Fund-raising

$25,000 is harder to come by than we first thought. Though we have been blessed in so many ways, we have also had some support that we had hoped for that has not come through. Our hearts are with our baby, but the money is a constant mountain that we are climbing--one step at a time--and the added trip to Ethiopia has added miles to our climb. We have done support letters, a garage sale, coffee, photo shoots, Thirty-One bags, and necklaces. We have another garage sale coming up, an official Etsy store, and are still praying for our grant from Show Hope to come through.

I am so thankful to our friends and family who have donated money, helped at our garage sale, donated to our garage sale, shopped at our garage sale, bought necklaces, bought coffee, bought Thirty-One bags, scheduled a photo shoot, and many more things that have happened over the past seven months. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Can you help me? What else can we do? What would you support? I've had a sweet friend offer to host a Bunco night at her home with a small "cover charge" to go toward our adoption. Would you come? Another friend has done research on raffles that families had held through their blog to raise money. Would you buy a ticket?

Cleaning Out

A few weeks ago we took the major step of moving our computer into our room to start the process of getting our baby's room ready. We also were given a crib that same week, so we had assembled it and put it in the room, but that's as far as we had gotten. Today we undertook the task of cleaning out all the stuff that had collected, and we are also moving more of our "office" into our bedroom. Through the waiting, it helps to keep moving forward, even without a set end in sight.

Here are the before and after pictures of her room. I plan to start looking again at crib bedding, and then that will send us toward painting and other decorations. It was a huge improvement. Already I have spent some time in the rocker, just thinking about when we will get to bring her home and show her room to her. It has already been a very productive morning, though we still have some piles to deal with in other parts of the house. We have so much stuff, even after purging quite a bit to both trash and our garage sale pile. I guess it's not to bad to accomplish a bit of Spring cleaning on a beautiful day like today.

Etsy -- Soft opening

This morning I opened an Etsy shop for my pendants and other items that I'll be adding soon. With the probablilty of a second trip to Ethiopia, I needed to kick our fundraising up a notch.

Take a look and the grand opening will be soon (when I have a few more uninterrupted hours of computer time). :)

http://www.etsy.com/shop/SimpleSmilesAndMore

PS - It would be so helpful if you could spread the word of my store through your Blog and/or Facebook. Thank you!

Off Again, On Again

We just got another update from Dove that cases that are presented to the Ethiopian government before April 8th will not be required to travel for court, but cases that are presented after that date will need to have both parents present for court.

Our case won't be presented to the court until after we have accepted our referral. We don't expect our referral that soon, so baring a miracle (which I don't rule out), we will be in the group that travels twice.

Hmmm...assuming that is our reality, I have to figure out how that changes things--because that's what I do. Sometimes being a planner is a good thing, and sometimes not so good. But it keeps me busy while we wait....and wait.....and wait.

Praying for Baby Sister

I have a good friend, Korri Ray, who told me that while they were waiting for their daughter they would pray that she would dream about them, so that when they met Annagrace would already know them. We told our girls about that months ago, and occasionally it comes up in our conversations and our prayers. Just now, I was returning something to Megan's room and saw this tacked to her prayer board. On one side she drew Baby Sister with a caption that says, "Please help me dream about my new family." On the other side is Megan praying, "Please help me dream about our baby sister."

Another Twist on the Roller Coaster Called Adoption

Thanks everyone for your encouragement, support, and prayers. We got another update yesterday from our agency that the Ethiopian courts are putting their changes on hold until at least the beginning of May, and maybe until fall. Which sets us up for more uncertainty because we are not expecting our referral now until summer after talking to our social worker. We might slip through before the change and only need to travel once, but we are right on the border of that expected timeline.
What an emotional few days it has been for me. I have to admit that it is one thing to know that God is in complete control, but that doesn't mean that I don't have to fight feelings of worry and fear. But I hope that I am taking on this journey and growing and becoming stronger through it.

Changes

We are learning that there has been a major change in adoption in Ethiopia. We will need to be in Ethiopia for court which is a few weeks after our referral (which we anticipate will happen anytime between now and 4 months from now), then after about a week in Ethiopia we will go back home without her. After 6-8 weeks we will travel back for a second trip to Ethiopia to bring her home. This is not what we had planned, but another step in patience, change, and trusting God.

Our first prayer request is financial. We will need about $5000 per trip, and our finances are running low (plus one more agency payment). We trust that God can provide, but we ask that you pray on our behalf. The second is excitement that our travel to Ethiopia may be sooner than we thought and that we will get to hold our sweet baby, but my heart aches at the thought of meeting her, and then having to return home, leaving her at the orphanage.

