Homestudy Interviews Done!

We had our last interview today, so we are thinking we will be sending in our dossier by the end of March (and meet our deadline). It went very well, and we are very comfortable with our case worker. Thanks for checking in on us and for all the prayers. We are ready to move on to the next steps...finally.

Scrapbooks

In order to earn a little extra money for our adoption I have made some cute little scrapbooks. Each book has 20 different 6x6 pages and I have 4 boyish ones and 4 girlish ones done so far. Although they have mostly boy or girl pages they could be used for siblings too. These would be great for baby shower gifts, grandparents, or parents who want a fun way to keep photos but don't have time to scrapbook. Each book is going for a minimum donation of $38.00 plus shipping. I also plan on making some adoption/Ethiopia specific books if anyone is interested in those. If you are interested in either one of the finished books or pre-ordering a adoption/Ethiopia book please leave a comment on this blog and I will get in contact with you. Thanks and hope you enjoy them!

A bit of relief among the harsh reality

As we prepare to bring our child home we are required to do educational courses about adoption. Some of these have been a very good reality check for us, and some tell of the heart breaking trials that orphans and abandon children often go through. As I was reading one course on orphanages and institutionalized children I came across this paragraph that made me so happy...

"IS THERE SUCH A THING AS A "GOOD ORPHANAGE"?

In Ethiopia, orphanage children performed as well as family children [children living in a home with a family] in various behavioral and psychological testing, especially those who entered the orphanage early. Superior social interactions with peers have been seen among orphans from Ethiopia and Romania. Indeed, in many countries, orphanages may appear attractive to desperately poor families."


From THE HANDBOOK OF INTERNATIONAL ADOPTION MEDICINE by Laurie C. Miller. © 2004 by Oxford University Press, Inc.

We know that the Ethiopian people highly value children and are very loving people. The orphanage that our little boy will come from, Hannah's Hope, is so wonderful and we have heard nothing but great things about it and the people who work there. We feel so blessed to be adopting from a great country and a wonderful orphanage whose people try with all they have to keep these children safe, healthy, and loved. We know that this does not guarantee that our child will not have suffered, but it does give us hope.

New Date

So providing that all goes well we will finish up our homestudy interviews next Wednesday. It could be a very long day, but worth it if it means we can be done with that part. I feel like the rest of my dossier is just sitting there getting dusty waiting to add the last item (homestudy report) before we can send it off. Please continue to pray for quick writting and processing of the study so we meet our deadline. This and safety for our little guy are our top prayer needs right now! Not much else to report except a few very precious donations, thanks guys!

No Homestudy on Friday

We did not end up having our second interview this Friday :( Our agent had to cancel, but hopefully we will get it done next week! Since the homestudy is the only thing left to do we are anxious to be one of the "Dossiers in office" on the bi-weekly emails from Martha. Please be praying that we get done soon since we are starting to feel a little bit of a time crunch with our dossier due date.

A Great Link We Should All Read!

The day I first read this article I also saw some videos of starving children in Africa. I had a broken heart day for the hungry children of the world. God let my heart break and I cried as visions of tiny little hungry bodies filled my head. I just wanted to pray that God would send down food for each of them so they would never be without. Sometimes I feel so sad that my garage is a bigger and better shelter than many people's homes. As I sit here and type this my 1 1/2 year old daughter is looking out the window saying "Big houses...big windows" how right she is, we are blessed. I'm grateful for our opportunity to help give at least one child a home where he will never no hunger or poverty, what a blessing, I just wish we could do more...and I'm sure in some way we will.

1 Homestudy Visit Down

We had our first homestudy visit today for about 2 1/2 hours. It went really well, and Aspen was even really good for the short time she was here with us. Our social worker is very nice and said she was impressed with the amount of adoption prep reading that we had done which is good. We have one more visit on Friday, and then possibly one more with just me at a later time. She told us that there is another couple here in town that is also adopting from Ethiopia. This is exciting because now there are at least two other families here to connect with. Anyway, we are excited to be making progress again after a month of waiting. Thanks for all the prayers!

Let's Thank Him in Advance

This post is one I wrote over a week ago, just have not had time to post it. Our Sunday message was about how we connect with God, and I was inspired to write about how I've been connecting with Him lately. I have never felt more connected to the Lord than on this journey of adoption. To quote a movie I like "Food has lost its taste...colors seem dull." This is how I have been feeling about "ordinary life" Even though Christmas was fun its magical allure was dimmed this year compared to the excitement of being "on duty" for God. My life has never felt more meaningful and purposeful than it does right now. Don't get me wrong, this doesn't mean we aren't experiencing or expecting trials. Quite the opposite is true; we know this journey will bring extra challenges but we aren't as afraid of the hard times because we have to be so reliant of God. I have been filled with the joy that comes from seeing God in action and thought I'd just share that joy with all who care to read our blog. boc

The title of this post comes from a radio sermon that I heard a few weeks ago. There was a story about a man who heard the call to become a missionary in a cannibalistic part of Africa. He left is wife and children at home and as he boarded the boat to leave he wrote a letter to his wife. He talked about his plans and how hard it would be, but then he said "Let us thank Him [God] in advance for what he is going to do.” I thought that was very powerful, and a great way to view our mission! So we are thanking Him in advance for the financial, safety, and timing provisions He is going to give us.

Homestudy Dates!!

Yeah! We finally have our homestudy interview dates set up. This will be exciting to get going. Please pray that we come across as baby worthy ;) (I'm not too worried) Anyway, that's the scoop for now!