Not Yet.

There's no word today on the adoption front. Thanks to everyone who has been praying over the weekend. We continue to covet your prayers.

And now...if you experienced childhood at all during the '80's, chances are that you probably have heard of this and this. Well, it came to my attention yesterday that there is a documentary being produced right now (due in theaters this fall) that is about them. Here's the trailer...





I think if Flannery O'Connor were writing today, a Chris Thrash-like character might make it into one of her stories.

Michael

The day after tomorrow.....

.....our bloggy friends Ted and Lori will have a very important court date in Ethiopia. Please pray for them on March 4th, for the judges, for baby Abenezer, and anyone else who's involved. Pray that Baby A. will be allowed to come home to Portland and join his forever family.

Three weeks.....

.....this past Tuesday. Thanks be to God.

I-171h.

We've been waiting for our last document for four weeks now. Yeah, yeah, I know we shouldn't really expect it for a few more....actually these weeks have passed painlessly due the holidays--documents were the last thing on my mind. Even now we're peaceful and fine. I admit, though, that I've entered the "checking the mail expectantly" phase. You never know, people!

fingerprinting appt letter!!

WE GOT IT!!!!! It could have taken sooooo much longer---like a month or more longer. We were praying it would come in the mail before Christmas. *sings the doxology*

Actually, our letter just instructs us to go in during business hours--it didn't give us a specific appointment time. I'm thinking we should go in, oh, tomorrow?




Thanks for praying!

Ruminations, sans headache.

Gladney, our agency, placed approximately 50 Ethiopian children last year.

Do you know how many families are in process right now--from 'pre-app' to 'waiting to travel??? '

Over 170.

Isn't that amazing? Think of how many individual lives are impacted with that increase.
And if that means that we wait for months longer than we would have....

....then frankly I'm all for it.

hi.

Has anyone seen the current issue of Smithsonian Magazine? The cover story is about the whereabouts of the ark of the covenant, and the claim Ethiopians make that they've had it for oh, several millenia or so. It's a great article with great photographs.

.....So our wait has increased from 0-3 months to 3mo-6 mo--which I DO realize is still a very short wait, relatively speaking. We're really hoping we might hear from CIS about our fingerprinting appt. before Christmas.....what with all the I-171h wait times, court date wait times, waiting to travel wait times, etc., I'm really starting to wonder if we will even have our court date by the time the Ethiopian courts close in early August for the rainy season. If we don't have our day in court by then, we'll be delayed at least three more months. I'm thinking we well may be cutting it very close. While I cerebrally acknowledge that God is in charge and that His timing is perfect, I can't help but be disappointed. Going from "Probably home in the late spring/ early summer!" to "Will she be home by next Christmas?!" is hard.

It's hard not to have any expectations, and not to plan ahead, for such an important event. It's the shiftable, fuzzy timeline that causes the stress.

Adoption is truly like being pregnant for an unknown number of months: will it be 3? oh wait, maybe 9? Okay, it may be more like 12-14????

I have a headache today, can you tell? I'm always 'glass-half-empty' when I've got a headache.

Off to some gulp some tylenol as the quest for a family continues,

Jana

Where we stand.

Friends and family have asked us, "What's next?"

Everything for our dossier is basically done, at this point (can I get an amen?). However, we are still awaiting our CIS (Immigration) fingerprinting appointment. So far, we've been waiting about 2 weeks to hear from immigration about our appointment--we've been told to expect 6-8 weeks just to get the appt. date. After we get fingerprinted, (yes, we've already been fingerprinted, but this is different,) we can expect to wait a number of more weeks to get the ever-elusive I-171 document, which states that Immigration has approved of us. That I-171 is the last document that will go into our dossier. The dossier will then make its way through several levels of authentication, which will take several more weeks.

We'd be thrilled if our dossier were headed off to Ethiopia by late Jan./Feb. It could take less time, or it could easily take more. We're praying for the former. :)

Thanks for praying.

I'm not going to lie....

Today has been one of those kinda lonely days, one of those infrequent days when I acutely sense/feel the hole where our little child should be.

So, I admit I burst into tears when I opened this email from Anne, entitled, "CONGRATULATIONS."


Dear Michael and Jana,

Congratulations, you are now Gladney approved and ready to begin the dossier and ultimately the referral phase of your adoption process. I am mailing you both an approval packet with your approval certificate and quarterly training information for your “approved and waiting” period.......



(Thankfully we're already well into the dossier process!!!)

Almost Finished!

With only my employer letter and our life insurance letters left to obtain, we are nearing the end of the dossier process! I can actually mentally peer beyond the paperwork process now, and into the next stage--the waiting stage!!!! It's feeling a little more real each day!

