6 months since DTE!

It has now been 6 months since our dossier was sent to Ethiopia.

This week I am thankful for the many referrals that were given to families last week - including some infant girl referrals! This bumped us up by a few spots on the inofficial waiting list. Yay for progress!

Speaking of progress, our agency has also informed us that the Kilil (khalil, killil) clearances from the Southern Regions of Ethiopia are starting to come through for some of the children waiting in the transition home. This will hopefully speed things up a little. At the same time, the necessity for more in-depth investigation prior to referral, as well as extra bureaucratic hoops to jump through after passing court, before submission to Embassy, may still keep things going slow-ish. I am choosing to focus on being excited about referrals and the  Kilil clearances coming through.

We continue to cruise along in life, excited to see what God has in store for us, and eager to find out who the little girl is who will become our daughter. We MIGHT have a referral by this time next year. 

...as mentioned before, time is passing slowly... and quickly at the same time. 

Waiting is hard, ...and easy... and hard.

A few days ago at the craft store I couldn't resist picking up a few (free) silk flowers that had fallen on the floor. I never particularly liked silk flowers until I knew we were going to have a daughter. Now, every time we go to the craft store, I ask the cashier if I may keep the flowers that have fallen to the ground. I have a whole drawer full of silk daisies, pansies, and other blooms in different colors and sizes. I plan to sew or glue them onto hair clippies, head bands, hats, or tutus for our daughter some day... 

Life has a fairly regular pace around here, and time neither seems to fly nor drag by. Life is good, and we are happy. It is so fun to see and experience our boys growing. I feel content. 

At the same time, little things throughout our day remind me that a piece of my heart is in Ethiopia. I yearn for our little girl, wonder if she has been born, even conceived yet, far away in Ethiopia. 

These past two weeks two families from our agency got referrals for infant girls. Several others met their little ones for the first time in Ethiopia, and still others passed Embassy and got to bring their sons and daughters home. All of these things are GOOD because they mean that little ones are united with their Mommas and Dads, and (selfishly) because this means we move up the wait list (yay!). Every time children go home with their families, the open spots in the Transition Home in Ethiopia can be filled with more children who can in turn be referred to families... 

I will protect You.

We've hunkered down for a long wait. We applied to AWAA in March 2011, and sent our dossier to Ethiopia in August 2011. Friends have started to ask us "if we are still adopting" - the answer is YES, we are. Then they ask us how long we will still have to wait... to which I answer, "judging by current projected wait times, between 5 and 18 more months, but it could be longer."  

The day WILL come when our phone rings with the amazing news that we have a daughter. I feel anxious to see, meet, hold, love her. Last weekend I framed an 8x12inch print I made of my "I will protect you" painting and hung it in our entryway. It is my reminder to myself that the day WILL come when my daughter will be ours, and we will be hers. 

~Please continue to pray with us that everything goes smoothly with our adoption process. 

Please pray with us for our daughter's birth mother and family.

Please pray for the Ethiopian officials who will be deciding the course of so many adoptions. 

Please pray for our hearts as we wait.

Thank you.

We fully trust in God's perfect timing. He knows who our daughter is, and He will watch over her. 

5 months waiting since DTE!

 Right now I feel like we're cruising along. We've gotten the hang of waiting. I think of and pray for our daughter every day, but I know that God's timing will be perfect, so I don't worry.

There has been some movement in the "girl" line of our agency, and the news coming out of Ethiopia regarding the kallil clearances finally starting to be processed is encouraging, too.

Melkam Genna! (Happy Ethiopian Christmas!)

Did you know that today is Ethiopian Christmas? 