Because this was a sudden and immediate change, there are still a lot of unanswered questions. I will keep our blog updated as I get information.

Thanks for walking alongside us.

What if?

(Disclaimer: These are my musings based on what I understand to have happend yesterday. I don't want to get other adoptive parents freaked out or our agency to be mad at me for spreading rumors. Notice the title, "What if?". At this point I am not sure what changes are being made and if and how it affects us, but I am thankful for my friend for bringing it to my attention. We're good? Great. Now you can keep reading.)

Yesterday, a friend who is also adopting from Ethiopia got a phone call from her agency saying that there are some changes coming through the Ethiopian courts. We immediately called our agency and were told that they are carefully watching, and will let us know when and what will pertain to us. But, of course, everything got me thinking.

The major change will be that right after referral, we would need to travel to Ethiopia to meet our baby and accept the referral to start the court process. Which means that as we wait for that all important phone call, we also need to be thinking about flying to Ethiopia within weeks of getting that call. Wow! We would then come home and go back a few months later to bring her home. Honestly, it seems a little unnecessary to make us do that, and I don't completely understand the reasoning behind it, but those are not decisions for me to make. If a change is made, we just roll with it. But a benefit would be that she would come home on an I-3 something Visa and would become a US Citizen immediately and we wouldn't need to re-adopt her one year after coming home. (Again, these are my personal thoughts based on what I've understood this far. Do not take this all as fact!)

My first thought was worry. A second trip would at another $5,000 to our costs. But God reminded me that He has carried us this far and He will continue to provide. I need to trust. Now I am excited at the possiblilty. That means that I could hold my baby in my arms in a matter of weeks. I could hold her and rock her and love on her more than just looking at a picture. I could shop in Ethiopia and fill her nursery with things from her homeland so that it is ready when she arrives. With one trip, I expect that it is such a whirlwind to meet your child, start to bond, prepare to bring her home, and also want to explore the country as you never know if you'll get to go back. Breaking it into two trips I expect will make it more relaxing, especially on the second trip when you go to bring her home. But also, my heart aches at the thought of meeting her and holding her, and then leaving her in Ethiopia. I'm sure the weeks in between will be busy with preparing, but I know I will miss her more that anything!

That brings us to now, where we don't know anything and we wait. Welcome to the world of adoption. It's a crazy ride, but I'm so glad I got on.

Psalm 19

Acacia Tree Silhouetted at Sunrise, Lake Langano, Ethiopia, Africa

It (the sun) rises at one end of the heavens and makes its circuit to the other; nothing is hidden from its heat. -Psalm 19:6


I was reminded this morning that our baby, whoever she is and half a world away, is warmed each day by the same sun and sleeps each night under the same stars, and is loved by my God. I am awestruck by Him.

Phone Call

The next big step is waiting for our phone call from Dove. When we hear from them they will be telling us that we have been matched by the orphanage to our daughter. At that point we will run to the computer to find her picture and all her information e-mailed to us and we will finally know who she is! My struggle is that we don't have a set appointment. The call can come at any time. It could come today or it may not come for 6 months from now. We can't even watch the journey of our other friends. Each agency has different procedures and time lines. And even within Dove, it isn't a "wait in line" to be matched process. They will read everything we have sent, and specifically match children to families.

So we wait. Honestly, some days I am much more patient than others, and some days I just try to will the phone to ring and hope it has an Oregon area code. Tony, in his wisdom, has our agency scheduled to call our home first, his cell phone second, and my cell phone only as a last resort, which is a good plan because I am not sure how safe it will be if I'm driving when I answer that call. A call that will change our lives forever.

So my blog question for you is, what is the best phone call you've ever received?

And, if you are an adoptive parent, what was your referral call like? Where were you? How did you react?

African Playground

This weekend we took a day trip to Sedona to play in the snow and to visit my grandparents. While in Sedona, we came across a cute little toy store with an assortment of CDs from around the world. This one caught our eye, so we asked the shopkeeper if she could put it on. She did, and we loved it. So we bought it and I just loaded in on my iTunes. It's an interesting dance that we are going to be learning in our lives. Before our adoption, I didn't know much about Africa, and even less about Ethiopia. I am trying to learn as much as I can, as quickly as possible, but it will be a delicate walk between preserving her Ethiopian heritage, and also we want her to feel 100% Weber, and just like all the other American little girls. One huge blessing we have is our Ethiopian adoptive families group, and I am so thankful to have other families to walk this road with me.