(to read the nitty gritty on our decision to adopt, click here)
Spring 2008 ~ Deanna's eyes are opened to the orphan crisis and asks Paul about adoption. He's unsure it would be a good idea for our family.
Fall 2009 ~ Isaac is born. Our hands and hearts are full with our three boys!
Spring 2011 ~ The topic of adoption comes up again. This time Paul is more open to the idea. We get information from some agencies and talk to other adoptive families. We both feel that the time still isn't right. Deanna decides that Paul will need to be the one to bring it up again if and when this is really what God wants for our family.
Spring 2012 ~ Paul brings it up. Deanna is nervous, but we start researching agencies. We choose to go with Lifeline. Love them.
April 10 ~ Submit our application
April 13 ~ Application accepted
April 15 ~ Announced our decision to family and friends...surprise!! :-)
April 28 ~ Get fingerprinted for background checks
May 1 ~ First homestudy visit
May 5 ~ Huge garage sale fundraiser!
May 12 ~ Go out to Ethiopian food for the first time. We (including the boys!!) LOVED it!
June 4 ~ New passports arrive
June 2012 ~ Sell Tukula Bags for a fundraiser
July 30 ~ Second homestudy meeting
{I am not listing every little thing, but our paper chase was grueling and took about 4 months}
August 27 ~ Mailed our dossier to agency!
September 24 ~ Dossier was on it's way to Ethiopia!
September 28 ~ Paperwork submitted!! Received our first wait list update #95 for a healthy 0-3 year old boy or girl.
Also received our agencie's 'waiting child' list. These children are older or have health issues which makes them harder to place. Deanna could not even read through the list with a breakdown. So hard to think of these sweet kids who need families.
September 29 ~ Auction and Raffle Fundraiser!!
October 31 ~ Biometric fingerprint appointment
November 1 ~ Wait list update. #89. Read over our agency's 'waiting child' list again. The fact that there are children just a year or two older than our original criteria, with manageable health issues who are ready and waiting for a family, begins to weigh very heavily on our hearts. Start to talk about changing our criteria.
November 4 ~ Orphan Sunday! Attended our dear friend's church and heard an amazing sermon on Isaiah 54.
'Enlarge the place of your tent, stretch your tent curtains wide,
do
not
hold
back;
lengthen your cords, strengthen your stakes.'
God is bigger than any of our fears. We decide to change our criteria to include a child up to age 7.
November 7 ~ Meet with social worker to amend our homestudy. Our caseworker tells us to "be ready" as things could move much faster now that our criteria includes children who are essentially ready and waiting.
Deanna freaks out (in a good way :)).
Saturday November 10 ~ I-600 approval (171) arrives!
Week of November 12 ~ Paul, Deanna, and our agency scramble to get paperwork in order! We learn that we could receive our referral (match) within days.
Paul and Deanna become very emotional (Deanna) and distracted at the reality that one of their children is waiting for them in Ethiopia.
the day we will never forget...
November 16, (2012 Weston's birthday!!) ~ 10:30am
Paul is home and we receive a call from our agency. She tells us that she and the Ethiopia program director will be calling us within minutes to present us with our referral.
It was surreal. Were we really about to learn the name of our child?? To see what he or she looked like? To learn pieces of the story that has led them to become an orphan, but soon to be our son or daughter??
The phone rang and we heard the sweetest words ever...
"We have a sweet four-year-old little girl that we'd like to talk to you about"
We are going to have a daughter. She is beyond beautiful.
I want to shout for joy, and sob for hours all at the same time. It is such a contrast of happiness that she will be joining our family and sadness over the losses that she has already faced at such a young age. She has a story to tell. We will not be sharing it with many. It is her story to share if she chooses.
Please pray for our daughter. She needs her family and we are working like mad to go get her. We are at the mercy of the Ethiopian courts and the U.S. Embassy at this point. Pray that we can travel soon to meet her.
"He has made everything beautiful in its time." Ecclesiastes 3:11
