13 months since DTE!

Huh, this last month actually kind of zipped by me! We sent our dossier to Ethiopia 13 months ago!

Today my kids were pretty whiny, and while I was talking to them, I almost had to giggle, because some of the things I was telling them TOTALLY apply to our wait.
I'm sure I'm not the only one who on the inside sometimes feels like doing one of those whiny-jumping-up-and-down-waving-arms-making-whiny-noises-dances we see our kids doing...? (Ok, folks, don't leave me hanging here... I TOTALLY know I'm not the only one!)

While telling my 2-year-old that throwing a fit hasn't really gotten anyone anywhere, I realized that I really need to stop throwing an internal fit. I mean, seriously. God totally KNOWS what he is doing, and AWAA totally KNOWS what they are doing, and it really is out of my hands when things happen. So why on earth am I feeling whiny?

While telling my 6-year-old that it is ok to feel mad inside, and that it is ok to feel sad, but that HE is responsible for what he does about it... I was totally reminded that yes, I can acknowledge my feelings of frustration and sadness about the wait, but that I AM responsible for my actions, and that I can DECIDE to make the best out of the wait!

Also, while having my kids repeat their request for a snack in a non-whiny and non-rude tone... I was reminded (and I don't think I have mis-stepped in this manner YET) that we need to keep in mind that our social worker and family coordinator are TOTALLY on our side, and that we need to be kind and patient and polite with them, too! So, when I am feeling whiny and demanding, can someone please bop me over the head with one of those green flotation noodle things, and remind me that I need to ask nicely? :)

This long wait sucks. Have I mentioned that it sucks? I would love to get a call TOMORROW that we have a referral (totally not going to happen yet for a long time). BUT do you know what? God is bigger than my selfish little ideas about timing. He is bigger than my impatience, and he is definitely bigger than any hold-ups with paperwork. Don't lose hope, guys!

One final challenge: Let's use our time wisely. Don't check the yahoo group page every hour (*cough*) to see if there is news. I for one am going to *try to* only check it once every few days. When there IS news, I will totally be cheering! But don't take precious time away from your husband/wife/kid(s)/friends by checking yahoo and then having another one of those whiny-jumping-up-and-down-waving-arms-making-whiny-noises-dances fit when there is no news.

Did I make you smile just a little? I sure hope so!

1 year DTE!!!

Look how little the boys were 1 year ago:

Happy to be DTE! (1 year ago~)

Today marks our 1-year anniversary since we sent our dossier to Ethiopia. We anticipate our adoption journey to continue cruising along in the "wait" stage for 6-12 more months, then HOPEFULLY we'll get a referral... but it could take longer.

On the bright side, the process of travelling and  passing court in Ethiopia and getting US Embassy clearances is going SO much smoother now for the families ahead of us, so the time frame in which we get to bring our daughter home after referral is hopefully only about 3-4 months.

I've been reading a lot of books about African and Ethiopia specifically, and one thing that stands out to me is how differently people mark time. Seasons are defined by the crops that grow, the rains that fall, which animals have babies when.

Even though sometimes time crept unbearably slowly, this year also seems to have flown by as we waited impatiently.

A few benchmarks in OUR last year since we sent our dossier to Ethiopia:
-S learned to walk!
-M started Kindergarten!
-S turned 1 (will turn 2 next month)
-We had visitors from near and far
-We visited family and friends near and far-ish (we miss our friends who are really far away!)
-We all bled a little blood from various small injuries
-We all sneezed and wheezed a little during the winter, but overall had a very healthy year
-Many hours were spent building with LEGOs (hubby + boys), reading (all), painting (me + the boys), gardening (me), writing awesome cool computer code (hubby)
-Many miles were hiked, fish were fished, and camps were camped
-Much mischief was achieved (boys, mostly)
-M lost his first tooth... and then continued losing more and more and more teeth!
-M finished his first year of school, and turned 6
-S is running and climbing and talking up a storm
-Hubby and I celebrated our 9th wedding anniversary

In short, life has been so good, and we feel so blessed! God has been so good to us! Yet, our family does not feel complete.

We really really really hope to have a referral this time next year, but international adoption can be unpredictable. We love our adoption agency, and are so thankful to know that they work so hard to ensure our adoption is ethical. I will happily wait as long as it takes if it means that we can be sure that everything is as it should be.

God's timing will be perfect, and I can't wait to meet the wonderful little person who will become our daughter!

Baby girl, we can't wait to include you in our family updates... family hikes... family hugs... family EVERYTHING!

Dreams...

For the first time I dreamed of our daughter in Ethiopia... all night! It was hard to wake up and let it all go... but the wonderful part is that I know that I will be holding our sweet girl in my arms IN REAL LIFE in the future!

It will be interesting, in retrospect, to see if anything important happened in our daughter's life last night...

I can't wait to meet you, sweet girl!

11 months waiting...

It has been 11 months now since we sent our dossier to Ethiopia. I have gotten to the point a few times this last month where I want to have a little temper tantrum about the long wait (you know, where you kind of stomp around shaking your shoulders and arms, yelling "Grrrr!"), but I know without a shadow of a doubt that God's timing will be perfect.
We could very well find ourselves waiting for another year or more. However, I am hopeful that it will be shorter, since our agency has been able to refer more children this past month than they have in a long time.

~Dear Lord, THANK YOU for this opportunity to practice patience. Please continue to prepare our hearts to welcome our little girl into our lives. Please protect our daughter, whether she is born yet or not. Please hold her in your loving hands, as her little life is touched by the circumstances that will bring her to us.

10 months since DTE!

Oh my. We have been waiting for 10 months now since we sent our dossier to Ethiopia. I'm bracing myself for 'more of same' ... and I know that GOD IS GOOD!

9 months waiting since DTE!

Another month has passed. We sent our dossier to Ethiopia 9 months ago!

Since the current projected wait time for an infant girl is 18-24 months, we could possibly be half way there...
Very likely the wait-time time frame will be lengthened yet again... but we sure would be thrilled to get a referral next Spring!

8 months since DTE!

This past month just flew by! Today we have been waiting for 8 months since sending our dossier to Ethiopia.

This also means that we have been waiting for 13 months since we first started our adoption! 

We are encouraged by all the progress we have been seeing in our agency - lots of referrals, including several infant girls, lots of families passing court, and lots of families coming home with their kids after passing Embassy. The wait time between referral, court date, and Embassy has also gotten shorter, at least if everything goes smoothly. 

We haven't been announcing our position in line because so much can change as families change their requests etc. but I have had a few requests to at least mention our position. So: We are now at position #49 on the unofficial wait list ~ that is definitely progress from where we started, slow but steady. Keep in mind that not all 48 families ahead of us are exclusively requesting an infant girl - some are requesting either gender, some are requesting girls from 0-4 years etc... so they may "skip" out of our line sooner than anticipated because they might get a referral for an older child or an infant boy. There are currently 14 or so families ahead of us who are exclusively requesting an infant girl. At the current rate, we may have a referral this time next year, possibly sooner... we have to remind ourselves that possibly the wait could also become longer. Getting a referral TOMORROW would be fine with me, but obviously we will wait for however many months or years we need to! God knows exactly which little girl will become our daughter. We trust HIS perfect timing, even when our hearts become impatient at times. 

I have really enjoyed looking at the photos other families from our agency are posting of their cute kidlets. I can't wait to have a sweet little face to look at, and then a sweet little girl to love on!