on the small side, so cool that Baby H fits in with our family's pattern - she is just a bit below what Tori was at that same age.
One funny observation I have made from getting these weekly pictures is that each week one picture is GREAT and one the other one......well, not so great. Kinda fun though to see all the different ways a baby can look through photographs. We shall see if the is the pattern continues!
In other exciting news - our week as the featured family on Give1Save1 starts NEXT MONDAY! So be on the look out for our video. We can't wait to share our story with others! Yay :)
We just found out that Baby H's case was submitted to court - and I am totally in shock and Praising the Lord. I was preparing myself to wait a lot longer.....
So what is next? How long until the next thing?
In a nutshell - I have no idea.
How's that for clarity? I know. Drives me crazy too.
So obviously the timeline in adoptions are not famous for being predictable. Everyone's timeline varies even when at this point, because you are dealing with many variables in each case. I imagine it will be at least a month before we find out any type of court date for Baby H's case - and that first court date doesn't even involve us. It is a court date for the finder or for the birth mother. Once that court date has passed then we will find out the date that we need to appear for court (I think typically 2 weeks to a month after the first) - and then we will get fly to Ethiopia and meet our sweet girl!!!
Seriously excited.
If I didn't think it would totally frighten the pants off of Joel, who is the only one at home with me right now, I would shout at the top of my lungs ;)
We received our updated I-171H today in the mail! Woohoo!!!!
For those not well versed in international adoption lingo - that is the approval letter from the U.S. government that allows us to bring an orphan into the country. This approval is something that you must have BEFORE you send off your dossier to the country you are adopting from - in our case Ethiopia.
We, of course, had this document already - however, our original approval (and homestudy which the approval is based off of) had an age range of 12-24 months - which in the world of adoption and delays - is a razor thin margin.
Our thoughts when starting the adoption process was to request toddler age so that the age difference between our youngest (Joel - 4) and the newbie wouldn't be far since our three kids are close in age. However, after realizing that it just doesn't matter - and we'd rather be referred a younger child than for a child to wait around to age into our minimum age bracket - we told our agency we were open to a younger age. Then came baby H's referral, all 4 1/2 months of her. Oh the sweetness! And our answer was Yes, Yes, Yes!!!!
However, accepting a younger age than our original approval left me doing a bit more paperwork. We had to have our Social Worker update & amend our homestudy (even though we were going from 12-24 mo. to 0-24 mo.) and then we had to send the old homestudy, new amended homestudy, letter of explanation & form to change our I-600 approval to USCIS. Whew.
Surprisingly it only took 2 weeks for them to process, which is exceptionally fast!
So now we have the paper to prove that we can officially bring a child Baby H's age into the U.S.
We received our 2nd update with pictures on Friday. Baby H is still a cute as can be although she didn't have any smiles for the camera this week. She went from 6.29kgs to 6.32kg (which is 13.93 lbs).
I have been discovering that this part of waiting in the adoption process is definitely different.
Instead of the wonder and anticipation of who she is and what her name is - now I have a name and a face. Which don't get me wrong, is awesome!
BUT now I want to meet this little gal so badly! Hold her close, kiss those cheeks & love on that sweet girl.
So we are still waiting for our regional MOWA letter which is the final piece of the puzzle before we can be submitted to court. I am praying it happens very soon. Once we get the letter then we will be submitted to court and it will take an additional 4-6 weeks to get our court date. Unfortunately Ethiopia's courts close for about 2 months during the rainy season (mid-August through mid-October). So if we don't get to court before mid-August then we automatically will not get a court date until the Fall.
Therein lies the difficulty in my waiting.
There is a deadline, and there is absolutely nothing that I can do about it in my own strength.
I am trusting in God and in HIS timing. Which, in all honesty, that is easier to say than to actually do. Sometimes I don't know how to even pray about it because I know that His timing may be different than what I have in mind.
I was struggling with this last week when I came across Romans 8:24-27
"For in this hope we are saved (this is actually referencing our ourselves being adopted as children into God's family). But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what he already has? But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently. In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God's will."
You see, yet again I am realizing it is okay to be weak, albeit painful. A lesson that you would think I would know well by now, as I have obviously experienced weaknesses before :) My problem is that I get used to my weaknesses - the ones I've had around a while. Then a new one gets exposed (such as trusting in the timing of something totally out of my control) and I find myself thrown off. Yet I know in 2 Cor. 9 it says "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." God helps us in our weakness. Oftentimes I think that is when He can best work through us. When He works through our weakness is when we know (beyond a shadow of a doubt) that it was all about God and not about us. He already knows my weak areas. My weaknesses are no surprise to Him. That is why it is so amazing, when reading the bible in Romans, that I realized I don't have to even know how to pray for this (adoption timing/out of my control) situation. I am being interceded for.
Wow. Seriously wow.
Lastly these verses are ministering to my heart during this new portion of the wait.
Psalms 27:13 & 14 "I am still confident of this: I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord."
