Brrr

January in Ohio is notorious for cold, ice, wind, and snow.  This year, we have had an abundance of all four.  Normally we love winter, but this year the weather has kept us indoors.  When the temperature drops in the negative degrees and the wind is blowing hard,  it is too cold to play in the fluffy, white, drifts of snow.   The girls look  longingly outside wanting to make footprints in the untouched snow, make forts out of the enormous drifts that are in our back yard, and make friendly snow people.  This will need to wait.  There is a point when even with all the warm snow gear we have, it is just not safe for a 2, 5, & 7 year old to be outside for an extended time of play.  

As of right now, Ethiopia is still opened to international adoptions.  Cases are still going through court, just very slowly.  New referrals are still nonexistent at this time, but praying for a miracle.  Right now we are stuck.  Stuck sitting without a referral, unable to move onto the next phase of adoption with no end in site.  For a while this has caused an array of emotions (this waiting has really gotten to me lately).  But were clinging tightly to God.  If we were meant to adopt He is the only one who is going to be able to make this happen. 

USCIS...again

Today is the day that I will be visiting FedEx to ship out all the required paperwork to update our biometrics.  Yes, it is time to visit the little USCIS office in Columbus again that will make sure our background is clear to bring a child into the United States.  The first time we made this trip we were excited about the possibilities of adding to our family, this time we are uncertain if adding to our family will happen but were not giving up.  

We are praying that Ethiopia will remain open to international adoption, and that the Children In Families First passes soon (this will take UNICEF out of the equation when it comes to adoption).  Don't get me wrong, UNICEF does some great things to help children.  However, when they discourage international adoptions and encourage orphanages to not complete paperwork that will allow the child to be placed for adoption, there is something wrong.  Children need forever families, not a life sentence to living in an orphanage.   Have you contacted your senator to raise awareness yet?

http://childreninfamiliesfirst.org/

All We Wanted for Christmas...

What we truly wanted for Christmas is something that cannot be bought.  Something that cannot be made out of paper or yarn.  What we truly wanted was a referral.  It would have been a Christmas miracle, one that did not happen as the Ethiopian Government has stopped all new referrals from going through. 

We knew when we started this process that there are never any guarantees that going through all of this work and paying out all of that money would result in a successful adoption.  In the back of our minds we thought, yeah that's not going to happen to us.  We know quite a few people who have gone through this process flawlessly, and it makes me wonder why our adoption is different from theirs.  Is there a lesson in this that God is trying to teach us?  There is a good chance that we will never receive our referral, that we will never be able to bring baby #4 home from Ethiopia.  What we need at this time is miracle that only God can provide.   The Ethiopian government has proposed to stop international adoption from their country.  Read an article about it here:

http://childrendeservefamilies.com/human-rights-violation-alert-ethiopia-proposes-ending-international-adoption/

So as we went through the magical Christmas season with our three beautiful ladies we had  sadness in our hearts.  Were not giving up.  We will NEVER give up, but we are missing the little one that we may never get to meet. What we need is a miracle from God to bring her home.  Please pray the the Prime Minister does not pass the closure of Ethiopian adoptions.  Please pray that he thinks of the children first, and that he realizes there are so many people who are willing to become their family.  Pray that we will be able to bring our girl home, someday. 

There is a proposed bill that could potentially stream line international adoption.  It may help those individuals who are adopting from other countries.  Please read about it here:

 http://childreninfamiliesfirst.org/legislation-chiff/

And you can tell your congressmen about it here:

 http://childreninfamiliesfirst.org/support-chiff-get-involved/

Our sweet, Dakota girl.  Patiently waiting.

Happy New Years everyone