We celebrated by making a home-cooked Ethiopian dinner of Doro Wat (spicy chicken stew), Mesir Wat (lentils) and Ye'abecha Gomen (collard greens, Ethiopian style). All this was served on home-made mini injera. The meal was a lot more work than I normally put into preparing a meal - I cooked on and off since 10:30am. The chicken has spicy and delicious, and the collard greens turned out just right. The injera turned out pretty good, too (not quite as fluffy as I remember). The lentils were kind of 'bla' in my opinion, but then I don't particularly like lentils. Mark thought the Doro Wat was delicious, which I was kind of surprised at, since it was quite spicy. It had a multitude of flavors that unfolded as you chewed: first the spicy flavor from the berbere mixture, then the cardamon and the ginger, then the lemon and tomato. 

Our dinner.

The story of how I came by the berbere is kind of cool. There's a Momma at Mark's school who I was pretty sure is Ethiopian. We smiled at each other and greeted each other every day (for months) but I've never officially met her. On Wednesday I went up to her and asked her point blank if her family celebrates Ethiopian Christmas. She was surprised and delighted! I asked her where I could best buy berbere to make Doro Wat, and she was even more delighted, and told me she would bring me some the next day that her family in ET makes and sends her. The next day she brought me a vat of berbere, and I brought her a little loaf of cinnamon sourdough bread that I had baked. We talked and I admitted how nervous I had been to ask her, because I wasn't even sure she was from ET. She laughed and said she was just so happy to find someone in our community who even knows about ET holidays. I wished her a Melkam Genna, and she clapped her hands and wished me the same. :o)

4 months since DTE!!!

I guess it's good that I have been so busy that I almost forgot that today is our 4-month DTE-versary. 

This means we are 4 months closer to our little girl! 

3 months waiting since DTE!

Today we celebrate (well, acknowledge) our dossier being in Ethiopia for 3 months.

Praying that the slow and steady progress up the wait list turns into SLIGHTLY quicker progress... but we trust that all will happen in God's perfect timing!

Famine - how can we help?

Who hasn't at some point in their life - 10 minutes before dinner, or after a long recreational hike, enthusiastically said "I'm STARVING!"? Yet, most of us comfortably eat 3-5 meals a day.

On the other side of the world, children and adults really ARE starving to death. I could write long articles about the fact that famine is a symptom of much deeper political and social problems... but this is neither the time nor the place (and besides, such articles already exist). Instead, I would like to encourage you and your family to think about how YOU can help the needy, the hungry this Holiday season.

An article was recently featured on Yahoo that showed the amazing transformation of a little starving 7-month-old Somali boy who was brought to a rescue camp. With food and expert care, he now is plump and healthy. Without FOOD he would have died.



Take a deep breath.



Ok, now scroll down.









"BEFORE":

Tuesday, July 26, 2011 file photo, then seven month old Minhaj Gedi Farah is treated in a field hospital of the International Rescue Committee (IRC) in Dadaab, Kenya. In this picture he weighs just over 7lbs. In July, Minhaj was one of dozens of limp babies under mosquito net shrouds in the sweltering wards of the IRC hospital in Dadaab, the world's largest refugee camp, but after months of intensive feeding the Somali boy has the chubby cheeks and cheeky smile of most babies his age.

Saturday, Aug. 6, 2011 file photo, after 10 days of intensive feeding and care

"AFTER":

In this photo released by the International Rescue Committee, Minhaj Gedi Farah is held in the arms of his mother Asiah Dagane in the International Rescue Committee (IRC) hospital in Dadaab, Kenya Wednesday, Oct. 19, 2011. ...after months of intensive feeding the Somali boy has the chubby cheeks and cheeky smile of most babies his age.

Several months of food and care have brought him back to life! 

How can YOU help this Holiday season? Can you give up a gift, or two, or four, or ten? Can you make a family dinner a little less elaborate? Would your family consider cutting out Christmas gifts altogether? 

Give a family in need a goat or other livestock (http://www.heifer.org/). 

Sponsor a child (http://www.hopechest.org/). 

Help build a well (http://www.charitywater.org/). 

Pack a shoe box for a child in another country (http://www.samaritanspurse.org/). 

There is so much, for every budget, that you CAN do. 

Photo Source: http://news.yahoo.com/somalia-famine-baby-back-brink-death-153615392.html