On Saturday night we had a feast with sweet friends---to celebrate God's goodness and blessing on us all. Pictured above with us at that dinner are Shawn and Jami. Thanks for the pic, Jami! :)

Homestudy--check!

Quickly, late at night, soooo tired, loooong day.....our homestudy went wonderfully well-we loved our social workers--yes, there were two, because they were observing one another for professional development. Anyway, they were both lovely. Totally warm. And we realized that one social worker's cousin was/is still the principal of the small private school I attended in high school. Did our individual interviews simultaneously, since there were TWO s.w.s! Which made the whole process even shorter. Fabulous! We really enjoyed it, honestly. Yay!


Shawn and Jami, they said they'll most likely do your homestudy too! :)

Cleaning, and I'm tired.

M. and I spent part of today cleaning/straightening for the homestudy.....

I think I've reached an "overwhelmed" point regarding adoption paperwork. Will I ever finish? Lately I'm fatigued in general, due to "all ragweed, all the time," and this bodily fatigue seems to be transferring to everything in my life. So much going on these days. One small reason (among many larger ones) that I'm looking forward to baby coming home to us is that after she arrives, I WON'T be working every night. I look forward to being a family again and actually seeing and interacting with my husband. In that vein, Michael had the day off from school on Friday and we spent pretty much the whole morning and afternoon watching the BBC version of "Pride and Prejudice." (Michael just finished teaching Jane Austen to his sophomores.) So good! Michael is SO my Mr. Darcy.

homestudy scheduled!!

Gladney called much sooner than we expected, and we've scheduled our homestudy for Oct. 9th! Somehow, having a real live Gladney social worker come to our house makes the whole thing seem a lot more real than a bunch of forms and notarizations.

Full-ON

...Full-on into our dossier prep---yay! Still rejoicing that we have Kate of KBS Dossiers to lead us through it all.

The Provider.

This week, Michael and I experienced God's sweet provision in a miraculous, (and I do mean miraculous,) way. It's actually taken a few days to recover from complete shock! But we shouldn't be shocked, I'm thinking. Because our Father is so good like that.

Here is what our hearts are singing:

Praise the Lord!
Praise, O servants of the Lord,
Praise the name of the Lord.
Blessed be the name of the Lord
From this time forth and forevermore.

From the rising of the sun to its setting,
The name of the Lord is to be praised.
The Lord is high above all nations;
His glory is above the heavens.

Who is like the Lord our God
Who is enthroned on high,
Who humbles Himself to behold
the things that are in heaven
and in the earth?

He raises the poor from the dust
And lifts the needy from the ash heap,
To make them sit with princes,
With the princes of his people.

He makes the barren woman abide in her house
As a joyful mother of children.
Praise the Lord!



-Psalm 113

OH, thank you, thank you, thank you.

I could scream. In a good way--- I sent it off today!!!! Our check, our notarized stuff, our app, to Gladney. The first part. And the rest is almost done.

Okay, so I know for most people this part isn't THAT hard--but Michael and I have been so busy adjusting to new things at work, etc., that getting this first part done has seemed endless. As if we've been doing everything in slow motion. And underwater. So, for us, getting this first part off is cause for big, big smiles!!!!

Congratulations...

to Renee and her husband Geert, a Gladney couple who just received their referral for TWO sweet little cousins. If you visit their blog, scroll down and read the last few entries for some amazing stories about how special their little ones are! :)

He hears all our prayers....

Many of our dear family and friends who read this are praying for us. Thank you so much for asking how you can pray. Here are a few specific requests for now:

1. For financial provision. We are working lots to pay for big chunks of the adoption as we go along. We will also be applying for adoption grants. Will you pray that God would bless us with some grant money? We may possibly apply for a no-interest adoption loan to cover any fees we can't pay. Please pray God would provide for our needs in His perfect way, and that we would have grace to trust Him....... We praise God for providing a well-paying job for me (Jana) for the fall.

2. For clarity and communication. This fall, we will both be working full-time. The catch is, Michael will be teaching during the day, while I (Jana) will be tutoring all evening. I will actually leave the house before Michael gets home from school and won't return till 9:30pm. Essentially, we will be trying to gather various adoption documents, etc. while barely seeing each other for the entire work week. This will be difficult. Please pray that we would be able to communicate well with each other regarding the adoption and stay clear on what we actually need to do.

3. That our families would be emotionally prepared to lovingly receive a "foreign" child into their lives. We hope and pray that they will be fully accepting of a child of another race.


Even the teensiest prayers from total strangers are greatly appreciated!!!!!:)

The I-600A is on its way...

I sent off the I-600A form today. Let's hope I did everything correctly.

Gotcha!

Today a bloggy friend-and fellow Texan-- had a very big day in Addis Ababa!! So sweet to see.