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

Welcome December!

December has definitely hit the mid west!  I have a love/hate relationship with the snow.  It is beautiful & sparkly when the sunlight hits it.  Snow makes everything look clean and new.   My favorite part of snow is the surprise snow days where our oldest is suppose to be in school but gets to stay home due to weather.  We play outside in the fluffy, cold, white stuff all day!  However, my car is freezing in the mornings, and it is not fun scraping snow and ice from windows.  Buckling a two year old into her car seat with a big puffy coat on it not fun.  The worse part of winter is driving when the roads are covered in inches of the stuff!  Like I said, it's a love/hate relationship! 

I have been pretty quiet on the blog lately simply because there is nothing going on with our adoption.  In a couple months we will begin the process of updating our home study and apply for another biometrics appointment with USCIS (these documents expire).  Other than that, as I have reported for months, we are waiting.  Waiting and praying.....and playing in the snow with our lovely ladies!  Enjoy the snow pictures of our latest snow adventures!  

Our girls love throwing snowballs at our Dakota girl, who jumps in the air to catch them!  I think Dakota has as much fun trying to catch them as the girls who throw them for her! Midwest winter fun!

Happy Thanksgiving

Wishing your family a Happy Thanksgiving!  Take time out to give thanks to God for everything that you are thankful for.  Here are a few of the things our family is thankful for, from our thankful tree....

Glasses

 Our gorgeous seven year old recently started wearing glasses.  This news that she needed them to help her see at school was devastating to her self-esteem.  Throughout her entire life she has wrestled with looking different because God blessed her at birth with a bright red hemangioma on her forehead.  No hiding it there!  Children at daycare use to point at it when she was two and say, "ouchy" at the very noticeable spot.  In Kindergarten she was teased on the bus because her "head looked different"  even though the redness had almost completely left, and the swelling of the capillaries had shrunk by 90%.  Even at five, she was learning that the world is not always a friendly place outside of home.  

So, needing glasses is a big deal to her.  To her it meant another reason that she is unlike her classmates in the second grade (doesn't everyone just want to fit in and be friends with everyone at this age).  She was scared that it could make her vulnerable for more teasing.  Our beautiful girl has learned about negative and hurtful people that are in this world, at such a young age.  

The truth is that we don't know why God blessed her with her hemangioma or glasses.  We do know that it does not change her beauty, and it does not change the sweet girl that is on the inside.  We are positive that she is going through this for a reason, and our beautiful and smart girl will use it for good someday.  

Keep rocking the glasses sweet girl, you are gorgeous just the way God made you!!

How do you protect your heart?

We are finally number one on our agencies waiting for a referral list! What an amazing feeling when we heard the director of our agency tell us this! She told us since the end of August that there is a little girl in an orphanage in Ethiopia that is meant to be ours!  We were just waiting on medicals and paperwork to be cleared so she can legally give us all the information and pictures of this beautiful girl!  We were so relieved to hear that our future daughter  was in an orphanage where she was getting food in her belly and has clothes on her back.  Finally, we are in the last part of waiting before we can see her precious face!

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After three months of patiently waiting to see her precious face, we called the director again to see what is going on.  We have heard that UNICEF was in the region that she if from, and is almost stopping the process while they are there.  We lost our referral.  The one that was meant to be ours (or so we thought).  Our hearts hit the flour, our emotions were/are raw and ugly, but real.  Real pain for this baby who we had absolutely no information and haven't seen, except the peace in our hearts that she was alive & safe.  UNICEF took her from the "safe" environment of the orphanage to find her a "foster home" in Ethiopia.  Yes, apparently they have a right to do this.  So now what?!? We wait some more, while mourning the loss of the baby that we have grown to love but never have seen.  Luckily, we have not told the girls, we were waiting for pictures since they would have wanted to see her beautiful face.  

We were warned that we need to protect our three daughters and ourselves, by telling the girls nothing and basically only telling a few select people once we get a referral because of this situation.  The UNICEF organization is able to take the children out of the orphanage, even after they have been referred to a family that would love and care for them forever.  We have been warned to not get attached to the little face in the pictures because this is happening more frequently.  This is the reality of adopting from Ethiopia.  We have to decide if we can protect our hearts, because if we can't handle it the only option is to back out now.  How do you not get attached?  How do you keep it a secret from family & friends when the moment you've waited for for over a year has finally arrived?  How do you not make this personal?  We do not have an answer for this, but I guess we will find out since we are not giving up.  We are praying for the referral we lost, and that our future referral is not taken from us.  Yes, ladies and gentleman we live in a messed up world. 

The Art of Waiting

It feels lately as if adoption is a game of waiting.  You pick an agency, and wait for approval.  You complete your home study, and wait until it is approved by your agency.  Complete your dossier, and wait for a referral.  Once you receive your referral, you wait for a court date.  I understand the necessity of all of the paperwork (you need to fulfill both country's requirements), but it also feels like the governments are making the journey almost impossible to get through.  Why is this?  Are they trying to rule those out who are not willing to go the extra mile, or want to make sure that the parents have patience?  I'm really not sure, but they could simplify the process a little to get more children to their forever families. 

We recently paint our dining room with some lovely, peaceful green paint.  We have a wall with nothing on it, except family pictures.  We have a frame for each child, and a frame for a family picture.  As I was hanging up the pictures on the freshly painted wall, we decided to put an extra nail hole in the wall for our next lovely little lady.  Our five year old decided to draw a picture of what she thinks her baby sister will look like.  So, instead of hanging an empty frame on the wall in the fourth spot, the frame is now graced with her picture, and what a great job she did!!  

As the weather is getting chillier, and more warm soups are being consumed, we are passing the time by  praying for our next little one, spending time with our ladies, and having fun with craft projects with them!  We are so blessed to have three lovely girls who are so sweet and creative!  They are each unique, and we are so in love with them! We are truly blessed, and the next will be one one lucky girl who is already loved by her parents and sisters! 

Autumn Fun

September is gone and we didn't receive a referral.  We are a  little disappointed, but were keeping ourselves busy with fun fall crafts and activities!  Autumn has officially hit Ohio with the cooler temperatures, beautiful changing leaves, and yummy baked goods!  This is the season that I love here in Ohio!  We love going to our local pumpkin patch trying to find our perfect pumpkin, walking through crunchy leaves, baking yummy treats together, and snuggling with our gorgeous ladies under cozy blankets! 

During this season of Autumn, we are praising God for what we have- a happy marriage, three beautiful and very sweet ladies (who are healthy & intelligent), income that keeps a roof over our head and allows us to purchase healthy meals, great family, and wonderful supportive friends!  Although we are a little sad and disappointed with what didn't receive (a referral), we are faithful that God will grant us permission to someday see our beautiful girl's face.