Making Plans!

Trying to be optimistic, yet again!  :-)


Some things are really coming together so will we be submitted soon?  Boy I hope so!


Len's backpack from REI will be picked up this afternoon.  Sarah's shots are done.  Joshua has a room with clothes in the closet!







The girls room is done and all is put away...ordering curtains as I get new coupons from JC Penney!  :-)










And the newest development....Sarah is sponsoring a little girl from Compassion International.  Here is how this works!  Sarah writes to her sponsored kiddo and prays for her and Len and I write a check for the kiddo to receive the following:

• Ongoing Christian training
• Educational opportunities
• Treatment & training to maintain child health
• Development of self-confidence & social skills
• Key life skills & vocational programs

Sarah receives:

• Learning about different parts of the world 
• Discovering political & economic realities your sponsored child faces
• The joy of helping someone in great need

So with the help of our friend, Compassion Advocate, Anji...Sarah has sponsored a little girl, age 6 from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.  While we are there..Sarah will meet her, perhaps play with her, and bring her a gift.  This will be an amazing opportunity for Sarah and her precious new friend on the other side of the world!

Hannah continues to write her friend, Stephanie.  A precious and adorable nine year old girl in Haiti!

Are you interested in making a world of difference for one child?  Compassion International is the way!

More good news on the adoption front....another family that we have been praying for...been in Ethiopia for 80+ days is coming home on Tuesday!!!!  Congrats Wes and Nina!  Thanks for sharing your journey!

Praying for our paperwork to land in our file soon!  I am ready to goooooo!!!!


I just received an update on how the US Embassy has changed things again...


In addition to the current intake procedures, effective Monday, April 25, 2011, all cases submitted for the Embassy's review must also include the following information.

1) A signed, notarized I-600 petition by the prospective adoption parent(s).
2) Copies of the PAP's Ethiopian visa indicating travel to Ethiopia for their Federal First Instance Court Appointment.
3) Payment of all fees associated with the Embassy process, including the $404 immigration visa fee.
4) A signed Privacy Act Waiver.


So later this afternoon, I will be sending via pdf/email our copies of our little passport/visas to our agency.  I will wait to hear how they want the funds transferred.  Oh good grief!  Welcome to my world!  :-)

The Emotional Strain is Beginning to Take It's Toll

Just plain sad.  It started as a very emotional day with no shoes on.  I could not help but shake the faces of the many that I saw and did not know and now pray for.  I am "shaken by the Lord" right now and am not sure where to plant my feet and where he wants me to be in my life.  Truly just looking for guidance and what is the next step for me.  I cannot read enough about human trafficking, modern day slavery, poverty...shall I go on?  Now the question is what to do about all of this that is rattling me to my core.  Ugh!

In the meantime, I finally got up the courage to call rather than email my agency.  I have been emailing but not receiving much in the way of information or even a response.  So while Sarah was spinning on the uneven bars I hid in the utility closet of the gym to call.  Well it was certainly not what I wanted to hear.  Basically, we are missing paperwork.  We cannot be submitted to the US Embassy without all of the goods.  Well we could be submitted but our file would be unresolved as it would be missing pieces.  Our attorney will only submit paperwork that is complete and has every last detail in place.  That is the good news I guess.  So, get what is missing!  We are missing paperwork from Joshua's region that is basically contact information for the witnesses that are involved with his case!  Nice eh?!?!?!  So the US Embassy is creating a database that allows them to track all of the witnesses.  They are trying to uncover any and all child trafficking.  While I am all over that and am really thankful for their diligence....grrrrr!  So until that missing stuff is in our lawyer's hands....we will remain in Illinois while our son remains in an orphanage.

I am so discouraged and heartbroken.  Please pray for that missing paperwork....